Summer is festival time in the UK. Woo hoo. This year I decided on a new festival, the Isle of Wight Festival. In an attempt to avoid the 'tent issues' previously encountered, we went with a 'posh version' of the camping. This was not the full on posh version, but one where they set up your tent for you, including pumping up an air bed. There are three main benefits to this: One: You don't have to carry a tent/airbed - it's already there!! Two: You are in a separate area, with more space around the tents, and no one's tent is right on top of yours. Three: You get separate loos in your area, so significantly cleaner. There was also a suggestion that there would be shorter shower queues, but that did not pan out.... ... read more

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' - although there are a number of opinions on how this name came about. Was it because of mosses hanging from trees which look like beards? Was it the beards of the locals? Was it that ... read more

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 away from the resort and the large crowds around the few working lifts in the resort. The only small flaw in this plan was the start of the day, as we ended up having to ... read more

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 how every time you round a corner there is some new old thing to see. We had a true touristy weekend, starting with a Vatican Tour. The tour was with myvaticontour.com (I don't usually give ... read more

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 sights. The Fisherman's Bastion was a highlight for me, with its castle like turrets and amazing views along the Danube through the arches in the wall. It is a bit like something from a fairy ... read more