Glasgow, Scotland

Ye olde homeland! A one hour flight with our best mate RyanAir saw us arrive in Glasgow. Often overlooked by the average tourist, perhaps due to it's grittier appearance than Edinburgh, the city acutally has quite a bit to offer - good nightlife, home of one of the most bitter football rivalries in the world, and most importantly for me, the origins of my family.

- When I asked my old man what he recommended we do in Glasgow the response was 'go to the pub - people from Glasgow like a drink'. As it turns out, we arrived on a Saturday! Location of choce was The Arches - a disused series of tunnels turned entertainment venue, and home to the infamous monthly InsideOut parties. We had heard Scottish clubbers were pretty loose, and they were. Rowdiness and chanting were the norm, especially when local lad Mark Shery took the decks. Definitely a different clubbing experience.

- With that out onthe way, most of the remainder of my time was spent meeting family, and putting faces to what were previously resigned to names on Christmas and birthday cards. It was great to swap stories, pay out on other family member not there to defend themselves, and see the place where everyone grew up. Last but not least, to drink IrnBru at the source was an experience in itself.





- Before leaving, we managed to sneak in some quick sight seeing around the city centre, southbank area, and see the infamous Ibrox Stadium - one home of Europes most hate filled football rivalries.

Belfast, Northern Ireland

At the conclusion of our roadtrip in Derry we had to drive the car back to the Republic of Ireland (Letterkenny) before busing back across the border to Belfast.

We arrived reasonably early and were able to fit in a 'Black Cabs' tour which takes you around the various areas of Belfast that have shaped it's political history over the recent decades. For anyone tht goes to Belfast, this is well worth the price of admission and really gives you an insight about the past and current situation. The city has basically been a warzone, however the turmoil has somewhat 'ceased' recently. Things are kept in check by over 60 'peace walls' that seperate people from killing each other. Just walking around the neighbourhoods there's a feeling that chaos could break out any minute. Armoured police cars tour the streets and political murals are prevalent. The first hand experience really puts a different perspective on the SBS news reports we got back home. Interestingly many locals dont seem to take sides with the whole debate. The general consensus however was that the only solution is time.

Update: Two weeks after our visit it seems it hit the fan again in Belfast. Might be later rather than sooner before this fire's out...



The next morning we trekked down to the Titanic Quarter of Belfast which, as the name suggests, is where the Titanic was built. Much of the original infrastructure from the Titanic construction is still there which gives you an appreciation for the scale, however the rest of the area seems to be going through a sterile redevelopment renaissance with the construction of dozens of new apartment buildings.


Following our epic walk to the Titanic quarter, we did one of of soon-to-be favourite free walking tours. The guide purposfully skirted around the political turmoil that taints the city, and rather focussed on more of the 'local trends and traditions' of what it's like to live in Belfast and some of the more tourist friendly attractions. It was by all means insightful, but thankfully we did the Black Cab tour the day before or else we would have missed out on some integral Belfast history.

Ireland Roadtrip: Cork-Doolin-Galway-Donegal-Derry

From Dublin we set off south to Cork to commence a fairly epic roadtrip from south to north. Being the only one with manual driving skills I was the designated driver (test pilot), with navigation duties split between Sam and Nick. The preliminary issue was how we were going to fit 4 bags and 4 people into a Opel Corsa. Somehow it worked and did quite well with it.

Doing it all ourselves meant we were without tour guides the whole time and thus, cannot explain much of the history behind the places visited. Hopefully the pictures below tell the story. Moreover, because we were all too tight to buy a proper road map, we had to rely on crappy tourist ones which got us lost once or twice. Oh well - part of the adventure as they say.

Our stops along the way were as follows:
Cork; Doolan; Galway (2 night 'refuel'); Donegal/Malinbeg; and Derry.

Our general route and sights included:
Bunratty Castle; Cliffs of Moher; Conemarra; Roscommen Castle; Derry city centre; and Giants Causeway.

Dublin, Ireland

Thankfully our first RyanAir experience was hassle free and we arrived safely (physically and financially) in the capital of the Republic of Ireland -Dublin.

Getting straight into business, we booked a tour of the Guiness Storehouse - the home of the national and world reknowed beer. The tour basically took us through the history and process of making Guiness. The final part of the tour included a complementary pint on the 7th floor of the storehouse providing (apparently) the best view of Dublin in the city.



Now for the all important question: Does it taste as woeful at the source as it does back home? Basically, no. It's still pretty average in my eyes though.

The next day we took a free walking tour around the streets of Dublin and explained the history of the city as well as pointing out some of the key, and lesser known sites. 'Free tour' you ask? Well it's not really free. You're expected to tip the guide whatever you feel is necessary. Apparently it's so people of all budgets can enjoy the tour. I think it's more likely a tax dodge of some description. Anyway, although the 3 hour tour took it's toll, it provided all with a thorough background of a city the addmittedly we didn't really know that much about, as well as telling us some of the obscure tales that are somewhat synonymous with the Irish. One of many examples - a plaque placed on a bridge as a tribute to a man that never existed. Turns out the plaque was there for 6 or so years before the council eventually questioned it.



On our final day, we (minus Sam) ventured out to Clontarf to watch an ODI between Australia and Ireland. Not reknowned for their cricketing greatness, even the Irish predicted an Australian whitewash. Given we hate almost all of the current Australian cricket team, we were torn as to who we should actually support. The ground was extremely small (smaller than many local grounds back in Australia) and boundaries were expected. The Australians batted woefully at a rate of only 4.5 runs/over. We thought the Irish were going to do it after an opening partnership of 80+ in quickfire time. Eventually the Australian bowling attack bailed out what was a terrible batting performance and cleaned the Irish tail up. Despite this, there would be no excuses as there was an inpeding 5 game series against the poms which now wasn't looking promising. With no Peter Siddle in the Australian side, we had to blame someone else for the terrible display. This person would be Nathan Hauritz down on the boundary that was already getting a pasting from the local fans. How did he get a shot in the Australian team in the first place?

Update: Australia goes down to the poms 3-2. No suprise really.

London, England

From the USA we travelled overnight to our final leg - the UK and Europe. The time zone change was an absolute killer as the 6ish hour flight saw a time change close to 12 hours. Nonetheless, we jumped onto the tube at Heathrow and ventured out to our hostel in Willesden Green.

Because I'm so cultured and have been to London before, I skipped over many of the attractions I had done previously. Despite this however we did take a ride around the London Eye, walked the banks of the River Thames past Tower of London and Tower Bridge, and visited the Tate Modern and London History Museum

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The rest of my time was spent travelling out to visit some of Sam's family, lazing about at the hostel after a hectic couple of weeks in the USA, and watching some of the World Cup clashes.

Our London stop was shortlived and merely a pit stop before our next leg: Ireland. Watch this space!

New York City, USA

From Tampa we headed north again to New York City. A city that needs no introduction, we had a lot of ground to cover in just 8 days. Thankfully our accomodation was conveniently located in the Chelsea area of Manhattan as well as being close to Penn Station and a number of Subway lines (this proved as a massive advantage - weekly unlimted travel for US27) which made getting around relatively easy. Being such a massive city, we didn't really have much if an opportunity to go beyond the standard tourist attractions; Statue of Liberty; Top of the Rock; Empire State Building; Central Park; Broadway (went to see Chicago); and Times Square just to name a few. A select few photos from the 8 days (I took way to many to post up them all):

One of the underlying drawcards of NYC is the food. Despite being the least adventurous eater in the world, I can say that the signature dishes of the city are awesome. New York pizza is better than any other pizza I've eaten, the bagels make Glicks look like a joke, and the cheesecake is nothing short of awesome. Unfortunately none of the above are actually good for you.

It's hard to pin point an individual element as to why, but in my limited travel experience Ive concluded that NYC is a city like no other, and probably one of the most amazing cities I'll visit, in it's own right. A 2, 4 or 10 week holiday could easily evaporate here (finances pending).

On another note, for the last two nights I upgraded my accomodation from the hostel dorm to the 28th floor of the Parker Meridien overlooking Central Park (thanks old man - much appreciated). A welcome change to say the least!

Tampa, USA

Heading north we arrived in Tampa on the Gulf of Mexico side of Florida for a couple of days of family time. We opted to fly rather than take the 4 hor bus journey. As it turns out, flying with America Airlines almost turned out to take just as long due to their over the top security measures.

While Tampa is not really being an reknowned international tourist hot spot, Clearwater Beach proves extremely popular with American locals and was still rather busy after the Memorial Day weekend. The Clearwater Beach was a vast change from the hustle and bustle of South Beach in Miami, and in my opinion, much nicer. Although being on the Gulf of Mexico coast, the BP oil spill thankfully hadn't yet tainted the picturesque scenery.

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Much of our time was split between relaxing in Clearwater Beach and catching up with family, so not there's not really much to report from a purely 'touristic' perspective, but I think the above photos depict it rather well.

Miami, USA

Having finished our Latin America leg of the trip we finally made it to the USA. Having a free stop on our round-the-world ticket, the USA served as te most logical stop eroute from South America to the UK/Europe. Due to minor time and financial constraints, we would only be traversing the east coast from south to north. First up was Miami - the major gateway between Latin America and USA where over 70% of the population speak Spanish.

When we booked our itinerary some months ago, it was without hesitation or research - quite simply Miami is a major attraction on the east coast. What we didn't account for was the Memorial Day weekend. Over the weekend, South Beach is transformed from the typical Miami to accomodate urban music fans from across the country (world?). Essentially it's the rap/hip hop/RnB version of WMC. Not really our thing but still entertaining.

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Despite this, we did manage to find some electronic music on the Saturday night at the downtown superclub Space, and on the Sunday evening at the famous Nikki Beach club.

More important to us was to try and take in the more typical sites of Miami's over the top indulgence - buildings, cars, motorbikes, yachts. It had no limits. On our final day we booked in for a three part tour (which turned out to be two - below) taking us to the Everglades, a bus tour of the city, and finally a boat tour around Biscayne Bay. The houses abutting the bay are pretty much the cream of the crop real estate of Miami with private boat slips being standard issue from the backyard. Next level wealth.

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So what happened with our tour? We booked it through a third party booking agency called Viator. They in turn organise a local operator to run the tour - in this instance Infinity Tours. Firstly they refused to undertake the hotel pickup service they offered because Collins Ave was 'too busy', ven at 7.30am. Secondly, after lunch we were to meet at the pickup point at 2.30pm for the city tour component. There was no bus to be seen. Finally at 4.30pm the bus returned for the boat tour. When we asked for an explaination, we were basically told the tour component was over booked. To avoid confrontation, they simply left without informing us. Poor form. To continue my name-and-shame of dodgy tour operators, at all costs avoid Infinity Tours.