Along with some of my family, we got a good deal on a mini cruise with Cunard on their beautiful ship called Queen Elizabeth. The ship sailed from Southampton to Hamburg and spent a couple of days at sea. This was the third time that I had ever cruised, but I have to say that I am not cruise mad like some people I know. For me, cruising is about relaxing, eating lots, drinking, being well looked after by the ship's crew, enjoying good entertainment and getting the opportunity to sometimes see several places/countries all in one go. This does sound like a perfect vacation, however, the downsides to this can be the cruise being quite costly itself, along with on-board spending and tipping, plus some port of calls you only get a few hours to ... read more

After meeting up with Dave and Merry Jo D MJ Binkley in D.C. earlier this year, they both inspired me to write blogs on my own homeland. So I have decided to write this blog on Cornwall as it's one of my favourite parts of the United Kingdom, and one of my closest friends lives down there, who I have known practically my whole life, so I try to visit Cornwall at least once a year. The reason I don't visit too often is because the drive to Cornwall from my home is about four hours. But the four hour drive is definitely worth it! Cornwall is a county that is mainly surrounded by sea as its the foot part of the United Kingdom. Cornwall was part of the territory of the tribe known as Dummonii. ... read more

It was an early start so I could take full advantage of the car hire and Kate met me just outside the car rental place in the high street of Samara. The car rental firm were called Alamo and they seem to have locations all around Costa Rica and globally. I had the option to be able to drop the car off at another location which would have been good if I needed to go back to San Jose. Once I had sorted out the paperwork we were good to go. I also decided to hire a Satnav as thought this would come in very handy. I felt quite calm given the fact that I was driving in a foreign country for the first time which meant driving on the right hand side of the road ... read more

Manuel Antonio is situated on the Pacific side of Costa Rica and in the southwest direction of San Jose. I was quite excited that this was our next destination as I had heard that Manuel Antonio is an amazing place to visit. I'm told that the beaches are stunning and it's the perfect opportunity to see lots of wildlife as it has an national park. The day started off with another early start and we had approximately a 4 hour bus journey ahead of us as we headed south from Monteverde. We had only been on the bus for about 45 minutes when we came to a halt. There were workman working on the road. I must admit some of the roads in Costa Rica are in poor condition and we found that these workman were ... read more

The previous day I took a flight from Washington DC and headed down to San Jose. Once I was in San Jose, I got to meet my Costa Rican friend, Walter, who I had met from Busuu. I did not see much of San Jose as it started to rain, but did see La Sabana Park. I also met and had dinner with my Chief Experience Officer (CEO) and fellow G Adventure trekkers who I will be travelling with for the next 8 days. My first full day was an early start as we headed over to La Fortuna. Once on the bus, I enjoyed looking at Costa Rica’s green and mountain landscape. We first stopped off for some photos of the last waterfall at La Paz. La Paz has many great waterfalls with an animal ... read more