TravelStream™ news feed for member libbee on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/libbee en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:01:13 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/libbee/4/1255701586/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/libbee/4/1255701586/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/libbee/4/1255701586/tpod.html Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:01:13 -0400 Vancouver

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Seattle, Washington, United States

Friday up and out early to hit the road to Seattle, it was a rather straight forward journey two and a half hours a round about. The major hold up is crossing the USA boarder. Boy are they uptight and intense! They searched the car, quizzed us on all sorts of details, then made us go inside, fill in forms, take finger prints, photos and pay $6. Stroppy bunch of people. Although we did get them to crack a smile, which was an achievement!

Aziza dropped us in Seattle, she then went off to spend the weekend with her sister, bother in law and nephew. Don, Tracey and I stayed in a hostel with interesting art work on the bedroom walls, not my taste. First impressions on the city were thoughts of wet, dull and very grunge! But over the course of the weekend my views changed. We went up the space needle first up, as it was raining it was kinda pointless as we were in the rainy clouds and the visibility was poor, we knew this when buying the tickets so we got a 24 hour ticket in the hope it would clear up the next day. The weekend we were in town it so happened to be a jazz festival on, so lots of gigs were happening about town. Prior to going up the needle we pre-booked to go to a performance. It was fantastic, we saw a big band group of highly awarded high school students. They were great! Afterwards live music was in the bar above so we chilled and chatted there for a while.

Saturday our sight seeing continued with Pike Place Markets and a harbour cruise – at which point the city redeemed itself. It stopped raining long enough for us to go outside of the top deck and really get a good look at the city. The commentator was very informative and I learnt a lot. After the cruise the blue sky had amazingly appeared so we dashed back to the space needle. Being Saturday the ques were huge, the time we got up the top it was cloudy again, but clear enough to see a bit more than previously. That night Don found a venue for some Salsa dancing, not my favourite kind of dancing but non the less. While Don and Tracey were having spin this man came up to me for a dance and began to teach me, he was from Peru, within 20mins he had me out on the floor for two dances, he was a brilliant teacher and I came away feeling so much happier about Salsa.

Sunday I was really keen to check out Pastor Mark Driscoll of Marshill Church. I have been listening to his podcasts and he is brilliant. It was about a 20min taxi ride but well worth it. He was preaching and was great, he is passionate and on fire, easy to listen to and makes the word make sense. He is currently doing a series through Luke. It is good stuff. The service itself was good, it was in keeping with the culture of Seattle, the worship was heavy and a little rock. I enjoyed it and Don and Tracey could see why I wanted to visit. That afternoon Aziza picked us up and we headed back to Vancouver.



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Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Vancouver was awesome, it is a beautiful city nestled by the coast with magnificent mountains as a backdrop. The city felt so empty compared to the hussle and bussle of London, there are only 2 Million people residing in Vancouver.

I arrived on Wednesday evening and just chilled with Aziza and Dallas (her boyfriend who lives in OZ) we went to the movies, was cool with me as I was quite tired from the flight. On Thursday the rest of the international guests arrived, Don and Amy from London and Aziza's good friend Tracey from Perth. That night we all went out for dinner along with Aziza’s Canadian friends for her (pre) birthday dinner. Also in attendance was her sister with husband and 8 month old baby.

Early Friday we all piled into Senior (Aziza’s very old 6 seater car with lots of character) and went to board the ferry for Vancouver Island. The crossing took 1.5 hours. I was under the impression that the Island would be small, I was wrong, it is huge! We were staying in the wop wops in this amazing coastal house, which had stunning views across the sea to the mountains in America, the house was decked out in lovely furniture and lots of ornaments, books, nick nacks just like a real homely home. The bedrooms were wonderful, big beds with pillows, feather quilts and teddies! It was so peaceful! O and of course how could I forget the Hot Tub, which was outside! We got good use from it in the evenings after long days out sight seeing!

While on the Island we went whale watching, we saw 3 whales about 100m away, we watched them surface about 3 or 4 times. They put on a good show for us splashing their tails and waving their fins. While on the 3 hour tour we also saw an Island full of sea lions! They were huge, smelly and noisy. Also a big cluster of sea birds doing thier thing out on the water and seals chasing fish. It was an awesome tour, very personal too as it was just the gang of use with the driver on a small inflatable boat. Sunday we attended a little Baptist church just down the road, it was nice. After church we drove to the capitol, Victoria for lunch and a quick look around.

On Aziza’s Birthday we did our own winery tour. There were lots of wineries on the Island, all in close proximity. To add a bit of fun to our tour we popped into a tat shop and brought some cheap headdresses, masks, glasses etc it made for some much fun and laughter being dressed up. The next day we went ziplining, where by we were driven up in a quad bike to the start of the lines, we were hooked onto the lines, let go and went flying through the trees, it was lots of fun, the instructors were very friendly and informative, it was a great way to see the forest. In the evenings and for breakky we did our own cooking so needless to say we ate well! We also had a Thanksgiving roast with pumpkin pie, as it was the Thanksgiving long weekend.

Tuesday we headed back to Vancouver.

Wednesday Aziza took us to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, very cool and to Grouse Mountain, which we reached the top via the cable car we had lovely views down on Vancouver as we went up, when we got to the top we were in the clouds and mist as it was a rainy day. On the mountain in the winter is skiing etc and there also lives two grizzly bears, I got to see one of them, impressive creatures, big and scary! That night for dinner we went to a place called Earls for dinner, they did the best ribs. The meat just fell off the bone! Amazing! I tell you the food and the service of it in Canada is outstanding compared to London. I guess the tipping culture installs insures this!

On Thursday Aziza spent the day with Dallas, as he was leaving that evening. It was nice to for us to get amongst the city and really check it out. Don, Amy, Tracey and I went into Downtown and hired bikes for the day, first up we went to Stanley Park, the equivalent of Hyde Park, very lovely, beautiful trees with autumn leaves, we cycled around the parameter which was along the water front, all very lovely, with views across the harbour to North Vancouver and the mountains. We stopped along the way for a bite to eat in a very posh teahouse. I had soup with a melted gooey cheese sandwich. We then cycled about Vancouver to Chinatown, visited the Japanese Gardens and back to the harbour for a few drinks before returning the bikes and heading up to the revolving restaurant for the sunset. That evening we met up with Aziza for dinner on Grandville Island – not really an island but a piece of land that sticks out, it is arty and has a nice produce market during the day, also has great view of the city buildings on the other side of the harbour.

What a beautiful city!

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/libbee/3/1226347260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/libbee/3/1226347260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/libbee/3/1226347260/tpod.html Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:04:00 -0500 Edinburgh and St Andrews

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Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

A great weekend with friends in Edinburgh! We stayed in a lovely Bed and Breakfast, which was a good 20 min walk from town, it had amazingly comfy beds and a nice large bathroom. After arriving a dropping off our things we headed into town to visit the Edinburgh Castle, high up on a rock/hill in the city centre, it is a beautiful castle with lovely views. While in the castle we also saw the crown jewels, at 1pm they fired the canon, it was scary, I wasn't expecting it! After strolling about the Castle we ventured down the Royal Mile (which is 1 Mile from the Castle to the Queens residence at the bottom of the street). Along the Royal Mile is mainly tacky tourist souvenir shops, Nicky bought a lovely cashmere scarf with lovely bright colours and it is so soft! We stopped along the way for a meal in a nice little restaurant.
At the end of the Royal Mile we looked upon the Holyrood Palace where the Queen abides when she is in town. And directly opposite is the 'lovely' house of parliament (I am being very sarcastic there!) It is not that nice, looks really out of place, a modern building a an old city.

I had told the girls about Authers Seat the mountain which holds wonderful views of Edinburgh, so feeling very ambitious we started the trek up the hill. Libbee leading the way, Kara soon behind and Nicky dragging her feet at the back! It was a great laugh, as I took them off the path in order to make a quick route straight up the side of the hill. Feeling very puffed we made it to the top. And the view was certainly worth it.

After our journey back down we rewarded ourselves with some yummy fudge... then after a while of walking and searching we went to a bar for a quite meal and a drink, before heading back our accommodation for an early night, as we were all total exhausted from our early flight and day of exploring the city.

On Sunday Lynn the lovely owner of the B n B served as an scrumptious breakfast, fruit and yogurt followed by a wonderful cooked breakfast, coffee and juice... mmmm it was a great start to the day. Kara left our company to catch her flight back to London. Nicky and I jumped on the train to St Andrews, it was only a 1 hour journey from the city of Edinburgh. We had booked to go on a day tour, but it was cancelled as there weren't enough people attending. It worked in our favour as we bought train tickets cheaper than what the tour would cost and made our own way up there.

It was a cold day with a bitter wind, but it was a bright sunny day, we had fun in St Andrews, it isn't that big, so we visited the ruins of the cathedral, castle, walked along the pier, took some pictures of the golf green, bought a coffee and headed back to Edinburgh.

Back in Edinburgh we finished checking out the city for the rest of the day, which included a stroll up the Calton Hill which had some more monuments and then back to the Royal Mile to finish looking at the shops. Then to the airport for our evening flight home.

A great weekend with great friends.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/libbee/2/1223154240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/libbee/2/1223154240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/libbee/2/1223154240/tpod.html Sat, 04 Oct 2008 17:15:59 -0400 Greek Islands and Turkey Contiki Cruise

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Athens, Attica, Greece

Tracey and I had a fab time cruising the Greek Islands!!

We arrived about midday on Sunday, we met Lauree (Tracey's sister) at the airport and caught the taxi to our hotel. Upon dropping off our things we headed out to explore Athens, first priority was lunch. We found a restaurant nearby and ordered several meals to share, Mousakka, Tziki and 2 other meaty dishes. It was great food! Very tasty. From there we spied the Acropolis up on the hill, so we huffed and puffed in the heat of the day to the top. Along the way we met a guy from Melbourne called Sal, so he tagged along with us for company. The views on the way up were amazing, Athens is huge, it is a sprawling city, for miles you can see white/sand stone buildings, they glisten in the sun like specs of sand on the beach. At the top we walked through the ruins and spent some time taking pictures of the view.

At this stage I began to feel a bit of culture shock.... 3 hours ago I was in London and now I am standing in ancient ruins, how can this be... and feeling a little overwhelmed.

From there we walked down and visited the Temple of Zeus, the Olympic Stadium, The National Gardens and then the Parliament house and also watched 3 guards walk by in their very odd uniform as they went to change over.

Back to the hotel we freshen up for the evening as we met out Contiki Companions and went out for the Athens Plaka Meal, with dancing! It was a nice evening, but was happy to get to bed, as had been up since 3am for the flight.

The next day, up early we all took the coach to the port to board our cruise ship the Aqua Marine, it wasn't that flash, being built in 1971, but was pretty impressive never the less. We set sailed to our first Island Mykonos, we all disembarked and spent several hours on the Island, checking out the cute ally's with all the shops. I indulged in a white belgium chocolate crepe with Baileys... mmm.... it was lovely. At 7:54pm the sunset, all the tourists gathered about to watch. It was amazing... once the sun sank everyone clapped! and I thanked God. After watching the sunset we had a little longer to look about the shops, we had to be back on the boat by 10pm as the Captain waited for no one!!! and we were leaving. Drained I went to bed, it was a rocky night on the top buck!

Day three we awoke and found ourselves in Turkey! After a buffet breakfast we disembarked and I joined the optional tour to ancient Ephesus, whilst Tracey and Lauree had a scrub down at the Turkish Baths. I am so glad that I did this tour. The city was awesome. The ruins are amazing, we had a great guide to who was very informative. In this region Paul commenced his ministry. We were then taken to a carpet sales room and shown many beautiful carpets and served apple tea. Interesting stuff.... but very expensive. After the tour, Emma (contiki friend) and I toured the Bazaar, I bought a ring, I got it bargined down from 30 euro to 15 euro... I was happy! and brought a shawl. Turkey was lovely. No time to loiter... back on the boat for Buffet lunch as we continued on to the Island of Patmos. At 2:30 each day games were held on the pool deck, this was a lot of fun to watch, Tracey had a great time participating, you can find out about this by reading her blogg!

At Patmos most of us took a hike up to the top of the Island were the cave is in which St John abode in while he was captive on the Island, I went inside, there was a worn down hole in the cave wall were they say he rested his head and above this there was a crack in the ceiling where they say he had his revelation from God. Further up to the top of the Island was the monastery of the apocalypse. It was a nice place. But the views from the top of the Island were stunning! After making our way all the way down I went for a quick dip in the little beach area. Then back on the boat to set sail again.

All 3 meals were included on board, and snacks thoughout the day, along with an all inclusive drinks cards, which I we paid 20 euros a day for, this allowed us to drink as many drinks as we wished from the selected list and they were esentially free! It was great, the cocktail of the day was also on this list and also other things like ice coffee and ice cream, so it was well worth it.

This night was the Contiki Cocktail evening followed by Greek Dinner. We had a fun night in the disco dancing.

Day four we awoke to the Island of Rhodes, this was a lovely Island, it had lots of shops!! There was the old city surrounded by huge walls and then the rest outside the walls, we wandered about the shops for a while and then made our way to the beach, we went for a dip and then lounged on the sun chairs for a price of 4 euro each. It was lovely, soaking in the sun that I miss so dearly. This little asian lady was walking amongst the deck chairs selling massages. So Tracey asked for a Leg and Foot Massage, she was throughly enjoying it and I was eagerly waiting for her to finish so I could experiance the same pleasure... but just as she was finishing up her friend came running up shouting to her and then she ran off.... the police were after her!! It was obviously illegal!!! It was amusing watching them play cat and mouse as she ducked and hid amoungst the chairs. She didn't get time to collect the payment, so Tracey got it for Free!!!

Back on the boat... This night was the captains dinner, so we got to meet the Captain, shake his hand and had dinner. There was a bar and a disco onboard so we all hung out there till the early hours. Whilst in Rhodes I brought some cute little black sandals to wear with my black dress that I packed, also brought a cheap bracelet to match my ring from Turkey.

Day Five, Crete, our tour manager told us that if we didn't get off the boat we would miss much, but with curiosity we got off and found out for ourselves that it was a bore! partly because we have to dock in the in ports with the cruise ship and miss out on the smaller areas and beaches, happy to be back on the boat we cruised to the highlight of the trip, Santorini. We took tender boats to shore then piled into a coach, which took us up the windy and particularly hairy coastal road to the top of the Island to the area with the lovely white buildings perched on the cliff side with the bright blue dome roofs, everyone had a great time here, snapping away with their cameras.

We only had limited time before we had to get back on the coach to be taken to the town of Oia with more beautiful views from the top of the island and were we would take our journey down the island via cable car or donkey.... so how did I get down.... yup you bet.... Donkey! Humm, so I thought it would be a pleasant ride down a small little path, hummm yeah NO not at all.... it was a windy cobble path, and the donkey (mine was more like a horse) hoofs slipped on the stones, it was scary, I thought I would fall off. The whole experience lasted about 20mins. Yikes was I glad to be off that Donkey! On the journey down the hill the sun was setting, it was stunning!!! Very beautiful!!!

Back to the boat for a shower, to wash away Donkey smell! Tonight was our last night on the boat and was going to apparently be an all nighter for some. After another nice dinner we went to the disco where I danced the night away, while others sat and chatted. About 2am I headed to bed. As we had to be up at 6am the next day to pack up and leave!

Back in Athens we bid farewell to each other. Most of us had time to kill before catching flights in the evening, so some of us chilled at a cafe for late brekky. A few of us then jumped on the little train that tours Athens, Tracey and Lauree went to look about the markets. I thought it would be a relaxing tour, without having exhert much energy, but at the Acropolis we all jumped off, so up I hiked again! Not too much of a bother as how often does one get to be in Athens. We had a wonderful time up there, we took lot of cool photos doing some fun poses.

We then made our way to the airport to farewell Lauree and relax for a few hours until our flight, this is when the trouble hit, as our flight was suppose to leave at 9:30pm but we didn't get to board until 12 midnight, it was not nice. We were dog tired, operating on 4 hours sleep from the night before and just wanting to be home. 4:30am we got back home!

Overall it was a fabulas time, the group of us all got along really well, we had fun exploring and hanging about on the boat, everyone was so friendly. We had lots of laughs and good times!

xo
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/libbee/1/1223153280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/libbee/1/1223153280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/libbee/1/1223153280/tpod.html Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:54:24 -0400 Cambridge!

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Cambridge, England, United Kingdom

Aziza and I had a great time in Cambridge! We caught the National Express Coach up from London, it only took 1 and half hours.

When we got there it was very fogging, we found the Jump on Jump off city tour bus and hoped on board. Our first stop was the Round Church. It is a church that is round, quite cute! We strolled the streets, wandered about a cool art and craft market. We came to Kings Colledge, I was hesitant to pay 5 pounds for admission to Kings' College, but so happy that I did as was stunning, the ceiling was amazing! Very detailed stone work and the stain glass windows that took 30 years to install! it was fabulas, we then walked around the manquired grounds, the buildings were so impressive and the lawns were very well kept, with the perfect pattern mawn into it. By this time the day had cleared very nicely, the sky was blue and clear.

We continued to walk about the town, having a cornish pastie for lunch and purchasing our Cambridge Sweat Shirts from the local market. We boarded the bus to make our way to the River Cam for Punting! We jumped on board the punt with a group of other sight seers, it was a fun experience as the river was choc a block with other guided punts and people who had hired a punt, so as you can imagine... they were not very good! (Punting is a like a gondola but the bottom of the boat is flat. A person stands on the back with a long pole, using it to push the boat along and steer it)

Here is something interesting that I found out from our punting guide. Prince Charles attended one of the colleges, his dorm he had 6 rooms and 2 bathrooms. He had his body guards attend his lectures. One of the body guards asked if he could sit the exams as he had been in all the lectures, so they allowed him to do so and he got a higher grade than Prince Charles!!!!

After our Punt, we jumped on the last bus of the day, which took us around the last part of the city tour. Cambridge is beautiful, made up of 31 colleges which are collectively Cambridge University, all so stunning. Not too busy either with only a population of about 100 thousand.

With time to spare before our coach home, we grabbed a bite to eat then walked back to coach. We got back to London at 8:30pm, what a lovely day away from the city of London.

xo
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