(sorry for the delay in this last post, we’ve just been too depressed with our regular old non-holiday lives to muster the strength to click send on this final blog post!!!)
We navigated the bullet train and subway to find ourselves with a long walk carrying Beth’s broken bag to get to our hotel. We were staying in Ginza, a high-end shopping district in Tokyo downtown, which is also right next to the bustling fish markets. We didn’t have time to explore any of that on the first day, though, because we had a rooftop dinner booked before heading out to the robot café in Shinjuku.
The robot café is something that has to be seen to be believed – the basic idea is that a bunch of the craziest Japanese robot people got together and decided that neon lights, high-tech robots and bikini-clad women mixed with loud music rapid-fire Japanese yelled at the crowd would be the perfect entertainment experience. To be fair, they were absolutely right.
We followed up our robot café experience with a stop at a bar in the Golden Gai, a small district of tiny bars that only sit 4-8 people at a time, before heading out for our new favourite – Karaoke.
The next day we were off to a Sumo wrestling tournament where we watched a whole bunch of sweaty, fat men trying to push each other around. The experience was awesome – although it could be a little slow at times – as there is a painstaking amount of ritual bowing, salt-throwing and cleaning (roughly 5-10 minutes) for each fight – which may then only last ten seconds.
We started our penultimate day in Tokyo with a trip around the fish markets, exploring the various stalls and produce, before heading into Ginza to check out the shops – including a terryifying experience in the Abercrombie & Fitch store which bore a closer resemblance to a night club rather than a clothes shop. We dropped past the Imperial Palace before heading to Akihabara to catch up with Camilla and her boyfriend, Donovan, before heading to a Maid Café. The Maid Café experience involves paying a small cover charge to sit in a restaurant and be served by Japanese women who dress in French maid outfits and call you ‘master’ or ‘my lady’. It is strange, but it is Japan after all…
After exploring a few electronics stores in the area that Akihabara is famous for we headed home for dinner at a nice local restaurant before getting ready for the long trip home the next day. Our 194 days overseas have finally come to an end, it has been a fantastic ride with plenty of ups and downs, but unfortunately it is time to jump on the plane and say farewell to our cruisy holiday lives and settle back down in the real world.
Thanks for taking the time to read and follow our adventures!
It wasn’t long before we were speeding along on the Shinkansen bullet train to Nagano to start our snow adventures – although with some trepidation as Beth had never snowboarded before and I hadn’t been in 7 years, which ended in me breaking my knee rather severely.
We arrived in our traditional accommodation along with a whole bunch of Camilla’s friends that we had met on new years, our rooms consisted of tatami-mat bedding and a low table/chair, and our group took up an entire floor of the hotel. We returned from the gear rental shop with lift passes, snowboards, goggles, helmets and all the gear necessary to throw ourselves down the mountain.
Our first day at the resort started off with a two-hour private lesson for Beth – run by an Australian girl, for that authentic Japanese resort feel – and I tagged along to test out my knee and take some snaps of the comedic value Beth would provide. Beth started really well and by the end of the lesson could get down the run the whole way without falling over, which was a massive achievement. That evening was my birthday and we had a big four course dinner provided at our lodge, along with a whole lot of beer and Sake, which made for a great night.
The next day brought rain and I spent the morning teaching Beth some more basics before she called it a day and I went off in search of the rest of the group before we all met up for lunch. That evening the rain turned to snow and we were up bright and early in the morning to catch the first lifts up the mountain for fresh snow before heading out to the local snow monkeys. The monkeys hang around in the hot springs in the mountains during the winter when it is too cold to stay outside.
Our final two days of snowboarding saw a huge amount of snow falling each evening and there was plenty of fresh snow on all the runs and huge amounts of powder in the off-piste tree runs. After an afternoon of boarding through powdery snow with Dave and Robbie from our group I took Beth up the next day and she even managed a few tree runs in the soft, powdery snow from right up the top of the mountain!
With sore and tired muscles from five days of snow sports we were ready to jump back on the bullet train and make our way to Tokyo for our last few days in Tokyo, and the last few days of our entire trip!
After a long and tiring flight to Tokyo we eventually navigated our way from Narita airport through various crazy multi-level subway stations and a long walk carrying a broken bag through bustling streets all the way to our hotel, where we chilled in our way-too-small Kimonos and had a nap.
We somehow managed to adjust to the time difference after the first day and spent it at Yoyogi park exploring the gardens, shrine and a picnic lunch on the grass. We stumbled upon the insanely busy Takeshita street where we were about a foot taller than all the locals – and then got ourselves ready for new years eve. That evening we celebrated the new year with Beth’s friend Camilla, her friends and her brother in his amazingly flash apartment in Harijuku – following it up with a night out at a very smoke-filled Tokyo nightclub before finishing up with a waltz through a semi-riotous yet still extremely orderly Shibuya crossing and ended with Karaoke until about 6am – a truly authentic Japanese experience!
After recovering from the festivities(which included the most amazing bowl of ramen noodles and gyoza – I think we found a great hangover cure!) we explored nearby Shibuya, a huge district full of shops, restaurants and home to one of the busiest pedestrian crossings in the world! We went out for lunch at a crazy futuristic sushi restaurant where you select your meals on an ipad and they are delivered on a little monorail train, and also went to a crazy photo booth aimed at teenage girls that automatically whitens your skin, enlarges your eyes and applies make up. We ventured up to Shinjuku in an attempt to visit the Shinjuku gardens but alas, they were closed – although we did see a pretty cool traditional drumming demonstration, and so it was back to the hotel to get everything prepared for our week of snowboarding in Nozawa Onsen.
We disembarked at Rome Central and only had a short walk through some questionable alleys and side streets to get to our accommodation. The décor wasn’t exactly to Beth’s desired specifications but we really couldn’t fault the location – and the next morning we were off to the Colosseum to finally view it after missing out last time we were in Rome a few years ago.
Being the well-seasoned ttravelersthat we are (or well peppered, as Beth would describe it) we opted to book our tickets online the night before – with a large and complicated array of tickets, tours, guides and combinations we decided to go by the KISS principle and opt for the basic entry option. Our smug glee was clearly evident on our faces as we waltzed past the masses of novice ttravelerswho stared with what I can only assume was equal parts envy and admiration as we completely bypassed the hours-long queue and took our rightful places at the completely empty ‘e-ticket’ booth – tantalisingly close to the thousands of punters in the regular old ‘ticket sales’ line which had something written in Italian that I can only assume translates to ‘Amateur Hour’ or thereabouts.
Still basking in the glow of our ticket sales coup, we explored the large and mighty Colosseum which stood not only as testament to the amazingly scale and complexity of the Roman Empire – an arena where huge fights, performances and even ingeniously flooded stages for naval combat occurred – but also a major slap in the face to the Italians who, centuries upon centuries later, still can’t build a tower that stands up straight.
We eventually fought our way out from the assault of selfie sticks and poorly thought out Italian exit signage and made our way to the Roman Forum to explore more old ruins that we didn’t have the time to visit. The ruins were amazing with so many old houses and buildings to explore before heading back to our hotel to get ready for our long flight to Japan the next day.
We hastily departed Bologna and were on our way to meet the McKernan family in Lucca when disaster struck – Beth’s bag took a tumble down the train steps – resulting in one of the wheels snapping off and falling down the gap between train and platform.
We met the McKernans and Pikes at Lucca train station and lugged the bag back to the accommodation inside the towns original walls – which were still intact and HUGE. We had a fair bit of time to kill in Lucca and so after exploring the town for a bit we decided to go on a family trip out to Pisa, for a peek at the famed leaning tower.
The last time we saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa was a few years ago, it was about 42 degrees and Beth was suffering from a raging cold/fever and sat in the corner of the grass rocking back and forth mumbling something about going home. This time was much better, with milder weather and being relatively sickness free – we took plenty of cheesy snaps, wandered through cathedrals and had lunch in town.
A couple of days later it was off for wander through Florence – which was short and sweet – still looking like a lovely little place although now just with plenty more people trying to sell ‘selfie sticks’ to the hordes of tourists. We also filled in time with a tower climb in Lucca, went exploring for an ancient Roman aqueduct and even saw the local Lambretta club doing a Christmas-themed ride.
After a couple more lazy days (and my first attempt at exercise in three months with a run around the wall – what was I thinking?!?) it was Christmas day – we donned our dorky Christmas jumpers and took to the square outside our accommodation for a few family snaps. We had a fancy Christmas lunch booked at a local restaurant that sits up on the wall – a huge Italian degustation feast that starts with champagne and canapes, moves to all-you-can-drink wine and a also involves a absolutely astronomical amount of food – we eventually rolled out late in the afternoon and decided we would waddle around the city wall in order to work off at least a tiny bit of our meal before attempting to tackle the four flights of stairs up to our apartment.
Soon enough it was time for the whole family to continue their adventures – we all woke up bright and early to get to the train station in time – only to find it was SNOWING outside! Yes, it truly was a slightly-after-Christmas miracle! We sat at the train station marveling at the timing as Beth and I waited for our train to take us to Rome for our last couple of days on the continent…
After an amazingly scenic rail trip through the Alps we descended out of the snow covered mountains, arrived in Bologna and checked into our accommodation. The view from our hotel room was fairly nice but we were particularly keen to get out and try one thing: the delicious saucy pasta dish that is named after this town, Bolognese. It wasn’t long until we discovered a nice little restaurant serving ragù alla bolognese – and we absolutely loved it – delish!
The next day we were off discovering the very few sights in Italy that aren’t related to churches and religion. We waltzed around the main square, checked out The Towers of Bologna (you would think the Italians would have learnt how to build an upright tower by now) and then opted to spend the potential three euro entry fee to climb the towers on pizza instead.
There wasn’t too much else exciting going on, so we wandered out for another dinner of bolognese before hunting down what was reputed to be one of the best gelato shops in Italy – only to find a closed, painted roller door and a message that stated they would be back in Spring. With broken spirits from the lack of ice cream and still being stuck in Bologna, we retired back to the hotel to pass the remaining hours before jumping on the train to Lucca the next day to catch Beth’s family for Christmas.
After a minor debacle at the Munich train station involving a ticket app that hadn’t updated from London time and missing our original train by a fairly decent margin – we eventually arrived in Innsbruck around lunch time – and as luck would have it, Beth’s parents were also in Innsbruck for the rest of the day.
We wandered to our hotel to pack away our bags before catching up with Brendan and Tracy at their hotel and jumping on a walking tour of the old city. The walking tour was short and sweet, learning about a bit of Tyrolean history before visiting a gold roof, incredibly busy Christmas markets and four animal signs hanging from buildings that people used as a reference point for meeting up to get drunk (or do business, supposedly).
The city and surrounds are very scenic, with huge craggy mountains rising up around the town on both sides whilst a bright blue river runs right down the middle. It was starting to get dark so we decided the best course of action was to head out to a beer hall that Brendan had seen earlier – so it was two beer halls in two nights, which also meant giant mugs of beer yet again! Despite not being able to understand a single thing on the menu we managed to stumble through ordering (with the help of the waitstaff) and dinner was absolutely delicious.
The next day we were by ourselves again as the parentals had to catch the train and continue onwards with their adventures – so we decided to take the funicular and gondola up the Nordkette mountain ranges. The view from the top was lovely and there was plenty of snow once we got higher up, although still not enough to go skiing, so we took a few fun snaps and played around for a while.
Soon enough it started snowing and we were getting icey-cold, so bailed back down the mountain and decided to grab some absolutely delicious weirdo-Austrian-doughnut-things to warm up and then check out a couple of other popular tourist hotspots – the Tirol Panorama and the local Ski Jump. The Panorama was much more impressive than we expected – a giant panoramic painting that wraps around an entire room – depicting a battle scene. We wandered up the hill from there and headed to the ski ramp which was scarily steep and still had absolutely no snow on it – even though there was meant to be a big competition in a fortnight.
We finished off our remaining time in Innsbruck checking out the Christmas markets and eating all of the delicious treats on offer – it seems like half of Innsbruck was just Christmas markets!
Once again, it was all over too soon and we were boarding the train for a beautiful and scenic journey to Bologna through the middle of the alps!
We left the safe, cosy warmth of our London sofa-bed and trudged off to the nearest tube station to head out to Heathrow airport for our next adventure. We were off to Munich and in order to do it as cheaply as possible, we had to fly via Copenhagen, which meant a 90 minute flight was now going to take about 5 hours.
We eventually arrived at our hostel and set about exploring the Christmas markets in the square at Marienplatz, where we quickly devoured a healthy dinner made up of various snacks such as potato pancakes, crepes, frites and a bratwurst – it was great to be back in Germany.
The next day we were up and at it nice and early by our standards, waltzing around the same square at around 10am when we stumbled across Adam – a guy from Perth I used to sail with – who now lives in Munich and runs InMunich tours, so we jumped on a tour! Our tour guide was hilarious and we ventured through sights such as the Glockenspiel (a severely oversized and overrated cuckoo clock), various WWII sites, churches, royal palaces and of course beer halls such as the Hofbräuhaus – all whilst learning the many beer-drinking habits of the Bavarians that border on alcoholism (beer with breakfast is a normal thing here) but are totally okay because it is tradition.
Our tour finished in another set of markets where a giant beer garden was set up – so we grabbed some Glühwein and then chased that with a hot pork roll, some currywurst and a beer. Next stop was something I had wanted to go to for a long time – the Eisbach Wave – a standing wave formed by a river in a park that locals regularly surf.
The next day we walked over to Tollwood Winter Festival where we ate food, stared at a giant wooden pig and wandered round checking out the various stalls. This festival is located on the same grounds that the famous Oktoberfest occurs on – although unfortunately the beer tents weren’t in place. We left the festival and wandered around the centre of Munich which ended up being absolutely PACKED with people doing Christmas shopping!!
We decided that the best way to finish up our evening would be to head to a beer hall, and we eventually found the Augustiner-Keller, had a giant beer (a Maß of beer, one litre to be exact), a huge pretzel and some delicious dinner before checking out the Christmas markets again at night.
Our time in Munich had come to an end and it was another early start before taking the train to Innsbruck, Austria.
The end of our adventures with Brooke and Drake were almost near now that we had all arrived back in their (new) home turf, London – but like all good travellers we couldn’t pass up the offer of free accommodation that was graciously extended to us by our travelling buddies. Soon enough we were off to their flat in Fulham, where a suprisingly comfortable sofa-bed in the living room was to become our home for the next five nights. We had visited London previously a few years ago and hit most of the major tourist sites so were looking forward to seeing a few other parts of the city.
Our first full day in The Big Smoke was a Sunday and so we started with a very delicious high tea at an exceptionally feminine and cutesy cafe full of sandwiches, scones, brownies and about 35,000 flavours of tea. Mat and I decided that the only way to compensate for the girly surroundings we found ourselves in was to step outside, drink some cheap whiskey, smoke some cigars and then bare-knuckle box each other in front of a pub, dump truck, car race, sports event or other equally manly location. Fortunately we were too lethargic from the ensuing sugar crash and instead we drifted off to Camden Lock and the surrounding markets to take in the hustle, bustle, sights and smells of the first place we had been to in about two months that used English as its first language – this place was truly HECTIC on a Sunday. After returning home and chilling out for a bit we managed to navigate the tube and bus to catch up with Lisa and Eddie at a pub for dinner to make it our third country we’ve managed to catch up with each other in about as many months!!!
The next day Mat and Brooke had to return to the real world, their jobs (you know, like real people), and so we ventured out alone to check out Brick Lane – site of a renowned and amazing bagel shop as well as a recently famous hyper-hipster cafe that serves only cereal – before doing a little bit of shopping around Oxford Circus. We followed this up by a visit to Kensington Palace and gardens where Beth was devastated to learn that Will, Kate and little George were actually away in the US. Truly devastating, believe me.
Another late morning and we were off to check out the Natural History Museum just down the road before negotiating the tube towards the South Bank Christmas markets where we kept it local and English by getting some bratwurst hot dogs and some French-style frites. We ducked over to Tate Modern, taking in the random street art which even extended to a WWI patrol boat on the oppostie bank of the Thames, before checking out the Conflict Photography exhibition I was really keen on seeing. Unfortunately this happened to be about the only thing in the Tate that actually cost money, and whilst the first third was reasonable, the rest was rubbish and so we bailed to The Gherkin for the best hot chocolate we’ve ever tasted (in the cafe in the base of the aforementioned condiment-vegetable nicknamed building).
Eventually it was time for us to catch up with our travel buddies for a delicious dinner in the West End before the girls went off to see a show (Billy Elliot) and us boys decided to try out a few of the local pubs. One pub managed to distract us for quite a while with a set of Jenga, earning a few more drinks in the process, and things got a little out of hand as we developed various Jenga construction drinking games.
Another day, another late start – this is getting way too repetitive. We ventured out to Notting Hill to check out the pretty colours and markets – and we eventually got there after three buses ignored us and we opted for the tube instead. We were feeling a bit peckish after our adventures and we had the type of craving that only Polish dumplings can satisfy – and so it was back to the Camden Food Markets to be served Polish Dumpings, in England, by an Indian Guy – good one, London. Twelve or so dumplings later we were almost full, but not before sampling a tasty Jamaican jerk-chicken wrap – delicious – although Beth’s mouth was on fire and I was severely chastised for answering ‘yes’ to chilli sauce. I still stand by my decision, it was utterly delicious.
It was now our last night in London Town and to celebrate our separation from our travel buddies after nearly a month together we headed out to Chicken Liquor in the Brixton Markets for a hedonistic, no holds barred feast of fried chicken like nothing you’ve ever seen – Colonel Sanders and his Kentucky recipe has nothing on this!! A great way to end our trip with our travel buddies – we were off home to digest, pack and get ready for our flight to Munich the next morning!
We completed our cross country adventure and zipped into Reykjavik just after dark, battling the snowy streets and ambiguous signage of the city centre in order to find our accommodation. We settled in, checked what was happening on the interwebz and facebooks (we had just survived nearly four full days in a cabin with no wifi, after all) and then wandered out for dinner and drinks in the biggest snowflakes we have ever seen!
The next day we were off to one of Iceland’s more popular tourist attractions, the Blue Lagoon; a bright blue thermal pool that is naturally heated from the volcanic rock below. You can waltz about the lagoon enjoying the warmth, exfoliating yourself with the natural white-clay mud or even sip beverages from the built-in bar whilst taking in the surrounding vista moss coated lava fields or the giant steaming geothermal power plant, depending on which way you choose to look.
We emerged from the change rooms eager to get into the water but dreading the fifteen metre voyage through ice-chilled, minus five degree winds that blasted everything exposed beyond the safe warmth of indoors until we hit the warm pool. Some of us were a bit too eager to beat the chill (either super-excited at the thought of heated water or just entirely ignorant of the concept of inertia) and Drake threw caution to the wind as he sprinted across the slippery wooden deck at a blistering pace – almost within reach of the warm salvation of the pool until he was tragically cut down within reach of the finish by a very slight left turn that quite literally swept his feet out from under him as he negotiated the corner with all the grace and maneuverability of a heavily pregnant bison. He landed hard onto his posterior with enough force to falsely register a minor volcanic eruption at Eyjafjallajökull but fortunately for him he has plenty of padding there and it was only his pride that received a temporary bruising.
The next day we were up bright (well, actually it was still really dark) and early to climb a glacier about two hours out of Reykjavik. After a very wet, dark and cold voyage to the glacier we stepped out of the van and suddenly the sky brightened and it was snowing… perfect! We suited up in our waterproof gear, harness, ice axe, boots, helmets and crampons in order to attack the slippery face. After a thirty minute hike up the mountain to reach the edge of the glacier we got stuck right into it and followed our guide who led us only feet away from deep crevasses, sinkholes, ice-carving rivers and snow-covered drops. The scenery was spectacular and we wound our way through remnants of ice caves, up steep embankments and even tried our luck at proper ice climbing – with two extremely sharp ice tools strapped onto our limbs – just to top off the amazing experience.
The next day Beth and I got out of bed and looked outside to see snowy streets – it had been snowing heavily all night! We rugged up and wandered around Reykjavik exploring the local sights that we had missed during our days of adventure including the harbour, some delicious local hot dogs and a giant church that took way too long to build.
Meanwhile, Drake and Brooke had decided they would spend the day snorkeling in Silfra – the large crevasse left by the divergent Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. The snorkeling is in ultra-clear glacial water and whilst it may seem crazy, it is still warmer than the minus ten degrees outside, and I’m assured that once your drysuit is sorted it isn’t too bad at all.
After Beth and I picked up a new rental car we met up with Brooke and Drake at the apartment, had a few well-earned drinks and double-checked the Aurora and cloud forecast for the evening. Everything was looking great, so on the advice of the tourist info centre and the internet we headed out to Thingvellir national park to escape the light pollution of the big city and see if we could finally capture the Aurora in its full glory. About thirty minutes into our trip we could begin to see the faint outline of the aurora on the horizon and it rapidly strengthened so we quickly found a quiet, scenic spot to pull over in the national park and set ourselves up for viewing – which takes a whole lot of layers when it is minus 13.5 outside. The aurora was absolutely amazing, bright green and constantly moving across the sky as it rose and fell in intensity over the next thirty minutes or so – eventually stretching from one horizon all the way over our heads to the horizon behind us.
It wasn’t long before the cold was taking its toll so we jumped in the car and drove around the park to the other side of the giant lake that divides Thingvellir in the hope that we could grab some snaps of the aurora reflecting off the lake – but unfortunately in the fifteen minutes it took to get there it slowly started to fade away. We took a few snaps, chucked some beer and Baileys in the snow and set about waiting to see if the aurora would fire back up again whilst sipping on some rapidly freezing drinks. Nearly two hours since the start of the last show and the sky was still dark and the clouds were rolling in so we called it a day and rolled back home, still absolutely ecstatic that we managed to see such a spectacular show.
A bit of a sleep in the following day and we were back out to Thingvellir again to start the Golden Circle, a popular sightseeing route in Iceland, with our first stop being the rift valley viewed above ground – just down the road from where Brooke and Drake were snorkeling the day before. This time we all stayed on solid ground and there was actually a footpath allowing you to walk right down the middle of the two continental plates and it was amazing seeing jagged rock towering either side of you.
Next stop was the creatively named Geysir called ‘Geysir’ which is now dormant, and its neighbour Strokkur, which blows roughly every ten minutes. We resisted the temptation to touch the steaming water trickling next to the walking path and then definitely avoided it after we saw a small pool of water actually BOILING – yes, it was that hot!
The next location was Gullfoss waterfall which is a magnificent and large piece of work that ensured we were absolutely frozen by sending a nice cold mist of ice towards us whilst trying to take pictures. Even though the path was closed there were plenty of local Icelanders walking all the way out to the icy edge of the waterfall – but that is to be expected, they are a weird bunch who don’t like following rules such as signage, weather forecasts, appropriately sized off-road vehicles or social norms when conversing with people. They certainly flirt with a fine line between ‘messing with tourists is our national sport’ and ‘I was just released from the asylum and now they say I have to work at Bonus supermarket’ that will always leave you without a reply.
We then took a quick detour via what is meant to be a spectacular lake in a volcanic crater, however the weather was well and truly caving in so we took some snaps and bailed – heading home in the rapidly deteriorating weather after yet another long day of adventure. Our cruddy Skoda with stud-less winter tyres was put to the test as the roads iced over, snow blew in everywhere and visibility dropped to about 100 metres and darkness set in – but we made it in the end!
Once we got home, Mat and I celebrated our survival on deadly ice-coated roads by a ‘quiet drink’ in the city after dinner to see out our final night in Iceland – which as most of our quiet drinks tend to go, got quite loud and quite late. We had quite a few drinks, danced up a storm, had a weird local try and set us up with his female friend via facebook and then somehow managed to convince security we belonged in the VIP/event section – and finished it all off with a giant snowball fight and a late night snack of Icelandic lamb hot dogs!
Iceland was absolutely fantastic and I think it exceeded all of our expectations – it had been an absolutely amazing time but soon enough we were boarding our flight to London and looking forward to being in an English speaking country once again.
Beth & Steve's round-the-world adventures 
