Travel blog of Rikki Bloemsaat and Chrissy Howley.
Woop, the birth place of my father. I have been looking forward to this. Day 1: We crossed the border from Germany into the Netherlands and stopped at a truck stop for some food. We stepped off the bus to the beautiful smell of silage. “Yep, smells like home!” I was unimpressed that I couldn’t buy a croquette here and had to settle for a sausage roll. Not a good first impression of the home land. After our quick food stop we continued north and…Continue Reading “Welkom to Holland”
Day 1: We departed Venice and headed for Germany. We had a flying visit through Austria, care of the famous Brenner Pass. From what we saw, it looked like an amazing country. After roughly 6 hours on the bus, we finally made it to Munich. We got to our accomodation only to find out Chrissy and I were not allowed to stay in the same room as each other and neither were Matt and Jenny. So we were bunking in same sex rooms of 3…Continue Reading “Munich & St Goer”
Day 1: After a few days in France, we crossed the border into Italy. Chrissy and I were both looking forward to Italy a lot. Good food, good shopping and amazing historical landmarks. Our first stop once we crossed the border was at a service stop where we had 45 minutes to get off the bus, stretch our legs and grab some lunch. Virtually the whole bus decided on pizza. This was served by the slice (very big slices) and wasn’t too shabby considering they…Continue Reading “Italia & Vatican City”
Oui, Oui. Day 1: We were ready to go by 8am for a bowl of cardboard and milk before setting off to the Contiki Chateau in the Beaujolais wine region. We stopped on the way at Fontainebleu to look at a famous palace (beauty and the beast), grab a snack and buy supplies for a “P” party costume. We arrived at Contiki’s very own 16th century Chateau at around 5pm. Most of the day was spent sitting in one seat on the bus. Shortly after…Continue Reading “The Chateau & French Riviera”
Contiki time… Day 1: Chrissy’s good friend Anna was nice enough to meet us at the Gatwick airport after our delayed flight finally arrived. We were greeted with a bottle of wine which we polished on the underground on the way to our hotel. It was nice to catch up with Anna after 2 years of her living in the UK. The ‘London Underground’ was a huge eye opener. We would have struggled without Anna with us. We made it to our hotel above the Contiki…Continue Reading “London & Paris”
Day 1: Our Croatian Parks adventure finished mid afternoon leaving us a 2.5hr trip back to Makarska for some market shopping and a decent night on the booze. We arranged for a traditional Croatian Peka to be ready for our dinner at a local restaurant on the beach. The Peka is a large mixed meat and potato roast so I was in heaven when it arrived. After dinner we had a drink at our favourite cocktail bar (another 10 Vodka Redbull’s) before making our way…Continue Reading “Makarska & Trogir (again)”
Once we left Dubrovnik, we travelled to Makarska where a family friend of Chrissy’s parents had arranged an apartment for us to stay in for the night. This was literally a place to eat and sleep at the time (more to come on Makarska later). We arrived in time to have a meal on the beach at a little restaurant. Our waiter was hilarious and we left after a round of Rakija on the house. (He got a pretty good tip). We also found a…Continue Reading “The Croatian National Parks”
We got off the ferry from Hvar and started our drive down the coast to Dubrovnik. The drive was around 2.5hrs and involved crossing the border into Bosnia and out the other side into Croatia again. It was another stunning day weather wise once we stepped out of the car mid morning. All of these coastal areas of Croatia have a certain photogenic characteristic. Our plan was to walk the perimeter of the walled city before sitting down for lunch and then getting the cable…Continue Reading “Dubrovnik”
Day 1: We landed in Croatia at the Airport in Split after a 2hr flight from Athens. Chrissy slept most of the flight. We were greeted by Chrissy’s parents and younger brother Brendan who drove us to our awesome apartment in Trogir. Here we also met Chrissy’s other brother Matt and his girlfriend Jenny. The view from here is amazing. After a few beers and a catch up on how our holidays had been thus far, we caught a glass bottom ferry (not that there…Continue Reading “Trogir & Hvar”
So as some of you have known for a long time, Santorini was to be the place I finally asked Chrissy if she liked me enough to get married. I initially decided this was going to be the time and place way back in March. I told Vicki, Cara & Jade (I think) over a few beers that this was the case and so planning proceeded. My biggest challenge was to shuffle money around so it appeared I had nothing in the bank. Thanks goes…Continue Reading “Put a ring on it”