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Around the World

March 2017 - May 2024
An open-ended adventure by Susie Read more
Currently traveling
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  • 64footprints
  • 20countries
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  • Susie BruceAround the World
    Day 36

    Galapagos!!

    May 5, 2017 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    As promised the next instalment, I know you have all been waiting anxiously for this and we will disappoint with poor humour and dull chat!
    Obviously came here to see fantastic wildlife, mostly marine species. So Susie waits until now to tell me, 'I don't like swimming in the sea and most of the animals in there scare me' perfect start to the holiday. So the first day we hired snorkels and it was dedicated to Susie facing her fears, you could say it was time for her to sink or swim, or she needed to jump in at the deep end......sorry. Anyway she was fantastic after some gentle encouragement.
    Next day we boarded a cruise I won't bore you with the details or island places and names we went to just look at the picture of the itinerary below. The cruise was not the most comfortable our rooms were tiny and there were Americans on the cruise...... to which everything was 'super' or 'amazing.' However, what was more frustrating than the small rooms and the Americans was that we had a 'wannabe professional photographer' on board. Now don't get me wrong I like good pictures but seriously she took sooooooooooo long taking photos and plonked herself in the best places stopping everyone else getting good shots. She also spent ages so that we had all left her behind and then to catch up she would walk all over places the guide had specifically told us not to walk, for reasons such as it was a nesting site. So as you can probably gather i did not really like this person and she tested my patience somewhat. However, the food was fantastic and we had a great guide who was very knowledgeable. He had actually had an accident a few years back and had been in a coma for a year so had to learn everything from scratch! We also saw exactly what we wanted to see phenomenal wildlife and scenery! We couldn't believe how 'tame' these animals were it was truly amazing but as they say pictures can speak a thousand words and my descriptions certainly won't do it justice so here is a sample of the pictures we took, all the rest will be on Facebook, and if you get a chance to come here don't hesitate!    Read more

  • Susie BruceAround the World
    Day 40

    Nasca

    May 9, 2017 in Peru ⋅ 🌬 4 °C

    Next stop Nasca to see the famous Nasca Lines. These are continuous lines in the sand that makes various shapes. Know one knows how or why they were made - it was such a long time ago, before planes etc, which is why they are so amazing. They are such perfect shapes and the people making them would have had no way of looking at them to check they were getting it right! Also they are so big you can only see them from an aeroplane.
    Naturally me and Doug thought it would be a great idea to get on a plane and see them. I was about 5 minutes into the ride when I started being violently sick. I spent the next 25 minutes with my head in a plastic bag before landing. I was assured by Doug later that it was amazing to see all the shapes and he even showed me some pictures to prove it. Next time I think il let him go alone.    Read more

  • Susie BruceAround the World
    Day 42

    Huacachina

    May 11, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Huacachina is a tiny village surrounded by sand dunes. We stayed here for a day. In the afternoon we went on a wine tour to the Tacama winery, we then went on to a smaller winery which specialises in Pisco which is a Peruvian spirit made from grapes.
    Late afternoon we went dune buggying and did a spot of sand boarding which was very fun!    Read more

  • Susie BruceAround the World
    Day 44

    Lima

    May 13, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    We spent an evening in Lima, mainly due to to the fact we had tickets to see Ed Sheeran. He was amazing as expected! We also went to see the fountain show which was incredible. Doug left the place soaked through as he wanted to 'play in the water like all the other boys and girls'.Read more

  • Susie BruceAround the World
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    Day 48

    Chivay

    May 17, 2017 in Peru ⋅ 🌫 28 °C

    Next stop Chivay. Here we went on a day trip to Colca Canyon (twice as big as the Grand Canyon). Great views and got to see many Condors in flight. On the way back we visited another hot spring for a spot of relaxation. Doug also made friends with an eagle and an alpaca.Read more

  • Susie BruceAround the World
    Day 51

    Lake Titicaca

    May 20, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We spent two days exploring Lake Titicaca. The first day from Puno we took a boat out to the floating islands. These are man-made islands which float - as the name suggests. They each have communities living on them and they choose to join up with other islands or break apart every so often. We got to see their houses and speak to the people living there.
    On the second day we crossed the border into Bolivia to visit Copacabana. From here we visisted another island on Lake Titicaca - Isla del Sol. This was very pretty and we had a great day.    Read more

  • Susie BruceAround the World
    Day 58

    Machu Picchu

    May 27, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Our final activity in South America was a trip to the infamous Machu Picchu! Nowadays this can be done easily by taking a train from Cusco and then a bus up to the site. However, the 'traditional' way is is to hike to Machu Picchu, now I am a man of tradition...(not really) but I like a challenge. So after some persuasion I managed to convince Susie to go for the hiking option . We opted for the Salkanty trek consisting of 70 ish Km over four days and the final day touring Machu Picchu itself. We delayed our departure for a few days as unfortunately after trying some local cuisine I had emmm...some stomach issues that would not have been helpful on a very lavatory sparse trek!!
    It started with an alarm set for 4am (a reoccurring theme unfortunately) and we were picked up from our hostel by a guide, and a very loud and annoying group of French people. We guessed they were drunk and judging by their behaviour over the next 5 days we were probably correct. Luckily though our big group was split into to two smaller ones, we were in the one without the frogs. Turns out our group was a great bunch and our guide was was a blast!!
    Day 1 lured us into a false sense of security as even Susie said that it was easy! That night though in paper thin sleeping bags and temperatures below zero was not fun!
    Day 2 was the biggie 24Km, 10 hours of walking, going up to an altitude of 4650 meters with stunning views! Well actually no! We took no pictures at the top because just before we got there a snow storm hit, pretty much a white out and it was freezing, we stopped long enough to look at the sign but didnt want to take our hands out of our pockets to get a camera out, there was a group photo taken which hopefully we will be able to get our hands on....so all in all it was a waste of a day!! The next few days passed with out incident really, but we did get to see some amazing scenery! The highlight obviously being Machu Picchu, a staircase up to it with over 1200 steps (I lost count) the sun even graced us with its presence for the first time in 5 days but worth it in the end! A great way to finish the 4 day trek and celebrate Susie's birthday. Other highlights included seeing a toilet with a toilet seat AND paper! Having a shower for the first time in 4 days (even if it was cold) and having a drunken party on the night of day 3, which we regretted massively at the 5am wake up call!
    In all seriousness it was a great experience which I thoroughly enjoyed! For Susie, well
    in her words "I enjoy the satisfaction of completing the trek, I mean I wouldn't do it again, and am not going to take it up as a hobby, but I'm happy to be finished it. "
    Oh well!!! But given that it could have been quite a strained few days for us, it wasn't and she did fantastically well, even though it may not have been her first activity choice!
    Next stop NZ we shall see you on the other side!    Read more

  • Susie BruceAround the World
    Day 68

    Vs NZ Barbarians

    June 6, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Made it to New Zealand! I've decided to split the blog posts into the various lions matches which are happening every 3 days, for the next 6 weeks. So the first match is vs the barbarians in Whangerei. We flew into NZ and met up with Ben, Flooky and Amie who we are traveling with for the next 6 weeks. We then went and picked up our hire car Freida and were on our way! Over here in NZ there has been a Facebook group called 'adopt a lions fan' which is basically full of kiwis willing to provide rooms in their house for us lions to stay in. One of the first things we did was watch the first match - but the less said about that game the better! I also managed to get my phone and purse stolen that night so Doug is now paying for everything - ideal! We then travelled north and visited the bay of islands and stayed with a lovely couple. They lent us their paddle boards and kayaks and basically treated us like their children which was just what we needed! None of us wanted to leave after our 2 days there but alas the tour continues! We also visited a waterfall where flooky decided to go for a swim - not on purpose I might add!Read more

  • Susie BruceAround the World
    Day 75

    Vs Crusaders

    June 13, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    I've missed out writing about the Blues game - we don't want to talk about that game as it was so awful. Also the fact we did a lot of driving round so not much to write about! The crusaders game took place in Christchurch in the South Island so we took our little car over on the ferry. In Christchurch we stayed with some lovely rugby fans. They told us we would go down to 'the shed' to watch the game. This was a converted wool shed which 20 of the local 'lads' had made into a man cave. As we pulled up we were a bit nervous as the shed looked like it was ready to fall down at any minute. However when we walked in we were amazed. The shed had a bar, two toilets, a projector and a wood burner. It even had a secret bedroom that you got to through a bookcase for when they had drank 1 too many. It was amazing - the guys that were there called themselves the Wednesday boys as they met up every Wednesday here for drinks. Anyway enough about the shed, but it was incredible. The family we stayed with was lovely and invited us back the following week on our way back up to the north island. The mood was also lifted with the result of the match - finally we have started to play well! The next day we we drove to Akaroa close to Christchurch to go swimming with the worlds rarest dolphin (the hector dolphin). Four out of five of us loved every minute but alas for me, travel sickness strikes again. I spent most of the journey being sick off the back of the boat!Read more

  • Susie BruceAround the World
    Day 78

    Vs Highlanders

    June 16, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    We next travelled down to Dunedin (the student capital of New Zealand which grumpy ben was not looking forward to.) The match was vs The Highlanders. The stadium had a roof which was great! We stayed nice and dry it also made the atmosphere great, shame about the result - another loss where we played very poorly but we had a good time in the city. We visited a the New Zealand sports hall of fame, the famous railway station and another museum during the day. Myself and Amie liked looking at the pictures but we had to wait for ages for slow reader Quayle's. However, we learnt that Dunedin originally was full of Scottish migrants, hence the name of the rugby team so we were treated like a local! The next day we visited the steepest street in the world. The record for someone to run up and down it was 2 minutes! As usual the competitive streak between Doug and Flooky reared its head and they both tried to run up the hill, neither got very far and both stopped when they could taste blood!! A source of hilarity for the rest of us! However, turns out they got further than out car did. We thought driving would be easier, but we were wrong. Our car stuck halfway up, fairly embarrassing as someone on the street filmed us driving up, wheel spinning then rolling back down. A bit of bum twitching for Doug, who was driving, when his foot was fully pressed on the brake and we were still skidding down the hill, our poor rental car certainly took a battering that day as the dash board was lighting up like a Christmas tree, luckily it still seems to be working reasonably well currently. On our way back up to the north island we visited the moeraki boulders and stopped in to visit our friends at 'the shed' again.Read more

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