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The ‘red route’ ORN traffic delays

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So the games are coming to town really soon and all the athletes are coming in from around the globe to settle in at the village in Stratford. London has created a priority route from Heathrow (all the way west outside London) to Stratford (all the way East in London) which allows priority traffic for athletes to get escorted in BMWs which are painted red. There were complaints that the routes were not signposted well enough which has caused massive bottlenecks today.

A crowded train in rush hour in the first class carriage
A crowded train in rush hour in the first class carriage

It is one of the reasons why after 2 years Read More »The ‘red route’ ORN traffic delays

UK to Stuttgart to Metzingen to Lake Garda to Munich to Calais road trip

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It’s been a long time since my last blog post which is kinda what I had said last time around. So a brief update of Germany and Italy. Let’s take this in order.
UK to Stuttgart
The drive from England to Stuttgart is a really long one. It’s also incredibly fast in Germany before and after the Frankfurt bit where you get restricted to a measly 130kmph. Stuttgart is a little on the pricey side and you can’t park in the centre unless you have an emission badge. I couldn’t be bothered with all of that so I stayed with the missus near the airport but right next to a train station in Echterdingen.Read More »UK to Stuttgart to Metzingen to Lake Garda to Munich to Calais road trip

Things to do in Germany & Italy

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It’s been a long time since I last posted an article here and that is for a number of reasons. The key ones being work commitments, moving house and also lack of access to my own blog. Remarkably I had no access to the admin pages until very recently when my SQL database finally got upgraded by my host who I will not be renewing with! For name and shaming reasons, they are called ixwebhosting and they charged me $50USD for the privilege. I miss the travel write up and the video capture and over the last couple of yearsRead More »Things to do in Germany & Italy

Things to do in Hawaii: Hapuna Beach State Park at sunset

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The white sand beach at Hapuna stretches half a mile which is not massive by any means. The beach is Hawaii Island’s most visited beach located just north of the Mauna Lani Resort. Because of the closed off location you do need to drive to get there. I’ve got to admit, having seen all the ranting and raving on the internet praising Hapuna Beach as ‘The best beach in the world’ or ‘The prettiest beach in the world’ I was really expecting a lot more. The sand may be white but it’s not as white as some beaches I have visited in Australia. The water is clear and the location is great for the sunset. There is apparently lots of fish around but I did not see nay fish life around. I’ve yet to see a real top 10 beach list with Hapuna Beach in it. they are mainly Hawaii or USA tourist biased reviews with little substance. The feet washing facility was broken and there was no running fresh water anywhere which was really annoying afterwards when trying to clear sand off myself. Read More »Things to do in Hawaii: Hapuna Beach State Park at sunset

Things to do in Hawaii: Mauna Lani Resort

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The above video shows a full tour of the Mauna Lani Resort on Hawaii Island. (You can even see Maui from the beach there!)
The Mauna Lani Resort (also known as Mauna Lani Bay & Bungalows) was where my wife and I decided to have our wedding ceremony and was our hotel for the duration of our trip in Hawaii. Rooms at the hotel cost up to $1830 USD per night so it’s not a cheap place to stay. The bungalows for family stays are even more expensive so expectations are high for the premium resort. Mauna Lani rarely disappoints with it’s high level of service, quality rooms, restaurants and even weather! It’s dry and warm most of the time due to it’s location on the West side of the Big island of Hawaii shielded from the wetlands of the East side of the Island. The ocean rooms look out onto a timeless picture of tranquility and peace. The sound of the ocean can be muted by the heavy patio doors or can be left open with the mosquito fence in place of glass.
The grounds are well laid out and design is classy throughout the building which is open to the sky. Read More »Things to do in Hawaii: Mauna Lani Resort

Things to do in Hawaii: The Devastation of Puʻu ʻŌʻō

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When Puʻu ʻŌʻō decided to erupt, many towns were forced to abandon as hundreds of homes and homes turned into lava rock. This crazy thought was a reality and serves as a reminder of how brutal mother nature can be. A visit to the end of route 130 shows the trail of destruction as parts of the highway is now lava rock and only a couple of buildings remain in the area. The drive goes on for a while which really demonstrates how far spread the damage was done. See the video below to see the destruction and the walk out to the lookout point.

At the end of the drive is a walk down to the coast a safe distance away from lava flowing into the ocean. Unfortunately from April 2010, the lava has changed direction from the the erupting Puʻu ʻŌʻō and is not flowing into the ocean anymore Read More »Things to do in Hawaii: The Devastation of Puʻu ʻŌʻō

Things to do in Hawaii: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park


Hawaii was formed by a string of lava flows from a group of volcanoes in the ocean. Some of these volcanoes are still active today including Mauna Loa which still forms land on the Island of Hawaii in Hawaii (otherwise known as the big island). The living history of Hawaii has been captured and turned into a small museum in the Hawaii volcanoes national park which is a world heritage site. It doesn’t really need much protecting though as anything built onto it would probably be melted down in the future!
Throughout Hawaii’s history, towns have literally been burned down by molten lava. In recent history the Kīlauea volcano took out Kaimū and Kalapana in 1990. These days, the main activity comes from Puʻu ʻŌʻō which has been flowing out into the ocean until very recently. Read More »Things to do in Hawaii: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Things to do in Hawaii: Mauna Kea

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Mauna Kea in Hawaii is a dormant volcano and tranlates to ‘White Mountain’ in the native Hawaiian language. This is because the top is often covered in snow between November and March – locals even use this as an opportunity to go skiing! The peak of Mauna Kea is 4,207m above sea level, about 30m taller than neighboring Mauna Loa and about 9,100m above its base on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. This means that Mauna Kea is the world’s tallest mountain, taller than Mount Everest at 8,848m, which is the highest mountain above sea level. The height above sea level may change over the next few thousand years as the massive weight of the Mauna Kea volcano means that the seabed of the ocean below it is depressing slowly over time.

Mauna Kea can be reached via the very tricky Saddle Road. The summit is then a very long, steep drive on a mixture of man made roads and off road dirt track. Cars must be 4 by 4 drive to be able to go past the Mauna Kea visitor centre as it is a difficult off road drive. Read More »Things to do in Hawaii: Mauna Kea