Tanzania is one of the most incredible countries I’ve ever been to; not only is the wildlife and landscape amazing, but we also fell in love with the people when we did some volunteer work in Moshi.
Every afternoon we would make our way through the fields to Swiwsco Orphanage, where we helped look after the children and played with them until we were all exhausted. The boys all loved Alex, one of very few male volunteers, who played football with them and taught them some tricks.
I may have just had a long weekend in Belgium, but that didn’t stop me going on a chocolate tour of London the week before. This was purely because I wanted to treat my chocoholic of a mum and not out of my own desire to stuff my face with chocolate. Obviously 😉 My sister also wanted to come along because who can resist a day of eating chocolate?
I’d spoken to Jen, our lovely guide and the creator of Chocolate Ecstasy, beforehand so I already felt like I knew her. As soon as the group had all gathered we were all given a bottle of water to cleanse our palates throughout the day.
Over the last few years, it seems we’ve got into a pattern of exploring a different city in Europe every Easter. The holiday season is the perfect opportunity for a long weekend break to one of the many gorgeous cities and stunning landscapes that so much of Europe has to offer that aren’t too far from home.
Our first European Easter trip took us to Venice, somewhere I’d wanted to visit for a long time. With gondolas floating down the winding canals, colourful buildings with their open shuttered windows, and narrow alleys to get lost down, it was everything I expected it to be and more.
Paris isn’t the City of Love. Venice is.
One of my favourite places in the world is Gibraltar and one of the main attractions is of course the Rock. From on top of the Rock you can look out over the whole of Gibraltar where you see Spain on one side and Morocco on the other on a cloud free day.
I’ve got a lot of exciting adventures to look forward to over the next few months, including trips to Belgium, Edinburgh and South America, as well as lots of plans around London and a visit from a certain lovely Australian.
While all of this makes me super excited it also means we’ve been saving hard to fund all of this. Being in Rio de Janeiro for the World Cup is going to cost a small fortune by itself let alone with all the other adventures on top. (And no I can’t do less or miss a few things out…of course I need all these adventures in my life!)
Namibia was the 7th country on our 4 month trip travelling across Africa and, so far, we had had the best time of our lives.
As we were coming close to the end of our overland trip, we decided to have a meal out with the tour group rather than cook food out of the truck for a change. It was after a day of skydiving so everyone’s adrenaline was pumping and we were all in high spirits as we headed off to a little Italian restaurant.
One thing I knew I wanted to do before I even got to Australia was visiting the set of my favourite TV soap, Home and Away. (And I don’t care what you Aussies say, Home and Away is great and so much better than the crappy soaps we get over here so shush 😛 )
After an exhausting 2 and a half weeks travelling around the busy, noisy and dusty cities of North India, arriving at Marari Villas was like stepping into a whole different world. A small resort in the quiet beach village of Mararikulam in Kerala, Marari Villas was exactly the bit of luxury and relaxation we needed to end our trip with.
While I plan all our trips and Alex just goes along with whatever I say (who says there’s no such thing as the perfect man?!), I had told Alex absolutely nothing about this place. I knew how good it was and I wanted to see his face when he realised this.
Safaris are just one of the many things that Africa is known best for, and for good reason. They are an amazing way to see the incredible wildlife up close in its natural environment, in a way that you just can’t at the zoo. No matter how many safaris I went on in my 4 months travelling around Africa, I was always overawed every single time.
This photo of a male and female lion relaxing together was taken in Etosha National Park in Namibia. Even though Etosha is not as well known as some of the other African national parks, it was one of our favourites as the animals were in abundance.
This weekend was Alex’s birthday and, me being me, I obviously liked to have a couple of exciting things planned to celebrate.
First off, seeing as I had a weekend of fun activities planned, I thought I should make his actual birthday a relaxing one after a long hard day at work. And what better way to relax than to put on some comfy pjs and just chill. So a onesie party it was!
Mama Ayla's Adventures 