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Honolulu, USA 9-10 October 2017 A couple of nights in Waikiki was a perfect way to end our trip. We spent most of our time on the beach enjoying the sunshine and eating our final servings of huge American dishes - although we did sneak in a walk up to Diamond Head, which gave some brilliant views of the island. On our last night we finished things off with a sunset cocktail cruise (although the clouds ruined the sunset it was still lovely to be out there!). Given it’s such an easy and relatively cheap journey from Melbourne, we are sure we will be back in Hawaii very soon!

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Los Angeles, USA 7-8 October 2017 LA is exactly as you envisage from the movies; palm trees and hazy blue skies as far as the eye can see. We stayed in West Hollywood, a stone’s throw from the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard (where the Oscars are held). This location gave us the chance to do two big walks - Runyon Canyon Park and Griffith Park - that give great views of Downtown LA and the sunset strip down to Santa Monica. The lasting impression of LA is it’s sprawl, it’s astonishingly spread out - a good 10 minute drive along a freeway from one suburb to the next. Not ideal for a couple of tourists who like to see things on foot, but we enjoyed our little taste and look forward to coming back!

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Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 1-6 October 2017 After a full-on ten days in New York, we were ready for some chilled time - and that’s exactly what Puerto Vallarta delivered. We spent a lot of time poolside soaking up the sunshine, and the rest of our time venturing around the town trying the delicious local food. We probably ate enough fish tacos for a lifetime - but at less than $2 each why would you not! Thanks again to Spider and Sheila for organising our accommodation, the taste of luxury at the Sheraton was one we could get used to!

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Washington DC, USA 28 September 2017 Due to the earthquake in Mexico City we decided it was best not to go there, so we changed plans and extended our time in NYC. This allowed us the chance to do a quick overnight trip to Washington DC. We only had about 24 hours in DC, which probably wasn’t enough - however we did manage to see pretty much all of the main sites. If there is one thing that Americans do well it is memorials, the structures in DC are as good as you will see anywhere.

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Some more pics from New York

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New York, USA 21-30 September 2017 There is a reason why they call it the greatest city in the world! New York really is one of the very best places we have been to. We felt we did a lot during our nine days in town, but left with a bigger list of things to do than when we arrived! Staying with Hayden and Hampo was great as they had so many local tips. Their bar and restaurant recommendations were particularly on point. Also check out the sunset from their rooftop - it was next level! A quick summary of some of the things we managed to tick off while in NYC: braved the crowds at Times Square, strolled along the High Line, went to a music festival at Central Park (Stevie Wonder, Green Day, The Killers), walked up Brooklyn Bridge, went up the Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Centre), ate the best pizza in New York, did boating at Central Park, went to a Yankees game, grazed at Brooklyn food markets, went to a filming of The Daily Show, found an Aussie bar to watch the AFL Grand Final, devoured amazing banana pudding at Magnolia Bakery, conquered the subway, had multiple burgers…. I could go on but needless to say we had a blast!

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Taormina, Italy 17-20 September 2017 After two weeks of so-so weather, we had endless sunshine during our four days in Sicily. We enjoyed lots of beach time and lots of sweaty walks up the steep stairways of Taormina. We stayed at a B&B run by the most lovely old Italian lady, and our balcony had a stunning view over the bay and Mt Etna and we were also lucky enough to do some hiking on the volcano itself. But probably the biggest highlight was the Sicilian food - arancini, pizza, pasta, seafood, cannoli, granita, gelato - we may have put on a few kg’s but it was absolutely worth it!

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Venice, Italy 16 September 2017 We had an afternoon stopover in Venice before flying through to Sicily. The sun was shining and the canals were as picturesque as ever. It was lovely to go back and wander aimlessly around the streets for a few hours. Of course a couple of Aperol Spritz’s were enjoyed too!

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Lake Bled, Slovenia 13-15 September 2017 Although the weather in Bled was mixed, we had a great time. Lake Bled is naturally beautiful and untouched in the most part, yet popular enough to have a nice atmosphere and some great food and drink options - particularly the local cream cake! We enjoyed a couple of walks around the lake, and on the afternoon when the sun was out we ventured off track to some of the amazing vantage points.

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Salzburg, Austria 12-13 September 2017 Salzburg, a beautiful town best known to tourists as the setting of the famous The Sound of Music film. I basically sang the whole time we were there (poor Ben)! We did a Sound of Music tour that took us to lots of the film locations (again, poor Ben) including, the 16 going in 17 gazebo, the Mirabell gardens where the end of doe,ray,me is filmed and the church where Maria and Georg get married. Our hostel also plays the film every night at 8pm, so we definitely got our Sound of Music dose in just and day and a half!!

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Hallstatt, Austria 10-11 September 2017 The photos from this beautiful little village located on Lake Hallstatt really don't do the place justice. The most intricately carved wooden houses really looked like they are stacked upon each other. Some of them are so close to the water's edge that we are sure they would flood if there was heavy rain. We did a tour of the world's oldest salt mine where lots of ancient artefacts, and even human remains, have been preserved because of the salt. This salt mine also houses the world's oldest staircase which archaeologists have just recently discovered. Expensive but so so stunning, Hallstatt is worth a visit.

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Vienna, Austria 9-10 September 2017 Opulent - the one word we would use to define Vienna. As the heart of a major European empire for many centuries, Vienna is packed with grand architecture. Castles, churches, synagogues, museums, opera houses; Vienna has them all in abundance. It was interesting learning about this history and seeing the more modern parts of what is a busy but quite local-feeling city. For dinner we managed to get a table at the city's oldest schnitzel house, where the house dish was absolutely spot on!

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Budapest, Hungary 6-8 September 2017 We had a weekend in Budapest a couple of years ago, and immediately knew we wanted to come back. Last time we visited was in the middle of winter and there was steady snow, so it was a much different trip this time - with the weather in the mid 20s we were able to see everything on foot, including things we missed last time such as the vast royal palace and Castella viewing point which overlooks the city. Having now been in the warm and the cold, we can definitely say that Budapest is right up there with the very best cities in Europe.

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Krakow, Poland 3-5 September 2017 We left London for the last time on a Sunday afternoon and flew to Krakow to begin our adventures and trip home. Although the weather was fairly chilly and at times drizzly, we really enjoyed Krakow. It's only a small city but has lots happening with many bars and restaurants in different areas - it's also ridiculously cheap! One of the main reasons for visiting Krakow was to go to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest extermination site during WWII. We did a full day tour of the site, and it was as harrowing as expected. Over 1.3million Jews were killed at Auschwitz, in the most horrible ways imaginable. Having visited the Jewish Quarter and Jewish Ghetto in Krakow (made famous in the movie Schindler's List) the day before made it all the more relevant and shocking.

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Estoril, Portugal 18 - 25 August 2017 I have gotten right into yoga since being in London, so I was very keen to do a yoga retreat before leaving. Jess and Helen, who I used to work with, decided to join me for a week of yoga, sun, sea and relaxation in the cute little town of Estoril - about 40mins out of Lisbon. We stayed at Salty Pelican Yoga and Surf Hostel and had such a lovely week, with yoga to start and finish our days. We also did a day trip to Sintra National Park and finished with a gorgeous day in Lisbon before heading back to London on the Friday evening.

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Seven Sisters Coast, UK 5-6 August 2017 For our last weekend away in the UK we travelled south for a walk along the Seven Sisters coastline. We were lucky to have some very sunny weather which further highlighted the blues and whites of the ocean and cliff faces. Although not nearly as challenging as our walks in Norway, it was tough in parts - we certainly earned ourselves a cold drink or two in the evening!

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Bergen, Norway 30-31 July 2017 After the big walks of the previous days, our time in Bergen was always going to be very chilled out. We spent most of our two days in Bergen wandering around the old port area and resting our tired legs!