That wonderful apartment in London. Those windows! Hearing Daisy say "Mum this REALLY feels like London!" And it did. That special Sunday with friends. Driving with the top down through Holland Park, Rolling Stones blaring from the speakers. Seeing her walk that mountain with … [Read more...]

The afternoon of our guided tour with Singapore tourism saw us arrive at Gardens by the Bay a huge garden complex which opened in 2011. It's a tribute to Singapore being a true garden city - they like to know it as a city in a garden rather than the other way around. The gardens (including the … [Read more...]

Earlier in the year I was contacted by Singapore tourism about working with them which was exciting because we were already planning on going at the end of this trip. And we've never been! AND I had no idea about what would work with 2 kids aged 4 & 7. I was stoked that they wanted to arrange a … [Read more...]

We arrived in Singapore a little weary and bleary eyed after our trip from London via Dubai. The timing of the flights meant that we travelled all through the night arriving at 3pm in the afternoon with just 3 or 4 hours sleep under our belt. Not so fresh. We're staying at the York Hotel which was … [Read more...]

This holiday was never going to be about shopping. It was a family trip - about time spent together, experiencing things, DOING things and even though at times all I wanted to do was meander through the shops for hours on end, the time we have spent together as a family (except for today when we all … [Read more...]

This morning I'm sitting in our airport hotel room (in our large white lost luggage t-shirts given to us when all our bags bar carry on were lost and still not located somewhere between Split, Dusseldorf & Heathrow) already feeling a million miles away from the sunshine and crystal clear water … [Read more...]

We had the perfect farewell afternoon and evening here today. A gorgeous afternoon after a rainy morning. A swim. A beautiful simple seafood dinner. A post dinner walk down for a game of football with some lovely local boys. An ice cream. And now a world cup viewing (how can that BE the … [Read more...]

We're back from a couple of days in Hvar an island just across from where we have been staying on Korcula. Hvar is just gorgeous - a beautiful old town with an amazing fort overlooking the town some seriously fancy boats and super yachts lining the harbour. Beautiful people, backpackers, tourists, … [Read more...]

Words won't do justice to what we experienced last night. A huge dinner in the most remote place up a mountain overlooking the most beautiful view I ever have seen. I can't explain the feelings, the emotions, the taste of the simple and delicious food, the light, the music of the clappers singing, … [Read more...]

Harps has been a little hesitant swimming here. If the water is a little rough she finds an excuse not to get in. If it's too deep, or rocky, or cold, or warm. You get the picture. But occasionally, if the stars align, and the conditions are perfect she gets in a swim. Yesterday afternoon was one … [Read more...]

Last night we had our first "official" birthday celebration as almost all of the guests (bar 3) have arrived from all the various corners of the world. It was a BBQ dinner on the terrace on the loveliest of warm evenings. Can we talk about the 22kg's of meat that we ate? (not sure if we ate ALL but … [Read more...]

Yesterday afternoon we all headed just 30km's away to Korcula for a day trip with our big group (the Griswalds eat your heart out). The weather was a little dark and stormy before clearing up for the most beautiful afternoon. It's so funny in a big group but just so wonderful too - there's always … [Read more...]

We arrived in Split yesterday afternoon to perfect sunshine and warmth. We were met down at the ferry wharf by all of my sister in laws family - a perfect welcome to this beautiful small area of the island of Korcula. We're in Prigradica where my sister in law's family live. We're staying in the … [Read more...]

Well here we are at the end of 2 weeks of amazing travel. 1300 miles driven. 158 ice creams consumed. A few fights in the car. Many tears from little people. Many tears of happiness from this big person. SO much laughter. Pavements walked. Photos taken. Castles seen. Gardens admired. Memories made … [Read more...]

The thing that has been most surprising, and the most delightful this trip has been the 'happy accident'. These are the things that you just happen upon - whether it's by sheer luck or happenstance. There's been a couple of things that have helped along us get to these along the way, but again just … [Read more...]

A lovely reader of mine wrote a comment on one of my posts from the last few days about "thin places". She explained that there are certain places in the world where the distance between earth and 'heaven' are thin...there's almost no space between the two. I looked it up, and it's a celtic thing. I … [Read more...]

The clan Donald (Macdonalds that we are) established itself on Skye in the 15th century occupying castles a few miles from here and at Duntulm in the north (where we visited yesterday). From the 1650's they started to stay just down here in a version of this castle, until 1790 when a new mansion … [Read more...]

We travelled from Loch Ness across to Skye yesterday afternoon and boy did this country open up. HUGE mountains that rise up from the road that travels through it. I had my heart in my mouth, tears spilling down. It was just so beautiful. And here we are, seeing it, doing it, driving it, IN IT. We … [Read more...]

You know when you plan a holiday, you kind of imagine days? You day dream them when you are tired and cranky and dealing with the same old stuff, you think about them when you are stressed out from working towards them, you fantasise about them playing out scenes in your head from what you have seem … [Read more...]