Our Island Home

Sao Paulo, Brazil. 20 million people in the metropolitan area; the second largest city in Latin America. This was our first stop in South America. And what a change from London it was. Sao Paulo, Luz I found the transition very strange and was really glad we had chosen to stay with a local Paulistan through air bnb for the week. Luiz was around our age, spoke perfect English, loved a beer and a chat and helped us to settle into the busy pace quickly. Plus he had a really cute kitten. Cute but also evil (we have the scratches to prove it). Charlie, the cutest evil cat on the planet Sao Paulo is not really a tourist destination, but the working hub of Brazil. However, it is the BEST place to find delicious food, so we decided to embark on a food tour of Sao Paulo. They have the biggest population of Japanese outside of Japan, so we over-dosed on cheap sushi while we were there. Sushiiii and Caipirinha Sao Paulo, Fresh food markets The meals in Br...

So it's Brad again, just when you thought I´d had enough of the blog and had given up I am back to summarise our driving adventures in Europe! Western Europe Statistics (who says Engineers are detail oriented?!) Time Taken - 3 months & 1 week around Ireland Distance Travelled - 15,962kms and approximately 1,200kms around Ireland Speeding fines - none so far Scratches on car - 1 (contrary to previous posts, I think Kath was driving when it appeared!) Cathedrals visited - too many Most Expensive - Zurich Switzerland (although Venice was the most overpriced!) Cheapest - Tavira, Portugal (10 euros for more fresh seafood than you can eat and a couple of beers!) Most interesting place to visit - Schemp hirth glider factory (Kath begs to differ) Best food - Proscuitto, fresh mozzarella, fresh bread followed by a pizza and of course some wine in Rome Cheapest diesel - Luxembourg Best Beer - the kind that comes with free tapas in Southern S...

It was beginning to look at lot like Christmas in the UK when we finally returned. Obviously Christmas means winter time over there and this signalled our last few weeks in Europe and the UK. There was no way we were waiting around to see how cold it gets there, no offence! Plus, I was beginning to think about spending precious budget money on some nice winter clothes; my north face jacket and one remaining glove just were not cutting it in the London fashion stakes. My Beefeater tour of the London Tower We spent a lot of quality time in London with Tom and Fausta, touring the city in the day while they were at work and having lovely dinners together in their warm Muswell Hill apartment at night. They put up with us: living rent-free in their spare room, doing our washing every other week, forcing them to watch horrible 3D movies starring Sandra Bullock and leaving our bags while we visited other places. Most importantly, they allowed us to use their wifi to download ...