These are the best moments of preparing for the trip. We have road tested Bristol's finest coffee houses, mulled over our upcoming adventure in greasy spoons (and there are a few) but some of the best planning/brainstorming sessions have been spent in a particular pie shop on Stokes Croft - so good it may become the Loony Lassis's second home. A couple of pies complete with mash and 'groovy', some coffee and cakes later, we've all but decided that this place is L...

I am trying to raise money for the Alzheimer's Society. I recently organised a Ceilidh (a Scottish dance) in Bristol, and it was very successful. I am also running the Bristol Half Marathon, in September. I hope to beat the time I took last year - first attempt (1:56.56) and will try to post updates on my training and other fundraising events. If you would like to sponsor me, please go to: www.justgiving.com/jpenny Many thanks for your support. Joanna

off to singapore!! for those who know me, youll know how much i dislike flying, but in fact i really enjoyed the flight from hong kong to singapore, mainly as there was a huge thunder and lightning storm not far out of singapore - ive never seen anything like it. the clouds were all being lit up from below, in loads of places by the lightning - it was an amazing natural light show! when i arrived in singapore, it was actually several degrees cooler than hk, proba...

well, as you can probably guess from the title, i have indeed left south america, and returned to scotland, where, on my first day back, after last weeks record breaking temperatures...it rained. welcome home!! anyway, most of last week was spent traveling. i took 4 overnight buses in 6 days. from ica, in peru, i travelled straight down the coast, to tacna, and then over the border to arica in chile, where i spent a day seeing the sights, before taking another bu...