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Middle-aged flash packers

Middle-aged flash packers

The ramblings and wanderings of two middle-aged travellers up for adventure

  • About
  • Costa Rica 2015
  • The Grand Tour – Driving from UK to Turkey and back again 2015
  • Oz Odyssey – Australia, Fiji,Hawaii 2016
  • Tea, Trains and Temples – A journey around Sri Lanka 2017
  • Escape to Italy 2017
  • Mission Triglav – Slovenia, Italy, France 2017
  • Sicily wanderings – on the volcano trail
  • Mini adventure in Northern Portugal – 2018
  • Oman 2019
  • Return of the Road Warriors – Europe revisited 2019 Liechenstein, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Germany
  • The Silk Road – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan 2019
  • Myanmar and Thailand 2019
  • Turkey – 2020
  • 2021 – There are no plans. Covid
  • Greece – Pottering The Peloponnese 2021
  • Going round in Circles – Circumnavigating Spain 2021
  • Walking the Wainwrights part 1 – Lake District UK 2021
  • Wainwrights Lake District UK part 2 2022 March
  • Road Trip to Anywhere – France, Italy, ? 2022
  • Into Africa -November/December 2022
  • Panama 2023
  • Jordan Jaunts 2023
  • Cabo de Gata 2024
  • Tenerife 2024
  • 2021 – There are no plans. Covid
  • About
  • Australia/Vietnam Revisited 2025
  • Bulgaria – Roses and Trains 2025
  • Cabo de Gata 2024
  • Calabria – Coast to coast and other things
  • Costa Rica 2015
  • Escape to Italy 2017
  • Going round in Circles – Circumnavigating Spain 2021
  • Gran Canaria – The Isle of Dogs
  • Greece – Pottering The Peloponnese 2021
  • Into Africa – 2022
  • Into Africa -November/December 2022
  • Jordan Jaunts 2023
  • Mini adventure in Northern Portugal – 2018
  • Mission Triglav – Slovenia, Italy, France 2017
  • My blog
  • Myanmar and Thailand 2019
  • Oman 2019
  • Oz Odyssey – Australia, Fiji,Hawaii 2016
  • Panama 2023
  • Return of the Road Warriors – Europe revisited 2019 Liechenstein, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Germany
  • Road Trip to Anywhere – France, Italy, ? 2022
  • Roaming the Rhodope – Bulgaria
  • Sicily wanderings – on the volcano trail
  • Spain La Mancha – tilting at windmills 2026
  • Tea, Trains and Temples – A journey around Sri Lanka 2017
  • Tenerife 2024
  • The Grand Tour – Driving from UK to Turkey and back again 2015
  • The Hills are Alive – Austria road trip September 2025
  • The Silk Road – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan 2019
  • Turkey – 2020
  • Wainwrights Lake District UK part 2 2022 March
  • Walking the Wainwrights part 1 – Lake District UK 2021
  • Sri Lanka- Heaven or Hell? The verdict

    Writing this at Colombo airport, it’s difficult for my judgement not to be coloured by the totally unnecessary requirement for us to be at the airport FIVE HOURS before our flight departs! Add that to a 12 hour flight and 17 hours of sitting around goes straight onto the hell list. Anyway for what it’s…

    veggiegirlmarlow

    March 15, 2017
    My blog, Tea, Trains and Temples – A journey around Sri Lanka 2017
  • Hikkaduwa

    Well an elongated stay at Hikkaduwa was not meant to be. We booked for 2 nights on the basis of if we didn’t like hikkaduwa we could move on and book another night if we liked it. Unfortunately it’s always a bit of a gamble that you can get another night and in this case…

    veggiegirlmarlow

    March 12, 2017
    My blog, Tea, Trains and Temples – A journey around Sri Lanka 2017
  • Hikkaduwa

    Time to move on. Goodbye Unawatuna. We probably stayed too long as your charms are not for us. However, we accepted you for what you are and made the best of it. Hikkaduwa got the most awful write up in the Lonely Planet guide for Sri Lanka. So bad we thought we wouldn’t bother going.…

    veggiegirlmarlow

    March 11, 2017
    My blog, Tea, Trains and Temples – A journey around Sri Lanka 2017
    Hikkaduwa, Turtles hatching
  • Unawatuna – out and about

    folk museum The French Lotus Today we moved from the French Lotus to the Santori hotel just down the road. Booking.com had told us that there were no rooms available at the FL for the next two days and Steve was quite relieved as he wasn’t getting on with just a fan to cool us…

    veggiegirlmarlow

    March 9, 2017
    My blog, Tea, Trains and Temples – A journey around Sri Lanka 2017
    Handunugoda, Sri Lanka folk museum, Unawatuna
  • Unawatuna

    Had the most incredible breakfast today. Didn’t start well as I couldn’t find the “dining room” but at least as I wandered around I found some monkeys. They are very well behaved and stay in the trees instead of raiding people breakfasts. Must be very tempting for them as there is always a banana in…

    veggiegirlmarlow

    March 8, 2017
    My blog, Tea, Trains and Temples – A journey around Sri Lanka 2017
    Garbage, Unawatuna
  • Mirissa/Unawatuna

    All good things have to come to an end – why? That’s what I’m asking myself, now ensconced in Unawatuna. Don’t get me wrong, if we’d arrived here first, we’d probably have been most impressed. A sweeping crescent of beach, perfectly clean sea, reasonably sensible development. What’s not to like? But it’s not Mirissa. Compared…

    veggiegirlmarlow

    March 7, 2017
    My blog
  • The life of dogs

    Dogs are a significant part of the Sri Lankan traveller experience. Ignored by Sri Lankans, the dogs run their own lives and have their own rules. They see “foreigners” as people to latch on to, sources of food and comfort. The small beach we frequent is run by 2 dog gang mafias. There is a…

    veggiegirlmarlow

    March 4, 2017
    My blog, Tea, Trains and Temples – A journey around Sri Lanka 2017
    Dogs, Mirissa
  • Heaven

    What a wonderful day! Started off with a breakfast of fresh fruit followed by three banana and honey pancakes. I love pancakes. Next we pottered down to the beach in front of our accommodation and set up camp next to some fishing boats. A much quieter beach than Mirissa, there were just a handful of…

    veggiegirlmarlow

    March 3, 2017
    My blog, Tea, Trains and Temples – A journey around Sri Lanka 2017
    Mirissa
  • Mirrisa

    Shan’t miss the Raveena guest house. All our stuff feels damp and there is no comfort here at all. Steve was kept awake by the revolting smell coming from the bathroom. The bathroom window looks directly out onto the breakfast cooking area and there is no soundproofing. Yuk! We shared our taxi with Max and…

    veggiegirlmarlow

    March 3, 2017
    My blog, Tea, Trains and Temples – A journey around Sri Lanka 2017
    Mirrisa
  • Let’s get the Ella out of here

    After a very disturbed night listening to whining dogs, trains, coughing and chanting (actually the chanting was fine) we got up and had yet another Sri Lankan breakfast. Chatted to the other guests. That is the one thing I really enjoy about the guest house accommodation, you do meet other people who have interesting stories…

    veggiegirlmarlow

    March 1, 2017
    My blog, Tea, Trains and Temples – A journey around Sri Lanka 2017
    Ella, Ella Rock
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About the Blog

Meraki is a travel blog theme designed to document your adventures.

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