Gdansk Poland Christmas Market December 2024

Gdansk Poland

3 Days in Gdansk I first heard of Gdansk in 2023 but unfortunately the flight prices were too expensive so it wasn't until 2024 that we visited this beautiful place for the Christmas markets.

After an entertaining start at Stansted with the parking, a little confusion as to if it had actually been booked at meet and greet unfortunately it turned out there was a booking issue so it had not, so it was a few drives around the Stansted airport roundabouts while we booked the mid stay and even saved a few pounds. Our flight was on-time and on landing it wasn't long before we were outside ready to book our transfer to the hotel. This time we used Bolt, it was half the price of Uber, and cost only 56 pln (£11) for a 27 minute journey to our hotel and we only waited 2 minutes to be picked up.

New Delhi Trident Hotel India Last part of our 10 day trip in India

New Delhi Trident Hotel India Last part of our 10 day trip in India

For our last 2 nights we stopped back in New Delhi at a hotel we found via google maps and its reviews, we booked this before we left the UK ourselves, the Trident Hotel  is the best hotel to date we have ever stayed in, and it was the perfect final place to chill out and revisit our first of hopefully many adventures to come in the following year.

We have used 3 different airlines, flown in and out of 3 different countries other than the UK and from 4 different airports, used multiple different taxi companies, and Uber and Google have both worked brilliantly in all the 3 countries.

Jaipur India Part 4 of our 10 day trip in India

Jaipur India Part 4 of our 10 day trip in India

Known also as the pink city, and again its traffic is as bonkers as New Delhi, at the city’s heart is the city palace and it is still home to the ruling family.

Today was a full day of multiple sightseeing with lots of walking in-between multiple car trips and also an added bonus we got to cross a 6 lane road full of continuous traffic where you just have to start to walk and the cars and motorbikes flow around you, we’re glad we had our guide with us for that one !

Our guide for today was Raj, very similar in age to us and for me the best guide of the tour so far, his knowledge of the area was immense and he was keen to tell us about and show us more than just the tourist sites. He also appeared to know everyone which meant we fast tracked entranced because of this, he never rushed us around things and after exploring an attraction he gave us free time, and Raj was with us all day.

Ranthambore National Park India Part 3 of our 10 day trip in India

Ranthambore National Park India Part 3 of our 10 day trip in India

This morning we set off to Ranthambore National Park for our tiger safari part which is a 6 hour car journey away, after about 1hr we stopped to visit Fatehpur Sikri a fortified ancient city and the rest of the journey was broken up with some stops along the way and also a lunch break.

Fatehpur Sikri was built by the Mughal Emperor Akbar and it was the short-lived capital of the Mughal empire between 1572 and 1585. It was intended to be the most beautiful city ever built, and for a while it was, until it was abandoned and the capital moved to Lahore in present day Pakistan.

Agra India Part 2 of our 10 day trip in India

Agra India Part 2 of our 10 day trip in India

7am breakfast this morning as our driver was meeting us at 8am for our drive to Agra, the drive to Agra took just over 4 hours from Delhi and it’s along a very good 3 lane road, but the road doesn’t present a lot to see, as the road is nearly dead straight for a high percentage of the journey, but occasionally it does pass around some villages, but it’s mainly farm land to see, we did stop for a comfort break and coffee midway.

On reaching Agra our first stop was to check in at our hotel. Our driver unknown to us made a little mistake here as he pulled into the sister hotel of the one we should have been staying at by mistake, the sister hotel was much more up market as it’s set in about 2 acres. We both looked at each other and went this isn’t our hotel, but hey maybe they’ve changed it. On arrival at the reception we were greeted with flower lei’s as today it’s Diwali, which is the festival of lights and one of the most important events in the Hindu calendar, we were given welcome drinks and directed to the reception desk, as we were sitting there we look at our driver and we sensed he'd made a mistake, we smile, laugh and go this isn’t our hotel is it, no your hotels across the road.

New Delhi India Part 1 of our 10 day trip in India

New Delhi Part 1 of our 10 day trip in India

We arrived late evening on a Tuesday at New Delhi International airport on our air Indigo flight, clearing passport control quickly and no issues with our visas, we grabbed the luggage and was outside the terminal within the hour and we soon spotted by our tour company rep.

Blimey the drive to our hotel was an eye opener, on first impressions it’s bonkers on the New Delhi roads it’s soooo busy, when the traffic slows they make what is a 3 lane road into 5 lanes, with very little room between the sides of the vehicles, they don’t stop at roundabouts they just continue out onto them, and in places along the road if they really can’t be bothered to wait they just travel the wrong way against the flow of the traffic and if you thought our roads were bad, in some places the roads suddenly just go into a rutted dust track.

Bangkok Thailand October 2024

Bangkok Thailand

We arrived in Bangkok yesterday at 8am after an overnight flight from Qatar. This time we had already pre-booked a taxi and it was there waiting with our name at arrivals, it only cost £14 and worked perfectly.

After dropping our bags at the hotel, we were straight out into exploring as there were few temples nearby and The Chao Phraya river was only a short walk away.

It was again quite hot and by midday it was 35 degs, so we zig zagged our way through the streets and markets catching as much shade as we could on our way towards the river boat stop to catch a boat to Wat Arun temple. These boats are the main transport system in Bangkok, effectively buses.

Just before sunset we went to a roof top bar called Eagles nest to watch the sunset over Wat Arun

Doha Qatar October 2024

Doha in Qatar

Flying out from Heathrow was something we have not done for the best part of 40 years, as we normally choose Stansted or Gatwick, but with our fight being with Qatar airlines it was now time to revisit Heathrow. The Qatar airlines check-in all went smoothly and the flight itself we couldn’t fault it, fantastic service and flying on an A380 was also a first for us.

The A380 is a plane I had wanted to fly on for many years, as I had the pleasure of working on it in the early stages of its development, machining several large parts for the undercarriage for the pre flight prototype and then the first flying development planes.

Road trip over to France then down to Le Mans

Road trip over to France then down to Le Mans

Wow what a weekend 6 friends in 3 cars went over to France for a road trip down to Le Mans and we covered 730 miles.

We had planned the trip down to Le Mans kept to keep us off the toll roads and the motorways choosing to go along the D roads, this way we passed through charming French villages and along fun quite roads.

Our first stop after leaving the Eurotunnel was just a short trip of 1 hour away at Le Touquet for brunch, a surprisingly nice place right on the beach, so much so we chose it as the place to stop on the return journey a few days later. After brunch it was off down to Rouen, were we stayed in a motel just outside the town, from were we caught the tram into the centre of Rouen.

Wroclaw Poland Christmas Market December 2023

Wroclaw Poland

Wroclaw Christmas market has loads of stalls, and we recon it's the second biggest one we have visited after Cologne. The market and christmas tree are located on the market square, which itself is one of the largest in Europe, and the stalls also radiate off the market square and this all adds up to giving a very festive vibe.

During the day there are lots of things to see and do as Wroclaw is Poland’s fourth largest city, and it is a truly beautiful place and such a delight to be in, but it's easy to forget as you walk around that 70% of the city has been rebuilt since the end of World War II. 

We had an early flight out from Stansted airport at 5:25am on a Friday, the flight time was 2 hours and