Birthday weekend in Paris

Birthday weekend in Paris

I have quoted it many a time, but once more – ‘Paris is always a good idea’!  We visited in 2009 in September when the city was sultry and busy and ever since we have both wanted to return for a slower mooch around, with less need to see the sites and so…

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Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 20 – Paris

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 20 – Paris

Paris is always a good idea!  And as luck would have it we are back there next month – I cannot wait!  It’s just a long weekend, and it is bound to be chilly – but there isn’t much better than time away with my husband seeing the city – we’ll be wrapped…

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Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 17 – Almeria

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 17 – Almeria

Andalucía was never somewhere on my list to visit, probably as I hadn’t really heard of this region of Spain until Mr P came home one day and said that he was working with them as a sponsor in a sailing series he managed and he’d need to be there in October!  Now…

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Vienna in November

Vienna in November

A weekend in Vienna in November was a real treat for us! Last month we went through the holiday blues coming back from the warmth of Greece with no more sunshine trips on the horizon (having thoroughly spoilt ourselves this year). But this month we had a long weekend visiting friends that live…

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Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 15 – Killarney

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 15 – Killarney

That’s the view from our suite at Aghadoe Heights, looking out over the lakes of Killarney.  We’re in Ireland, in County Kerry – look how green it is, incredible! We arrived in the dark, which wasn’t planned – more of that later!  The concierge that showed us to our room suggested we leave…

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Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 13 – Garda take 2

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 13 – Garda take 2

Oh the trouble I got in for taking this action shot…  This is us in third spot, hot on the heels of 1st and 2nd place – we were flying in this race, everything was going well!  To capture the moment I whipped out my waterproof camera that I had stuffed into a…

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Autumn visit to Greece

Autumn visit to Greece

Greece – well finally I’ve found where future sunshine mini breaks will be!! I’ve only ever heard about the party islands or the gilded resorts on Santorini and so had crossed these off the preferred visit list. I wanted to enjoy the real and rustic country, in luxurious surroundings! Thankfully Mr P knew…

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Sailing in Sardinia

Sailing in Sardinia

As places to spend a week sailing, laughing with friends and generally relaxing and having a jolly good time go – well, it doesn’t really get much better!  Mr P and I have both spent many years sailing on big boats and so we were thrilled to be invited to sail on Bella…

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Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 9 – Minorca Sailing

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 9 – Minorca Sailing

Not all holidays have to be relaxing, although we did have plenty of time to relax when we weren’t sailing! Minorca Sailing is one of the better equipped beach sailing companies and they also are very good at race training and racing for experienced sailors!  We had a week down there honing our…

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Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories – 2 – La Rochelle

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories – 2 – La Rochelle

Sailing, sailing, sailing, we used to do something water-based near on every weekend! On this occassion Mr P was sailing at a dinghy regatta with a friend in La Rochelle and I was studying for my chartered accountant exams.  So I took the study to the sunshine and worked while he sailed! La Rochelle is…

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3 days driving the coast of Donegal and Derry

3 days driving the coast of Donegal and Derry

It is just a short hop from Heathrow to Belfast – about 50minutes flying time.  It is an incredibly busy route and one that my husband and I have done a number of times for work commitments.  We did try to change our flight back home to an earlier one due to unplanned…

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Self catering luxury on the banks of Lough Swilly

Self catering luxury on the banks of Lough Swilly

I’m still congratulating myself on finding this property!  It really was perfect for what we wanted!  I am a big fan of fancy hotels and exemplary service, but the hotel offerings in the area didn’t seem right – certainly not as ‘local’ and rustic as they should be. And then we stumbled upon…

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The (Prosecco) merchant(s) of Venice

The (Prosecco) merchant(s) of Venice

Venice was stunning, I hadn’t expected to enjoy our trip there quite so much, but wow!  My favourite discovery has to be that it is in the Prosecco region of Italy – something I didn’t know before, but something that we grasped with both hands during the visit (hence the name of this…

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When in Rome with Hilton…

When in Rome with Hilton…

In the past month I’ve had the need to stay in 3 of the 4 Hilton hotels in Rome!  I could have been braver and used another hotel group, but there is something to be said for brand loyalty to keep up a tier rating!!  It isn’t usual to stay in so many hotels of…

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Beautiful Eze – relaxed Cote d’Azur

Beautiful Eze – relaxed Cote d’Azur

The south of France was quite the discovery – it isn’t all $$$$$ and it can be relaxing and rustic – thank goodness. We’d long put it to the bottom of the list for the reverse of those very accolades! We stayed at the Eze Hermitage, up the hill from Eze village (which…

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