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Blair's Travel Adventures 2024
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  • Blair's Travels

Blair's Travel Adventures 2024

From Western Australia to a yacht departing Panama, from the Galapagos Islands to mainland South America, follow Blair as he travels. Read more
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  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Whitianga with my parents

    Jan 8–11, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 23 °C

    I had a lovely few days with my parents. I bused to Thames and met them there for a late lunch before driving home to Whitianga.

    My father lent me his Suzuki Bandit 1250 to use for the rest of my time in Auckland, then we would sell it the day I left. Thanks Dad!

    We visited my uncle Paul over in Kennedy's Bay, and visited my grandparents' grave and old home in Coromandel.

    I visited a few places on my way back to Auckland, including cousins in Pauanui, which was wonderful.

    It had been many years since I'd been on a motorcycle, and it took a while to be able to relax into the corners on the windy state highway 25, but it eventually felt like second nature again.    Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Back to Auckland

    Jan 11–18, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Auckland, seeing old friends, a spontaneous backyard bonfire, seeing Weta Unleashed at the Sky Tower, lots of touching moments with people and pets, some boardgames at Dice & Fork, and finishing off the final night before I leave Auckland with a boardgame with the Halls like I did on my last night in Auckland 7 years earlier when I moved to Wellington.Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Melbourne

    Jan 30–Feb 5, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Melbourne! The city I was beginning to think I was going to end up moving to.

    The friend I came to see in Melbourne ghosted me as he had been doing to all his friends the five weeks up to my visit, even when I visited his home direct from the airport.

    Instead I stayed with his friend Darren the Vet, about a 2 hour bus, train, bus ride out in Narre Warren South. Darren or LeigeLord as he is online had a lovely home.

    We had a lovely first with a movie night in Darren's home cinema with another part of our gaming group, Richard, and moved onto music / theme track quiz through YouTube. It was nice to distract me from the hurt / betrayal I was feeling from my other mate.

    We played lots of epic boardgames together over the week: Civilisation: A New Dawn with Terra Incognito expansion, Hero Quest, and Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon reaching chapter 5.

    One night at 2:53 am a stolen car crashed through two trees and his fence, bouncing off the concrete retaining wall a metre from my head.

    I went into the city a few times. Once Richmond, for hot pools, dinner and theology and community discussion with Julian. Another time down to X to catch-up with my old flatmate Leewyn, and before I went to the airport I got to see Nivesh for a guided tour of the beautiful University of Melbourne grounds.    Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Sydney

    Feb 8–11, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    James's wife and daughter picked me up from the airport and we went for a waterfront walk, catch-up over delicious lunch, and visited an art gallery. They were in Sydney sorting out visas and I missed them in Brisbane.

    I stayed in the guest room at Nadeem's Surry Hills apartment. The most central I've been in Sydney. We had a nice catch-up over a homemade brunch eaten out on his balcony after discovering the local cafes had massive queues.

    I took the metro out to the end of line out west to see Julie, an old school/church friend/sister of an old friend and have a lovely time meeting her family and catching up over tapas.

    I cooked dinner a couple of times for people which was nice.

    I hung out with Ciara whom I hope will join me in London or Greece later in the year.

    I saw Nikhil for the first time in probably five years and that was awesome. Hopefully he'll be visiting Europe in their summer this year too.

    I met Jad from Beirut and we had a good chat about life in Sydney.    Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Bali, Indonesia

    Feb 11–16, 2025 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌬 29 °C

    Stayed an extra night because I got a case of Bali Belly and my visa for Vietnam took nearly a week to come through.
    Met a great guy from Perth called Prok on my first morning in Bali. He's geoscientist with a mission to try to make Australia do their bit to prevent a climate crisis, and he loves climbing! We hung out the rest of the time in Bali until he returned to Perth.
    We saw some interesting things in the southern most part of Bali, including a humongous statue, larger than the Statue of Liberty, of Vishnu and his giant eagle, and some really interesting traditional dances.    Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Brittany, France

    Mar 9–16, 2025 in France ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    I spent a magical week in the Celtic heart of France with dear friends I met while working in Wellington, Lu & Adrien.

    I took a 4 hour train trip from Paris to Quimper to visit my friends and spent a week in their countryside home Adrien's grandfather built in 1975.

    We visited many beaches and interesting old towns in the area including l:

    Spa day at Château Les Garennes Hotel & Spa
    Walking the beaches of Benodét
    Trying the local chocolateries in the commune of Locronan
    Exploring the seaside fortress of Concarneau    Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Spain

    Mar 30–Apr 7, 2025 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    I flew into Málaga and stayed the night near Granada with Chris and Kelly, whom I met earlier in the year in the Swiss retreat. They're such a lovely and helpful couple. I then went and joined the Hadas del Sol (fairies of the sun) in the Valley of Sensations (Valle de Sensaciones) for their Folkloricas gathering. I got to stay in a small old campervan and help co create a beautiful gathering with all kinds of magical workshops. It was challenging because this was completely in Spanish and my vocabulary I had at this point didn't cover half the topics that come up at faery gatherings. I met Mo when he visited one day, a lovely German guy who was looking after a home and dogs of another faery, up above Cadiar not so far away. We had a special connection and I spent my last two nights up there with him.Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Netherlands

    Apr 25–May 2, 2025 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Floralia, the Dutch Faery Gathering , up in the southern part of the Netherlands near Belgium, celebrating Beltane. There was a surprising amount of diverse nature around us and we co created a magical week long Gathering.Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Snowdonia and the ODL Spring Camp

    May 23–26, 2025 in Wales ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Outdoor Lads had their spring camp in Snowdonia. Hiking, climbing, kayaking and more fun outdoor activities went on, along with a costume party at the local rugby club. My elbow had been fractured a few weeks before and I had a very chill time camping there and getting to know my London bouldering buddies better.Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Crossing Germany with Sven's Family

    Jul 8–11, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    First stop, Munich. I met Sven, his 3.5 year old son Kian, 15 month old daughter Iliana, and Austrian nanny, Sissy, at Munich Airport. We took a train and a few buses to get to our Airbnb. A huge home over 4 levels. My main objective was to keep Kian entertained for the next 11 days and help support Sven.Read more

  • Trip end
    July 31, 2024
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