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Steve Holcroft
Steve, Lea, Brett + Beaulea's World Tour

Itinerary

Tuesday - 14 May 2002
Warrington , Cheshire - England

Summary

Briefly, we will be visiting the following countries (see below for more details):-

Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, USA



EUROPE: 13 Jun - 1 Aug

Leaving Home

The first stage of our trip is the drive to Dover. We stay overnight in a Travel Inn, so as to not rush the arrival at the Ferry the following day. We then take Motorail from Calais to Toulouse overnight, to break up our journey down to Javea in Spain. Our first week will be spent chilling (mentally, not physically, I hope!) and getting over the stress of planning and organising this venture.

Javea, Spain

My Cousin, Fred has a villa here in Javea. It's an ideal place for us to start our trip. A pleasant, convenient place to relax and prepare ourselves for the more unpredictable parts of the trip.

Le Serignan Plage, South of France

Campsite on the Mediteranean, western end of the south coast of France. Our first camping stop is at a very well equipped site. Should get the kids into the swing of things. We're going Anticlockwise around Europe, starting in Spain, so as to follow the warm weather. A few weeks in Spain, south of France, and Italy should take us into July and warmer weather as we move north into Switzerland and maybe Germany.



CHINA: 1 - 23 Aug

Long Haul

The first flight of our trip is the longest. A mega trip from London to Beijing, via Bangkok. I'm looking forward to seeing China, to sampling its completely different culture.

The Great Wall

Another one of those "Must see" destinations. Quite an expense but will be well worth it.



JAPAN: 23 - 30 Aug

Lea's special request, due to it being completely different from anywhere else in the world. OK, Tokyo is another big city, but Japan is unique. Booking accomodation here was far from easy. Hotel prices are astronomical (£150 for twin is cheap). So we booked a Ryokan - like our B+Bs. Still £70 a night for the four of us, squeezed into one small room and sleeping on the floor !

Tokyo

Checkout www.sawanoya.com for our accomodation in Tokyo. It's a tiny hostel, but its only £70 a night for the 4 of us and believe me that's a bargain. It's in the Shitamachi district - Brett can't believe he's allowed to say it ! They have a PC here for us to check email, so keep in touch.

Hiroshima

One of those places you really should go to if ever you're close enough - for obvious reasons. I know it's just another big city now, but such a historic place in World history. I'm hoping it will be a little cheaper here than Tokyo! Did you ever see a TV documentary a few years ago, where they took the pilots of Enola Gay - the plane that dropped the bomb - back to Hiroshima ? They introduced them to some doctors who had fortuitously been out of the city on the fateful day. At first, they didn't tell the Japanese who these Americans were. When they did, they cried a little but remained incredibly polite. Amazing.



HONG KONG: 30 Aug - 2 Sep

No trip to Asia would be complete without a stop in Hong Kong. It'll have to be brief, though, as it ain't cheap !


THAILAND: 2 - 25 Sep

The plan is to see Bangkok including a visit to some friends, then do some trekking and elephant riding, then go chill on an idyllic beach somewhere in the south.


VIETNAM: 25 Sep - 2 Oct

Don't mention the war ! People might think we're strange coming here, but in fact, it's an unspoilt country with a history far deeper than the one most of us know. Just beginning to cater to tourists, this country even has a chain of restaurants called "Apocalypse Now". Some sense of humour ! We'll be visiting Ho Chi Minh, which used to be Saigon, and maybe taking a tour in the Mekong Delta.


SINGAPORE: 2 - 10 Oct

A place that most people think of as a stop-off on a journey to Australia. There's plenty of interest and a rich history. So we've planned a week here before flying to Oz.


AUSTRALIA: 10 Oct - 1 Dec

We get here the day before Brett's Birthday ! We will start off in Melbourne and visit my Auntie Flo ! The Barrier Reef is our main target and we'll end up in Sydney before we leave. Don't know if we'll make it to Uluru (Ayer's Rock), as it's a long way from the coast and expensive for the 4 of us to get there.


NEW ZEALAND: 1 Dec - 11 Jan

Intro

Initially, we booked 2 weeks here. Then, we heard so much about the place, that we extended it to 6 ! That meant we would be here for Christmas, so we found a nice place in the Bay of Islands, in the North, and will be there for a couple of weeks rest over the festive season.

South Island

Bay of Islands - Christmas

We will be here from 21st Dec to 4th Jan. We intend to do very little, chill and go to the beach. Ha Ha Ha, the beach...on Christmas Day, Hee Hee Hee...Sorry ! If you'd like to send us a card, probably best to send it in the 1st week of December. Our address will be:- c/o Benwin Accomodation, PO Box 410, Paihia, Bay Of Islands, New Zealand. The owners can be contacted on E-mail: benwin@xtra.co.nz Phone: Evenings: +64 9 402 8652 Daytime: +64 9 402 8216

Check the place out at

http://www.bay-of-islands.co.nz/accomm/benwin.html



FIJI: 11 - 25 Jan

Idyllic, hopefully ! Accomodation here isn't as expensive as you'd expect. Getting here normally is, but, as we're passing !


HAWAII: 25 Jan - 8 Feb

It seemed daft not to go here really. Originally, we had planned to go to The Cook Islands. This may have proved very similar to Fiji, though, so we thought it made sense to do Hawaii instead. Lea wants to see Pearl Harbour and I'd like to see Mona Loa - the Biggest Mountain in the World (if you include the 17,000 feet of it that's under the sea!). I have a distant relative out here, living on kauaii (?)- should get some good local advice.


USA: 8 Feb - ?

The last leg of our journey. We arrive in LA and will meet up with Lea's sister Jill (plus Gary + Victoria) as it's her 40th and we would otherwise not see her. We could be here up to 3 months, but may have run out of money by this point and might have to come home after 3 weeks !


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