My first Transatlantic cruise on the Disney Magic all the way back in 2015 remains to this day one of my favourite holidays that I have ever been on. Everything about it was perfect and I can honestly say that I have never been as happy and relaxed as what I was on that trip. So ever since then I have been craving that exact feeling once again but nothing has ever quite matched it. We both love longer cruises as they are so much better in every way than shorter ones and until you have experienced both, you have no idea of how good they actually are. (more…)

After eventually falling asleep the night before, I woke up early again just before 7:00am on our only full day onboard the Disney Magic. As much as I wanted a lay-in, I knew I would rather get out of bed and enjoy the short time that we had onboard. However we also planned to make our day at sea a relaxed one (as this was our second Disney Magic at Sea staycation cruise, we had done a lot of the stuff onboard already) so we sat out on our verandah with a cup of tea for ages just chatting and enjoying the view. It was a beautiful calm morning outside with pink clouds in the sky – it really was the perfect way to start the day. (more…)

After the craziness of a year that was 2020 if you had told me that I would do two cruises from Southampton and Tilbury on the Disney Magic in less than six weeks in 2021, I would have thought you were mad but that is exactly what happened. Ideally we would have booked just one of the longer four night sailings but the only way we could sail this summer was to book two of the shorter two night cruises in different months to be able to get the days off from work. So that is the simple reason why we ended up cruising twice on the Disney Magic this summer.  After having five Disney cruises cancelled due to the pandemic, I am so happy that these Disney Magic at Sea staycation cruises existed this year so we definitely tried to make the best of a bad situation. (more…)

Once upon a time back when the world was normal, I was so looking forward to my next Disney cruise unbeknownst to me or anyone else that the world as we knew it would soon shut down and our dream trip to Hawaii would be no more. Even when the Disney Magic sailed to the UK to help repatriate crew members from around the world a few weeks later, we raced down to Dover to see her thinking she would soon set sail back to the United States and life would return to normal. Well over a year later with five cancelled cruises to date and many more cancelled trips around the world, here we are in the present day. (more…)

Golitha Falls are a series of cascades and waterfalls along a section of the River Fowey located in the Cornish woodlands on Bodmin Moor close to the town of Liskeard.  Up until a few weeks ago I will admit that I had never heard of them however during our recent staycation to Cornwall, our AirBNB hosts recommended a visit as they were located close to where we were staying. (more…)

One of the most positive things to come from lockdown and being furloughed for the majority of this year and being unable to travel to many countries overseas is that I have discovered places on or near my own doorstep that I never knew existed.  One of these places is Ashdown Forest in East Sussex – home of Pooh Corner and the real life setting and inspiration for the Hundred Acre Wood from the Winnie the Pooh stories by AA Milne who lived in the area and based places in the books with real life locations nearby.  Having grown up with these stories that I loved, I knew I had to visit. (more…)

Yes it happened. I finally saw Hamilton. (more…)

In November 2014, a bench in memory and honour of the late great Rik Mayall was unveiled in Hammersmith. The original bench was featured in the opening credits of the television series Bottom featuring Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson and had been removed. However after an online campaign, a new bench was placed and unveiled as a tribute to Rik. (more…)

To say that I am getting excited about my upcoming Westbound Transatlantic cruise on the Disney Magic would be a slight understatement. We booked the cruise in May 2014 and as I am writing this, it is nine weeks today until sailaway – the time has gone by so quick! For a couple of weeks this summer, the Magic is operating several cruises out of Dover so I had the perfect opportunity last week to go and see the ship for the first time in person before she heads to Barcelona in August. (more…)