Chris & Nikki
Welcome to our blog, we are Chris & Nikki and we are travel addicts!!!Chris and Nikki
Chris is a born & bred Londoner (and a 'real' Cockney).
Nikki is originally from Chester Le-Street in Durham but has been 'down south' since she started university.
We (try to) visit four places a year and if possible try to make it a different continent each time.
We love life experiences, photography and travel and if we're lucky we combine them all in one trip.
Travelblog is pretty much our diary of places visited & a diary of our relationship,
My present to say 'congratulations' for finishing university Rome May 2005
Our first celebration in Cuba Our one year anniversary
Our two year anniversary Rio, The Carnival & Iguacu Falls February 2007
Buying the engagement ring NYC, DC & Philadelphia 25th-31st December 2007
Speaking to the 'father in law to be' before asking Nikki to marry me I have never been so nervous in my life!!!
Popping the question Proposing on The London Eye
My stag night My stag weekend, Pamplona Bull Run
Buying the wedding rings "Why do you look so scared?"........"BECAUSE IT'S A WEDDING RING"
The most amazing day of our lives
Our Wedding Day at The Ice Hotel-By Chris
Our Wedding Day at The Ice Hotel-By Nikki
Our honeymoon
Our Honeymoon Part 1
The biggest shock of my life!
The biggest shock of my life Part 2
Possibly the best advice ever!
Bad Superman
The Good, The Bad & The Chavvy
Herculaneum
A long & winding road
Renewing our vows on our wedding annversary
We did it....again!
Some extreme sports
Skydive for charity
Wingwalking
and some other adventures along the way
Thank god for ash clouds & the Icelandic volcano, Egypt & Jordan April 5th-23rd 2010 ,
Horse riding in the wild west & gambling in the number one place in the world, Arizona & Las Vegas July 2007 ,
The best xmas & New Year EVER! ,
The most amazing place on earth, The Ice Hotel
and many more (but I wont bore you with them all on the front page lol)
If you'd like to receive an e-mail when our blogs are published just click on 'subscribe'
Upcoming trips.
Apeldoorn, Holland, April 2012
Albufeira, Portugal, May 2012
Travel Blog Posts
February 22nd 2012
I don’t claim to pronounce foreign names correctly all of the time but I at least say them how they are spelt. Chichen Itza, pronounced ‘Chi-Chen It-Za’ Coba pronounced ‘Co-Ba’ Not that hard is it? Or is it? Before a trip one day we heard a group of people talking. Person 1-“Where are you going today?” Person 2-“We’re going to Cobo” Person 1-“Oh really, I hear it’s really nice” Person 2-“How about you, where are you going today?” Person 1-“We’re going to Chitzen Itzen. Well, see you later guys, have fun at Cabo” How many times can 2 people mispronounce 2 names that sound EXACTLY how they are spelt lol. We were the last people to be picked up from our hotel before making our way to Chichen Itza, some of the other people had been ... read more
February 21st 2012
For those of you who have read any of our blogs before you may be thinking "I thought they were already married?". We are!!! It’s a long story.....and this is it. Most traditions are accidental, they are practices or customs that happen every year, that people enjoy and after time people continue and insist on these practices every year as that is what makes the occasion special. I started a tradition this year and fully intended to do it. Now I know this idea is not completely original but currently I have only heard of three other couples that have done this & I only found out about two of those couples in the last month. When I told friends what I was planning some didn’t believe me, some thought it took the specialness away from ... read more
A bad day to wear a short skirt
Published: March 7th 2012North America » Mexico » Quintana Roo » Coba
February 19th 2012
Coba is the only Mayan ruin with its original Mayan name, the names of the others as we know them today were given to them by the Spanish when they arrived in Mexico. We had already visited the ruins at Tulum which, compared to the ruins of Coba, are miniscule. I knew the area would be bigger than Tulum but didn’t realise that the whole site stretches 92km squared. Only about 2% of that has actually been excavated and restored though. We had a bit of a nightmare when we originally booked this trip as our transport broke down before it even got to pick us up so the tour company , as a way of apologising, organised for us to go on another day with a private guide, which turned out to be a really ... read more
Sulphur clouds, Haloclines & Cenotes
Published: March 4th 2012North America » Mexico » Quintana Roo » Riviera Maya
February 14th 2012
This blog is about all of our dives whilst in Mexico, some of the best dives we have ever done. Let me start with some definitions. A sulphur cloud- A layer of Hydrogen Sulphide, which is formed by the bacterial decomposition of organic material that has fallen into the cenote. A Halocline- The point at which fresh water and sea water meet creating a layer of water that shimmers. A Cenote- A sinkhole resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock. It had been a while since our last dive (nearly two years to be precise) so before jumping in at the deep end and starting with a dive in a cenote we decided to brush up on our dive skills with an ocean dive. The house reef had very little in terms of fish, we saw ... read more
February 11th 2012
Our trip was one of extremes. Not in terms of high adrenaline extreme sports but in terms of a scale of enjoyment. I should have known that what happened when we arrived at Cancun airport would not be the only time I would get stressed out this trip. There are certain things that people should never say whilst at an airport, not even if they are a joke. Whilst waiting to go through passport control a very drunk man struck up a conversation with me. You know what it’s like talking to someone when they are drunk and you are sober, add to that the fact that I had been travelling for 25 hours and to say it was an effort to be polite would be an understatement. As we neared the front of the queue ... read more
London ice sculpting festival
Published: January 13th 2012Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Canary Wharf
January 13th 2012
With our one year wedding anniversary fast approaching we couldn’t help but get excited when Nikki found out that the London ice sculpting festival was on from 13th-14th January literally just over the road from where she works. The last time we saw ice sculptures was at our wedding at the Ice Hotel in Sweden. Being that it is January and I’m trying to lose some “Christmas weight” I decided to cycle to Canary Wharf to meet Nikki for lunch so we could see some of the sculptures and to see what other activities they might have on. After the scariest bike ride I have ever been on (6 lanes of traffic on the motorway) I arrived in Canary Wharf. Although I am a born and bred Londoner I don’t think I have ever been to ... read more
December 17th 2011
Recluse, hermit, boring, dull, all of these are things we could have been called the last few months due to our studies, but now we have both finished studying for a couple of months so we’re getting out and exploring. WE HAVE OUR FREEDOM BACK!!! First stop, Borough market. Borough market isn’t like your usual London market, it is alive with atmosphere. A trip to this market isn’t just about shopping, it’s about the experience. I’d heard it was best to go at the start or the end of the day as this was when it was least crowded. We woke up early so by the time we got there we were one of the first people there. The actual market itself is situated not far from London Bridge train station, a lot of the stalls ... read more
Rain. Not always bad.
Published: September 19th 2011Europe » United Kingdom » England » Wiltshire » Stonehenge
September 17th 2011
I think everybody likes travelling in their own country less than any other country in the world, especially when your country rains as much as mine. When you want to visit somewhere in my home country you have to expect it may rain or in my case absolutely pour down. Nikki booked a coach trip for us to Stonehenge, Windsor Castle & Bath, from London that is quite a distance to cover in a day. When we arrived at Victoria station to get our coach, as expected, we were the only Brits on the coach, our guide was also British but from the second we met him the first thing I noticed is how much of a British stereo type he was. Tweed jacket, ‘granddad’ cap and the most British accent I have ever heard. I ... read more
July 20th 2011
This is our last blog from our honeymoon in Italy. We got the train from Pompeii to Sorrento and decided to get a coach from Sorrento to Amalfi, we could have got a boat instead but seeing as this was the part of the trip where we actually got to relax & sunbathe I didn’t want to spend ages trying to find out where to get a boat when the coach was in front of me. I should have really done a bit more research as the coach journey was nearly two hours long and the boat trip would have been about 40 minutes. The Amalfi coast is full of long winding roads on the edge of cliffs, if you’re on the side of the coach that looks out you have a great view but if ... read more
July 19th 2011
It seems like our honeymoon was a million miles away now but I still haven’t finished writing all of my blogs. Ercolano, or as it was known in AD 79 Herculaneum, is another place that got destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius along with Pompeii. After our tour around Pompeii we went with our tour guide to Herculaneum. Herculaneum is much smaller than Pompeii in terms of how much has been excavated however this does not mean there is less interesting stuff to see. At the entrance there is a slope leading down to Herculaneum, which is buried under what is now Ercolano. As you peer over the slope you can see where the sea used to meet this extremely well preserved place. I am absolutely fascinated with history and over the years I have ... read more
Tot: 0.205s; Tpl: 0.006s; cc: 35; qc: 116; dbt: 0.1474s; 1; s:notus w:www (50.28.60.10); sld: 1; ; mem: 2.2mb
