Our travel adventures as husband and wife

We're off to New York in just over three weeks! We haven't had more than a couple of days off work since our last big holiday in May, so we're very excited about our pre-Christmas getaway.

We travelled to New York together for the first time in February 2013. It was one of our first holidays together as a couple and, in some ways, it feels as if it happened a whole lifetime ago. This got me thinking about all the places we've travelled to together since then... cue blogging inspiration alert.

I decided to focus on the holidays we've been on since we got married in August 2014. We didn't get photos of the two of us on every occasion, but I'm quite impressed that we managed as many as we did considering we don't particularly like having our photos taken.

Please excuse the inconsistent photo sizes... we've both had lots of different cameras and phones over the last four years! 



Rome, September 2014

We went to Rome for the first leg of our honeymoon. Rome is an amazing place and we loved the four days we spent there, apart from the stress of trying to cross their hectic roads.

Lake Garda, September 2014

The second leg of our honeymoon was spent in beautiful Malcesine. A completely different pace to Rome with breathtaking beauty at every turn.

Venice, September 2014

The last leg of our honeymoon was spent in Venice. More beautiful views, architecture and food... it's safe to say that we were well and truly in love with Italy by the time we left.

Disneyland Paris, December 2014

We went to Disneyland Paris for the first time in December 2014. We couldn't afford to go to Walt Disney World in 2014 due to our wedding and honeymoon but we still wanted our Disney fix. Disney + Christmas = perfection!

Amalfi, April 2015

We decided we wanted to see a different part of Italy in 2015, so we went to Amalfi on the Amalfi Coast.  Definitely one of the most beautiful coastlines I've ever seen in my life.

Walt Disney World, September 2015

It was finally time to go back to our favourite place in the world in September 2015. This was our first trip back to Florida since we got engaged there in 2013, so it was an extra special holiday for us.

Toronto, March 2016

We spent a week in Toronto in March 2016. Toronto is an incredible city with loads to see, and we also went on a day trip to Niagara Falls while we were there.

Walt Disney World, September 2016

Surprise surprise, we ended up back in Walt Disney World in September 2016. Although this trip was overshadowed by my cancer diagnosis, escaping to the most magical place on earth for two weeks was the ideal distraction.

London, October 2016

We went on an overnight theatre break to London in October 2016 to see Aladdin at the West End. I was still recovering from my operation so we had a slow couple of days, and it was lovely to get away for a night.

London, March 2017

We booked another theatre break in March 2017 as we loved the first one so much. This time we went to see The Lion King and it was absolutely amazing.

Walt Disney World, April 2017

I know I know, we can't keep away. This trip was only eight months after the last one which meant we didn't have to wait quite so long for it to arrive!

Wizarding World of Harry Potter, August 2017

I bought tickets for us to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Watford for Neil's birthday back in March. We booked our trip in August to coincide with our anniversary, and we had a brilliant time.

Florence, October 2017

It was time for us to try yet another part of Italy in October 2017. We loved Florence and I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for the perfect mix of culture, city life and relaxation.

Walt Disney World, May 2018

Back again... yes, we do enjoy going back to Walt Disney World every year. We just love it that much!

Llangennith, October 2018

We went on our first holiday with Jessie in October. It was so lovely to be able to take Jessie with us and we'll definitely be planning more dog-friendly weekends away in the near future.

Next stop... New York! 

New thing every week in 2015 #2

After publishing my first 'new thing every week' post a few days ago, it's now time to look at the new things I did in the next ten weeks of 2015. I'm really enjoying putting this series together as it's reminding me of all the great times I had last year, so it's definitely something I want to continue in 2016. It's almost doubling up as a 'highlights of 2015' series!

So, here goes... the second ten weeks of 2015 were more photo heavy than the first ten so there's plenty for you to feast your eyes on. 

Week 11 (12-17 March) - Went to a housing rally in London.

Week 12 (18-24 March) - Went on a Bannatyne's spa day for Fee's hen weekend. 

Week 13 (25-31 March) - Celebrated our seven month wedding anniversary.

Week 14 (1-7 April) - Went to the Forest of Dean for Fee and Dave's wedding. 

Week 15 (8-14 April) - Tried Katsu curry at Wagamama... it was good.  

Week 16 (15-21 April) - Went for a walk around Cosmeston Country Park on my own. 

Week 17 (22-28 April) - Went on holiday to Amalfi.

Week 18 (29 April - 5 May) - Had a Limoncello Fever.

Week 19 (6-12 May) - Bought a hanging basket for the front of our house. 

Week 20 (13-19 May) - Had a make-your-own pizza from Asda.

Look out for the next instalment in a few days!

My new favourite drink... Limoncello Fever!

I discovered a new drink on our recent visit to Amalfi... the amazing Limoncello Fever.

I've been a big fan of Limoncello since our honeymoon last year, so I was intrigued when I spotted the Limoncello Fever on the bar menu of our favourite drinking haunt in Piazza Duomo. It was made up of Limoncello, Prosecco and papaya syrup which sounded pretty tasty. I was torn between ordering something new and ordering something I knew I loved such as a Bellini, but I decided to go for the new option just to try it out. I was hooked at once and drank several more before our holiday came to an end.

The lovely staff at our hotel kindly gave us a bottle of Limoncello when we left Amalfi which meant I had a third of the ingredients I needed to recreate my new favourite drink.

Possibly as a result of my enthusiastic raving about my new favourite drink, I had a bottle of Prosecco and another bottle of Limoncello for my birthday as I mentioned in my last blog post. I also eventually managed to track down some papaya juice in Asda's foreign food aisle so I was all set. I was determined to have a few Limoncello Fevers to celebrate my birthday weekend as it seemed like the perfect occasion to indulge in a few homemade cocktails.

We set up our new garden chairs on the Sunday afternoon of my birthday weekend and I eagerly made myself a Limoncello Fever in one of our fancy cocktail glasses. It might not have been quite the same as the ones I had in Amalfi (probably because I had to use papaya juice instead of syrup), but it was still pretty good.

I sat in the garden for an hour or two on that Sunday afternoon, reading my Kindle and drinking two Limoncello Fevers. Our cocktail glasses are huge, but it's a drink that goes down very nicely and is dangerously easy to drink. It was a perfect afternoon and I haven't felt that relaxed for a very long time. I think it was probably the combination of being outside, reading a good book and being considerably mellowed by my potent cocktails! 

Do you like Limoncello? Or Prosecco? Or papaya juice? Or possibly all three? If so, I urge you to try a Limoncello Fever one day. I promise you won't regret it!

Beautiful Amalfi

The Amalfi Coast has been on my list of 'must-go-to' places for as long as I can remember. Although we considered it for our honeymoon last year, we eventually decided on Rome, Lake Garda and Venice as those locations made more sense geographically and we were keen to finish our honeymoon in Venice. After an amazing honeymoon, we were determined to return to Italy very soon!

After debating between a few places on the Amalfi Coast and surrounding areas, namely Sorrento, Ravello and Positano, we found a gem of a hotel on Trip Advisor which was situated in Amalfi itself. The reasonable price and the fantastic reviews swung it for us so we booked six nights at Hotel L'Antico Convitto for the end of April. The hotel arranged our transfer from the airport which was seamless (just like all our honeymoon transfers). The drive from Naples airport to Amalfi is unbelievably stunning. You can't get through the mountain that separates the two areas, so you have to drive up the mountain and back down again. We were given a lovely warm welcome when we arrived at our hotel and were shown to our massive suite with a lovely view of the mountains. We'd booked a standard double room so we were very impressed!

I loved everything about this hotel. It's situated barely a minute's walk from Piazza Duomo, Amalfi's main square. It has a tranquil roof terrace with a beautiful view (see photos below), and the breakfast selection was out of this world. This has has been our experience at every Italian hotel we've stayed in. I had a delightfully rich hot chocolate every morning! The hotel staff couldn't have been more helpful, from the kitchen staff to the hotel manager, and they presented us with a bottle of Limoncello when we left. I absolutely love Limoncello so this was a very welcome gift. As well as being very sad about leaving beautiful Amalfi, I was just as sad about leaving our lovely hotel.

Amalfi is a tiny little town with lots of restaurants, bars, bakeries, boutique stores and touristy shops. I love its little narrow streets and the tantalising glimpses of the sea at the end of every street. I fell in love with Piazza Duomo and we spent many hours people watching (and dog watching) in various bars and restaurants in this square. It's a lovely sun-filled piazza with lots of hustle and bustle, but it never felt too crowded. Such a relaxing atmosphere! Everyone we met in Amalfi was so friendly which really added to the experience.

Amalfi Cathedral is situated right in the heart of Piazza Duomo and a few minutes from our hotel. We visited this beautiful location on our second full day in Amalfi. The cathedral is made up of four main components - the Cloister of Paradise, the Basilica of the Crucifix, the Crypt of St. Andrew, and the cathedral itself. The architecture and grandeur of all four components is just awe-inspiring, just like so many other religious Italian buildings. You can see the bell tower for miles and it was a beautiful focal point from Amalfi's many vantage points.

Talking of vantage points, it's safe to say that we spent a lot of time on Amalfi's piers during our stay. We quite often used to grab an ice cream or a pizza slice then walk to one of the piers to have a leisurely stroll or a sit down to gaze at the view.There were three different piers at various locations on the sea front, and there were spectacular views from each one. I took over 600 photographs during our stay in Amalfi and most of those were taken from these three piers. That's precisely why this little paragraph is represented by so many photographs in this blog post! However, it's impossible to capture the true beauty of Amalfi in photographs as there really is beauty all around you in every possible direction. Beautiful mountains, beautiful buildings and beautiful sea views. 

We had initially considered staying in Ravello and we'd heard lots of people raving about its views, so we decided to go on a City Sightseeing bus tour to Ravello on our fourth day in Amalfi. The bus ride was quite an experience as the roads steeped into the mountains definitely aren't ideal for large buses, but the views made it all worth it. It's a shame that it was a little cloudy on the day we visited Ravello, but the views were still breathtakingly amazing. Ravello was even smaller than Amalfi with the same characteristic narrow streets and pretty little piazzas. Although Ravello was really beautiful, I'm glad we chose to stay in Amalfi rather than in Ravello as it had more character and it was a better base from which to travel to other parts of the Amalfi Coast.

On our last full day in Amalfi, we decided to take the ferry over to Salerno to see a different side to the Amalfi Coast. Salerno is a huge city so it was very different to little Amalfi, but it was still a pretty sight despite its obvious industrial nature. Whereas Amalfi is full of independent stores, we found lots of chain and designer stores in Salerno. The streets in the main tourist area of Salerno were very wide and open, but we found the traditional Italian narrow streets in Salerno too at the ends of the main shopping streets. I'm glad we got to experience the ferry ride as well as the city of Salerno... I love a good boat trip and it provided even more photo opportunities. Amalfi looks amazing from a boat, as you can see from the many photos at the end of this post!

I was going to tag our food and drink on to the end of this blog post, but who am I kidding? I'll need a whole separate post for that!

If you're considering visiting Amalfi (or anywhere on the Amalfi Coast) but haven't quite made up your mind yet, I urge you to look at Trip Advisor to find a hotel and an area that suits you then book it as soon as possible. It really is breathtaking and the views are second to none. I desperately hope to go back one day!