Australia

Aussie beer (despite the label's claim to be a "Bitter" it was a Lager)


Flag patch for our backpacks


Passport Stamp

The South Pacific

Our plan here was to take side trips to New Zealand, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia as SGK's visa needed to be refreshed; then head off full circle round Oz before departing for South East Asia. The Wet got in the way of our full circle - forcing us down the red center instead, and Fiji was substituted for more exotic south seas destinations, but otherwise we did pretty good on this section.

Greetings from London!

Hello!

When I last left you, we were in San Francisco and bound for New York City to await a flight to Europe. BOY-OH-BOY was New York ever EXPENSIVE!!!! $25.00US for bagels and Coffee!!!! Shiiiiiit! Good thing that we had a couple of places lined up to stay for free. First stop was my Cousin Walter’s house, where we spent 3 days with him, his wife, and two lovely daughters Stephanie (8) and Samantha (2). Before I left, my brother Chris said that if I didn’t fall in love with Walt’s daughters when I was there that there was something wrong with me; Well Chris there’s nothing wrong with me.
Next stop was at a friends of SaraGrace’s from college; Chris. Chris lives at the top of an apartment building next door to the Empire State building. Way Cool. We did the usual tourist things; Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, took in a play (Les Mis) and what not. We also connected with a fraternity brother of mine, Chadwick Sinclair Norton III, (Hi Chad) and a cousin of SGK’s. And guess who else? Remember Ko, the intrepid Japanese traveler who we met in Guatemala, then again in Panama, then again in Ecuador and Peru? Well, we bumped into him in NY again as well!!! Small world!

The next stop was JFK airport for our flight to Europe, where we waited for HOURS! (like 6) for a flight. 6 hours after that we land in Paris. The City of Lights is still full of rudeness, but we managed to have a good time anyways before boarding the TGV for Brussels. I’ve always been fond of Belgium (They do have the highest Brewery to Population ratio after all) but SGK positively loved it! The Food, The Architecture, the Chocolate, and especially THE BEER! She now has a new favorite; Hoegarden, a wheat beer brewed by a bunch of drunk monks in Ghent-Sint Peters. After a quick stop in Brugges, we were off on the Eurostar through the Chunnel to London town.

London has not changed; it’s still expensive, overcast and chock full of tourists. The circle line was out of commission which caused havoc in the tube, but we survived a weeks worth of tourism relatively unscathed. As it was SGK’s first trip to England, we did it all; Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, The Royal Observatory in Greenwich, The Tower of London, Salisbury Cathedral, Old Sarum, Stonehenge, Vale of the White Horse, Avesbury, and even a crop circle. Our only regrets were not being able to see more of our friends here, just Dave and Claire, we just never managed to connect with Mandy, Steve, Bernie, Greg and Nicole, Nick, Russell, Roy, Nick and Abi, or anyone else! After spending a bazillion dollars a day (Total shock after Ecuador, Bolivia and the Honduras) It was time to go.

Where do we go from Here?

There was a change of plans involved here; You see my company offered me a job in Oz, and we weren’t sure if it would come through in the end (The HR person in CA kept blowing off the telephone appointments) so, if it didn’t come through, we were off to South Africa, but the boys down under pulled it off, so now we are headed to Australia instead! So look out Randall, Jim, Dave, Kym, Alison, and Mac, You will all be forced to drink beer with us in your homes!!!!!
Cheers!
MRA

Travels with SG: France to England via Belgium

Hello all!!!

After spending a ton of $$$ in Paris-only here 2 days-bidet and sink in the room, toilet down the hall (odd???)...sweltering heat, no fan or a/c, we headed to Belgium...
...and spent two fun filled days eating our hearts out on some of the most amazing food in Brussels-2 days... Amazing chocolate, wonderful beer!!!

Can a person gain 20lbs in 2days???

The beer is wonderful-especially the wheat beer, which they call white beer...Brian and Betsy, you would love it!!! Then we headed to Bruges, stayed in a lovely hostel...here they had a sink and shower in the room, and toilet down the hall...again, very odd, but who's complaining???...However, we were woken up every 10 minutes to the heavy doors slamming, and the music from the bar next door...I finally fell asleep at 5:30am...

...We are now visiting the Queen, in London!!! Staying in a very nice, clean, quite hostel called Hyde Park Hostel on Inverness at Hyde park!!!
Just got here yesterday and are playing it by ear, before heading to Australia for 2-5 months!!!

Tea Time,
Luv,
SG

Travels with SG: Paris

Bonjour!!!

Michael and I have made it to Paris (standby) by The skin of our teeth! We plan on staying here 2 days, then off to Belgium and then to London!

Au Revoir for now!
SG