Dear Blog Readers, Back to toilet reading business! 3 weeks exploring the wonderful sights and sounds of China await. Untypical of us, we have squeezed in the tightest itinerary we could fathom and our first two stops are Beijing and Xi'an. But first...a bit of life admin to cover off first for those thinking of travelling to China! Firstly, for us in the UK and most countries around the world you're going to need to get a visa before going to China. This can be done initially online (https://bio.visaforchina.org/LON2_EN/) where you complete the extensive application form (it'll take a good hour). You'll also need to have booked everything in advance as you need to prove this at the face-to-face appointment. We managed to get flights for £450 with the luxury Ukrainian Airlines and did all our ... read more

Dear Blog Readers, Our new-found sumo wrestling knowledge made the footage of the latest Grand Sumo on the ferry back to Korea much more interesting! Once shored in Busan, we headed straight to the station and picked up our suitcases from the luggage storage there – highly recommended to save lugging around everything and only about £5 a day. It was the return of trying to find something that we wanted as we fancied getting some of our favourite Chinese food in Korea – jajamyeong and tansuyuk! It took about half an hour to find a restaurant in downtown Busan…I swear there is normally one every other restaurant! The food was superb and worth the find! We had a nice wander around the city in the evening and Laura found a place to buy some trainer-socks ... read more

Dear Blog Readers, A part of our soul was left in Seoul eight years ago when our amazing year teaching English in Boeun came to an end. We managed to come back about four years ago and the heartstrings of South-East Asia pulled us back for a wonderful couple of weeks spending time in both Japan and Korea. Given we only booked the flights a couple of months ago, we managed to get returns from Heathrow to Korea for £555 with Qatar. Setting off from Vienna back to London for a night followed by a short stop in Doha en route and we were soon touching down in Incheon at about midnight. Given how everything in Korea seems to be open 24 hours a day, we have always found it odd that the one place which ... read more

Dear Blog Readers, Nearly two months have passed as I sit on my first flight back to Blighty since moving to Vienna. No, I haven't had enough already - it is our annual trout fishing holiday to Wales coming up with Rob & Meg...only problem is I've left my new holiday hat back at the airport (it was replacing the infamous Panama hat bought in Panama and made in China). Enough of going back to England, let's talk about Austria! An opportunity came up at work to go on secondment to the commercial finance team in Vienna for Sky Austria. At the end of March, a whirlwind month went by where we bought and moved into a new flat before I was whisked away and moved into a serviced apartment on the outskirts of the city ... read more

Dear Blog Readers, Finally taking advantage of a cracking Christmas gift to use the Eurostar and scope out locations for a sequel to a cult movie, we were going to have a few days in Bruges. It was an early start but the authentic French cafe just outside the check in area set us up nicely with a petit dejeuner. It was authentic enough, although I’d have preferred the waiter to at least throw the cutlery down onto our table rather than place it softly. Check in was straightforward and we were on the train in no time and already asleep within half an hour. Next stop Brussels where we had a 20 minute wait before the Belgian Rail train rolled in an took us through the countryside to Bruges an hour later. It was early ... read more