Travel | European City Break Wish List 2015

I'm pretty sure Mr Smith and I have caught a minor travel bug in the last couple of months. Our browser history pretty much consists of Kuoni, Secret Escapes, BA and Trip Advisor having spent a lot of time searching for city breaks in Europe to enjoy this year. So I thought I'd write a blog post ahead of any of our travels this year showing you where I'd love to go and why. Of course, I'd like to see all the Cities Europe has to offer but 25 days annual leave won't permit that level of wanderlust. I've narrowed it down to my Top 5 for 2015, and hope we can cross these off our list and share our adventures here.

Historically, I've only ever wanted to find a tropical beach somewhere in the Indian Ocean or Caribbean to holiday but this year I'm hoping to make a change. After all, there is only so much of the world you can see on a sun bed... right?

I've gathered a lot of inspiration from Pinterest for this, thanks to the wealth of beautiful pictures and tips from other bloggers/travellers on there. And picked between them all thanks to Time Out and Trip Advisor reviews and publications.. credit where credit is due of course.

City One: Rome, Italy

Credit: Kristina Assenova via http://www.fernwehosophy.com

Who can deny the beauty of Rome?! And surprisingly, neither Lewis or I have been. In fact, I've never been to Italy before! I loved Paris for its architecture and have been led to believe Rome has buildings that will rival them. I want to see everything I can in the time we have there this summer, the Trevi Fountain, St Peters Square, The Colosseum .. this list goes on. And of course try out the Gelato and go searching for those less touristy restaurants to try out food the locals would love too.

City Two: Geneva/Lake Geneva Region, Switzerland

Credit: http://www.myswitzerland.com/en-gb/lake-geneva-region-vaud1.html

This really is the complete opposite of 'holidaying' for me.. especially considering we'd like to explore Switzerland in the Autumn/Winter time. Lewis loves to explore and spend hours in amongst nature when he can, so I think that's what will be on the Agenda here. As well as seeing the infamous lake itself, I think we'll be heading into the mountains for a bit of a trail adventure to see as much as we can of this beautiful place. I can't wait!

City Three: Lisbon, Portugal

credit: Joao Almeida Photography 

The capital of Portugal and one beautiful city. What I love the most about this place is that its both cosmopolitan and coastal, without compromising on the wealth of History there is there. The tram system has been around for years, and whilst they have been updated in many areas, the oldies are still in operation.. how cute! This will be the perfect break for a little bit of sunshine, great food and to enjoy some Portuguese hospitality. Again, a place I've never been before that I can't wait to visit! 

City Four: Vienna, Austria

credit: photographer unknown, source The Telegraph 

Vienna looks stunning, and wins big points on Architecture which I'm a huge fan of. I'd love to visit in December time for a weekend, to catch a glimpse of the famous Christmas Market outside the history museum. St Stephens cathedral is also on my list of places to see as well as a trip to the famous Riesenhard Ferris wheel if we have the time. Maybe a last minute trip amidst the christmas gift shopping to get us in the festive mood!

City Five: Venice, Italy

credit: unknown.. sorry! let me know if you know!

Undoubtedly a fairytale place to visit, in my opinion. If it's good enough for the Clooney wedding, it's good enough for a weekend break for Mr Smith and I. There's something about a city you can explore on a Gondola that makes it even more amazing. Plus the unbeatable Italian food, and unspoilt buildings.. it's ideal for a city break exploring. Hopefully we'll be able to add this to our Italy road trip this year, or maybe make our way back there for a bit of post-summer relaxation. Either way, I can't wait to explore it.

Let me know if you've been to any of the places on my wish list.. I'd love to know what you got up to and where you stayed. If you've had a look at my previous travel post on Honeymooning, you'll know I'm a sucker for a recommendation or two so please feel free to get in touch :)

Travel | Honeymoon: Booking the Best

It's going to be the biggest, and best holiday you've ever been on for sure. So you want to make sure it's as perfect as possible, right? There are a few things I wish I had known before we booked our honeymoon, and things that we did ourselves that were super helpful too. I really couldn't find much on the internet when we booked our Honeymoon in 2014 about what to look for, so thought I'd share a few tips myself!

Amidst everything else you'll be organising for your big day, booking your Honeymoon is definitely one of the most exciting. Lewis and I spent hours searching online for what destination, hotel, travel provider and airline we wanted to go through before we settled on where we wanted to go. Now, this post is by no means sponsored by any travel provider or airline (just to cover myself) and this is just my opinion, based on my experience of what makes a great honeymoon and honeymoon booking experience. I hope you find it useful!

1. Set A Budget
There's no point getting yourself into heaps of debt for your Honeymoon, it just makes it a worry for when you get back. In your wedding day budget planning, make sure you factor a realistic and sizeable amount for your Honeymoon. Generally speaking the 'average' honeymoon in the UK will cost you between £4,000 - £7,000, which is a pretty hefty cost! You can of course do it cheaper, and if you find a great deal that's even better. There are heaps of travel deal website nows like Secret Escapes and Voyage Prive that really do offer luxury holidays for less.

2. Getting to know the climate
Lewis and I were really keen on staying somewhere warm and sunny for our Honeymoon, as all we really wanted to do was drink Mojito's and lay by the pool all day after the Wedding build-up was over. We had a look online, and asked a few travel agents where would be good to go that would guarantee the weather at that time of year. After all, there's no point heading to Greece for a beach holiday if you're getting married in December, right?!

3. Get asking!
We actually ended up settling on Secrets Maroma Beach in Mexico off the back of a recommendation from good friends of ours who had also stayed there for their Honeymoon. There's absolutely no harm in staying in the same place as your friends for your honeymoon, in fact I'd highly recommend it. We had no concerns over nasty surprises when we arrived or what to expect because we'd heard real reviews, from real people. That's not be discounting the power of Trip Advisor, but it certainly made us all the more excited hearing about it first hand.

4. It's okay to shop around
Yep, sounds pretty simple and probably what you'd do for any holiday, but I mean this in a slightly different way. I'm not going to name and shame, but the first travel agent we walked into to book our trip to Mexico were appalling. Given that it was one of the UK's largest holiday providers, I was in shock. In fact, I left half way through the discussion it was that awful. The travel agent insisted on giving my Husband and I the 'why on earth are you getting married you're so young' talk before we even got in to the details of what we wanted. Needless to say, she wasn't joking and we were both horrified. So, we took our business else where and not surprisingly got a good deal and amazing service from Kuoni who were located next door.

5. Service vs Money
Continuing on from point 4, this was a huge lesson for us. When you're spending that much money on a Honeymoon, I'd argue the service when you book is just as important as the holiday itself. Kuoni were absolutely fantastic with us, and really made us feel like spending the £5k we did for 10 nights in Mexico was important. Yes, we ended up paying a few pennies more for the holiday, but we knew we were guaranteeing excellent service throughout the holiday too. But this is dependant on what you value, and whether you consider cost to be significantly greater importance than service.

6. Getting Organised
With everything else going on, the last thing you want to be worrying about before your big day is whether or not you've checked-in online. Get yourself a good travel organiser and get everything ready to go/printed pretty much as soon as you've booked. This made a huge difference for us, considering we flew out the morning after we got married.

Where did you go on your honeymoon if you've already been?