An alternative to Split - The beautful town of Trogir

After spending almost a week on Vis, it was time to head back to the mainland for a couple of nights before catching our flight home to London.

Having stopped in Split on the way to Vis, we decided to spend the rest of our time in Croatia in the small town of Trogir, just up the coast from Split.

We left Vis Town just after sunrise on the early morning fast ferry, which takes only half an hour to get from Vis to Split. Much quicker than the large ferry which takes two hours, but I have to say I prefer the slower option. I love being able to go outside and just have the time to take in our surroundings. The Dalmatian coastline is one of the most beautiful in the world.

Komiza Town and Further Exploring the Island of Vis

On the other side of the island from Vis Town, sits the small fishing village of Komiza. Despite being only a 15 minute drive from Vis Town, the two towns are very different. Vis Town has a similar feel to Hvar Town, with lots of yachts in the harbour and bars and restaurants lining the promenade.

In comparison, Komiza is much quieter and has a more local feel. Vis attracts the yachting crowd and feels more upmarket, whereas Komiza feels laid back and relaxed, like you could spend half the day sitting in a tiny cafe watching everyone going about their lives.

We were staying in an apartment just outside Komiza at the Apartmani Kolelastra, a small complex with 5 apartments run by a lovely couple who greeted us with wine and a very strong spirit on arrival! All the apartments have balcony's with great views out over Komiza. We stayed in Apartment 3, which I think seemed to have the best view.

Our favourite part about staying here was that it was surrounded by fig trees, and we stopped to grab a handful everytime we came in or out. I don't like figs usually, but it's hard to beat fresh fruit straight off the tree.

Escaping the Summer Crowds in Croatia on the Island of Vis

In September we spent six nights on the beautioful island of Vis, one of many islands along the Dalmatian coast. We'd been to Croatia once before, in June, which was before tourist season started, but this year we were visiting right in the height of Summer so were expecting it to be much busier. 

We'd already been to Dubrovnik, Hvar and Korcula on our last trip, so wanted somewhere where we could relax away from the crowds.

After much research we decided on the Island of Vis, the furthest inhabited island from the Croatian mainland. A former military base, it was cut off from tourists until 1989, so is still up and coming and not as popular as the more famous Croatian islands of Hvar and Brac.

Exploring Split's Old Town and Diocletian's Palace

In September this year we headed to Croatia for our Summer holiday. We have visited Croatia previously, in 2012 and instantly fell in love with the beautiful scenery, friendly people and great food.

We flew into Split early on Sunday morning with several hours to kill before the afternoon ferry departed for the island of Vis, where we would be spending the next six nights. We'd been to Split only briefly during our last visit, only a quick stop on the way from Dubrovnik to Hvar and hadn't thought much of it then, really only seeing the harbour area.

The most beautiful beaches in Greece - Milos

After three amazing nights, we left Sifnos on the afternoon ferry for our next stop, the Island of Milos. Milos is widely known for having some of the best beaches in Greece, and the same beautiful blue and white houses as Santorini and Mykonos, but without the crowds.

We stayed in the small village of Pollonia and our hotel room had a beautiful view, looking right out onto the water. Milos doesn't have the quite the same immediate beauty of Sifnos, and when we first arrived I have to say we were disappointed to have left such a beautiful island for somewhere where the main beach in town seemed to be full of oil from the boats in the harbour.

The charm of Sifnos is easy to spot, it's right there as you come into the harbour, but with Milos we discovered the charm is there, perhaps even more so that Sifnos and Santorini, it just took longer to discover.

Greece without the Crowds - Sifnos

For our June holiday this year we decided to travel to Greece, somewhere we travelled quite soon after we arrived in the UK and we've always wanted to go back to.

Last time we visited in September, and chose the islands of Santorini and Paros in the Cyclades. It was harder to choose this time, we were tossing up between the Sporades, which are lesser known islands quite close to mainland Greece, and the Cyclades which have the classic beautiful Greek look with the white houses and blue roofs.

We originally decided on the Sporades islands of Skopelos and Alonnisos, so we booked our flights from London to Thessaloniki, which is the closest airport on the mainland. You can also fly to Skiathos, which is the biggest of the Sporades, but unless you're doing a package holiday we found that this was much more expensive.

Having booked our flights, we then changed our mind and decided to visit the Cyclades, due to the high percentage of wasps that visit the Sporades between June to October! The thought of battling wasps whilst trying to lie on the beach was not appealing, so we changed our plans about three weeks before we were due to leave.

Instead we booked cheap flights with Ryanair from Thessaloniki to Athens, and caught a ferry from Pireaus port in Athens to Sifnos, a beautiful island free of the hordes of tourists that frequent the larger Cyclades islands of Santorini and Mykonos.

Despite having to fly to Athens and then ferry to Sifnos, we actually ended up having extra time than if we'd chosen the Sporades, so it all worked out in the end!

Provence - L'Isle Sur La Sorgue, Fontaine De Vaucluse & Gordes

Every Sunday, the beautiful town of L'Isle Sur La Sorgue holds the largest market in the Luberon area. Locals and tourists come from miles around to explore the market which winds through the streets of L'Isle Sur La Sorgue and alongside the Sorgue River.

The town is known as the Venice of Provence with the river flowing alongside the town, with lots of tiny bridges leading from the main road to the town itself. The market has everything you could imagine, but is most famous for its antiques, with one of the largest antique dealerships in France.

We were mainly there for the food and to grab myself another basket, a natural coloured one this time to go with the blue basket I purchased at the markets in the Perigord.

Provence - Lourmarin, Bonnieux, Menerbes & Oppede les Vieux

Today was spent visiting some of the prettiest towns in the Luberon, four towns all super close together. Menerbes especially is on the tourist trail after being the setting for Peter Mayle's book A Year In Provence. Peter moved from England to the area in the late 80's, and the novel is all about his first year there. I read it a few years ago when I found a copy in a Used Book store in Kensington, and I've wanted to visit ever since.

We started our day in Lourmarin, the furthest town from our B&B and where Peter Mayle lives currently. The road to get there is long and windy, with many twists and turns taking you through the Luberon mountains. We got there relatively early, knowing that it can get busy later in the day.

The town was quiet when we arrived, with most people lingering in one of the many cafes in the town square over their morning coffees.

Blood-Swept Lands and Seas of Red - The Poppy De-Installation

This morning Bradley and I joined a team of volunteers to help de-install a small part of the 888,246 ceramic poppies planted for the Blood-Swept Lands and Seas of Red at the Tower of London. The installation has been slowly growing since the Summer due to various volunteers helping to plant the poppies until the final poppy was placed on Remembered Day on the 11th November. Every poppy planted represents a British fatality during the First World War.

We applied to be volunteers through the Tower of London website at the end of October, but were originally told we had missed out due to the volume of people who had applied. A week later we were excited to receive an email saying that due to several cancellations, we would be able to volunteer after all!

We arrived at the Tower of London just before 9.00 a.m. dressed in our best outdoor clothes - warm jackets, woollen jumpers and waterproof boots. The Poppy Team sent us an email last night saying that due to the rainfall over the last week, the moat around the tower was starting to resemble Glastonbury with the sheer amount of mud, and pools of water everywhere.

The forecast was for clear skies, but of course as soon as we arrived the heavens opened and it rained for the first hour we were there. We were sorted into groups upon arrival, and led into the moat to begin removing poppies. We were given gardening gloves to wear, which were soon soaking wet and absolutely freezing, making it almost impossible to use our hands to do anything useful.

The first part of removing the poppies involved yanking them out of the ground, and sliding off the washers holding the flower in place. The washers, posts and flowers then went into several different buckets and wheelbarrows ready to be sorted by the other teams. Halfway through we swapped duties, though by far the best duty was the flower removal! Removing the top washers from each post was much harder than it appeared, and trying to use zip-ties to tie the posts together was almost impossible with my too big gloves on.

I don't look too muddy here, but it got much worse as the morning went on!

All the volunteers were really positive and excited to be there, it's not everyday you're able to go right down into the Tower of London and there were lots of opportunities for photos.

There are three shifts each day, with each shift lasting between 2-3 hours. after about 2 1/2 hours we were told we were all done for the day and we could stop what we were doing for the next shift to take it up. Our shift managed to remove 8,000 poppies, so it was a great achievement. The time went super quickly as well, especially the poppy removal in the beginning.

We took a lot of photos of ourselves on the way out, a bit hard since we were completely covered in mud. Luckily there are bathrooms right next to the Tower, so we popped in and washed as much off as we could before heading to GBK Burgers for lunch. We must have been successful since we didn't get too many weird looks!

So despite the rain and cold, we had a great time. It was awesome to be a part of such an amazing installation, especially at the Tower of London, one of our favourite places in London.

I did learn two things though - the first is that I am not at all cut out for manual labour. I am so sore and I haven't been able to get the dirt out from under my fingernails despite repeated hand-washings today. The second is that I'm glad we were the first group, everyone after us had to wear the same gloves as we had on, I can't imagine how horrible it must feel to put on sopping wet and cold gloves at 3.00 p.m. in the afternoon!

Provence - Roussillon, Goult & The Colorado of Provence

At the end of May we took a trip to Provence. We planned the trip for Spring to avoid the hordes of tourists that descend on Provence in Summer, usually from mid June to mid September to see the famous Provencal Lavender. 

Unfortunately traveling so early meant we'd miss the Lavender completely, since the Lavender Season is from June to August, but we were hoping to see some red poppies which luckily for us are in Season in Spring!

We flew into Marseille airport where we'd also arranged to pick up a hire car. You can see Provence without hiring a car, either by bike, train or by day tours with a guide, but if you want to see the smaller towns and have your own itinerary then a car is the best option.

We were staying at Le Verger B&B, about a 15 minute drive from the beautiful town of Gordes. We wanted the stay in the countryside, but also wanted to be close enough to a town so we could go out for dinner without worrying about a long drive back afterwards.

The location was excellent, we were never more than a half an hour drive from any of the nearby villages, and it was about an hour and a half from Marseille airport. We took slightly longer though since we got completely lost and came across the B&B almost by accident. We actually arrived at the complete wrong entrance, and the owners came to let us in the back gate where we then drove down a long and bumpy driveway. Very embarrassing but they were very gracious about it!

The beautiful town of Saint Emilion

Saint Emilion is definitely one of my favourite places I have ever been. It is also one of the most beautiful.

Saint Emilion is easily done as a day trip from Bordeaux, by either car or train, but we decided to stay one night before heading back to London. It is one of the most popular towns in the area, and can get quite busy with busloads of tourists during the daytime. The best time to visit is in the morning or the evening when the crowds are gone and you can stroll the streets in peace.

We didn't stay in Saint Emilion itself, as a lot of the B&B's and Hotels are quite expensive, so instead we stayed a 20 minute drive away at the Beau Sejour B&B, in a tiny room with sloping floors and a lovely view out over the garden.

The Prehistoric Sites of the Perigord and Aquitane - Lascaux II and La Roque St Christophe

The area around the Aquitaine and the Perigord has a huge amount of prehistoric sites that are open to the public to visit. Before our trip, I had no idea about a lot of this side of France's history, so we spent a full day exploring caves with some amazing prehistoric paintings and a large Troglodyte fort.

Our first stop was Montignac, a small town north of the Perigord in the Aquitaine region of France. The town itself is pretty and deserves a visit, but most people just stop to pick up tickets on their way to Lascaux II, a replica of the famous Lascaux cave.

The original Lascaux cave was discovered in the 1940's by Marcel Ravidat who was only 18 and who literally stumbled across it. The cave had some of the most well preserved Palaeolithic cave paintings ever discovered, and is most amazing due to the details of the animals, many of which seem to be in motion.

The cave was closed to the public in the late 1930's to preserve the art, but an exact replica of the cave was opened in 1983 so visitors could still get a glimpse of the amazing artwork.

The beautiful towns of the Black Perigord - Beynac, Domme & Saint Cyprien

We realised in the middle of planning our holidays for 2014 at the start of this year, that whilst we have spent the last four years exploring various parts of Europe, we had completely neglected France.

We've been to Paris twice, which we hated the first time, but loved the second, and did a quick hop over the border from Germany to Strasbourg, but other than that it had just completely dropped off our radar.

We decided to rectify that with two trips to France for each of the May Bank Holidays. The first would be to the Black Perigord region and the towns along the Dordogne, and the second would be further South to Provence.

So at the start of May we flew into Bordeaux, hired a car and drove a couple of hours East to the Perigord. Bergerac airport would have been closer for the region, but flights are a bit more sparse to Bergerac from the UK as they are to Bordeaux.

We arrived in the late afternoon and hoped to arrive in the tiny town of Vitrac before dark. This would have worked out wonderfully had we not driven in circles around Bordeaux for over an hour wondering why all their bridges looked the same... the answer is they don't, it was the same bridge we went over about three times.

When we finally managed by a fluke to get the right road out of Bordeaux, it was a beautiful drive alongside hundreds of vineyards and tiny towns. Having lost so much time, we stopped at the McDonalds just outside Bergerac for dinner to take a break before continuing to Vitrac.

We stayed at the beautiful L'Ombriere Bed and Breakfast just outside Vitrac in the even tinier town of Montfort. We stayed in the top room which had a great view out over the back garden.

Halloweenifying Ourselves for Halloween!

With no Halloween parties to go to, I've had to entertain myself with the Halloweenify option from Google. You need to have a Google+ account with some photos uploaded, and then it's just a matter of choosing between the 'Fun' or 'Spooky' effects. I might have gotten a bit carried away...

Easter in Cornwall - Visiting Polperro, Fowey and Tintagel

We woke up on Easter Sunday to a very grey and rainy looking day. We had a huge cooked breakfast at our B&B before wrapping up warm and heading East this time, to the small town of Polperro.

Polperro is known for being one of the most beautiful villages in Cornwall, and certainly it's my favourite of all the ones we visited. It is on almost all of the itineraries for tour groups, so can get extremely busy, especially in the high season.

We were lucky that it wasn't a very nice day, as it seemed to have stopped lots of people from getting up early, perhaps hoping the rain would stop! So when we arrived we found it almost deserted, and even in the pouring rain it was still a beautiful village.

Easter in Cornwall - Visiting Padstow and Port Isaac

Visiting Cornwall has been on my list of places to see ever since we moved to the UK back in 2010. I'd always meant it to be one of the first places we visited in England, but it was always pushed back in favour of other places, like The Cotswolds and The Lake District, simply because it was just that little bit further away.

We felt that the 5 hour drive or train ride meant a long weekend was out of the question, and our longer holidays always seemed to be dedicated to places in Europe, but we realised we couldn't keep prioritising other places and finally visited in March this year over Easter.

Cornwall is busy most of the year, with Summer being the high season, and definitely the time we wanted to avoid! Whilst Bank Holidays and Public Holidays are also busy, Easter is still in the slight off season so you have room to breathe. Visiting in the off season means you have most of the roads to yourself, which is ideal since some are so tiny that the thought of coming across another car would be a nightmare involving backing up round several tight bends!

We decided to hire a car and drive from London, though the train would also be an excellent way to get there, and certainly would involve less arguments! If you were going to St Ives or Penzance it would be easy to get around with public transport, but we wanted to visit the tiny seaside towns for which a car is essential unless you want to join a tour group.

We left London in the early morning on Good Friday to beat the traffic. I had images in my mind of being stuck for hours in huge queues of people all leaving London but we had a clear ride almost the entire way.

We took the quickest route along the M4 to Bristol and then onto the M5 down towards Cornwall. We went much too fast the entire way there and back, having the complete incorrect information from Google about the speed limits in the UK, so we made it there in record time. Luckily for us we weren't caught on any speed cameras!

Easyjet Fearless Flyer Course - Conquering my Fear of Flying

This past weekend I did the Easyjet Fearless Flyer Course, run by Easyjet and created by businessman Mark Wein who cured his own fear of flying, and Lawrence Leyton, a motivational speaker. The course takes place over a two day period to help those like me who suffer from a sometimes crippling fear of flying.

I mentioned in my post about my Anxiety that when I moved over from New Zealand four years ago, I didn't have a fear of flying. It's something that has developed over time the more flights I have taken. We usually take a trip anywhere between every four to 12 weeks, and as time has gone on I have found myself booking holidays closer to the UK, where the flight time isn't as long. I realised I needed to do something when our plans for Christmas were entirely centred around where we could take the train.

We decided on Paris in the end, since we could take the Eurostar (hardly a compromise really, Paris is so beautiful!), but I knew I needed to do something to help conquer my fear since the underlying levels of Anxiety from flying all the time were starting to affect my everyday life.

Seeing a CBT counsellor has started to help address my Anxiety issues, but I knew I would need something more to help my biggest fear. I downloaded the Easyjet Fearless Flyer e-book, and they then emailed me about a Webinar, which I did, where they give you a brief overview of the course. The thing that most appealed to me was that they do the theory part of the course on a separate day to the experience flight. I know some people would prefer to get it all out of the way on one day, but I knew I wouldn't be able to concentrate on the theory course if I knew I was getting on a plane a few hours later!

If you wanted to do a course where it's all done and dusted on one day, Virgin and British Airways both offer these options. I also chose Easyjet since they're the airline we've probably flown the most with in the last few years and I knew I always felt safe on their planes.

The course was held at the Beales Hotel in Luton. The first day is three hours long and is spent teaching you the basics of how flying works and dispelling the myths we can build up in our minds about the noises we hear and the bumps we feel. An Easyjet Pilot is on hand to answer everyone's questions, and no matter how crazy they might seem to you, they've definitely heard them all before! We were also taught visualizations and techniques to help stop panic and anxiety, and how to stop those negative thoughts from taking over.

The next day I arrived at Luton airport feeling anxious, more anxious than usually as I decided not to take the Beta-Blockers I take to help with flying. It seemed like everyone from the previous day had made the decision to go to the airport and get on the experience flight and there was a mix of excitement and anxiety in the air as we lined up for check-in.

This would be my first ever flight on my own, though I could have chosen to take Bradley with me for an additional fee. I wanted to do it on my own because I knew it would really push my out of my comfort zone completely.

I was calm until we got to the front of the queue where I promptly started to have a huge panic attack. They are obviously used to this reaction and I was sat in a chair by Lawrence and taken through what we had learned yesterday. I have to say I have never calmed down from a Panic Attack so quickly, and it made a huge difference that I was treated as if having a panic attack was completely normal and not made to feel embarrassed at all.

Seeing I would be on my own, I was paired up with some members of the Fearless Flyer staff and a few other lovely ladies who took me through Security and right up onto the plane.

The pilot from the previous day explaining all the noises coming from the engines

Once on board the Pilot from the previous day's presentation stood up front explaining every single noise, bump and even everything the crew was doing throughout the entire flight. If only I could have him on every flight! It really helped to understand what was happening, and halfway through the flight I moved from my usual aisle seat to a seat by the window. I have never been so comfortable on a flight, and the sense of excitement and relief I felt was amazing.

The team gets up as soon as the Seat Belt sign goes off and wanders down the aisle, offering help and making sure everyone is okay. They are happy to stay with anyone who needs help for as long as you need it, it was such a supportive environment.

 I have to take my own selfies when Bradley's not with me!

The entire experience was so fantastic, I was so proud of myself afterwards for facing one of my worst fears head on and I got off a flight feeling really positive, which has never happened before.

This lady was so kind and sat with me the entire flight.

I cannot recommend this course enough, everyone was so kind and positive throughout and my next step is going to be to try and replace my previous flight memories with this one fantastic flight!

After you have completed the course, there is also the option of joining the experience flight on later courses if there is room for a fee. This is such a great idea, especially if you do not have any flights booked after your course, I'm definitely going to see if there's room on the next one for me!

Note: Many of these photos are taken from the Easyjet Fearless Flyer Facebook page. It's so great having a record of my experience!