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

As part of my now rather infamous Skyscanner addiction (!) I had booked an amazing deal with Wizzair for 2 nights in the wonderful...

On Saturday 16th August, we awoke to our last day in Georgia. As we had a long day we had a relaxing breakfast at our guesthouse and...

On Thursday 14th August, it was finally time to leave Sighnaghi and this time we were headed to Kazbegi (also known as Stepantsminda)...

After our long car and train journey the day before (Ushguli to Kutaisi to Tbilisi) we had bedded down at the Tbilisi Stay Hotel which is...

On Monday 11th August, we started what was a bit of an epic journey from Ushguli to Kutaisi to Tbilisi. The Wanderlush blog had advised...

On Sunday 10th August after our last wonderful guesthouse breakfast we headed down into Mestia to meet our 10:00 tour to Ushguli, 2 hours...

On Friday 8th August, we had an early start for our trip to Mestia where we were going to stay for 2 nights. On the sound advice of the...

On Wednesday 6th August, we headed off from Gori to Kutaisi for 2 nights, a journey of about 185km. We already knew from the Wanderlush...

On Tuesday 5th August, it was finally time to leave Tbilisi and start our backpacking tour of Georgia! Although it is possible (and...

On Monday 4th August, we set out from Tbilisi for our day trip to David Gureja Monastery and Udabno via Get My Guide . This was with...

Since researching Georgia, I had found Emily Lush's amazing "Wanderlush" blog and although I also referred to the Bradt Guidebook to...