Year in review Pt 2 – 2016

With 5 holidays to fit in here is Pt 2 of our ‘2016 Year in Review’. Read Pt 1 here. Plus if you enjoy this post you can read our 2015 travels here.

So once again lets get down to it with a quick summary of the second part of the years travels.

One of our favourite beach holidays happened in August last year – Nice, France, which is such a beautiful place and perfectly placed to visit the whole French Riviera! A few months later we travelled to the Berlin, such an amazing place with so much to do and see and our year ended with my surprise Christmas present – a trip to Tallinn, Estonia.

Year in review Pt 1 – 2016

It’s that time again for our ‘Year in review’ post, if you enjoy this post why not read my first review post of our travels in 2015 here.

So lets get down to it as we have a lot to cover!

Back in 2016 we reached our ‘most travels in a year’ goal, together we went on five holidays and eight countries. Nick, not to be outdone had an extra two trips with his friends making his total seven for the year.

Travel questions #1

New collection of general travel questions all in one place, got a question? Why not email me here.

I promise others will be more in depth, but we’ve got to start somewhere so basic questions first…

What time should I get to the airport?

2 hours as a general rule should allow enough to park the car, shuttle bus in, get through security, get a drink and wait for the gate number to appear, however, if you know an airport is busier allow for extra time.

Luton for example is having some major works done, as well as major traffic delays for shuttle buses, this meant that the 2 hours we had planned for dwindled away very quickly!

New Years in Tallinn, Estonia Pt.2

Last leg of our New Years trip brings our last two days in Estonia. View Pt 1 here.

Day 3 – Happy New Year

Our New Years Eve was spent walking around Tallinn zoo before heading over to the big shopping centre opposite for food, I can think of worst ways to spend your day. The zoo is only a short ride on the bus and the stop is just opposite the entrance.

24 hours in… Helsinki, Finland

On our second day in Tallinn, we headed across on the ferry to Helsinki, Finland. It was super easy, having bought our tickets online before we left for Estonia. On the day it was just a case of simply heading down to the port, which we had checked out the day before so we knew where to go.

After fighting our way through the queues to get on the ferry we then saw everyone run off, people were upstairs, downstairs, in the bar, in the restaurant and the window sills. It soon became clear that seating was limited as after 10 minutes it all settled down and many people were sitting (or sleeping) on the floor.

96 hours in Tallinn, Estonia Pt.1

Here we are in June and yes, I am writing about Christmas and New Year’s! Here in the UK we have been having glorious sunny and hot weather so it seems an odd time to now be posting about our travels last Christmas… but here we are.

I feel the first thing I should mention is… Nick does not do Christmas. If I get him to participate in anything at Christmas I count it as a win. So when few weeks before Nick announces he is surprising me with a News Year’s Eve trip to Tallinn, Estonia as my Christmas present to say I was shocked was an understatement.

So, work finished for Christmas and week after it’s off to Tallinn!

Trying not to compare…

Just a quick search of Travel on Instagram or Twitter and you are bombarded with beautiful scenery, landscapes and far away places.

Oh!

It is so easy to compare to others on social media, not only for travel, but everything. It is only since starting my blog, that it is hard not to think maybe my posts won’t be funny enough, interesting enough or even seen by anyone.

Will all the hours and effort I have put into my blog be worth it?

96 hours in… Berlin, Germany Pt 2

With so much to do I felt I had just too much to write about in one post! So here is part two of our trip to Berlin.

Read Part 1 here and Festival of Lights here.

Day 3 – The wall

Since my sister had visited Berlin a few years before I had know about the East side gallery, Nick quickly came up with the route and we were on our way.

Festival of Lights

Despite just missing Oktoberfest, I am so glad we were there to experience the Festival of Lights. All around Berlin landmarks are cleverly transformed using light projections straight onto the building themselves.

Every night we were there we would just walk around for hours trying to find all the sights with light shows. Our favourite was the Brandenburg gate which we would make a special journey nearly every night before bed just to see the lights, as the moving projection fitted perfectly with the pillars and was so colourful. Some buildings even had music accompanying the light projection which just added to the overall atmosphere.

96 hours in… Berlin, Germany Pt 1

Wow, just where to begin? Berlin still has to be one of my favourite places we have visited (which I know I say often but its true). Just the sheer scale means that you could never do or see everything in one go.

We were there last October for our standard four day holiday and I feel there was still so much we didn’t see, although we made a good go of it. While we just missed Oktoberfest we did manage to time it very well for the light festival. When I started writing this blog I knew it would be a long one, so much so it now has two parts and one all about the festival of lights as it deserves its own special mention.