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! 

Best of 2017

Happy new year to all my readers!

2017 was a mixed bag. In some ways, it was even more difficult than 2016 as the reality of what I'd been through the previous year really started to sink in. I hit a very low point between June and August as the one year anniversary of my diagnosis loomed large, and I had lots of niggly health issues all year which caused some frustration. However, there were also many positives to report on from 2017. 

I really enjoyed writing last year's highlights post so I thought I'd do the same thing for 2017 to make sure I reflected on all those positives. Enjoy!

Celebrated three months all clear 

We celebrated my first 'all clear' appointment after my operation with a visit to Via Napoli. This started the tradition of going for a nice meal after every oncology appointment! 

Fake Christmas 

I celebrated fake Christmas with my university friends in Minehead. 

Milton Keynes 

We went to Milton Keynes for the weekend to visit Fee and Dave. I blogged about it here. 

Spa day at the Hilton Hotel 

Nicola and I went to the Hilton Hotel for a spa day and an excellent afternoon tea.

The Lion King theatre break 

Neil and I went to London for the weekend to see The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre. I blogged about it here. 

Celebrated six months all clear 

We celebrated my next 'all clear' appointment in April with a meal at Miller & Carter. 

Walt Disney World 

We went on another amazing holiday to Walt Disney World! I blogged about our meals here, my shopping haul here and my character meets here. 

Sophie and Bryan's wedding 

We celebrated the lovely Sophie and Bryan's wedding day with them at Court Colman Manor in Bridgend. 

First support group meeting

I attended my first ever support group meeting (and subsequent lunch!) which I blogged about here. 

Rhys and Rhiannon's wedding 

We celebrated Rhys and Rhiannon's wedding with them over two days in the beautiful Brecon Beacons. 

My birthday 

I celebrated my 31st birthday with a lovely meal at Bar 44! 

Celebrated nine months all clear 

We celebrated my next 'all clear' appointment in July with our first visit to Moksh. I blogged about it here. 

Jessie 

We brought our beautiful puppy home. I blogged about her first few weeks with us here. 

Weekend in Portishead 

I visited Amy for the weekend in Portishead. I blogged about it here. 

Third wedding anniversary 

We celebrated our third wedding anniversary with dinner at Etc, afternoon tea at Pettigrew Tea Rooms and a visit to the Harry Potter Studio Tour. I blogged about our anniversary here. 

Celebrated one year all clear 

We celebrated being given the 'all clear' for a whole year with an amazing meal at Restaurant James Sommerin. I blogged about it here. 

Florence 

We spent a week in beautiful Florence. I blogged about it here. 

Bristol shopping trip 

I spent the day in Bristol with my university friends, and blogged about my amazing festive pizza here. 

More afternoon teas than I can count 

I had afternoon tea at the Mercure Hotel in Swansea, the Hilton Hotel, Llanerch Vineyard, The Park Plaza, and at Pettigrew Tea Rooms (several times!). 

Christmas 

We had a lovely Christmas with family and friends. I blogged about it here.

So as you can see, 2017 had lots of highs as well as lows and it's important to remember this as I step tentatively in to 2018! 

What were your highlights of 2017?

Tourists in London

Last weekend, we went on a coach trip to London to see The Lion King in the Lyceum Theatre. We booked the package through Ticketline UK and the trip included coach travel to and from London (as well as coach travel to our various destinations over the weekend), theatre tickets, and bed and breakfast at the Guoman Tower Hotel. If you want a stress-free weekend break where everything is taken care of for you, I'd highly recommend this option!

We left Cardiff at 8:45am on Saturday morning and stopped at Reading services on our way to London for an obligatory sandwich stop and toilet break. It took us a while to get through central London due to standard traffic jams and a few accidents, but we eventually arrived at our hotel at around 2pm. Tower Bridge was quite literally on our doorstep!

As our rooms weren't ready for us when we arrived, we went for a walk to explore our surroundings. In addition to Tower Bridge, the Tower of London (with the impressive Shard building in the background) was also within walking distance of our hotel. We called to Wagamama for a quick lunch then walked back to the hotel to get settled into our room before leaving for the theatre. 

When we got back to the hotel, we discovered that there'd been a mix-up with our room which meant we didn't actually have one assigned to us. However, we spoke to very apologetic manager who offered us a new room and upgraded us to an executive suite, so we couldn't complain too much. We had an hour to ourselves before getting back on the coach to get to the West End, and I mostly spent that hour admiring the view and the rainbow outside our window!

The coach driver picked us up outside the hotel at 5:30pm and took us to the West End where we were the first drop-off. The show didn't start for another hour and a half so we went for a walk to Covent Garden and happened to stumble into Venchi...

I went for a combination of salted toffee and white chocolate and it was SO GOOD. We wandered around a very busy Covent Garden, with our ice cream, sorrowfully noting that the Disney Store has disappeared from the main square, then headed back towards the theatre ready to take our seats.

The Lyceum Theatre is such an impressive building, both inside and out, and I was so excited about setting foot in there to see the acclaimed show I've wanted to see for years. We were seated in the Grand Circle which meant many many stairs up followed by many many stairs down to our seats in row C, but we were really pleased with the view we had of the stage (and the many flights of stairs were good for my Fitbit stats).

There just aren't enough superlatives in the world to describe how good the show itself was. I was completely blown away by the costumes, the set, the choreography and the general goosebump-inducing music the whole way through, and I'd see it again tomorrow if I could. I loved the show's take on Rafiki in particular, and Timon and Zazu were also firm favourites. The transition from young Simba to adult Simba was cleverly done, and the extra scenes added to the show which don't feature in the film didn't disrupt the flow at all. I loved every second of it!

Once I managed to tear myself away from the tempting merchandise stand, we walked back to our pick-up destination and the coach took us back to our hotel via a few other pick-ups s in various parts of the West End. After admiring the nighttime view from our room, we promptly fell asleep ready for a busy Sunday of sightseeing.

After a lovely breakfast at the hotel on Sunday morning, we were back on the coach by 10:30am ready to be dropped off at the Haymarket for a day of exploring, sightseeing and shopping. Although it was supposed to rain heavily all day, London obviously didn't receive the memo. We made the most of the sunshine and blitzed all the famous sights in the area, taking lots of photos while we were at it. We walked to Trafalgar Square then to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament...I've visited this area with work recently but it's been years since I was an actual tourist in London!

After taking in all the sights, we walked back to Covent Garden and did some shopping. We did mostly browse rather than shop, but I can never resist purchasing something small in Ted Baker when I'm in the area. We also went into M&M's World in Leicester Square for the first time which was possibly even more impressive than its New York equivalent. On an unrelated note, I did feel as if I was playing Monopoly bingo when I looked at all the street/area signs around me!

All shopped and sightseeing-ed out, we sat down for an hour to have our lunch then made our way back to the pick-up point via a few more shops, including a quick stop at Ben's Cookies. We were completely exhausted by this point and I fell asleep on the coach almost immediately.

We arrived home at around 8:30pm on Sunday evening. It was a lovely full weekend and we managed to fit loads in alongside our main objective of seeing The Lion King. I definitely want to book another theatre trip soon as they're pretty addictive... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll manage to get tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child one day. 

Have you seen The Lion King in the theatre? What did you think? 

New thing every week in 2016 #1

Last year, inspired by Liz at Distract Me Now Please, I started my 'new thing every week' series. I really enjoyed recording the new things I'd done every week, both big and small, so I thought I'd continue the trend for 2016.

I'm not always very good at making a conscious effort to do something new every week which means that the entries aren't always particularly exciting. However, I'm still impressed that I've somehow managed to do a brand new thing every single week for two years!

I'm going to split this series into five instalments which I'll publish over the next few weeks.

So, to begin with, here are the new things I got up to between 1 January and 10 March 2016.

Week 1: Tried adult colouring books

Week 2: Bought a star-shaped bowl

Week 3: Went to Locke and Remedy

Week 4: Played Cards Against Humanity

Week 5: Went to Five Guys Burgers and Fries

Week 6: Got up early on a Sunday and watched a film instead of reading in bed!

Week 7: Walked to The Captain's Wife

Week 8: Had afternoon tea at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich

Week 9: Had a hot chocolate at the Wales Millennium Centre

Week 10: Marched to Cardiff city centre as part of the Homes for Wales rally 

It's definitely been a nice varied bunch for my first instalment... check back in a few days for the next post in the series!