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.

Souvenirs from our travels

I think one of the most important parts of a holiday is the memories you take back with you. For me I enjoy bringing back certain souvenirs or mementos, just little things to remind me of places we have been and the funny times me and Nick have had.

I am a massive photo addict so I always have a wide range of photos to remind me but certain souvenirs can bring back a memory, whether thats a funny one of something me and Nick had said or a place we have been too.

A day in… Monte Carlo, Monaco

After a great breakfast and waiting at the bus stop in the massive queue we finally got on the bus and was riding along the coast. We arrived in scorching Monte Carlo and our first thought was where to start?

96 hours in Nice, France

The word of the holiday was ‘hot, hot, hot!’.

Nick had visited Nice earlier in the year, for one of the Euro 2016 football matches and he came back with only great things to say, meaning another holiday was in the making. A total change of pace from our usual city breaks! I must admit, I was completely unprepared for a lovely sun filled beach holiday and I also severely underestimated just how hot Nice can get.

Most of the holiday was spent walking around while Nick desperately tried not to say ‘when we came we did this..’ too much! Although it didn’t bother me as I knew the comments came from past experience and meant we could cleverly spend our time. The best of his recommendations however was the ice cream stall just down the street from the fountain at Place Massena. A mix of Kinder Buenos and Ferrero Rocher ice cream – yes please! Two trips to this stall were essential.

How we book our holidays

Most of our planning happens while we’re still on holiday. We’re already looking to the next place, next country and next trip.
We both have now comfortably, and unintentionally, found our ‘jobs’ when it comes to holiday planning. Nick is logistics man, if you need flights, transfers or use of public transport he’s the one to call. Me, I’m more excursions and entertainment. I can be logistically minded, as hotels falls to me, but I can find lists of things to see from one quick search.

As you read, you will most likely find these steps are along the same lines to what you would expect flights, hotel etc. Obviously you need flights and somewhere to stay, they are a given, but what about all the little things?

96 hours in… Rome, Italy

Another trip back in time to March 2016, when we travelled to Rome for another of our long weekend getaways.

Our holiday may have got off to a slow start, with a long wait for our coach and a walk across Rome to our hotel (awful idea with suitcases and mildly put cobbled streets) but you would be unsurprised to know it is a fast moving city…literally. If its not the mopeds, its the taxis and if its not the taxis its the segways zooming along.

We visited all of the well known tourist sites, the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Trevi fountain, the Vatican, the Pantheon and The Spanish steps. We soon got our bearings though and could walk around and work our way back to our ‘checkpoint’ building, putting to rest my fear of getting lost.

From this trip a few tips came to mind, so I thought instead of a day by day (mostly taken up by walking) I would set it out in chronological tips.