Dream Destination: Food tour of India

India is one of those places that I imagine you can drink in the colours, smells, flavours, spices and sounds and get drunk on it all. It's a place that I have a very romantic image of in my head, and a place I would really, really like to visit.

However, there are a lot of reservations in visiting India. D is not very keen on visiting somewhere with such a bad track record on women's rights and with such social injustice and poverty. And I completely see his points. I have heard from people who have visited India that it is actually quite an upsetting place to visit, with lots of problems with begging and generally western tourists being a little ripped off by locals. And then there is Dehli belly....

However, with all that being said, I saw this trip on the Intrepid Travel website, which I thought looked really fun. I think if we did decide to visit India, it would be a trip like this we would take.

From Intrepid Travel

Why India?
In the same vein as Japan, as as China before that, India is appealing to me as it's somewhere so foreign - the like of which I have never visited in my life. Asia is vast and different, and this is just another face of Asia I would like to get to know.

Major cities/attractions:

• Delhi: This tour takes in Delhi, India's capital city. This trip affords visitors trips to the bustling Delhi markets, and visits to ancient mosques. 
• Taj Mahal: This white marble monument is high on my India list, adn this tour takes you there and affords you time to explore the English gardens.
• Goa: Time to visit the exotic beaches and gorgeous seafood restaurants.
• Mumbai: The crown in India's business crown, Mumbai is one of the bustling must-sees of this country.

Taj Mahal

Getting there?

Travelling in October from Dublin-Delhi, then from Goa back to Dublin will set you back about £500 per person.

Getting around?

This tour takes care of all the travel and getting from place to place, and covers internal flights, metro passes, private shuttles, taxi and train.

How long do you need?

This tour lasts 15 days, and has stops in eight locations, which is a busy trip but long enough to get to see all these places. 

When to visit?

Between October and March seems to be the best time to visit this country, though it is so vast that weather systems can be very different in different cities and at different times of the year. 

Non-negotiables?

Goa

Goa and Taj Mahal.

Dream Destination: Mainland Japan

Tokyo

For those of you that have been following this blog recently, you will know that last month I started a new series called Dream Destinations, to allow me to explore locations for that next trip we might take! The next big escape we will plan (once we have our house stuff sorted, please refer to China post if this makes no sense!) will likely be Asia, as neither D nor I have been before and it is right at the top of our bucket list. Having visited lots of places in Europe and North America, it is time to visit somewhere that will be a lot more challenging to get around and a much bigger culture shock, depending on where we go.

Mainland Japan (which for the purposes of this blog post I will call 'Japan') is the next stop on this series, and as it's a little more manageable in size than China I am going to explore the cities right across Japan that can be hit up in one super-trip.

Why Japan?
As some of you might already know, I am a huge history buff and love anything to do with the world wars in particular. Japan's role in the second world war in particular is fascinating and I want to go there and explore what I can on the ground. Tokyo is a huge metropolis that I want to spend a few days getting lost in and Hiroshima is at the top of my list for a visit. I have visions of cherry blossom trees, tea ceremonies, mountains and lakes, bright lights, bullet trains, fast cars and great food.

Major cities/attractions?

Mt Fuji

• Tokyo Old meets new in Japan's capital city, home to over 13 million people.
• Hiroshima This one needs very little explaining, the sight of the devastating nuclear attack by American forces. I imagine it would be extremely surreal to stand in the very place the bomb fell and reflect on the devastation that humans can wreck on one another. 
• Mt Fuji There are a few towns that offer exceptional views of the iconic Mount Fuji, some nice spa hotels in and around there offer guests the chance to soak in natural hot springs with an uninterrupted view of this dormant volcano
• Kyoto Large swathes of this city are protected by UNESCO, as so many monuments and relics in the city have been spared demolition of war and foreign forces that other locations in the country have suffered. 

Getting there?

To get from Dublin to Tokyo around October time will set you back £500 (approx) for each person. However, there are no direct flights so watch out for transfer times in airports as this can really make the journey lonnnng.

Getting around?

A Japan Rail Pass costs approximately £285 per person for two weeks, and it allows the user access to the network across the entire country. Alternatively, if the self-guided touring isn't your bag, there are some good tours including this 14 day trip from Intrepid Travel, which will set you back £2535 per person (excluding flights) and hits up some major headline locations, including Tokyo, Hiroshima and Kyoto.

How long do you need? 

I would anticipate a trip to mainland China would take at least 10-14 days to see it properly and at a relaxing pace. 

Autumn in Kyoto

When to visit?

The weather is kindest to tourists in Spring and Autumn, Spring being the time of year when you get to see the famous cherry blossom trees. 

Non-negotiables?

Hiroshima. 

Ground Zero at Hiroshima

Dream Destination: Northern and Eastern China

My heart and head lies in travelling. There are so few places under this big blue sky that I would not go. I wanted to start a new series on the blog, looking at bucket list trips - where is on my radar, and where D and I might look to go for that next big escape.

We have pretty much been putting our lives on hold for the last couple of years, trying to get our house building project underway. Every time we think of going somewhere or spending any money, we feel really guilty, knowing we should be putting away for our house. We are really hopeful that the build will start this year, and I really look forward to sharing that with you all! And, providing everything goes well with the build, we can look forward to getting back to planning lots of trips! I thought it would be good to start this series to explore potential locations we might go, and also to look at the fanciful locations we would love to go, but our budget probably won't allow.

The first place I wanted to explore in the Dream Destination series was China. I have never been to Asia before, and it is definitely going to be explored in the next couple of years, as a matter of urgency! China is such a huge place, I want my first trip to focus on the north and east of the country, so we can take in cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

The Great Wall of China

Why China?
China's ancient history is a massive draw for me. Marry that with the world's largest population, where east is starting to meet west in many ways, and where large modern glass skyscrapers are nestled in cities alongside ancient architecture, and you have yourself a very interesting trip indeed. Aside from that, the more I look into this fascinating country, the more enamoured I become with its practices and its countryside. I simply need to visit.

Tiananmen Square

Major cities/attractions?

• Beijing, China's capital, is a definite must. The Great Wall of China is very easily accessible from this sprawling mega-city. The Forbidden City, featuring palaces of ancient dynasties, are a major tourist draw. Temples, palaces and pagodas beckon, while Tiananmen Square offers a glimpse of history in a more modern China.
• Shanghai This big, bad, bold, modern city is enticing and exciting. I would love to spend one say looking up at the vast skyscrapers, and the next exploring old town and the Old French Concession in the city. 
• Xi'an Home of the Terracotta Warriors, discovered in 1970s, The city's Muslim Quarter has a vast array of street market stalls to explore. 

Getting there?
Unfortunately, there are no direct flights from Dublin, and all involve a stop. However, flying Dublin-Beijing and Shanghai-Dublin, you can expect to pay just under £500 per person return.

Getting around?
Public transport in China is plentiful and cheap. Metro systems are available in cities, and overnight trains and long distance buses can take passengers between locations. I am looking into the possiblity of a guided tour, as when visiting several locations, it will make it easier getting around, knowing the worry is on someone else!

Hard sleeper - night train

How long do you need?
A trip like this would need a minimum of 10 days, and preferably two weeks.

When to visit?
The weather is most favourable in spring or autumn, and I think we would look to go in October, when most people say that it is comfortable in Beijing and Shanghai.

Non-negotiables?
Beijing, Great Wall and Xi'an.

Terracotta Army at Xi'an

Christmas in Toronto - trip report

In the air

PRESENTS

It seems but a distant memory now, but only a few weeks ago I was preparing (with my bronchitis in tow) to head off to the cool and snowy climes of Toronto, Canada. My parents live there, as I have mentioned before, and I have visited a good few times before. Notably, once at Christmas in 2012 when the love of my life asked me to be his wife. Toronto is like a second home to me and I love going there so much.

It's such an energetic city, with a lot of heart and kindness, which sounds odd for a city. But, trust me. Go there and you will see. The people make it, and it helps that it's so pretty.

We flew direct with Air Canada Rouge from Dublin, which is great on one hand as we don't have to faff about in London, Amsterdam or Montreal (as we have in the past) and the flight is only 7 hours long. On the other hand, Air Canada Rouge is not the best airline to travel with, somewhere between Ryanair and Aer Lingus, but it is cheap. In all I think our flights cost £690 return (for the both of us). So I can't complain!

We landed to unseasonably warm weather on the 23rd December, the day before Christmas Eve. My parents live downtown, and we got there around mid-afternoon. My brother and his fiancée arrived the evening before us, and were there to greet us as well. It was a lovely day spent catching up, laughing, settling in, going for a swim in the building's pool and a dip in the hot tub, before a lovely wine and dine and an early night ready for Christmas Eve - only my favourite day of the year.

Brookfield Place

We started the day, as is now tradition in our family when we are in TO, with breakfast at Marché in Brookfield Place on Bay Street. We love this place, not purely for the novelty either! The set up inside is amazing - each station is like its own separate market stall, selling its wares. Each diner in the party gets a card, which is swiped when they add an item from that stall. The food is also really good - and particularly the breakfast offerings, though I would definitely advise trying to get there before 10.30am. Christmas Eve was the most magical day. We went to the city Christmas carol service which is held annually at City Hall, before wandering around the shops, visiting the infamous Bay Window and stocking up on mince pies and mulled wine to bring home for the evening. When we got home, we chilled out all afternoon, I had a bath and a read, and headed up for our traditional Christmas Eve supper of Spaghetti Bolognese. (What else?) Dad has a little vegetable patch in the city, and he made his own sauce with tomatoes he had grown there, and Christmas pasta I had brought over for the occasion. We played party games, ate gorgeous food and drank gorgeous wine, before we all changed into our PJs, made mulled wine, laid out all our Christmas snacks and stuck on Elf. It really was the perfect Christmas Eve.

Happy Christmas

Christmas day was a marathon present opening session, and a marathon eating and drinking day. We had all the traditional bits: turkey, ham, three types of stuffing... the dinner of champions, and the one you look forward to all year! We napped, took a nice walk, and did all the traditional Christmas Day things with the family. It was a lovely day.

The rest of the week we spent relaxing, visiting some nice restaurants and bars. We had a great meal at Wurst, which is a German restaurant in the city. They specialise in sausages and beer - so it's obviously amazing. But the star of the show was definitely the duck fat fries on offer, DO NOT PASS THESE UP. Far.too.good.

I love this city, and will definitely be back. We have lovely memories of Christmas 2015.

Toronto on Christmas evening

Toronto on Christmas evening

Portaventura - Trip report

Well, well, well. Holidays are over. Weep.

It is hard to imagine when you're flinging everything in your suitcase, switching your out of office on and trying to get to sleep the night before you travel that you will ever be back to normality. Portaventura was a complete blast! We had four days with wonderful company, glorious sunshine, amazing food and as much wine as I could handle.

Food and drink

The water park

I wasn't great at taking photos of the food we ate (sorry!) however I wanted to describe the set up for our holiday. We booked on an all-inclusive basis, meaning we could eat until we burst! The Merida restaurant at the hotel El Paso is where we had most of our meals. Our breakfast buffet in the hotel was superb - they had anything you could imagine for breakfast. Eggs all ways, Spanish tortillas, bacon, cold meats, breads, pastries, sausages, coffee, juice, the works. As we were going in to the parks each day, we didn't get to see what the lunch buffet was like - not that I could imagine needing it. Dinner buffet was themed three nights per week, and we were lucky enough to hit that up on the Monday night, Italian night. Every kind of pasta, pizza and pasta sauce you could imagine, and the cheesiest, most amazing risotto I have ever tasted. I really loved the food in this place!

  

Bert and Ernie

We were also given vouchers for three course meals in the park each day we were staying at the hotel. This included certain restaurants in the parks, and was great as it meant that we didn't have to leave to come back to the hotel and get lunch, we could stay in the park. The voucher also happened to include a beverage, for which you could choose the local speciality lager - Estrella. I fell in love with Estrella on this trip! I will definitely be hunting some to keep in my fridge when I'm feeling like I need to close my eyes and be on holidays again...

Our final night we dined in the table service Mexican restaurant El Coyote. I had the vegetarian fajitas, which were sublime. The rest had chicken and beef fajitas, and a steak. All included. We also had wine and beer with our meal and at the end got up and walked away without paying for a thing. All inclusive was really hard to comprehend sometimes! (But we managed it.)





The Parks

Tutuki Splash - one of my favourites

Tutuki Splash - splashing

We ventured into the theme park all three days we were there, and had a ball. It was busier than we expected, and we sometimes had to queue for the major attractions, however I don't think we ever queued longer than about 30 mins. The park was in the process of being decorated for Halloween, and each day we would come in to find the park had been decorated a little bit more overnight! I love theme parks, I find them very romantic places - just pure, innocent fun and making happy memories with people you love. My husband and I have some very special memories from theme parks and even honeymooned in Disneyworld!

Shambala

Lounging near the pirate ship - Polynesia

Shambala is without a doubt the best rollercoaster I have ever been on. Dizzyingly high, yet smooth and so enjoyable. I would go back there for that alone. The 300ft drop attraction, Hurican Condor, was the one attraction we had to queue the longest for - and the reason was that the park wasn't running all the seats on it. If they had have done, the queues would have been much smaller. This was the ride my husband was looking forward to the most, as we had been on it before. Unfortunately we didn't get on as much as we would have liked, because of the queues, but once you're on it it's hard to remember being as scared on anything else in your life.

Overall

I had a blast celebrating my 30th birthday with my beloved husband and friends. I would definitely go back to PA in a few years - the new Ferrari World opens there next year. Until then, I think I want to focus on travelling to places I have never been, and I am happy to take a break from theme park holidays for a little spell. Our next trip is to Toronto over Christmas, where my parents live. They live right downtown, and I look forward to showing you around there. The countdown to Christmas...is on.

The pirate ship - one of my favourites

Boo to you!

Wild, ,wild west

Beware

Holiday plans

This year, we haven't really had much time to head away anywhere. Both my husband and I are hungry to travel and want to spend our lives seeing the world! However, we are also currently trying to build a house, which is putting a huge strain on our bank balances as every spare penny we have is going to our house project.

However, we are heading off this weekend for a short break to celebrate my 30th birthday and we thought a little mini break won't do any harm. I can barely believe I am turning 30, and I am very glad we are going to be off enjoying ourselves when it happens! I wanted to give you a quick update on our travel plans, so you know what I'm up to when I'm gone.

We are spending the weekend in London, first of all. A dear friend of mine is getting married, and I can't wait to see her walk up the aisle, she will be so beautiful. The wedding is on Saturday, so we are flying over to London on Friday and meeting with some friends the night before. The day after the wedding we are flying from London to Barcelona, where we will get a transfer to ... Portaventura!

El Paso lobby

Hotel pool

If you're not familiar with Portaventura, I believe it used to be Universal Studios in Europe before it was Portaventura. It's about an hour south of Barcelona, close to the seaside town of Salou. We will be staying in one of the hotels on site - Hotel El Paso. I have stayed at this hotel before, and it really is gorgeous. For the first time in my life I am going on an all inclusive basis, so I will let you know how it goes.




I am a real roller coaster lover, and we're going with another couple who are the best of fun, so it is shaping up to be a great week. While I'm aware it's not the mind-expanding, life-enhancing travel I mentioned before, you also need a bit of good old-fashioned kicking back and letting-your-hair-down fun from time to time. There are a couple of new attractions that have opened since I was last there, including Shambala - a huge rollercoaster, the highest in Europe! How scary does this look?

It actually might surprise you to learn that I am pretty terrified of heights - but as I call them 'loose' heights. So I could never climb a ladder, but roller coasters are amazing. It's a complex phobia, people.

I'll let you know how I get on and in the meantime imagine a sun lounger, a cocktail and a grin that covers a girl's face. That'll be me.

Have a great weekend!