It’s been forever since I’ve written any kind of personal update and I’ve had a few lovely emails asking how I’m getting on with the epic renovation project. It was the end of last year when I told you about my house. Yes, we bought a house! But it’s not just a house, it’s the …
Posts from: August 2015
There are few things in life I’m genuinely scared of. Snakes, sharks and spiders top the list. Bungee jumping is up there. And so is camping. I know there are people who truly love camping. They find joy in being so close to nature, in having to rely on their skills rather than technology, in …
Check out my 12-week blogger e-course if you’re interested in becoming a full time blogger. ‘Niche’. Urgh, it’s a horrible word. But it’s a word I’ve been saying A LOT recently. I’ve been speaking at a few blogger events and conferences and the word ‘niche’ keeps coming up. Why? Because having a niche when blogging …
What’s so special about Hadrian’s Wall? After all, it’s just a lump of stones cobbled together, to create a physical barrier. You call that a tourist destination? I mean, I know the Great Wall of China is a tourist attraction, but crikey that’s visible from space, and it’s 13,170 miles long. Hadrian’s Wall on …
It’s been all over the news recently about how expensive it is to use your phone when you’re abroad. Well duh, we all know this but it’s still easy to get sucked in to using your phone and wracking up a massive bill. A selfie a day on Instagram could add up to an …
Picture a skyline at dusk, where skyscrapers are suspiciously absent and replaced instead by rust-coloured fairy-tale turrets and spires. In the distance, a lake glitters in the last of the sun, and even farther away than that, the Swiss Alps rise majestically from the water. Welcome to the Swiss city of Lausanne. Aside from its …
When you tell someone you’re a travel blogger the first thing you’re asked is, ‘Where’s your favourite place?’ The second thing you’re ask is, ‘What’s your top travel tip?’ Its impossible to name your favourite place in the world but we can share our top travel tips! So here you have it, The Travel Hack’s …
If you’ve been following along on Instagram you will have seen that I’ve just returned from an incredible 3-day trip to Iceland. Actually, ‘incredible’ doesn’t do it justice. It was an unforgettable, once in a lifetime, ‘tell-it-to-the-grandchildren-in-50-years-time’ kind of incredible. I was away for a long weekend and it was actually only 36 hours spent …
Remember that scene in Hugh Grant’s failing travel bookshop, when Julia Roberts tells him that she’s ‘just a girl standing in front of a boy, telling him that she loves him’? It was this film, named after and set in Notting Hill, that brought a small area in West London into the world spotlight …
As with many British cities, Newcastle has its fair share of galleries, museums, historical attractions and sporting attractions to pick from. But what if you are looking for something a little different? A little less mainstream perhaps? Maybe you prefer the unusual, or downright bizarre. If that is the case, then this post is for …
It’s coming to the end of the summer holidays and many of us are heading back to work after an incredible holiday. We all love going on holiday but the comedown that inevitably follows can give us a real case of the post-holiday blues. So in order to help you readjust to life at home, we’ve compiled …
If there is one thing that a pickpocket loves it’s tourists! When you’re unfamiliar with a place or distracted by sightseeing it’s easy to become vulnerable. I’ve heard countless stories of stolen purses and wallets over the years and in most cases the thief was long gone by the time they realized their stuff was …
The Himalayan mountain range is an absolutely enormous stretch, running from Pakistan in the west, through India, Nepal and Bhutan to China in the east. The word ‘Himalaya’ derives from ancient Sanskrit and means ‘abode of snow’, and the range is home to nine of the highest 10 peaks in the world. You might be …
Venice is more than just a pretty face. It’s also home to some of Europe’s cultural highlights – from music and film to food and drink. When you’ve had enough of gazing, gondolas and gelato – check out La Biennale festival. What is La Biennale? La Biennale di Venezia is a biannual festival, celebrating contemporary …
Admittedly, I am usually not one to go to the same place twice when it comes to travelling. Not because I never love anywhere enough, but because my favourite thing is to go where I have never been. There’s only one exception to my rule and that’s if I go from a new perspective. For example …
Today’s blog is a Forest Holidays Review from my gorgeous stay with Forest Holidays at their Sherwood Forest location. We have had two family holidays with Forest holidays, the first being to Sherwood Forest in the summer and the second was to Forest Holidays Ardgartan Argyll in Scotland in the winter. They were both very …
Sign up here to receive updates about my 12-week blogger e-course One of the hardest things about travel blogging is that you’re so busy travelling you don’t have time to blog. You may notice a lot of the full time travel bloggers travel very slowly and will schedule in a couple of days each …
How would you like free nights at a fabulous and luxurious hotel like the Marriott, Phuket in Thailand? Or how about free hotel nights in Costa Rica, perfect for nature lovers, scuba divers and beach lovers alike? Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to enter a competition or spend months (possibly years!) saving …
You’ve booked your flights and now you’re wondering what you can actually do in Barcelona. Well step this way, as we share our Barcelona guide. Having visited a few times, including just last month, it includes some of our favourite tourist spots, as well as some lesser known favourite finds. A word of warning though …
Colourful gondolas bobbing up and down in the canal. Ancient, rust-coloured buildings which look as though they have a story to tell lining narrow, winding streets. Yep, Venice is pretty much a blogger or photographer’s dream. Recently, I went wandering the streets of Venice, armed with the new LGG4 phone to test its camera out …
8 reasons why staying in a villa while you travel with a baby is awesome I love hotels, but staying in a hotel with a baby or young kids can be difficult. You’re restricted to a small room and unless you have a suite you’re all stuck in there together. What do you do when …
It’s hard to believe that one of the biggest cities in the world doesn’t have an extensive 24-hour transport service. You can feel a little like Cinderella if you’re out past midnight in London, except instead of your carriage turning into a pumpkin you’ll just have to pay an arm and a leg for …
In theory, Iceland shouldn’t be this beautiful. Iceland is a harsh, lonely country. It’s volcanic and rugged with vast spaces of desolate land. There are very few trees and it can be hard to differentiate between the grey of the cloud and the grey of the earth. The land is flat for miles and …
It seem’s I spend all my time seeking beaches on the other side of the world and find myself neglecting the beauty we have here in England. Admittedly, it’s really the weather I’m seeking on the other side of the world but when the sun shines in England… it’s a very beautiful (and rare) thing. Just …
We all love travelling in the summer, especially in Europe when the weather is at its best and there’s an exciting vibe in the cities. Everyone is outdoors, soaking up the sun and making the most of the balmy evenings. American Express® has created Hello Europe, a hub dedicated to providing Card members with …
Hello! It’s me again! Mollie – ‘The Adventurer’. Last weekend, you may have seen on our Instagram @thetravelhack, I headed down to Brighton on a road trip with the RAC for the weekend. #RACstaycation. We were blessed with beautiful weather on the Saturday and one of those ‘grey drizzly days that England does best’ on …
Last month I had an incredible 5-night stay at Tregarthens Hotel on St Mary’s island, the largest of the Isles of Scilly. I was travelling with Sam and our four-month old son, George. We’ve stayed in a few hotels with George already but Tregarthens was the best by a million, trillion miles. (Yes, it was …
Barcelona is full of hotels, so it makes sense to go for one that’s going to give you a memorable experience. And that’s where Barceló Raval comes into play. It’s a four-star hotel with unique décor, a rooftop bar and pool, and techie extras. Yep, this place is worth a visit for something out of …
Hanoi is an assault on the senses. Women sheltering from the sun in full length anoraks buzz around on mopeds in 40 degree heat, beeping to announce their presence. Freshly barbecued pork crisps and sizzles on food carts at every turn, and tropical birds hang in cages above shop windows, shrieking for their freedom. There …
Yesterday I had the pleasure of popping up to Leeds for a day of blogging and networking. Icelolly, the holiday price comparison site, invited a fabulous group of bloggers to their offices for a beach themed day. There were cocktails, palm trees, more cocktails, sun loungers and…yep…more cocktails. It was a lot of fun and …