Ray and Jeanne in the Philippines
We have visited many places over the years, but never for more than three weeks at a time. It was always our dream to see more of the world at a more leisurely pace and the opportunity to do so presented itself in the fall of 1999. Jeanne finally left work, at first on a six month leave of absence, then she and Ray set off on October 31, 1999 for three months of travel. We had a trek in Nepal planned, and we could fly to Kathmandu via Bangkok, so a tour of South-East Asia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia seemed a natural extension. It worked so well we are taking an extended trip each year, exploring more of the world.
In October 2000, we combined another trek in Nepal with a tour of India, for a total of four months away. 2001 found us in New Zealand, with a stop-over to the Cook Islands and Fiji. In mid-November 2002 we flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina and worked our way down the Gringo Trail of South America visiting Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. We left October 2003 to spend five months exploring Australia and then managed a short stay in Malaysia on our way home. Andalucia, Spain was our destination in the fall of 2004. We spent almost seven weeks exploring this historic and mountainous region. It was sun, New World antiquities and the opportunity to practice our Spanish that took us to Central America for three months beginning January 2005. A rare opportunity to share Anniversary celebrations with the Burnham Clan took us to Athens and the Greek Islands for a month from mid-September 2005 to mid-October 2005. We decided to seek the sun again for the 2006 winter. We toured Mexico for three and a half months. In the Spring of 2006 we joined four friends from Ottawa to hike the 190 mile long Coast to Coast Trail in Northern England. Southern Africa was our latest trip. We toured South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe for nine weeks in the fall of 2006, then it was off to the sun again in February 2007, this time the Yucatan and Belize. In April 2007 we traveled to Ireland to tour and meet friends.
The winter of 2007-8 brought new adventures. We travelled to the Philippines where we volunteered at a project through Center for Education, Research and Volunteering Philippines (CERV) a small NGO affiliated with Global Volunteer Network for the month of December, following which we explored more of the Philippine Islands for another two months. With the move of Erica and Andrew to Paris in October 2007 we were able to schedule visits at either end of our Philippines trip.
The emails Jeanne sent home from the various Internet cafes describing our trips have been included on this website, along with photos. Read ahead to share our experiences.
Paris November 2007 and March 2008
Philippines November 2007 - March 2008
Ireland April-May 2007
Yucatan and Belize Feb - March 2007
Southern Africa Oct 2006 - Dec 2006
Coast to Coast in England May - June 2006
Mexico December 2005 - March 2006
Greek Islands September- October 2005
Central America January - April 2005
Andalucia, Spain October - November 2004
Australia Oct 2003 - March 2004
South America Nov 2002 - March 2003
Cook Islands and Fiji Nov 2001
New Zealand Highs Nov 2001 - March 2002
South-East Asian Adventures Nov 26, 1999 - Feb 1, 2000
The India Chronicles Nov 6, 2000 - Feb 11, 2001
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