Lake Annecy, France

The first stop on our trip was towards the south-east of France at the town of Saint-Jorioz, which sits on the edge of Lake Annecy. The lake is the third largest in France and is known as Europe's cleanest lake, attracting many tourists for cycling, swimming and water sports. It has a surface area of 10.65 square miles and, whilst the average depth of the lake is 41 metres, at it's deepest it is actually 82 metres!

This was the longest part of our overall trip, at around 734 miles/1181km of driving, so we set off on Friday evening so we at least made it down to the Eurotunnel in Kent, meaning we had an early start on Saturday morning to try and make good time.

Fast forward three stops and only 10 hours to 6:30pm (French time) on Saturday evening and we arrived in Saint-Jorioz! The weather was warm and the sun was still shining, so we headed straight down to the lake to stretch our legs and grab some dinner whilst it was still beautifully light.

 

This was my second time visiting the area, having been in 2009 visiting my parents who were working nearby, and I knew Charlie would love it as the mountains contrast so well against the flat surface by the lake. Whilst in the area we travelled around the lake, stopping at various points to take advantage of the scenery and tranquility, and we also ventured towards the top of one of the mountains where you can find many thrill-seekers paragliding (and no doubt getting the best views) over the lake. For those that love life on two wheels, there is also a cycle path that goes partially around Lake Annecy past Sevrier and St Jorioz to Ugine.

 

If you know anything about France you will know they very much have a 'work-to-live' view on life and like to take it easy. What I enjoyed most about this was seeing the many locals meeting down by the lake to sit for hours and chat with the friends and acquaintances that passed by - it's a fantastic spot for people watching!

If you are thinking about seeing this part of the world and have any questions, please do get in touch, I would be happy to share any ideas or knowledge with you!

Holidays 2016: Vacation Time Part 2

Just a quick follow up to my last vacation post for 2016 (click here to view) to show you all what we're doing for our last trip of 2016!

Holiday 4 (European City Break) - Copenhagen, Denmark, 2 adults, 26th July - 29th July 2016
This vacation takes place right at the start of the summer school holidays and therefore it is a bit more expensive than if we went a couple of weeks earlier, but nonetheless it looks amazing and actually the flights were very reasonable! We booked flights with Easyjet (hand luggage only, cabin case with no weight limit) from London Gatwick to Copenhagen, Denmark at £39.14 each return (**further notes below on this)
The accommodation I headed to AirBnB for because a 4*+ hotel was working out far too much, and we found this little gem on there! It's the entire apartment for our own use and includes Wifi and is right by the metro - £88.50 each
Total per adult for flights and accommodation - £127.64
**Get a bargain with flights and use Nectar points towards the cost - definitely recommend if you are a regular online shopper, a great money saving method to online shopping. We saved £30 by doing this!

 

Very excited for this mini adventure and I've already started learning some Danish to impress the locals (or shock them with my pronunciation!) :-) It will likely be around 20 degrees in Copenhagen which will be perfect for brisk walks and heading to the biggest aquarium in Europe! Who knows, we might even pop over to Sweden for a quick look around.

Holidays 2016: Vacation Time Part 1

Following the popularity of my 2015 holiday post last January - http://em-maria.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/this-is-how-we-do-it-holidays-2015.html I thought I would spend some time sharing our plans for 2016 travel for anyone that fancies something different with their trips! Seeing the world is something really important to me, but with working full time and only getting 5 weeks off a year it can be tricky to fit in lots of worthwhile trips, not to mention the cost. I am in my late-20s and my partner is in his mid-30s, so we're not very far away from thinking about expanding our family. We have therefore decided that this year is a time to head further afield and do a twin centre holiday!

Holiday 1 (Family Trip) - Pays de la Loire, France, 2 adults, 2 children, 27th March - 2nd April 2016
We are off to visit my parents and taking my nephews too (aged 9 and 6). The Loire Valley is well-known for wine-making and also the Le Mans 24 hour racing. Mum and Dad are about 2 hours from Paris and it's a lovely location for some peace and quiet.
Option 1: drive via the Channel Tunnel, use your Tesco Clubcard vouchers to triple up on clubcard points! This takes approximately 10 hours door-to-door from Dorset, England.
Option 2: drive and take the ferry with Brittany Ferries! Unfortunately no chance to use clubcard points but it means the kids can run around and it's a lot less stressful driving-wise! Routes from Portsmouth to Caen or Le Havre, there's always something to fit your travel plans. You will have your fuel costs and then the ferry cost for a return trip £338 during school Easter Holidays.
Total ferry cost per person - £84.50

Holiday 2 (Twin Centre) - Hong Kong and Ubud, Bali, 2 adults, 28th May - 13th June 2016
For a twin centre trip there are not many DIY deals you can do, unless you want to pay for all the flights and hotel stays separately. If that's the case I don't think it'll end up much/any cheaper than going with a tour operator. This is an extravagant trip for us but it'll be worthwhile I'm sure.
We weren't entirely sure where we wanted to go, so I was browsing on Hayes & Jarvis and the online chat window popped up. I typed in what we were after (4/5* 14 night trip over 2 destinations, perhaps Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur and a couple of hotel choices in Bali) and they whizzed over 4 holiday choices. By luck the cheapest quote was the one we wanted, hurrah! To top it all off I was a bit cheeky and asked about a further early booking discount and got another substantial saving! It doesn't hurt to ask, so remember for next time!
Hong Kong - Harbour Grand Hotel 5* Hong Kong Island, 4 nights B&B, free room upgrade
Ubud, Bali - Maya Ubud Resort & Spa 10 nights B&B, private car transfers
All flights and transfers are included
Total per adult for flights, transfers and accommodation - £1,780

 

Holiday 3 (Private Villa) - Madeira, Atlantic Ocean, 2 adults, 27th August - 3rd September 2016
This vacation does take place during the school holidays and therefore is a bit more expensive than if we went a couple of week later. We booked flights with Easyjet (hand luggage only, cabin case with no weight limit) from London Gatwick to Funchal Madeira at £305.95 each return with seats being pre-booked (**further notes below on this)
The villa with private pool I shopped around for because it was on AirBNB, Holiday Lettings and various other sites. Finally we booked through Homeaway (Angels in Paradise, Calheta) which sleeps up to 6 people - £213.50 Total per adult for flights and accommodation - £519.45
**Get a bargain with flights and use Nectar points towards the cost - definitely recommend if you are a regular online shopper, a great money saving method to online shopping.

Our final trip is still to be confirmed, but it's likely to be a UK break as per last year, perhaps in Wales or Scotland so we can take the dog with us, he loves having time at the beach too! If you need any help or advise with your travel plans/ideas please do not hesitate to contact me, I'd be happy to help!

Brighton and Worthing Weekend of Fun!

August is a month of fun - children are on summer holidays, the weather is (sometimes) really good and there are lots of birthdays! For Ellie's birthday we headed back to her family home in Worthing and ventured in to Brighton for some fun activities.

The weather was great and spirits were high - so we started with pizza and prosecco to get us feeling relaxed and continental!

Then we headed to Brighton Pier for fun and arcades, followed by some shopping and gelato....

Steph joined us late afternoon so we had some summer sangria (which came in such a nice bottle I had to keep it) and then headed to the beach to go on the carousel and have cocktails whilst the sun went down :-)

 Sunday was just as much fun - we went to Littlehampton to play minigolf and see the beach!

After more shopping on Sunday and a lot of rushing around we finally headed home after what seemed like several days' worth of fun - and a much needed early night to bed *yawn* - Penelope was there ready for an early night too!

A visit to Marrakech

Following my money-saving and highly popular post from January regarding holidays for during 2015 (you can find this here: http://em-maria.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/this-is-how-we-do-it-holidays-2015.html ) I have now managed to completed item 54 of 101 on my list of 101 things in 1001 days (visit five different countries). We took a trip to Marrakech!

I have always wanted to go to Marrakech and have heard how magical the souks and Jemaa El Fna can be so I was super excited when we managed to get a trip for £120 each! Yup, and that included flights from our local airport and a stay for 4 nights at a 5* hotel on a bed and breakfast basis. Morocco is pretty cheap so we didn't need much spending money either.

Unfortunately on this trip I was struck down with an illness so it didn't bode well for my 'relaxing break' - but alas, off we went! The hotel we stayed at (Adam Park Hotel & Spa - http://www.adamparkmarrakech.com/ ) was great, and so peaceful because we were travelling out of season and during Ramadan. The pool was spacious, I'm talking HUGE, and the staff were fantastic! I would definitely go back here even if just for a quiet break in the sun.

We weren't, however, a big fan of the city itself and that is just our opinion for this one visit. We travel a lot and expect for locals to try and get us to visit their shops/restaurants, but this was an extreme I have never experienced before. After 20 minutes of large men and small children tugging on our clothes and trying to 'guide you strongly' towards their premises, we headed back to the hotel. I fully understand that when it's not 40 degrees and I'm not ill it's a much better environment, so it's a shame we visited under these circumstances. That said, we had a great trip overall and with Morocco only being a 3 hour flight away I would definitely return! Happy travels to all heading on holiday any time soon :-)