Rome for Lovers

We have always saved Rome for our honeymoon – partly as my parents went there on their honeymoon so it’s a bit of a family tradition, and partly as it’s meant to be a romantic city so sounded perfect! And so yes Rome was our Honeymoon, and yes, we have got married!! We had a simple registry office wedding with close family and a meal in a restaurant afterwards. It was perfect for My Husband and I (ha ha! still sounds so strange!!). But enough of that – on to Rome!

Our favourite place was the Trevi Fountain. This surpassed our expectations as we thought it would be a small fountain but its sheer scale and magnificence surprised both of us. (That’s a person, bottom right of the photo, and a building on the left of the photo!) Caution, this is swarming with tourists at any time, day or night, so it’s difficult to get any space or a good photo without heads or limbs in it.

Needless to say, the Spanish Steps are also very touristy.

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Underwhelmed, Overwhelmed, Travelling Free

As any traveller will know, some places surpass expectations and blow your mind. Others sadly disappoint and leave you feeling underwhelmed and fed up. For those places – at least you found out first-hand! Here are a run-down of the places which Underwhelmed me, and the places which Overwhelmed me. (and 10 points to anyone who got the fairly obvious Wombles reference!)

Places which Underwhelmed me Compared to my Expectations

The Great Barrier Reef, Australia: I was led to believe this would be an underwater paradise, with brightly coloured fish and a kaleidoscope of corals.

Our Cheesy Pilgrimage to Camembert, France

The cheese tour continues – we recently visited Roquefort, France to visit the cheese caves due to my devotion to Blue Cheese. So now it was time to visit Camembert, in northern France. I was so excited to be there!!

Camembert is a tiny village with just a few houses, a church, a town hall, and for tourists, a small Camembert Museum and a visitors centre. We visited both, obviously.

My Top 5… Best Travel Experiences

Needless to say, I love travel, so it is difficult to pull together my best 5 experiences ever. Here is my best try:

Five:  Driving the open Road on a Road Trip

We have had various awesome road trips (around New Zealand,  France,  Florida,  Utah, Tennessee,  Santorini and Yellowstone) and I love the open road. I love the independence you feel when you’re in a car. We don’t have a car at home, so maybe this is why I love it so much. It feels convenient, safe, and personal, like our little bubble. Driving a road trip has to be one of my top 5 travel experiences ever!

144 hours in Shanghai

What can I say about Shanghai? The pictures in the guidebook showed an exciting fast-moving city with bright lights and an impressive cityscape. And it did not disappoint.

Shanghai felt fairly western so was not difficult to navigate. Signs were in English, and there was an abundance of western high street chains. This centred around Nanjing Lu (Nanjing Road) which is full of neon lights and large shops and shopping malls. You can find the likes of H&M, Forever 21 and the Apple shop here as well as Chinese brands, souvenirs, jewellery, electronics etc.

Eating “Poo” out of a Urinal while sitting on a Toilet?! – Food in Taipei

Probably the funniest and most bizarre culinary experience we have had was at the Modern Toilet Restaurant in Taipei. This is, um – UNIQUE – to say the least! A whole restaurant themed around Toilets. The seats were toilets, the plates were like urinals, and all the interior design was themed around toilets.

The meals – all themed around excrement, naturally, included dishes such as Turd Sub Sandwich, and Poop Meatballs. These were advertised outside with a sign saying “Welcome to try our crap!”.

A Day Trip to Hong Kong (because, why not?!)

If you have a spare day in Macau, you can easily do a day trip to Hong Kong. Most information online is for people staying in Hong Kong and wanting to do a day trip to Macau – but we did it the other way! 🙂

We took the Cotai Water Jet from Cotai in Macau, to Sheung Wan, HK. This takes around an hour but the boat is comfortable so you can quite easily be lulled to sleep. And when you wake, you are in the hub-bub of Hong Kong!

No Money, No Friends in Macau Casinos

It is often said that Macau is the Las Vegas of the East. We have been to Las Vegas not one, not two, but three times, and we really love it! So we decided to complete the pilgrimage so visit Macau.  In fact, Macau has overtaken Las Vegas many times over in being the world leader in terms of revenue. So really, is Macau the Las Vegas of the East, or is Las Vegas the Macau of the West? Ooh controversial! (My view: LV came first so will always be the OG!)

First impressions of Macau was quite overwhelming – I had expected it to feel like Vegas, but it didn’t feel anything like it. Strangely it reminded me of Panama due to the thick jungle around, low lying cloud, and stifling heat.  It was also poorer than I had expected in terms of the housing of the local population, in contrast to the opulence and excess of the casino hotels. Like nearby Hong Kong, Macau is its own Special Administrative Region of China. And Macau is the only place in China where gambling is legal, and coaches bring tourists from the nearby Chinese border straight to the casinos.

How to Travel if you are Scared of Flying

I have taken more flights than I care to count, and flown to six of the seven continents on the planet. I have even flown in a tiny Cessna with four seats in it, and flown a glider. So it comes as a surprise to many that I am PETRIFIED of flying!

I think it all started the year that MH370 disappeared, and then the other Malaysian Airlines flight was shot down over Ukraine, and then the plane crashed in the alps.

48 hours in Stockholm

This was an extra cheeky trip as I went for a conference for work, and rather romantically my BF came out to meet me there!

We only had a short break, but as Stockholm is cute and compact (and expensive!), that worked out well!