08 September 2021

Last week, we spent a few days enjoying a short round trip Mediterranean cruise between Barcelona and Sardinia aboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s ship, The Epic. Flying with British Airways from Heathrow, we boarded the boat in Barcelona in the late afternoon, spent the following day at sea, before arriving into the port capital of Sardinia, Cagliari, at dawn on day three. We disembarked the ship fo

11 November 2020

January 2020, Ash & I were invited on a 14 day luxury cruise on Seabourn, sailing from Hong Kong to Singapore. Initially we were hesitant to go as we had prejudices cruising. These prejudices were quickly busted and we had a superb time. We look back on this holiday with great fondness as it was our last holiday pre Covid 19. The perception that cruising attracts an older retired clientele is n

16 October 2020

Ash and I had planned to celebrate our fifteenth wedding anniversary, (30th September 2020) in the Greek Isles, where we first said our ‘I Do’s’ on the stunning island of Santorini. However, with all the uncertainty around overseas travel we opted to return to one of our other favourite places Scotland, for another Highland fling. Scotland holds a very dear place in our hearts, we lived in Edinbu

09 July 2019

If you find yourself in Amsterdam for the weekend and want to experience the city away from the usual tourist traps, here are a few recommendations from my recent visit to this lovely city. I stayed with a friend, Choon Mei, who lives in the Bloemgracht (Flower Canal) area of Amsterdam and experienced the city for 24 hours through her favourite places – it always helps to have local knowledge!

02 July 2019

During our sixteen day trip across South Africa, we spent four days in the Drakensberg Mountains - A UNESCO World Heritage region. This part of South Africa, is one of my favourites, but often overlooked by visitors who tend to go for the more popular tourist itineraries of Cape Town, the wine lands and safari. However, if you enjoy hiking then this is a paradise with walks to suit all fitness l

02 July 2019

I love train journeys, so on this our third trip to South Africa, I booked the iconic luxury Blue Train from Cape Town to Pretoria (capital of SA) for Mr J’s birthday. The 994 mile journey takes 2 days or 31 hours to be precise through the interior of the country, offering spectacular views of the wine lands, mountains and desert. Halfway through the journey the train stops at Kimberly - the cent

02 July 2019

A “must do” of any trip to Africa is a safari and despite this being our third trip to SA, both of us were really looking forward to the two nights we were going to spend at the Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve. Sabi Sabi consists of a number of luxury lodges all of which are National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World but each aimed at slightly different types of safari holidaymaker. We stayed

27 June 2019

Just outside of the town of Winterton, deep in heart of KwaZulu-Natal province (the south-east of South Africa), you will find a number of key battleground sites dating back to the Boer War and the Anglo-Zulu Wars including Rorke’s Drift and the Battle of Spionkop. Although you can do a self-guided drive around these sites, given that neither of us knew a huge amount about this period of history,

20 June 2019

Whilst on holiday to Cape Town, South Africa, we took the opportunity to go cage diving with Great White Sharks – something which we hadn’t had the opportunity to do on any of our previous visits to this beautiful country. Seeing the Great Whites up close and personal had always been on my husband’s bucket list, so once he realised that from Cape Town you could do this activity in a straightforwa

13 June 2019

Greece has always held a special place in my heart from my first ever girls’ holiday to Corfu in 1987, to saying those special words ‘I do’ to Mr J in 2005, on the spectacular island of Santorini. For our 10th wedding anniversary we returned to Santorini, and did some island hopping around a couple of the lesser known Cyclades, Ios and the tiny (but perfectly formed) Folegandros. When hubby sugges

05 June 2019

Having enjoyed our time in Dubai in February 2016, Mr J and I continued our Arabian adventure by visiting Oman for some winter sun in November 2016. Our week here will be one of our most memorable, as we celebrated the Omani Sultan’s birthday, saw a Super Moon and a shooting star, and Ash even got to swim with sharks. I reconnected to a piece of family history – my great grandfather had come to Mu

14 December 2018

For our annual girls’ weekend, we went to Seville in September, to celebrate some upcoming big birthdays. Meeting at Luton airport we started the weekend in style with a glass of Fizz. Outside and Inside the EME Caterdral Arriving at our hotel the EME Caterdral, we were greeted right opposite the hotel by the stunning La Giralda, a 104-metre-tall bell tower of Seville’s famous gothic cathedr

14 December 2018

In May, Ash and I spent three incredible weeks in Uganda, described by Sir Winston Churchill as the 'Pearl of Africa' and my parents as 'paradise on earth'. Our visit to Uganda was primarily to run the 2018 International marathon that takes place in early June, see the elusive mountain gorillas but for me, this was also a very personal journey to re-trace my family history from when my Grandfather