Destination #7: Meeting the Canadian Fockers

Monday 12 July – Thursday 15 July 2010: Toronto

You take the NY grid, you take one of London's poshest neighborhoods Holland Park. You mix it all together and throw in some extra trees. Then you model the sport's franchises on the QPR model (i.e. no matter how much money you throw at it, they will always be shit), give everyone a bike, replace the local yobs by raccoons, surround the whole thing by a bunch of lakes and you have Toronto. The perfect place to live.

After a completely forgettable World Cup final, we did what every sane Dutch person should have done, we got ourselves on the first flight to Toronto, Canada, where they barely noticed a “World Cup Series of Soccer” had just taken place in SA.

In Toronto we were welcomed by Emma’s Canadian relatives or the Canadian Fockers as I like to call them: Sheldon, Maureen, Sarah 1, Sarah 2, Uncle Hym and Auntie Becky (unfortunately Eitan had to give it a miss as he was at camp). Despite the fact that Sheldon insisted on dragging me through the Canadian “mountains” for some early morning jogging (clearly not realising that Dutch people “don’t do hills”), these are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

In Toronto, Emma couldn’t help but spending hours and hours in the Mountain Equipment Coop, buying all kinds of crap for our imminent South American backpacking adventure (oral re-hydration salts anyone?). Judging by the amount of time and money we spent there, one would suspect that we are moving to Bolivia for good. Also on our list was the CN Tower, Toronto’s version of the Eiffel Tower. With 552 meters this is – according to the Guinness World Records – the World’s Tallest Tower. Main attraction is a glass floor up at 342 meters, which believe it or not, can withstand the weight of 14 large hippos, or 1 RJ. It also allows you to look straight down into the stadium of one of Toronto’s underperforming sports franchises: the Toronto Blue Jays.

Friday 16 July 2010 – Sunday 18 July 2010: Cottage at Manitouwabing lake

Sheldon and Maureen came up with the perfect birthday present: they took us up to their amazing cottage two hours north of Toronto near the village Parry Sound (for the NHL fanatics among us, one of Canada’s most famous hockey players Bobby Orr was born in Parry Sound).

For all those years we clearly got our priorities wrong, owning a cottage overlooking the Manitouwabing lake should be top of anyone’s list. The views are amazing, the cottage is fantastic and the water is as smooth as it gets. Nothing beats sitting on the dock overlooking Manitouwabing lake, enjoying the sun while drinking a Sleeman’s Honey Brown Lager and munching away on a peanut butter jam sandwich (Canada’s culinary equivalent of foie gras). This is Canada’s version of paradise.

Monday 19 July 2010 – Tuesday 20 July 2010: Niagara Falls

Having survived some of the worst torrential rains ever when driving our rented VW Jetta back from Manitouwabing lake to Toronto on Sunday night (while listening to Moose FM on the radio, not kidding), we went in search of some more water: Niagara Falls (Havasupai tribe eat your heart out!).

Main attraction is the “Maid in the Myst” boat-trip that will get you as close as possible to the Niagara Falls. The best C$15.00 we ever spent for a shower (also given the fact we received a C$30.00 ticket for parking the car “left to curb, facing wrong way” in Niagara-on-the-Lake). Of course we also managed to squeeze in some wine-tasting at Jackson-Triggs, enjoying some “ice-wine” while playing our newly acquired Cribbage board game in the sun.

Probably the only people who always wondered what happens with the dough from the hole in the donut are Homer Simpson and myself, but I have now found out the secret. Some Canadian bloke called Tim Horton started selling these “Timbits” to the general public at giveaway prices (20 Timbits for C$2.99 is great value for all those calories). Timbits together with “double doubles” (coffee with 2 extra sugars and 2 extra milks) and “triple triples” (coffee with 3 extra sugars and 3 extra milks) made this guy’s family multi-millionaires as they sold their 1,000 Canadian stores to Wendy’s for U$400 million in 1995. So with Maureen no longer around to talk some sense into me, I managed to buy a full box of 20 Timbits at Lester B. Pearson Airport. They were finished before our take-off back to London.

Our verdict: We are moving to Canada after our sabbatical.

Norwegian Seaplanes and Whale Sushi

Long overdue but now finally the tales of our Norwegian adventures. Norway was not on our official List of 28, but despite the fact we couldn't tick another destination off our list, our visit was absolutely worth it. What a beautiful country this is. We made our way to Scandiland for the wedding of our good friends and fellow "sabbatictravelers" Per and Hildegunn.

 

Having never been to Norway before, we decided to approach our latest adventure in typical James Bond style, what better way to make your entrance at a wedding than by sea-plane? We wouldn't want to travel any other way anymore. 

So together with Carlo and Michela (the real masterminds behind Operation "Death by Seaplane") we stuffed ourselves in a small Cessna plane in the Bergen harbor. Kjaer - the prototype Norwegian Viking, blond with a two-day beard and a hangover from the previous night - was our pilot for the 40 minute trip over the Norwegian fjords from Bergen to Utne. The take-off was, well, how can we best describe it, spectacular. As we started to make our way out of the water, the whole plane started to shake uncontrollably and all kind of items started to fall off in the cockpit. Then alarmingly a red light started flashing while the sound of warning beeps filled the cabin. Certain death seemed close. But against all the odds, the plane made it out of the water and started its journey to Utne, like a drunken sailor stumbling out of a bar. Looking down the fjords from the seaplane above gave us some spectacular views of the absolutely stunning Norwegian landscapes. I think this is what they call the "wow factor".

Landing a seaplane turned out to be a lot easier - and smoother - than taking off, you just plunge it down into the water. After trespassing some private property while disembarking, we got Brian to pick us up and we checked into the only hotel in town, the 288 year old Utne Hotel.

After getting the small matter of Holland beating Brazil in the Quarter Finals of the World Cup out of the way (which we had to watch in a sports bar in Odda as the Utne Hotel "does not do televisions") we could finally move on to the main event: the wedding! And it didn't disappoint. A beautiful ceremony in the small wooden church of Utne. The bride looked gorgeous, for the first time in his life the baby-faced assassin called Per looked like a grown-up, everyone said yes at the right time and the best men (all 3 of them) managed to hand over the rings in time without getting into a fight. 

After a small boat trip we arrived at Per's parents home where the drinks, dinner and party took place. Until half past four in the morning that is. These Scandis know how to party, that is for sure. Grand conclusion of this all: beautiful day, great location, fantastic wedding.

After three hours sleep we dragged ourselves in a taxi the next morning. We got dropped off at some sort of small harbor 15 minutes from Utne. Cue good old Kjaer, who turned up exactly on time and managed to splash his seaplane in the water next to the boat of an astonished elderly couple who almost choked on their coffees. Hangovers and seaplanes are not the best combinations in the world, but we survived and Kjaer got us back to Bergen safely.

So what else did we get up to? Well, in Bergen we stayed in Det Hanseatikse Hotel, a well-hidden boutique hotel in an old refurbished railway station. We had some fantastic sushi in the excellent Soho sushi restaurant on Hakonsgate and I even managed to squeeze in some whale sushi at Nama restaurant, although I have to admit it is not the best hangover food ever (it looks and tastes a bit like steak though, so it is not bad).

To finish off, some trivial and completely useless football stats. Did you know that, even though Norway didn't manage to qualify for the World Cup, it is the only side in the world with a winning record against Brazil (played 4, won 2, drawn 2)? Well you know now.

June: Out Of Office Assistant: Busy Watching the World Cup

Even though RJ is definitely the funny guy when it comes to writing, and even my own family seems to prefer his blogs over mine, I have taken it upon myself to write our next blog.

One of the drawbacks of having a banker on a sabbatical hanging around the house is that they can become quite lazy. This gets even worse when part of the sabbatical happens to coincide with a World Cup, during which any travel is heavily influenced by fixture lists, then there is just no way there is ever going to be a next update.

So in order not to keep you waiting much longer, here come two destinations that actually aren’t even “officially” on “The List of 28”, with a stop-over in Holland squeezed in between the two.

Our lifestyle banker turned coach-potato did manage to contribute something in between watching football games and provided me with his version of the events of that took place in Barcelona.

Friday 4 June – Monday 7 June: Unlisted Destination 1: Barcelona (Spain)

As my dear Norwegian friend Per Maelen and fellow “Sabatticaler” had decided to sign his life away and was about to get hitched, the first stop was Barcelona for a 4-day, 12 guys, stag weekend.

Following the receipt of a gagging order by Per Havard Maelen’s legal representatives, I am unfortunately not at liberty to disclose what may or may not have happened that weekend. The only things that I can confirm is that yes, Dagfinn indeed did have a video camera, a power he clearly abused at will, and yes Ali did manage to get us lost at each and every occasion (this guy has a cunning ability to take a wrong turn wherever he can, what a skill!).

As a weekend in Barcelona would not be complete without a tapas restaurant recommendation, here we go. One place Ali did manage to guide us to was Sagardi, a Basque taberna in the middle of the city centre (62 Argenteria if you are really interested). Sagardi’s speciality is tapas on cocktail sticks (also called pintxos or montaditos). 

The bill is calculated by the number of sticks on your plate at the end of the evening. Not sure it is fraud proof, but a pretty good place nevertheless.

My verdict: Damn I am not 18 anymore, it took me a week to recover from all the clubbing

Sunday 13 June – Sunday 20 June: Unlisted Destination 2: Rhodes (Greece)

As all this traveling definitely wears you out we took a small break to recover, so we jetted off to Rhodes for some sun and chillaxing, while meeting up with my parents and aunt and uncle from Sydney in the process.

What did we do? Actually not very much. Most time was spent lying in the sun at Pefkos beach, having lunch at Lee Beach Bar while RJ and Ido made sure Dave didn’t get into any fights with the bartender of Oasis Pool Bar after he dared to switch off the rugby in favour of some World Cup football (you can’t take these Australians anywhere). We did manage to meet up with an old colleague of RJ (Richard) and his lovely girlfriend (Lilliana) who happened to be holidaying in Rhodes as well. The game we watched together (England – Algeria) does not really deserve any further mentioning. Excellent company, bad game.

Our verdict: Perfect chillaxing get-away destination and a great place for any lifestyle banker turnt coach-potato to watch as many World Cup games as possible.

Our verdict: Destination #6: West Coast Roadtrip: The Best and Worst

OK here is our list of the best and worst of our US West Coast road trip. Despite this being our joint list, the Kim-Jong Il principle applies, i.e. we both vote and if we don’t agree, well someone’s vote just doesn’t count.

Best Hotel: Post Ranch Inn (Big Sur, California). Where else can you spend more money than in Vegas just by sleeping in a tree house with a fireplace?

Best Restaurant: La Mar (San Francisco, California). Peruvian chef, Japanese cuisine. Completely packed. One word: amazing.

Best Coffee Place: Macy’s (Flagstaff, Arizona): Maybe it was just because this was the last coffee we had before we left civilisation for 4 days and submerged ourselves in the Grand Canyon, but Arizona’s version of Starbucks was just a great place.


Best Drink: La Mar’s Pisco Sour (San Francisco, California). Peruvian brandy, lime juice, simple syrup, dash of egg white and a drop of regional bitters. All consumed at lunchtime, just because we can.

Best Sushi: Arigato (Santa Barbara, California). One of the hidden gems of the trip. Signature dishes include the Pretty in Pink Roll (salmon in pink soybean paper), Yuppie Roll (lobster and caviar) and the Yellow Submarine Roll (yellowtail and asparagus).

Best City: Santa Barbara (California). It was a close call between Santa Barbara and Flagstaff (Arizona) but Santa Barbara was such a chilled-out place, it had to come out top. A surfers’ paradise surrounded by mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

Best Ride: Simpson Ride at Universal Studios (LA, California). It was so good we had to go twice. Think of it as NASA meets Walt Disney. We even got the T-shirt, how sad is that?

Gremlin of the Trip: The 2-year old girl who looked so cute when saying “bye bye” to everyone at check-in at San Francisco International Airport. Definitely less charming when she did an impersonation of a fire alarm mid-air.

Most Out of Place: Steve Nash (Phoenix Suns). Picture the NBA Playoff Final in LA. Lakers vs Suns. On the court, nine 2.10m plus black guys and one 1.55m “tall” white guy called Steve Nash. Steve got a black eye for his troubles and won’t be playing outside with the big boys anytime soon (the Lakers won 124-112) and eventually eliminated Steve Nash’s Suns from the series.

Best Car: Hands down winner our little red Mustang convertible. Despite a certain individual, who will remain nameless, complaining that the top should stay down because it apparently was “too chilly”…

Near-Death Experience: Not so much for us but more for those 6 cycling tree-huggers I tried to kill in San Francisco when I blatantly ignored a red light in the middle of the city center....

Most Obese Guy of the Trip: CC Sabathia, the pitcher of the NY Yankees. Think of it as Shrek without the green. It was a close call, but eventually I was narrowly beaten by a guy who clearly ate all the pies (and after signing a 7-year contract worth $161 million, happens to be the highest paid pitcher in baseball history). The NY Yankees pitcher is the explanation in person why MLB teams have “snack tables” in the dressing rooms. If you are playing for the Yankees with this guy, you better bring your sandwiches from home. CC Sabathia weighs a sweet 130kg.

Destination #6: West Coast Roadtrip: Part II

Once again it took us some time to drag ourselves back to blogging, but after some overly lavish praise on the previous blog, we now live in constant fear of the ‘Dennis Pennis Steve Martin Curse’.

For those of you who don’t remember, Pennis was a journalist for BBC’s Sunday Show, who upset a string of celebrities as he gate-crashed movie premieres and press conferences in the nineties. Several of his victims stormed off and Steve Martin famously fell into depression and didn’t speak to the press for two years after Pennis asked him at a movie premiere: "How come you're not funny anymore?"

Other classic Pennis moments included asking Cher: "Has anyone ever told you you're really beautiful - and meant it?", inquiring with Demi Moore: "If it wasn't gratuitous in any way and it was tastefully done, would you consider keeping your clothes on in a movie?" and of course last but not least he gave Naomi Campbell a taste when he asked her: "Can you confirm or deny reports that you said something mildly interesting in an interview once?". Unsurprisingly Dennis’s nose was broken on multiple occasions.

On that happy note, US West Coast Roadtrip: Part II.

Monday 17 May 2010 – Saturday 22 May 2010: Las Vegas – Los Angeles

Having survived the Grand Canyon, we went back to Vegas for one night to win our money back, this time staying in The Wynn gaming resort to maximise damage. We also managed to go to one of the shows called Le Reve. Think of it as Waterworld meets Cirque de Soleil without Kevin Costner or the crap reviews. It was spectacular and wet.

After trading in our big-ass SUV for a little red Ford Mustang Convertible we started to make our way over to California, first stop Los Angeles. Luck was on our side as the LA Lakers were playing the Phoenix Suns in Game 2 of the Western NBA Finals. So what exactly does a $120 ticket buy you? Well approximately the same view as what I imagine you get from space when looking at Palm Island in Dubai back on earth. Nevertheless, Kobe Bryant’s Lakers spanked Steve Nash’s Phoenix Suns 124-112.

Being thirty-somethings, we felt slightly out of place in Disneyland. Best part was probably getting Emma to go into the rollercoaster ride (aptly called California’ Screamin) although the picture with Goofy was pretty decent as well. Being bullied by a nine-year old because we showed some hesitation with regards to the Maliboomer (a modern version of being ejected into the air, while sitting on something that resembles an electric chair) must have been the highlight of the day.

In between Disneyland and Universal Studios, we did a round of “Meeting the Fockers”: we met up with Emma’s US cousins.

Knowing no shame, we invited ourselves for nightcaps on Thursday and dinner on Friday (special thanks to Talia and Lauren for convincing us that 22:30 on a Thursday is a perfectly normal time to invade Martin and Klara’s home). It was great to meet the Shandling clan, and having learnt a thing or two about the Thundering Herd and baseball statistics we left Beverly Hills behind and drove our Mustang up to Highway 1, next stop Santa Barbara.

Saturday 22 May 2010 – Thursday 27 May 2010: Santa Barbara – Big Sur

Santa Barbara is just the ultimately chilled out place. Our hotel (The Canary, special thanks to Fatboy James for the recommendation) was just around the corner from buzzing State Street, which itself is full of trendy bars and restaurants. We spent a full two days in Santa Barbara and basically did nothing. It was great.

The ride on Highway 1 from Santa Barbara to Big Sur is apparently considered one of the best drives in the World, and to be fair, rightfully so. The landscape is fantastic, on the left hand side you have the Pacific (including the occasional sea lion), on the right hand side you have the rough Californian landscape of Big Sur.

Another recommendation from Fatboy James landed us in the spectacular Post Ranch Inn, just south of Monterrey. Literally staying three meters up in a tree, we had our own fireplace and sky view (the latter being a bit more straight-forward than the former). Having been told the occasional mountain lion is spotted in the forests surrounding the Post Ranch Inn, we couldn’t resist to check it out. So after two hours hiking through the rain we spotted the grand total of …. one lost Californian squirrel.

After three days of chillaxing, we drove our Mustang up to our final destination: San Francisco.

Thursday 27 May 2010 – Saturday 29 May 2010: San Francisco

In San Francisco we traded in our Mustang and checked into the Clift Hotel just off Union Square. Somebody who will remain unnamed vetoed my proposal to go and see the San Francisco Giants play the Washington Nationals in favour of going to Alcatraz. How can you not go and watch a baseball team, which used to have a pitcher called Gaylord Perry on their books?

Anyway, Alcatraz was quite interesting, besides ‘Big Al’, a guy called Joseph 'Dutch' Bowers spent some time on the Rock. Leave it to the Dutch to try and get out. Full points for initiative, less so for execution. Bowers was shot twice and fell head first over a cliff.

In between riding the original San Francisco street cars, we of course couldn’t resist checking out the San Francisco restaurant scene, making sure Ricky and AJ had something to work with once we got back (Ricky and AJ are the poor bastards we pay a fortune to whip us back into shape in between our food frenzied trips). We had lunch at The Slanted Door, which apparently is Bill Clinton’s favourite restaurant, dinner at Ozumo (piece of advice, make sure you stay well clear of the black pepper cocktail) and had our last SF meal at La Mar which has a killer Pisco Sour.

After three weeks of touring Nevada, Arizona and California, we dragged ourselves on a non-strike BA flight back to rainy London. So it only feels right to finish this blog with a quote from former US president George W. Bush:

“To those of you who received honours, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you, too, can be president of the United States.”

Destination #6: West Coast Roadtrip: Part I

Monday 10 May 2010 - Wednesday 12 May 2010: Las Vegas vs. Grand Canyon

OK it took us some time to get blogging again but hey, as the Governator would say, we are back (okay he didn’t really say it in those words but you get the drift).

We started our West Coast roadtrip in Las Vegas aka Sin City some 12 days ago. Nobody with a Betfair account should be allowed to stay here longer than 24 hours. Despite our 90 seconds stint at the roulette tables that vaporised 100 dollars, we loved Vegas (special thanks to Hugh for suggesting to put money on 11 while it should have been 22). Gambling losses remained acceptable and we fortunately didn’t end up having to sell the car (the rental company would have been really pissed). We stayed in the funky non-gaming Vdara hotel the first two nights, next to the Bellagio (which has a killer Classic Bellagio Omelet with lobster on its breakfast menu, which fatboy here of course needed to try).

After two days of gambling and visiting numerous shoe shops from blokes called Manolo and Jimmy (no prizes for guessing who dragged us there) we left Vegas, having made the casinos a bit richer and our sabbatical a bit shorter.

Wednesday 12 May 2010: Las Vegas to Flagstaff

Having picked up our own big kick-ass SUV Ford Escape from Dollar-Rent-A-Car (it is all in the name..) we drove a sweet 410 km to Flagstaff, Arizona. On our way, Hoover Dam, which is mainly very big and not very interesting (nevertheless we still couldn’t resist and of course had to have a look around). We did have the pleasure of cruising through the desert on Route 66, one of the original US highways that runs all the way from Chicago on the East coast to LA on the West Coast a distance just short of 4,000 km.

After 5 hours driving we arrived in Flagstaff aka Little America. Apparently Flagstaff’s elevation of 7,000 feet (or 2,000 meter) makes it a “semi-desert” city. Not sure what that means but it sure was bloody cold for a desert city. In Flagstaff we stayed at the 410 Inn B&B. When we walked in, the smell of home-baked zucchini bread welcomed us. If you ever happen to pass through Flagstaff, make sure to stay at the 410 Inn B&B, it is kind of special in a good kind of way.

Thursday 13 May 2010 – Monday 17 May 2010: Grand Canyon

On Thursday we started our biggest adventure so far: a 4-day trek through the Grand Canyon. We got picked up by our 23-year old guide Claire (from Fargo, North Dakota, apparently it was in a movie) who because of her love of shouting every 10 minutes “Super, well done team” or “Are we still all happy campers?” had a distinct notion of “Team America (F#ck yeah)” over her. Claire graduated as an economist but decided that being a guide in the Grand Canyon was much more fun, and hey who can blame her?

Claire picked us up at 06:30 in the morning in her huge SUV (we are talking truck size here, if we would have hit a Mini we would only have noticed it at our next bathroom stop). The five of us (two Canadians called Elaine and Earl joined us for the hike) drove for what the Americans called a small drive (i.e. 3 hours) to the Havasupai Indian Reservation in the Grand Canyon.

The 600 strong Havasupai tribe runs the show in this part of the Grand Canyon and the tribe clearly hasn’t produced any investment banking offspring yet. The only way to get from the entrance of the Grand Canyon (the Hualapai Hilltop) to the Havasupai Waterfalls (and our camping ground for that matter) is a 16 km hike. So the tribe operates a mule service (which, to be fair, took most of our luggage) for just $30 per mule and a helicopter service (which takes all the fatties) for only $80 one-way. A Ryanair-type offer we unfortunately declined. So the next couple of days we spent hiking to waterfalls, sleeping in tents (Claire just slept outside on the picknick table, as you do apparently), being bitten by musquitos and taking zillions of pictures.

Best put-down of the trip was courtesy of one of the older tribe members when he answered the question “It must be amazing to live here in the Grand Canyon?” with “Nah, it is just a bunch of rocks”. Other valuable lesson learned is that when Emma says “Go ahead, you don’t need to wait for me, I can get up the canyon by myself” this actually means “Where the f#ck do you think you are going, stay right here”.

All in all, the hike was a pretty amazing experience, but I have to admit that we were pretty happy to return to the 410 Inn B&B’s jacuzzi after 4 days. So far, so good for our first week in the United States of America!

The First 5

Ok, we are completely new at this so this is our first attempt at "blogging". After having finally decided that we had enough of the working life for a while and we wanted to throw a little bit more life and less work in the balance, we came up with a list of places we wanted to see sooner rather than later. So we came up with a list, our list of 28 places we wanted to go to over the next 12 months. In alphabetical order, here we go:

1. Abu Dhabi (UAE) - Water-skiing with Guy, shoe shopping with Sam

2. Amsterdam (The Netherlands) - See the real Queen

3. Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Eat some big steaks

4. California (US) - Roadtrip from Las Vegas to San Francisco with the Mustang

5. Cape Town (South Africa) - Eating steak with Elda in Barristers

6. Copenhagen (Denmark) - Party with Freddy like it is 1999

7. Devon (England) - Check in for the Ultimate Bootcamp (too much steak..)

8. Dublin (Ireland) - Drink loads of Guinness

9. Edinburgh (Scotland) - Watch Aberdeen FC win (for a change) with Hugh and Lesley

10. Fons (France) - Running up the hill to Ailhon every night with my evil cousin

11. Gleneagles (Scotland) - Beat Hugh at golf (this may take some practice)

12. Havana (Cuba) - Meeting Fidel for tea

13. Jukkasjarvi (Sweden) - Chill out in the Ice Hotel

14. Kathmandu (Nepal) - Trekking to Mount Everest Base Camp

15. Lankawi (Malaysia) - Staying in The Datai just like Andy recommended

16. Machu Picchu (Peru) - Trekking through Peru

17. Malawi - Globalising the orange juice trade with Eelko

18. Mauritius - Chilling out because this sabbatical stuff can wear you out

19. New York (US) - Take Fatboy James out for some wining and dining

20. Petra (Jordan) - Convincing Guy/Sam to join us for a non-shoe shopping adventure

21. Saigon (Vietnam) - Catching up with Ruben and Frederiek

22. Shanghai (China) - Visiting the World Exposition in Shanghai with Vijverberg Sr

23. Strasbourg (France) - Drinking gluhwein at the Christmas market

24. Sydney (Australia) - Seeing Debs + some serious diving in the Great Barrier Reef

25. Tel Aviv (Israel) - Family business

26. Tokyo (Japan) - Eating sushi with Rob

27. Toronto (Canada) - Meeting the Canadian Fockers

28. Turin (Italy) - See the Atomic Ant lead Juventus to victory (for a change...)

Given that we made a flying start to our sabbatical and have now already been to 5 of the 28 destinations, we thought it might be time to start blogging, sooo 2010. So far we can cross off the list: Cape Town, Mauritius, Abu Dhabi, Dublin and 2x Amsterdam (we just are suckers for the Dutch weather and love our Queen).

Destination #1: Cape Town (South Africa)

We started our travels in Cape Town in February. My (Emma's) grandmother lives there so this was a family trip. And when we say family we mean family as we invited my parents to come along. For anyone who has never been to Cape Town: GO...and not for the obvious reason for most of RJ's friends (the World Cup) but because it is such an amazingly beautiful place and the food and wine are great. My friend has also been in Cape Town for the past couple of months so it was great meeting up with her and her boyfriend, catching up over sushi at Beluga.

Also my first experience with driving on the left hand side of the road. Scary at first but made good by the fact that the car rental place had given us a jeep. So driving to Stellenbosch and Franschhoek wasn't so bad. Two places to recommend: Hawksmoor House in Stellenbosch and Le Quartier Francais in Franschhoek. And the best restaurant? In Cape Town it has to be Buiten Verwachting for its stunning views of the winelands and in Stellenbosch Terroir on the Kleine Zalze Estate.

After Cape Town I made a quick dash to Amsterdam to visit some friends and family and after that on to Ipswich for Charlies baptism. RJ had the honour to be his Godfather. A lovely weekend with lovely friends and staying in a quaint little inn in Bildeston. My second experience driving on the left hand side of the road although a whole lot less pleasurable, driving in a Vauxhall Corsa on Trafalgar Square, not recommended. Our verdict: Cape Town is fantastic, the food and wines are fabulous and of course we love Granny Girl and Elda to bits. Definitely go to Ipswich but never in a Vauxhall Corsa rented at Herz.

Destination #2: Mauritius

In March RJ decided to start his 'sabbatical' officially and we celebrated accordingly by going to Mauritius for 10 days. This was a sit-by-the-pool-and-read-a-book holiday. We literally didn't move besides one day mountain biking because we felt guilty for not doing any sight seeing. That and the fact that we had a disastrous trip round the island one day, getting lost twice in one day (how hard is it to get lost on an island??) and almost being stuck for the night on Ile-aux-Cerfs (note to traveler, never arrange to take the last boat out, it might not leave). Also, never book BA when you know they are going on strike.

Our verdict: Superb chilling out location, you won't be doing much but that is the whole point. We can recommend The Oberoi, in terms of service the best resort we ever stayed in (you want fireworks, they organise fireworks...).

Destination #3: Abu Dhabi (UAE)

Fresh back from Mauritius and on to Abu Dhabi to visit Sam and Guy. What an amazing country, especially for car lovers (Hugh). And what a great week. Just a pity that we couldn't stay on for a couple of days. Although not for lack of trying by Sam's friend who decided to ring Etihad on our behalf to rebook our tickets instantly making a friend at Etihad. 

So, not enough time to see everything and catch up properly so planning another trip to that end of the world. Our verdict: If you don't drive a GT3 you are clearly a sissy, but hey we loved it (excluding all the shoe shopping that is). We will be back for the Formula 1 in November!

Destination #4: Dublin (Ireland)

Then on to Dublin. We almost didn't make it to Dublin because of one famous ash cloud. We were the first Air Lingus flight out of Heathrow. The highlight in Dublin (besides drinking sh#tloads of Guinness and going on a Big Bus tour has to be the 'Bog Bodies' exhibition at the National Museum.

RJ would have preferred to take the Viking Bus which actually goes through the river as well but the main attraction is the fact that you get a Viking hat.

Our verdict: Not worth it if you don't get the Viking hat.

Destination #5: Amsterdam (The Netherlands)

And then our most recent trip, Amsterdam part II. Besides the obvious, visiting our family and friends (and having a lovely baby shower for one of my best friends), who can resist Queen's Day in Amsterdam (30-04), one of Hollands best public holidays, dress up in orange attire (anything from orange shoes to orange hair), drink loads of beer and walk along the canals. Or even better, having a friend with a boat! Off course we had to be back in time for QPR's last match of the season. Luckily they lost so nothing new there.

Our verdict: Nothing can beat the Queen and some decent quantities of Dutch finest Heineken.

And what is next you wonder? We are leaving for Vegas this week and are busy planning our trip to Buenos Aires and Peru in August, another 3 off the list. 8 down, 20 to go. Hope to see you guys along the way. We'll keep you posted.

Love Emma and RJ