Travelogue: Road Trip to France - Part 2 Loire Valley

After reaching Calais, we had a 6 hours drive to our holiday rental south of Loches. Loire Valley is a huge area and we have decided to concentrate on the area east of Tours. We found a holiday rental which was doggie friendly just south of Loches.

After a night's rest, we headed to the beautiful town of Amboise for the day. Unfortunately, the weather was bad. The rain was coming down non-stop. Despite that, you can see how beautiful Amboise is. The town sits on left bank of Loire with the Chateau towers above the town and the river.

Amboise

You can't come to Amboise without visiting the Chateau. The tickets are 10.50 Euros each. There is plenty to cover inside, so take your time. I am not going to go into the history, just enjoy the pictures :)

Going up to Chateau 'd Amboise

The Chapel of Saint Hubert where Leonardo da Vinci is buried

Top Left: View of Amboise town below, Top Right: Chateau d'Amboise, Bottom left: View of Amboise, Bottom Right: View across Loire

View of Chateau d'Amboise Grounds

Travelogue: Road Trip to France - Part 1 Crossing the Channel

At the end of August, the whole family (parents, husband and dogs included) went on a 2 week road trip to France. We planned a week in the Loire Valley, and a week in Brittany. It went fantastic!!! This was our second time bringing the dogs on a road trip to France. Armed with their pet passport and our 4x4 packed, we drove from home all the way down to Folkestone to catch the Eurotunnel over to Calais. Last time, we took the Ferry due to a strike on the Eurotunnel. So we were quite apprenhensive as we didn't know what to expect. All fears were blown out of the window, once we started our journey. It was raining cats and dogs on the day itself which was horrible as we got there early and had to make sure the doggies had their wee before we packed them back in the car to go on our merry way.

Rainy day at the Eurotunnel

The experience of driving into a train carriage was amazing. We had a tall 4x4, so ended up booking to go in the single deck carriage. If you have a normal car, you would go into a double deck carriage which I think is much more interesting.

The carriages open out to allow the cars to drive into the train

Once you are in the train carriage, the Eurotunnel staff would guide you and all loaded, they would closed down the gates between the carriages. The journey itself took 35 minutes, and the loading of all vehicles were really quick. We reached France really quickly, and the carriages reopened and you drove off into France. It was super easy and the waiting time was very reasonable. Best of all, the dogs get to stay with you in the car. Unlike taking the Ferry from Dover across to Calais, where the trip takes 1.5 hours, you have to leave your dogs in the car during the entire journey. A bit unnerving I would say, so if you are travelling with your dogs, I would definitely recommend taking the Eurotunnel. It is more costly, but the shorter journey time and for the dogs, it is the far superior choice. You pay £15 for each animal each way and it is very easy. At check in, you just have to let the attendant know that you have animals in the car, and they will give you a sticker to place on your car so that any Eurotunnel staff will know there are animals in your vehicle, and that's it. No red tape, special queues etc, very easy to take your dogs with you.

We are in France

On arrival, we just drive out of the train and voila! we are in France. Just bear in mind to drive on the right and you will be alright.


Join me next on the Loire Valley Leg of our trip. It was a 6 hours drive from Calais to where our gite rental was in the Loire Valley, south of Loches. Stay tune.

We went to France on a road trip and came back with a holiday home!

I am so sorry!!! I went AWOL for 3 more months!!!I thought moving back to the UK means a slower pace of life......but I am afraid it's not. Life has its up and its down, you can plan for everything but in the end, it is not going to go exactly as planned.

We went to France on a two week road trip, a week in Loire Valley and a week in Brittany. Since the husband is French, he had always wanted to buy a second home in France. We toyed with the idea a few years back in the Perpignan area, but never took the plunge. We procrastinated for too long and the inertia kicked in and we ended up with nothing.

So it was super out of character that we bought something. I found several properties that were interested and great value for the money, so I had arrange a viewing with the agent prior to leaving on our holiday. Three properties were lined out and the second one was a love at first sight. It had everything we wanted and more. So long story short, we went for a second viewing, two days later, made an offer on the day and had it accepted. One thing great about the French buying system is everything goes on smoothly. There is no gazumping like in the British system, so in less than 3 weeks time, the house will be ours!!!

It is call La Coyere Gites, situated in the peaceful hamlet of La Coyere outside of Noyant in Maine-et-Loire area of the Loire Valley. It consists of 3 houses, the farmhouse (owner's accommodation) with 4 bedrooms, the Cottage with 2 bedrooms and the Wine Store with 1 bedroom. The Cottage and the Wine Store are let out as holiday lets or gites as they called it in France. And we will continue with what the previous owners did, and will continue to let it out as holiday rentals.

This is why I have been busy with and have not been blogging. So stay tune to my new adventure of running a pair of French Gites. If you are looking for accommodation for your up and coming holiday in the Loire Valley, why not check us out. We are having Christmas promotions if you are looking for a short break for your Christmas/ New Year holidays. Check out our website at http://www.stayinloire.com for more details and photos.

Our Logo and website http://www.stayinloire.com

Top: Front Courtyard, Left: View of the pool and grounds, Right: Swimming pool with large deck

Top left: View of the Cottage & Wine Store, Top right: The Cottage, Bottom Left: Bedroom in the Wine Store, Bottom Right: View of Farmhouse

MIA for half a year!

First - a big apology for being missing in action for more than half a year! Life has taken an unexpected turn. The family has been moved back to the UK due to my husband's work. Boy, has it been a hectic few months!! Since we had gotten the news back in last September, it had been a whirlwind of a time. Moving, dealing with so many things had taken me away from my blog. Furthermore, now that I am back in the UK, the title of my blog is  irrelevant? Should I keep it? Changed it? Maybe put " No more" at the back of the title to signify that I'm no longer stuck in Singapore?? Anyway, that all aside, I'm back and settled ....sort of. Hopefully, the worst is over, and now I will have more time to dedicate to writing about my travels again and life back in this side of the world?

Okay, let's do a short summary first. It would explain why I didn't have time to blog. It's been so crazy.

September 2012 - News broke that we were moving back to the UK.

September 2012 - Trip back to UK to do house hunting. We sold our UK house a year back, and so we needed a place as finding a rental for my whole gang of furries = impossible.

October 2012 - Did a trip to South Island in New Zealand since it would be really too far to travel from the UK.

October 2012 - Another trip back to UK, as previous trip was a failure as we didn't find a house to buy.

November 2012 - Did several trips to Malaysia - Malacca, Kuala Lumpur & Penang before leaving Singapore. (Why? 3 years in Singapore and we barely visited Malaysia. The usual - procastination, thought one had more time and then we didn't. So in a mad rush, we decided to do a few keys places in Malaysia)

January 2013 - Third trip back to the UK - another househunting trip as the previous two did not yield any results. Husband stayed on and started work in the UK

March 2013 - The big move. The rest of the family including furries embarked on our move back to the UK. We spent almost 2 months in a holiday rental while waiting for our house to be finished before moving in.

May 2013 - Finally we moved into our house. Chaos as we had not broadband and thus no blogging, no nothing!!! Tom, my cat had also been diagnosed with Squamous cell cancer of his nose. So after many trips to the vets, he ended up with a nosectomy etc etc.

June 2013 - Off on our holiday which we booked last year - our 2nd Alaska Cruise. This time it was a Northbound cruise. My parents joined us on this trip, so we did the Canadian Rockies again, followed by the cruise and we took them to Las Vegas. Almost a repetition of 2012 trip!

July 2013 - Finally all the madness is over, I can breathe again.

Now that I've explained myself, I feel better. I can't believe that we have moved 4 times across 3 countries in 4 years. However, during this 4 years, I've done so much of travelling and seen more of the world, that I don't regret a moment of it. It's been stressful but exciting. I've reconnected with old friends and made great new friends. Now I'm starting another new chapter of my life, I am both apprehensive and excited. Where my life will lead to, I have no idea. Let's just follow me on this new journey :) Thanks for your patience and please continue to support my blog.

We are back!!!

I've neglected my blog!!!

To the few people who are actually reading my blog - a big apology for disappearing for the past couple of months. I have been crazy busy with life. Other than the hectic travelling - which I usually loves. This couple of months, I've been travelling like mad, but I've been super stressed about it. The reason being is that we are repatriating back to UK but instead of a straightforward when, we have been stringed along for a month before being told exactly when. Thus explaining my recent last minute trip to the UK for 3 weeks and the least amount of planning I've ever done for a trip - our october trip to New Zealand which almost didn't happen. 

Anyway long story short, we are moving back in early 2013, and I'm squeezing as many travels in between now and then. Travelling every 2 weeks is not what I call fun, more like crazy. I flew to UK for 3 weeks then came back for 2 weeks and we flew to Christchurch. At the moment, I have again 2 weeks of breathing space before I jet back to UK for another 2 weeks!!! In between, I will be visiting some friends in KL which I am looking forward to before flying to UK. So I am really sorry if I have not been updating my blog. I've so much more of my trips to write about, but I just can't. I think it will be when I am back in good old England before I can write about my adventures. And instead of being stuck in tiny Singapore, I will probably have to call my blog - No longer stuck in tiny Singapore :)

I will just put a little snippets/photos of the beautiful New Zealand. It's a beautiful country filled with friendly locals, and the sceneries are magnificent. I am glad to have a chance to visit the country twice before returning to the Northern Hemisphere. Till the next time, keep healthy and always wear a smile on your face. 

The beautiful sceneries of South Island

Back in London

Sorry all for being MIA. Was in UK for over 3 weeks. It has been 2 years since my last visit and it was great to be back. Another friend of mine was in UK at the same time, and we had a great time checking out old hangouts and discovering new places too. We were also lucky with the weather. It was in the teens and lovely sunshine, the perfect weather for walking around. I also got to drive a lot, from London out to Essex, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Kent & Surrey and it was great. After driving over 1000 miles in a manual car, I didn't grumble at all. It was therapeutic to drive in the UK as almost everyone is a polite driver. Now that I'm back in Singapore, I am missing that very much.

Lots of stuff have been happening since I'm back. The hubby and I are rushing off on our New Zealand South Island trip for 10 days. The shortest planning time I ever had for a holiday - 2 weeks! Followed by arranging to go to Kuala Lumpur for a short weekend to meet up with some friends in november. The hubby also will be popping back into London for another business trip and it is very tempting to follow along.

Anyway, here are some highlights from my trip:

This was taken from the cab from Heathrow to our service apartment

Sun was shining when we arrived in Heathrow. I had to snap this picture as we drove past Buckingham Palace in our cab. The sun was shining and London could not look more beautiful!!!

View of Canary Wharf from our service apartment

London Day out

The next day after I arrived, I met with my friend and off we went for a day of fun!!! We went to check out the British Museum. It was good to be back. We spent a few hours there and went for lunch. Found a quaint little french restaurant that offered a great lunch deal. My friend ordered this yummy pork belly dish. The pork was done amazingly, it was crunchy outside and soft on the inside. After the heavy lunch (plus desserts), we had to walk it off. We went from Holborn all the way to Covent Garden to Leicester Square where we checked out the the humongous M&M shop! It has 4 stories of everything M&M!!

Kent 

The weekend, the hubby and I picked up our rental car and went off to explore Kent. We drove over the familiar Dartford Bridge and entered Kent. We checked out the lovely quaint English villages along the River Medway. Ended up in Maidstone where we stayed for the night and went to have another lovely french meal at Cafe Rouge. The confit duck was heavenly, totally worth every ounce of fat I've ingested :p

Highlights of Hertfordshire & Bury St Edmunds

My friend and I spent a lovely day exploring parts of Hertfordshire. The lower left picture was taken at the village green at Hatfield Heath where we enjoyed a lovely day sitting outside. The temperature was perfect at around 18C. Another day, I drove up to Bury St Edmunds on my own. Went up to see some friends as I used to live there before moving to Asia 4 years ago. We went for a lovely lunch followed by a walk with my friend's beautiful black lab. It was great to be back in the outdoors. I missed this lifestyle whereby the dogs get all this space to roam and fellow dog owners are gracious. Anyway I ended the day with a steal from the wednesday market in Bury with a big bag of cherries costing just a quid!! :)

Another weekend in Kent

The 2nd weekend, the hubby and I popped back into Kent. This time we explored further. We went to a village which had the most beautiful postcard view ever. A lovely bridge over the river Medway, with willows swaying in the background. We had a lovely pub lounge overlooking the river and went off on the public footpaths for a lovely saturday afternoon walk. Life's just dandy!!!

Exploring London

The last weekend in London, we decided to spend some time exploring her. We went off back to Covent Garden and discovered an area that was new to me. I had always gone straight into Covent Garden but this time we turned left into an area known as Neal's Yard. It looked really bohemian. There were cutesy boutiques, and one of a kind shops. Even the cafes and restaurants in the yard looks really funky. A note to check it out the shops proper with a girlfriend. Hubby is not a shopper at all so I didn't want to bore him that afternoon.

London Part 2

For Lunch, we had it planned to go for the Four Seasons Roast Duck as mentioned in my other London posts. It is the most amazing, yummylicious duck ever. Even my fussy tongue hubby loves the duck, so we went there just before the lunch crowd to grab seats to enjoy our lunch. It is still as good as I remembered. After that, we went off to Piccadilly and walked to Fortnum & Masons to pick up some goodies to bring back as gifts. I spent a good while wandering around all the selections to pick up what I wanted. Finally we were back in Canary Wharf. It has a different feel to the rest of London. It reminds me of Singapore with all the tall gleaming offices, and clean streets.

Final Day

Three weeks came and went so quickly. Before we knew it, it was the day to fly back to Singapore. As we had some time to kill before getting the cab to the airport, we went to check out the big new Westfield mall at Stratford. It was huge and had all the known high street names in there. They even have a nice selection of restaurants and an ultra cool food court. I settled for a meatball pho as it's been a while since I had any nice soup noodles. What a great way to end my trip back to London. Will be back soon!!!!

Top ten free things to do in London

I will be travelling to London soon. It's so good to be back as the last time I was there, was April 2010, two years ago!! Truth to be told, I miss UK. I consider UK my second home. Lived there for more than a decade, most of my most important adult life was spent there. I learned to drive there, got married there, graduated with my doctorate, bought my first house and all my other properties there etc etc. You are probably getting my drift here. So I am over the moon to be flying to the UK again. So before that, I thought of writing a blog post on top ten free things to do while you are there. I wrote a recent blog post on the off the beat things to do in London, so this post will probably tie in nicely with the other one.

Along the Thame

Our trip to Alaska : Overview

Known as America's last frontier, Alaska is also United State's largest state and is over twice the size of Texas. Alaska has always conjure an image of the grandest natural landscape and awe-inspiring sceneries. Her wild and rugged wilderness, glaciers, mountains, wildlife, and interesting people are Alaska's many offerings.

The best and most popular way to see Alaska is from the coast, on board a cruise ship. Each year around 1 million people arrive to see Alaska on board a cruise ship and now I understand why. It is a fabulous way to see the coastline of Alaska, otherwise largely inaccessible.

Travelogue: Trip to Greece - Exploring Athens Part 2 (Acropolis)

The Acropolis of Athens overlooks the city of Athens. As you wander around the city, all you have to do is to look up and you will see the Acropolis up on the hill. It is a beautiful structure even from afar. We got to visit the site and luckily on the day where it was the World Museum Day where entry was free :)

Warning: Photo Heavy Post

Acropolis

Top ten things to do in Macau

What are the things that comes to mind when someone mentions Macau? - Casino? Pork buns? Macau has been slowly creeping up the popularity ladder as one of the favourite place which Singaporean goes to for a short getaway. It is getting so popular that even the recent season of the the last few episodes America's Next top Model Show was filmed in Macau!! To help you to plan your trip to Macau, here is my list of top ten things you can do when you are there. Bear in mind that what is listed are my suggestions, and may not be your cup of tea.

The one and only Casino Lisboa

Travelogue: Trip to Scandinavia - Stockholm: Gamla Stan

The first country that we started our Scandinavia trip in was in Sweden, famous for being the home country of Ikea. Would I be seeing Ikea shops everywhere in the country? We flew into Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden.  Just joking. One of the main reason we visited Stockholm was to visit my friend from back in my University days.What impressed us about Stockholm is how beautiful, clean but yet funky and stylish. It provides a lot of attractions and places for tourists to check out.

Stockholm

Travelogue: Trip to Prague, Czech Republic - Part 3

After spending 1/2 a day with Alena at the Prague Castle, we continued with Alena as she took us to explore more of Prague. She and the hubby were happily discussing about Czech Republic history as I wandered alongside enjoying the sights and taking lots of pictures of this beautiful city.

Colourful buildings as we were walking down from the castle

My Quinton turns 7!

Couldn't believe that it was Quinton's time to turn 7 years old today. His Birthday was only a couple of weeks after Reegan's. So after Reegan's mini birthday party with her Therapy Dogs friends. It was Quinton's mini birthday gathering with his Golden Retriever Club friends at Bishan Dog Park.

Quinton at 8 Weeks old

How to plan an Alaska Cruise from Singapore -Overview

Going on an Alaska cruise has always been a dream of mine and yes I realised that my travel bucket list is long or getting longer!! I have been lucky to have been ticking off the list especially with the Scandinavia Trip to see the Northern lights earlier in the year and now going to Alaska!! But can't a girl be greedy?? :p

Top ten offbeat things to do in London

With Olympics happening right now in London, there must be a lot of tourists spending time in London. I love London!!! You will never get tired of visiting her. I am sure there are no lack of things to do and places to visit while you are in London. The numerous historical sites, buildings, amazing architecture, world class galleries and museums, the west end for the musicals, the markets, the shopping, the list is endless. But there are also many other things to do while you are there that you won't find in conventional guide books. If you are looking to do something different while you are there, why not check out my list of offbeat things to do in London. Without further ado, here is my list of top ten offbeat things to do while you are there.

Tower Bridge, London

Travelogue: Trip to Italy Part 2b - Pompeii & Herculaneum - Pompeii

After spending the morning at Herculaneum, we headed towards Pompeii via the Circumvesuvian railway and alight at Pompei Scavi Station. The entrance to Pompeii is about 50m away from the station. Many people gets confused regarding the name, the ancient site is known as Pompeii while the modern town that stands there now is called Pompei.

Pompeii

Cirque du Soleil's Saltimbanco in Singapore

I am a great fan of Cirque du Soleil's shows and the great news is that they are in Singapore till August 5th 2012 for the show Saltimbanco, playing at the Indoor stadium. A little information about them - Cirque du Soleil (Circus of the Sun) originates from Canada. They have done over 19 shows showing over 271 cities. The uniqueness of their shows are their bright costumes, beautiful scores, live music featuring amazing singers and musicians and most breathtaking acrobatic performances. Don't take my word for it, go and catch one now.

Source: Cirque du Soleil's website

My Reegan is 5 today!!!!

My darling Reegan is 5 today! Happy Birthday!!! Can't believe how time has flies. My baby girl is growing up faster. I cannot believe I love her so much more day after day and I wish she will have plenty more of healthy and happy times with our family!!

Reegan - at 7 weeks when we brought her home

Travelogue: Trip to Siem Reap - Day 2 : Small Circuit (Ta Prohm and Banteay Kdei)

After a great night sleep, our 2nd day started with a lovely breakfast brought to our room by the staff at Hotel Be. You get to choose from a menu the day before, and it was brought upstairs to us. You can either have it at the little dining area or upstairs at the terrace.

We had arranged with Ara to pick us up around 9am to start our temple tour in Siem Reap. She had arranged our own private tuk tuk for our entire stay. If you are not familar with the tuk tuk or it's also known as an auto rickshaw, it is a modified mode of transport found in several parts of the world where using a small motorbike, you can transport up to 2 to 4 people depending on the tuk tuk.

Our own Tuk Tuk

Exploring Singapore for dog-friendly places - Sun Ray Cafe

Usually when I need to bring your dogs with me for a pet friendly eating place, I would go to Canopy Dining in Bishan Park. That usually occurs after morning at the dog run, then lunch at Canopy. This week I had the chance to visit SunRay Cafe which is totally dog-friendly. I have heard about it from my friends from the Golden Retriever Club as they regularly have gathering at the cafe.

Told you..they are pet-friendly