Happy New Year everyone! This year has been amazing for both Dee and I. We’ve managed to suspend our jobs (Dee permanently!), got our apartment rented out, possessions all packed and hopped on an airplane to explore the word! We’ve seen and done some pretty frickin awesome things and written about most of it. So here it is, what we think our top 10 things we did this year traveling.

The DVS top 10 of 2009

How could we not include our Tour de France experience in this? While it wasn’t the most enjoyable experience riding 50 km’s, half in the pitch black dark… it was a most memorable experience.


Newgrange was one of the first ancient wonders. that we saw, and they were darn impressive. You could touch the mounds and walk in a wooden henge

Banksy vs Bristol Museum was one of the best museums we’ve been to. Poor Ronald, why are you sitting on the ledge? Feeling guilty of peddling your death fries and enslaving people to crappy food?

AK-47′s and Naughty Squirrels Who doesn’t want to shoot the real thing? The Ak47 we shot was probably held in some scared kids hands during the Cold War.


Thorpe Park This ride is temporarily shut down for an essential clean up.

Oktoberfest The full, Golden liquid cup of beer and friendly Belgium’s.

Guadi and Parc Guelle were amazing. Parc Guelle was probably one of the coolest pieces of art I’ve ever seen.

Roni Size and Get Loaded in the Park. ’nuff said.


Eiffel Tower is on everyone’s list and we drank undercover in front of it. Unfortunately there was one regret.


A week partying on Sardinia with 4 awesome friends and drum’n'bass. What more do you really need in a vacation? Sun and Bass was wicked.

And a special thank you to Dee’s Aunt and Uncle, Barbara and Artur, who live in Baden-Baden  Germany. You welcomed us into your home not once, but twice! Both these times were on short notice and we really appreciate it!

I always loved learning about unsolved mysteries and conspiracy theories; from the time I could read and watch TV up until today. Whether it’s the Pyramids of Giza, haunted houses and ghost stories, crop circles and UFO’s or Stonehenge, there’s something about the unknown that’s fascinating in this world of information overload where science has the ability to explain almost everything.

Stonehenge has been featured in too many books to cite, on the History Channel and National Geographic and everywhere in between. I was excited to go to Stonehenge and see the circle formation and wonder why and how this was built over 4,000 years ago. Located just outside of Avebury, England – about 3 hours outside of London, it wasn’t too far from where we devised a route to include Bristol for the Banksy exhibit, Bath for the hot springs, and a trip to Stonehenge.

The site that Stonehenge sits on has been occupied since around 8,000 BC, but it was during the Neolithic and Bronze periods that the majority of monuments came to be. Starting with large Bluestones and Sarsen stones around 2,500 BC, the final large stones were completed around 1,600 BC.

Anything look blue to you? I can’t tell from here, and I’m using the zoom!

There’s a small visitor center on the grounds and you walk around a path about 150 feet away from the stones themselves. They’re as big as I always imagined them to be, however, Deidra says she imagined them to be much bigger. Due to the distance the path around the henge is, you can barely see the original blue stones on the inside. There are dull audio talking points all around, and you can see the hill that people would originally walk up. It must have been amazing walking through the planes to walk up that hill, and then see the Stone Henge slowly come up into view. I wish we could have walked that path ourselves, but there is a major road in the way.

Except on special or pre-arranged occasions, visitors are unable to walk amongst the stones. It’s great to be there and see the henges, but because you’re situated so far away and can’t touch the rocks I find it creates a detached feeling. I was looking at the stones and their mysterious beauty, but without binoculars you couldn’t see if there were any inscriptions or make out the colors of the blue stones very well, they all looked the same. It’s really too bad and creates a similar feeling like seeing the Mona Lisa at the Louvre – it’s great and nice, but without being able to get close to inspect it yourself, it’s like looking at a picture. Unlike Newgrange and Knowth in Ireland, two other Neolithic burial mounds with henges that you can get right up and into.

There are a several things that are being put into place that will improve the Stonehenge experience. The biggest improvement is that the historical society is going to redesign the museum as a whole. A pamphlet we received on location stated they’re going to make a tunnel for the major road, making the Stonehenge area to have no sight of any civilization. They also plan to build a completely new visitors center, which will be about 1km away from the henge, down a slight hill and out of view. Once the improvements are completed, all visitors will walk up a hill and witness Stonehenge crest over the hill with dramatic effect. The feeling would be the same as people who visited this site thousands of years ago, and away from the noise of cars. I think this will be such a massive improvement to the area and would even go see it again.

The other way to get more out of your Stonehenge experience would be to pre-arrange a semi-private visit. English Heritage allows small amounts of people to walk within the rings if it’s preplanned or part of a package. (link: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.878). You can go either in the early morning at sunrise or late evening after the official hours. At time of this writing all morning slots have been booked up past March 2010, so you really have to pre-plan well ahead or find a tour company with available spots and pay them for it. For anyone who’s interested in Stonehenge more than just passing curiosity, I would say this would be a thousand times more impressive.

Summer Solstice Celebration

And finally, possibly the best way would be on either the Summer or Winter Solstice. English Heritage allows free access during this time as well, within the boundaries so you can celebrate with others during the night and then witness the sun rise through the stones. There are only a few basic rules, no amplified music, glass bottles, large bags and no climbing on the stones. Visiting this way would be a majestic experience, up there with Knowth and Newgrange during the Solstice.

Stonehenge is an important historical site, and the fact that it was built 5000 years ago when humans were still throwing spears made from flint is impressive. With the new improvements and alternate viewing options it has a great future ahead of it.

The four of us – Steve, Karen, Dee and myself – had just finished a relaxing evening in the hotsprings in Bath, and a few drinks in a chill little pub playing some drum’n’bass, and were on our way back to the Travelodge. Walking through the empty downtown streets, it was a cold night even though it was the middle of summer. Enjoying ourselves and chatting it up, we stopped at the crosswalk outside the main bus station to wait for the crosswalk to change when a large Englishman and his lady friend came up beside us.

Just then from far across the street, we hear some random yelling. Knowing this was England and they get a bit out of control, I figured it was just some guy blowing off some steam. But the yelling didn’t stop, and in the shadows from across the street a figure of craziness and destruction appeared. This guy was kicking garbage cans, body checking bus stops and being loser drunk. As he swayed and swerved up to the very same crosswalk we were about to cross, my eyes met Steve and we knew there was going to be trouble.

Someone got far too drunk and was now looking to cause a ruckus. He was pretty young, probably 21 or 22, but looked like he had fallen down all the way from the next town’s bar.
Sizing the situation up, I looked over next to the guy with his lady friend standing beside us, and he reminded me of Dolf Lundgren. About 6’4 and at least 220lbs of lean muscle, he looked like a man who could handle himself. Just then the drunk started yelling in a drunkish slur: “whooo are you? Whoo smuchka fee??” Other negative sounding babble poured from his mouth and just as the crosswalk turned green, the drunk started to cross the street, continuing his incoherent yelling. Steve and I started to walk in front of the girls and kept our eyes on the drunk, knowing in our minds something was bound to happen.
What happened next happened so fast. In the middle of the crosswalk the drunk came running up to Dolf, and literally jumped to swing at his head. Taking the punch like it was from Jean-Claude van Dam, Dolf swung around and proceeded to punch the guy 10-12 times in the head, all within 3 seconds! The drunk was now on the ground with blood coming from his lip. Dolf and his girl starting walking away as did we, all thinking that ordeal was said and done.

But no, the drunkard hadn’t had quite enough and started yelling at Dolf shouting, “Shake my hand asshole” and coming up to him again in a threatening manner. I have to give it Dolf as he stayed calm and kept walking away until the guy pushed him from behind. Another 15 punches in 5 seconds pursued and then it was completely over. The drunk was again knocked down to the ground. Finally, we all made it to the other side of the street and gave Dolf the nod and some praise.

An unbelievable 3 minutes later we saw the drunken guy again, smashing into the bus stop and yelling at nothing. I wonder what the 6 security guards inside the bus station were doing, almost certainly avoiding this loser.

Both Steve and I were pretty happy Dolf happened to walk into our lives at that moment, he certainly saved us a bunch of trouble that night. So my hats off to you Sir, I know who I’ll be rooting for next time Dee watches Universal Soldier on TV.