Rachel left today. We said goodbye in the park, under the shadow of the Castle. She had her sunglasses on against the beaming mid-day sun. She looked brave.

I cried last night, for the first time when we picked them up from Tesco in the rain, for drinking a bottle of wine and chatting and saying to ourselves : “Yup, these are definitely the people we want to live with.” For the hard year past, full of ups and downs. For ceildh-swinging and rosé drinking and braais in the park.

The hard thing about being away is only becoming more and more apparent. I wrote a depro post about when Alana and Becks left. They were the first. Then Kate and Jono, our Edinburgh people, our intellectual debate people, our tenuous link to Rhodes people, went home. Then Isje and Jack, our family for over 18 months, our companions and guides around Edinburgh and our Friday night cheese and wine people. They left last June. Mark and Amy left next, in November, after goodbye drinks at the Canny Man. Amy with her upside down smile, booze-hagging with Isje. Mark -who my sister couldn’t understand.

Then we had a whirlwind of new friends, and soon a group, and then a gang- great, fun people who made the Edinburgh experience all the more worthwhile. Skye-roadtripping people. Ceildh dancing people. Girls’ night Thursday night horror-tour poker playing people. Friday night in the park people.

I sobbed about Casey in a taxi- about the cocktails we had in Harvey Nicks, about the Ambrosia at Christmas, about mojitos at every chance we got. I said goodbye to Pania outside of Grand Cru. I said goodbye to Kate at the door of her new home in London. I said goodbye to Rachel in the park.

All this time, the people back home are moving on- as they must, as they should. But bit by bit, day by day they are putting down deep roots with new people. My roots are spread wide across the globe, they span hundreds of miles- but they are not deep. They are transcient, shifting as people come and go with the tide, an ebb and flow of people who you hold in your hand for a while and then are gone.

I would not trade the Edinburgh sun on my back, the look of Snowdonia through rain, the icy wind for any thing. But sometimes it is hard.

Edinburgh Snow - 2nd Round from DucklightTravels on Vimeo.

Hey All

Just a quick note from me at my desk in an empty office to wish everyone a blessed Christmas and a happy New Year.

As for what the bugs are doing- Kylebug and Jenbug are ably assisted by the noveau-Londoner Jillbug (or Monbug, to those in the know) during their Christmas festivities. Jill has come up from London to join the Christmas party from two corners of the globe- namely, New Zealand and South Africa (although I am claiming Japan for Jill as well to get extra kudos). Myself, Kyle, Jill, our New Zealand friends Casey and Dallas and Casey's mom, who has travelled all the way from New Zealand, will have some lamb, chicken, play some games and soak up the Christmas spirit this holiday season.

To all our readers and families, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Ahoy there Ducklight followers. Well, as usual it's been a while since we posted stuff. I'm not going to promise anything in the short term, but I will be making more of an effort real soon now. There are however, beautiful new photos from our most recent trip to Germany, to the small northern city of Bremen. It was Christmas spectacular, and we got a taste of the real authentic German xmas markets. Photos can be found here. Have a good one!

Anybody thinking about going to Iceland definitely should. It is the weirdest country ever.

Kylebug and I booked to go to Iceland for our 4th anniversary (of unmarried love, in case anyone thought they missed anything). We hummed and hawed about it, because a) the package was pretty expensive and b) Iceland is known to be pretty expensive. We eventually decided to just bite the bullet and do it, based on the fact that we are closer to Iceland than we ever will be again- unless we move to…say…Iceland, and also it is unlikely that we shall have a greater disposable pound income in the near future. So off to Iceland we went.

First- the amazing coincidence. We ended up heading off to the most expensive country in the world (verification not possible) the day after the entire economy crashed. Not good for Iceland. Reasonably good for us. There was a sense of low-level panic about the economy the whole time we were there. Sitting in a pizza shop I saw a newspaper- entirely red, with a suggestion of a hammer and sickle in the background- with the headline ‘Welcome to Iceland-istan.’

So, the Icelanders were not having a good time, but with the plummeting ISK bringing a pint down to £2.50 and the Northern Lights (allegedly) overhead, Kyle and I were up for a good weekend. Iceland is a country with incredible geography. There is a lot of history and culture, but if you are used to the magnificent buildings and gracious proportions of the rest of Europe you are likely to be disappointed. You can comfort yourself by swimming in a pool full of turquoise thermally heated water, drive past volcanoes and spy glaciers out of the bus window, so it really depends what you are wanting out of a holiday. I loved Iceland, because it is just completely unlike anywhere I am ever likely to go again. The rock is black. You have fields of black magma covered in moss. That is the main feature in and around Reykjavik. You have looming mountains and a wind that comes off the sea at minus 1 million degrees. You have the best salads in the Northern Hemisphere. You have a geyser called Geysir that gave all the others in the world their name. You have a waterfall called Gullfoss, whose glacial runoff plummets towards the sea harder and faster than I have ever seen from a waterfall. You have the Northern Lights sharpening to a gradual lime green in the night sky above. And crowning it all off, you have the wind. The freezing cold, icy, glacial (how many more descriptive words can I put in?) wind.

Iceland is a country that will never fail to provide you with memorable experiences. On day one we walked around Reykjavik for a bit, absorbing the vibe of this capital city that feels ¾ like an overgrown fishing town. A lot of the buildings are not more than a few stories high (probably because of the earth quakes) and everything has a bit of a gauche feel. The land feels very young. We ate pizza and salad in a hip bar on a street with too many umlauts in the title.

On day two we caught buses frantically around town, trying to decide if we wanted to rent a car for the remained of our trip, or if we should take the preset tour busses that seemed to be on offer. One fight outside Budget travel later, we decided to take the tour buses. We returned to the hotel just in time to catch our lift to the Blue Lagoon, a thermal pool about an hour outside of Reykjavik. It was amazing- powder blue milky water against black rock, with slimy white sand underfoot and the chill breeze against any exposed skin. We froze all bits of our body off standing outside the warm water trying to capture the magic of it on video. We swam closer to gigantic clouds of sulphur than you would think would be desirable, just to get the warmth of the hot water as it is released into the pool. I slathered the ‘silica mask’ (mud) all over my face, straight from the buckets at the side of the pool. Kyle refused to touch it, in spite of the alleged healing, rejuvenating, anti-aging properties. Truth be told, once it was dry on my face it did just feel like mud. We returned to Reykjavik totally relaxed and warm.

On day two we headed out on a coach tour to see Pingvellir (pronounced ‘Thing-vellir’), the ancient seat of the Viking parliament and the place where the Eurasian and American continental plates meet; Gullfoss, a massive glacial waterfall; and the geysers at Haukadalur. I cannot recommend this Golden Circle tour (as it is known) highly enough. Each element of the experience was totally unique- from standing at a roaring waterfall with the largest glacier in Europe nearby, to skirting the carefully roped off area around the geysers because ‘the earth’s crust is very thin, and you can easily put a leg through the rock if you are not careful.' Everything about Iceland is incredibly primeval, and really brings home the fact that humans are not masters of the elements. The whole country feels very old and very new at the same time, with the black rocks stretching out across the plains. Standing at Pingvellir, where the Vikings once held parliament, made decisions and drowned witches (as they were apt to do, apparently), with the American continental plate looming behind me as the weak Northern sun set over the mountains and rivers of the no-man’s-land between the continental plates would definitely have to be a highlight of my trip. It just felt so otherworldly.

On the evening of day two it was finally clear enough for us to head out on (yet another) bus to see the Northern Lights. The Northern Lights themselves were amazing to see- muted clouds that gradually stained the sky lime green as they moved overhead, only to be gone a few moments later. Not bright dazzles as we were led to expect, but good to see nevertheless. A thoroughly enjoyable sight. The experience of going to see the Northern Lights was less enjoyable:
1. Put on thermals, jeans, full ski gear, beanie, scarf and gloves.
2. Go to bus.
3. Sit in between a loud drunk American guy who yelled: “Do you mind- some of us are really hungover here,” when the bus lights were turned on, and a woman from Manchester who was so disinterested in the Northern Lights that she didn’t even bother to get out of the bus.
4. Get out of the bus to get away from the above people.
5. Feel freezing, stare at the sky.
6. Get back in bus.
7. Someone has a phantom sighting of Northern Lights. Get out of bus.
8. Repeat steps 5-7.
9. Eventually, Northern Lights actually manifest. Stand, stare in wonder at them for a while.
10. Get back on bus and go home.

In summary: Iceland. Home of Puffins, Vikings and the world’s most northern capital city. Home of more geological phenomena than you can shake a stick at. Home of Bjork. Who could want more? Not I. Not you. Book now.

(Edit: see photos here.)

(Edit again- looking through the photos I realised I forgot to mention the world's hugest and most scary swan. That thing was both huge and scary. It tried to eat a small child. Beware of the swans.)

Time passes both quickly and slowly. This is hardly a controversial fact- akin to ‘the sky is blue(ish)’ and ‘chocolate is indeed a food group’. Today, for example, has been dragging on with work things that have been incredibly hard to resolve- phone calls not returned, emails awaiting reply for a series of big work issues.

But that is not why you read this blog. You read it to see where Kylebug and Jenbug have been recently, and possibly to read a few amusing anecdotes. Anecdotes I cannot promise you, but I can give (long overdue) details of our trips.

August 9-16, Croatia. We went on a boat. It was a big boat, but was small compared to the other boats, and also when compared to the sea (the big waves coming into Split on the final day let us see exactly how big the sea was, and how small we were). We joined Isje and Jack, who had been travelling around for 2 months already, and a bunch of their other Aussie mates on a 25 person cruise. It was a riot. On day one we travelled from Split to Markarska. During the day we stopped and swam in the middle of the sea (the first time I have done so, being afraid of all the nasty big sharks back home) and then had cocktails as the sun set over the boat. In the evening we danced the night away in a Ministry of Sound club hewn out of the ocean rock. Day two saw us sleep in a little late, which was just as well because as the day went on we would have much excitement. We had dinner on the boat (and our brilliant captain, Edo, dressed up in full pirate gear before providing us with a fresh fish feast) and in the middle of it all, Jack got down on one knee and proposed to Isje in front of everyone. She said yes, and some surprise bottles of Moet soon surfaced as the night kicked into high gear. On day 3 we headed into the amazing city of Dubrovnik. It is as beautiful as the pictures, and the walk around the wall (with Mark and Amy, and new boat friends Georgia and Paulie) was one of the highlights. If you see photos of us up high holding a ‘Croatia’ book, that is the city wall of Dubrovnik. You are hundreds of feet up in the air, looking over the glittering sea, people swimming and yachts on one side, and the gracious proportions of the old city on the other. One of the ways in which we kept harmony among the group was to have two people choose the restaurant each evening, so that there was no squabbling among the troops. In Dubrovnik, the guy in charge of choosing the dinner venue chose Dubrovnik’s most expensive restaurant, which saw us forking out £36 per person for the (admittedly very good) meal. This figure is sure to shock South Africans, and make Londoners go ‘meh’. On day four we landed in Korcula, a beautiful city overlooking a quiet bay. We had cocktails at the top of an old castle rampart before feasting on pizza and wine out of plastic cups while listening to the worst band ever playing in the town square. We soon moved back to the boat where we danced like crazy to cheesy music like Westlife and American boy until the sun came up.

Day 5 and 6 were spent in Croatia’s playground for the rich and the beautiful- Hvar. This city is a collection of classy beachside bars with puffy couches and elaborate cocktails, with mega yachts nestled in the harbour and a fort looming over the scene. It was brilliant. On night one Kyle and I managed to find restaurant overlooking the harbour for supper. This restaurant had the added bonus of serving shark with rosemary and vegetables (which was delicious), so we feel that we totally won the food challenge without breaking the bank. After that it was one or two drinks, as the next day was the boat’s respective Hen and Stag nights.

In the morning we hired tiny motorboats and spent the morning exploring the Croatian coastline while trying not to be flipped over by the wake of the mega-yachts…although to be fair, a small breeze could also have done these boats some damage. We passed the afternoon swimming, fishing and eating before splitting off into boys and girls groups for our hen night. The woman heading off to a slinky beach bar for cocktails, another beach bar for more cocktails, and then off to a Croatian organic tapas bar for delicious nibbles and lots and lots of organic wine. The men apparently headed off to one beach bar, stayed there, and drank a lot of beer. The two groups converged on Hvar’s castle nightclub just in time to ring in my 25th birthday. The night got pretty messy for some, and certain boat members have compromising photographs of them to show their grandchildren. I was also lucky enough to get a Happy Birthday dance from both Mark and Jacko, neither of whom were at their prime at that stage of the evening.

Our final day on the boat started late, with a head clearing swim before our last of Edo’s legendary lunches. In the evening we had a pirate party, made even more special by a giant cream cake for my birthday, and a beautiful bracelet and necklace from my boatmates. Some low-key karaoke finished off our night in Croatia. Overall the trip was amazing. I achieved things I didn’t ever imagine I would (swimming in the ocean without being eaten by a shark, wearing a bikini in front of people, tethering up a boat to a rock in a natural inlet, and using a dodgy communal bathroom for 7 days and loving it), and the holiday was definitely one of the highlights of my year.

Three flights later and we were back in Edinburgh and back to the grindstone. Luckily we still had our trip to Ireland (Kyle’s birthday present to me) to look forward to, otherwise the transition from glorious turquoise waters and unending cocktails to the office in Livingston could have been too much to handle.

So- Ireland. Land of charming accents and weather similar to Scotland. Land of Blarney castle, the best castle in the world. It even beats Edinburgh castle because it has the added advantage of actually looking like a castle. And it is situated in acres of beautiful ground and it has all these Druid ruins that could actually be ruins, but could also be Ireland trying to up the ante. Certainly I have seen more convincing ruins (although admittedly not Druidic) in my time. We started our trip in Cork, where we experienced Blarney castle, the world’s reddest curry and pizza in a Rastafarian restaurant. We then drove up the coastline to Lahinch, a beautiful rugged part of the country where the Cliffs of Moher fall in straight black lines to the Atlantic, and the ocean kisses the horizon all the way to America. Kyle and I snacked on crisp ciders and salad overlooking the ocean before finishing the day off at a 400 year old farmhouse for the night. It was brilliant. The following morning we drove through deepest, darkest rural Ireland to get to Shannon airport, which is not the rocking party central you might expect. It was a brilliant

Other things that have happened to us: Kyle pedalled for Scotland, completing an 84 km race for leukaemia. We have a busy week ahead- as we speak my dad gets ready to arrive in the UK via Quatar, and then we are off to Prague and then Iceland. We may or may not turn on the central heating soon. Other than that, time just continues to move quickly and slowly. Here’s to a more timely update next time!

Ahoy there! Long time no post. Two new albums of photos have been uploaded - the first, Pedal for Scotland - the cycle race the Kyle participated in, around 82km long from Glasgow to Edinburgh - Scotlands biggest cycle event. The photos of our most recent trip to Ireland are also up. We flew down to Cork, hired a car and drove up the coastline over 2 days. Was pretty spectacular, Cliffs of Moher, Blarney Castle (kissed the stone) and a host of other things. You can check the photos our of the Ireland trip here, and a few photos from the cycle event here. Planning on posting an update on our lives any day now, keep reading and cowabunga!

This last week saw the start of the Edinburgh Festival 2008. It's hard to explain the incredible size and excitement of it. The festival completely takes over the entire city for all of August, whilst the population of the city grows to literally 3 times it's size. The buses are busier, the pubs are busier, the streets are busier, and you right off the fact that a trip through central will ever be a quick experience during this time. It's extremely festive. People flock from all over the world which means that every time you walk along the streets you hear another language being spoken. In fact, just yesterday I was walking along George Street (the most prestigious street in Edinburgh - all business like and commercial) and I heard a group of woman speaking Zulu. It was pretty wicked. So here are the photos from the opening parade that runs all through the main streets of the city, as well as an embedded video of the starting lines of the parade - bag pipes, of course. It's a great time to be living in Edinburgh. Photos here.

Edinburgh Festival Parade 2008 from Ducklight Travels on Vimeo.