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October 5, 1997 -
December 5, 1997

USA

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This was my (Vic) first ever journey overseas. A two month stopover in the USA as my friend Cath enjoyed the sights of Bangkok, Thailand before we met up in London in December, 1997.

I did a circuit around the USA by Amtrak train - a journey which I would highly recommend

My choice of the USA as my first overseas destination was easy. Being a film lover I felt that I knew this country without ever having been there. The highways of Los Angeles, the skyline of Manhattan, the music of Memphis and the food of New Orleans - all felt so familiar, yet the experience always thrilled me.

Easter 1998

Paris, France

My (Vic) first trip to Paris was so memorable. It is a truly beautiful city and my experience was heightened by all the things that you imagine - walking along the Seine under the Eiffel Tower and then finding a bistro and eating snails washed down by red wine.

August 1998

Europe (Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Greece)

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This was Cath's and Vic's first big European journey. After enduring the nightbus to Amsterdam (the grimmest journey of my life), we made our way down through Switzerland to Italy. Here we spent three works travelling through the country (our main stops were Milan, Florence, Siena, Rome, Naples, Martin Franca - where we were fed admirably by our friend Pino's mother - and up to Venice).

From here we headed to Austria (eating a lot of Omlettes in Vienna) and across to Eatern Europe. First stop was Hungary and then up through the Czech Republic to Poland. In Poland we discovered the warmth of the Polish people (Christina, the woman who helped us at 5:00am at Krakov train station when we'd arrived on a scary overnight train stands out). We also journeyed to Auschwitz which was incredibly moving (again helped by two elderly gentlemen who ensured we got the right bus back to the station as well as walking us to the correct platform. We then made our way to Warsaw, where as we got off the train we were hugged by our friend Sandra's mother, who took us to Sandra's sister and husband's flat which was used as a base to explore Warsaw.

From here, Cath returned to London to explore Scotland with her visiting sister, Liz while I headed back to Prague and met up with Banz. We explored Prague, got the train to Budapest via Vienna and then onto Romania. Romania (particularly Transylvania) was incredible and I can't wait to return to see more. After all our travelling, we relaxed with a week's r'n'r on the Greek island of Paros before flying back to London and work.

See our Top 5 places for more.

December 1998

Dublin, Ireland

Dublin in December is a chilly prospect but the people and bars are always warm. On the first night there we went to see a play called 'At Swim Two Birds' by one of Ireland's more surreal writers, Flann O'Brien. The play features stories within stories, all intertwined and escalating and provided us with a great start to the trip.

We also took in the Guinness factory and had a chance to see how the black stuff has been made and advertised over the years and also got to sample the wares. It's a cliche to say the Guinness tastes better in Ireland but I certainly drank more of it there than I ever did back in England.

I think the highlight of a very enjoyable weekend away was the 'Literary Pub Crawl' on the Saturday night. A couple of actors met the group in the upstairs of a pub. Over the next few hours we were guided round Dublin and shown the pubs and places where Dublin's literatti hung out. We were also regaled with anecdotes, had scenes from the mentioned author's works played out for us and it all ended with a quiz where Vic won a (miniature) bottle of whiskey. Highly recommended.

Februay 1999

Australia

This was my first trip to Australia and only Victoria's second so I wasn't far behind her. Somehow she seemed to know more about the Brisbane area so I can only guess she made better use of the Rough Guide on the way over.

This was my first chance to meet the future in-laws and embarrass myself with girlie shrieks as I discovered my shoes contained lizards.

Vic's brother is a miner in central Queensland which is about two inches on the map and 13 hours by car from Brisbane. The roads were nice and straight and the beer cold on our arrival. I did get tangled up in some late night rum drinking which meant I couldn't play golf the next day - although I did get to find out what Tiger Woods' golf ball feels like.

On the way back we stopped at Great Keppel Island which is on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef. I had only ever seen fish on TV and in the chip shop so it was a real thrill to snorkel over the reef and see fish both large and small as well as some amazing coral structures. Our enjoyment was somewhat tainted by a certain Spielberg movie so we spent a fair amount of time looking over our shoulders and wondering whether we could out swim any hostile members of Queensland's sea-dwelling community.

Easter 1999

Ireland

This was a fantastic week where Vic, Cath and their friends Jeni and Michael hired a car and did the circumference of Ireland, starting and finishing in Dublin.

From reciting poems in a pub in Doolin (Cath and Vic's version of "I Love a Sunburnt Country" is particularly memorable), to long nights in the pub in Belfast and Dublin, you can kind of see where we spent the majority of our time.

Also particularly memorable was the beautiful countryside - especially on the Aran Islands.

May 1999

Paris, France

The city of romance and the place where, naturally, I popped the question. I was lucky enough to get the nod down by the Seine.

That memory will take some beating but we had a great time for the entire weekend; whether it was The Eiffel Tower, the Moulin Rouge or catching 'Dr Strangelove' in an arthouse cinema.

August 1999

Europe (Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Spain)

Cath and Vic's second European adventure started better than the first. We discovered Easyjet and were able to get flights to Amsterdam for less than the bus fare - quite a heartbreaking discovery with memories of the previous year's journey still fresh in our minds.

From there we headed to Belgium and were able to spend some time with our friend Nele who we'd met the previous year in Italy. Some easy relaxation there and we then headed to Germany. We found Germany particularly unfriendly and very expensive so after checking out Berlin (interesting), Munich (tourist tacky) and Freiburg (beautiful, but miserable people) we decided to head to France.

Coming to France was a really good decision - everything was cheaper than Germany, the people were friendly and even the weather better. We travelled to Paris and then headed south to Bordeaux and then across to Nice (and Monaco). After a couple of weeks there we headed off to Spain to enjoy the even cheaper food and wine stopping off in Barcelona, Granada, Seville before making our way back to Madrid for the flight back.