6 days and 4 countries!

Wow! Even for us, this has been a hectic week! A couple of days in Dublin, a long night in Madrid, a VERY rainy day in Helsinki, Finland and now, in Hong Kong! Too many planes, too much sitting, not enough time!

We knew when we changed our schedule to leave Canada much later in September than we originally planned, that our stops in Europe would be not much more than a fleeting glimpse, but we are glad that we did not leave out Dublin entirely.

The stops that we were forced to omit, ( Croatia in particular!) we have already made plans to visit on the next ticket. And now we will definitely add one more....Dublin! It is not that we were so taken with the city...it seemed very interesting and well worth more time than we gave it, don't get me wrong....but it was the wonderful people that we had only a day with, that will make us come back in the summer of 2005. Betty, Mark, Lorraine and Robert and the boys.....it was so great to meet you at last after hearing so much of you from Jim and Pauline these past years .....and thank you so much for your hospitality! We are DEFINITELY returning!

For the rest of you, we spent a very full Saturday walking around downtown Dublin..... Trinity College, across the bridge over the Liffey River, a pub (of course), lunch at the Gresham Hotel,  and then dinner with Lorraine and family and another pub (of course)! Time flew by so quickly! I do know that amazing things will happen now though......I remember all the times my grandmother said "when pigs fly!" and having seen a huge statue of one with wings outside Dublin airport I can only wait to see what comes!

It was our first time flying with AerLingus and Finnair and we have nothing much to report...not awful, not at all, but nothing great either..... On Finnair we were served what we can only assume was typical Finnish fare..not sure what it was...think I recognized cabbage and it was sour...ummmm?? A small point for fellow travellers, Dublin is one of those airports that charges a coin for the carts at luggage pickup. Difficult for those of us from places outside the EU who may have changed some money before landing but wouldn't have the 1 Euro coin. You get it back when you return the cart but that doesn't help much! Madrid airport has the carts for free. Just a small thing that people really notice when they travel a lot.

We are now in Hong Kong, having arrived late last night. Bought a 1 hour internet card for wireless in the room and so can send this posting to the blog. What an easy way to get a note to you all!

Marney, you would be so proud of us! For the rest of you, that means that Jim (and me too) is sticking to the diet and doctors orders! No bread, no potatoes, no rice this morning for breakfast....eggs and bacon! okay, a couple of small dim sum (pasta) but sooooo small....and one little mooncake! (they only make it for the full moon and one does not want to offend the local customs! )This is not going to be so easy to do until we land in New Zealand but we are at least making the effort.

Off to the markets now and will not get back to you for a couple of days until we are settled in Ubud, Bali. Have made the tough decision not to buy a camera OR a new laptop (Whaaaaaaa) so will just roam the streets, head for the markets later and see what we find for gifts or things we just HAVE to have!  Just a reminder, if any of you have thought of software you want , you will have to email us soon.....Bangkok is the place for that!

Take care of yourselves and keep checking here for the latest updates as we will not be letting you know each time we post.  You can click on 'comments' on the blog (if you want the world to know your thoughts!?) or drop us an email with your news, thoughts or wishlists.

lots of luv

J and J

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