Our holiday was taken in September/October 1999 and was 12 months of planning, 8 weeks constantly on the move, 41000 k/m by Air, over 13000 k/m by road, and I don't know how many 100's of k/m on foot around the world. In fact, to call such a trip a "Holiday" really is laughable, as right from the start it was emphasised that this is a "Tour" not a "Holiday" and we found this to be very true.

This was to be our first (and probably our only one) trip to the Northern Hemisphere, we determined to pack as much into it as possible. We had booked an 11 day Coach tour of England, Scotland and Ireland, and as if this was not enough, we then did a 23 day tour through 9 countries in Europe. This busy schedule was garnished with a 12 days spent in London and a few little dips into the vast expanse of the United States.

We walked for days and seemed to spend forever climbing up and down stairs, in and out of trains and buses, walking around Cathedrals, exploring narrow streets in old cities, adjusting to strange beds and even stranger food and marveling at the never ending vistas and changing scenery.

We learned to accept the crowds in London and to navigate the intricacies of the London Transport system. We adjusted to wakeup calls at 6:30am and very long days driving in our comfortable coach and marveled at the ability of our drivers to maneuver their huge coaches into the most unlikely and impossibly narrow roads. We were amazed at roads that traveled for hundreds of kilometers through mountains and over valleys with total disregard for the terrain. We watched Kamikaze drivers in Paris, and tried to avoid the two million Motor scooters of Rome, all of whom seemed to be on the roads at once.

We returned to our childhood in Disneyland, climbed the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Tower Bridge in London, traveled up mountains to visit walled towns and fortified cities sometimes perched like eagles on sheer cliffs, and visited a working monastery in the clouds to hear a boys choir sing. We were openmouthed at huge cathedrals built 100's or 1000's of years ago, at the wealth and opulence in Monte Carlo where shops sold watch's, clothes and shoes at impossible prices.

We loved the old cities like Bath, Chester and York in England, the greenness and quaint villages of Ireland, the picturesque scenery of Tuscany in Italy, Provence in France and the beautiful chalets and mountains in the Austrian and Swiss Alps. We chased alligators, raccoons and 100's of birds in a Louisiana swamp, fed squirrels in Hyde Park and Baton Rouge, tried to avoid millions of Pigeons in Trafalgar Square, boated in Canals in Venice and Amsterdam, played on the cable cars in San Francisco and much, much more. On the minus side we were horrified at the large, smelly, dirty, noisy, overcrowded cities we visited and at the homeless that seemed everywhere.

After 44 hours without sleep at the end of our trip we returned tired and very pleased to be home. The overwhelming impression we were left with is that regardless of our political leaders best efforts to ruin New Zealand, it is still one of the better countries in the world in which to live.