Are we there yet???

Our 3 days in LA can be summed up in a single activity: shopping. And you don’t take photos of shopping. So, instead of giving you an LA-related blog with a naff title such as “freeways, silicon and sunset tans”, we thought we’d give you our thoughts on what we consider to be the highlights of our 2007 world tour.

So - after 4 ½ months, 17 countries, 47 different beds, 12 different languages (spoken at us not by us!), 44 flights, 7 hire cars, 3100 metres climbed, 19 novels, 72 episodes of Desperate Housewives and a constant awe at the world God created (how much better will heaven be?!) - our backpacking (ok, ok,“flashpacking”) tour has come to an end. And here’s what was, for us, the best of the best:

(NB. we decided to include Morocco in our line-up, as it was supposed to be part of this trip only we got so tired of the London drizzle we went at Easter)

Best “Wow Factor”
1. Machu Picchu, Peru
2. Patagonian glaciers, Argentina
3. The Desert, Morocco (see below for pic!)
4. Cappadocia, Turkey

Best 2-week holiday destination
1. Argentina
2. Jamaica
3. Morocco

Best city
1. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2. New York City, USA

Best for history
1. Jordan
2. Rome, Italy

Best for food
1. Jamaica
2. Argentina
3. Greece
4. Rosie & Don’s place, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Best for chilling
1. Negril, Jamaica
2. Hvar Island, Croatia

Most surprisingly-good
1. Dead Sea, Jordan
2. Athens, Greece
3. Iguazu Falls, Argentina

Most underwhelming :-(
1. Istanbul, Turkey
2. Lake Titicaca, Peru
3. Buenos Aires, Argentina

The End of Our Blog
Thank you for reading to the End of Our Blog. We have finished our trip and are enjoying getting settled into life in Sydney. There are no more posts. You must now turn off your computer and go do something productive. Go read a book, for pete's sake ;-)

Love Rory and Amy

Good Belfast, Goodbye (for now!)

After 2 weeks of Caribbean revelry it was time to fly back to Sydney – the long way. From Cuba across the Atlantic to Belfast (via London) and then back across the Atlantic AGAIN to LA (via London) before finally staying in one direction long enough to touch down Down Under. Yes, we know – complicated.

Fortunately, there were upsides to this plan other than just clocking up the air miles. First off, we got to spend some more time in Belfast with Rosie and Don, and enjoy cozy Northern Ireland for the last time in a little while.

Our few days included a dinner with Rory’s friends from school days (Rick and Rosie, Simon and Estelle), which involved delicious food and wine and - much later on in the evening - a mysteriously appearing jenga board and karaoke machine (fortunately we don’t have photographic evidence of the latter)…



a family bash hosted by Rosie and Don which involved a stack of food and rellies en masse…

and some early Christmas presents for us (those are oven gloves by the way)!