Postcard From Europe

This year I was lucky enough to take my family to Europe.  We stopped off in Singapore to break the long journey and spent a few days watching the Formular 1 Grand Prix. If you get a chance to go to a race even if you aren’t a racing fan, do it. The atmosphere was electric and seeing how fast the cars actually go is just Wow!

Next we arrived into Rome for a few days and hired a car to drive to Venice.  Hiring a car was easy and once we navigated ourselves out of Rome, the motorways are smooth and fast.  We stopped into Maranello on the way (the home of the Ferrari) - can you guess I have a racing fan in the family 😊 Venice was a lot busier than I remembered but still one of my favourite cities to wander around and get lost in.

Onto Istanbul’s new airport, wow it is huge but very easy to get around.  We started a 10 day Fez Turkey tour and our driving was at the airport waiting for us.  We met our tour guide at the hotel and started the tour the next day with a city tour of Istanbul.  On to Gallipoli the next day it was great to have a group of Australians to share the experience with.

On the long driving days we had lots of stops and had some great food along the way. Turkish food is very tasty, their Turkish pizzas/flatbread are sensational.

Cappadocia was amazing to see again, the rock formations are spectacular and something you won’t see anywhere else.  The Jeep Safari we did was a highlight and seeing the boys bouncing around in the back of the jeep giggling was priceless.  We got to stayed in a Cave Hotel, which as backpackers last time we were here was not in our budget. 😊

We chose to fly from Cappadocia to Istanbul instead of the 16 hour drive, it was a good decision.  Even when our flight was delayed a few hours we still arrived into Istanbul hours earlier.

On to Amsterdam and then Eurostar to London (my favourite city)  The Eurostar is the best way to get from Amsterdam to London, its only a 3 hour train with only 1 hr check in. A lot faster than flying and a lot less hassle as it takes you direct into the heart of London.

In London we did all the normal touristy things, ie Camden, Soho, Trafalgar Square, Hamleys.  We stayed in an apartment in Earls Court which is a great base, close to the centre of London and easy access to Heathrow via the Piccadilly Tube line.

Finishing in LA to see Disneyland and Universal Studios.  Very very busy and would definitely suggest Geni Plus to book your rides for Disneyland and express pass for Universal Studios.  We also did Six Flags Magic Mountain, great for the adrenaline junkies. We hired a car again here which we picked up in Anaheim and was easy to drop off at the airport before we flew out.  Worth seeing a Basketball game, great atmosphere and very “American”