Greek Islands & Athens

Yo,

Just back from two weeks in the Greek Islands (oh, and Athens) with Elle & Jase.

We flew into Athens on a Saturday evening and stayed two nights, giving us two full days to check out the city - big mistake, other than the Acropolis Athens doesn't have alot to offer.

Next up was the overnight ferry to Santorini, selected strategically to provide both transport and accommodation - pity about the diesel fumes that seemed to fill the boat including the sleeping quarters...

We stayed in Santorini for three nights and managed to check out Perivolos and Kamari Beaches, The town of Oia, The main centre of Fira where we were staying, and took a sunset cruise to the Volcano which we walked up before having a swim in the hot springs and cruising home as the sun went down. I managed to keep Kim away from the wineries, although we did enjoy some great food and a few cold beverages along the way.

Next up was Ios - again for three nights after a rather uneventful fast ferry ride. Ios is a 'party' island and typically filled with 18-21 year old Brits/Aussies and Contiki Tour groups - rumor has it that at the end of the season (which it was) the older crowd come by (22-24 year olds) which makes us positively geriatric! Regardless we stayed at a great place (Far Out Village - http://www.faroutclub.com/village) with two pools right on Mylopotas Beach, where we spent most of our time working on our tans, eating and drinking, total bliss. Oh and we made a trip into town to cheer on the Aussies against the Springboks - in our defense the All Blacks needed them to win to keep their Tri-Nations chances alive, pity.

Finally we headed for gay Mykonos, but not without enduring a fairly rough ride on a fast ferry. All four of us managed to get to the end in one piece which is more than I can say for the bulk of the people on board, with the crew furiously handing out the obligatory sick bags and most people making use of them, except from the lady across the aisle from Elle that is, YUCK!!! Perhaps best was just before arrival when nature temporarily decided our ferry was a submarine and the boat went silent - were we worried? You bet!

Mykonos, totally eyeopening! The place is a paradise for gay gentlemen. We had four nights, so spent the first day on four wheel motorbikes checking out the island hoping for the weather to improve. The next two days we spent at Paradise Beach, which was fairly typical bar a few nudists. Day 1 we managed to catch a glimpse of a few at the other end of the beach, Day 2 and we didn't have to look very hard, in fact we were sitting directly behind an mid fifty's American couple proudly showing their wares...

Best part of the trip shortly followed - Kim cut her finger on the reef, went back to her lounger and complained to Elle before taking out a tissue to stop the bleeding, looking up only to find the previously mentioned American gentleman standing over her and holding out a plaster in all his glory!!!

Finally we ferried back to Athens, stayed a night and flew home the following day.

All in all it was an awesome holiday, reasonably friendly on the wallet by euro standards, totally relaxing and we're both sporting tans for the first time since we arrived in London.

Bring on the London winter...

Dave

Belgium - June 2009

Yo,

Just back from a three day weekend in Belgium.

We had no real reason for going other than not wanting to waste the the northern summer. Some quick research on lastminute.com found us a 'top secret' hotel for a decent rate and some cheap fares on the Eurostar - combine that with the promise of chocolate and beer and Belgium was a winner.

Late Friday evening we were chatting on the Facebook to our friend Chris who is currently working in France and mentioned we were headed for Belgium. The promise of chocolate, beer and our good company had him quickly planning to join us there for the weekend which was a pleasant surprise.

An early start had us in Brussels for 10am, where we proceeded to find our hotel and check in to catch up on some sleep while Chris headed towards us. On his arrival we set about exploring Brussels on foot (which if i'm honest doesn't take long), eating some of the fine chocolate and finally tasting a few of the local brews. Lets just say that the little 9% logo on the back of the bottle is hardly enough and these beers should come with 'Warning: High Alcohol Content' stamped all over them - and not to encourage 18 year old's seeking value for money either!

Sunday we checked out the Atomium (http://www.atomium.be/Main.aspx?lang=en) before seeing off Chris.

We spent the last day taking a quick trip to Brugge - definitely nicer and more appealing than Brussels but again not a city that takes a significant amount of time to explore. Both of us loved the boat tour of the canals and the architecture along with the fact that traveling by Eurostar allows you a free return ticket from Brussels to Brugge on the local trains.

Overall we had a blast, now back to the reality that is work - half year end for me and three weeks in the 45 degree heat of Sudan for Kim. Looking forward to our week in Wales at the end of the month already!

Ciao,

Dave

The southeast...

more of a test for the facebook links than anything...

Paris - Easter 2009

Hello,

Little overdue but we managed to get five days in Paris over Easter.

Initial plans were for four days but I managed to make a mistake and book the train back a day later than planned and we only found out on the day we were expecting to leave.

Despite having to call the boss and explain which took some of the shine off the last day we had a great time.

We managed to check out all the usual touristy places - The Louvre / Mona Lisa, Champs Elysses, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dam, Sacre Cur, Mont Marte and Versailles. All this involved a fair amount of walking which caught us out a little having packed only jeans not expecting the bonus few degrees coming from the relative cold of London!

Highlights this trip were Versailles where we enjoyed walking in the gardens of the castle and the fresh food after months of deep fried english junk.

We stayed away from the snails and frogs this time, and managed to avoid ordering beef tartare at the last minute, maybe next time?

Photos can be found on the usual link to our Picasa album.

Dave

Amsterdam & Andorra

Hey All,

Since the last post we've managed to get away on two trips.

Amsterdam was a three day weekend - we took off Friday morning (after Kim almost had to pull the plug with a mystery illness) from Heathrow with Mark and Jo.

The weather was fairly cold still but over the course of the weekend we got to check out the Heineken Brewery, Anne Franks House, a Sex Museum went on a Canal Tour. Other than the organised touristy stuff we managed to check out several pubs and spent some time walking around the streets checking out what is a fairly compact city. For those that haven't been there Amsterdam is a mecca for packs of British and American blokes. Outside that it is a really great place for tourists and getting from the Airport into town must be one of the most pain free experiences ever with a train running regularly from the airport right into the central city in less than 20 minutes - I wish everywhere was a well setup as this...

Next up was a week skiing in Andorra, a little country of covering 468 square kilometres in the Pyrenees between France & Spain. Being late in the season the conditions were fairly similar NZ. This was the first time we have been a part of an organised tour and we quickly realised this is how the Brits travel, that said things were well organised and after getting ourselves to Gatwick early we flew to Toulouse in France before taking a bus through to the resort village of Arinsal. For Kim it was her first real skiing and she signed up for a week of lessons, come Friday she was doing pretty well and was a real advertisement for getting lessons...

Arinsal is setup well for beginners and intermediates with a little steeper terrain, for those seeking a bit more of a challenge it is connected to the area of Pal by Funicular (Cable Car) and there there is plenty of steep terrain and trees. I managed to get over there one day, but with the spring conditions things were a bit 'sketchy' in places. With a coating of fresh show though this place would be amazing and you could easily ski or ride down through the trees to the road between the villages.

We spent the last day checking out the capital Andorra la Vella, which for want of a better description is like a duty free shop with streets running through (Andorra is a tax free country) before returning to the village to watch the final week of the Six Nations, including the all important Wales v Ireland decider.

Overall a great holiday, and we are already looking forward to the next, Paris for Easter...

Take Care,

Dave & Kim