15 August 2022

When we couldn't get tickets to see Coldplay in the UK, we noticed a date in Brussels, which happened to be our first wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, we couldn't get tickets on our actual anniversary, but a few days later on the Monday, and so a plan started to form. I'd never been to Paris as I'd decided to save this as a place to visit with someone special, it is the city of love after all! And so our trip developed into a few nights in Paris then over to Brussels for the concert. When I looked at flights and all the faff that came with them, parking at the airport, checking in etc we decided instead to get a train from Derby directly to St Pancras then caught the Eurostar to Paris. From there we would then be able to catch a train from Paris to Brussels and for an extra £7 upgraded these to first class! Our return journey was then Eurostar back from Brussels to London then train to Derby (would you believe we left our hotel in Brussels at 5.15pm and were sat having a cuppa at home before 9pm). Using the train was really easy, relaxing option and we enjoy travelling by rail. There were were so many places you could divert off to once in Europe and in hindsight, I wish we'd added an extra night in Brussels and gone to Bruge for the day or even stayed there a night. But that can be a trip for another time. I'll be honest, I didn't expect to like Paris as much as I did. We found our hotel whilst looking through one of my Condé Nast magazines - Hotel Wallace, which was a perfect boutique hotel about 20 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower and lots of nice restaurants and bars. On entering our room, the hotel had made a lovely gesture of decorating it with heart petals and balloons. The hotel had a lovely roof terrace with hot tub and sauna on it (I'm told this is quite rare in Paris) and you could just see the top of the tower peaking over the roof tops. A continental breakfast of fruit, fresh breads, meats etc was included in our price, which at £125 per night, we thought was really reasonable. When on holiday, and especially in cities, we tend to walk around, taking in the sights and exploring the streets and surrounding areas. We ended up walking over 20k steps a day but caught the metro at times, which was easy and cheap to use in both Paris and Brussels. We visited the majority of the main sights. In Paris, the Champs-Élysées up to the Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde, Louvre, Pont Alexandre III, Sacre Coeur, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Pl. du Trocadéro, walk along the Seine, but my highlights would be: ~ Eiffel Tower. An amazing structure that was being repainted at the time - not a job I'd like! We chose to pre-order the tickets to walk up to the 2nd level which I think was a good choice and only cost 10 euros each. These tickets become available 2 weeks in advance and avoided the longer ticket queues on the day. I didn't feel we'd missed out by not going to the top, but if you did want to do that, I'd recommend looking out for tickets being released on the official site as they sell out fast but seem to be a lot cheaper than buying a tour. ~ Monmartre, aside the Moulin Rouge this was a lovely area to wander around. We wandered up the hill to a lovely square surrounded by artists and had a delicious crepe. It was also near to the Sacre Coeur. ~ Les Invalides, my favourite building with it's golden domed roof. Free to access the grounds and walk around the garden and take photos but you can pay to go into the museums. Top tip - Montparnasse tower for great views of the city especially across to the tower and there is a cool roof top bar which would be great for sunset drinks. For Brussels, we only really had one day and generally just wandered around, a few places we made our way to included St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral, Manneken Pis, the Black Tower but the highlights: ~ Grand Place, a stunning square in the city centre surrounded by opulent baroque buildings. Lovely place to have a drink and some lunch and do some people watching. ~ Atomium, a landmark building probably Brussels' equivalent to the Eiffel Tower. A metro ride out of the city centre but there's a park nearby to stroll around too. Obviously the overarching highlight and reason behind the trip was Coldplay in concert. Just amazing. I certainly would recommend this as a weekend break and with lots of other destinations to incorporate just a train ride away, it could easily be made into an extended break.

12 May 2020

Anyone who has ever planned a wedding must agree that it’s a stressful time. The honeymoon is probably one of the most enjoyable parts of the whole process and I’ve often heard couples say, it’s the thing they’re looking forward to most! Your honeymoon is going to be one of the most special, memorable, and possibly most expensive holidays you ever have. Therefore, there can be quite a lot of pressure to make sure that you make the right decision, which can take the shine off the task in hand. So what is it you have always dreamed you want your honeymoon to be? • A place you’ve always wanted to visit • An experience you’ve always wanted to have • Luxury and extravagance more than you could imagine • Revisiting somewhere special to you or your favourite place • A unique once in a lifetime trip • Creating that perfect special memory with the person you love the most Being now in that position, albeit due to the current circumstances we have an additional year to plan our honeymoon as our wedding has now been moved to 2021, we have been trying to decide on where we would like to go. As someone who has been lucky enough to travel quite a lot throughout my life, I’ve visited many countries and I’ve had countless breath-taking moments: • lay on the fine sands of the Maldives and swam among the colourful fish and corals of the Barrier Reef • walked along the Wall of China and within the Great Pyramid of Giza • woken up to sunrise across Halong Bay and drank cocktails watching the sunset on the Amalfi Coast • experienced the thrill of Las Vegas and the bustling streets of Hong Kong • visited iconic landmarks like Ayers Rock, the Statue of Liberty, Angkor Wat, Pompeii • With my partner of 5 years, we’ve toured Australia, Cuba and Sicily. So to think of that unique once in a lifetime holiday, that would stand out above the rest, is not proving to be the easiest of tasks. We already have a bucket list of over a dozen countries that are high on our list to visit over the next few years, and countless others we could quite easily add to that. One day we will be discussing it and Mauritius will spring to the top, that would be different we’d muse, to actually relax on a beautiful beach and enjoy some luxury. Two weeks later and we’ll think that a jam-packed multi-centre trip in which we could incorporate several of our wish list destinations in South America is the honeymoon for us. Next our thoughts will turn to a luxury safari, like A Tent With A View, something we probably would never imagine being able to justify unless it was for a very special occasion. If only we knew someone in the travel industry who could help us with some options and help us plan our perfect trip! And so that’s what I’ll be doing for us. Putting together a few options from the top of our list of possibles, creating some itineraries which includes accommodation and activities, because until we see them all packaged up (with the cost), I don’t think we’ll ever be able to decide. For me to start doing this, we need to come up with a list of parameters, not dissimilar to when you usually plan your holiday: • Time of year – remember, you don’t have to go immediately after your wedding, the destination you chose may dictate a different month or season that’s the best time to visit. • Budget – min and maximum. We will be making use of the Travel Counsellor Honeymoon Gift Registry so this may also help us top it up to something even more special. • Duration – mini moon, a couple of weeks or an extended trip. • Other factors you consider for every trip, such as long-haul or short-haul, hot or cold, accommodation standard etc It is also useful to decide what key ingredients it needs to incorporate, for us this is: • Ideally somewhere, we’ve never been before • Involves a unique experience • Provides some luxury within it (at some point at least) • Allows some time to relax But above all, the fact that it is our honeymoon, the holiday that follows our marriage and commitment to each other, the first time we travel together as Mr & Mrs, regardless of where we go or what we do, will make it our most special holiday. That said, as a travel consultant, I better make sure I get this spot on!! If you are searching for that dream honeymoon, and would like some advice, ideas, help or some options, please get in touch or take a look at our honeymoon brochure https://bit.ly/2Lmvr5G to get the juices flowing.

23 December 2019

When my partner Andy and I started to discuss learning to sail, the thought of the cold English waters was somewhat off-putting. So I started to look at options to do this abroad. We found a great offer at the Mark Warner San Lucianu Beach Resort, Corsica in June 2019. Somewhere I'd never visited and wanted to go, so double tick. This activity based resort offered dinghy sailing courses at various levels and at a reasonable cost, in fact cheaper than doing the courses in the UK. So we decided to stay for 2 weeks and do levels 1 and 2. Level 2 certification would mean we could then visit other resorts in future and take boats out on our own. Whilst the instructors at the resort were probably young enough for me to be their mother, they knew their stuff and had all been sailing from a young age. The water sports centre at the resort was all properly RYA affiliated, in fact an assessor was there during our stay to ensure standards were maintained. At all times we felt fully confident of the instructors ability to teach and to keep us safe! After only a couple of days, we were out in small dinghies, sailing by ourselves. At times I thought I might end up on the shores of Italy but successfully completed my RYA Level 1 after the first week. During the second week, I opted to take the opportunity to try out the other water sports on offer - windsurfing, paddle boarding and kayaking. Andy continued with his sailing to complete his Level 2 and at the end of his 2nd week he took part in the Big Race - a fun opportunity for all to get involved, even the paddle boarders! In addition to the water sports, we also took part in the other activities available - cycling into the mountains and to the neighbouring harbour, walking to the nearby waterfall or the local ice cream parlour, tennis (albeit just whacking a ball around the court). All keeping us active enough to burn off the calorie intake from the fabulous food on offer in the restaurant and local eateries. Another side to these types of resorts is that you share them with lots of lovely like minded guests, who at the end of each day, like nothing better than chatting about what they've been up to or learnt, and sharing their experience and advice. The resort also benefited from some of the most friendliest and helpful staff I've come across. All of which made it an even more unexpected and thoroughly enjoyable trip. I would certainly recommend this to anyone wanting to learn something new or have a more active element to their holiday. It's especially good for kids and families, as there's so much more to do to keep them entertained. Next time, we may try a flotilla sailing holiday - but maybe after a bit more practice at the Sailing Club we've now joined back home.