Travel

Before and during Loretta and my travel adventures 2014-2015

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Carron Valley, May 2017 Gorgeous weather for this month's Border Terrier walk.

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Border Terrier Meet Up May 2017

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Steven likes to think of this as Seymour's brand. It's our puppy down to a t.

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July21 - Last Full day in Philly

Meandered the streets of Philly in much cooler temperatures - much more suitable for cool dudes like us. AS its our last day we are going to take it easy and soak up the atmosphere.

Following a recommendation (you know who you are), we visited the Mutter Museum. This is a kind of medical/horror gallery of gruesome body deformities and medical relics kept for research etc. Strictly no cameras allowed, so Fraser was disappointed, although I cannot think why you would want to take a picture of anything in here.

An interactive object showed various stages of gangrene on an arm in the 1st World War, leading eventually to amputation. Another exhibit showed someone with a horn growing out of their head - all lovely stuff, and a nice way to spend a morning.

Next a wander through designer shops followed by a pig-out session at The Reading Market -

* A Philly Cheese steak

* Pancakes with bananas/strawberry/cream

* hand made chocolates from the chocolate stall.

A quick round Betsy’s house before it closed - it is now clear that we Brits were very bad people when rampaging around the world, as the great British Empire.

Our last meal was in The Cheesecake Factory - cocktails/wine/too much food - a great night.

In summary - what a great holiday, lots of amazing things to see - highlights, New York, The Reading International Market, The Empire State Building, Stature of Liberty, 9/11 Memorial, Washington, Philadelphia as a whole, oh and the company was amazing as usual.

Downsides - many, many homeless people, combined with the vast sums of money being spent on the upcoming visit by the Pope.

Roll on next year!!……

Betsy Ross’s potty

Fraser getting comfy

We loved it in Philly - forgive the pose!

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Was Mutter a good place to visit on your last day?

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July 17 - Trip to New York

Early rise this morning to get the Megabus to New York. We were the only diddies at the bus stop with Kagoules!

Arrived in NY at 1045am at 21st Street - our hotel is on 53rd street a wee bit away. Not sure if Kirsteen will manage the walk and carry all the luggage - I have photos to take (haha).

Long walk through Time Square etc - NY is mental - never seen a place so busy - I can see that the tour guide is tiring already. There are people everywhere, as many different nationalities as you could possibly think of.

Bag drop at the hotel, the  lunch in the Start Dust restaurant. A totally mental all American diner where he staff take turns at waiting on the table or bursting into song.

Picked up a yellow taxi ride to the Statin Island Ferry.  This is a local ferry that takes you for free across and back - allows you to take closer photos of the Statue of Liberty - the view of the NY landscape is breathtaking - you know us, free is good.

We walked through from the ferry terminal through the streets of NY. The sheer height of the buildings is breathtaking, along with the almost constant sounds of blaring sirens at every junction, everyone in a hurry.

At one crossing, whilst waiting on the ‘white man walking’ sign, Kirsteen was taken aback by the sight of a man with a 10 foot snake round his neck. You just don’t get that kind of thing in Troon.

Found the Trump Building, and 'stumbled across’ Tiffanys. Strangely there are no prices shown against any of the jewellery on sale?

On to the 9/11memorial…… 

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What did you buy Kirsteen from Tiffanys?

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Pics from July 15

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Lurve the Lego. Steven jealous; he would be in his element there.

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July 15

It’s raining as we think about leaving the hotel - must be a day for the museums. Chose the Benjamin Franklin museum- free entry. Only one drawback - every school summer camp chose the same day. After pushing all the screaming overexcited kids to the side, we had another awesome experience. Highlights The Planetarium, a mad old scientist dissecting a human eye (kirsteen vanished at this point). What we really enjoyed was the Lego Art Exhibition by Nathan Sawaya. What a great collection of items all made from Lego. This is all a bit of a development from the square house I used to build from my Lego sets. There are many pictures to follow. Fraser also had a great time and was introduced to the Information Lady- I think she was more excited than him. Oh, I chickened out of the Sky Ride - a bike on a tightrope with a swinging pendulum beneath it. The healthy lunch option in the cafe was the most unhealthy thing I have seen or tasted. We moved on to the Reading Terminal Market. What a place, an amazing mixture of foods and flavours from all over the world. This was where we had our first Philadelphia Cheesesteak. Neither of us had really looked forward to this - what a mistake. We watched the cook make it in front of us, then delicious, and full of awesomeness. See pic. Recommended to visit Rose Tattoo for dinner - this looked like a prostitutes house. Decided instead to go to Belina Onda - tacos and quesadillas. A great but very messy meal - 9/10. Chubby wife wanted frozen yogurt from next door - it was nice too.

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Philly cheesesteak is s treat. Don't forget to have a pretzel with mustard, another Philly speciality.

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Fraser all set for his holidays. He’s so excited.

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How many outfits with you?

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July 13 Bought a two day hop on/hop off ticket for the buses, this gave us the opportunity to see various locations we could visit later. What a great way to see things. Passed many museums, first stop The Independence Centre. A brief self guided walking tour to see the Liberty Bell. Very interesting to see how Americans seem to value their history and heritage. There is obviously a dark and murky past that is not being glossed over. We were unable to get too close to the Liberty Bell due the large number of visitors. I did not realise that the bell had toured the entire to celebrate freedom and independence, and how much enthusiasm was generated by this. Walked up to the railway station to enquire about the Amtrak train to New York. These are by far the most unhelpful and unfriendly people we have met in this country - they should work for Scotrail. Could not even tell us the price of the tickets! Eventually found out it was going to be $370! Dinner in Hard Rock Cafe at night. Great atmosphere and service was spoilt by average overpriced food. To state the amount of tip required 18% or 20% is just greed. President Obama is in town tomorrow- nice of him to come.

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The Americans have made tipping an art form. Painfully for we Brits.

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Ross and Fraser at the Rocky statue.

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Is that Fraser with one of his heroes?

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26th March 2015. Newmilns, Ayrshire, Scotland.

Home again!

Loretta Jock and I arriving back home after a full year travelling the world.

4 Continents 11 countries 60500 miles 12000 photos And one world circumnavigated.

Looking forward to reacquainting with all family and friends……….and planning our next trip.

It’s been the best year ever. Advice to any would be travellers: just do it. It’ll change your world. We have loved every single moment of our trip, even when things went wrong. We’ve discovered so much about ourselves. We’ll finish as we started the blog, but this time with the full Mark Twain quote: ‘Twenty years from now you will only be disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did so. So throw off your bowlines. Sail away from safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.’

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I’ve just had an emotion …

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I had a bowel movement, is that the same?

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26th March 2015. Newmilns, Ayrshire, Scotland.

Home again!

Loretta Jock and I arriving back home after a full year travelling the world.

4 Continents 11 countries 60500 miles 12000 photos And one world circumnavigated.

Looking forward to reacquainting with all family and friends……….and planning our next trip.

It's been the best year ever. Advice to any would be travellers: just do it. It'll change your world. We have loved every single moment of our trip, even when things went wrong. We've discovered so much about ourselves. We'll finish as we started the blog, but this time with the full Mark Twain quote: 'Twenty years from now you will only be disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did so. So throw off your bowlines. Sail away from safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.'

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22nd March 2015. Edzell, Angus, Scotland, UK. Millie and Jock are reacquainted after his long travels. Millie was a little annoyed that she wasn't included in the round the world trip. Next time get a passport Millie.

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20th March 2015. Edzell, Angus, Scotland. It's Christmas! Better late than never.

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19th March 2015. Heathrow Airport, London, UK. We've officially circumnavigated the Globe!! Yippee ki-yay Kemo Sabe.

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19th March 2015. Pisa Airport, Tuscany, Italy. Time for our departure from Italy and return home. Elaine is meeting us at Aberdeen airport tonight..............

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18th March 2015. Capezzano Monte, Tuscany, Italy. Another bonus of living the "quiet life" in Tuscany is the Italians' love of foraging for things to eat. Every time Zia goes out for a walk she comes back with edibles. The huge asparagus above were just part of today's booty. Roll on mushroom season!