Narita International Airport outside of Tokyo was the quietest airport we have ever been in, eerily so. We guessed that we were among the few people actually staying in Japan instead of transiting across the Pacific, but still. There was no line for our baggage, immigration, or customs. We traded in our JR Passes immediately and zoomed into Tokyo, navigated the metro system with ease and made it to our hostel without any complications.
We had planned two days in Tokyo at both the beginning and of our …

Almost 30 years after Heather’s dad visited the Philippines, we ended up staying with the same lovely Puray family in Davao City. We welcomed the change of pace, having real local guidance and an entire house complete with all of it’s amenities.
One of the most interesting things to us was the various different forms of transport. On our first full day out, we rode in four different kinds of vehicles. First, a motorcycle with an attached frame big enough to squeeze in 10 people, plus the driver and usually …

Bali wasn’t on our original list of stops on the tour, this is one the travel agent talked us into. We did a little more research than usual and bought a Lonely Planet Encounter guide. We’d never seen these little guys and figured we give it a try to see if we liked the abbreviated version. From the book, we picked out the little island of Nusa Lembongan and the mountainous region next to the dormant volcano as our main destinations.
Nusa Lembongan is a short ferry ride away, but still …

As the plane flew past the dozens of container ships waiting to dock at the fourth former British colony of the trip, we were exited to be arriving in yet another continent. The official ruling of this, I suppose is up for debate as Singapore is an island and not really part of mainland Asia. In either case, the tour of the old empire continues, this time we were welcomed with free beer.
We took a train into town and stopped at a bar to try the local beer in recognition …

The main destination in New South Wales was Sydney, but the first stop was the Blue Mountains.

Feeling that the name was a bit familiar, we looked into it and found out there are at least ten mountain ranges in the world known as the Blue Mountains. This one was probably unique in that it had a city named Katoomba, which is where we spent the night. The town was quite pleasant, we even found several places serving high tea with all the traditional items. We were mostly there to see …

At least that’s what the license plates say in the state of Victoria. We officially set foot on our 4th continent since January by landing in Melbourne and we hit the road yet again. The three of us didn’t have the same flight so Beth had a little extra time in Melbourne to check out the shopping center. She found Woolworth’s and Target!
We headed for the Great Ocean Road and Apollo Bay. The first day was spent mostly in the twilight and dark which made driving the unfamiliar twisty …

We’re back on the road after a week on the beach. This time we get to drive. On the wrong side of the road even. Apparently, the thing to do in New Zealand is to rent a camper and drive around the islands. Everyone we had talked to along the way had recommended that plan, so we went along with it too. The campers here are known as campervans, although the one we got was just a van. The company we ended up with was named, appropriately enough, Hippie Camper. …

We arrived in Rio just in time to catch the final days of Carnaval. We met up with Sara, thanks to Carolyn, and got to participate with the locals. Think of a block party/street party that actually walks in the streets with singing and dancing and when one finishes you move onto the next block or park.

Sara and her friends were great tour guides the next day. They navigated us around the city, showing us the famous beaches and taking us up to the top of …

Since we’re casual fans of several types of beverages, and because it’s been raining for several hours, I thought writing about food and drink would be a good way to pass the time until dinner.
We’re in El Bolsón right now, a small town in the mountains where we came to relax for a few days before heading back to Bariloche. This section of the country seems to be the place for beer, there are five or six local breweries in Bolsón, but I’ll get to that later. I suppose …