Why Finland? Finland had been somewhere we had wanted to go for a long time. Motor racing had played a part in that. Finnish racing drivers had seemed very dashing; we’d watched Mika Häkkinen racing against Mika Salo in British Formula 3 and seen them both progress to Formula 1. JJ Lehto had been spectacular … More Finland
We had thought long and hard about whether to visit the North or South Pantanal. The big attraction of the Pantanal is the opportunity to see wildlife and the biggest attraction for most people is the opportunity to see Jaguars. The area around Porto Jofre, in the north, has the reputation of being the place … More Brazil 2025 – Part 3 – The Pantanal
We stayed in São Paulo both before and after our trip to the Pantanal. It’s very much a working city, not a tourist destination, but it’s an exciting place to be with plenty of fabulous restaurants. The Fasano This is the most glamorous hotel we have ever stayed in. We loved the mid-century styling. We … More Brazil 2025 – Part 2 – São Paulo
After going to Rio de Janeiro and Ilha Grande in 2015, we had intended to come back to Brazil – with a particular interest in seeing Sao Paulo and the Pantanal. We were also keen to revisit the Atlantic Coast. After a lot of internet research, we ended up having out trip put together by … More Brazil 2025 – Part 1 – Paraty
For a long time, we had been thinking about doing a big trip to celebrate Annette’s 60th birthday – and we finally settled on going to Namibia (which we had visited once before, in 2002). David particularly wanted to go to Shipwreck Lodge on the Skeleton Coast. Annette talked to quite a few safari specialists … More Namibia 2025
Since my friend Dick is a keen cyclist and I’d done one cycling holiday in Finland, I thought it would be fun to do a cycle trip together. I was keen to do part of the Baltic Sea Cycle Path, and the section from Lübeck to Stralsund looked varied and interesting. We chose an organised … More Hamburg and the Baltic Sea Cycle Path from Lübeck to Stralsund
One of the reasons that we thought it might be interesting to turn our holiday albums into a more public-facing blog was reading an article in the Financial Times at the end of last year where travel writers were asked to share their discoveries (and disappointments) in 2023 (Link here. There doesn’t seem to be … More Siwa Oasis
We flew into Keflavik on 18 July and picked up our hire car, then drove the short distance to the Lighthouse Inn, Garður. With its two lighthouses Garður was a good base from which to explore the Reykjanes Peninsula before we set out for Flatey and the Westfjords. Sights included the Hvalsneskirkja, Hafnaberg Cliffs with … More Road Trip to the Westfjords, Iceland 2023
We’d arranged our car hire through Lava Car Rental. In Keflavik it took us a few minutes to find the right spot for the shuttle pick up but soon we were on the way to Lava’s premises a short distance from the airport. Having driven in Iceland a couple of times before, we knew that … More Our experience of driving in Iceland
Peregrinamur 