Paris at Christmas during a Transport Strike

Galeries Lafayette Christmas Tree

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.

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A quick jaunt to Niagara Falls

At 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. 

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An afternoon and evening in Singapore

Marina Bay Singapore
Marina Bay 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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An introduction to the Stopover Chronicles

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.

Taiwan National Theatre
National Theatre during our evening stopover in Taipei
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