• Brussels, Ghent & Brugges

      25–28 de jun., Bélgica ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

      📌 Some people say Brussels is boring and not worth a visit, but we thought it was great! We were staying in a quirky Airbnb loft in a cool area with plenty of people enjoying the summer evenings. The central square of Brussels was extravagant and extra impressive as it was quite old compared to other rebuilt European squares. The beer and chocolate options were everywhere, the cafes were great and the dinner options were delicious including some West African one night and maybe one of the best burgers I've ever had another night.

      📌 We used Brussels as a base and headed out on some day trips, the weather was lovely and we enjoyed Ghent and Brugges. Ghent seemed larger and a little more modern but had a beautiful promenade along the river filled with many beautiful buildings. Brugges was a little more compact and seemed to have more abundant old architecture around the residential areas and centre. The city also had many beautiful canals running through it, one where there was a great brewery perched right on the water.

      📌 A few other highlights included trying some delicious Belgian chocolates and pralines, some monastery breweries beers (Trappist beer) and ofcourse a fresh Belgian waffle with chocolate, cream and strawberries.
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    • Dublin

      23–25 de jun., Irlanda ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

      📌 After enjoying a few days in the countryside it was time to head to the capital, we headed via Ireland's oldest pub and potentially the oldest in the world, 900AD. Of course we enjoyed a pint of Guinness, one of many since arriving in Ireland. Driving through Ireland had been beautiful, the towns had so much character and colour, it also felt very country and quaint.

      📌 Dublin was also a beautiful quirky city with the highlights being the various pubs and their historical coloured fascades. We enjoyed a few more delicious pints over a few days, making the most of Guinness from the source. We also visited Whelan's where Robbie used to work, it happened to be an open mic night so lots of novice Irish artists were playing their songs which were a great listen.

      📌 Another great experience was onboard the Jeanie Johnson, a replica of a Irish famine ship ( which Steve helped build, the NZ guy we met whilst rowing) that travelled many times to the USA and Canada. It was interesting to hear the stories of the famine and incomprehensible how hard it must have been, it painted a clear picture as to why Ireland likes to separate themselves from the English, and why they are adamant on bringing their culture and language back.
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    • Ireland: County Clare

      20–23 de jun., Irlanda ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

      📌 A few chilled days around country Clare staying with Clara's parents and getting a real feel for country Ireland life. Their house was on a beautiful edge of the estuary, allowing great views of the water on a quiet farm road. John and Assumpta were so lovely, serving us breakfast every morning and making us feel right at home.

      📌 We were fortunate enough to have a local tour from John around nearby Scattery island, this involved a row out on the boat he was part of making. It was a great experience rowing out to the island and wandering around, there was some fascinating history but the best part was simply just enjoying the day without sightseeing or rushing around. We all then went out for dinner that evening, earning a few pints and a delicious meal, including Chloe's long awaited mussels.

      📌 Whilst in Clare, we explored the Wild Atlantic way, we visited Galway for a wander and some drinks, a brief stop at The Cliffs of Moher and we enjoyed sitting around the comfortable house listening to John's history lessons on boating, Ireland and the locals ☺️
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    • Reading

      1–20 de jun., Inglaterra ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

      📌 A short but jam packed little stint around reading and surrounds. The place we were staying was character building, quite a dingy Airbnb without a living room and often being shared with loud or strange other guests. It was in a bit of an awkward place but fortunately I had a bike and in the end it was only 2.5 weeks. One guy was particularly interesting, he would spend the whole day in his room and we never saw him eat, he'd have a tea and then go back upstairs 🤔

      📌 On day 1 at my new clinic our suspicions were confirmed and mum and dad rocked up to the clinic, I was onto them kind of but didn't think they'd come to work, plus I was already in unfamiliar territory so I was a little thrown off by that too 😂 They were to spend the next 3-4 days in the area, which meant a pub trip and a couple of nights hanging out in their superior apartment. Additionally Chloe also went for a little adventure around the Cotswolds with them on a nice day trip. It was a great "surprise" and it meant the upcoming trip to Italy/Netherlands would be extra fun which motivated me to work.

      📌 Another weekend we headed into London and met up with Katie, we had a wander around Hackney, the canals and then headed out for a Sunday roast. It was a treat and also lovely to see another inner suburb of London rather than just central. The vibes around the inner London suburbs when the sun is out are pretty crazy, the Britt's definitely make the most of a sunny day.

      📌 Overall reading was okay, probably one of our least favourite stays, but atleast work was pretty chill, and it was short stint. We were also keen to get summer travelling, so that made it feel longer ☺️
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    • Glencoe

      30 de mai.–1 de jun., Escócia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

      📌 Our last stop in Scotland, we headed out to the west Highlands to do a little more hiking. So far we'd been fortunate with the weather but that changed for the last few days. We were staying at a lovely guesthouse with a great view of the loch across from the house.

      📌 We headed out in the afternoon for a small hike into a valley, where there was a history of clans fighting one another. It was a nice walk through some forest and waterfalls and it meant on a return, a well earned beer at a awesome brewery in the town. We had a few craft beers, some delicious wood fired pizzas and relaxed.

      📌 The next day we planned a strenuous hike up one of the local munroes, it was a bit of a race against the weather and as we finished what felt like 90 mins of straight ascent, it started raining 😆 A quick few minutes at the summit and we got back down, nice and wet with smelly shoes and ready to get dry. We'd been fortunate enough with weather until now so it didn't really matter. We ended up at the brewery for a few more drinks. We ended the day at a great pub, had a chat with a couple of Americans in their 60s that were still out doing hiking holidays and finished with a good pub meal.
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    • Isle of Skye

      28–30 de mai., Escócia ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

      📌 We enjoyed our drive up to Skye through the highlands, it was lovely driving past all the lochs and Skye was definitely more mountainous. We checked in at a very cool hostel, it was star wars and movie themed with lots of interesting nice nacs and wonderful people. We spent the afternoon at a pub down the road, it was a pretty remote area with single roads, so it felt like we had really stepped out of the bustling cities of the UK we were used to.

      📌 The plan in Skye was to hike, so on our full day we were blessed with great weather and the plan was to tackle 2 of the most beautiful hikes, firstly we started early at the Quiraing, a loop hike onto a table with beautiful views over the sea and surrounding mountains. Despite being only 1000m high munroes/mountains, they are quite rugged and therefore appear high and large to the surrounding sea level. It was a lovely walk. We then headed to a small town near the coast down the road and tucked into a delicious lunch at a cafe giving off coastal Aussie cafe vibes. The afternoon was then spent with a quick visit to the beach at low tide to see the 170 million year old fossilised dinosaur footprints which was pretty cool. We then headed onwards to do short 1-2 hour hike around The Old Man of Stor, the characteristic isle of Skye picture.

      📌 We explored Portree, Skye's biggest town which was still quite small, where we enjoyed a late afternoon drink before heading back to the hostel and cooking up some pasta to restore the carbs after a day of hiking. A short stay in Skye was lovely and it is definitely one of the nicest areas in the UK.
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    • Inverness

      27–28 de mai., Escócia ⋅ 🌬 13 °C

      📌 A short stop in Inverness on the way to the Isle of Skye. We visited the loch Ness of course and stopped in Inverness for a drink at a distillery. The drive into the highlands was beautiful and you could start to see the appeal for Scotland road trips.

      📌 We actually ended up staying in a town (Drumnadrochit) which held some history around the lake, one of the first supposed reported Nessie sightings was around here. We were staying in a lovely guest house right next to a pub so we headed across for a beer garden drink in the sun and a little dabble in the local whisky which was okay but we definitely weren't going to go out of our way to try whiskey distilleries. We tucked into a local meal which included some haggis and this was actually quite nice! It was a nice little afternoon and evening stop to break up the drive to Skye and enjoy the nice weather.

      📌 Ofcourse in Scotland, there are many castles, one of the highlights was the Eileen Doonan castle. Given we have been in many glamorous castles in Europe, we decided to just enjoy this one from the outside which was by accounts the best part anyway, the landscape was gorgeous.
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    • Edinburgh

      25–28 de mai., Escócia ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

      📌 First stop in Scotland, we were keen to see if Scotland offered a different side to the UK. We wandered through Edinburgh old town and it was immediately easier to be able to communicate with people in English again, no stress or miscommunications. We were staying in a bit of a rundown area but it was a comfortable and quiet accom particularly given the prices in Edinburgh!

      📌 Edinburgh has a lovely old town, with quite grand and unique buildings all overlooked by the castle. We wandered around one day after a morning stuck on the phone to Qantas (working out a flights home that they stuffed up). The castle, the lookout and Victoria Street were gorgeous.

      📌 On our 2nd full day we were fortunate enough to have some good weather and we headed about 90 mins out to a seaside town to catch a boat to the Isle of May. The goal was to see puffins and we had a good day for it, 100k puffins use this island for breeding and we were there for peak season. They are such cute birds and watching them and the other birds ride against the wind was fascinating. Luckily we had a good day because getting out and back to land was a very rough journey, we have never been on a boat that rough, the waves were making the boat feel like a rollercoaster 🥴
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    • Bordeux

      22–24 de mai., França ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

      📌 A short trip across the border into France, we were so close to Bordeux so we definitely weren't going to miss one of the most famous wine regions in the world.

      📌 Another beautiful few days of weather and we enjoyed the outdoor vibes of the city, there were some lovely things to see including the grand french gates into the city and many beautiful french buildings amongst the narrow streets. Ofcourse we also explored the various bakery's whilst walking around the cities 🥐🥐

      📌 One evening we found a few wine bars in the city and then enjoyed a delicious Italian meal that felt super authentic before winding up at a pub with darts, and ofcourse Chloe got competitive 😆.

      📌 Another day we thought we best go into one of the smaller wine villages, we headed to Saint Emillion, one famous for merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. We visited one of the chateaus for a short tour, visiting the cellar, wine making sheds and learning some history. We then wrapped up the day with a wander around the town and a drink of some more local wines. The area was lovely, and it would be a great place to drive around visiting the small villages.
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    • San Sebastian

      20–22 de mai., Espanha ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

      📌 Two nights in San Sebastian where the goal was to eat, eat and eat due to the city being one of the best food cities globally.

      📌 We arrived around midday where we were blessed with another sunny day. The city was small and walkable and we immediately noticed the abundance of obnoxious british tourists ☺️ It was eventually worked out that they were all there for the Europa final between Tottenham and Man United in the adjacent city of Bilbao.

      📌 Once again the city had beautiful architecture, narrow lanes in old town with many balconies, tapas bars and taverns lining them. The Basque region is an interesting place as they are autonomous with apparently the oldest European language that has no links to other European languages. There is also controversy as the Basque region apparently also want to seperate themselves from Spain and form their own state.

      📌 We got out food hunt on whilst visiting, enjoying a variety of pintox at bars that seemed to each have a unique way of making different ones, more red wine and delicious coffees. Some of the highlights was a Bottega serving delicious basque cuisine including super soft octopus and salty garlic chicken wings! The other food highlight which we made the most of, was the Basque cheesecake, I think we had 4 cheesecakes over 2 days ☺️ Chloe had her last patatas bravas (as pictured) and next stop, France!
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