180stays2

1st video from my world trip up – my skydive in Namibia! More to come peeps…

Just an FYI… my web site is now updated with new links, content & images…

http://tonynewton70.wix.com/home

NEXT TIME ON 180 STAYS…THE PHILLIPINES…

Often referred to as the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’, the Banaue rice terraces were constructed over 2000 years ago by the native Ifugao people. Still in use today, these remarkable rice terraces stretch like stepping stones towards the sky – some reaching an altitude of 1500 m (4920 ft). The best way to view the terraces is from a nearby viewpoint, where the lush green terraces unfold below and sunlight reflects off the surface of the pools. There is an action packed 3 hour trek to visit the Hanging Coffins in Echo Valley and a visit to the town cemetery and then stop to view the hanging coffins. Dangling high up on the limestone cliffs, the coffins are both mystifying and eerie in their presence. Then I can continue on by crossing a shallow river, pass by a coffee plantation and a small waterfall to end at the Sagada weaving factory.

FOLLOW THIS WITH NEW ZEALAND, FIJI & MICRONESIA!THEN THE BALTIC COUNTRIES, PORTUGAL AND A LITTLE MORE NORWAY… MAYBE EVEN ANTARCTICA.

STAY TUNED FOLKS.

Day 365… Tue 29 Mar 2016 06:30 Sydney. I get off the ship… I see my astoundingly good friends… I go home. THE END…

… FOR NOW…

just some drawings I did & planeticals I built & all the airlines I flew with…

As always folks I like to ad some papercraft here for anyone with kids to follow along… so here are my final crafty things: a cube Earth… some designs for Malaysian kits… & in celebration of my return home & watching BATMAN VS SUPERMAN… a batman, superman & wonder woman cut out toy. Enjoy!

Day 363… Sun 27 Mar 2016 07:00 18:00 Brisbane. I hop off and sadly miss new pal Liz who i met in Malaysia, but i do catch up with awesome mates Madz and Jedi. From the dock (the really… really shabby dock for a major city… I mean really Brisbane. .. you need to pick your game up!) we go grab brekky at Pancake Parlour, then a bit of a short drive before we swing by thier place to grab Yahtzee, Farkle and Cards Against Humanity to chill with some awesome games in a local park. Then back to thier place for some video games on the old PS1 and Xbox, before returning to the ship to get all my crap packed and ready to go home. Take in a final art gallery showing and a late show, and my day is complete.

Day364…At Sea… first up irritatingly i seem to have caught a bit of a cold. Dammit. Anyhoo… after a late brekky i randomly bump into some lovely crew ladies and chat about my travels, and then at lunch ACTUALLY SEE live wild dolphins leaping about the ship! Incredible stuff! Then i head to the final art auction and grand finale final show on my cruise… and we are nearly done folks!

FAVORITE PLACES: Peruand Bolivia… Orlando, USA (i love theme parks!)… Ireland… Germany/Poland/Czech Republic…Russia… Japan… Botswana and Namibia… Singapore.

MOST DANGEROUS PLACES  (at least according to me):Kingston, Jamaica… New Orleans, USA… Johannesburg, South Africa… Jakarta, Indonesia.

And that brings us to the end of my summary of stats for 180 Stays.

THANKS to all of the companies that made my trip happen…I will be adding all individual info in my YouTube series, but for now the major ones to thank are:

Flight Centre, Elizabeth St, Sydney/ Intrepid Tours/ Celestyal Cruises (the Olympia)/ Celebrity Cruises (the Millennium)/ Colorado Boots for amazing shoes that have lasted 1 year of seriously hard work.

Day362…At Sea… and a disappointing day it is… not a lot on today to tickle my fancy. Just 2 things. The 1st thing is my invite to an exclusive VIP art expo which was amazing, they unveiled some new art we haven’t seen on the cruise before… the stunning art of young 9 (at the time, she’s 15 now) art prodigy Autumn De Forrest. Her grasp of different styles and maturity are a rarity and her work is frankly better than half the adult artists i have seen. After that its off to the grand finaleBroadway stage show which was wonderfully done… throw in2 in house movies (Spy + No Escape … very powerful and tense film)… and some minor not-winning casino stuff aaand… well…

VARIOUS WORST OF’S:

WORST AIRPORTS… Cairo, Egypt and customs at London Heathrow.

WORST HOTELS… Nuba Nile, Egypt… Hotel 81 Palace in Singapore… and camping in general 😆

WORST AIR BNB… Asakusa… well… it was average at best… not really bad per se… but if I had to include one it would be this one.

WORST DRINKS and WORST FOOD… there have been a few, nothing too awful… however my beer with ice in Guatemala which gave me a week of diarrhoea and the chicken burger in India that gave me a week of salmonella poisoning DEFINITELY classify as THE worst. Then we we have the dodgy restaurant in Hurghada and the so called restaurant at the Supertrees in Singapore were particularly woeful.

WORST TRAVEL… Ryanair flights… China overnight train

WORST MASSAGE: Vietnam, South Africa

Day361…At Sea… and it’s a very choppy day today… you can feel the ship lurching through the enormous waves, which till now i haven’t felt at all. Considering the ship is 14 stories tall… the sea must be a nightmare for us to feel it! Anyway, today is another meh day with a nice art auction to attend… a little trivia… but not much else apart from the lovely dinner with lovely company: John and Carmen  (lovely 80-somethings), Mike and Sue, Phil and Patricia (2 couples from Wollongong).At the auction, I do however bid on my first ever real auction item AND WIN my first ever serious peice of art! Moving on…

VARIOUS BEST OF’S:

BEST AIRPORTS… Tokyo, Japan and Doha, Qatar

BEST HOTELS… Taj President, India… heritage stay in China… heritage Stay in India… USA Comic on hotels in Phoenix

BEST AIR BNBs… Mexico City… Athens… Johannesburg

BEST DRINKS…Random bar with Brit Pete’s exploding beer in Guatemala with Mexico gang… butter beer at Universal Studioa… Las Vegas and sunset at Grand Canyon with USA gang…brilliantCambridgepubwithFletch… Delirium Bar, Brussels… hot drinking day in Krakow with Jeremy, Michelle and Richard… party truck day with Euro-gang in Vienna, Austria… random pub in Russia with Rowie and Yulia…1st tower of beer in Cambodia with the Indochina gang… 2nd tower of beer in Cambodia with the Indochina gang… rooftop cafe in India with India gang… on board felucca sailing the Nile with Egypt gang… random beers at the markets in Johannesburg… poolside beer on 2nd last day in a winery in South Africa…HogWildinBaliwithChrisnAmy…

BEST FOOD…incredible traditional dance restaurant in Bolivia… Street food in Guatemala… Las Vegas…restaurants around Comicon in USA…brilliant Cambridge pub with Fletch… restaurant in Germany i went to solo… pasta and gelato in general through Italy…Deluxe restaurants on board both cruises…heritage Stay in China… maid cafe in Tokyo (not incredible… just interestingly weird)… shabbi shabbi restaurant in Japan…Blind dining in Vietnam… cafe in Hoi An for an amazing breakfast… the restaurant right near the starting hotel for the Indian tour in Delhi… pizza place near Petra… pizza place in Johannesburg… all the food cooked at camp by our amazing on board camping chef throughout southern Africa… Hog Wild in Bali with Chris n Amy…

BEST TRAVEL… Cambodia overnight train… Qatar airlines

BEST MASSAGE: Greek Cruise, Egypt and Malaysia

** FIRST off – apologies… the pics for my scuba dive accidentally got into the previous post…

Day 360… Cairns(Yorkey’s Knob). Early rise to boat out to the Great Barrier Reef and a say of water based activity. What can I say… the great barrier reef is simply amazingly beautiful and this tour starts with a trip by smaller boat, afastcatamaran, straight from the cruise liner out to a permanent pontoon set up especially for the tourist swimmers,journeying past spectacular islands enroute to the outer Great Barrier Reef. Once at the reef, the interactive pontoon itself has a slew of things to do as i spend the day exploring the colourful underwater world of magnificent corals, colourful fish and marine life.I get to snorkel in the sheltered coral lagoon for a few hours with an oceanographer, walk through the underwater observatory, join a tour on the semi-submersible boat-sub-combo thing then jump on a token glass bottom boat, with lunch included. This is one of the best destinations on the Great Barrier Reef for viewing the unique species of coral and fish that call the reef home, and i am so glad I got to revisit it after all these years (last time was Hamilton Island when, after dad said to go on my organised trip, I had to cut the thing in half when I got the call and my mum had passed away, had to fly home). Then back to the ship to collect and have dinner and meet some lovely folks i had met at the level 5 restaurant previously and they requested i  ook a table to join  them tomorrow night… which was quite nice… actually had 2 sets of folks vying for my company. .. its nice to be wanted. 😆