TravelStream™ news feed for member justincourt on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/justincourt en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 06 May 2007 08:19:26 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/off_to_italy/1178451720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/off_to_italy/1178451720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/off_to_italy/1178451720/tpod.html Sun, 06 May 2007 08:19:26 -0400 Biking in tuscany and sightseeing in Rome and Venice

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Rome, Italy

Hi, Well this will be our last full day in Italy  but let me back up and tell you about some of the adventures we have had since Bolzano. After Bolzano, we took a train to Verona. This is the city of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." It is another great walking city with castles and an old Roman arena. We walked all over the city and got  a great view from the top of an old Roman Amphitheater.   We left the next morning by train to Venice. We were met by a water taxi that took us on a tour of the city. Venice is a really cool city. It really is as romantic as they say. It rained on and off for the two days we were there which added to the feeling. We strolled along the canals and walked forever through tiny alleys ways and got ourselves lost over and over again but loved every minute of it. One of the many cool things of Venice was there were dogs everywhere which was great b/c there were dogs all of shapes and sizes but not so great b/c there was poop all over the streets of every shape and sizes and you had to be careful of where you walked :(  Our hotel was right on the canal which was nice ( our room was not  on the canal but that was okay ). We ate along the canals in small Italian restaurants and they were great . We stayed in Venice 2 nights total and we could have done  maybe one more but you can see everything you need to see within 2 nights- We did not however, take the Gondola ride  ... to be honest it kind of looked cheesy esp since there were lines of gondolas with couples and families one behind the other so it took the romantic feel away. But none the less we had a great time in Venice. We left Venice and took the train back to Rome. We have now been in Rome for 2 days. This time we went to the Vatican Museum and saw Michelangelo's famous Sistine Chapel as well as his Pieta with Mary and Jesus and toured through the great basilica. We waited two hours in line but it was a nice sunny day and we met a tour guide leader who gave us the scoop of Rome so it went by fast.    We then went to the movies and saw the opening day of Spider Man 3 at the theater ( I know we should have seen an Italian movie but we haven't seen any English TV or had  conversations in English  in 3 weeks so we saw the movie ( it was okay for a superhero movie).  Today we got up and saw Michelangelo's Moses in small church not really listed in the guide books. We  then went to the Capitoline Museum which had great views of the Roman forum.  We leave tomorrow back for NH and we are tired, ready for our own beds but happy that we could experience such a beautiful, majestic place as Italy.We have one more trip planned... back to Anguilla where this crazy travel all began and our wedding took place. We will be spending 3 weeks there as they will be tearing down our hotel at the end of the year :( We we are excited to go back as we feel Anguilla and Rendezvous Bay Resort is like our second home since the people are amazing but this is the one place we actually stayed in place  the longest over our year of traveling.              Photos will be up soon I promise. Thanks to all you have checked out this log and shared in our most memorable travel experiences.Ciao Court and Justin
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/off_to_italy/1177850760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/off_to_italy/1177850760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/off_to_italy/1177850760/tpod.html Sun, 29 Apr 2007 09:31:11 -0400 Biking in tuscany and sightseeing in Rome and Venice

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Bolzano, Italy

Hi All,  We packed up, left Rome and took a 6 hour train up to Bolzano Italy. It is town at the Austrian border surrounded by the mountains on all sides.  It is beautiful and I can't wait to show our photos of the town. Because we are so close to the border people speak Italian and German but little English so we are relying on the little Italian we know. Most of the ffod here is Tyrolean (sort of like german). It is okay but we are more of a fan of  Tuscan food (Court is  not a big fan of weiner schnitzel!)   Today we decided to take a down day. We have been non stop for the past 2 weeks and decided to just stroll around the village and window shop. We are waking up early tomorrow morning to take a gondola up to the top of one of the mountains and then hiking around. We will be staying in Bolzano three more nights and then it is off the Venice and back to Rome.  The hotel is great and very German!! Very modern decor and we even have a computer with the Internet in our rooms. Out of all our traveling this is the first time it was in our rooms.  This morning I looked out the window and had quite a surprise as I was gazing out at the beautiful views a huge swarm of bees went by my window. It was quite alarming and I was glad that Justin had just shut the window. We think they were the African bees. They were very aggressive and loud. I was just glad we weren't outside at the time. When Justin was in Mexico some years back he heard some African bees so the hiking leader told them all to "hit the deck"  so now we know what to do if we hear the swarm of killer bees coming our way :)   On another note some of you had emailed about our house. As most of you know the main house is going to becoming down and we will be building a new house.  We donated the house to the fire department and around 9:00am yesterday it was burnt down. Unfortunately we were unable to see it but those who went up to view it said it was interesting.   We are now in the first phases of the building and we are very excited!!!That is all our news for now thanks for the emails and hopefully we answered your questions.Love to you all C and J
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/off_to_italy/1177507980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/off_to_italy/1177507980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/off_to_italy/1177507980/tpod.html Wed, 25 Apr 2007 13:49:16 -0400 Biking in tuscany and sightseeing in Rome and Venice

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Rome, Italy

Hi All,  Sorry we have have been MIA for the past week we just finished a week bilking tour through Tuscany. We met up with 15 other couples from all over and  basically biked from Florence to Rome. We used  back roads and dirt roads and it was a blast. We would bike to our hotel each night and each hotel had its own charm. One was part of a vineyard, one was on the ocean and one was part of an organic farm. All were wonderful !  It is hot here 80 degrees ( hotter than usually for Italy at this time of the year).  We saw some of the most beautiful country side we biked up to towns perched on mountain tops., thorough vineyards,along the coast and  even  up to an olive mill where we saw how olive oil was made and  found out how to ensure the best quality olive oil. We began  our day at 9:00am and biked anywhere from 25 to 50 miles.Thank goodness for biking because we have eaten so much yummy Italian food we need to work it off. We typically have gelato 2 times a  day :) The bike trip was amazing and yes we are tired  as we had not done any bike training for this trip since when we left it was still snowing.  We are now in Roma !! It is crazy here it makes NYC look like a small city the drivers are insane and the tourists are just as crazy. We saw the Colosseum and the Palatine today ( it is amazing how much  history one city can hold). We plan on being in Rome for three days and then we will be taking off for the country side again.  Well that is it. We will write more as our travels continue. Lots of love C and J
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/off_to_italy/1176886260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/off_to_italy/1176886260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/off_to_italy/1176886260/tpod.html Wed, 18 Apr 2007 04:58:09 -0400 Biking in tuscany and sightseeing in Rome and Venice

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Florence, Italy

Hi All, We are in Florence and loving it. The city is rich in culture and history and the Italians are great.  We have been touring the city on foot checking out the different museums and eating lots of gelato. I am sorry to say we will just have the entries and I will have to upload photos when we get back.  We are off today to the country to meet up with our biking group where we will start our 8 day biking tour from Florence to Rome.Hope all is well Ciao C and J
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1166574780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1166574780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1166574780/tpod.html Tue, 19 Dec 2006 19:36:03 -0500 We are off to Hawaii, Guam, Australia and New Zealand for some adventure and fun

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Christ church, New Zealand

Hi, We are nearing the end of our trip and it has been a whirlwind of adventure. I will start with where I left off. We left Brisbane and flew to Christchurch where we met up with 11 people from all over the world. People from Montreal, Nova Scotia, Colorado, Hawaii, Sun Valley, the Bay Area, Ireland and Sydney. We also had two guides one from Vancouver and the other from Auckland (North Island). The guides were great - they cooked the best food and were very thorough with everything if you ever want to take a trip to NZ I would highly recommend this trip. These people were so much fun and it helped make our trip to the South Island of New Zealand one of the best parts of the our travels. We spent 14 days touring around the South Island in "Doris," our bus. Each stop we either hiked, mountain biked or sea kayaked sometimes we did both. It was fun and although Justin and I were in pretty good shape the rest of the group were animals and in terrific shape.We traveled the southern route from Mt Cook towards Milford Sound, through Queenstown (the adrenaline city). Where we boogie boarded down our way down some whitewater rapids. It was a quite a rush but fun!!We then headed up north and spent three days mountain biking on the charlotte track, which is a single track at the northern point of the South Island. Our accommodations were cool. Some very rustic but with great views, other accommodations were more modern but with their own unique settings. We came back to Christchurch and departed from the group. Justin and I spent two more days in Christchurch doing laundry (it was very much needed) and relaxing. From Christchurch we headed to Sydney Australia. We spent the next two days touring the city. We walked through the Botanical gardens; saw the opera house visited the aquarium. We met up with one of the guys from the trip Daniel from Sydney. He took us to a great restaurant. He also showed us around the Suburbs of Sydney and then we all went to the Taronga zoo, which we thought was better than the San Diego zoo. You can get closer to the animals!!! We also met up with Court's friends from when she went to University in Australia Tim and Croz. From Sydney we drove down south to check out the University of Wollongong - Court's university she went to. It was fun to see and hear all her stories ? we also went to Jervis Bay and saw some kangaroos. We then headed back up to Sydney and spent a couple more days touring the city. From Sydney we flew back to Cairns where we spent 2 nights in the Daintree rainforest. We went to a crocodile farm and saw some crocs as well as many other Australian animals. Cairns was very hot and humid and the sun was strong!! Our trip back was quite interesting. We left Cairns at 1:30am and flew to Guam arriving at 6:30 am. We then got a room and slept for a couple of hours and then got back on the plane had a stop over in Japan and then arrived in Hawaii for 24hours where we tried to get used to the time difference and enjoyed the last warm days of our trip. We took our 3rd red eye to Los Angeles then to Cleveland and finally home. We both had a wonderful time but are exhausted and are having trouble adjusting back to EST. We slept an hour last night but ended up staying up to 5 am. ? One interesting thing that occurred to us on our travels was that we ended up on a flight with the Amazing race. They were taping the next season and it was cool to see what was going on behind the scenes. Our trip was awesome. We met some amazing people on our way and hand some wonderful experiences. Now that we are back we are looking forward to spending the holidays with our family. We wash everyone a wonderful holiday season and thanks for reading about our travels.Happy holidays and Best wished to you and your family.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1165548540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1165548540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1165548540/tpod.html Thu, 07 Dec 2006 22:40:37 -0500 We are off to Hawaii, Guam, Australia and New Zealand for some adventure and fun

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Sydney, Australia

Hi All, We have only a moment to write so this will have to be continued. We have fallen way behind in the journal writing b/c we just spent 14 days touring around NZ biking hiking and sea kayaking. Most places we stayed were very romote and we could not find much time or many places to email.  We did meet  some amazing people and have some amazing stories to tell.  We will write more soon, I promise . We have gotten a few emails wondering if we are okay and we were are fine. We are currently in Sydney Australia we have been here 3 days and will be here 3 more. Then back to Carins for a couple of days. CheersC and J
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1163628060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1163628060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1163628060/tpod.html Thu, 16 Nov 2006 17:25:17 -0500 We are off to Hawaii, Guam, Australia and New Zealand for some adventure and fun

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Heron Island, Australia

Hi All, We want to thank each and every one of you who gave us money towards an experience for our wedding. We decided to splurge and use it towards a week on the Great Barrier Reef. First, we took a helicopter out to the island which was absolutely amazing!!! We saw turtles, rays and sharks from above. Plus the day we flew out was very calm so the pilot was able to fly us very close to the water, it was an amazing experience!!! We are currently on Heron Island which is about 3 hours off the Coast of Brisbane Australia. The Island itself is small we can walk the perimeter in under an hour but it has lots to offer. The island is part of the reef so you can just walk onto the beach and have a snorkel. Heron island is also home to many types of birds species and there are currently over 100,000 birds nesting on the island! We have birds outside our window and they sing, fight and talk all day and all night long. My favorites are the mutton birds, which are sea birds that make their nests in the ground and stay up all night singing a very unique song much like a baby crying!!! Thank goodness for the complimentary ear plugs in our rooms. The hotel is an eco friendly hotel with 110 rooms. We were fortunate enough to get a ocean front room and we can see the reef and beach from our balcony. The snorkeling is the best we have ever seen. On the first day, I counted 15 black tip and white tip reef sharks around us at one time. There are dozens of big majestic turtles not at all afraid and just going about their business. Yesterday we snorkeled a wreck and saw some amazing tropical fish. The reef is so alive an vibrant!! During snorkeling we also a saw clown fish so yes, we found Nemo. We also saw a sea hare which is a huge snail like creature that is looks like a giant piece of romaine lettuce. One big plus is that it is green turtle nesting season and we got up one morning at the of dawn to view the turtles coming up on the beach to lay their eggs. It was a much better experience than Toreguero ( our volunteer experience in Costa Rica)Withing 30 feet of our room, we saw over 15 turtles surface lay their eggs and then return to the ocean. It was a spectacular experience. I would highly recommend this Island to all who love both marine animals and birds. We did dive but found the snorkeling at this particular spot had more fish and critters than the dive so we opted for more snorkeling than diving. Justin did do a night dive and saw turtles but did not see any sharks Of all our experiences so far this was the coolest! Being so up close with both marine life and birds (We had two birds visit us every morning and hang out with us on the porch) is such a wonderful we would definitely come back here! We are leaving today heading back to the main land and driving to Brisbane, hopefully our driving skills will improve. We will be meeting up with our friends. Will write more later Cheers,C and J
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1163231580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1163231580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1163231580/tpod.html Sat, 11 Nov 2006 03:07:24 -0500 We are off to Hawaii, Guam, Australia and New Zealand for some adventure and fun

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Cairns, Australia

So we got into Cairns Australia (the town where everybody leaves for the Great Barrier Reef) a couple of nights ago and have spent the last two days driving around and checking things out. Driving on the left hand side of the road isn't too difficult to manage. Driving a car from the wrong side is darn near impossible to get right. Not only do you have to shift with your left hand (we got stuck with a manual) but all the controls are turned around backwards! So...australian drivers have had to learn that when I turn my windhsield wipers on, I am preparing to turn!Other than that Austtralia is pretty amazing. Its not as dramatic a difference as traveling to South America but it is a lot earier traveling. We've seen a few wallabies (little kangaroos) some interesting birds, went swimming in Mossman Gorge (amazingly clear water) and won a little money at the Cairns Casino. The big stuff starts tomorrow when we take off for Heron Island out on the reef. We decided to splurge and take a chopper over so that we could get a birds eye view of things before diving under water.Anyways, off to dinner!! We'll add more when we get back from the island.Cheers!C & J
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1163135460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1163135460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1163135460/tpod.html Thu, 09 Nov 2006 00:33:15 -0500 We are off to Hawaii, Guam, Australia and New Zealand for some adventure and fun

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Hagatna, Guam

Hi, We are currently on a lay over in Guam. We went over the international date line so we lost a day. But before I explain Guam let me back up to Hawaii. We left our hotel and traveled to Honoulu to stay with two of our friends from San Francsico, Jennifer and Paul. They recently bought a house on Oahu and now live there almost full time. Their house is gorgeous very Hawaiin with a lanai and everything. We were stayed with them for 2 nights and got to see Hawaii from their perspective which was great b/c Jennifer lived there for 6 years when she was younger. We did an amazing hike got to do some wonderful snorkeling in a very famous cove as well as had spectacular food and the best fresh fruit. Thank you so much Jennifer and Paul for making our stay in Ohau so memorable. We left Oahu flew 7 hours to Guam and arrived last night. I have been up since 3:30 and JV since 4:30. These time changes can be quite the nuisance. We both are beat but somehow we were able to some great snorkeling. Guam is known for their snorkeling and diving and we saw some pretty cool fish neither one of us had seen before. Although Guam is built up and has a big military base the beaches are amazing with white sand and reefs you can snorkel on all day long. We will be leaving tonight for Cairns, Australia and we are both looking forward to staying in one place for a couple of days. Justin and I want to say a big Happy birthday to Tim my Dad as his birthday is tomorrow (our time ) or November 10th yours. We will write more. Thanks for checking in C and J
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1162766820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1162766820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justincourt/australia_-2006/1162766820/tpod.html Sun, 05 Nov 2006 18:04:45 -0500 We are off to Hawaii, Guam, Australia and New Zealand for some adventure and fun

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Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

Aloha everyone, Justin and I have begun our second trip. This time to the pacific where our first stop is Oahu. We have been here three nights. The first three nights we stayed on the north shore, this is where all the big wave surf competitions are held. Now that we have adjusted to the time change (sorry Hil and Bry for the late phone call :) We have been snorkeling every morning. A highlight was seeing an octopus change from red to white! Th reefs are full of beautiful fish and Hawaii is beautiful and so lush and green it so cool that it is part of the US. Yesterday we tried our hands at surfing and actually rode quite a few. We are a little sore today but it feels good to get a big workout in. We have some definite favorites. One was ahi poke raw tuna with maka (white and brown) rice in a spicy soy sauce yummy. Another is Matsumo's shaved ice it is really good snow cone with a list of 100 flavors my favorites being pineapple, mango, vanilla coconut and lychee (a sweet Asian fruit). We are currently on our way to spend a couple of days with two of our friends who live in Hawaii part time and live in SF part time. They live on the other side of the island so it will be nice to see other parts. We have only taken a few photos but will get all up soon.Love to all C and J
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