Summary of our travels

We have had the most incredible three months travelling together and have loved every minute of our time away. We've tried to summarise below our views and favourites from our trip that has taken us around the world and back:

Carly's Top 3: Prediction & Actual:
1. Showing Edd Vietnam                1. Turtle Island
2. Drive between San Fran & LA    2. New Zealand Scenery
3. New Zealand scenery                 3. Vietnam
3.5. Turtle Island                             3.5. Holding a seahorse

Edd's Top 3: Prediction & Actual:
1. Sailing the Whitsunday Islands   1. Campervan in New Zealand
2. Campervan in New Zealand       2. Yosemite National Park
3. Halong Bay                                 3. Sailing the Whitsunday Islands
3.5. San Francisco                          3.5. Halong Bay

Favourite Country: New Zealand. We had other amazing days in other countries but the whole three weeks in New Zealand was amazing with the most perfect scenery imaginable.

Top experience: Turtle Island. A real gem and Carly's top moment of the moment. Borneo as a whole wasn't great but the 24 hours on turtle island was unforgettable.

Best Beach: Octopus Resort in Fiji. If you imagine paradise this is it! An incredible resort on the most beautiful beach in the world.

Favourite City: Melbourne for Edd, New York for Carly. If you like Food, Beer, Coffee and Sport then Melbourne is the place for you, we had a great time there. New York is such an interesting city, the view from the top of the Rock is amazing to look over it all. We don't think in all honesty that either come close to London!

Best Meal: Home Vietnamese Restaurant. An amazing meal on the last night of our stay in Vietnam. Incredibly delicious refined food in a stunning setting.

Best Food: The fresh oysters in Tasmania fresh from the farm were a huge highlight.

Biggest Surprise: How much we LOVED Yosemite & Tasmania. Yosemite was soo much more beautiful than expected, particularly as we were there with the beautiful colours of the fall.

Favourite Cuisine: Vietnamese. We would not have expected this before we left but the food was consistently great with lovely fresh clean flavours.

Little Gem: Akaroa. This beautiful French colony in New Zealand was one of the most beautiful places either of us have been too. The weather was incredible while we there too.

Favourite Tour: Pohatu Penguins in Akaroa. A great evening, family run tour, through their land with a few stop offs for stunning views over Akaroa.

Stunning Scenery: Tie between Glenorchy & Kaikoura Peninsula. Glenorchy is a small town down the road from Queenstown and the town itself isn't anything special but we went for a walk and had some of the most stunning views over a lake and mountains, there was no one else around, it felt very special. The Kaikoura Peninsula was again beautiful, we walked along the top of a cliff, if you looked one way the scenery was lamb filled green with snow capped mountains and the other way was turquoise sea with rocky shores. 

Worth the Detour: Tin Can Bay Dolphin Feeding. we got up at 6am and drove to what felt like the middle of no where and it was special because there was only 10/15 of us in the water with the Dolphins, the fact that they are totally wild makes it even more incredible. 

Best walking tour: Sydney City tour. The guide was very good, he was a student studying history and so knew an awful lot about Sydneys past. 

Random Extra: Tasmania Seahorse Centre. I LOVED this little tour it was such a weird little centre but so interesting and very cool to be able to hold a seahorse. 

Friendliest People: The whole of Fiji. They pride themselves on their good service and everything from the flight out with more beers than Edd could drink to the staff on the beach was perfect, beyond the call of service and with a smile.

Best Coffee: Brother Baba Budan in Melbourne. Just the best coffee of the trip in a tiny cafe in Melbourne on our first morning in the city.

Best sporting experience: Watching the Cubs win the final match in the World Series in a bar in New York with Mark & Jason. The bar tender was a lifelong cubs fan and was extremely emotional when they won. 

Favourite Transport: Jucy campervan. Edd just loved driving it, i think the best bit was being able to pull up on the side of the road with a stunning view and make a cup of tea.

Best Accommodation: Hotel in Fox Glacier for Carly's birthday. I could have stayed in that bath tub all day long! It was a really lovely hotel with a little fire place in the room and a huge comfy bed and a great restaurant attached. the view from our room was lovely and they had all the essential amenities like washing machine as well as extras such as an art gallery.

Best Bar: Dead Rabbit in New York.A really gorgeous, cosy warm pub, full to the ceiling of interesting photos and other bits and bobs. It had sawdust on the floor and a good selection of beers for the boys. The food was delicious.

Best Drive: Queenstown to Glenorchy. The drive is along the edge of a lake and its beautiful with snow capped mountains in the background.

Best Beer: New Zealand Olympic Pale Ale. A smooth texture which was incredibly easy to drink, fruity and full of flavour.

Favourite woodland walk: We had four favourites! Arthur's Pass to Devils Cradle Waterfall, Kaikoura Peninsula, Cradle Mountain and the walk around Lake Matheson. They were all beautiful walks through stunning wiggly trees and interesting greenery. 

Missed most:

• Family & Friends
• Our garden
• Central Heating
• Tea with Milk
• Duvets
• English Chocolate
• Flat Warm Ale (Harveys in particular)
• Curry
• Roast Dinners
• Vegetables
• Good public transport

Heathrow to Fletching

The flight from NYC to London was actually quite tough in terms of jet lag, we had a full day in NYC with Mark and set off early evening to arrive 6am(ish) but you only have 5 hours in the air so you end up with two full days and very little sleep in between. We landed and immediately noticed how cold it was, we were both so happy to be home and in our own country again but I have to say had I been a tourist arriving I wouldn't have been too impressed. 

The queue to get through passport was the slowest we've had and our luggage belt wasn't working so although Edd's bag was the one and only bag that got through we had a long wait for mine to finally appear. We got through declarations and found a quiet seat in arrivals to wait for my mum and dad to arrive. It gave us time to freshen up and I managed to find an anniversary card for tomorrow. 

Mum and dad finally arrived and mum called to say they were in the building, the next 5 minutes felt stupidly long but they finally come up in the lift with a lovely surprise of grandma in tow. It was just so so so lovely to see mum and dad and we set up camp in a pub for breakfast and a good catch up. It's weird because we've written this blog everyone already knows about what we've been up to so it gives us time to hear what others have been up to.

We had a couple of hours to wait for Hannah and Ben (they were landing from a holiday in Florida) and we were in position ready to surprise them from before they landed. We then had a painful hour of waiting whilst we watched every person come through! Hannah and Ben finally turned up and made it worth the wait!! Hannah reaction was absolutely brilliant and they were both really pleased to see us.

We had a drink with Han and Ben and more catch up. Before grabbing a taxi to take grandma home on the way down to Haywards Heath. By the time Colin picked us up we were both very tired but it was so so lovely to be home. 

Gillian cooked us a roast with lots of vegetables and it was delicious and just what we needed. By the time we had got through dinner Edd and I were exhausted and pretty much asleep at the table. We made it to 6.30pm before heading to bed for a 15 hour, well needed sleep!

Last day travelling! Highline, Central Park and flight to Heathrow

And so today was our 90th and final day travelling! We've had the most incredible three months and can't quite believe it's coming to an end. We're also super excited to be heading back to England to see all our friends and family.

We set our alarms earlier this morning to make the most of our final day and after packing up headed into the city. It was another beautiful fresh morning! Beautiful blue skies and the perfect way to see the city. The forecast for England is grey and drizzle!
We headed over to the highline walk which has been recommended by so many friends. The walk is an old disused railway track, the kind that sits above street level. It's been beautifully planted out and you get some stunning views of the city. Being autumn we were able to see the trees with their beautiful fall colours.

Our first stop on the walk was to grab some breakfast in the Chelsea Market. A really lovely converted building with a cool vibe. After coffees, croissants and pain au chocolates we were back on our way heading North on the highline. The views are really special and it was great to share with Wrigs on our last day.

After the highline we continued our wander North heading towards Central Park. We passed through the heart of theatre land and arrived at the south west corner of the park. Again it was absolutely beautiful with all the gorgeous fall colours against the backdrop of the perfect blue sky.

It's the New York Marathon tomorrow so we were able to wander the final section of the course which finishes in this part of central park. There were a lot of runners buzzing around and picking up their race packs etc for the big day!

We continued to head into the park and spent some time relaxing in the sun. We both love New York but if I have a criticism it's the real lack of green open spaces. Central Park is a lovely relief from all the concrete and it was a fitting way to finish our final morning.

Lunch was in a small local Italian and we all enjoyed simple but tasty Italian food. With time getting on we decided to head back towards the appartment and took our first subway! We've walked 20,000+ steps everyday in New York and relied on Uber's at night so it was amazingly our first trip on the subway! Manhattan is large but definitely walkable if you're happy to put the miles in, we've found it a great way to see the city.

We managed to find time to pick up a couple of souvenirs and one last craft beer tasting paddle. I've been feeling pretty run down the last few days so one paddle was enough and we were soon picking up out bags and ubering to the airport.

We left Mark to go and seek out more beers and we'll see him again back in London! He sent us some great pictures taking in the sunset on Brooklyn Bridge! Check in was relatively smooth although we again had to ask to have our seats moved next to each other.

A quick wander round the airport and a few plane snacks and we're good to go on the last leg of our incredible trip! We land at Heathrow on Sunday morning, just after 6am, to 3 degrees and cloudy with slight drizzle! I wouldn't have it any other way...

I hope anyone who's read any of the last three months blogs that you've enjoyed our thoughts and views. For anyone who's interested we're going to do a summary of the trip in the next few days to complete our little story. It's been a chore at times but hopefully a lovely personal reminder of our amazing time away!

Statue of Liberty, 9/11 Memorial & exploring Lower Manhattan

We've had such a great day again today in NYC. They finally managed to drag me unwillingly out of bed at about 9:30am, I'm really tired, we're walking a lot and staying up late so I'm not coping too well!

We set off south bound to explore Wall Street and see Statue of Liberty. It's great walking because you really get to see lots of the city. We walked passed the court house and through a little park. We missed Wall Street chatting and had to back up to walk down it. 

I think Mark was expecting more than just another business district street but it was busy with tourist and we got to walk past the Trump building. I was expecting so much more chaos around the election and his buildings but I wouldn't have really noticed it if no one had pointed it out.

We stopped off to sit in the sun and enjoy a coffee before heading to the dock for a ferry to Staten Island. The city provide a free ferry, I was so impressed I don't know why they don't charge. It's about a half hour journey over to Staten Island straight past the Statue of Liberty with an amazing view of Manhattan looking back over the water. We walked round all angles of the boat to see the views and then I had a few minutes inside to warm up before we arrived. 

It's so obvious who are tourist when you arrive because everyone gets off one ferry runs around the terminal end gets straight back on the next ferry to get the same journey back. I'm not sure if Staten Island is worth a visit but we had bigger priorities so we didn't stop long enough to even get out the ferry terminal. The journey home was quicker which was nice as the ferry didn't have outside decks and we could get shots of the view as well as we had on the way over.

Jason, the boys' friend from football who we had spent our first night in NYC with watching the baseball, had given us a pub tip. It had won the best bar in the world 2016  and to be honest it deserved its title. We couldn't find a seat on any of the three different floors but found a spot sat up at the bar for lunch. 

The boys found a few beers they haven't ticked off yet and I was over the moon with the menu. It was such a lovely cosy and warm bar, I had the most amazing chicken pot pie with mash and the boys had pork sliders and the other half of my pie. We could have sat there all day if we didn't have important touristing to do!

We finally left the warmth and comfort of the bar and wandered the streets up to ground zero and the 911 memorial. I had no idea what to expect but knew I want to see it. The memorial is two big, square, open wholes with water that runs into it from all angles. Around the edge are the names of almost 3000 people that died that day, the memorial add white roses to the names of any person who's birthday it would have been that day so there is the odd rose dotted around too which really highlights that these were all people.

I don't think I had prepared myself for what I was going to see in the museum, I think I was expecting lots of facts but hadn't considered the human and emotional side of what I was going to learn. We queued to get in and as we waited I said to Mark that I would be interesting to be reminded of what happened, I was 13 at the time and haven't really seen much since then about the towers going down. The first part of the museum was mainly about the building, the construction and the design of the buildings.

The first part of the museum had a bit of a weird layout as I wasn't really sure which way to go, I soon lost the boys and wandered around trying to work out if I was missing bit of if that was it. I found myself in a room with the faces of everyone that lost their life that day, you could look at a persons profile and it told you who they were, where they were on 911 and how old they were when they died. It suddenly hit home how it must have affected everyone in NYC and beyond so much.

One lady only worked a few days a week but had come in to cover a colleague who was off sick. There were so many of these sorts of stories.

I over heard a woman doing a tour who explained the structure of the building and how it collapsed, the interesting bit for me was that 99% of people in the second town survived if they were below the crash where the crash hit. The only saving grace from the day was that all this happened at 8:45am and Americans don't normally start work until 9/9:30 so actually there was an estimated 15,000 people in the building rather than 50,000 there would have been had it been mid morning.

We finally realised that the main exhibition was in the centre of the room and Edd and I joined the queue to get in. We found Mark just before we went in which was good so we could all start together. The centre bit was extremely well done and full of videos, interviews, artefacts and there was a big time line that went along one wall as the day progressed which was really interesting to read.

It started with photos of the twin towers that normal, beautifully clear day and continued through the day with recordings from the air hostess to ground control and the discussions that were had between emergency departments. Originally the first plane was thought to be an accident. For me the most harrowing part was listening to the phone calls from people on the plane that crashed in a field, those people were absolute heros, by the time their plane went down they knew what was happening and went down fighting.

We heard accounts from people on all different levels of the buildings, some from north tower and many from south who had been told to stay in their building as it wasn't safe to leave.

It was interesting and extremely sad to realise that it wasn't like more disasters, there weren't many survivors, once the towers came down that was it, the rescue team worked stupidly hard to try and find people but in total only 18 people were found.

There was a big section on how the terrorist had planned everything and it explained that they had all been to flight training in America. It showed videos of the men going through security and being searched the morning of 911 but in those days you were allowed a knife as long as the blade was no more than 4 inches.

There was so much information and so many interviews and recordings and stories, I cried through a lot of the exhibition and just couldn't believe what people went through. I totally lost Edd and Mark and was exhausted with emotion and concentration by the time I got a call from them to say they were waiting for me outside. I rushed through the last bit to catch up but to be honest I was so tired that I was happy to leave. There were still a few more rooms about how people coped afterwards and the memorials that have been put up in memory of everyone that day.

I found the boys in the pub and we talked for a while about where we had been on 911 and the exhibition and all the stories. The pub was on the edge of ground zero and had badges of all the police departments from around the country pinned to the bar.

We were keen to see NYC by night and get a view of the water with the lights so we found a rooftop bar. The drinks list wasn't quite the varied craft beers the boys have got used to so they both had a glass of wine and we sat overlooking the city and the water. It was pretty cold and I was very happy when the drinks were finished and we could move on to the next place. We got an uber back to near ours and found a bar with a long list of unique beers and a real good food menu too.

The boys had a couple of flights and I got to choose some of their beers for them, I reckon I'm now quite the expert on beers considering I don't drink! The food was delicious but it wasn't long before I was desperate for bed. They want me up at 8am tomorrow so I need to get some sleep. It's now 11:45 already, I have no idea where today has gone but it's been really brilliant.