It seems like September is the month of amazing competitions so today I wanted to share with you a new one! This is a Twitter competition from PhotoWorld and it’s focused on photo memories. I’ve said before that I don’t buy souvenirs when I travel. I just take ridiculous amounts of photos and have them …
Happy Friday! This week’s Weekend Reads are coming to you from Egypt where it’s currently 9am and temperatures are already soaring towards 35 degrees. Yes, at 9am! I spent my first two days here doing exactly what you’re meant to do on a traditional, old-fashioned holiday. I did nothing. Absolutely nothing but read, eat, swim, …
As I write this I’m frantically rushing around trying to wash and re-pack my bags for my next adventure. I’ve been in Egypt for the past week but now it’s time for a different kind of adventure as I’m off on a 9-day trip around Europe! Side note: Trying to pack light for a European …
I love city breaks but one of the things I find difficult is narrowing down my ‘to-do list’ while I’m there. Most big cities have so much to see and do it becomes impossible to do it all. So unless you have weeks to spare and plenty of money you’re going to have to narrow …
I’m really, really excited about this competition because it’s only open to readers of The Travel Hack! (Yes, you won’t be competing against hundreds of thousands of people!) Do you remember earlier this month I was travelling around Paris, Lille and Berlin with Citadines? I was taking part in a blogger competition and was doing …
“A blogging…festival?” I can hear the cogs whirring already. “A blogging festival? What on earth is a blogging festival?” Well my friends, this weekend I was speaking at Blogstock, the world’s first blogging festival, and I can tell you that it was flipping marvelous. There are lots of conferences set up for bloggers from all …
When you think of the best places in the world to watch the sunset you probably think of the Greek Islands, maybe the Australian Outback, the Sahara Desert or even the Grand Canyon. But what if I told you I’ve found an even better place to watch the sunset? It’s the kind of sunset that …
Before I visited Cyprus the one thing everyone said to me was: “Oh my goodness, you’re going to LOVE the food.” They didn’t tell me about the gorgeous views, the beaches, the bright blue sea and those incredible Cypriot sunsets. No, everyone just went on and on about the food. It wasn’t until I had …
That’s a very bold title isn’t it? The best massage IN THE WORLD. Obviously I haven’t tried every massage in the whole entire world but I’ve tried a lot and this one was pretty darn good, the best I’ve ever had. Le Meridien Limassol is a luxury resort and spa in Limassol, a city on …
Hello and happy Friday! I’m writing this from the sea as I sail from Mykonos to Istanbul. This week I’ve been travelling with Celebrity Cruises. We began in Venice on Monday, followed by Dubrovnik, Mykonos and finally Istanbul today. I’m having such an incredible time, not only in the destinations but also onboard the ship. …
It’s quick one this week as I’m writing this just before I head out to Blogstock! Blockstock is the world’s first blogging festival. It’s been put together by the guys behind Traverse, an informal and fun travel blogging conference. I spoke at the last conference about social media and I’ve been asked to speak again! …
It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve done a Weekend Reads post with my favourite blog posts and articles from around the blogosphere. Here are some great posts I’ve been loving over the past few weeks. Travel Writing Roundup {Caroline in the City} This is such a fantastic resource of travel websites, blogs and …
This summer, World Duty free is hosting a #SummerDrinksFestival to get us all recreating our favourite holiday cocktails at home. They asked me to get involved and do my best at making some tasty cocktails. This came at the perfect time because one of my best friends is home from Australia for a couple of …
Each year we spend the entire winter dreaming about beach holidays. White sands, blue seas, bright sunshine and golden tans. Arrhh, this is what dreams are made of. Just after Christmas we re-join the gym and spend hours finding the right skin care regimen, hoping that it will have us looking as beautiful as Beyonce …
It was this time last year I was busily planning my trip to Iceland which I took in October. Early October was the perfect time to visit Iceland thanks to the blue skies, chilly but bearable temperatures and a light scattering of snow that dusted the ground. Iceland immediately became one of my favourite places …
This week’s App of the Week comes from Switzerland but this is an app with a difference. Swiss Mag, as the name suggests, feels much more like a magazine than a regular app. This app is only available on iPad, which is frustrating for anyone who doesn’t own one, but you do need to see …
This week has been one of my very rare chilled out weeks and I’ve loved every second of it. I’ve been having dinner with friends, drinking wine in the garden, walking my pooch and I had a couple of days in London working on exciting new projects – news on that coming soon! Here’s what …
Update: Unfortunately I was unable to take part in the Ironman as I’m having a baby. ******* You know when you agree to do something and then a few months later you think, ‘What the hell was I thinking? I can’t do that!’ Yea, that’s what happened with the Ironman. I was invited to take …
This time last year I was training for the Virgin Active Triathlon in London and this year I’m training for the run section of an Ironman in Austria. Argh! I may only be doing the run but I was originally doing the entire thing so I’m still training as though it’s a full Ironman. This …
Hi there and welcome to another Weekend Reads where I share everything I’ve been reading and writing around the web this week. I’ve had another week at home while I’ve been doing my best to begin training for my Ironman challenge and catching up on blog writing. Here’s what I’ve been writing: I’m doing an …
“You may well return from your holiday thinking Slovenia is the prettiest country you’ve ever seen.” I read this in the Lonely Planet on my flight out here and I couldn’t agree more. When it comes to first impressions, Slovenia has well and truly blown me away. It’s picked me up and spun me …
If you do a Google image search for Slovenia then the first thing to pop up will undoubtedly be Lake Bled. Lake Bled is one of the most popular places to visit in Slovenia and is arguably one of the most beautiful spots in the whole country. And in a country this breathtakingly beautiful, that …
This week has been busy but incredible as I travelled to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. I’m going to be writing all about it next week but I will say now that I LOVED it. Ljubljana is such a beautiful hidden gem and the small city makes a perfect weekend escape. I was there all week …
Remember me telling you about the Autographer camera I tested last December? It’s a cool little camera that you wear around you neck and it captures an image every time it senses movement. I thought it was great for capturing your travels in a way that you can’t with a bulky camera as it snaps …
As I slipped between the crisp white sheets of my king sized bed I couldn’t help but think, ‘This is the kind of place I’d like to live’. I’m setting my standards pretty high here, I know, but I’m all about aiming high. Reach for the stars and all that. Cannizaro House in Wimbledon is …
If you were following any of my social media updates this weekend you will have seen that I was speaking at Food Blogger Connect. Food Blogger Connect, or FBC, is the world’s leading international food blogging conference and brings together bloggers and people from the foodie industry. I’m a huge fan of blogging conferences as …
Hiking in the Grand Canyon was the highlight of my Trek America journey. Taking a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon was amazing but being inside the canyon, touching the rocks and seeing it transform as we hiked lower was incredible. It’s that moment when you’re exhausted and sweating, your heart is pumping so hard …
I don’t know about you but one of my favourite things about travelling is trying new food and eating in gorgeous restaurants. The only problem is that it doesn’t take long before I’m feeling the affects of 3-course meals and boozy lunches around my middle. Cue massive sad face. I’m not even going to pretend …
It’s been a while since I’ve written a Blog Reads post with some of my favourite posts, videos and competitions I’ve stumbled across in the blogosphere. Like always, life gets busy and once you’re out of a habit it’s hard to get back into it. These little updates on what I’m reading have somehow turned …
How are you liking the sexy new makeover on The Travel Hack? I’ve updated the design of the blog to make space for bigger and better images. We all love a good travel story but it’s the images that grab your attention and make you fall in love with a new destination. As part of …