A 24 hour train ride, many pine forests and an eternity at the Mongolian border later we were at the Russian border. Along with our Dutch room mates we were a little nervous, Russians have a reputation. They didn't let us down!! The process began with someone literally barking at us for passports, a cabin search and then a sniffer dog. After all that, and a further eternity, they let us in!! A toilet stop bought our first contact with a 'real' Russian. She ...

Well our first impressions of UB didn't improve, we were ripped off by our taxi driver and the guesthouse Emmett had booked was in a shanty town on top of a hill. In his defense it was the top pick in the old LP, unfortunately, we later found out, it doesn't even make an appearance in the new one. The place is now full of travelers seemingly competing for the title of dirtiest person. One of these hardcore travelers has even had cards made up with the title "a...

It seems at a certain age one gets used to a certain level of comfort. For me it would appear that age is 31. In the face of no such comforts my body protested with a cold. After a little over a week on the road my body/mind is slowly coming to terms with challenges of the amazing countries we are going through......... Our trip finally began in Beijing nearly 24 (sleepless) hour later than expected. It seems bad weather meant our plane couldn't get to us, whic...

Today's the day!! Off to the airport we headed in below zero temperatures at an ungodly hour (3 degrees and 7:30am if I'm to be less dramatic). After some final goodbyes the bedlam of Melbourne airport awaited us. I guess the large number of lost looking Chinese people should have alerted us to the fact that something was amiss, it's hard to get lost at check in. We saw the departures board, air china 178, departing 10:35am, estimated 4am, clearly the board...

Well I guess this trip was written in the stars. After a stint living in London I reluctantly headed home with an expired visa and my first broken heart. All quite dramatic at the time. One kitten and labradoodle later, life in Adelaide still wasn't working for me, then a friend suggested I join her on her travels to Africa. I hadn't been to Africa proper (I'm talking the africa with lions and other furry friends) so this was possibly the best idea I had ...