Americas

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Cruise Day 2: Bartolome & Sullivan Bay

Cruising around Galapagos isn’t a holiday.  We had to wake at 0545 for a 0615 breakfast before a 0645 disembarkation for Bartolome. As we got on Bartolome, a sea lion was on the steps.  It was so cute, the Israeli girl thought it would be OK to sneak past it, forgetting the 2 metre rule.  […]

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Cruise Day 1: Seymour Norte

Getting going We had to be at the travel agent at 0900 for our pickup for the cruise.  We woke at 0700 and after packing and some muesli we got there by foot.  We realised on the way there that the white pickup trucks around town were taxis!  All this time we thought they belonged […]

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“No Pressure” day

With a cruise booked and confirmed, there was no pressure to do anything today.  Which was just as well, because the sky was grey and clouded over with drizzle. After a lazy start, we headed out to the Charles Darwin Centre.  In terms of living wildlife there, we saw the giant tortoises in adult and […]

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Securing a last minute cruise

Morning sightseeing We started our exploration of Galapagos by going to Tortuga Bay.  There was a choice of a 45 min walk or a short boatride; we chose the latter but would walk back after. The boat ride turned out to be a mistake.  We had to wait for the boat beyond the appointed departure […]

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Starting our Galapagos adventure

Today we fly to Galapagos, specifically Baltra (aka Santa Cruz), one of the two main airports which accept flights from mainland Ecuador. Departing Quito After breakfast our ride turned up at 0945 for the ride to the airport.  We arrived at 1030 for our 1347 flight.  We had heard about the lengthy procedures for Galapagos […]

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More of Quito

After breakfast we took Uber to TeleferiQo and then ascended by the cable car to the summit.  It was higher than Mount Cook in New Zealand and similar to Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia.  But here it was effortless in a cable car. Text continues after this gallery.     We took a short walk and […]

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Around Quito’s old town

I woke around 0300 in Quito (around 1000 Madrid) and dozed till 0530 when I thought I could use my time productively.  I did a few things on my to-do list that had been postponed for a few times before breakfast at 0800. We headed out at 0930 for a little wander before joining the […]

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Flying home

We had a day to kill before our flight to Auckland at 2310 tonight. We checked out at 1030 and had plenty of time till our appointment with my old school friends Joanne and Jeff at a Korean restaurant in Torrance. So we stopped by a Walmart along the way. Just as well we bought […]

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Exploration and shopping

Today, Kim took us to Venice Beach. It was new for Dai but not for me. We were very lucky with parking near the Venice Canals which was close enough to the beach. We had a nice walk in the perfect sunshine and stopped for coffee as well. From there, we drove northwards passing various […]

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Exploring LA

Today was our first of our three driving days in this sprawling city. Kim decided to take me and Daisuke somewhere we both hadn’t been to. And that would be the mission at San Juan Capistrano about an hour away. Dai and I went around the two main courtyards of the mission and several rooms […]

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