Tour Dates

22nd Aug 2012 - London (GBR)
14th Aug 2012 - New York (USA)
10th Aug 2012 - Boston (USA)
5th Aug 2012 - Toronto (CAN)
2nd Aug 2012 - Vancouver (CAN)
31st Jul 2012 - Bellingham (USA)
30th Jul 2012 - Seattle (USA)
29th Jul 2012 - Salem (USA)
28th Jul 2012 - Leggett (USA)
24th Jul 2012 - San Francisco (USA)
23rd Jul 2012 - Yosemite NP (USA)
22nd Jul 2012 - Mammoth Lakes (USA)
21st Jul 2012 - Bishop (USA)
18th Jul 2012 - Las Vegas (USA)
16th Jul 2012 - Flagstaff (USA)
12th Jul 2012 - Los Angeles (USA)
10th Jul 2012 - Phoenix (USA)
9th Jul 2012 - Hermosillo (MEX)
7th Jul 2012 - Los Mochis (MEX)
4th Jul 2012 - Ciudad de Mexico (MEX)
2nd Jul 2012 - Oaxaca (MEX)
30th Jun 2012 - San Cristobal (MEX)
29th Jun 2012 - La Mesilla (GUA)
27th Jun 2012 - Coban (GUA)
25th Jun 2012 - Flores (GUA)
24th Jun 2012 - San Ignacio (BLZ)
22nd Jun 2012 - Placencia (BLZ)
20th Jun 2012 - Livingstone (GUA)
19th Jun 2012 - Rio Dulce (GUA)
16th Jun 2012 - Antigua (GUA)
14th Jun 2012 - Panajachel (GUA)
11th Jun 2012 - Santa Anna (ELS)
10th Jun 2012 - San Salvador (ELS)
8th Jun 2012 - Leon (NIC)
5th Jun 2012 - Granada (NIC)
3rd Jun 2012 - Moyogalpa (NIC)
2nd Jun 2012 - San Jose (COS)
1st Jun 2012 - Puerto Viejo (COS)
30th May 2012 - Boas del Toro (PAN)
27th May 2012 - Panama City (PAN)
24th May 2012 - San Blas Islands (PAN)
19th May 2012 - Cartagena (COL)
17th May 2012 - Medellin (COL)
13th May 2012 - Salento (COL)
11th May 2012 - Popayan (COL)
9th May 2012 - Quito (ECU)
6th May 2012 - Baños (ECU)
5th May 2012 - Alausi (ECU)
3rd May 2012 - Cuenca (ECU)
30th Apr 2012 - Loja (ECU)
26th Apr 2012 - Huanchaco (PER)
25th Apr 2012 - Lima (PER)
23rd Apr 2012 - Arequipa (PER)
21st Apr 2012 - Colca Canyon (PER)
19th Apr 2012 - Arequipa (PER)
17th Apr 2012 - Machu Pichu (PER)
14th Apr 2012 - Inca Trail (PER)
11th Apr 2012 - Cusco (PER)
7th Apr 2012 - Puno (PER)
4th Apr 2012 - Copacabana (BOL)
3rd Apr 2012 - La Paz (BOL)
31st Mar 2012 - Sucre (BOL)
29th Mar 2012 - Potosi (BOL)
27th Mar 2012 - Uyuni (BOL)
26th Mar 2012 - Laguna Colorada (BOL)
24th Mar 2012 - San Pedro de Atacama (CHI)
19th Mar 2012 - La Serena (CHI)
17th Mar 2012 - Valparaiso (CHI)
14th Mar 2012 - Mendoza (ARG)
11th Mar 2012 - Santiago (CHI)
7th Mar 2012 - Pucon (CHI)
5th Mar 2012 - San Martin (ARG)
3rd Mar 2012 - Villa la Angostura (ARG)
28th Feb 2012 - Bariloche (ARG)
27th Feb 2012 - Perito Moreno (ARG)
25th Feb 2012 - El Calafate (ARG)
22nd Feb 2012 - Puerto Natales (CHI)
20th Feb 2012 - Punta Arenas (CHI)
19th Feb 2012 - Rio Gallegos (ARG)
16th Feb 2012 - Puerto Madryn (ARG)
14th Feb 2012 - Colonia (URU)
12th Feb 2012 - Montevideo (URU)
11th Feb 2012 - Colonia (URU)
27th Jan 2012 - Buenos Aires (ARG)
26th Jan 2012 - Encarnacion (PAR)
25th Jan 2012 - Posadas (ARG)
24th Jan 2012 - Puerto Iguazu (ARG)
22nd Jan 2012 - Foz do Iguacu (BRA)
21st Jan 2012 - Sao Paulo (BRA)
19th Jan 2012 - Paraty (BRA)
16th Jan 2012 - Ilha Grande (BRA)
13th Jan 2012 - Rio di Janeiro (BRA)
12th Jan 2012 - Rome (ITA)
11th Jan 2012 - London (GBR)

North America

In North America we were thrilled and amazed in Mexico, with its wonderful people and beautiful cities.  We gazed out across the Grand Canyon, the Hoover Dam, the amazing spaces of Yosemite Valley and the lights of the Las Vegas Strip.  We made it as far north as Vancouver, Canada, before our feet left the ground.  We made it to New York and visited all five boroughs.  Most wonderful of all we met up with lots of lovely firends: people we've known for ages from Melbourne, Scotland and London, and people we met for the first time on our travels further south.  Thank you to all of you for making our time in North America truly fabulous and memorable.  

Date arrived:                   30th June 2012

Date departed:                21st August 2012

Length of stay:                 52 days

Total distance travelled:    15,312km

Time on buses:                     90 hrs

Time in the car:                   81 hrs

Time hiking:                          6 hrs

Time cycling:                         3 hrs

Time on the back of a truck:   5 hrs  

Time on cable car:                 1 hr

Time on planes:                     5 hrs

Border crossings:                   4

Carbon footprint:                  2.32 metric tons CO2

Central America

In Central America we visited ancient ruins and beautiful rainforest pools.  We toured Caribbean beaches and tried (unsuccessfully) to scale several volcanoes.  We ate a lot of good food: most of it desserts and cheese.  We met and made wonderful friends and had a wonderful time.


Date arrived:                    22nd May 2012
Date departed:                 30th June 2012
Length of stay:                  39 days

Total distance travelled:     4,441 km

Time on buses:                     110 hrs
Time on boats:                     113 hrs
Time hiking:                          17 hrs
Time cycling:                           4 hrs
Time on the back of a truck:     5 hrs

Border crossings:                      8
Carbon footprint:                 0.58 metric tons CO2

South America

In South America we have studied Spanish, lunched on llama, trekked to the Torres del Paine, gazed at glaciers, bussed through boredom, posed with penguins, photographed flamingos, and many other things that don't bear alliteration.  As to the hard and fast facts of our journey in the south ...

Date arrived:                   13th January 2012
Date departed:                 22nd May 2012
Length of stay:                 130 days

Total distance travelled:   19,156 km

Time on buses:                     330 hrs
Time on boats:                       19 hrs
Time in 4x4s:                         13 hrs
Time on trains:                        5 hrs
Time hiking:                          63 hrs
Time on the back of a truck:     2 hrs  (felt like 7)

Border crossings:                    15
Carbon footprint:                1.15 metric tons CO2

New York, New York

   The plan, at the start of the week commencing Tuesday, 14th August, was to find some time to sit down at a computer and tidy up all of the maps, all the stats, all of the data and to have the blog of the final week all ready for publication on 21 August 2012, right before we jumped on the plane back to the UK. Quite obviously, that didn’t happen.

   New York was in the way of any such hopes.  Seven days did not do it justice, nor did our 5 hours in Washington DC allow us any more than a fleeting glimpse of that marvellous city and its monuments and museums.  Thirty minutes in Philadelphia was plenty of time to answer the Philly cheese steak question (Pat’s is better, and still not worth the detour).

   We arrived on the overnight bus from Boston and after freshening up over breakfast in a café we head to West 26th Street to meet up with Dan at his work.  Bless him he bore it well as we arrived in his office, heavy laden with our packs and looking as respectable as one can when all your worldly possessions are strapped to your back.

   What followed was a week of amazing hospitality from Dan and his girlfriend Kendra, as they put us up in his place, took us out on the town, fed us a constant stream of itinerary ideas, introduced us to the Yankees and generally took the opportunity to overwhelm us with the wonders of New York and the warmth of its people.  It was as though we were already home, even more so as we were joined by Jeff who came over from London to spend our last week with us!

   I have given a run down of the highlights below.  We were so lucky to have an amazing week with Jeff and Dan and Kendra.  A huge thanks to Dan and Kendra for having Kiz and me to stay for the week and for all your help and love (recommendations for baked goods - yum!).  We really really appreciated it.  Thank you so much and remember, there will always be somewhere for you to stay in Melbourne, Australia - my mum and dad are really welcoming!

The highlights

   Jeff and I went to see the New York Giants play the New York Jets at their shared home stadium, somewhat inexplicably in New Jersey.

   Proper New York Bagels with locks and cream cheese.

   Jeff and Kizzy and I all went to see the Yankees beat the Red Sox in the most picturesque of sporting contexts.

   We took a walk on the Highline, an old and now disused railway line elevated above the city streets of the lower east side, which has been redeveloped into a beautiful garden walk.

   Oysters and Lobster at the Oyster Bar under the arches in Grand Central Station.

   Running from Central Park to MOMA in the pouring rain to make it to the free Friday evening entry, with brief respite from the worst of the downpour in the surprisingly welcoming haven of the Gucci store.

   Visiting Brooklyn and DUMBO before walking back over the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan.

   Walking around the 9/11 memorial.

   Road trip to Washington DC, returning via Baltimore (unintended), Philadelphia (unwisely intended) and a full circuit of the ring road around Philadelphia (no-one in the car knows how that happened).

Actually, that last one needs just a little explanation.  We picked up our car on the Thursday morning at 8:00am, planning to drive to and From Washington DC and return the car at 7:30am the following morning.  Possibly returning via Philadelphia for a cheesesteak midnight snack.  Without a satnav.  Or a proper map of Philadelphia, or Washington DC, or any of the interconnecting roads (it turns out the guidebook map offers little in the way of detail or context for navigating into and around a big city).

We had envisaged four and a half hours there, four and a half back, with maybe an hour’s detour in and out of Philly.  That is not what happened.  We left at 8:30am, we returned at 6am.  My memory is pretty hazy but from what I can remember, in roughly chronological order …

-  We (Jeff) had one altercation with diplomatic security (no idea whose)

-  We drove for a total of 16 hours and paid $61 in toll charges

-  We passed through five states and a federal district

-  We visited one White House, one Capitol building, five monuments and no museums

-  We had one sit down meal and one really lovely sunset

-  We passed one apocalyptic traffic incident with an overturned timber lorry reduced to an inferno and twisted metal

-  We made at least 9 and possibly as many as 27 wrong turns (including a still unexplained detour in Philadelphia where unknowingly we went in a complete circle, as well as three separate attempts to make our way into the Lincoln Tunnel)

-  We had two Philly Cheesesteaks, Pat’s was better than Geno’s.  Neither is worth the visit.

-  We made it home in the end!

4 days in Boston

   In the midst of the handsome buildings and historical sights of the liberty walking tour we found it.  That surprising gem that without knowing it we had spent 7 months searching for.  Every bus ride that erased a mealtime.  Every surprise chicken's foot in the vegetable soup.  Every run of seven straight meals of rice, chicken and chips.  Kizzy's refrain, "what I really want is Wagamama".

   To be sure there were also nice parks, the understated grandeur of Harvard, a fantastic hostel and a surprising wealth of very good street entertainers.  Nevertheless it was the taste of convenience cooking from home that left Kizzy struggling through nostalgia to choose just one main course from the menu.

     Before finding our culinary postcard, we had spent 16 hours on the bus from Toronto to Buffalo to New York to Boston.  After many many hours on buses the prospect of another 16, and our final overnight bus was nothing to concern us.  Americans we had spoken to previously had warned us against Greyhound, "if you actually have to get where you want to go".  When we arrived at the Toronto bus terminal we found out why.  Greyhound have patented their very own "what the hell?!?" double take for the use of passengers arriving 20 minutes before departure to find a line of 60 people already waiting for a 50-seat bus.  "But I'm going to New York at 8pm.  Where's that line?"  This is it, and you may be mistaken.  Thankfully, we arrived 3 minutes and 5 people before cut-off point.

Northern exposure

   After 6 months and 20 days, travelling by truck, taxi, boat, train, car and lots and lots of busses we drove into Vancouver, the city on the Straight of Georgia, the completion of our journey north and the beginning of our time in Canada.  At the border they proudly declared that we were entering "the best place in the world". 

   To be fair we didn't see the rest of British Columbia, which I gather is spectacular.  I get the impression that Vancouver is a city to live in rather than one to visit.  It was pleasant, with pretty parks and a waterfront and historic buildings.  The only exception was the part of town where we were staying.  As we were informed on check in: "you go here and it is downtown, here is Chinatown, head that way to the bars and restaurants of Gastown, and around that corner is drugs.  Don't go there."

   We took an overnight flight to Toronto.  The blessing of an overnight flight is the saving on accommodation costs but when you cross three time zones as we did, it turns out that you board at 11pm, land at 7am and maybe get 2 hours of sleep.  Thankfully we were graced with beautiful weather in Toronto (that day and all the others too) so while waiting for check in at our hostel we took a nap in the local park; the camping gear came in handy once again!

   In Toronto we were treated to three days of fun with our friend Clare.  We toured Chinatown, Kensington Market and the beach on Lake Ontario.  In the evenings we enjoyed the spectacular dinner view from the revolving restaurant in the CN Tower and the brillian concept cafe: Snakes and Lattes, where the drinks kept coming through rounds of Cluedo and Jenga.

   Before leaving Canada we made the trip to Niagara Falls, taking in the natural spleandour and making friends with a group of Chinese tourists.  Apparently we were the only English speakers who could make sense of an itinerary that included Hong Kong, Vancovay, Alcargee, Manreta and Nu Yar.  We now have a place to stay should we ever visit Sechuan province.