This was the beginning of my first really long travel adventure, in which I took 9 weeks off work to do a Trafalgar Tour of Britain & Ireland, as well as an Insight Tour around Europe. Darren missed the first tour, but joined me for the European tour. I enjoyed travelling to so many different countries over a longer period of time than I had ever done before. There are so many places we visited on the tours, but let me start with the places I visited on the Briti...

Here's the places I visited on the Ireland part of the Britain & Ireland Trafalgar Tour : * Dublin - Trinity College, St Patrick's Cathedral, Phoenix Park, Four Courts, drinking Guiness with the guys all afternoon, Burlington Cabaret ; * Boat cruise in Carrick-on-Shannon - 12th Century Boyle Abbey - Sligo ; * Donegal & shopping for a tweed suit ! - Bundoran Seaside Resort ; * Connemara - Kylemore Abbey - County Clare & Galway Bay - Ennis ; * Cliffs of M...

After setting off from London, with Darren joining me on the tour this time, our Insight Tour included a visit to many European countries over the next few weeks. Here's what we did in France : * Ferry from Dover in England to Calais in France - Eiffel Tower & River Seine in Paris ; * Paris - Champs Elysees & Arc De Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, Darren & I left the tour for the afternoon & went to Euro Disney by train, Montmatre, Red Light District, tasting...

A visit for part of one night only, trying to win our fortune but losing $28 AUD instead ! There were alot of 'high rollers' in this place and everyone was dressed up so fancy, we didn't exactly fit the scene ! We had a drink, but only the one each, because we weren't prepared to spend $12 AUD on each drink after that !!!

Italy was about 45 degrees everyday we were there ! Saw lots of beautiful sights, but I got annoyed by the attitude of some of the men, so I can't see myself returning there. Anyway, the sights that made it worth visiting include : * Leaning Tower of Pisa in the 'field of miracles' ; * Florence - leatherwork demonstration, statues of David & King Neptune, the 'Ponte Vecchio' market stalls, group photo ; * St. Francis' Assisi ; * Rome - Trevi Fountain, the...