My travelling adventures...

I am at Singapore airport at the moment... 20hrs of flying tme (3hr stopover) and i arrive 2 days later in Oz! So far the flight has been pretty good - managed a doze and saw a couple of movies...
Well back to Germany... I did the Wutach Gorge - of course the buses werent fully operating as it was mid-week and the driver wasnt going to the start of the trail - he said he could drop me of 2km from it... ok - so he drops me in the middle of these fields and points out in a direction where the field has a cleared little path and says to follow it until the trail... trouble is, the path ended when it hit a road and there was forest on the other side which i wasnt too sure about just going in on a hunch... so i followed the road a bit and hit another trail... in the end after passing thru another bit of forest and thru some more fields and past some curious locals, and a chicken farm, i finally found the correct trail... Had it all to myself at the beginning... it was like the path i imagined little red riding hood skipping down on her way to her grandmothers - it was great... then it was like the ruins of rupenzel's castle as the rock was all white and brick shaped in some of the gorge...  Eventually i did come across other people, a noisy school group and a lot of mud! -went right past my ankles at one point! but it was a beautiful walk...  Had fun getting back - again amazed out how friendly people are - one lady chased after a bus with me to check about which one i should be catching - very sweet.  The next day did another walk up across the mountains, along what would be ski trails in the winter - and stopped at the little houses serving cold drinks - was a good day.
Then Thursday I was travelling to Nuernberg to see Petra... Was great to catch up - went out to pubs to meet some of her friends at nighttime - tried the local dish - a special bratwurst sausage and yummy sauerkraut!  nuernberg was actually a really nice town - a lovely old castle and lots of nice old buildings (altho many had been restored from the war but couldnt tell)... the place had a lot of Nazi history too - it was a former Nazi party rally ground and Hitler kind of made it HQ and a building remains haf built of what was going to be a congerss hall and speech centre for them.
Went to Petra's sisters wedding ceremony on the Saturday afternoon - they actually go to the registry office and sign it off with close family beforehand and then a fancy ceremony and party for friends is held later...  It was very fancy - they had friends who were event organisers so the cars had their names stencilled on (the cars were esp fancy BMWs where the headrest automatically adjusted to your height!), the ladies serving the afternoon tea were dressed up in old-fashioned attire and the reception was held at an old castle (I just stayed for afternoon tea then caught the train back to Frankfurt).  Yesterday I wandered around Frankfurt - it was ok for a big city had some nice parklands which i lazed about in...  My flight was at midnight last night - or is that 2 days ago already?! - I dont know :)
Better go and do some DF shopping!

Later!

Hi!  Well made it 8.5hrs across the globe from USA to Germany...  Feeling very tired.  Sat next to a guy that kept to himself (didnt hog the armrest) and got up to go to the loo when i did - want more could you want from a plane buddy?!  And I got to see Hoton hears a Who!!!!!!! Yay!  You got to choose your movies but wasnt much to choose from...
Anyway, didnt see anyone famous while in Hollywood but was fun doing the tour seeing all the places.
I am now at Titisee which is in the middle of the Black Forest on a lake - very nice...  Staying at a ´pension´which smells like my grans house used to - run by a little old lady (cheaper than a hostel).  Taking it easy today and then going to walk Wutach Gorge tomorrow, and somewhere else the next day...  and Thursday I will be making my way to Nurnberg to visit Petra.
Not long til I am home....

Hi!
Hows it going?  Well - Grand Canyon - amazing... We went there for sunset on both nights we were there - definitely the best time to see it - gorgeous colours that change as the sun goes down, very pretty.   The helicopter flight was fun - went over the east and north rims and got told a bit of the history, geology and names of things. Oh - we saw a moose!!! Very exciting stuff! And a snake - not so exciting...
Then we did a looong drive via Lake Havasu thru the desert to Anaheim, OC :)  It was exciting just being there so close to disneyland - really is the happiest place on earth - you have to be happy being that close to 'where all your dreams come true'.  We were able to see the fireworks that night from our hotel (block and half away from Disneyland)... then the next day we were in the line at 7.30 ready for the 8am entrance... It was a mere 15 - yes FIFTEEN -hours later that we left - hardly had a break all day - was sooooo much fun!  Went on nearly all the rides from the Indiana Jones jeep adventure, to Spash Mtn (very scary I thought - and you can tell in the photo as i am screaming), the nemo submarine and a fantastic starship ride!  Now we are in LA... Doing a tour tomorrow of the area - seeing the hollywood sign, rodeo drive, sunset blvd, venice beach, etc etc... Mum leaves tomorrow night at 9pm and then I am off to Germany the next morning...
Looking forward to the Black Forest again - altho havent got anything organised - eek! And will be catching up ith a girl from my galapagos trip while i am there too which is exciting!
Anyway that is all the news for now :)
Take care.

Howdy folks!  Well has been quite a while huh?  Everyone has wifi here so hard to find internet places for those poor souls that dont carry around a laptop...
Well started in San Fran - California is jolly chilly - even in summer! Brrrr! We met up wtih Will/Bill - guy from the Central America tour who lived in San Fran and was there visiting his folks while we were there.  Was great - he gave us a tour round the Bay - across teh Golden Gate and over a couple of other bridges, went to Berkley and a few other places - incl a few select chocolate shops (fellow choc lover!) along the way.
That night mum and I went to Alcatraz - it was great to see 'the Rock' - was a really good tour - the audio guide was like a whole series of stories and had the prision guards talking etc...
We got an upgrade on our hire car so driving around in a Pruis - one of those hybrid cars - dont need to use a key for anything - bit bizarre but really good on petrol!
We made our way down the coast road - very pretty, went to Pebble Beach (meant to be very famous), we went to the Monterey aquarium (meant to be in one of the best) and it was really good - had the most fantastic jellyfish exhibits! We stayed in los Banos, then made our way to Yosemite... yosemite was so beautiful - it was an absolutely huge park - with loads of pine trees then amazing rocks everywhere too.  Did a few little walks to Sentinal Dome, Taft Point, mirror lake etc (the ranger talked me out of doing half dome by myself).  We had 2 nights there at this little B&B - very quaint.  Then on our way to Death Valley we went along Toulimine Meadows... Death Valley was very cool - amazing colours in the sand - and we saw a road runner!!  Temperature went up to 122 degrees F. Been around 110 most of the time - so have limited wanderings outside of the a/c. 
Then Las Vegas - had brilliant scenery on the drive there - the Sierra-Nevada Mtn Range, and we stopped at Mammoth for the best hamburger I have ever had ('well gee, it is  cos the beef is ground fresh every day maam') and the most delicious choc milkshake as well!  Las Vegas was everything Iimagined - all the bright lights and tackiness - was great to see!  Had fun checking out the different casinos and watching the water fountain at the Bellagio.  We stayed at Excalibar so everythign was medieval themed - and we got an upgrade to deluxe room that was meant to be $870/night (yeah right! - who pays full price in vegas with all the offers flying about?!)
Anyway right now near the Grand Canyon and just about to go and check it out... - very exciting!  Doing a helicopter flight tomorrow.
Hope everyone doing well...

Seeya

:( Tomorrow I am leaving latin american after about 4 months - very sad - will be bizarre to be talking english to everyone - not that i am at all a spanish-speaker, but have gotten better!
Well Puebla was really pretty - had fun looking around... Oaxaca was nice (Puebla was a bit prettier) but had a great time there also - did a teeny bit of shopping...  Then we were off to Peurto Escondido on the coast - veeeerrrrry nice.  Had an amazing hotel (all of them have been pretty good)  on the beachfront and had a pool.  Did a couple of dives there too.  Then Acalpolco (however you spell it) - it is like a huge gold coast- but was good to see... Dee and I went down to Diamante Beach a bit out of the main town to get away fromt eh polution... had a foot massage while we lazing on the beach under our rented umbrella - very nice!  Gotta say the downside to the trip has been the long bus rides (wasnt expecting them to be quite so long) but it was still good to see the scerey (had 8hr, 5.5 and 6 hr bus trips). 
Now back in Mexico city - the trip officially ended today but all of us bar the tour leader are here at the hotel tonight so will be going out for a flashy meal :)  Was a really great (albeit quick) trip - had fantastic time at all the places...
And tomorrow I am off to meet my mum in San Fran for our 2-week driving trip!
Later gators!

Howdy!  I am in Puebla at the mo - and have had an awesome time shopping at the markets today (yes shopping again!)...  did do a city tour after our 2hr bus ride from mexico city.  It is a pretty city - lots of history as was the site for some revolutionary activity...
I really enjoyed mexico city  altho we were staying in the old historical centre so it was very nice... lots of green space - really beautiful big parks all over...  As i had already done the anthropology museum, while most of the group went there on our 'free day' i went out to the suburbs to see the Freida Kahlo museum - housed where she was born, lived and died - it was really interesting... Took the metro out there which was fun... you know when the doors close on the train and they beep and everyone keeps clear... well here on the busy stops when it beeps people still rush to cram in and the police try and hold the doors open for as long as possible - and you just hope you are in far enough!  there was barely breathing room when i first got in - after a few stops emptied about 1/2 - so probably what would be classified half capacity for us...  I got stared at a bit by a lot of people - dont think i felt so stared at apart from when i catapoulted myself onto all 4s on the top of the Sun Temple the other day - there was a collective gasp as i landed from behind me - so emabrassing! (obviously i am ok).   Back in mexico city I took in some of the must see sights - inside the national palace to see the murals, the post office (that was very pretty, was like a castle!), fine arts museum etc etc...  have been doing lots of group dinners etc as there is only 8 in the group it is a good size... most of us are from Oz (Melbourne actually), and then 2 from the UK (both from Leeds!) Went to a square on our final night in mexico to see the - you know the mexican guitar serendars musician people - and got a few of them to sing for us...
Off to Oaxaca tomorrow morning - meant to be a very pretty town, and amazing markets (oh no!) - weavings and stuff...
think that is about all for now!
Later gators!

hi! well have gone thru belize and am now in Mexico (and have now been to all 7 continents!!)...  Belize was great - a lot of people that we met were not that impressed but gotta say what i saw of it i really liked...

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well as you can tell I enjoyed tikal!
Our 2 day stopover in antigua was good - just wandered around...  We then caught the 10hr night bus from Guatemala to Flores - it was looong!  And was rather fun waiting at the dodgy bus stn at 9pm at night to catch the bus! Got to watch pretty woman and then the trip went a bit downhill (altho it didnt get hot which is a good thing) - the seats were ratehr uncomfy and the toilet was very smelly.  The bus did do a potty stop at about 4am.  altho it was mainly local guys on the bus and they didnt seem to care which toilet they went to - or whether they closed the door or not so i was waiting outside until this guatemalan lady came and yelled at the remaining men folk saying something in spanish and pointing at the ladies sign - hehe...  and after all that i think i wouldve been way better off in the bus toilet!
When we finally arrived in Flores Sara and I couldnt find our transfer to Tikal so had to wait an hour until the next chicken bus left... - people got on and off and exchnged goodies all along the way so the trip took about an hour longer... and then when we arrived at the hotel we couldnt check in til 2pm (3 hrs away) so we were pretty unimpressed tired little bunnies!
We went into the park at 4 (the $20 entrance then lasts the next day as well) and it was fantastic! -we had the place to ourselves pretty much (only saw 3 other people), visited a couple of the temples (the park is 16km2) and saw loads of spider monkeys traipsing in the trees above us, heaps of leaf cutter ants crossing the path, and we saw one of those giant guinea pigs things (even if i could remember its name i wouldnt be able to spell it).  We then made use of the electricity before the generator cut out at 9pm... was definitely wrthwhile staying in the park - and the shower was the greatest one i had this trip!
We got up at 4.15 to do the sunrise tour... did a rapid walk thru the park to the tallest temple (70m) and sat at the top waiting for the most to clear - didnt really while we were up there but it was nice to be there listening to the birds and howler monkeys and saw some toucans!  Then we did a proper tour of the park which was good...
We caught the 11am bus back to Flores where we are staying the night. It is pretty nice - it is a little island on this lakeand has some nice little buildings etc... Have booked a minibus to take us to San Ignacio (just over the Belize border) tomorrow morning...  We will spend the night there before heading up to Belize City where I will say goodbye to Sara :(  (she is flying to Panama) and I will take a little boat to Caye Caulker and do some diving and go to the Blue Hole hopefully!  (we were going to go to southern Belize but it is all flooded so decided against that ;)  )  Then on the 17th I fly to Mexico city!  yeehaa!

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Howdy!  Well Sara and I are in Chichi at the moment - why am I on the net when there are bargains to be had you ask? because we have way exceeded our budget - so with 2 hours to go we have decided to stop looking and retire to have lunch and close our eyes to the other goodies out there... was great fun tho! - was buying mainly xmas pressies (altho some stuff i liked so much i had to get 1 for me, then some for pressies - helps with the bargaining as well! :) )
The massage was very nice - had a very relaxing day.  Found a little vegetarian place for dinner and the waiter guy walked us home (little did we realise it was because there has been a lot of recent muggings in San Marcos after dark and the locals are doing all they can to help stop it).
Anyway bit tired - have a bit of a cold - but staying at the same hotel we stayed at with gap in Anigua so pretty nice (they have my backpack!)...
Nothing much else too exciting to report... so heres a couple of piccies!
Lake Atitlan
Chichi markets (these chickens are looking very healthy compared to some others we´ve seen)

Copan was beautiful - lovely ruins ;) 
Then had a nice 4hr bus ride to Antigua... then our ´last supper´with the group...  Went to a cuban restaurant, then an irish pub and then some bizarre little after party thing - was fun.  the following day Sara and I made our way to Lake Atitlan... we decided to take the chicken buses... despite taking a very long and indirect way to the lake it was brilliant as all the locals were so friendly and helpful running after buses for us telling them to wait etc... ended up taking about 7hours to get here (incl the 1 hr boat ride from Panajachel to San Marcos)...  Very nice and laid back here...  As we arrived at 6pm a lot of the places were already shut up for the night... this little boy took us round to help us find a hotel (the boys all meet the boats to help the tourists)... we ended up sharing a room at this fancy hotel that had a tree in the middle of it with 2 american uni students that are travelling round doing a documentary thing in their summer break.  Had a delicious pizza for dinner!
Sara and I moved hotels today - also a very cool place that has a spanish school attached so we have already learnt a couple of new words/grammar rules!  Having a 1.5hr massage this afternoon (san marcos is a spiritual/healing village - pretty cool place).  Getting up early tomorrow to make our way to the Chichi markets then back to Antigua - we decided to book a shuttle - good for time and then gives somewhere for us to store our bags while we check out the best markets in Guatemala!!  Very fun!
Then Antigua for a couple of days (where we may meet up with most of the group again), and then onto Tikal!
Later!
. Treetanic bar @ Utila - very cool place
Copan - tallest temple
Copan - main plaza
Copan - heiroglyphic staircase (over 2000 inscriptions)
San Marcos ´road´