Tag: Adventure

New Year, New Travels: Travel Goals

As we approach 2018, many blogs are looking back over their favourite posts and trips. It’s always nice to remind yourself of where you have been but we also thought that it would be useful to share some thoughts on where we are going.

Travelling can be an expensive business, but it doesn’t have to be if you plan properly! That being said, I’m not exactly what you would call a planner – I see a new place and that’s it, I get all excited and want to book it then and there. You could say my heart rules my head.

Wandering Beeb is the opposite. That’s not to say he doesn’t get excited, he does, but then he puts that to one side and works out the feasibility of us getting to our chosen destination. The two of us together cover both bases; aspirations and practicalities.

Take this year, for example. We will we probably be taking smaller trips in Europe, whilst we save up for a bigger (and further) trip later in 2018/19. This gives us two types of travelling goals. The first is a short term goal: short breaks in Europe which are comparatively inexpensive and can be booked at the last minute. For these, we will probably use search engines such as Skyscanner and Kayak. We won’t know where we are going until a couple of weeks before and we will probably be visiting for a couple of days at most.

Our second travel goal is the longer term one: a bigger (possibly two to three weeks) trip to somewhere far flung (possibly Asia). This takes time – both to save up and to plan where we want to see, as we will be looking at visiting multiple places and will need to know how to get about. For this trip, we will probably be using Trailfinders, as our past experiences with them have been excellent and they often have some insider knowledge to tailor-make a trip.

As well as these goals, we also want to try to build in more local hikes and trips to explore some more of the scenery on our doorstep. Even being out and about locally can go some way towards easing the itchy feet of those people infected by the travelling bug.

As always, in 2018 we will be sharing future adventures and past experiences with you lovely people. We also hope to bring in some new things to the blog – travelling tips and more responses to photo / inspiration challenges are some examples. Until then, a huge Happy New Year to all of our followers and happy travels for 2018!

Is there anything else you want to see on the blog? What could make it better? Let us know in the comments?!

Happiness Only Real When Shared: Reflections From The Top of Sulphur Mountain, Banff.

We look back at our favourite image from 2017

As we hurtle towards the end of the year, we thought that we would look back on the year until now. 2017 saw the launch of this blog and it’s great to have been able to share some of our adventures with you!

Helpfully, the daily post’s photo challenge this week was on the topic of favourite photos from this year. With this in mind, me and Wandering Beeb went digging through our photos to see what we would class as our favourites.

Some of the stand out ones from this year were our ‘walking the glacier‘ set – just because the experience was so surreal and so different to our usual trips.

The photos on Sulphur Mountain in Banff grabbed us and made sense for us to share on this theme, although probably not for the reasons you would think!

Sulphur Mountain was impressive, with stunning views on a near 360 degree viewing platform. We were lucky in that the haze from the forest fires had cleared a little, moving the view of the mountains from a fuzzy outline in the distance to 3D relief, affording us some stunning vistas. We made the short trundle from the observation deck to the now defunct Cosmic Ray Station, heading up inclines made manageable for most visitors by structured steps and under-foot decking. So much so that a small child was walking confidently the length of the observation deck, loudly proclaiming ‘Eeek’ to the surrounding mountains, blissfully unconcerned with the breath-taking drop below. Looking back at the photos, the views are clearly stunning, but this wasn’t the reason for singling them out.

One of the best things about travelling is speaking to other people from different cultures, countries and perspectives – even when it’s only briefly. Those snippets of conversation are what add flavour to the otherwise routine trawl through the sightseeing gambit and it was the connections we made on this part of the trip that we were reminded of by these photos.

Whizzing along on the upward gondola trip, we found ourselves sharing the four person gondola with two guys who were catching up on a trip out to Banff. They explained that they had been neighbours 10 years earlier, with one of the pair only being a kid at the time. Learning about two people and their stories in an 8 minute ride up the mountain can only give you a flavour of their history, but we had the sense that they were two really cool guys, enjoying their time catching up. There was an easy-going banter between the two of them which helped to reduce my anxiety at being suspended above the ground by a single cable.

The way down saw us sharing the space with a couple from Sweden who were clearly as freaked out by the height as I was (you can read more about my terrible relationship with gondolas here).

Despite the anxiety, we talked about their trip, starting with Reykjavik, heading on to Quebec and learning about their observations on Toronto (a smaller version of NYC). We shared our views on Vancouver (to which they were heading soon). They took a couple of snaps and asked us about our football preferences back home in the UK (Zatan was a favourite topic of conversation). As soon as people find out we are from Manchester, the first question is always ‘are you a red or a blue?’ By the time the gondola had reached the bottom and we wished each other happy travels, we had shared travel tips, made new acquaintances and had some ideas for our future travels. It’s those memories that have made these photos some of our favourites. 

This is our favourite part of travelling and regardless of beautiful scenery and amazing experiences, it’s the people and the connections that makes the journey worthwhile.

Magpie and Stump Vs High Rollers

Bowling, drinks and Canadian atmosphere in Banff

The barmaid in the Magpie & Stump obviously wasn’t happy with our selection of drinks – we chose the rum over the tequila and the prices didn’t seem to top us over the threshold of ‘well paying customers’. The slight ‘dishwasher-like’ taste came as a freebie, and lingered around well after the last swallow.
It was a strange place, Mexican style with hundreds of monkey nut shells covering the floor. Our group weren’t sure if this was by design or by lazy cleaning. Either way, the place didn’t have the vibe we were looking for.
After tipping the waitress well, she warmed up a little and told us about a place down the street called High Rollers. From her description, it sounded a bit more our kind of scene.
Hanging a right down the road, we headed down a small staircase where the room opened out into a space big enough for a couple of bowling lanes, a DJ booth, sports on the TV and an eating / drinking area. It was here that our group found the atmosphere we had been hunting down – something between nightspot hangout and first date location.


Sharing a few drinks (including a fishbowl not quite big enough to fit a goldfish in comfortably), we alternated between reviewing our trip, watching the other diners and providing unintentional entertainment for the couple sitting opposite us as they laughed at the competition we had going on between two of our group to finish the fishbowl in record time (there was some cheating going on and the green goo didn’t always seem to disappear as quickly as it should!). The relaxed vibe and friendly bar staff seemed to rub off on the other people in the room and everyone was laughing, smiling and shooting the breeze with the people on their tables – this was the Canadian night out I’d been looking to find.
High Rollers can be found at: http://www.highrollersbanff.com/

Fallen Leaf Lake, California

A first glimpse of the beauty of America’s National Parks

We arrived at the camp ground late. Really late. It was pitch black (that’s a recurring theme in our camping trips – we always seem to arrive in the dark!!) and we had no idea if we were in the right place. Our tent was put up by the headlights of the car. 

We were driving through from San Francisco to Yosemite. Our first time camping properly in the USA, we had stopped off to buy a tent and supplies. We ended up in Kmart, buying a ‘backyard’ tent and sleeping bags, one of which turned out to be child sized! Having only a couple of hours until we had to get up and continue the drive (not to mention being unable to see anything at all in the darkness), we crawled into our sleeping bags (those of us who could fit!) and got some much needed rest. 

As the morning broke, we discovered just how beautiful our temporary home was. As breakfast views go, the lake was stunning. Tired and bleary-eyed, we sat on the logs by the lake looking out at the vast expanse of trees lineing the shore. 

It was our first glance at the beauty hidden in America’s national parks and we were absolutely speechless.