Courtyard By Marriott Oakland Downtown

... magical Alabama Hills, is the garden of Allah. But, my perfect vacation is long term digs in a very old city with a big, important church and a decent museum. I do love places where humans have lived for some while.<br> I've given the best explanation I have for wanting to go to Orkney (that's my story and I'm sticking to it.) Inverness is a good place to stop and give Philip a small taste of the Highlands.<br>(P has no ...

... cable car, you feel like you are in another country. The shops, the people, the languages it is awesome. Lots of up and down the hills to walk so might be tough for strollers or wheelchairs but if you are patient you can get around. We walk around for several hours checking out the shops with the glittery silks and vibrant colors, jewelry and strange food markets. There was one selling live frogs, honest, we have a picture ...

... to travel to the East coast to visit family and see friends in L.A. while I was pregnant. But now that our little one is six months old, we got the travel bug and in need of some beach time. We had free Jetblue flights to use so we finally settled on the island of St. Martin/St. Maarten in the Carribean. (Sorry Yucatan, with H1N1 warnings, you will have to wait ...

... yourself the first day right?! It's all about stamina. On Tuesday 10th I moved to Adelaide Hostel and spent the first night on my own. It was great! Met some lovely poeple in the room I was in, including Clare, 60, who was travelling America on her own. She was a real laugh, albeit a little crazy! My confidence grew and I began talking to more people in the evenings in the hostel, after spending the days just absorbing the SF atmosphere. One day it ...

... the underground, and the rest of it was in the streets like a traditional Melbourne tram. We weren't exactly sure where to get off - the map we had did not go out that far, but I knew it was near the end of the line. A lady and 2 kids got on an we heard them talking about the zoo, so we knew if she got off, we were on a winner! The Zoo stop was however the last stop of the trip so off we jumped ...

... we did the coast road down from Oregon to San Fran so we've already been there, done that. Just as well too because we heard along the way that the fires which were burning in Northern California were affecting traffic and cars were having to be escorted. Had we gone the coast road, that would have paid havoc with our deadline! A fairly uneventful trip up today. Mainly just pushing it to make the miles because we want to stop off and see Mt St Helens along the way.

... stayed in felt tents (gers) the whole time. Many of my best memories come from Mongolia: Billgay my driver, constructing a family's ger, riding horseback at Lake Hovsgol, seeing Przewalski's horses. Did you ride horses in Mongolia? yup Did you stay with nomads in Mongolia? How did you arrange it? Yes. Any guest house in Ulan Batar can arrange an entire tour of Mongolia. I paid about $65 a day for our driver, the beloved Billgay, his 4WD Russian ...

... optimistic. I will try and weigh the pack at the airport to let everyone know how much over weight my pack becomes. Many of you might be surprised to see two items not on this list. That's right! I won't be bringing my MacBook Pro or my iPhone on the trip. I don't want to have to worry about theft, damage etc. Also, it is cheaper to get a pre-paid SIM card in each country and use my unlocked GSM phone. No surprise $600 to $2000 bill when I get home.

... the bluegrass festival, then strolled to Ocean beach, a real treat that is not mentioned much in the tourist literature. To cap off the visit I went to a 49ers game, which had to be done. Great atmosphere, but the worst game of American Football I have ever seen. Ah well. Gabrielle spared herself and went shopping instead. SF is a great spot!