The beautiful and fair city of Verona in Italy which is well known to many around the world as the setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has so much more to offer than just a tragic love story. The city’s historic centre – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – is filled with historic castles and incredible architecture throughout and unlike the crowded streets of Rome, Florence or nearby Venice, Verona also feels so much more relaxed which makes it a perfect spot to explore Italy at a much slower pace. (more…)

Hidden away in the heart of Italy is the Republic of San Marino (Repubblica di San Marino) which is the fifth smallest country in the world and the third smallest country in Europe. It is somewhere that had always been on my list of places that I wanted to visit and earlier this month in March 2025 I finally got there and in turn, San Marino became the 72nd country for me to visit. (more…)

After falling asleep very quickly the evening before and as we had gained an hour overnight, I woke up just after 5:00am and the first thing I did was go out onto our verandah to get some fresh air and I could already see the lights of Lisbon off in the distance. As our stateroom was on the opposite side of the Disney Dream to what the city would be and once we got a little bit closer, we quickly got dressed and headed up to a chilly Deck 13 along with a handful of our fellow passengers with a hot drink in hand to watch as we sailed past the Belem Tower, the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries) and then finally under the Ponte 25 de Abril bridge at 6:20am. (more…)

When I was planning my trip to the amazing city of Riga last month, I tried to do as much research as I possibly could including how we would be able to travel from Riga Airport to Riga city centre where our hotel was located in the heart of the Old Town. (more…)

When I started to research how to get from Sofia Airport into the city centre of Sofia using public transport, it became immediately apparent that there was very little information online about this journey and what information there was available was very old and out of date. So on my recent trip to Sofia in November 2023 I made sure to take plenty of photos and have now written this blog and travel guide with all the latest, current, up to date and correct information to help anyone who is flying into Bulgaria. (more…)

Last week I returned from visiting my 63rd country of Romania and I had an incredible time and whilst I was there, top of my list of places to visit was Bran Castle (Castelul Bran in Romanian) in the Transylvania region also known to many as Dracula’s Castle. (more…)

Gibraltar is a small British Overseas Territory located across the border from the city of La Línea de la Concepción on the southern coast of Spain. Gibraltar covers an area of only 2.6 square miles (most of which is the famous Rock of Gibraltar) and has a population of approximately 32000 people as well as over 300 Barbary Macaque monkeys who are its most famous residents. (more…)

It feels like forever since I last wrote one of these blog posts but as I recently travelled to Rome for a short break, it felt only right to post another and hopefully more will follow soon now that the world is slowly opening up once again. We flew into Fiumicino Airport (also known as Leonardo da Vinci Airport) and one of the best, easiest, quickest and cheapest ways to get from Fiumicino Airport into Rome itself is to take the non-stop Leonardo Express train direct to Termini Station located in the centre of the city. (more…)

Venice is one of the most beautiful and unique cities anywhere in the whole world. This city made up 118 islands and 400 bridges is a fairytale world like nowhere else on earth and somewhere you have to visit at least once in your lifetime. However Venice has become a victim of its own popularity and in recent years has suffered from massive overtourism. Visiting Venice when busy and crowded is not fun and you could very easily leave hating the city that you wanted to visit so much. (more…)

On our trip to Gibraltar at the end of last year, top of my list of things to do whilst we were there was to hike the Mediterranean Steps (also known as the Med Steps) to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar. The Rock of Gibraltar is the most famous landmark and attraction in Gibraltar and home to the famous Barbary macaques which are the only wild monkey population in Europe. (more…)