Friday 26 November 2010

Been around the world and I I...

I haven't suddenly developed a fascination with Lisa Stansfield but the title is more a description of what we did in the summer. Yes, the summer was almost 4 months ago. Yes, many details have since been forgotten but we can't really blog about our travels and miss the biggest one out. The only reason it wasn't posted before is because of the 'pause' in our activities owing to the malevolent trucker (see previous post).

Writing this a few months later will probably work out much better anyway as, hopefully, I'll keep it brief(er).

The whole reason we ended up with a round-the-world ticket was purely for economical reasons. Nothing satisfies me more than spending hours, no, days trawling the internet to find hotels/insurance/flights at their cheapest price. I feel a masochistic sense of pleasure when I've managed to save a whole £5 off a hotel room. A fiver is a fiver after all. If you add them all up over the year...

Anyway, I was looking for a cheap ticket to get us home last summer when Trailfinders offered a 7-stop ticket for a couple hundred quid more than a standard return. Bloody hell, this was better than a fiver saved!

So we came home in the summer (and had a great time-thank you) and then did a whistle-stop tour of the following places:

Jamaica.
Visited all over really but would recommend a trip to the south west of the island for its rugged landscape and completely unspoilt beaches. Recommend a stay at Jake's. Want to live there. Probably can't afford to for the next 15 years.

California.
Did Vegas (avoid unless you have a gambling addiction, are alcohol dependent or have a fetish for the badly-dressed morbidly obese), San Francisco (great as always and got to see the Giants play. All good until charged $7 for a portion of chips!), LA (as exciting and seedy as you'd expect) and all the small towns in the desert (not much to say about them apart from they were interesting to look at. Got a speeding ticket though. Probably won't be able to enter America again until the $300 bill is paid...)

Hawaii.
Cool for surfing. But I don't surf. Would recommend the Waikiki Circle Hotel. It's right on the beach front, cheap by Hawaii prices, clean, comfortable and friendly.

Japan.
Another place I want to live. Brilliant city (thanks Andy & Midori for putting us up and showing us around. You also have the best behaved children in the world). Would recommend Japan to anyone. Didn't see the infamous crazy kids in the park, however. Must have been their day off.

Was exhausted after it all but enjoyed every minute of it. Will be slowing down the travels after Christmas though. Can't keep it up forever. Mores the pity.

3 comments:

  1. I was going to send this - as if from Nevada State Troopers - but couldn't work out how to disguise myself...

    Re. SPEEDING TICKET - Booth, J : Case no. 33345B (UK national)
    Finally we have tracked you down via a responsible and public-spirited female colleague at St Stephen's School, Bangkok. An agent will shortly deliver the international warrant required to bring you back to Nevada to face trial
    Yours,
    Captain Randy Weiner

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  2. Lol- very good.

    It was typically Officer Chavez!

    Ironically Mexicans either haver lousy jobs or are law enforcement officers in the Sunshine State.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Perhaps Chavez is only allowed to stop chavs!

    ReplyDelete