In Bruges

November 2015 

It was back to Belgium for our latest overseas adventure.

We needed to get back and see Flanders Fields, and properly see Bruges given our last trip to the city so short. Our trip was also  made more affordable with some help from Eurostar - the compensation from a 73 minute delay on our last trip to Belgium in August knocked off half of the ticket price!

We had a bit of trepidation leading up to the trip - the Paris attacks happened two weeks beforehand, with the pursuit/manhunt in Brussels locking down the city and raising the terror alert across the whole country, up to just a few days before we arrived. We got in to Brussels Midi on the Saturday to see a big police presence - about 10 cars outside one entrance, and groups of officers with assault rifles patrolling the station.

But everything still felt safe, and after transferring trains arrived in Bruges an hour later without any hassles. 

Duke Fluffington and The Last of the Summer Wine-d Up

September-October 2015 

WE HAVE A HAMSTER! Introducing, Duke Fluffington!

Amsterdam

September 2015 

Another great trip.

We flew out of Southend Airport, which felt like a provincial New Zealand airport rather than an international London airport. We touched down around 9pm and caught the train in to the city. Our accommodation was pretty impressive - a full, modern apartment to ourselves - booked again through AirBnB.

Our hosts had left stroopwaffels for us but we thought we'd need something a bit more substantial - so we ventured out in the pouring rain. On the way we actually saw a cyclist being hit by a car at some speed - luckily the cyclist was ok but his bike looked to have bit of a dent in it. The only food place open at 11pm was a kebab-type establishment - but our late night pizzas were surprisingly good.

The next day, after a 15 minute walk to the central city we started our walking tour at 10am. It was a good and informative tour, but not quite as good as the one in Brussels.

The best beer in the world

September 2015 

This is the story of how I drank a bottle of the best beer in the world.

While in Brussels, a country famed for its beer, I thought it might be a good idea to get what has been acknowledged as the best beer in the world.

Westvleteren 12 - a beer brewed by Trappist monks, in small batches and with all of its profits going to charitable causes. It's only sold at the Westvleteren monastery/brewery itself in the Belgian countryside and in a tiny number of bottle stores elsewhere. After seeing how highly rated it was, I knew I needed to get some of this stuff.

Beer, frites, chocolate and waffles

August 2015 

Bonjour from Brussels!

Yonks ago when we first arrived I was determined that we booked some travel. I didn’t really care where, just somewhere. And so, having clicked our way through Skyscanner, we settled on Brussels and Amsterdam.

When we each told our workmates where we were going we were typically met with a quizzical look and asked ‘why?’ For some reason the British don’t really see it as a holiday destination.

August Adventures

August 2015 

I thought it was probably about time I did a post. So here's an idea of what we got up to in August, in no particular order...

I had a bit of spare time this month - after a few frantic weeks my job search finally ended with an offer on the first Monday in August but I wasn't due to start until the 20th. So I had a bit of stress-free time to explore a bit of London on a budget (see below). I also caught up on some some movies (like Locke, an intriguing movie revolving around the phone calls a man makes as he drives along the motorway) and books (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time was a great read, The Girl Who Wasn't There was one of the worst I've read).

Parliament Hill - tucked away in Hampstead Heath, this has some of the best views over the city. The view of St Paul's Cathedral is actually protected by law (by the way, that cloud was pretty standard 'summer' weather for August). 

Brace your arteries...

July-August 2015 

Hi all, Rach here. I love food, it makes me incredibly happy. So say hello to another food post! The best type of post. ;-)

Doughnuts...

We walked three hours from our house for doughnuts. Worth it! They were very good, but I have to admit that the jam and cream doughnuts at 'Little & Friday' in Auckland are just as good, if not slightly better... I traveled from Wellington on three occasions just to get them (on the premise of work, who kindly paid for my flights). I'm picking up on a theme here....