The world is a big place and it can be quite daunting to try and figure out which parts of it you most want to see. Most people only have so much money and only so much time. This is one of the reasons that I recommend making a ranked list of where you want to visit. This list does not need to be based on any conventional logic and should be personal to yourself. It can be tempting to try and visit places you have seen other people go just because they are popular now, rather than putting in the effort to figure out what exactly it is you want in your holiday.
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Portugal – Chicken and Pastéis de Nata
We visited continental Portugal in the autumn of 2019 and had a fantastic time. Portugal has such a wide variety of sights and activities that it is likely that even the pickiest of travellers would be able to find something to enjoy. We split our vacation between the Algarve and Greater Lisbon which gave us a perfect balance of stunning natural scenery and man made marvels. In this guide I hope I can inspire you to visit and to save some money while you are at it.
Continue reading “Portugal – Chicken and Pastéis de Nata”Paris at Christmas during a Transport Strike
On our way to spend Christmas in the Philippines, our flights were actually starting in Paris, since flights from there during school holidays were considerably cheaper than flights from the UK. Since we were flying out of Paris on Sunday, I thought it might be a nice idea to fly out on Saturday Morning, and spend some time in Paris before our departure.
Continue reading “Paris at Christmas during a Transport Strike”Tuscany: A Food Holiday on a Budget
Shortly before little person turned one, we decided it would be nice to visit Tuscany. Tuscany is obviously one of the most popular tourist destinations on earth and for good reason. It has the combination of beautiful natural scenery, breathtaking monuments, world class art and most importantly in our opinion amazing food.
Continue reading “Tuscany: A Food Holiday on a Budget”Baby’s first flight – Tips and Experience
Maternity/paternity leave is an excellent time to travel. Not needing to coordinate with others or timetables for holiday booking can give you the opportunity to take holidays when you previously wouldn’t have been able to. This is especially true for anyone who works in education who would have previously been restricted to travelling during school holidays.
Continue reading “Baby’s first flight – Tips and Experience”Stuck on Big Island, Hawaii
Our trip to Hawaii was the culmination of many years planning. Hawaii had always seemed like somewhere we would probably never get to, considering its distance from the UK, so finally making it there was quite a big deal. We visited three islands as part of the holiday, flying into Maui, proceeding to Oahu, then planning to end with six nights on Big Island, split between Kona and Hilo. Kona was also our first ever AirBNB experience so it was quite a few firsts we were experiencing.
Continue reading “Stuck on Big Island, Hawaii”A quick jaunt to Niagara Falls
On our trip to the Western USA and Hawaii in 2019, we were flying to San Francisco from London on Air Canada via Toronto. We had a seven hour stopover in Toronto and initially planned to get out into the city for a look around. The day before we were due to leave, I suddenly had the idea of hiring a car and driving to Niagara falls instead, since we would not be affected by the traffic leaving Toronto in the evening. I quickly booked a car hire and thus began one of our more ambitious stopover adventures.
Continue reading “A quick jaunt to Niagara Falls”An afternoon and evening in Singapore
Our first major long haul trip as a couple was to Bali in 2013. We were flying Singapore Airlines and I discovered both that Singapore had the highest rated airport in the world and also that Singapore was one of the highest rated stopover destinations globally. As such at the end of our 22 days in Bali, I decided to add an eight hour stopover in Singapore.
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Nowadays. Everyone seems to be in a rush to get to wherever they are going as quickly and as conveniently as possible. Many people are willing to pay a premium to ensure they can get a non stop flight to their destination of choice. This series is going to discuss the merits of abandoning that as a goal and taking advantage of what stopovers can give you. To date we have had meaningful stopovers involving exploration in several locations including Singapore, Taipei, Toronto, Ho Chi Minh City and Cairo. I will have further posts to discuss the particulars of these stopovers but there are several advantages that are common to all of them.
Santorini – A slice of Aegean paradise without the price tag
Santorini almost always comes up when you are looking for an idyllic honeymoon spot. Scenes of people in pools looking out over the caldera have become synonymous with ultimate couple luxury. We had originally short listed Santorini as a potential site for our own honeymoon but in the end we decided it would take too much travel to get there from the location of our wedding, Barbados. Years later, after Little Person arrived, I decided that I would finally tick Santorini off of our list and was challenged with planning a relatively inexpensive but comfortable trip where we could hopefully experience all that Santorini had to offer.
Continue reading “Santorini – A slice of Aegean paradise without the price tag”Eat like a local – In honour of food courts
We discovered quite early in our travels that one of the best ways to truly experience a destination is to eat where local people eat. This is especially true in more developed holiday locations where the local populace have a reasonable amount of disposable income. On top of this, one of the best and easiest ways to eat like a local is to eat in a food court. For the point of this article a food court is a location with shared seating and a number of permanent food service venues (not popup food markets which is something quite different). These locations can be as simple as a food court in a mall or shopping centre, or bespoke dining destinations such as the Timeout food courts model.
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