News from Barb and Trevor on their 7 week European Trip

5^th June It has been a long time since my last update. We went to Murano and watched some glass blowing and bought a lot of glass. I have worked out how to fit it all in carry-on luggage. We were initially going to post some home, but have decided not to. We did have some masks posted home by the guy we bought them from. In Italy you have to wrap parcels in brown paper and tie them with string, so it is easier to let someone local do it for you. We got to see Venice when the tide was in. Fashionable gum boots are all the rage (no joke).

We did not get to catch up with our friends. Not sure what happened; they have since let us know that things did not go to plan for them but they are fine.

We stopped in Nice for a night. We found that everything was closed by the time we got there and the next day was Sunday - everything is closed on Sunday. So we left early.

We then went to Cap de Agde for 10 days. We spent most of the time on the beach relaxing. I found that I can actually spend time on the beach in France and not get fried like I do in Oz. We have worked out why tourists come to Oz and wonder why they get so burnt when they spend all day in the sun. It is different in France/Spain where they normally spend their holidays on the beach. We met some nice people here and I will be learning German to keep in contact with one of them (She will be emailing in English - language swapping). We ended up staying one day more than we were intending because we ran into another public holiday. It is so hard to pull yourself away from the beach and put clothes on again. The only thing we would change next time is a bigger cabin. We had 10.5 square metres including the bed you had to crawl up a ladder to. This is not great idea when sharing a few bottles of wine in the evening with friends.

We headed for Barcelona (3 nights). Parking is very expensive. The cheapest we could find was 30 Euro a day. We decided to be in the centre of town. Do not think you can get more central than "la Rambla". If you are thinking about it, remember that the Spanish do not seem to sleep during the night. There was always someone making noise outside. We spent one day tripping around on the tourist bus and the next day visiting a number of Gaudi's buildings. The man definitely had imagination! And a keen eye for nature. This is one city I would like to come back to. There is so much to see. I would like to spend a day walking around Gaudi's Garden.

ALWAYS KEEP YOUR CAR DOORS LOCKED. As we were leaving we had someone try to open my car door. He had another guy with him walking about 5m behind. We think they were trying to distract us by opening my door while the other guy grabs the bag off the back seat. We had our door locked - only came out of the car park about 50m away so had manually locked the doors as we were not travelling fast enough for the car to have locked them automatically. We were lucky.

Andorra is a little Principality between France and Spain. We spent three nights in the Hotel President in Andorra del Vella. We had a Junior Suite, close to 65 square metres. The bathroom was bigger than some of the rooms we have stayed in. The country is beautiful. I would like to come back when I can do more walking. It is incredibly mountainous. Their main tourist season is winter for the skiing. They do not have Sales Tax, so a lot of people travel in to do shopping.  We bought some Pandora in Andorra. :)

On leaving Andorra we put San Sebastian in the Sat Nav and selected "Fast Route". The road we then travelled for about two hours is one that the Bike Club would love. The number of twists and turns had Trev wishing he had the bike with him and not the car. The suggested speed was 40 km/h. The highest point of the road was 1250m. It was well maintained bitumen and we only saw 1 car, 1 motorbike and 1 push bike in the whole two hours.

We then ignored the Sat Nav and picked a road until we got to somewhere that looked about right. We then programmed in the location of our hotel for two nights in San Sebastian. It took us right to the door. You never know what you will get with this thing...

San Sebastian was really nice. I just wish I had more time. Next time I think we will pick a country and will be fine.

We then went to EuroNat on the Atlantic coast of France for two nights. We stayed in a five person cabin - what space! :) There's a lot of trees and space between cabins. The pack/community is about 2-3 square kilometres. There are two supermarkets, restaurants, pool and tennis courts. You really need to have push bikes to get around.

We are now on our way to Paris. We drop off the car tomorrow. Having fun.

8^th June: This will be the final Europe update as we fly out of Paris tomorrow for Thailand.

We drove into Paris to our hotel and then dropped off the car at the airport. Driving in Paris is not the easiest task, even with sat nav 'helping'. There is a lot of beeping. We made it and have the photos to prove it.

We have been up the Eiffel Tower - walked up the first two levels (I have photographic evidence!) then took the lift to the top.

We have been all over Paris and seen lots, most of which I will have to look up how to spell. I will have to fill you in later as it is almost midnight and I have to get up early. I have just spent two hours reviewing papers for a Testing Conference and my brain is fried. The things I will do on honeymoon? Sweet dreams.

10^th June: Not much to say as we are currently sitting in the airport in Bangkok. We have found that if you are flying with Bangkok Airlines that you can sit in their lounge where you can use the free WiFi, sample the nibbles provided and drink the first hot chocolate I have had in ages. Definitely a nice surprise.

We landed at 05:20 and walked a half km to the Immigration point. Showed our documents and got our passports stamped. We then walked through to see our bags go past on the carousel. We grabbed our bags then walked through customs without any questions being asked. Trevor only had his bag x-rayed because he chose to put it through. Currently the hardest country to enter in all of my experience is Australia. On this trip we have basically walked up, said hi, shown our documentation and that is it. No questions asked. Even filling in the entry forms has been easier for other countries (when you find the English instructions).

The flight from Paris was uneventful. We are noticing that the take off and landings with Thai airlines have all been really smooth. We wonder if this is possibly something they train for and try to add it to the experience of flying with them. It is the first time I have flown with Thai and recommend them - especially for long flights. The extra leg room and other touches really add to the experience. Worth the extra money, and they do have sales.

We fly to Ko Samui at 10:00. Time for another hot chocolate :)

20^th June: as you can probably tell, we did not have Internet access while in Thailand.

We had fun not doing much more than sitting at the side of the pool, having massages, drinking at the swim up bar... We did try scuba diving in the pool on Sunday. Which then led to us doing a 'Discovery dive' on the Tuesday. :) We signed up and was told that we would be going to Sail Rock - 45 min trip by speed boat. There were about 14 people on the boat, 12 diving, a maximum of two people per instructor, and all levels of diving experience covered. Our instructor (Bee) took us through some basics on the way out in the boat and told us what to expect. When we got there he made sure that we remembered what we had been told.

Once in the water he took us one at a time down a rope half a metre underwater and made sure we could do a few things - get water out of our regulator if it came out of our mouth, find the regulator if it came out, get water out of your mask and breath from his spare regulator. He then took us on a dive for 45 min down to about 12 m around the rock. It was great.

But we both had trouble keeping at the same depth. As you breathe in, you start to float, and as you breathe out, you sink. There is a trick to getting it so that you do not move up and down a lot. It takes time to learn this. Bee kept holding my hand to stop me floating. Bee took some under water shots of us and what we were seeing. We bought the DVD. We had fun.

After lunch I was not feeling great so decided it was best for me not to go down again, so I snorkelled while Trevor and the others went down for a second dive. The two guys left on the boat looked after me, asking if I was okay every time I popped my head above water. They fed the fish the left over fruit so that they would swim close to me.  There was lots of fish, eels, clams and crabs to see. The water was not really clear, but you could see a lot.

The people in Thailand are really friendly, willing to help and not at all pushy. The pushy people we found were the Indian suit sales men. They were rude and wanted to shake your hand so that they would not let you go.

We had lots of massages. We were not brave enough for a Thai massage. They involve a lot of stretching and do not look at all relaxing. Trev had oil massages and I had mainly oil massages and one foot massage (which involves where you let to above the knee). Everything is so cheap. I have a few more elephants in my collection :)

Flight home was uneventful. I actually got some sleep. Barb.