With the West coast of France showing us her ugly side in the way of rain, wind and cold temperatures, this week we have continued to push south towards Spain in the pursuit of warmer weather. We picked up a baguette as we left the town of Nantes. I’ve never noticed on my previous visits to France just how many people carry around baguettes, every town and city we drove through there just seemed to be people everywhere with them- under their arms, in their backpacks, where ever they can find room. The small seaport town of La Rochelle was to be our first stop on the west coast and we had hoped that the rain would let up in order for us to explore the docks and old city wall. However, with our jeans all ... read more

With our UK visas coming to an end in a matter of weeks, we coincided our trip to Turkey so we would be in Gallipoli for ANZAC day. We booked yet another Travel Talk tour for this trip and went with a few friends. Arriving at Istanbul airport was an exciting time for me as being a New Zealand passport holder I didn't have to buy a Turkish visa so I got to wave goodbye to the Aussies in the visa cue and go straight through customs. Turkey lies on both the European and Asian continental plates, with 95% of the Country lying on the Asian plates (Istanbul is the only city on the European side). Istanbul has just two bridges separating Europe from Asia, and with a population of 13 million it makes for a ... read more

I couldn't head back to the Southern Hemisphere without one last visit to some of my favourite things in the world- Christmas Markets!!! After much thought I decided on German Christmas markets this year since that is where they started- and they definitely didn't disappoint! This trip was another weekend trip- and we met up with our friends Sarah and Steven. There are seven Christmas markets all with different themes spread over the city of cologne- with the Cathedral taking center stage to the city. First we headed to Markt der Engel as it was the closet market to our accommodation. I loved these markets, which were angel themed and had fairy lights all in the trees. Next we headed to Weinachtsmarkt am Kolner Dom which are the iconic markets in front of the cathedral- here ... read more

The aim of this trip was to see as much of western Norway in one weekend. As our time in London is coming to an end, we have been trying to get to places that we won't be able to get to on our planned road trip for next year, while still earning as much as we can- hence the Friday night after work flight. We chose to head to Bergen on the west coast as we had heard it was one of the most picturesque Scandinavian towns- thankfully it didn't disappoint. Friday was a write off, as we didn't arrive at our hostel until midnight. We went to bed hoping for no rain for our Norway in a nutshell tour the next day. Saturday brought clear skies so we excitedly headed to the train station ... read more