All that snow was getting us down (well, not really, but the season had drawn to a close), so for the first May bank holiday weekend (plus a couple of extra days) we decided to head to the warmth of the Caribbean for a few days in the sun. So, what is there to know about Barbados?: * No one heads there for 'just a few days'. Some people are there for 'only a week', but the majority for 12 - 14 days. They look with compassion on the inexperienced who book for a shorter time. * Barbados means 'bearded' - [View Full Entry]

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As the ski season drew to a close we spotted a great deal at a chalet in St Anton and couldn't resist the lure of Easter at the snow (finally - some good comes out of the credit crunch!!). Our chalet was fabulous, with an indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi and sauna. We had a 5 course dinner cooked every night, and the food was amazing (thanks Craig!!). As if that was not enough, there were champagne and canapés to start ... needed the skiing to work off all that delicious food. The skiing was proper spring skiing, icy in the morning [View Full Entry]

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Our second ski trip of 2009 was a week in Meribel with N's brother, sister-in-law and their 4 kids (aged 3 - 11). Meribel is part of the Three Valleys (Courchevel, Meribel and Val Thorens) - apparently the largest linked ski resort in the world. However, the 600km of piste was not enough for us (I know, greedy, greedy), so we organised two off-piste days. The first was well planned (or lucky...), as it was a particularly windy day. For the entire day, only the lower lifts on the mountain were open. Turns out it was a great day to get [View Full Entry]

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It is cold and dark in London, it is snowing in Europe ... that can only mean one thing - it is time to go on another ski holiday. To celebrate the start of 2009, I headed to Zurs in Austria. Zurs is billed as a 'quiet, exclusive haven' in the Alberg Mountain range. Quiet it certainly is - there is only a tiny corner store, no pubs (only hotel bars), three ski shops and said hotels. Interestingly, it is only about 20 mins drive from St Anton - one of the most party ski resorts I have been to. In [View Full Entry]

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And figuring it was about time I followed one there, I convinced Neil it was time for a weekend in Rome you know, doing what the Romans do (luckily they no longer dress in skirts and silly hats). So, if what the Romans do is eat pizza and pasta, drink lots of coffee, wander around marveling at 'old stuff' and fail miserably at speaking Italian (although I kind of doubt it), we managed it. We love Rome. It's just so full of old stuff (definitely not built in a day). I know that this sounds ridiculous, but is is truly amazing [View Full Entry]

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We love Wales! So when we had another free weekend, we decided to head back to the Brecon Becons for another weekend of walking, this time with Prehn and Rich for company. This time we headed to the west Brecon Becons (an area sometimes overlooked by walkers - so much so that the guide the tourist office gave us said "We'd like to thank you for coming to the area, an region of the Brecon Becons not often visited"). We felt happy to have helped. The trip there was not entirely eventless - the traffic was terrible and a 3.5 hour [View Full Entry]

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On my birthday weekend, we headed to Budapest. It is true, it is beautiful. It's also fascinating, having been a communist country until 1990. Budapest is actually made up of three cities, Buda, Obuda and (to make things easy) Pest, joined by the bridges across the Danube, which merged in 1873. The city was largely destroyed in the Second World War (in the aptly named 'Battle of Budapest', all of the bridges were bombed out of existence), and rebuilt thereafter. I've gotta say, they did a good job! First off we headed to Buda, the old town, to check out the [View Full Entry]

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When I heard that my mate Rachel was going to be in New York during the US Open, the decision to travel over to meet her for a 4 day weekend was a no-brainer. It was fabulous to see her after 15 months, and the trip was worth it for that alone, but NY NY had so much more to offer. Day 1 we headed to the Open at Flushing Meadows- seeing the 'Bryans' win the men’s doubles, as well as both the women's semi finals (Serena/Safina and Jelena/Elena - no wonder they use the latter's last names!). We also saw [View Full Entry]

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In August in the UK it is traditional to go on a summer holiday. Who am I to buck a trend? You know how I like to be doing what all the kids are doing. Accordingly, I took a WHOLE WEEK off work and N and I headed to the north of Spain for a ‘compromise holiday’ consisting of walking and relaxation. Actually, it was not that much of a compromise, as I love walking and am quite hopeless at relaxing for long periods of time. I did, however, put my foot down and insist on proximity to swimmable water. First [View Full Entry]

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A weekend walking in the Peak District comes highly recommended, so it was time for me to give it a go. We headed to Castleton, a small town in the Vale of Hope (aww lovely). We chose the Kinder Scout climb, first making our way up a dry(ish) river bed to the peaks plateau (the highest in the Peak District). There were lots of people following the same route (although apparently nothing like the ‘highway’ it is in summer). However, once the ascent is made, people disperse around the plateau, which is basically a bog. The peat bog on the Kinder [View Full Entry]

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