Derby to Dubrovnik*

"I could get used to super expensive holidays" mused Rhys after our first full day aboard our Galapagos cruise. Despite some initial queasiness, and a bumpy first night aside, we were already loving life on board. Each day, we were taken to new exciting locations with our wonderful guide, provided with snorkelling equipment and generally didn't have to worry about any logistics. On return to the boat, we were delicately helped off the dinghy by the attentive crew, greeted with refreshments, and we found that in  our room, our fresh towels had been folded into the shape of animals we had seen that day.  Heading back to our boat at sunset We'd booked our cruise pretty last minute, and thought we'd got an okay deal on it. T he boat capacity was for 16 people, but we were amazed to be told at the airport there were just five of us on board. Whilst this had the potential to be a little intense, the ratio of crew to passengers (9:5) was pretty wonde...

Backpacks on, and not a pannier in sight - time for part two of our career break  We were both excited and somewhat nervous for our trip to Ecuador, our first time to South America; particularly as it felt so different to the cycle tour we'd just been on. Even the beginnings of the trips were so different! One involved setting off whenever we were ready, and cycling to my aunt and uncle's in Leicester - a very gentle and manageable journey! The other involved three flights to the other side of the world, landing at nearly 3,000m altitude, and a few concerns about the safety of our destination. Cycle touring was great as it was just a gradual transition to more adventurous places! Why Ecuador, you may ask. It's a pretty simple answer - it has mountains, the Galapagos islands and the Amazonian rainforest. However, that's only part of it; we'd be lying if we said our choice wasn't partly driven by this 90s banger:  https://youtu.be/9cQlVww0zKo After a r...

Our rather indirect route to Greece Our bikes are packed away in boxes, and a (large) taxi has been booked for tomorrow to take us to Preveza airport. We are nearing the end of our trip, and will soon be back in Derby. It feels quite surreal as we are currently sat on the beach, with the temperature being 29 degrees, and we've just had some pretty good ice cream. The weather in Derby looks less good for tomorrow, and it doesn't have quite the same gelato on offer. A bike box held together with sellotape and hope  A pretty good place for an airport! We are, however, very much looking forward to seeing friends and family; particularly our nephew, born the day after we left! Eating something other than pesto pasta ( pasto ) is also a very exciting prospect, and after being too hot for a couple of weeks, we will try and appreciate the cooler temperatures and even rain.  Whenever Rhys and I have a fun trip with friends, we always ask: "what were ...

We hadn't originally planned on spending much time in Bosnia, and it wasn't somewhere we'd read much about, beyond hearing its name on the news growing up. We did only spend two days there, but feel like it's deserving of its own blog entry... An unexpectedly beautiful detour into Bosnia  After leaving Slovenia we first headed towards Trieste,  where we had a lovely afternoon with Rhys' mum and friends, who just happened to be on a fortuitously timed cruise around the Adriatic. A leisurely afternoon off the bike drinking coffee with Carolyn felt very enjoyable. The unscrupulous characters you encounter in Trieste We then travelled down through Croatia, mainly on the islands, as we'd been told by multiple sources that cycling down the mainland coastal road was quite unpleasant. (Spoiler alert- they weren't wrong). We had a blast through the quiet istria region of northern Croatia, making the most of more old Austro-hungarian train lines th...