Sat in the cavernous common room of the funky Green Tortoise Hostel and it still feels as if we're on a movie set. It's 8.35pm here, 4.35am UK time, so we've now been up nearly 24 hours including a 10 hour flight. This will inevitably make everything seem a little surreal! our room is as crummy as we should expect for the price we've paid but the hostel itself has a great vibe and is everything we hoped for. Free beer and crab racing from 8.30pm, what more could ...

It's been a fantastically hectic couple of weeks leading up to here, the day before we leave for San Francisco. We have a few things still to accomplish including most significantly packing suitcases. Last we checked Mellissa's was overweight despite not having the majority of her clothes packed, nor her hair straighteners which, as we all know, are the backbone of any girls life. I just know she's going to ask me to unpack my x-box to make space. No dice I'm afr...

Last week, Phillippa and John threw us a little family dinner and surprised us with a 3 course meal consisting of dishes from each of the countries we will mainly be visiting. So we had Sushi for a starter, Kamara Bake for the main (Kumara is the NZ word for sweet potato, not sure if this http://www.maori-in-oz.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=92&Itemid=75 is the recipe Phillippa used but here it is anyway, it's delicious), and a two part...

After the weekend's positively erotic task of deciding on travel insurance (Travel Safe 'Longstay' coverage for anyone who's interested) just spent over an hour looking at credit cards (that's not bad for me when it comes to comparing things). We need one to secure car rental in USA, and I guess it might come in handy in a tight spot. Looks like Post Office offer one of the best for travelling. 0% charge for worldwide overseas purchases seals the deal, though the...

Just testing the blog to see if it works!