Places to see!
When we decided to spend six months of our world tour travelling through South America, we knew that we would enjoy our time there a lot more if we learnt a little bit of Spanish. While we could probably make do with a few simple words and a bit of Google Translate, actually learning how to put some basic sentences together would make for a much more enjoyable...
We recently spent five days in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The Amazon, the one place in the world that I swore to myself I would never set foot in, ever! Why’s that? It’s for one reason only; I am absolutely terrified of spiders, especially large ones such as ugly, hairy Tarantulas. We all know that many fears are totally irrational and Arachnophobia (the fear of...
After our awesome time in Baños, it was time to move on again. So, we hopped back on the Wanderbus to make our way to our next destination, Alausi. Alausi is a tiny town in Ecuador that is largely popular due to one thing, el Nariz del Diablo (the Devil’s Nose). The Devil’s Nose is a famous train ride that showcases some of the breathtaking scenery of the Andes...
We absolutely love wildlife, so if there was one place in South America that we wouldn’t have missed, it’s the Galapagos Islands. Everyone we’ve met who’d been to the Galapagos has always come back raving about it and telling us wildlife lovers that we just had to go there. With Ecuador as the first stop of our South American trip, we made sure that we booked a...
After an amazing week in the Galapagos, we flew back to Quito for the night and left first thing the next morning on the Wanderbus. The Wanderbus is a hop-on-hop-off bus that you can use to travel all around Ecuador, stopping at places that interest you for a few days along the way. In our case, we used their Colibri pass which runs from Quito down to Cuenca. Our...
After spending so many years dreaming about travelling through South America, landing in Quito was like a dream that had finally come true. The capital of Ecuador was the starting point for our long-awaited trip to South America. We couldn’t have been more excited! Although many people only visit Quito briefly, before heading to the Galapagos or other parts of...
After Tallinn and Riga, the next and final destination of our rapid tour of the Baltic States had us heading to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. We weren’t quite sure what to expect of Vilnius, neither had we done much research about it. Out of the three Baltic capitals, it seemed like Vilnius was the least well-known. Given that, we were looking forward to...
After spending three nights in stunning Tallinn, we hopped on a bus and four hours later we arrived in Riga, the capital of Latvia. Riga is a great city to explore if you love architecture because apart from its medieval Old Town, Riga also has a huge amount of Art Nouveau architecture. In fact, Riga is the Art Nouveau capital of Europe. Riga is also a university...
The city of Tallinn in Estonia has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Baltic states and in fact in Europe. Much of its newfound popularity is due to its beautifully preserved old town and easy access to its port for large cruise ships. Riga and Vilnius, the other Baltic state capitals, have for various reasons lost much of their original...
Helsinki is the Finnish Capital but it certainly doesn’t feel like a capital city. Helsinki is surrounded by islands and a third of the city’s space is taken up by parkland and green spaces. That makes it a haven for outdoor lovers! Do you prefer shopping? Don’t worry, Helsinki is the Design Capital too, so there’s plenty of shopping to be done; just don’t expect it...