Saturday 21st February was our final day in Istanbul so we retraced our steps from the previous day to head from Europe to Asia. Also as an aside, with our weekend in Marrakech earlier in February, Tiger had been to three continents in just one month - not bad going! First of all we walked to Eminönü, grabbing corn on the cob to eat on the way, then had our lunch (once again!) in McDonalds and then took the Kadıköy ferry over to the Asian side. The ferry was a super quick 20

Waking up once more in Istanbul on Friday 20th February, we had a relaxing lie in and then did a walk around through the Gulhane Park and onwards to Eminönü (the European side of Istanbul), which is where the ferries depart to Kadıköy (the Asian side of Istanbul). We ate lunch at McDonalds at Sirkeci as this seemed like the simplest solution for Tiger, before wandering back to the hotel to get ready for our sunset photoshoot! We had booked for one hour 5-6pm on Airbnb Experie

After our one night in the Venus Suite Hotel in Pamukkale, on Thursday 19th February, we were picked up at 6am (in the dark but at least it wasn't 5am!) for our much anticipated hot air balloon flight after recently spectacularly failing in Marrakech and Cappadocia due to poor weather! Well in the end this was truly the most spectacular experience and was well worth the wait. It was also cheaper in Pamukkale than either Cappadocia or Marrakech, which was an unexpected bonus.

On Tuesday 17th February we woke up in our gorgeous King Suite with Spa Bath (room 303) at the Latona Stone Palace in Cappadocia. This area of Turkey is particularly famous for hot air balloon flights (our hotel had lots of amazing photos on their profile showing the morning balloons!) and, following our birthday trip to Marrakech where we also didn't manage a ballon flight, I'd really been hoping to be able to take a hot air balloon ride here in Cappadocia. Sadly, the weathe

After a busy start to my new job at TASIS England, on 13th February we settled in for a relaxing night in the Luton Town Premier Inn, one of my favourite haunts and a steal for just £38! I just love the free parking here in the NCP next door - by staying in the Premier Inn you simply get a validated ticket for exit. Win! We had a relaxing night then breakfast in the morning - £10.99 for me and free for Tiger. Our flight wasn't until 14:00 so we Uber'd over to the Holiday Inn

On Friday 6th February we finished up with work and headed to London Gatwick airport to spend the night in the Gatwick Airport Central Travelodge where we had a small family room here for £48.99. We actually parked at £29 for 3 days using JustPark at 24 Forge Place via JustPark which is just around the corner from the Travelodge although the Travelodge Car Park which is £10.50 for 24 hours (from 1st October - 30th March) up to 5 nights if you are staying in the hotel so not

After an amazing but exhausting week, having started my fabulous new job at TASIS England , I picked Tiger up from her new school in Englefield Green and off we drove to the Premier Inn Luton Town , about an hour away. I was really looking forward to a good night's sleep (for the grand old price o f £35) and the Premier Inn delivered. This weekend we were on our way for about 24 hours in Tromsø , N orway with Wizzair with the flight coming in at just £81.96. Our packing for a

In early January 2025, I had booked what was probably one of my cheapest flight deals ever £43.96 for us to fly to Prague from Luton with Wizzair - what a steal! I had, at the time, also cross referenced when the Christmas markets were open in Prague, and the answer had been that weekend so (hopefully) it was perfect timing! After work on Friday 28th November, we drove to the Premier Inn Luton Town Centre (£43 for a family room) and did our usual trick of parking in the NCP

After our Halong Bay cruise, we returned back again to the Astoria Hotel and Travel and headed straight out to get our Halloween nails done! Tiger had designs on every finger and toe! We then headed out shopping - I ended up buying another suitcase to take home! And we particularly focused on Halloween clothes as I had a cunning plan.... We awoke bright an early on our final day in Vietnam, Halloween, Friday 31st October. We had a photoshoot booked so first of all we headed t

As I mentioned in my earlier post, aside from the Ha Giang Loop motorbike adventure our whole Vietnam trip was planned via Google and Chatgpt brainstorming! Which was how we ended up on a Halong Bay cruise. This was a 2 day, 1 night cruise and in my 48 years I had never been on a cruise. So this was quite special. I had browsed boats on the website Halong Bay Tours and eventually selected the Calista cruise. I'd mainly chosen it as it was big, had a little soft play in it and

Arriving back in Hanoi late on Saturday 25th October, we had one night in Hanoi at the Astoria Hanoi Hotel & Travel to simply sleep, get our washing done and repack the bags! It is worth mentioning that it is so incredibly easy and cheap to get your laundry done. There was a washing shop almost next to our hotel and the washing (paid on a card, via ApplePay) was just a few pounds and came back dried and folded. I should also probably say here that aside from the Ha Giang Loop

We spent two nights and one whole day in Hanoi, literally decompressing from our inbound flight. We stayed at Astoria Hanoi Hotel and Travel (£77 for 2 nights) which I'd booked on Booking.com but having stayed the first night, then canceled my future bookings and dealt directly with the hotel who gave me the room for 1,500,000 VND per night (£42). The room we had was what they call the Deluxe Double with Balcony - but it does seem worth double checking the price as it is now

We were so fortunate in October 2025 to have a two-week October Half Term which aligned with both my school, and Tiger's Primary School. So, far in advance I started to search for flights around the dates and eventually settled on Vietnam. On paper, the journey looked horrifically long but you certainly could not argue with the price - £857 for both of us return with Shenzhen Airlines! The comparison was about £1400 direct with Vietnam Airlines but I reasoned that after a 14-

Time to escape the UK again for some Italian sun! On Friday 10th October after work for one of us and football club for the other, we drove to London Gatwick ahead of our flight to (drum roll...) Rome! We drove 1.5 hours from Bordon to park at 24 Forge Place, Horley with JustPark for £29.98 (6pm Friday to 7am Monday), arriving at the parking space at 7pm. I'd chosen this location as it was very close to the Travelodge where we were staying upon our return and there was a pub

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