"Sarah and Tony's Travels" SarahTony's Profile

My love of travelling and visiting new and exciting places was kindled as a child, when my sister and I were packed up into my parents estate car and driven down to the South of France, sleeping in the car along the way, every school summer holiday. Then, at the age of 16, I managed to get a job working on a campsite near Bordeaux (helped by the fact that my aunt was a manager!). Travel was hampered by lack of funds during my years at college, but all I wanted to do once I had my degree was to get off and see the world. So in 1988 I started work for Princess Cruises, and spent the following 18 months seeing the world in comparable luxury (well compared to backpacking at least!!). During this time, I visited the Carribbean, Acapulco, Alaska, Hawaii, Far East, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, South Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand! The downside of travelling this way was only seeing each place superficially, but I was able to identify the places I would like to return to one day in the future!

Tony joined the Royal Navy at the age of 16 and visited the following places during 7 years service:
Norway, Gibraltar, Africa, Cyprus, Greece, North America, Bahrain, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sicily, Diego Garcia (although much of his memory of visiting these places is hazy due to large quantities of alcohol being consumed while on shore leave!!!!)

Since our fateful meeting in 1998, we have had numerous trips, mainly centred around taking the kids to Disney in both Paris and Orlando. We then made a return trip to Orlando and visited the Universal theme parks.
Having fallen under the spell of Florida, the climate and the way of life, we decided to return for our honeymoon in 2002, and we spent a fantastic 10 days in the Keys. We have recently spent a further fantastic vacation in Florida, spending 3 nights in Key Largo, and 10 nights in Fort Myers Beach! Watch this space for forthcoming travel pages and tips relating to this last vacation!

Following our recent trip to Key Largo and Lover's Key, Fort Myers Beach on the Florida Gulf Coast in October 2003, we are now planning to return to Florida in 2004, hopefully just the two of us, possibly for a cruise to celebrate my 40th birthday (aaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!). We could also be returning to Lovers Key during 2004, as when we were there in October 2003, we were fortunate enough to win a 2 night stay at the Lovers Key Resort in a Halloween Costume Contest! So it looks like a second honeymoon is on the cards for next year, maybe taking in some more of the beautiful Gulf coast.

At Easter 2005, I will be finishing my midwife training, and as a celebratory gesture we are hoping to take our 4 offspring back to Orlando for a week, and the gulf coast for a week.

We are also planning a big trip once our kids have gone on to bigger and better things, hopefully to visit the West coast of USA, including Las Vegas, San Fransisco, Grand Canyon and Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. Needless to say I am already excited, and madly gathering info on these destinations from those in the know! Anyone got any tips / recommendations?