darrenanna's blog

Technical roundup

Sat, 2011-05-14 17:55 — darrenanna

I wanted to do a final update with some details for the technically minded.

As far as technology goes, the trip went great as well. I wasn't quite sure how the data roaming bill would end up, so before I left I set up my trusty Nokia N95 with all the maps we would need around Europe, and I tried to use free wifi where I could.

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Brunei

Sat, 2011-05-14 17:23 — darrenanna

On the way home we had a long stop over in Brunei, from 8 in the morning to 10 at night.

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Ireland Ring of Kerry

Fri, 2011-04-22 09:41 — darrenanna

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Ireland

Thu, 2011-04-21 20:30 — darrenanna

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Guernsey Island part two

Tue, 2011-04-19 04:41 — darrenanna

We got up early and made our way to St Malo, easily finding the ferry terminal. The trip over was quick & direct to Guernsey & we were the first car to get off.

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And that was France

Fri, 2011-04-15 03:27 — darrenanna

We headed out to the coast coming to Honfleur, a scenic and tourist town with a lovely square "anchorage". While there seemed to be plenty of history, almost every "history" board we saw, basically said the same thing - that at one point the anchorage was made bigger & more protected. That was it! The streets were particularly stunning with houses lined up side by side along narrow streets. Monet features Honfleur streets in some of his paintings. Around the harbour were dozens of coffee shops and restaurants, with their outdoor tables adding to the atmosphere. Looking across the little (!) harbour were stunning reflections whether day or the lights at night. The brick work on the houses was interesting because each century used a different brick and houses that were patched up over the centuries became a mish mash of materials, and made the buildings look very quaint and textile. We stayed at more of a car park than a camp ground, and there were many campervans - probably slightly better equipped than we were - because the "car park" didnt have any toilets. That didn't bother us so much as there were public toilets near by. Except that at some point in the early evening those ones were locked up. We were reduced to driving off to find McDonald's for a late night snack and email download - luckily we got there 5 mins before they closed!

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Monet's garden

Wed, 2011-04-13 00:06 — darrenanna

We got up early to explore the famous garden of Monet. The temperature has dropped today and it was very cold. We had to dig out the thermals again. The garden was stunning, full of colourful bulbs and blossom trees, we think it was the perfect time of the year to see it. Crowds of people though, being only a short distance from Paris. It turned out the garden was smaller than we had anticipated and it really only took an hour to get through, so now we are leisurely heading back to the coast, through beautiful countryside, covered in fields of bright yellow flowers.