RONNIE & Michelle
Careering OffAfter over 30 years working, Ronnie & Michelle have decided to take the gap year (or two!) that we missed out on at the usual time. We have had stressful careers in Technology and Finance until now including start-ups and self-employment.
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The kids – Cameron & Daniel – have fled the nest to pursue their own adventures in life, leaving only the cats Tiger and Lexey to tie us down.
Following a health shock and seeing what has happened to many people we know around our age, we decided not to wait until we are in our 60’s and retired before resuming our love of travel and seeing the world. We are in the fortunate position of being able to pause working for a while.
It’s now time to career-off.
THE BLOG
End of the Earth poem
Written for the group and recited at our final dinner... End of the Earth A Purple poem by Ronnie Patagonia the land so far away Inhabited by giants made of clay Where the wind blows so strong and the roads are very long The Andes mountains climb ever higher...
The End of the Earth
We had a 13 hour bus journey to Ushuaia- the most southern city in the world - the "End of the Earth". We had to get a ferry across the Magellan straight. We saw black and white dolphins and penguins from the boat. Tierra del Fuego, or Land of Fire was named from the...
Patagonia Wilderness
We headed into Patagonia which covers part of both Argentina and Chile. Not much grows or lives in the vast wilderness and it's one of the most sparsely populated regions on the planet. We also saw lots of Condors - huge birds - and Guanacos which are similar to...
Beautiful Buenos Aires
We careered off again on 1 January to South America, starting in Buenos Aires as part of a 2 month tour of Argentina (Patagonia), a little bit of Chile, Brazil, and Bolivia. It was Michelle's birthday during the flight to Buenos Aires, and BA gave us a free upgrade...
Singapore Stopover Sunflowers
We routed home via Singapore. Unfortunately, even with a 6 hour stopover, we still didn't have time for the free city tour. 🙁 So we paid our way into a lounge for drinks instead! For airports though, it's very nice. They have gardens inside... ... and you can go...
Thai-ing up loose ends
We stopped off in Thailand for a bit of R&R on the island of Koh Samui on the way home. And that's the end of the SE Asia trip. It's been amazing.
Laosy roads to Ventiane
We headed for Ventiane, the capital, with a stop-over in Vang Vieng. This time we travelled by road in a mini-bus and "VIP" small coach. I think VIP stands for Very Irritated Passengers. The roads were really bad and bumpy. Tarmac is a luxury. I don't know how the...
Let loose in Laos
Laos has a very different feel from Vietnam. It's supposed to be a "late developer" and "like Thailand was 30 years ago". That's not what we've found so far. There are more cars and less scooters than Vietnam. It's more similar to Thailand though in the food and...
Bungalows, Boats, and Bikes in Tam Cốc
After the sleeper train back to Hanoi, we took a mini-bus to another UNESCO World Heritage site called Tam Cốc in Ninh Binh province. It's famous for it's limestone scenery and the rowing boat trips along the river and through caves. We checked into some lovely...
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