The morning that we arrived back into Vancouver onboard the Disney Wonder on our cruise from Honolulu in Hawaii, we both woke up at 5:30am as we wanted to be out on deck as we sailed under the Lion’s Gate Bridge before docking at Canada Place. After quickly getting dressed, we headed up to Deck 9 where we got a much needed hot drink before grabbing a blanket as it was very grey, overcast and cold and walking up to the front of Deck 10. There was already a few people out on deck and we were quickly joined by many more. (more…)

Over the years I have done many big road trips throughout the USA, Canada and Europe and they are one of my favourite ways to explore as they are the ultimate adventure and you can see so much that you would otherwise miss if you were just flying between cities. During this time I have also learnt so many things on each trip which has helped to make the next one we do even better. I now know what to do, what not to do, what to pack, what not to pack and also what you can do to help keep costs down whilst on the road. (more…)

Less than ten miles from beautiful Lake Louise in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies is the even more spectacular Moraine Lake. Situated in the Valley of the Ten Peaks, it is one of the most famous and most photographed views in all of Canada. (more…)

Last June we stayed the beautiful Paradise Lodge and Bungalows in Lake Louise for two nights during our road trip of the Canadian Rockies. One of my favourite things about the hotel (apart from the views and the amazing location so close to Lake Louise and Moraine Lake) was the Do Not Disturb Moose that was in our room. (more…)

On our recent trip to the Canadian Rockies, I made it my goal to get a photograph of one of the most iconic views of Lake Louise. The aerial view of the lake with the Fairmont Chateau hotel in the background is taken from the viewing platform at the end of the Fairview Lookout hiking trail. (more…)

One night in Jasper whilst on holiday recently I was scrolling through Facebook and saw that George Takei had posted a link to a story about an abandoned floating McDonald’s in Vancouver. Normally I would just read the story and maybe take a mental note for future reference but as we were on a road trip and were going to be in Vancouver two days later I knew I would have to find out where it was and go and see it for myself. (more…)

As is normal when I know I have to wake up early in the morning, I barely slept on our last night of the cruise. I had set my alarm clock for 5.30am as I wanted to be outside on deck as we sailed into Vancouver. After getting dressed I checked the map on the television to see where the ship currently was and then headed up to Deck 10 with my cameras where you could already see Vancouver in the distance. (more…)

Today was the only day of our Alaskan cruise that we set our alarm clocks to wake up nice and early. The Disney Wonder was due to arrive in Skagway at 7:00am and we wanted to be off the ship as early as possible to start our day of sightseeing. We had nearly finished getting ready for the day when the ship started to dock in Skagway. (more…)

After booking our Disney Wonder cruise to Alaska, we immediately started looking into what we could do in each port. Skagway seemed to be the port with the most to see, however when looking up excursions I was horrified by the hideously expensive (and quite frankly rip-off) prices that were being charged. The fact that some excursions cost several hundred dollars a person was disgusting – there had to be a better way…and there was! (more…)

We had started our trip on the Friday afternoon when we left London and headed to Los Angeles. Our flight was great and sitting in Upper Class and having a flat bed to sleep in definitely made the journey a lot more comfortable. The only downside was we landed just after the Air China flight which meant despite being first off the aircraft, we queued at immigration for nearly an hour and a half. At least we didn’t have far to go that night as we stayed at the Four Points by Sheraton at the airport which is not only a great little hotel but a bargain as well. (more…)