Asian supermarkets, a mouth-watering gourmet market, vintage clothes shops, retro furniture stores, smoky bars, and pool halls… the 5th district location of our latest ‘home away from home’ in Vienna is about as far removed as you can get from Sacher tortes, Spanish dancing horses, and the Vienna Boy’s Choir, yet, if that’s what we ...
Choosing a ski destination in Central Europe that was affordable and had reliable snow early in the season proved to be one of our trickiest decisions to make when planning our grand tour. We wanted accommodation that was right in the centre of a ‘ski village’ that could be accessed by train or bus, and that ...
Budapest is a beautiful city, with wide boulevards and grand buildings decorated like wedding cakes, so it was apt that our latest ‘home away from home’ would be in one of the most splendid buildings of all, on one of the city’s most elegant streets, Andrássy Avenue. Home to some of Budapest’s most magnificent late ...
Home to Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman treasures, Sultanahmet, Istanbul’s ‘old city’, on the European side of the Golden Horn, is where first-time travellers to Istanbul usually stay. It’s where we stayed when we first visited the city many years ago. Here's our review of our Istanbul holiday rental apartment. But once you’ve seen Old Istanbul’s star ...
We’d only been back at our cottage at Shambani at Diani Beach from our safari for a day when the Internet ground to a halt. It had been operating at a snail’s pace since we arrived almost two weeks earlier and we’d been constantly shifting between the Internet line installed at the property the day we arrived ...
Sparkling wine served by a smiling waiter at a silent hilltop location in the middle of nowhere. Three lively musicians making hypnotic music – just for us. A spread of tasty snacks of samosas and other spicy treats. Cool, crisp mountain air. A slight breeze. The outline of Mount Kilimanjaro in the distance. A sublime ...
If our experience at the Masai Mara made us wonder why we’d left it so long to go to Kenya and go on safari, our stay at Sarova Salt Lick Game Lodge had us wondering when we’d be able to schedule a trip back. Terence was already planning for us to return to volunteer at the ...
Going to the Masai Mara to glimpse the Great Migration had been on my wish list for many years. While we didn't get to see the spectacle as hoped, we did get to do the sort of wildlife watching we'd always dreamt of doing and it was unforgettable. I don’t think there’s anyone who goes ...
It was reassuring to have someone from our holiday rental in Diani Beach, Kenya, greet us at Mombasa airport after dealing with the rude, unsympathetic staff of Kenyan Airways who couldn’t manage to get our bags on the same flight as us on the first leg of our journey from South Africa. Less reassuring was ...
A warm, welcoming and well-appointed family home at Camps Bay is our ‘home away from home’ in Cape Town, South Africa. A five-minute stroll from the white-sand beach, with a swimming pool in the sunny garden, a piano in the living room, and stunning views of Table Mountain, ‘The Bayleaf’ is a wonderful place to ...
A light-filled apartment with Rear Window-like views in a sleek new Palermo Soho skyscraper is 'our home away from home' in Buenos Aires for two weeks. Boasting cobblestone streets lined with cafés, bars, restaurants, bookshops, and boutiques — from upmarket global brands to edgy young local designers — Palermo Soho is the stylish quarter of Palermo Viejo ...
When HomeAway Holiday-Rentals asked us to include Rio de Janeiro on our Grantourismo itinerary and stay at this cute Ipanema apartment, we jumped at the chance. Terence had never been to Rio and I was keen to return to show him ‘my’ Rio. Movies and music brought me to Brazil the first time I visited ...