Travel – Cocktails & Memories

{Travel Tuesday} 9 Tips to plan your Trip

Posted on February 10, 2015May 27, 2015 by Chantelle

I have been lucky enough to travel around the world a lot and I have planned my own trips. If you are planning your 1st trip, here are some tips that can hopefully help you.

Thoroughly research the country you would like to visit

I usually visit sites such as Trafalgar Tours or Insight Vacations and have a look at their itineraries in the area I am interested in. These tours cover a lot of interesting things to do and see & will give you a good idea of what that country has to offer.
Plan your calendar

When is the best time to visit your chosen destination? Would you like to see the snow in Switzerland, or visit the tulips in The Netherlands?

There is something unique about every season, in every country.

Bear in mind the high seasons – the cost can escalate quite a bit during the popular months – try to book on the cusp and enjoy the right time of year at lower prices.
Flights

In order to make your money stretch as far as possible, I recommend you do as much research and price comparisons as you possibly can on both flights and accommodation.

My favourite sites to visit for flights are Flight Centre & Travelstart

Remember to keep an eye out on the airline websites, just in case they have some good deals. Virgin Atlantic usually run really good specials.
Accommodation If not going on a guided tour that includes accommodation, then jot down a list of cities close by to your preferred places of interest and hop on to Booking.com A very easy to navigate website that gives you free cancellation options as well as the cheapest rates. Before you make your booking, I recommend you have a look on Trip Advisor to see what others out there are saying. A website’s photos may fool you, but honest reviews from travellers are a huge help.

NB: Make sure your room has its’ own bathroom! (I speak from experience!)
Discounts

Book and pay as early as possible to enjoy a further saving. If there are any travel expos, I recommend that you attend these. I saved about R5500 when booking my holiday in 2014.
Book online

Where possible try to book your excursions and entrance fees online. I saved up to 25%.

Also be on the lookout for Sightseeing passes such as the London/Rome/Paris Pass. These passes can offer substantial discounts on a variety of activities.
Learn the LingoAre you going to a foreign country? Learn a few phrases or at least write them down before your trip. Being stuck in an emergency situation where the locals don’t understand you can be rather scary. (We missed our tour in Thailand & nobody could tell us where the group had gone!)
Pack Light

Every bit of weight saved makes a difference. You never know when you might be forced to walk a few blocks looking for the bus stop or train station.Pack neutral colours so that you can mix and match & accessorise with coloured jewellery and scarves.

Plan this in advance so that you are familiar with your clothes.

Here is a great infographic from Pinterest:

Link
Forex

Inform your bank of your dates of travel so that your cards are not blocked for suspected fraud. But ensure you have some local currency or at the very least some US Dollars or Euros. We arrived in Malaysia in the early hours of the morning and needed cash for a cab but our cards were blocked when trying to withdraw at the ATM.

How do you plan your trips? Have you had any travel disasters?

{Travel Tuesday} Windsor – England

Posted on January 13, 2015May 27, 2015 by Chantelle

Windsor Castle

This was my 2nd trip back to London & this time I got to explore the city with my mom. It was her 1st overseas trip and I am happy to report that 6 months later, she is STILL talking about.

I planned the trip and made all the bookings myself instead of going through a travel agent. Virgin Atlantic had a great airfare special and we saved approximately R2000 per ticket to fly direct to London.

Every week I would sit down and open internet windows for Flight Centre, Travel Start, Booking.com and Trip Advisor.

Eventually everything was booked and we were on our way. In order to spend as much time in London and take a few days off to see Old Trafford in Manchester, we were on a super-tight budget.

I literally handed my mom her spending money every morning and put our food money in my purse & the balance in the safe. If we had no more money by the end of the day, we couldn’t do anything else. Working with cash does allow a person to budget so much better – using a credit card is like “free money”

By being clever with food purchases, we managed to do every bit of sightseeing we wanted to do and still had about 20 Pounds left.

This is our time spent in Windsor, a short train ride from London.

I was as sick as a dog (not realising it was the pre-cursor to my bronchitis) but I pushed ahead and explored as much as I could. After all, how often does one get to sight see in such a beautiful little town?

Windsor is a quaint little town with a variety of assorted shops to browse; toy stores, department stores – all there.

Eton College is located in the town of Windsor. Windsor is also home to Windsor Castle, 1 of the official residences of the Royal Family.

The gardens surrounding the castle are simply magnificent – mom and I were speculating as to how much time the Queen actually gets to spend in her gardens…

Beautiful Gardens

I definitely recommend buying a London Pass – we used our Pass for this day trip and saved quite a bit of money on the train fare as well as the few souvenirs we bought.

My Dentist told me I needed a crown, I was like “I know right!?”

Go early in the morning as there is lots to explore around this little town, but if you are visiting London, definitely make Windsor a stop on the list – you won’t regret it.

Wish I was there

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Chantelle

3 weeks ago I was relaxing in the park with mom, feeding the pigeons (ssshhh)

I am back from a 1 month break from work & I feel like a new person.

Hello everybody!

Wish I was there

Posted on June 27, 2014May 27, 2015 by Chantelle

3 weeks ago I was relaxing in the park with mom, feeding the pigeons (ssshhh)

I am back from a 1 month break from work & I feel like a new person.

Hello everybody!

Just Chilling

Travel Tuesday: Luzerne, Switzerland

Posted on December 10, 2013December 8, 2013 by Chantelle

Luzerne….

A winter wonderland. I had my first ever snow fight atop Mt Pilatus!
The night before we arrived in Luzerne, we were told to pack an overnight bag for our 3 day stay in Pilatus-Kulm*, opened in 1890 – 2132m (7000ft) above sea level.
2 by 2 we were bundled into a little cable car (The Aerial Panorama Gondola) that slowly ascends up to the mountains.

Down below the city of Lucerne slept under it’s snow blanket, while we rose up into a silent world of our own. Cocooned in excitement and wonder – the majestic pine trees silently welcomed us with outstretched branches heavily laden with snow.

As we ascended higher, the snow flakes started swirling around us and through the little window of the cable car.
Imagine the South African’s delight when we could see “actual” snowflakes, pretty patterns and all!

We snapped quite a few photos to get the perfect image of the snowflake before the body heat melted it. I never did get to see another perfect snowflake for the remainder of my trip so I am glad we caught this on camera.

It was -15C (5F) and there we were – throwing snowballs at each other. Thankfully our tour guide gave us a quick lesson in snow ball making: Never pack the snow tightly, it becomes as hard as a rock. Pack it very lightly so that it explodes when hitting the person.
Every night we had to dry our jeans over the radiator from being soaked in the snow fights.

I bought myself a beanie to warm my head. To this day I still get compliments if I wear it. I say thank you and smile, and remember my shopping trip in a little gift store high on the mountain, overlooking a tiny city.

Our rooms were very spacious and I can remember the circular rooms with windows opening down to my hips. I hung outside trying to get some scenery photos.

Living so high up, you feel as if you are in another world. At 8am the camera kept freezing, but eventually I snapped a shot of Lake Lucerne – the blue is not a filter in the camera, I think it was just that cold.

We had a day to ourselves in the city where we marvelled at the clean city and pretty little water features.

We crossed Chapel Bridge, the oldest covered bridge in Europe. It is a 204 m (669 ft) long wooden covered bridge originally built in 1333 and is one of the places to see when you visit Luzerne. There are beautiful paintings along the roof of the bridge as you walk, unfortunately a fire in 1993 destroyed most of the original paintings.

We visited The Lion Monument which was carved in memory of the Swiss soldiers who lost their lives during the French Revolution.
The gigantic monument is of a dying lion impaled by weapons. Underneath him is a list of names of the soldiers who lived and died. It is a beautiful memorial.

We visited some Catholic churches resplendent in gold trimmings and purple finery. The sheer magnitude of the churches in Europe surprised me. I always wonder why everything has to be so ornate when that money could be better spent on the poor.

My favourite part of the day (besides buying over 20 slabs of Lindt chocolate) was our visit to the fondue house complimented by the best Hot Chocolate ever. Delicious creamy Lindt chocolate melted into hot milk. I was in heaven!

Luzerne was my 2nd favourite city after Venice, and I really cannot wait to go back and visit more in the summer.

*Click here to watch a 1:30 min video of the hotel – recorded in 24 hours. It’s beautiful.

Travel Tuesday: Germany

Posted on November 26, 2013November 25, 2013 by Chantelle

The first country I ever experienced snow. I can still remember arriving at our little wooden cabin and chucking the cases inside so that we could come back outside and experience the feeling of snow crunching under our feet.

The German folk were extremely friendly and more than happy to offer advice to the newbie tourists.

In summer there are boat tours and you get to see the famous Loreley Rock.

In early times, it was reported that many ships sank here.
Apparently it was due to a pretty, naked, blonde woman, who distracted the skippers from their work through her songs.

Fickle men!

I bought my cuckoo clock after many agonising minutes spent choosing the right one.

Gorgeous Beer Steins. I bought 1 for my dad and my friend Grant.

Years later I had forgotten about it and complimented his gorgeous Stein one night over dinner! At least I know I have the same taste all these years later!

Can you tell I am at a wine-tasting? The rosy cheeks and broad grin are not a giveaway sign at all!

I actually still have that wine-tasting glass….

Mauritius here we come!

Posted on October 6, 2013May 27, 2015 by Chantelle

With only 6 more sleeps left to go, I am beginning to feel the pre-travel excitement.

Making lists in my head of what I need to take with me.

Luckily all I need in Mauritius is this:

Sun Hat – to protect my scalp and face
Fan – I have learnt this from experience – Tropical islands get HOT
Waterless Hand Sanitiser
Plug Adapter
Sunscreen
After Sun Lotion
Toothpaste
Leave in Hair Conditioner to prevent my hair drying out from the sun and salt water
Citronella Stick – keeps mosquitoes away
Vitamins
Passport
Bikini
Sarong
Sunglasses

Sorted! I am ready to go!

Mauritius here we come!

Posted on October 6, 2013October 6, 2013 by Chantelle

With only 6 more sleeps left to go, I am beginning to feel the pre-travel excitement.

Making lists in my head of what I need to take with me.

Luckily all I need in Mauritius is this:

Sun Hat – to protect my scalp and face
Fan – I have learnt this from experience – Tropical islands get HOT
Waterless Hand Sanitiser
Plug Adapter
Sunscreen
After Sun Lotion
Toothpaste
Leave in Hair Conditioner to prevent my hair drying out from the sun and salt water
Citronella Stick – keeps mosquitoes away
Vitamins
Passport
<Not shown here> Bikini
Sarong
Sunglasses

Sorted! I am ready to go!

Travel Tuesday – Knysna

Posted on September 17, 2013September 16, 2013 by Chantelle

South Africa is home to many beautiful places.

In 2006 my parents and I made a roadtrip to Knysna for my then boss’ wedding.

We stopped at lots of little places and I took photos of the most gorgeous old churches. The funny thing with me: I don’t go to church – I don’t like church, yet I have a love of old churches!

The drive through this valley is breathtaking. We had to stop for toilet breaks and I caught my Dad on camera, so he made my Mom do the same to me – I will spare you those photos!

A grave — Helen Page: Died in 1882 – only 21!

Bloukrans River Bridge – Highest COmmercial Bungee jump in the world – 216m

And before you ask me – no I did not do this jump – I am not a Bungee jump fan!

I took this photo lying on the floor – the tree was so big!

Travel Tuesday – The Comores

Posted on September 10, 2013September 10, 2013 by Chantelle

My first island holiday with my boyfriend at the time, Henri.

The Comores is such a small island that you can take a day tour around the whole island. It came to be due to a volcanic eruption and you will see a lot of black rock – old lava.

We met a man who lived in a baobab tree – but he wouldn’t let us take any photos.

We visited a crater full of water that changed colour from green, to blue to brown. The locals believed it had magical powers and that there was a city submerged under the water. They believed that you should throw a rock into the crater and make a wish.

When the city was able to rise up from the crater they would make your wish come true as a way to repay you for your help.

Looking back at these photos and how young I was, it seems like I am looking at another girl….

These photos were taken before the days when I had a digital camera, but I have a few scanned images:

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