Over the May Bank Holiday, we decided to make a return to Snowdonia in Northern Wales. This time we took our own wheels and accommodation in the form of ‘Brian - not sexy but damn good,’ the big blue van. At 6am on Saturday, Noogs, Sam, Hamilton, Chris and I, all piled into Brian and hit the road. What a trip. While the girls snoozed, the boys were squashed into the front seat, an arrangement that made them look a bit like the members of a George Michael fan club. Luckily us girls awoke for that momentous occasion - the entry [View Full Entry]

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About six months ago our Deputy Head walked into the staffroom and asked if any of the teachers would be willing to go to Italy for the schools first ski trip abroad. Go to Italy for a school ski trip? Not the sort of thing that happens in New Zealand very often. Of course it didn’t take me more than 2 seconds to sign up for the trip. Other teachers later remarked that ‘no one else even had a chance to volunteer’ as Bridget and myself immediately started bouncing and shouting “PLEASE, PLEASE, PICK ME, PICK ME!” On Saturday 28th March, [View Full Entry]

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We have been a bit lazy with the travel blog recently. Work has been full on and winter seemed to take a long time to end this year. We have been away in our van, only short trips to explore a bit more of England. Spring is the most beautiful season over here. Sorry, check out the daffodil shots - wouldn't be spring in the UK without it! [View Full Entry]

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Woohoo! An unexpected effect of the severe weather that whipped in from Siberia this weekend. By Sunday evening, the area was coated in a thick blanket of snow. By Monday morning, we were greeted by at least 20cm of snow, non-functioning transport and cancelled school! Since Chris couldn't get into the office (no buses, no trains) we headed off nice and early for some snow fun. The short walk up to Richmond Park was magical. It usually only takes us about 15 or so minutes but we kept on stopping for photos of Richmond Riverside, The Terrace Gardens and the views [View Full Entry]

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Our last stop on our Christmas trip was Rome. Rome is sometimes described as big, dirty and polluted. Those who describe Rome like this, clearly haven’t been to India. While the outskirts look a bit shabby, Rome was really beautiful and we had a great time. Of course, we weren’t the only people who had come to enjoy Rome this Christmas. It was absolutely packed. Luckily we had four full days to see the sights so we could approach it quite leisurely. In saying this, we made sure we were up early to see the ‘big sights.’ The Colosseum was just [View Full Entry]

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Florence - ahh yes, the capital of Tuscany, home of David and our home this Christmas. One of the most memorable highlights for any visitor to Florence, has to be the first glimpse of The Duomo. It is an absolutely amazing building. So much bigger and grander than we expected. Luckily we were staying very close to it so we could spend at much time gazing at it as needed! Highlights of Florence included - The Duomo of course. The history of the building and artwork inside was fascinating. The Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) across the Arno River. The Uffizi [View Full Entry]

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Once again, Christmas came around pretty quick so we decided to take off and see some of the bigger cities in Italy that would be tricky to visit in a camper. Brian (the big blue van) spent Christmas cold and alone back in West London. It was hard leaving him but it had to be done. Venice, with its complete lack of roads - isn’t the best place to take a camper! Venice is one of those places that really does live up to the glowing descriptions in the travel books. It is gorgeous - the lack of cars really makes [View Full Entry]

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We had been warned about Brussels. We were told it was ‘dull’ so we set our expectations for our city break quite low. In future, this is going to be my travel policy, as occasionally ‘fantastic’ places fail to deliver and our city break to Brussels turned out much better than we imagined! One thing we have learnt since living in the United Kingdom, is that Europeans really ‘do’ Christmas in a big way. Our reasons for visiting Brussels on a cold weekend in the middle of winter were: 1. Christmas Markets 2. Waffles Pretty sad really, but the conv [View Full Entry]

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With feet firmly planted back on European soil and parents visiting from NZ, we decided to visit the place that every ‘Kiwi living in London’ has already been: Prague. Thanks to a hostel-world booking we stayed in an amazing apartment. It was really central, huge and had the most amazing views over the rooftops. For once, getting out of London Gatwick was quite painless on good old Easy Jet and we were in Prague to enjoy Friday night. Luckily the weather gods smiled upon us and we were blessed with stunning autumn weather. Very, very cold but bright blue skies lit [View Full Entry]

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After four days travelling through the most stunning scenery, I was almost afraid of being disappointed in our destination, Leh. While the scenery was not quite as dramatic as the journey, Leh is definitely a special place and was an excellent final destination to our trip. Leh is an awesome little town that seems to give itself over to tourism in the brief summer months. For the rest of the year, the Manali - Leh road is shut and the only way into the area is by aeroplane. Most things shut down and the roads are icy and dangerous. The schools [View Full Entry]

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