Mike and Sarah - Michael Courtney & Sarah Ellison | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 1 Comment(s) | 48 Photo(s) | 1 Video(s) | [diary=319348] | 2008-09-04 11:47:47
 Mike and Sarah | Michael Courtney & Sarah Ellison | Travel Blog |
Mike and Sarah - Michael Courtney & Sarah Ellison
In September 2007, we came across this fabulous travel site and began our travel blog. We were not only new to the whole blogging phenomenon, but also backpacking & each other. We left Belfast and embarked on an epic journey (for us!) through Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Costa Rica, the United States and Canada. Our trip has evolved from our original itinery to include countries and even continents we hadn’t envisaged. Only after listening to some of the other travellers we have met along the road. Thank you to you all for your ideas, it has been amazing!We set out with some basic rules for our trip together, but not too many!
1. No Bed bugs
2. Live for today & not tomorrow
The rest of the rules didn't count!! These have stood us well. We have travelled with an open mind, which has lead to many incredible experiences. Now we are on the "homerun!!" and though our itchy feet have had some scratching, we think travelling has made us even more excited to see more of this wonderful world with each other side by side. This is our story, so we hope you enjoy travelling the world with us by proxy!
As for what lies ahead, only those of you who we love will know those answers. For everyone else, watch this space!!
Michael & Sarah xx
(We still seem to debate whether it should be “Sarah and Mike” or “Mike and Sarah” - all votes cast will be counted and verified!!!!)
Joined on: August 23rd 2007
Last Login: September 5th 2008
Blog Entries: 91
Photos: 2183
Recommended by 9, Recommends 23
Last Login: September 5th 2008
Blog Entries: 91
Photos: 2183
Recommended by 9, Recommends 23
Status: BLOGGER
Blogs & Travel Journals
by Mike-and-Sarah, order by Date newest first.By Mike and Sarah
September 3rd 2008
September 3rd 2008
Day 327 to 335, Golden Memories of San Francisco
North America » United States » California » San Francisco
So here’s the deal, we’ve made a list of things we wanted to tell you in this entry about San Francisco, our last American city on this trip. It ended up being sixteen “points of interest,” (normally there are around eight) so not only has San Francisco been another fabulous time in our travelling lives, but we have so much to share with you. Now, do we let this become one of those mammoth entries that takes you a while to read or keep it short and sweet!? (We do understand some of you have lots of “internet research time [View Full Entry]
By Mike and Sarah
August 3rd 2008
August 3rd 2008
Days 319 - 326, Vancouver's Vagabonds & a gem of an Island.
North America » Canada » British Columbia » Vancouver
Our welcome to British Columbia came from beautiful Vancouver Island, a short hop on the ferry from Horseshoe Bay on the mainland. The island gave us not only great views but also a very friendly welcome. We want to share with you a few of our highlights from the island and Vancouver city, our reasons to enjoy this wonderful part of the world. ON THE ISLAND: Tofino & Whale Watching We drove to Tofino, arriving at dusk we quickly realised why this is a top place to visit if you are on the island. It is surrounded by islands and lush [View Full Entry]
Mike and Sarah - Michael Courtney & Sarah Ellison | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 3 Comment(s) | 24 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=305434] | 2008-08-04 07:09:52
By Mike and Sarah
July 28th 2008
July 28th 2008
Days 313 to 318 - There's bears in them there hills!!
North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff
What do you think about when you imagine Canada? For us it is mountains, rivers, bears & maple leaves! Well coming to Jasper and Banff National Parks certainly ticked all the boxes on our ideas of what Canada is like. Known as the Rockies, they stretch over Alberta and British Columbia. To see them properly we decided to rent a car from Calgary and drive to the nearest mountain resort of Banff a two hour drive. Staying in Banff overnight before heading up to Jasper, the furthest point on our trip. We took a full day to drive the 350kms, stopping [View Full Entry]
Mike and Sarah - Michael Courtney & Sarah Ellison | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 4 Comment(s) | 35 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=305406] | 2008-07-28 07:48:08
By Mike and Sarah
July 23rd 2008
July 23rd 2008
Yahoo! It’s cowboys! (And Cowgirls, yeeha!)
North America » Canada » Alberta » Calgary
“The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth” Known as the Calgary Stampede is simply an excuse for cowboys to have a great party! Nine days in July, it culminates in $1.8 million prize money being given away for the best cowboys in various disciplines. Of course it is also a great opportunity for the people of Alberta and Calgary in particular to show off their own brand of ‘something special.’ We are now recovering from our week of non stop partying and look back at our time filled with lots of Yahoo’s, Yeeha’s, dancing, laughing and meeting some [View Full Entry]
Mike and Sarah - Michael Courtney & Sarah Ellison | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 1 Comment(s) | 34 Photo(s) | 1 Video(s) | [diary=300770] | 2008-07-24 08:07:54
By Mike and Sarah
July 20th 2008
July 20th 2008
Night 306, New York in a Night!
North America » United States » New York » New York
And what a night it was!!! Leaving mum, Carolyn & Josh at Washington DC airport for their flight back to Dublin, we had to take the Dodge V8 monster car back to Toronto. My plan has always been to visit New York with friends to enjoy all the girlie things I'd love like the "Sex & the City" tour & cocktails!! Plus, I'd have a good budget instead of being in backpacker mode! However being so close (only a five hour drive) I'd told Mike how much I'd love to see the Statue of Liberty, so he planned the route down [View Full Entry]
Mike and Sarah - Michael Courtney & Sarah Ellison | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 2 Comment(s) | 11 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=297740] | 2008-07-20 01:07:40
By Mike and Sarah
July 17th 2008
July 17th 2008
Days 299 to 306, Celebrating 4th July with Uncle Sam in DC
North America » United States » District of Columbia » Washington
It’s hard to know where to start with this entry for Washington DC. We seem to have done so much in this understated US capital city. We arrived pretty fresh, considering the long drive from Niagara, across the unfriendly, lengthy checkpoint at the Canada/US border crossing. Leaving Llanore, Carolyn & Josh at their hotel, we went to check in at ours, a ten minute walk away. Not for the first time on this trip, we arrived to find that the hotel didn’t have our reservation. We had used vipbackpackers.com to reserve a room a few months prior and, despite our confirmation [View Full Entry]
Mike and Sarah - Michael Courtney & Sarah Ellison | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 44 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=297738] | 2008-07-18 01:29:12
By Mike and Sarah
July 10th 2008
July 10th 2008
Days 291 - 298, Viagra Lifts…….Niagara Falls!! (& Toronto)
North America » Canada » Ontario » Niagara Falls
A very special meeting was taking place in Toronto! My mum, sister & nephew were coming across from Belfast to spend some time with us in Canada & the United States. I was very excited to be seeing my family after ten months of travelling. After a short wait at arrivals, the three of them came through the shiny white doors of the gate at terminal one in Toronto International Airport and a pack of wild horses couldn’t hold me back. Hugs from your mum truly are priceless! Travel to the airport for Mike & I involved getting two trams, two [View Full Entry]
Mike and Sarah - Michael Courtney & Sarah Ellison | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 2 Comment(s) | 31 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=297736] | 2008-07-10 03:13:53
By Mike and Sarah
July 2nd 2008
July 2nd 2008
Days 288 - 290 Taste of Chicago......doh, too early!
North America » United States » Illinois » Chicago
Well, we had zero preconceptions about Chicago! The reality of why we ended up in the windy city was because the flight from Dallas to Chicago was much cheaper than the one to Toronto, so we decided to stopover for a couple of days and then get the bus to Toronto to meet my mum. On arrival in Chicago we had a mini-drama when one of our bags wasn't delivered on the same flight. We were told it would arrive on the next flight so we decided to wait for it. Once all was in order, we took the train to [View Full Entry]
Mike and Sarah - Michael Courtney & Sarah Ellison | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 1 Comment(s) | 30 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=292561] | 2008-07-02 04:31:28
By Mike and Sarah
June 27th 2008
June 27th 2008
Days 286 to 290, Howdy from Texas, the Lone Star State!!
North America » United States » Texas » Austin
The Alamo
One of the only 2 remaining buildings, you can see the Texan flag flying on the left of this picture
Mike and Sarah - Michael Courtney & Sarah Ellison | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 30 Photo(s) | 1 Video(s) | [diary=290557] | 2008-06-28 00:56:23
By Mike and Sarah
June 22nd 2008
June 22nd 2008
Day 285 Getting the VIP treatment from Universal Studios Hollywood!
North America » United States » California » Los Angeles » Hollywood
The home of the biggest filming studio in the world and a designated city in it’s own right, complete with Mayor (Bill Cosby), hospital, post office and zip code, Universal is quite unique. As we shared with you in our Los Angeles blog we had decided to see the studios in style with a VIP Experience pass. This involves a guided tour throughout the theme park and studios to include access to a VIP lounge, lunch, a walk around on the sets of movies, access to the prop department and bypassing all queues for rides. We started our day with coffee [View Full Entry]
Mike and Sarah - Michael Courtney & Sarah Ellison | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 2 Comment(s) | 37 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=288524] | 2008-06-25 15:46:38