January - Patagonia and Antarctica

Our epic journey started with the long flight to Buenos Aires for 3 nights viewing the capital and some good gardens and catching our breath. Next we traversed the northern Patagonian Lakes starting in Bariloche before crossing the border into Chile at Puella. Beautiful scenery and great hospitality. We then flew to Punta Arenas to start our southern Patagonia crossing with 3 nights in Torres del Paine at their beautiful hotel. Perfect weather and scenery with lovely food and guides made this a place we all wanted to return to. Next we crossed the border back to Argentina to El Calafarte for 2 nights mainly to see the Perito Merino Glacier.  Well worth the journey with icebergs calving regularly and great walks to view from all angles. This finished our first part of the trip with Tom, Leigh and Christine flying home only to be replaced by Karen, June and Stephanie who we met in Ushuaia - the end of the world. After some time exploring the town we boarded the MV Ushuaia for our 10 voyage to the frozen continent. What a fabulous and challenging  experience! A relatively difficult crossing over the Drake Passage saw waves of up to 8 meters and a few bumps and bruises trying to move around. After the crossing we sighted land at the Shetland Islands and the water was then calm much to the relief of all. There are no words to describe the beauty, wilderness, vastness and wildlife that we encountered. Truly a once in a lifetime experience and one that all expedition members will never forget. 
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​April - Japan Cherry Blossom tour

Spain and Morocco with England extension - May

​Our 2019 to Japan was a wonderful experience. We had a great weather and the cherry blossoms seemed to follow us wherever we went except in more northern areas. We had full bloom in Tokyo when we landed before heading north to Nikko and some very interesting sights including a snowy start one morning. Traditional inns, temples and food made the journey an authentic Japanese experience. This tour also included a number of new "flower parks" - interesting show gardens including the truly world class Nabano no Sato garden near Nagoya. We then ventured to Kyoto, Hiroshima, Osaka and Nara. Cherry blossoms and wonderful sights in each location. Our guide Mai - san did a great job once again for our group showing a friendly and personal side of Japan. Thanks also to our wonderful group. 

​We left home on 29th April for our journey to Spain and Morocco and on to England for most travelers. First stop was Dubai for 2 nights where we did a tour to Abu Dhabi with the highlight being the amazing grand mosque. Then nearly 2 weeks in Spain to enjoy Barcelona and the east coast. Many highlights included the lovely coastline, Valencia, Cartegena, Granada, Cordoba and then into Gibraltar. Lots of history, good food and wine, gardens and stories. The tour was arranged by Trafalgar with our guide Jake doing a great job as did our Spanish driver Ricardo. We then crossed the straits of Gibraltar to enjoy lunch in Tangiers before heading to the ancient city of Fez. Life in many parts of Fez have remained pretty much unchanged for 800 years (except for mobile phones and tv!) with a pretty hard life on show. The Islamic traditions and way of life were great to observe up close with Ramadan being in full swing. We traveled quite a distance  across this quite diverse country staying at Casablanca and then Marrakesh. The latter is really quite a beautiful and most interesting place with the garden highlight being the Marjorelle gardens. Many of us then travelled to London for a 7 night England extension visiting Chelsea Flower Show and some superb gardens in the Cottswolds. All in all a great success and a lovely group to travel with. 
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​Nepal and Singapore November

Our tour to Nepal was all about the culture and natural beauty of this small but beautiful country. Over 10 days  we traveled to see the main highlights and also a few hidden gems. We saw the sunrise over the Himalayas, took a lake cruise on Lake Phewa, floated in a canoe on the Rapti River, took a wildlife safari by jeep and by elephant and say a great deal of the local culture. Our guide Vivek was excellent and made sure we got the most out of our time. I think our group loved Nepal. 
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​15 of us decided to undertake a 2 night stopover in Singapore on the way home to explore some of this island nations' attractions. We visited the wonderful Gardens by the Bay, Botanical gardens, spice gardens and some of the downtown highlights with our guide Wendy. We even manged a Singapore sling at Raffles hotel.

2019 was a busy but memorable year of tripping about!

New Zealand North Island October

Our 2 week tour to the North Island of New Zealand was marked with some great weather, gardens, food and above all else, green scenery. We traveled to Auckland for a few days of gardens, to the tip of the north Island to Cape Rienga and the lovely Bay of Isles, Hamilton gardens, Rotorua, New Plymouth for the lovely Taranaki gardens, Napier and Wellington. Our tour company looked after us very well and our driver Denis a true gentleman. I think most travelers loved it and look forward to our next visit!






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