Europe/Japan

I went to Europe for roughly 6 weeks in 2016.

I ended up crossing quite a few things off my "bucket list" or "goal list". I don't know what to call it really.

I wish I was able to have taken my mum. She would have loved it. I regret not having done more with her.

But the trip and the experience was awesome. It was almost non-stop "stuff". Just things, all the time. Off the plane, pick up a rental, wait like an hour to finally get it, drive for an hour out to the country, finally get to our Inn (AN INN!), shower, eat dinner, walk around the town, sleep, breakfast, drive... The roadtrip was amazing and pretty much like that the entire time from Heathrow upto Lochailort across to Portstewart, down to Cork, over to Dublin, checked out Snowdon, Pembrokeshire, over to Bath, back to London.

Ate at The Fat Duck, Heston Blumenthal's Michelin 3 star restaurant. Met some lovely people all around the show. Just LOVED being there. Got to meet a long-time blogger friend over there as well.

Then we moved on to Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne, Munich, Venice, Florence, Rome, and finished it off with Santorini.

In Paris, we met a family from San Diego who were so lovely, and we caught up with them again in Venice.

It was fun to see my fiancé enjoying herself, and pushing herself, particularly up all the stairs in Italy!

I got to drive on the autobahn from Cologne to the Nurburgring. The most I did was 160km/h I think. I didn't drive myself around the Nurburgring, but paid for a Ring Taxi. SO MUCH FUN!

The food in Italy was immense. The history, immense. The people were very nice. Had a taxi driver in Rome who I taught how to say "Hello" in Maori.

Germany was, unfortunately, a very quick stop. As was Amsterdam. And I would love to go back.

Santorini was our time to breathe, and relax, after the craziness of the holiday, but I almost feel like we should have done it in reverse. Relax, then go adventuring.

After Europe, I spent about 5 days in Japan. Loved every moment of it, and again would have loved to have brought my mum with me. I spent that time partly alone, and partly with a mate who met up with me over there.

I desperately want to go back to Japan.

This year, I'm getting married to my fiancé, and we're going to San Francisco and New York City for our honeymoon. Can't wait for new travel adventures!