It’s almost the end of the year and our thoughts are turning towards 2018. Where will our journey take us and what epic adventures can we plan? If you’re also dreaming of a taking a big trip next year but are feeling overwhelmed with the logistics, here’s a guide to planning an adventure in five easy steps.
Do you dream of escaping the daily grind for an online job that would allow you to live abroad somewhere cheap and sunny? In our digital nomad destinations series, we’re chatting to remote workers who’ve achieved this dream and now live in various corners of the world. This week Shane from The Working Traveller, who I finally met in Chiang Mai this year after five years of following his blog, talks about expat life in Turkey.
It’s only now, when we’re just about to set off on a new adventure, that I’ve felt inspired to sit down and write. Amongst all the recent summer house sits, family get-togethers and work, I somehow lost my will to write. Now the car is ready to be packed, there’s a map with a route through Europe etched in our heads and I’m ready to face the road, and the blank page, once again.
How do you bank when you’re abroad? If you’re anything like me, trying to figure out overseas card fees and exchange rates makes your head spin. If you don’t take the time to research the best credit and debit card for travel though, you’ll end up losing hundreds of pounds in fees. Luckily, we’ve done the hard work for you with this guide to the best debit and credit cards for travellers.
From Welsh weddings to hiking Snowdon and house sitting all around London, these past two months in the UK have been crammed with activity. Between family visits and zipping around the country we’ve definitely dropped the ball with work, blogging and planning for our upcoming Europe trip. So, as we start to pull ourselves together again, here’s a look back at our hectic summer adventures in the UK.
Since we left the UK in 2013, Andrew and I have stayed in hundreds of hostels, hotels, guesthouses, apartments and Airbnb places. While some have been incredible, like our five-star honeymoon suite in Thailand, we’ve also stayed in some real dives and battled with bedbugs more than once. Here’s a look at five of the most unusual travel stays we’ve experienced to date, from a longhouse in Malaysia to a lavish London pig sit.
It’s six am and a cat is prodding me. Now, I can hear the dogs rucking around downstairs followed by the insistent snorting of pigs in the garden. Yes, pigs. Welcome to our first London house sit of the summer! We’ve taken up temporary residence in a beautiful, leafy part of west London that we’d never in a million years be able to afford to really live in. Have I mentioned how much we love house sitting?
Want to know one of my biggest travel oversights? I’ve never been to Paris. Although it lies just across the channel from the UK and I’ve visited France many times, I’ve just never made it to the iconic capital. Since we’ll be heading back from Prague to the UK for Christmas, could this be the year when I finally get to fulfil my Paris wish list?
We’ve stayed in some pretty special places while travelling, including a boat on the Bay of Islands in New Zealand, a wood cabin in Maine and a chic apartment in Chiang Mai. When it comes to fancy accommodation though, Sri Lanka wins hands down. We started our trip with a stay in a secluded jungle hideaway and continued with perhaps our most lavish hotel experience ever at the Theva Residency.