Kanchanaburi, Thailand - Bathing Elephants

We took a 2 day trip to Kanchanaburi which is North on Bankok. We saw a lot of hokey things on our first day, but stayed at an elephant camp where people can ride the elephants and stay in rooms on the river (that your toilet and shower runs from and into). We had a magnificent meal and great conversation with people from all over the world and looked forward to the next day.

In the morning we all hopped on top of an elephant's neck and rode it to the river where the elepahnt threw us in. We bathed the elephants and hung out with them for about 30 mins. Some elephants were very frisky and some were placid. We could tell that the elephants really enjoyed frolicking in the water, which made it more fun for us. Chelise had a very playfull one that kept thowing here off. While I had the biggest one (Male) that was pretty chill in the water, except for the occasional complete submersion. My elephant also lifted me up with his truck. The elephants loved having us wash them with brushes (my elephant handler took a bath on the elephant with a bar a soap that he also used on the elephant) The handlers could make the elephants spray waters at us like a gun on command. I even did a back flip off my elephant. I ended up just hopping from the back of one elephant to the next. It was truly a great experince.

After that we went on a little mini trek with our elephants which was kinda anti-climatic considering the fun we had just had. The next day we hiked 4.5 miles in the middle of the day to 7 waterfalls. At the top waterfall we swam and had it all to ourselves apart from the fish who would nibble aggresively at our feet. As a storm rolled in we were taken to a Tiger Temple run by monks who look after tigers they have raised to be vegatarians. These tiger are very placid and docile since they have never been fed meat. We got led into an area where they all were and took photos. I scratched some cubs behind the ears and then was ushered back outside the boundry. We watched 3 older cubs play in a puddle and it was great. The storm hit on the way back to Bangkok and it was so fierce that we should have really pulled over, but hey were in Thailand where safety is never an issue.

Tonight we leave on a bus to Ko Tao Island where I will get my Open Water Diving Certificate

Oh yes if there are spelling errors its Me (Ben) I dont have time to correct everthing, and of course if Chelise is writing it will proabbly look and sound alot nicer.

Luxor, Egypt - Imodium junkies riding donkeys...

LUXOR :

Right, I remember leaving you in Cairo... Well Greg couldn't have been a better host - from taking us horse riding by night around the pyramids (more about this later), showing us some of his favourite haunts around the city, to introducing us to the shisha! Sadly all good things must come to an end, and after spending a wicked week with Greg, we had to depart for our tour.

Now before I go on about our adventures outside of Cairo, I'll take you back to our horse riding by night. One of Greg's favourite pastimes is to take friends up to this wicked little oasis, to ride horses through the desert - overlooking the pyramids. We had to catch a cab about 30 minutes out of the centre of Cairo, and as we were driving all of a sudden these huge, majestic shadowlike images appeared. It took a little while to realise that they were the pyramids... we were totally in awe! We were then met by a guy on a donkey, and he took us to the stables. I haven't seen anything so funny in ages - a large man galloping on a donkey who looked as if it were going to collapse under him. Our horses were selected (mine was quiet as I was being a chicken), and we headed into the desert. It was amazing, we rode over sand dunes with the moon and stars to guide our way, the only sounds were the horses striding along, and our whispers of amazement. The pyramids stood in the distance, huge yet eerie - every now and then they would light up, making the moment only more magical. After an hour and a half of riding were back at the stables... already I know this is going to be one of the highlights for this trip. Now, upon starting our evening I had no idea that I had an allergy to horses... though once I had come off the horse I was sneezing, my eyes were swollen and I had come up in some kind of rash. The worst thing for me was I had to wait another hour before we got back to Greg's so I could take an antihistamine - thankfully I didn't have a worse reaction... otherwise it could have been a short trip.

So... we joined our tour, 24 of us in total - Kiwi's, Aussies and a few token Brits, the ages range from 19-31, and the group is awesome! On starting the tour, we were greeted by our tour leader (Jo) saying she was about to send out a search party. There had been some confusion, and she had us down as staying at their hotel the night before... Good start!

Our first day was spent exploring the pyramids, and they were just as amazing by day. We caught camels from the smallest pyramid down to the largest. The ride lasted about 10 minutes, and to begin with it was a frightening experience - I had never realised just how high up a camel was. We had an opportunity to enter one of the pyramids, though I became claustrophobic and had to turn around before getting to the end. Ant managed to make it to the end, and has told me that there was only a big room - nothing much interesting. We also visited a perfumery and a papyrus making factory. Both were nice, but overrated and too pricey - it was like being taken around by a tuk-tuk driver in Bangkok he! he! Our first night was spent on a night train to Aswan. After having to fight to get on the train, it was then a bigger fight for our seats. The locals who had beaten us on thought they'd take the seats, and some weren't happy to move! After settling in though, we managed to have an okay sleep... though with it being Ramadam and people only eating during daylight, by 3.00am all the locals started gathering together to eat, and talk (loudly I might add). But we made it to Aswan all in one piece.

We had a couple of days in Aswan, where we spent our time checking out the local markets, and smoking shisha at a local cafe. On one of the nights we had a huge meal with our tour, and some local dances performed for us - what a wicked evening. After showing us some of their traditional dances, one which included a guy spinning continuously, with a huge colourful skirt spinning with him... they all got us up to dance. They spun us round and round, and made us some strange moves. It was a great night, for me a good icebreaker - allowing me become a little less shy.

We have visited Abu Simbel - a set of two temples near the border of Egypt with Sudan. Constructed for the pharaoh Ramesses II who reigned for 67 years during the 13th century BC (19th Dynasty)... To visit Abu Simbel you have to go in a police convoy, which leaves at 3.30am I might add! Abu Simbel was amazing (photo's to follow), though there were too many people... to try and imagine, how people back in this time were able to build things to such a scale, are beyond me...

From Aswan we spent 2 days sailing down the Nile on feluccas. For those who don't know what feluccas are, they are traditional Egyptian sail boats, that have a cloth cover for the night, a huge mattress where about 10 people sleep - there are no cabins, you sleep on deck. Not much to really report we just relaxed, relaxed, drank beer, swam, ate, slept... hmmm and that's about it really. On the first night of our ride, our group gathered around the camp fire and told tales of their most embarrassing moments... though mine was a crappy peeing on my shoe, there were some funny as stories. We also were entertained by Stacey (a wicked Ozzy nurse) teaching our felucca boat boys some classic Austrlian tunes - G'day, G'day; Give me a home among the gum trees... ha! all class and brilliant!

I've now had Egyptian belly for 5 days, I've been blocking it up with Imodium, anti-nausea pills, nurofen and some Egyptian anti-bacterial pills. I don't know how good it is for my system, but there was no way in hell I was going to have the runs whilst on the feluccas. I'm planning to go solo when we hit the beaches at Dahab.

We are now in Luxor, where Ant will enlighten you on the next leg of our journey.

So far the tour has been better than I could ever expect. In the first few days I felt like I was being herded around like a flock of sheep, but now as we get into it... all is good. It's just like travelling with 24 of your buddies from home, only you don't have to worry about arranging your own travel or food. I would still like to travel independently, but for a tour I can't complain.

Dahab, Egypt - Sunrises and Projectile Vomiting...

DAHAB :Hey! Well we are here now in Dahab and the last 3-4 Days have been a blur so please excuse me if I am little vauge....

Also, we are miles from the bombs in Jordan so nothing to worry about:)

So we left the fellucas and went to Luxor to see the Vally of the Kings and Queens, (Pics last entry). We did about 2 hours donkey riding which was great fun, except my bloody donkey chucked me off 3 times. The temples were great but it was a long hot day. I started to feel a little queasy at 5pm and by 7 am I had vomited the colours of the rainbow (if you include dark grey)into our toilet. It was to my great selfish delight that I was not the only one and there were 3 others in the same state. Role on a 4 hour police convoy with one stop. I chucked back the motion sickness pills and managed to make it to the next hotel. I pulled it together, which was great as we had a 13 hour day in the back of the truck leaving at 2 am.

The trip was ok and we only had half of the usual rubbish of a police convey (waste of time, its there for looks only....) The highlight was seeing 2 ships in the Suez Canal - Ships of the desert - it was amazing, these massive ocean vessels sailing through the sand. Cant take a picture as there were sniper posts at every 50 metres protecting the place, they were very nice and the snipers waved at us...... (how strange...)

So we got here, had a snooze for 3 hours and proceed to climb Mount Sinai to see if the commandments were up there somewhere. The stars were amazing and we saw a couple of shooting ones as well. Just as we lay our weary heads from climbing 2000m on little sleep the sun came up from below. It was fantastic and Kodak made a lot of money from all the pics being taken, there was probably more light from the flashes of all the tourists cameras than the sun! We staggered down and went past the oldest monastry in the world. Didn't look inside as was too tired after all our lack of sleep.....

So we came back to our lovely room, had a nanna nap and then proceeded 30m to the big lights of Dahab. We started off with sisha and ended up at this great bar with an open fire and 80 egyption men keen to get it on with anybody with 2 legs (ratio of chicks to guys 1:10 - Scary). Narelle was itching for a fight if they touched her but the Egyptions luckliy survived the night. So off to bed at 2am and here I am after a big english breakky for 80 pence. (Flys were free........)

Notes so far...

It has been amazing, we have a great group of guys - (Actually 19 Girls and 7 Guys) Only one single guy - Go Woza go - he's gotta score!!! The tour is very busy and tiring but with the great bunch of people loads of fun. I am very over being sick but we are supposed to be thru the worst of it, all the tour talks about is bowl movements -Its very bonding!

See you next time and thanx for reading!

Issaquah, Washington - Home for now...

4,280 miles later (10 hours this leg) we have arrived home near Seattle for 6 days until we fly off to Asia. The trip was fun but it was just the tip of the iceberg. My family have combined my belated birthday with mothers' day into one giant feast!!! (Flank steak, cheese garlic mashed potatoes, ceasar salad and garlic bread) The only thing left for us to do here is get all of our stuff organized so that we can find it when we get home. Wish us luck

Aswan, Egypt - Big Triangles, Dancing and The Toilet

We we are here at the start of recorded living. Its fantastic and dirty. N and I both have the runs but not too bad. We are in Aswan at the moment and about to head off on our cruise down the Nile with nothing to do but drink and relax - Fantastic.

The big triangles were great and we even went inside to the tomb, no lara croft, in fact nothing but sweaty tourists.........

Must go, take care....

Bangkok, Thailand - We arrive in Asia!

After changing planes in Taipei and ascending into lightning and huge turbulence, landing in Hong Kong and finally Bangkok we were ready to walk around. Approx 23 hours after we left Seattle we checked into a Hostel called Peachy just near Khao San Road. I don't want to make this a long one as we've been here nearly a week now if you can believe that so here goes: It's really hot and I'm talking hotter than Australia at about 35 C + the humidity which increases it by 5 degrees. It's very smelly (like poo) which I expected. The locals around this area try to wheel and deal you and try to sell you everything. We've fallen for people that were seemingly innocently informing us about the area and then directing us to a tuk tuk or a temple that wasn't open. The food is fantastically cheap and we've been eating Pad Thai for 15 baht which is about 30 cents US. Clothes, shoes, backpacks, souvenirs and all sorts of things are really cheap and everywhere. Some mornings you just wake up and feel sick. You don't eat a lot - I am rarely hungry from the heat.

Alot of you already know about this stuff so lets cut to the things we've been doing. Ben ate a fried scorpion and I tried some too. We have walked around a lot so we don't have to pay for a tuk tuk for shorter trips. The tuk tuk drivers cannot believe we want to walk. We've seen magnificent temples (they all start to look alike after the first few) and views from the Golden Monument which puts you 370 steps above Bangkok. We've seen real poverty with people living in shacks in alleys with concrete floors and the whole family in one room. It seems everyone is trying to make a living by making some kind of food - I mean everyone. We have walked down the sex street where you can buy girls and boys and watch a ping pong shows.... we did not go into any of those clubs this time but next time we are in Bangkok ( 2 or 3 weeks) we will defintely party it up there to see what its all about. Sorry I wont be able to take pictures there so you will just have to beleive me!

Cairo, Egypt - Middle East

Well we made it... our 5 month adventure of the Middle East etc. has now begun!

We arrived into Cairo at 2.30am (25/10/05), flying into the city was simply amazing. The city seemed alive - even from the sky. There were thousands of white lights flickering through the streets, among them were also as many bright green lights (we were to discover later that green is the colour of Islam, and the mosques were actually lit up).

After hearing stories from fellow travellers, I was somewhat nervous to enter the arrival hall - in fear that I would be instantly harassed. Though to my surprise the men didn't seem that interested at all... they more wanted to get us to go in their taxis for the fares! After haggling with a guy for a bit, we agreed on a price and were taken to the taxi. Before long we were speeding through the streets of Cairo, listening to upbeat Egyptian tunes whilst trying to take in as much of this amazing city as we could.

Our driver got us considerably lost, and after asking directions from at least 7 locals, we were no better off. Finally by pure luck we found our friends apartment - the ride that was suppose to take 20 minutes, took well over 1 hour.

So... we are here - and this place is simply amazing!

Bozeman, Montana, United States

We drove about 7 hours to the familiarity of Bozeman. This is the place where Ben had to try and squeeze his mountain of belongings into an already full car. When we got to Scott and Kim's, Kelley from Garmisch was staying there too so we quizzed them all on Asia etc. The next night, a group of us went out for Sushi and to a bar after that. Usually we BYO alcohol in Dave's sushi, but we were informed when making the reservation that this was no longer allowed as they had gotten in trouble recently (not licensed I guess). We stood in the carpark with our cartons of beer and filled numerous Nalgenes to take in with us so it wouldn't look 'suspicious'! DJ Ben from Garmisch is the best sushi maker in the world and he treated us to a new speciality only for VIPs - the Liger - it's like only his favourite sushi.....While we were partying we ran into one of our managers from the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone. After a long night we all retreated (some in worse shape than others - Ben). The next morning we got up and headed on our next leg of the journey sad that we had to leave so soon, but we were on a deadline.

Rabanal del Camino, Spain - Astorga to Rabanal del Camino

We were up again at the crack of dawn, leg muscles are hurting like crazy this morning - I was keen to give today a miss... but know that we have to go on!

This morning was the coldest day yet, I looked fashionable in my green pants, patterned knee high stockings, bright orange socks and socks as gloves! Ant had wanted to stick socks on his ears, but this I think was going a bit too far on the fashion stakes.

Getting up early and walking in the cold paid off though, we were able to watch the sun rise over Astorga - and what a wicked sight.

Today's walk was wicked, not too many uphill and the scenery was breathtaking. We made it to Rabanal del Camino by 12.40pm, and seeing as we were well ahead of time had decided to continue on to the next village Foncebadón (a further 5.8km. Thankfully we spoke to a fellow pilgrim, who on speaking to a local, had found out the Albergue at Foncebadón had now closed for the year... the next Albergue would be a further 10km.

After finding the Albergue at Rabanal del Camino, we were told that the doors wouldn't open until 2.30pm. The hospitalier told us that there were only 24 beds available for the night and that we would need to line our bags up in an orderly fashion. It definitely helped the time pass by - counting bags. Its was also funny to walk grown-ups finding so much amusement in watching bags being placed in a line.

The Albergue was great, clean, with good showers and most importantly everyone had a blanket!

Although my muscles are tired and sore, I feel surprisingly good.

Tomorrow we head up and over a mountain, in what will be our longest day of walking yet - 32.5km.

Fort Collins, Colorado, United States - Harry Potter and Fort fun

As we headed closer to Ft Collins (6.5 hr drive) the rain turned into snow. We stayed with Good Andy (Harry Potter) who had other guests staying too: Susie and James. We went into town to watch yet another basketball game and ended up getting really drunk and silly. Andy likes to wrestle when he's drunk and tried to take down everyone. Next morning we went out for a huge breakfast and got into a couple of snowball fights. Tonight we will BBQ and stay out of the snow!

Cairo, Egypt - Hail to the shisha!

So, we have now been in Cairo for 3 days... and we are loving it!

As some of you may know Ants friend Greg is currently studying in Cairo, so we've been lucky enough to be able to stay with him - and to have him as our tour guide!

This city is amazing, it seems to be awake 24 hours a day. At the moment it is the holiest month for Muslims - Ramadam (where Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset). It is said that this is a time for inner reflection, devotion to God, and self-control. Muslims think of it as a kind of tune-up for their spiritual lives.

As westerners your aren't expected to fast, and we are lucky enough to have restaurants, shops selling food. Ant and I have been trying not to eat out during the fasting, so by accident have at times been going without food for almost the whole day - doh!

We've smoked shishas, eaten local delicacies (vegetarian) and sipped Turkish tea along the Nile in a wicked restaurant called Sequoia. The only way I can describe this fantastic place is to imagine sitting in a huge Saharan tent, filled with sweet smells of the shishas, Arabic music and hundreds of people... simply magical! Greg has told us that this is where mostly middle-upper class Egyptians eat, but the whole night cost us about UK10.00.

Last night we went to Khan al-Khalili, the largest bazarre in the Middle East - what an experience. There are hundreds of stalls selling things like papyrus, scarves, statues, shirts, bottles of locally made perfumes - the list only goes on. And, even better everything is so cheap. I was somewhat composed with my shopping and only bought a scarf and a bottle of Sandlewood perfume - I spent a whopping UK2.00 - hey big spender!

By 12.00am the markets were in full swing (normally they will close at 10.00pm but because of Ramadam they are open until the early hours), I have NEVER seen so many people in one area - it was like a swarm of bees, but only it was people! At one point we were stuck in the mish mash of the crowd. A woman trying to sell tissue paper, threw her baby (not literally of course) toward Ant (weird yes), the baby then proceeded to pull Ants hair, and lightly bit his ear - what a scene!

After the hustle and bustle of the markets, we finished our night smoking shisha in a local cafe right by all the chaos and watched the night go by.

It's been a wicked adventure so far! I am surprised that I have not been harassed nearly as much as I was expecting - actually only 2 people have been a bit off. I have gone to wearing a scarf around my neck full time and am trying not to look the Egyptian men in the eye (this is said to only encourage them!)... I suppose though my time will come to be harassed, though at the moment I am lapping up the peacefulness!

Right, we are off to the markets again - woohoo! This time I am going to buy, buy, buy!

Salt Lake, Utah, United States - Mormons!

We arrived in SLC about 7 hours after leaving snowy CO. We stayed in Launi & Pauly's new house with their 2 dogs and 1 crazy kitty. At sunset we went up to Ensign Peak & gazed over the darkening city. It was so pretty!!! SLC is huge including the burbs, it seems to sprawl further than the eye can see, but it's such a quiet city. The next day we got a lovely and informative tour of the city. Ben loved going to the Mormon info centre and even went back by himself later - I think the pretty Morman girls (tour guides) had him hooked or it could have been the really big statue of Jesus in the room eerily painted like the universe....Anyway, that night we found a sports bar (basketball) and Christie and Clark came from Park City to meet us. Tara and I met them during the Winter Olympics when we sold pins out their jewelry store. Chris Gentzkow and Ann also showed up a bit later and we had a full on rockin party! It was great catching up with everyone. The next night we stayed in Gentzkow's new house which he's doing up himself and went to a sports bar again to watch the Sonics kick some more ass!

Ponferrada, Spain - Rabanal del Camino to Ponferrada

After eating a very bland, home cooked dinner (pasta, mayonnaise and sweetcorn), we headed to the church to hear the monks sing latin hymns. Although we are not religious, it was quite a moving experience - maybe it was because we couldn't understand what they were saying?

This morning I was prepared for the cold, stockings, sock hands etc. I was slightly disappointed when it wasn't as cold as yesterday - not! It was a slow start to the morning, as the yellow arrows were almost non-existent. Ant and I walked aimlessley over paths for about 40 minutes, we were able to see footprints in the dirt with our torch... so felt some comfort that others may also have gone on the wrong track.

Once on track again, we made it to Foncebadón for sunrise. The view was amazing, Foncebadón looked down onto the hills we had just walked with the sun rising in the distance. There was a lone cross in a village that was all but deserted, you almost felt like there was no-one else in the world...

Today we would reach the highest point 1,505m. At the top is an iron dcross, that has become a symbol of the way of St James. For possibly hundreds of years, pilgrims have been bringing stones (or other icons)to leave as a sign of respect or gratitude. Ant and I had bought stones from London to leave in this magical place. We were lucky enough to be the only people there at the time, which made the moment even more special.

Montazuma, Kansas, United States - Backwards farming folk...bless their inbred heart.

We arrived in Montezuma after driving for about 4 hours. It's a really small town with a population of somewhere under 1000 people (many people asked who we were because they'd never seen us before), many of which are farmers and Menonites (funny little religious people). Dave's family has a huge farm there and we went out to watch basketball after a hearty home-cooked meal. Over the next couple of days Ben helped work around the house (for some gas money) went to the driving range, and we went to the local bar and had mini bar olympics (I sucked and lost quickly). This was the only bar in town and was full of three people. The next day we went into the country and shot some clay pigeons. This was a true american small town experience!

Astorga, Spain - San Martin del Camino to Astorga

We found that in San Martin del Camino on a Sunday, there were indeed no shops open.

We ended up having dinner with about 20 other pilgrims at the Albergue. We had someone translate to the hospitalier (owner of the Albergue)that we were vegetarians, and after asking 3 times whether we ate fish... I think he got the gist that it was vegetables only. So for our dinner we had a huge ensalada (salad), and patatas fritas (french fries)- it was a great meal, though we are now a little worried this is all we will eat for the next couple of weeks.

Being eager little walkers, we started our day at 6.30am. It doesn't seem to get light here until after 8.00am, so I suppose we'll have to get use to walking in the dark.

Today we've managed to find our way, and the yellow arrows have been kinder to us. Part of the walk this morning was to walk for about 3km through a heavy wooded area. Me being the baby I am was too scared for us to walk through alone, so we waited for other pilgrims to come along, before venturing in.

The scenery today has been wicked, we've walked through small stone villages and through fields of maize. Our legs are starting to really ache today - especially our shins. We've stopped quite a few times to take off our shoes, and massaged our feet.

After arriving in Astorga and dropping off our bags, we headed straight for a pharmacy to buy some deep heat. Thankfully we bought a Spanish translation book, so I was able to get across to the pharmacist what we needed. Ahh, the bliss of putting deep heat on tire muscles.

Today has been pretty cold, so I've invested in some black knee high stockings for the cooler mornings - I'm going to look a right sight, but at least I'll be warm!

Already we've met some amazing people. On the second day we are starting to feel more like pilgrims, I look forward to the days to follow.

Oklahoma, United States - Waffle House Virgins

We arrived in Oklahoma late today to stay with Brian. We went out for some drinks at Bennigans to catch up and meet his girlfriend Laura. Turns out the Brian is working as a production assistant for the guy that directed Children of the Corn and produced the Godfather. It looks as though Brian is soon to be famous!!! Then next morning we ate breakfast at the infamous Waffle House. We have seen these restaurants everywhere on our travels and have never eaten at one. We have been warned by everyone that its nickname is the Awful house. It lived up to its reputation and it was one of the greasiest, cheapest meals of all time!

San Martin, Spain - León to San Martin del Camino - 24.9km

Ant and I ended up being able to spend the night together, we found a room with double bunk beds especially for couples - boo hoo!

We were able to sleep until about 2.00am... this appears to be when others had fallen into a deep sleep, and started snoring. For a while there were only a few people snoring, kind of in an annoying melody - snort, snort, snooooort etc. Anyway, to start with the noise wasn't loud enough to totally interrupt our sleep, but by 3.00am there was a 'trumpeter of a snorer'... needless to say he then kept us awake until 6.00am - great start!

Even with our little sleep we managed to drag our sorry selves out of bed at 6.00am, as first planned. The Albergue but on breakfast of stodgy bread, home-made marmalade, biscuits and tea/coffee - just what we needed to kick start our day.

Now, to help guide your way along the Camino, and to each village you will find yellow spray painted arrows. These can be found all over the place - on the road, on telephone polls, walls etc.

We found early on that you have to have a keen eye for these little buggers, and managed to get lost within 10 minutes of trying to find our way out of León. Thankfully we met other walkers, and together we were able to find our way out, though about an hour later we managed to get lost again - doh!

So blindly Ant and I walked in the direction on west, in the hope that we would soon stumble across the 'already famous' arrows. Again we were saved by other walkers, a lovely Swedish couple (both the tender age of 70 I might add) who help us along our way!

After what seemed forever we arrived to our destination - San Martin del Camino for 2.00pm.

It's so nice to be able to take of our shoes to allow our throbbing feet to breath. So far there neither of us have blisters (early days yet I think), though our feet are tired and sore.

The accommodation is basic but nice. It's Sunday here, and in this little village there doesn't seem to be anywhere open. For now we just want to relax!

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Our drive to Atlanta took under 12 hours. There's lots of trees here. We're staying with Joel and Celina and their puppy - Hansel (so hot right now!!!) Ben went to College in San Diego with Joel and he and Cel are getting married next year. Yesterday was Ben's 28th. We found an Aussie bakery so we all had meat pies. I also bought a lamington and a milo bar mmmmmm...... We went to a park and played with Hansel and had a few drinks. Then we went out to dinner. I love not having a job. Happy Birthday Ben. It was really nice staying with them and checking out a new city.

Leon, Spain - Santiago here we come...

We started our day by saying farewell to our beloved Goldie... quite an emotional experience to say the least, and headed for Stanstead Airport - destination Valladolid!

Had an interesting flight to Valladolid with Ryan Air, the pilot almost over shot the runway on landing. There were a few screams from fellow passengers, though I was so scared I forgot to breath!! I suppose... you get what you pay for aye!

Caught a bus to León, where tomorrow we will start our pilgrimage. We are staying in our first Albergue (cheap hostel like accommodation especially for pilgrims), but can't help to feel a little guilty that we are not yet 'real' pilgrims!

Ant and I have to sleep in separate accommodation, so I am to share a room with 50 other women. There are no pillows or blankets on the beds - though, I suppose this is the life we have resigned ourselves to for the next 2 weeks... am I really up for it?

Well it is 10.15pm, and time for bed. We've agreed to start bright and early tomorrow - 6.00am... welcome to the life of a pilgrim!