So, here I am ready to post a blog, but can't for the life of me think what to write about. Every time I have something to gripe about I usually moan to Colin (need to re-think my methods of stress management!!) and whenever anything good happens I'm usually to excited to remember to sit at the computer. One of these things is birthdays (that I know of) to celebrate and therefore I have posted a belated birthday wishes list.....

September was the month for my beautiful friends Kelly Cartman and Liz Wall and great nights were had with both of them.

October has been the month so far for Gary Bateman and his daughter Louise Colyer (birthday was yesterday) who both had fantastic birthday cakes with their photos on.

Now, one thing we are both excited about is watching the 2nd season of LOST. We missed both seasons whilst we were away, but we did mange to buy the 1st seasons box set in Vietnam for £4 and watched all 25 episodes in 7 days (good going, eh!!) when we got back.
We have now just started to watch the 2nd season and really excited to find out what's happening!

Actually, now I've started writing I can think of loads of things to be sad/happy about, but I won't go crazy. I'm am gutted though that I missed Nottingham's annual Goose Fair this year. I vowed not to miss it again after last year, but with everything going off at the moment I actually forgot about it, boo hoo!! : (

Anway, enough!!
B4N xxx

TFI Friday!!!

It's now back to reality and to the joys of work again. Colin and I have almost completed our first week back at work and it's now FRIDAY!!! Oh, that joyous Friday feeling is back along with my no work policy on the last day of the week.
It's not been the easiest of weeks though, what with sleepless nights (being scared that the alarm won't go off on your first morning of work) and with Colin having to commute quite a way to get to the hospitals and getting stuck on the motorway for 2 hours coming home. It's going to be a bit of a struggle over the next couple of weeks until things become familiar again.

Well, I have been left to my own devices on the computer at work this morning, hence my midday blog, hehe!! It's nice to get away from the bloke that has been training me, as although he is lovely, he doesn't half talk a lot.

I'm off to the estate agents after work to try and start the ball rolling on learning about the current market situation, to prepare for mine and Colin's investments in our future property developments. I'm looking forward to getting my claws into another project, after that year away I'm going to have to keep busy or become bored.

Hope all you travel buddies are coping with being back at home and if you're still travelling, well, enough said!!

Feet still an inch off the ground!

We're back on home soil!!

I would like to say that now we've been back almost a week our feet are firmly on the ground, but no such luck. We have both found it quite-very hard to settle back in to 'normal' life. It has been fantastic seeing friends and family again and catching up, but after having a year of total control and independence and having hardly any concept of the day or time, adjusting back seems like it might take a little longer to accomplish. Hopefully with the support of our friends and family it will be a smooth and easy ride.
I still feel caught up in a whirlwind and haven't really stopped since I got back to Nottm, although I'm not complaining as I've had a great time. My sleeping pattern is still very messed up (I was having a midnight chat on messenger with one of the girls off our SA trip, as she couldn't sleep either!)

Seeing all of my friends has been fantastic (and unfortunately running out of time for this week) but the best thing has been meeting Mason, my godson, again. He is the cutest little man you'll ever see and my heart just melts. He amazes me when I see him, with just how much he can do. I think partly because when I saw him last he was still a babe in arms, but he also seems very intelligent for his age. I am looking forward to getting to know him now we're back and vice versa.

There are a ton of things that I haven't mentioned about our trip as my last blog was, I know, a loooong time ago. Every now and again I'm sure I'll make reference to one or two stories, but the last country we were in, Brazil/Brasil (spelt differently depending on the country!) was the best. I would love to post some pics, but as some of you are aware, when we were in the Pantanal (jungle/swampland area) our camera decided to take a dip in the swamp. We were horserding and Colin's horse felt like galloping and Colin had no other choice! It was after this that he realised the camera had gone. Miraculously after going back, our guide the cowboy managed to find it, apparently it was glistening in the water from the reflection of the sun, how clever is he!!

Rio De Janeiro was an experience to say the least, but left a lasting impression as we hope to go back out at carnival time in a few years, whilst we're still young enough to enjoy it anyway! We were staying in Ipanema for most of our time, with some of the gang and it was gorg. Although the weather was very changeable, the shopping was to die for and bars/restaurants were up there!

Anyway, there are so many stories and adventures to tell, but a bit at a time will suffice. Don't want you all getting bored to soon!! So for now, I must go and make myself look decent for Colin who is making his way to Nottm as I type.
On an end note, it has been awesome seeing those who we have and are looking forward to seeing those who we haven't.

See you all at the engagement party (If you haven't had an invite, it's coz we dont like ya!!) No, seriously though, if we have happened to miss anyone out, please get in touch.

Won't leave it so long next time xxx

We´re off to the jungle tomorrow for 3 nights and 2 days, so we´ll be out of range for a bit. We´re hoping to spot some Anacondas, Jaguars and Pumas and we´ll be sleeping in hammocks for the original experience, yeah!!
Thanks Harry and Viv for your lovely thoughts and words and Liz we´re on our way, get the wedding mags at the ready!!

Gotta go back to our campsite now as we´re having a fruit punch night and don´t want to miss out!!

Lovin you all xxx

P.S 16 days to go!!!

I´m feeling rather crappy at the moment. Colin and I have spent enough time with our group now and just really want to get back to doing our own thing, but unfortunately we can´t afford to leave, plus there is only twelve days to go and there are some pretty good things to look forward to. I know I´m being unreasonable as we have had a great time and have had access to some wild things, but you know when you´ve had enough of something and that time is now.

We are now in Brazil, but my last blog we were still in Bolivia and have also crossed through Argentina since, so it´s been a while!! One last thing we did in Bolivia was mountain biking down none other that Death Road. It was 68km downhill on a very narrow dirt path with a 300m drop on one side. This road is still being used for two way traffic by enormous trucks and it is known as death road as it has been classed as the most dangerous road in the world. It took us four hours to bike down and almost 7 hours to get back up. It was pretty treacherous, we also found out that the next day a coach, full of people, had actually slipped 100m down the side of the road and half of the people lost their lives. Scarily thinking, that could have easily been us.

I´m being kicked out of the internet place, so I´ll save Argentina and Brazil for another time.

See you all very shortly xxx

I'm not drunk, it's the altitude!!

I'll never take Engish internet connections for granted again, as with a lot of things. We've come to realise that as English people we are very spoilt with the amount of choice and availabilty we have, especially when it comes to buying certain things. Girls, imagine if you only ever had a couple of brands of beauty products to choose from and guys your choice of beer was limited. I know the people who live out here do not know any different, but my point is that we should be very grateful for where and how we live.

On a lighter note, we are now in Bolivia and I have never breathed in so much dust in my life! It's a very dry country, similar to Cambodia. We left Peru a few days ago and on our last night out all the lads tried the local delicacy. I wanted to show a photo, but I thought I would leave it for when we get back as those with a weak stomach might not appreciate it. The dish is none other than England's household pet, the guinea pig!!!! It came on the plate teeth an' all and had been deep fried. I tried it and it 'tasted like chicken', hehe!! Well, it actually tasted like roast duck, but with less meat.

We are now only in Bolivia for another couple of days. We visited the largest salt flats in the world yesterday at a staggering 1200 sq kms. We are now at 4000kms above sea level in a silver mining town called Potosi and tomorrow we visit a silver mine which is still being used. We get to go in and have a look around and visit the guys who still work there. We also get to buy dynamite and blow stuff up!! In a couple of days we will be crossing the border into Argentina, which I've been looking forward to for a long while. Hopefully my next blog will be from there.

Ciao xxx