Moscow The heat in Russia was surprising, it wasn't that we expected to step into a snow storm, it was just that we hadn't factored in the need for airconditioning or keeping up fluids in Russia. We arrived at Hotel Kosmos in the afternoon after a long drive from Novgorod and our airconditioning and fridge were received with child-like excitement. A decent buffet in the hotel saw the end of the organised parts of the first day and we spent the remainder of the evening peering out our windows at the Space Museum and statues we could see and partaking in one of the joys of travelling, handwashing. We later learnt that during our handwashing exploits some of the guys on our tour got extremely ripped off in the hotel's nightclub paying $50 a drink, which ... read more

It began rather ominously. We slept straight through our alarm and wouldn’t have made our flight if it wasn’t for our persistent taxi driver. On arrival in Tallinn we managed to get out more money than we meant to and then make my card mysteriously disappear. We had to wait at the airport and buy cokes in order to get change for the bus ride into the city centre and then we walked in the completely wrong direction looking for our hotel on the edge of Tallinn’s old town. We were hoping this wouldn't be an indictation of things to come. Bright blue skies and long twilights proved we had nothing to worry about as we spent the next three days in Tallinn. Tallinn is the capital of Estonia, the northern most Baltic State. It sits ... read more

Lara: The Travel Gods have not been smiling on us recently. After our newly purchased road-trip car was written-off and our Icelandic trip cancelled due to volcanic ash I didn't really have much hope of actually making it to Mexico for a conference. Plus, it was a conference…not half as much fun as I had in Quintana Roo last time around. Two and a half years ago Al and I were backpacking around Central America (see ) spending time in Tulum cenote diving and visiting ruins before heading west to Palenque. I was reluctant to return to a much-loved part of the world for such a brief amount of time and to be staying in Cancun, package holiday heaven (or hell), in an all-inclusive resort, the kind of place I would normally avoid. It was, however, ... read more

We had been walking for an hour, with rain dripping from the ends of our noses and the mist so thick there was nothing to see. We had stopped talking and joking about the weather some time ago and our sole aim became getting back to the car and out of the rain. We were in the New Forest, an ancient hunting ground for England’s monarchy, where deer and wild ponies roam freely, and the hoards flock to during nice weather for picnics and walking. Our initial impression of the New Forest was grim and as we climbed back into our car, covered in mud and wet to the core we wondered whether this was a sign of what the rest of the weekend would bring. Using accommodation given to us by Rae & Matt, Al's ... read more

Marrakech - Zagora - Essaouira - Fes - Agadir - Marrakech Morocco has always conjured up certain images for us; images of snake charmers, crowded markets, camels and losing ourselves in hidden alleyways. We had been wanting to see whether Morocco would live up to these expectations for some time now and with Marrakech only 3 1/2 hours by plane from London it is an easy winter escape. Morocco was previously part of our round-the-world ticket but British Airways stopped flying there before we had a chance to make it and we ended up cashing it in for a weekend in Rome instead. This time there was nothing stopping us. We booked our tickets 6 months earlier, arranged the time off work and started planning a brief backpacking stint through some Moroccan highlights. Our easyjet flights ... read more