We had to make a tough decision not long ago and have decided not to do the Trans Siberian part of our trip.  Right at the time that we had to confirm and pay out a shed load of money, MH17 went down, and with two months until our departure to Russia, we simply didn’t feel secure enough in the situation to go ahead.  This is a huge disappointment to us but is a decision we feel comfortable with (even though things are calmer now and the decision would probably be different).  We will instead spend some extra time in Australia exploring the north of Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef before heading down to NZ for the beginning of December as planned.

Travel is often about the unexpected, but after such an amazing time in Europe, we didn’t want that unexpected surprise to be a nasty one…..

PS – First of the Italian blogs will be up in the next day or two.