Day 9 Today, we took a day trip to Edinburgh. Hit the M9 and in an hour we were in Edinburgh. We parked at the car park in the Waverley station and strolled through town’s historic centre. Edinburgh is an easily walk able town with beautiful parks, lots of monuments, Thistle street for its many…
Road trip from London to Scotland (Legoland and the Lake District, Days 6-8)
Day 6 We went to Heathrow to pick up our rental car. With the usual checks were in place – many pictures of the vehicle before taking over, a check on the conditions of the wheels and a check on the rental excess car hire insurance from third party providers viz. worldwideinsure.com, we drove to…
Road trip from London to Scotland (London, Days 1-5)
Parked by the edge of a beautiful loch, we were all set for our barbecue in the Scottish Highlands. The warm scent of the strongly burning charcoal, pretty rolling hills and the rhythmic sound of flowing water resonant from a stream below; it was perfect. It was freezing but it did not matter an iota for…
Through Italy – Pisa, Cinque Terre, Milan (Days 12 to 15)
Day 12 After checking out of our hotel in Florence and we were on our way to Pisa. We decided to take a minor detour and checkout “the mall” about half hour from Florence. The outlet mall has some genuine deals and it is highly recommended for those in need of some retail therapy. So, after an…
Through Italy – Orvieto, Val d’Orcia, Florence (Days 9 to 11)
Day 9 Orvieto is a walled town that sits on a flat summit of a volcanic rock between Rome and Florence. We parked our car at the car park below and took a string of escalators to reach the town. Once we reached the town, I could see why it was described as one of the…
Through Italy – Sorrento, Amalfi and Capri (Days 5 to 8)
Day 5 This day marks the start of our cross-country expedition, well, sort of. In the morning, after check ing out from our hotel, we went to Termini station to pick up our rental. After an hour, we got our car and we were on our way to Sorrento. Having heard some horror stories of driving…
Through Italy – Rome (Days 1 to 4)
Day 1 What makes for an ideal family holiday? I’d say road trips, jumping into the sea with the kids, getting local ingredients and twirling up a storm in the kitchen, discovering common interests and of course, the bonding time; these are memories that last for a lifetime. So, it was that time of the…
The Lion – Days 11 to 15
Day 11 – Pilanesberg: The day began really early for us. We returned our car to a rental at the airport and took our flight to Johannesberg. We took another rental vehicle from Jo’berg Airport and headed straight to Pilanesberg Nature Reserve to see a Lion. We had booked a lodge for 2…
The Capes – Days 6 to 10
Day 6 – Wine region: This day marks the start of our roadtrip from the western to the eastern cape. We headed for the wine region of Franschhoek from Capetown. As you exit Capetown the beautiful wine region starts. There is a wine tram in Franschhoek that takes you through the wineries, however, since we…
Cape Town – Days 1 to 5
As our plane decends, I get the first glimpse of an imposing landform. It is familiar, for it has featured in all the cricket matches our nation has played in this part of the world – it is the Table mountain. Our plane landed at the Cape Town Airport and this time too, as soon…
A family holiday to the Alps, the Lakes, the Canals and the Rambala – Days 11 to 14
We took a cab from the airport to our hotel. Our hotel was about a 10 minute walk from Las Rambalas. We checked in our room, left our luggage there and hit the streets. We stopped for some coffee close to our hotel, spent sometime at the university square. It was dinner-time now and across…