Here it is, our very last video diary.

Not only does it have a clip of me on horseback (unawares), it also shows more of the estancia in San Antonio de Areco, some truly fabulous tango dancing, and clips from the Carnival in Gualeguaychu!
Irresistible!

Check it out on YouTube, or simply watch it below:

PS: We’re home! So happy!! So tired…

Let’s talk about exciting, shall we?

* In the last week, Mark and I have stayed at the lovely Casa Sur Hotel in Recoleta, and visited the somewhat-crazy Recoleta Cemetery (check out these insane mausoleums – beautiful and a bit creepy).

*We’ve travelled to Gualeguaychu (3 hours each way, at 5pm and 3am!) for the Carnaval, Argentina’s largest carnival and an impersonation of Rio Carnival (which we’ll be missing, alas).
It was incredible – such excitement and passion and energy in the air! I’ve never experienced anything like it. Check out our very abbreviated Best Moment (the battery died) and Mark’s pics – ooh la la!

* We stayed at the pretty amazing Faena Hotel and Universe, in Puerto Madero (also in Buenos Aires), where we watched a breathtaking tango show (truly – it took my breath away). Here are another couple of pics, and a moment – see them tango in action!

* And THEN, as if that wasn’t excitement enough, we find ourselves at the simply stunning Jardin Escondido, Francis Ford Coppola’s very own villa, and recently voted one of Tatler’s 101 Best Hotels in the World.
Wow.

* Tonight, we’re eating at the Faena Bistro, with a chef who trained and worked with Ferran Adria at El Bulli, for seven years.
Next week, it’s back to the real world.

But the excitement is not quite over!

Seriously.

Yesterday we flew in a HELICOPTER over Iguassu Falls!!

It was incredible.

Thrilling.

Awe-inspiring.

Without doubt, the ten most exhilarating minutes of my life.
And a Dream. Come. True.

I have ALWAYS wanted to fly in a helicopter, and it didn’t disappoint!

Here’s the Best Moment of the Day we recorded as soon as we landed (we weren’t allowed cell phones in the helicopter, but I took some amazing video footage – well, I think it was amazing. I’ll let you know soon once I’ve had a chance to look at it properly!)

Also check out the Iguassu Falls I keep talking about, and take a look at the charming town of Paraty we spent a few days in last week.
Most excitingly, though, is the fact that I flew in a HELICOPTER! You can see so much from up there, it really is the closest thing I’ve ever felt to flying….
Wow. Still kind of in a suspended state of disbelief.

Alas, sad news.

We realised last week, in a flurry of addition, that South America is about three times as expensive as South-East Asia, so our budget isn’t going to last as long as we’d hoped. In fact, it looks as if we’ll be heading home to South Africa in about a month.

At first, I was really disappointed. We’re in Brazil at the moment, heading to Argentina next, but we’re going to have to miss out Peru and Ecuador, and I’m not going to be able to see my dear friend who’s working in Ecuador at the moment. We’re also not going to be able to stay the full length of time, which is such a shame.

But in the same breath, I have to say that both Mark and I feel so LUCKY to have been able to have this opportunity: to travel together, to discover so much about travelling with diabetes, and to have had so many extraordinary experiences.

As if to prove this point, we spent 22 hours on a bus yesterday to bring us to Iguazu Falls, the most extraordinary waterfalls you can imagine – 275 individual waterfalls all in the same area. It’s mindblowing. Amazing. I’m going to take some video tomorrow to show you how incredible it is… And we’re staying at the simply wonderful Hotel das Cataratas, which is inside the National Park and a TWO MINUTE walk away from the Falls.

So really, who am I to complain if we have to come home a little early? We’re feeling like the luckiest people in the world right now.

Here’s hoping this is an extremely lucky week for you too!

Some of the best, in fact:

First of all, we saw the sun rise over Cape Town, as we were about to catch our plane (at 6am, yawn!)

Then we visited the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro… Wow.

Caught some amazing views on top of Sugar Loaf Mountain in Rio…

And finally, my favourite, we discovered a slice of Brazilian forest heaven in the mountains near Petropolis. Take a look:

And finally, in case you’ve been curious about the amazing hotels we review for Just the Planet, we’ve started a new kind of video – Luxury Hotel Moments.
Here’s one from Copacabana Palace, the fabulous hotel we stayed at in Rio:

And click through to this one from the lovely Green Bridge House.
All in all, a pretty special week, I’m sure you’ll agree!

I know I’ve been a little slack with the blogging lately, but there’s been so much going on (i.e. our ENGAGEMENT! Which I still can’t quite believe!)

We’ve also been out of internet contact for the last 2 weeks or so… So to catch you up on everything I’m going to give a quick run-down with links to our Best Moments from all over so you can see what we’ve been up to:
Two weeks or so ago, we headed to the island of Lombok, below Bali, for a couple of heavenly days by the black sand beach (crazy – black volcanic sand!)

Then we went to the Gili Islands for three days of decadent beachside lazing about… And diving. Incredible diving! Extraordinary coral and marine life, really like diving in a gigantic aquarium. And I saw my first giant turtle! Wow.

From Gili Air we headed to Amed, where we spent Christmas (and got engaged! Did I mention that? Is it getting annoying yet?)

Amed is a charming little fishing village, very un-touristy, where we spent five nights and had a whole heap of lovely experiences – We went diving around a shipwreck (wow! unbelievable) and I did my first drift dives (very exciting, past the most amazing coral pyramids and over a coral wall into vast blue nothingness);
We swam with a turtle on Christmas Day (it was my Christmas wish – giant turtles are simply amazing in real life and when we went out to snorkel I told Mark all I wanted for Christmas was to swim with a turtle. And we did! He found one and we swam wit it for twenty miraculous minutes);
We indulged in a Balinese feast, with all kinds of traditional dishes and bamboo wreaths that signify ‘forever love’ (a mere two days before our engagement – it obviously worked);
We hired a motorbike for a day and drove past some incredible views and vistas – the real Bali as far as I’m concerned;
We visited the Royal Water Palace and swam in cold spring water baths built for the king (cold water! A rare thing in these parts);
And then….

We flew to Jakarta (yesterday afternoon) and decided to splurge on a nice hotel to properly celebrate our engagement and ring in the New Year in style. And what style it was! A gala dinner with TURKEY (heaven heaven heaven! We didn’t get any for Christmas and I was so sad) and piles of delicious food with… An Indonesian Beatles cover band! They were amazing. Check them out. Seriously cool.

If you’re looking for some more in-depth footage of all we’ve seen (rice paddies, beaches, islands, me in a wetsuit and some incredible views) as well as how the last two weeks have been for both of us, check out our latest video diary, live on YouTube here.

And now it’s 2010! And we’re flying out of Indonesia tonight (at midnight) and heading home for 3 days to refuel on fresh insulin (which I desperately need – my night-time insulin hasn’t worked properly the last two nights) and then we’re off to South America! So when next we speak I’ll be saying ‘Hola!’

Till then – HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Remember our Take Heart Campaign?

It’s part of our Round-the-World Travelling with Diabetes journey, and essentially what it is is a wee bit of inspiration for all of us… Obviously my chronic condition is diabetes, because that’s what we’ve had to live with, but what we want to say is that no matter what your condition -  whether it’s something emotional or mental or physical – no matter what’s holding you back, you can take heart in the fact that it is possible to follow your dreams.

As an illustration of this, we’ve had a handmade heart made in every country we’ve visited. The end of Vietnam was such a whirlwind that I didn’t have a chance to post our Take Heart Vietnam video, but here it is now:

And then here’s the one from Indonesia:

Which do you prefer? (I love them both – you know how I feel about hearts!!)

So today, 15 December 2009, marks our halfway point in the trip: we’ve been away three and a half months, we have three and a half months to go.
Yes, alas, although we intended to be away for 9 months, it turns out travelling around the world is more expensive than we’d anticipated! So we’ve had to change our 9 months into 7 months, returning home at the beginning of April 2010. I’m sure in some ways it will turn out to for the best – perhaps it was slightly insane to plan our return date for one week before the World Cup begins, when the whole country will be turned upside down!

I thought it fitting, at this halfway point, to reflect on what it is we’ve learnt so far… Here are some thoughts:

• Travelling is a great teacher. I had no idea I had so much to learn – about myself, about our relationship, about life in general, until I was whisked out of my comfort zone and into completely unfamiliar surroundings.
• A place is made more beautiful if you stay somewhere beautiful. Or, at least, somewhere quite beautiful. We made the decision early on to choose comfort over budget, and it was a really wise one, I think. The times we’ve stayed in really stunning luxury accommodation have been amongst the highlights of our trip so far – where you stay, it turns out, makes a huge difference to how much you enjoy staying there.
• Mark and I make a great team. I always knew this, but in the last couple of months it’s really been put to the test. Travelling with someone 24/7 really shows you their real character, you get to see them tired, grumpy, hungry, sick, worn-out and irritable. And if you still love them after all that, that’s saying something!
• We’re tougher than I thought. Apart from the last week of bad health, Mark and I have hardly been sick at all, despite strange food, strange beds, strange transport and strange weather. It turns out we’re tougher than I thought we would be… It’s amazing how adaptable the human body is.
• There are many forms of transport. Before this trip I’d done a bus, car, bike, scooter and boat. Now I’ve done a becak (bicycle rickshaw), horse-drawn cart, bemo (open-sided minibus), ferry, train and moto (motorbike taxi) – and that’s only in the last week!
• Control isn’t always necessary. This is my hardest lesson, I really like being able to have things as much in control as possible. But you learn, when it’s late afternoon and you don’t know where you’re sleeping that night, and you have to move on tomorrow but you’re not sure how, and there’s no way of finding anything recognizable for dinner, that sometimes you just have to release control. And it is a rather lovely feeling, in fact.
• Going slow is key. To rush around while travelling takes all the joy out of it. You don’t get to experience anything or relax anywhere or have any authentic interactions with people. The slower the better, as far as I’m concerned (and don’t ever only spend one night somewhere – it’s not worth unpacking for!)
• It is possible to travel well with diabetes. I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs these past few months – insulin not working, crazy food, hormones and weather making my blood sugar do unusual things – but all in all it has been SO manageable. Much easier than I thought, in fact. Which just goes to show that although travelling with diabetes is more of a challenge than travelling without it, it’s just one more thing to think about, not something to make you give up entirely.
• Practically:
- Packing and unpacking your suitcase is a nightmare if it’s too full… These incredibly useful Vac Bags have saved our lives on a daily basis. They take all the air out of your clothes so massive piles of stuff shrink into delightfully packable flat packs.
- The rumours are true: You don’t need to change your clothes as often as you think.
- We will never again take being able to drink water out of a tap for granted. Months of bottled water makes tap water seem like a luxury!
- Travelling when you’re sick is just awful. Our solution? Take vitamins every day, don’t try dodgy food, and don’t overdo it.
- Sleep is very important if you want to be able to enjoy every day to the fullest.
- Backpacks give you a sore neck, and let you (mistakenly) believe you have enough space to buy things you don’t need. Suitcases are better.
- Patience is vital.
• We are the luckiest people in the world. To have been able to have these months together, exploring this wonderful world of ours, has been such a gift. And every day we’re able to continue doing it is one more day I feel like the luckiest girl on earth. Here’s to the next half being just as wonderful as the first half!

We’ve been on the road for 3 months already, can you believe it? Crazy… I can’t decide whether that feels like a really long time, or whether it’s gone in a flash. A bit of both, I guess.

And now, today, we’re leaving Vietnam! Off to Indonesia. We arrive at midnight today, and are VERY open to suggestions about where to go and what to see…

First, though, as promised, I wanted to tell you about one of the highlights of our trip so far – a two day one night adventure in Halong Bay. Wow.

Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, about 3 and a half hours from Hanoi (one of the main cities in Vietnam). There are hundreds of tourist boats that ply the same old route, but we were lucky enough to get on to the Red Dragon, an all-wooden Vietnamese junk, made in the style of a 17th century pirate ship that took us on a unique route with only one other boat! Incredible.

We set sail into the wild blue yonder, and immediately fell in love. It’s just amazing stuff – huge limestone karsts (like islands jutting out of the ocean) as far as the eye can see, hundreds and thousands of them fading into the horizon, accompanied by nothing but aquamarine water. It’s the kind of sight that’s so beautiful you don’t really know what to do with it, so your brain quickly gets used to it.

We stopped mid-afternoon to go kayaking around and through the islands, and we were on the kayaks as the sun set, turning the water from aquamarine to orange and pink and finally silver, as the moon rose just behind the junk.

Then it was time for a feast on board, and much laughter, and finally a cup of tea out on deck with Mark, watching the moon make a silvery path on the water. It was one of those moments that I’ll remember forever.

The next morning we woke up early and headed off on bamboo boats to see a floating village – a group of fishermen who live year-round on the water, on a cross between houses and boats. Fascinating stuff. The Red Dragon company is doing a lot of outreach work in their community (building a school and starting an eco-friendly initiative to remove the rubbish from the area), which was really interesting too. But mostly we lay on deck and soaked up the beauty.

Here’s our Best Moment from that day, you can see I’m a little giddy! It was truly one of the most incredible things I’ve ever done.

(Also check out, when you have a moment, our last supper in Vietnam – quite an adventure! – and our attempts to cook local food. Fun!)

One of the things I love most about travelling is the potential for surprising nuggets of inspiration that pop up out of the blue.

Like this Confucius Cup that we found in the oldest house in Hoi An (our favourite place in Vietnam so far)…

The cup has a hole in the bottom of it, but if it is only filled 80%, you can drink out of it no problem – it doesn’t leak out of the bottom. If it’s filled 100%, however, the liquid drains out of the hole in the bottom. The lesson? Don’t be greedy and take more than you need. Ha!

Wouldn’t you love a cup like this? (Apparently it’s the last one in Vietnam – take a look at it below)…