This is the first place I've found a public wi-fi network since Los Angeles, so I shall update my journal about all the places I've visited in between from here ( Read more... )

I am currently in Los Angeles - once again proving that I only use my livejournal to make posts about my holidays! I have been here for three days, doing the tourist thing, and I am about to embark on the Queen Victoria to sail home. Next stop, Mexico, then through the Panama Canal ( Read more... )

Today is our last stop, in Funchal, the capital of Madeira. This morning we went to the botanical gardens, where a pigeon mistook my mum for a tree and landed on her arm! The town itself is very pleasant, although there is a lot of building work being done at the moment to build up the coastal defences ( Read more... )

Today we took a bus across to Ribiera Grande on the opposite side of São Miguel island from Ponta Delgada. It is a very small town and the waves along the coast there are massive - it must be excellent for surfing. I tried out my Portuguese, which is minimal at best, and naturally was answered in English ( Read more... )

Reporting on my holidays seems to be the only thing I use my livejournal for these days. It's not that nothing happens the rest of the time, or not precisely nothing anyway, but fortunately for me, life is fairly calm and uneventful at the moment ( Read more... )

Well, I'm back home, and off work today because I've got the worst cold I've ever had in my life! I understand that it's going around over here, and it was on the ship too, so I reckon I was lucky not to get it until we were going back across the Atlantic. Holidays are clearly very bad for my health! Not, of course, that it's going to stop me from ( Read more... )

St John's is another surprisingly large town - about the size of Exeter. It's what I would consider to be a fairly typical North American city. We spent the morning in another botanic gardens, this one with lots of forest trails on the edge of the city. We may walk to the Cabot Tower this afternoon, or possibly just walk around the town because it' ( Read more... )

Sydney is such a small place that it only has one bus, but it is a lovely little town. There are two craft fairs here at the moment, and one of them has some absolutely delicious maple fudge for only $1 per bag! There is also a boardwalk and a tiny museum. This afternoon we are going to walk along the coast.

Wandered around the town this morning - it's lovely, but incredibly expensive. An ice cream was $3.75 for one scoop before tax! We saw a Great Blue Heron, and I managed to get a photo of it in the act of catching a fish. This afternoon we are on a tour of Prince Edward Island, and by the end of it I expect to know more than I ever wanted to about ( Read more... )

In Montreal today. It's an amazing city, and much larger than I was expecting it to be! This morning we went to the botanic gardens, and this afternoon we went to the bio dome, which is like a cross between the Eden Project and Living Coasts, only much bigger than either. We are about to look at the art district and the old town.