My alarm went off at 2AM this morning so I forced myself out of bed and into the shower. My head was pounding, I was suffering from the high altitude, I took a few pain killers and hoped for the best. Hannah and I got all our gear ready then headed downstairs to the foyer to meet the rest of the group, we were the first to arrive. I filled my hydration pack as we waited while one-by-one people emerged. Soon enough we loaded two buses and jumped aboard towards the Andean highlands. The first stint in the bus took some time which gave us all the chance to catch up on some sleep. Though as the bus went further and further into the Andean highlands the roads became more and more dangerous. We stopped for ... read more

Each year Charity Challenge run an event for Tesco staff to support Tesco’s charity of the year. This year the charity was CLIC Sargent and this year’s challenge was a trek to Machu Picchu high in the Andes Ranges in Peru, South America. Both myself and Hannah signed up 9 months before the challenge started and we were committed to raising £3000 each. When April eventually came and thanks to friends, family, work colleagues and Tesco we had both reached our target. We had all the necessary hiking gear and our bags were packed, we were ready for Charity Challenge: Machu Picchu. 15/04/2011 – Hannah and I, along with two colleagues, Debbie and Sophie drive to Heathrow mid-afternoon to meet the group and catch our first flight with Iberia at 18:50 to Madrid. Since Charity Challenge ... read more

28/02/2011 – When I was given the opportunity to travel to Barcelona through work to attend a Philips product event I took it up straight away. Especially since I was recently trying to find time to visit Barcelona, so I asked Philips to extend my trip for an extra night to take advantage of being out there already. After now having lived in Europe for over 3 years this was the first time I was even visiting Spain. My colleagues and I went straight to Heathrow Airport from work to catch our British Airways flight into Barcelona. We arrived around 7:30PM and were taken to our 5 star hotel, Hesperia Towers by a Philips hostess. Once we checked in I headed to my room on the 23rd floor, it was incredible, a very nice hotel with ... read more

The plan for today was to head out to the South Coast of Iceland towards the glaciers Eyjafjallajokull and Myrdalsjokull, to get a good close look at the famous Eyjafjallajokull volcano that recently erupted. That was the plan, and after throwing on layer over layer and eating breakfast downstairs our tour guide from Volcano Tours arrived in his large 4x4 jeep. The majority of the morning was driving, I didn’t realise it was so far away and apart from a very short stop at a greenhouse to see banana trees with no banana’s we didn’t leave the car. Eventually we stopped at a small roadside café where we had lunch. Our tour guide recommended trying some traditional horse meat, however Hannah and I decided against that and went for hot chips and a sandwich instead. I ... read more

31/01/2011 - Iceland seemed to be the place that everyone really wants to go to but for whatever reason isn’t often considered when planning a holiday. We chose to visit during winter to try catch the Northern Lights and timed our visit when the Moon was darkest to increase our chances. Although after constantly checking the weather forecast it was likely to be a very cloudy, very wet week in Iceland. So today we headed to Heathrow Airport to catch our 1PM Icelandic Air flight into Keflavik International Airport, not far from Reykjavik, in the South-West of Iceland. After a smooth flight we took a shuttle bus into Reykjavik which dropped us at our hotel, Hotel Reykjavik in the early evening. It was quite chilly so far however no-where near as cold as I thought it ... read more