Europe

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5 Tips to Save Money on Your Next Travel Adventure

Clayoquot Sound – Tofino, B.C.

Travelling isn’t cheap and in order to do more of what we love we had to come up with some creative ways to save money while on our trips. We are providing you with some travel tips that we hope will save you some money on your next trip.

1. Don’t travel during peak times 
The peak season of travel is June through August, the majority of people take time off of work and use this time to travel. This means that during this period prices are the highest. I’ve also found that weekends are a busy time to visit countryside locations (Parks like Grand Canyon and Algonquin Park, small towns) making it the most expensive time of the week to visit. For us, shoulder season has been the best time to visit our destinations, that’s the period between off season and peak season. Hotels know that summer and weekends are busy times and increase prices for both of these periods. We have saved lots of money by visiting countryside towns during the week and cities on the weekend. It has been my experience that the hotels in the city lower their prices on the weekend since the business travelers are gone. Not everyone has the ability to travel during shoulder season but if you do you can save lots of money by taking advantage and putting that money towards something useful on your vacation. Some of the advantages of shoulder season are less crowds, moderate weather and better prices.

Neist Point

Neist Point

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The Glasgow Necropolis

The Glasgow Necropolis

The Glasgow Necropolis

Just outside the heart of Glasgow is an old Victorian cemetery. I’d say it took us about 30 minutes or so to walk there from downtown. I’m always looking for free or lost cost activities to do while on vacation because costs really add up after a while. The Glasgow Necropolis reminded me of one of those graveyards you would see in an old horror movie but obviously since we visited during the daytime we were able to fully appreciate the craftsmanship of the headstones and enjoy a nice walk. Continue reading →

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Horseback Riding in the English Countryside

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Every trip that I go on I always try to make sure that we get to do something adventurous and something that we haven’t really done or seen before. When we visited the Lake District in England I researched horseback riding… because what could be more English than riding in the countryside. If you are visiting the UK you should definitely look into horseback riding as one of your activities.

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5 things to do in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland

Edinburgh is an old city with lots to see. We stayed for about 5 days and drove in from the Isle of Skye on the west side of Scotland. Tourism thrives here and the people of the city are extremely friendly.  Here are 5 things to do on your next visit to Edinburgh.

1. Calton Hill 

For those days that you would just like to go for a walk and relax while on vacation I highly suggest visiting Calton Hill. While it takes a bit of energy to get to the top of the hill, the views are magnificent. The hill overlooks the city and seems to be a common place for locals and tourists to enjoy themselves. We spent part an afternoon here and enjoyed some sunshine.

The view from Calton Hill

The view from Calton Hill

Overlooking the city

Overlooking the city

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St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall, England

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St. Michael’s Mount

I fell in love with this little island castle.  It was a rather unique experience to walk across the stone footpath to the island surrounded by Mount’s Bay.  In order to truly experience this fascinating castle you need to plan for a whole afternoon.  If you come during low tide you can walk across to the castle, if you come during high tide you have to take a boat across.  As the tide comes in the stone footpath disappears under the water.

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Three Picturesque Villages in Cornwall, England

Polperro, Cornwall

Polperro, Cornwall

Cornwall was our first destination on our trip to the UK. When planning this I had researched pictures of scenic oceanfront hiking, old fishing villages and beaches and knew this was somewhere that I wanted to visit. It took about 4 hours of driving to get to our hotel in St Austell from Gatwick airport in London and we were pretty exhausted upon arriving. Continue reading →

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The Small Town of Ambleside in Lake District, England

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The beautiful scenery of Ambleside in Lake District, England.  It is truly picturesque, rolling hills, calm waters, and friendly people.  Both Andrew and I love small towns/villages in the countryside of England.  It reminds me of fairy tales I read as a child.

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The Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour: Our Perspective

” It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities” Albus Dumbledore

Albus Dumbledore's Office

Albus Dumbledore’s Office

While in London we had the chance to visit the Warner Brothers Studio for Harry Potter. What an experience! If you are a fan of the Harry Potter movies this is a must. The studio was very detailed and had just about every prop that you can think of from all of the movies while also showing how they did some of the magic from the movies. Continue reading →

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A Sunset Visit to Neist Point – Isle of Skye

Neist Point

Neist Point

On this day the sun was shining bright and I knew this would be an amazing evening to visit Neist Point. I’ve seen pictures online and knew this was somewhere I wanted to stop given the opportunity. The roads are so skinny in Scotland, so much so that we had to pull over every time a car was coming in the opposite direction. We did lots of hiking and this was just a short walk to get to the lighthouse, about 45 minutes round trip. Neist point is located on the North Western portion of the Isle of Skye and takes about 45 minutes to get to from Portree which is one of the main towns on the island.

A Photographer Taking a Picture of the Sunset

A Photographer Taking a Picture of the Sunset

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Hiking Ben Nevis Mountain in Fort William, Scotland

 

The back side of Ben Nevis

The back side of Ben Nevis

While in Fort William, we wanted to hike up Ben Nevis.  Ben Nevis is 4,409ft above sea level and is the highest mountain in the British Isles.  It is in the western area of the Scottish Highlands.  It takes about 2.5 hours to get to from Glasgow. The back side of Ben Nevis is pictured above.  At the bottom of this post we have included some tips for those of you planning to climb this mountain.

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