Liz Armstrong

Around the World in 63 days!: Way back in 2012 on a dreary wet afternoon in early December, Peter my wonderful 'other half' threw down a challenge. He'd just made us coffee and I suppose in the sporting world (we do love our sport, as will become apparent to you later) you would say 'It was a bit of a curved ball.' Do you fancy a project, he said. Well, I've always loved a project. Now we are both retired, as much as we love days just chilling out, we love to get out and about, locally as well as visiting places abroad. I must admit I was not prepared for his 'project' though. The England Cricket team had recently won the Ashes and Peter was there on the last day, of the 5th and final Test at the Oval in August, so I guess his next statement made sense. How about going to Australia for the the next test series during the 2013/2014 winter? You could plan it all, we could also 'do' New Zealand and anywhere else we fancy whilst we are out there, he continued! I've always loved organising trips, way back in my early 20's I booked a weeks holiday for 40 members of a Youth Club I used to help run. So the idea of organising a trip around the world, to watch some Cricket and see a bit more of our wonderful planet along the way sounded utterly amazing. We spent the next 12 months reading, investigating, planning and booking. Every detail was gone into thoroughly. Flights, hotels, things to see, places to visit, Homework is vital I've always thought, so you don't get back home and think 'Oh why didn't we do that!' I found Trip Advisor and Booking.com my favourite internet sites and our wonderful Trailfinders rep Marie at their Exeter Travel Centre, the perfect person to arrange all our flights to make the entire trip smooth and easy from Heathrow to Dallas via Dubai, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. I hope you enjoy the journey, we sure did! So in the following blogs you will see the result of my planning. Enjoy! // Cuba, Costa and other places beginning with C!: So, to Peter and I 2013/14 meant a round the world mega tour. We had a ball doing that, we loved every second of every day. Therefore we knew as soon as thoughts of Christmas 2014 approached we would have very itchy feet. What was to be done? We had to get planning. A trip to see the wonders of the animal world needed to be organised. After seeing those gorgeous little Blue Penguins and Albatross in New Zealand and the marvels of the Great Barrier Reef and Fiji, we needed another fix. Where to go, what to see? Yes, difficult decisions, the little grey cells and Google maps went into overdrive. But as you will read in the next few weeks, we got it booked. What happened next? .................................................................. You'll find out! // Galapagos, Costa Rica and the Caribbean at last!: