josiejo's VirtualTourist Home Page

I met Shaun in San Francisco in 2001. He's from Australia, was able to get a two year visa, which meant he could travel to Europe, we ended up getting married, and somewhere in all this, we've done a fair bit of travelling around.

the first places we visited were around the UK, staying with friends or relatives, the first non-UK trip was to Dublin, for a weekend away, plus we got to see The Breeders live, swiftly followed by a long week in Greece, including the gorgeous island of Serifos and the madness of Athens.

Later that year a long weekend in Paris happened, with another Dublin weekend early 2003 (this time to see Throwing Muses).

A split second decision to go and see Throwing Muses play again resulted in a week long vacation to New York, taking in a day in Boston, driving there and back again (although thankfully neither of us did the driving)!

Wedding plans meant we didn't get away until August that year (call it a belated honeymoon, maybe?), with a trip to Prague during the heatwave around Europe, and if we thought that heat was bad, we headed to sunny Australia, taking in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney over Christmas and New Year 2003-2004.

2004 brings a holiday in Austria, Salzburg to be precise, a place jo has wanted to visit since she was nine years old... The Sound of Music may have something to do with it. Probably...

2005 brought a long weekend in the gorgeousness of Brussels, while Christmas and New Year brings another trip to Australia, taking in just Melbourne and Perth, although this time I fully intend to do the Ramsay Street Tour.

2006 came and went, and while we didn't get to do the Ramsay Street Tour (overheard an Australian woman on the tram, saying "oh god, you don't want to do that, it's full of poms" which put me off, being a pom myself), we did get to Berlin recently. We've more travel plans for mid-June this year, going to Lille, and also heading for a day trip to Edinburgh, Scotland.

2007 and we did a sunny early October trip to Dubrovnik, which was wonderful - I'd go back there in a heartbeat - such a lovely place.

2008, and we did a short trip to Paris, which was bearable (I like Montmartre), and late October we're heading back to Australia to visit the in-laws.

I only found out about "Big Things" recently, but lucky for us, last time we were in Perth, and when driving to Merredin, further inland, we passed this large camera, which is recognised as one (I'd have put a photo of the DNA Tower in Perth, except everyone I met, reckons it isn't a "Big Thing").

At home, we moved recently, and I've developed an obsession for the Sewer Vents that are randomly where we live - they all date back to the 1800's, and are pretty cool.

I have a fair bit to write about places we visited this time around - we spent almost a week in Busselton, near Margaret River - although as you can see from the photo it was a bit rainy... still, plenty of time to check out the wineries. That's what I'll be reviewing, when I get a chance... we did plenty of tasting!