Negombo - Feeling Sad about Leaving!
We opted for the bus back up the coast mainly due to the fact we would be guaranteed a seat! Picking a hotel on a long sand spit we hunkered down for the day by the pool and prepare for our much awaited trip to Thailand (This was always where we had planned on starting the trip when we started plann...
Matara - Elephant Overload!
We got a tuk tuk up the coast to our next stop Matara, less beach and more villa vibes! We checked in to a really nice villa for a few days on the outskirts of the town, this made for an ideal place for Sarah to read and for me to start interviewing (……..not the most fun thing to be at but better th...
Mirissa - Raja and the lack of Whales
Tracking our progress on the train with google maps I knew we were getting close but never hurts to ask the officer on the train, he instructed us to sit back and he’d come get us when it was time. Lucky he did because he called to stop the train in the middle of a field……..just jump out the open do...
Colombo - A breath of air after India
We left Ghoki in New Delhi airport (it was not much of an emotional goodbye……..as he spent the entire road trip from Jaipur to New Delhi insisting we write him a review and telling us to come to his ashram in the north to lose weight…………my tip to Ghoki was NOT writing a review). We arrived in Colomb...
Jaipur - Last corner of the triangle!
The next day we left Agra to travel to Jaipur, stopping on the way to visit a Mughal Palace on the outskirts of Agra. As we wandered around the abandoned Palace we realised that unfortunately the forsaken Delhi Belly had struck me down, que and uncomfortable 3 hours in the back of the car on bumpy r...
Agra - Another new Wonder of the world
We met our driver Ghoki in the morning at about 8 and he took us on a quick tour around Delhi before setting sail to Agra. As with any form of transport Sarah was chonked out while I sat in the back updating my CV (back to reality on the job search!). We landed in Agra and were pleasantly surprised...
New Delhi - and the well known belly!
We got a short 2 hour flight over to Delhi from Kathmandu, the passport control here was particularly bad and the agents very surley. We eventually got out to the most impatient taxi driver who was not impressed with our delay and was very insistent on a tip for waiting for us.......great start........
Pokhara - Gateway to Annapurna
We got up early and our Hostel owner walked us to our bus. I had planned on doing a bit blog work on the bus but 5 minutes in to sitting on the bus I realised that I would definitely have chipped a tooth with how bumpy the roads were! We arrived in Pokhara and after dropping our bags off at our host...
Kathmandu - Sublime Chaos!
After a slightly choppy flight from Dubai we landed in Kathmandu Nepal and were immediately introduced to the sublime chaos that is Nepal. The baggage carousel was broken when we arrived and throngs on people waiting multiple hours to get their bags were crowed in the baggage hall. We crowded in amo...
Dubai - Rich People Playground!
We landed at our hotel after taking in the sights from our car on the main strip. Our Hotel was nice, despite the WiFi not allowing us to make any calls home, but not as nice as what you'd expect for Dubai (we are on a budget!). We got up the next day and for only a handful of times on this trip I w...
Abu Dhabi - Can Smell the Wealth
Maybe I'm just getting down on the entire european Airlines and Airports but have already lost half my washbag to Dublin and Vienna while Sarah has gotten away scot free........ #justice4Gareth #NoShaveTravels. The airport itself was amazing but still getting used to the foreigner queues at passport...
Vienna - First Airport Hotel
We left Dublin going through the worst airport security we have been through in all our travels, DAA could learn a lot from literally any backwoods airport in Latin America! We also had our first delayed flight since we began, well done Ryanair.........Getting very down on the whole Irish Airport an...
Dublin - Christmas Layover
After a brief spout of homesickness (mainly due to the late late toy show) we had decided to come home for the holidays. Leaving it as a surprise for our families, although we have some budding detectives in both our families who maybe weren't as surprised to our rocking up on the porch! But we had...
Copacabana - Where our Money Ran Dry!
Leaving Puno we got our bus to the edge of the Bolivian border, which you may mistake for a path because that is what it was, people taking their dogs between the two countries! We downgraded in the quality of our buses but thankfully this was only for about 30 minutes to the Lake Titicaca town of C...
Puno - & the Islands made of Reeds
We were very groggy after a night bus from Cusco Landing in Puno in the very early hours about 5am, I curled up on a wicker chair in the lobby of our hostel trying not to think about the 06:30 tour we booked.........We mustered the willpower to go on another tour our to the Uros Islands of Lake Titi...
Arequipa - The White City
Exiting stage left from Huacachine we started our long journey from Huacachine through Nazca (literally through one of the Nazca Lines) and into the white city of Arequipa in total adding up to about 18 hrs straight, nothing compared to previous bus trips! But to start it off we were introduced to t...
Huacachina - A Peruvian Tatooine
We landed in Huacachina which is an oasis in the Peruvian desert, a town built around a vibrantly green lagoon.....Did not go for a swim despite the heat! We choose to stay in the Wild Rover (The big party hostel of the area), it was a nice hostel if you don't value sleep too much and don't mind sle...
Paracas - The Poor Man's Galapagos
We made it to our Peru Hop picked up from our hotel by the lovely Shirley (The best Guide we had over our whole trip!) and very quickly realised that it was not just the owners of Peru Hop who are Irish, it was also the passengers! We stopped off for breakfast just outside of Lima and I got the scab...
Lima - Clouder than Dublin!
We warily got out of the bus after a solid 30 hours.......it wasn't as bad as youd think, but there is only so much you can take......I watched all 3 John Wick films.....in Spanish....Stopping off every now and then for food or being supplied with snacks (my go to with an English traveler was to dri...
Guayaquil - Bus in Bus Out
We grabbed a short 7 hr bus from Banos to Guayaquil (I am going bus numb at this point!) we landed in Guayaquil late in the evening (not so much hungry as car sick from the constantly curving roads!). We just grabbed a quick taxi and landed in the our hostel, which had decent WIFI and a TV in the ro...
Banos - Chasing Waterfalls
After retaking the long trip from Cuyabeno Reserve to Quito we decided that the next morning would be another ideal time to ship out to our next stop Banos! So navigating our way through an Ecuadorian bus station (flawlessly might I add! or because we stuck out like a sore thumb that people were ver...
Cuyabeno - Welcome to the Jungle
A long, cramped, hot bus later we got to the Cuyabeno Bridge (We left at 11:45pm the night before and arrived at 11:20am the next day), the first thing was this was the start of the internet detox then second thing was I forgot to look at my emails to see which lodge we were going to be in.......So...
Quito - First Time in The Andes
We landed in Quito after a bit of a layover in Bogata at about 1 AM, Security and Baggage added another hour so we were hitting the uber rank for close to 2 in the morning (Which if anyone has met me at 2 in the morning is well aware I am not in the best form at that time!). We were struggling to un...
Cancun - Less than 24hrs
As the title may suggest this is going to be a short post as we really only used Cancun for it's airport........ Gold Diggers I know..... But we landed in straight from our Tulum bus and walked to our hostel and upon entry Sarah promptly disposed of about 5 spiders! We wandered the streets taking in...
Tulum - 2 Wheels and Potholes
Getting a much more straightforward bus from Bacalar to Tulum we landed and had some lunch before going out to the Hotel (It was a burger and was the best food I've ate since Oaxaca, made up for the American food by eating a Burrito the next day!). Booked the Hotel on Airbnb purely because of the go...
Bacalar - The Very Blue Lagoon & Burnt Irish!
So as I hinted to in the last post we had an eventful departure to Bacalar, simultaneously has the bus pulled into the depo Sarah realised she had left her handbag in the uber. We resided ourselves to the fact the bus infront of us was not going to be for us, we began the hardship of hunting down an...
Merida - Somewhere on the bottom of our list
Landing in Merida we managed to get a taxi from the airport to our Hostel which was more budget hotel than hostel. Nothing against Merida but feeling like we were already blessed with the charms of Puebla and Oaxaca, Merida comes across as generic and a tourist trap with 4 - 6 tour agents per block....
Puerto Escondido - Sun, Surf & Turtles
Getting off the overnight bus (much like a scene from the walking dead) what hit first was the heat of this beachside town, The humidity spiking and the t-shirt instantly sticking to my back! We eventually got to our hotel after a brief heart attack given to us from a taxi driver dropping us to a de...
Oaxaca - Food, Food & More Food
Updating with a post after our trip to Oaxaca ( Oaxaca: Wah ~ Ha ~ Ka - The lessons continue!) Getting up early from the night of the big Party in Puebla we ventured to the Bus terminal to get a much downgraded experience.......(Sad) but it was fine for a quick 5 hour bus journey to Oaxaca! Sarah ma...
Puebla - The Big Party
Venturing to the bus terminal we arrived into a bit of a sink of swim situation, the terminal was massive! With 20 minutes to find our bus and apparently very little English spoken we need to flex our Spanish (for which my 20 minutes of Duolingo was no use ~ unless the situation required to recite "...
Mexico City - Like a Nicer Spain Pt. 2
With what we are imagining is travellers sickness (or Dehydration, Exhaustion, Food Poisoning or a combination of all) we decided to hunker down for the day and abandon plans to travel to a new part of the city. Taking the time to recover, sleep and for me to moderately become obsessed with trying t...
Mexico City - Like a Nicer Spain
Viva La Mexico! ( Mexico: Meh - Hee - Koh ~ Now accepting enrollment for September 2023 Lacour school of Spanish) Blurry eyed we landed in Mexico City (by blurry eyed I mean the eyes were falling out of our head from a red eye without any sleep!). We retrieved our bags, 3 flights in and yet to go mi...
Hollywood Dreaming
Hey All, just on update on our time spent in Los Angeles! Landing in LAX we got familiar with Uber (Which played a leading role in our entire LA experience, with Lyft acting as an understudy!). The first thing we realised was just how massive LA is, tumbling from the hills to the Pacific Sea, the se...
Departures and Arrivals
Setting off for Dublin Airport in the wee hours of the morning we bid both the Tobin and Lacour Clan goodbye, a few emotionally hugs and kisses and we began our journey in the typical fashion of Dublin Airport (with a long queue to the baggage drop.......) The emotion of the goodbyes was only compar...