TravelStream™ news feed for member traylertravels on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/traylertravels en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 11 Jan 2009 08:35:54 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1231679280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1231679280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1231679280/tpod.html Sun, 11 Jan 2009 08:35:54 -0500 TRAYLER TRAVELS RIDES AGAIN! THE WORLD TOUR THAT WASN'T, WILL BE ONCE MORE!

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Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Well that's it people ...we're back!Our trip of a lifetime is officially over, but in true-to-form Trayler fashion, naturally things didn't go without a hitch ...We got picked up & taken to the airport at 7.30am (and all was well). Then we checked in & got rid of all our luggage at the qantas desk (and all was still well). After checking in we had just over 2 hours to kill (which we did fantastically with a spot of shopping ... oh, and all was still well).Then it was time to board the plane (and that's where things went pear shaped!) You see we finally got the snow we had been hoping for ... unfortunately, it was when planes were supposed to be flying! So we were held up on the boarding tarmac for TWO HOURS waiting for people who were running late from an earier flight, then we missed our turn in the take off order, then they had to de-ice the plane for take off ... you get my drift.So we finally got into Singapore 2 hours late (which meant we were over an hour late for our connecting flight back to Perth!) They held this plane up as well (bet the people already on it were a little cranky!) so all 72 of us could catch our flight home.So anyway ... about 6 or 7 movies & several sitcom episodes later, we finally arrived at 4.20pm, but didn't clear customs until about 5.15pm! Poor old Chris, Alina & the kids, as well as my mum & dad, were all sitting there from just after 3 o'clock waiting for us to arrive!!!!We are now back at mum & dad's, until we sort our stuff out & pick up the keys to our house.It's been an amazing journey ... and we want to thank you all for letting us share it with you!!!To those of you that we caught up with overseas - "til next time" ... and to those of you who are in Perth - "see you soon"This is Kylie & Ian ... Traylertravels, signing off!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1231535760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1231535760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1231535760/tpod.html Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:20:50 -0500 TRAYLER TRAVELS RIDES AGAIN! THE WORLD TOUR THAT WASN'T, WILL BE ONCE MORE!

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London, England, United Kingdom

So this is it people ...We arrived back in London at Gatwick Airport, then caught the airport bus towards the city centre. The bus actually passes not far from Mark & Vanessa's place, so we decided to jump off and walk. Unfortunately, we walked in the wrong direction & ended up in a more unsavoury part of town! We reacted appropriately (Ian said don't stress ... and I had a melt down!), then we found the right way home.Our last day was spent in London preparing for the trip home. I had to convince Ian that our bags were not overweight - which he was happy to accept once I called Qantas asking for our load limits & then we threw him onto the bathroom scales, carrying each of our bags (& his bike box!) to test their weights.We made a short trip out to do a spot of shopping, then back to organise dinner - our final dinner in London. The final specialty of the trip was HAGGIS!Whilst it isn't the greatest looking dish in the world - it certainly tasted alright!After dinner we sat up with Mark & Vanessa and played cards well into the night - perhaps not that bright considering we have to get up in 3 hours to go to the airport!So this is really it ... the end of Trayler Travels' world tour. It's been wonderful. We've met some amazing people along the way & seen and done some really awesome things. To our friends (both old & new), thank you so much for being part of this experience - we will never forget it!!!The next time you hear from us (or see us!) we will be back in Perth, trying to fit back into regular life. Wish us luck.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1231463580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1231463580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1231463580/tpod.html Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:35:20 -0500 TRAYLER TRAVELS RIDES AGAIN! THE WORLD TOUR THAT WASN'T, WILL BE ONCE MORE!

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Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

After returning the car, we headed back to Nathan & Jayde's to drop off our gear before taking off on a whirlwind, final tour of Dublin.In just under four hours we managed to fit in 3 very interesting sights - the Chester Beatty Library, The Book of Kells (at Trinity College), and the National Museum.The Chester Beatty Library had an amazing collection of extraordinary old books. There were old copies of the Bible & the Qu'ran, as well as information on how these sorts of books were written and illustrated. There was also heaps about the different types of religion in the world.The Book of Kells continued our book theme. It was a display in the library of Trinity College of a variety of books dating back to about 800AD, telling stories of Irish history and the Gospel. The books were also illuminated - generally with gold. There was also a video presentation showing exactly how the books would have been written & bound at the time. Upstairs there was another really impressive library. Unfortunately, you weren't actually allowed to get anywhere near the books!Our final stop of the afternoon was the National Museum. We had been hanging out to see the 'bog bodies' since we arrived, and we finally got the chance. The bog bodies are, just as their name suggests, well preserved bodies of people who had been killed (often brutally) and then placed in the Irish bogs throughout the country. (It brought back memories of Juanita from South America). Other interesting sights at the museum included, a Viking exhibit, old croziers (hooked staffs) from Irish monasteries and graveslabs from various tomb sites.We got booted out of the museum at 5pm, then headed back to Nathan & Jayde's. Tonight we went out for a slap up meal to celebrate our final night in Dublin. Brian came along as well. We went to a place called Dobbins and it was very posh and very nice.Tomorrow we catch the bus back to Dublin airport, then fly back to London. The Trayler Travels are almost over ...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1231374240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1231374240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1231374240/tpod.html Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:12:55 -0500 TRAYLER TRAVELS RIDES AGAIN! THE WORLD TOUR THAT WASN'T, WILL BE ONCE MORE!

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Doolin, County Clare, Ireland

After another Irish cooked breakfast, we headed off towards the Killarney National Park. Only a couple of Kms in, we found Muckross House - an old home built in 1643. But it was more like a castle. It was set up as it would have been in the 1860s & it was really good. The family that lived there even had a visit from Queen Victoria - they planned & prepared for five years ... and she was there for two days!!!! (It also set the family on their way to bankruptcy!)After the tour of Muckross House we continued on through the National Park & around the road known as the Ring of Kerry. There were some nice views along the way and it took about 3 hours to reach Tarbert. Here we put the car on the ferry, getting off about 20min later at Killimer. From here we drove another hour north to a town called Doolin.We found ourselves a B&B, then went down to the local pub for dinner. After a big feed, we headed back to our digs and settled in for the night.Next morning we headed out to see the Cliffs of Moher. It was a little chilly, but the view was really good. From there we drove across to Clonmacnoise, an old monastic sight. It was quite interesting. We even saw the tomb of St Kairan, the guy who started a lot of the monasteries in Ireland.Our last stop for the night was at Navan - to find ourselves a B&B. Once that was done, we popped out for a quick bite to eat, then back to the B&B for an early night (that turned into a late night watching terrible tv!)We were up early next morning to squeeze in one last visit before returning the car to Dublin. We paid a visit to a place called Bru Na Boinne. It's the area that houses some of the largest passage tomb burial sights in the world. We did a tour of Newgrange - a massive passage tomb that was built 500 years before the pyramids ... but with the knowhow to not let a single drop of rain enter the tomb for over 5000 years!After a great visit - Ian & I were the only ones on our tour - we made the hour drive back to Dublin.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1231281120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1231281120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1231281120/tpod.html Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:09:47 -0500 TRAYLER TRAVELS RIDES AGAIN! THE WORLD TOUR THAT WASN'T, WILL BE ONCE MORE!

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Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland

We spent a quiet New Year's with Jayde & Nathan after getting back from Belfast that night. Despite not having much to drink, we still didn't get to bed until after 4am! So New Year's Day was spent in pyjamas, whiling the day away.The next day we went and picked up our hire car to begin our road trip. Then Jayde rang and asked if we wanted a refugee. So she threw a bag together, then met us down the hire place. We decided to get to Kilkenny by that night, so that Nathan could catch the bus down and meet us there.On the way we stopped at the Powerscourt Waterfall in County Wicklow - certainly no Niagara, but we did have a good giggle at the clothes some people were wearing to hike around the place!Our next stop was Kilkenny Castle - only to find that all the tours were booked out for the afternoon! There was not enough time to get to Jerpoint Abbey (our other possible stop for the area) before it shut, so we went and had a snack, then set about finding some accommodation for the evening. We were blown away by the prices being asked by the B&Bs in the area (considering it's not exactly high season or in Dublin!), so we decided to settle on a night in a hostel.Saturday morning we headed to Kilkenny Castle for the tour - it was pretty good, the castle has been done up just as it would have been in the 1800s. After a quick look round the grounds, we headed towards Jerpoint Abbey and were very disappointed to find that it wasn't open (when it actually should have been!) So we gave up and headed towards Cashel, to see the Rock of Cashel. Nate & Jayde had done it before, so only Ian & I went in. It was another ruins similar to some of the ones we'd seen in Wales and Scotland. Our final stop for the night was Cahir. We found ourselves a semi-reasonably priced B&B, then headed into town for some dinner. It was nice to have a warm bed & a hot shower too!Sunday morning we drove out to the Swiss House near Cahir. We knew that it was shut for winter, but decided to go out & have a look anyway. From there we stopped at Mitchelstown Cave. Whilst the cave itself had some pretty cool natural features, it wasn't that big, and really didn't warrant the 7 euro tickets for a simple half hour tour.Next stop - Blarney Castle. We'd been looking forward to this one & it didn't disappoint. The day was perfect, nice blue sky, and the castle wasn't crowded, so we didn't have to wait long to kiss the Blarney Stone. So now we have 'the gift of the gab'!After Blarney we drove on to Cork, had a spot of late lunch, then Jayde & Nathan headed to the train. Unfortunately they had to work on Monday, so had to cut the road trip short. We continued on to Killarney where we found a B&B and settled in for the night - ready to continue the road trip the next morning.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1230825000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1230825000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1230825000/tpod.html Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:54:17 -0500 TRAYLER TRAVELS RIDES AGAIN! THE WORLD TOUR THAT WASN'T, WILL BE ONCE MORE!

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Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

We got a call from Brian (one of the guys on our tour of China back in 2006) & we arranged to meet at the station to hop a bus up to Belfast.We were away by 9am & there just before 12 noon. When we arrived Brian took us straight to the hostel to see if it was possible for us to pick up a day tour the next day (cause if we couldn't, we would have caught the bus back later that night). Brian had a concert to go to, so was only able to stay for the afternoon.When our tour was sorted & our hostel room booked, we went off for a look around the city of Belfast. We saw the oldest pub in Ireland, the Europa Hotel (the most bombed hotel IN THE WORLD!), the Town Hall & the Christmas lights.After checking out the tourist information centre, we caught a taxi down to the Titanic Quarter, to pick up a tour of Titanic's Dock & Pumphouse. Belfast was where Titanic & her sister ship, Olympic were made, and where Titanic left from on her first (and final!) voyage. As the Irish say ... she was fine when she left here! The tour was quite interesting & we were just amazed at the pure size of the ship!After the tour we were picked up by Belfast Taxi Tours - a black cab that took us for a 90 minute ride through the main areas of Belfast that were involved in The Troubles between the Catholics & the Prodestants. We dropped Brian at the bus station & just Ian and I went on the tour. It was pretty interesting. There is a ruling here that taxis have to have numberplate tags based on their religion, so the guy told us not to worry if we got bad looks, etc, it was for him (as a catholic taxi in the prodestant area!) Luckily, we didn't see any responses like that, but in the areas he took us to, the troubles still run deep. Depending on who you ask, the peace process is working well - but not well enough according to our guy. We saw places where people had been gunned down or bombed by both the English military & both sides. He showed us the murals & memorials to victims of the times - the vast majority of whom were civilians & children! We still didn't know what to think when we got back to our room - you always feel like you're only getting one side of the story & then don't know who to believe! Anyway, enough about that...We spent a quiet night in our room before heading down for a bacon & egg breaky before our day tour to the Giant's Causeway. We drove up the Causeway Coastal Road, with lots of amazing scenery, all the way to the north coast of Ireland. Along the way we stopped at Carrickfergus Castle & Carrick-a-rede Ropebridge (unfortunately the bridge is shut for the winter, so no swinging on a rope 25m above the sea & rocks!)The Giant's Causeway looks like a massive series of building blocks perched up against the cliff faces. They were a bit slippery & quite smelly down where the tide had come in & gone back out, but not bad to look at.We went from there to quickly look at the ruins of Dunluce Castle & take a couple of snaps, before stopping at the World's oldest licenced whiskey distillery at Bushmills. Unfortunately, it too was shut for the New Year break, so we only got to see it from the outside.Despite not being able to see or do a couple of things, we still had a great day & then jumped on a bus at 5pm to head back to Dublin where New Year's Eve awaited!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1230824820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1230824820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1230824820/tpod.html Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:26:59 -0500 TRAYLER TRAVELS RIDES AGAIN! THE WORLD TOUR THAT WASN'T, WILL BE ONCE MORE!

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Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

We caught the airport coach on Boxing Day from Victoria Station to Gatwick airport, then hopped our cheap (yeah right!) Ryanair flight to Dublin. The flight was pretty quick, then we caught another airport coach out to the city centre. Nathan & Jayde (a Canberra couple - but don't hold that against them - we met in South America) met us at the bus stop near their place.We packed quite a few things into the first 3 days with them ...The Guinness Brewhouse - had a great time learning all about the history of Guinness, how it's made, etc. We even got to have a little (well a large, really) taste at the end, in the 7th floor, all glass bar with 360 degree views of Dublin. Unfortunately, even Guinness, made at the Home of Guinness, was still tasting too much like beer for me to be able to finish even half a pint! I tried, I promise!Kilmainham Gaol - we did a really good tour around the gaol, learning heaps about not only the history of the gaol, but some information about the Easter Uprising and the troubles between Northern Ireland & the Republic in the late 1800s / early 1900s.Malahide Castle - we jumped on a train with Nathan (Jayde had to work) and went out to this small, but impressive old castle in Malahide. It had been in the same family for about 800 years until 1973, when the last in the line sold up & moved to ... Tasmania!Howth - (pronounced Hoe-th) this is a sea side town / village that we're sure was quite pretty, but it was so damned cold that the only thing we really paid attention to was the nice warm pub serving us a nice warm lunch!Being here hasn't seemed to dampen our 'drinking spirits' ... and our waistlines are still growing daily! Jayde & Nate are feeding us really well - but I just don't know when to stop. The way I see it, if I just look at food it seems to go straight to my waist anyway - so why not eat it & enjoy! Just think, I could be burning off 5 calories by making the effort to eat! That's my story & I'm sticking to it!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1230419040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1230419040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1230419040/tpod.html Sun, 28 Dec 2008 14:59:52 -0500 TRAYLER TRAVELS RIDES AGAIN! THE WORLD TOUR THAT WASN'T, WILL BE ONCE MORE!

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London, England, United Kingdom

We arrived back at Mark & Vanessa's and settled back in to our 'blow up palace'. The poor guys at least had just over a week to themselves before we lobbed on them again.Ian made it his mission to see as many things as we could in the time we had left there before heading to Ireland - the only problem was getting me out of bed before 9.30am!!!Highlights of the last week and a half included:* a trip to Windsor Castle ... we caught the train out to Windsor, expecting to then have to walk a ways to the castle. But we arrived in the station, walked out and around the corner - and there it was! It was really good. The castle & the church were really well looked after, but the Queen was clearly dodging us again! We even saw a giant dolls house made for Queen Victoria for her Birthday that had working electricity & fully connected plumbing!!!* the Science Museum ... heaps of amazing exhibits, including space, history of medicine, plastics, telecommunications, and great inventions of the last two hundred years. We spent over three hours looking through the museum & it was really interesting.* the British Museum ... we were getting a little museum-ed out by this stage, so picked our targets here. We only visited a few sections including the Oceania room, Japanese exhibit, and early British history. We saw a display on the history of the slave trade in Britain, but definitely the best thing we saw was the original Rosetta Stone (the stone that helped solve the mystery of reading Egyptian hieroglyphics).* the Roald Dahl Museum (pronounced Roo-arl according to the experts!). It was really enjoyable - there was heaps of information on Dahl's life, his writing & even a heap of crafty activities for us to try!* Shopping ... we paid another visit to both Harrods & the Camden Markets. Lots of fun & things to buy (or at least wish we could afford!!!)* Wicked - the musical ... we got tickets from one of the 'discount' ticket booths (and won't make that mistake again!). The show was actually pretty good though. The singing was really good, as were the special effects / lighting.Suddenly ... it was Christmas Day! We had a really enjoyable day with Mark & Vanessa, opening a few pressies, watching some great Christmas tv shows (Dr Who and Wallace & Grommit specials) and eating & drinking way too much Christmas fare! Mark's roast chicken was so big, he could barely fit it in the oven to cook it!The only disappointing aspect of the whole time was ... NO SNOW!!! We thought there might be a chance a couple of days, but alas, no luck. We hope everybody we know at home (& around the globe) had a wonderful Christmas as well.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1229816340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1229816340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1229816340/tpod.html Sat, 20 Dec 2008 19:08:04 -0500 TRAYLER TRAVELS RIDES AGAIN! THE WORLD TOUR THAT WASN'T, WILL BE ONCE MORE!

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Lille, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

We caught the train back from Angers and Nicky picked us up late on the Tuesday night.These five days were basically an opportunity for us to catch up with Nicky & Phillip again, and have a nice rest. We also saw Nadia again (Karen's friend) - she's lovely!We had a wonderful chocolate fondue one night and also went out for an Indian meal as well.We also had a really nice time at the Christmas markets in the town square. There were stalls, rides, characters dressed up in Christmas themes, carols and warm cider & wine. Yum!Although it was very chilly, there was no snow ... we're starting to wonder if there is any chance of another fall for us before we return to Australia.We posted a couple more boxes of 'stuff' back home ... but will still have to be a bit selective before packing to come home (we have so much stuff - you know how hard it is to get Ian to stop shopping!!!).On our last day before heading to the train, Nicky & Phillip took us shopping so that we could buy some special champagne & cheese supplies for going back to Mark & Vanessa's.Our trip back to France was really relaxing and nowhere near long enough. But we are running out of time now and there is still so much left to do.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1229031120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1229031120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/traylertravels/7/1229031120/tpod.html Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:28:23 -0500 TRAYLER TRAVELS RIDES AGAIN! THE WORLD TOUR THAT WASN'T, WILL BE ONCE MORE!

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Angers, Pays de la Loire, France

We caught the Eurostar to Lille, then another train down to Angers (pronounced On-jay), to see Karen & Mailie, and meet Raphael for the first time.We had a ball. Angers is really pretty. We tried to visit the Cointreau Museum & Tour, but it was shut - Ian was most disappointed.OMG, Mailie has changed so much since we saw her last! She was very excited to see her boyfriend again ... and she's walking now!!!We ate so many crepes (with nutella) whilst we were there, they were just about coming out of our ears!We spent an afternoon at the park, which was fun - but very cold!, and some time shopping at the Christmas market.We only had 4 days with Karen, Rapha & Mailie - but hope that they will make it to Australia one day ... so Ian & Mailie can rekindle the old flame perhaps???!!!
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