Travel Lightbulb

Peru is a fantastic country full of beautiful scenery; fabulous food, and wonderful people, and starting in May 2017 there is a new journey you can take which sounds fabulous. Many people enjoy the scenery by trekking through the Andes, but if that's not for you how does a luxury train ride sound? Luxury rail and hotel company Belmod has announced that the Belmond Andean Explorer will launch next spring, and will travel along the Peruvian Andes from Cusco (pictured above) to the beautiful Lake Titicaca. This is one of the highest rail routes in the world, and the train will accommodate 68 guests who can chose from double; twin and bunk cabins, each with its own ensuite.  The train will have two dining cars, an observation car with an open-air deck and a lounge car. Having travelled parts of this route by foot on route I can't recommend it highly enough, and I may consider it myself - it might be nice to do it in luxury this time rather than tents! For more ...

If you're having a stressful day then I'm sure one look at the scene below may calm you down! This photo comes courtesy of Scot Brown, who took in on a recent trip to New Zealand. This is Great Lake Taupo in the North Island, which is a staggering 159 metres deep.  There are many fabulous facts about the Lake but my favourite is that it's the largest freshwater lake in Australasia and is roughly the size of Singapore - unbelievable isn't it! A beautiful photo and thanks to Scot for the contribution. 

This post comes courtesy of Gemma Thompson who provided me with these spectacular photos taken on a recent trip to America, when she was overwhelmed by a visit to the beautiful Yosemite National Park. As you may already be aware, Yosemite is best known for its waterfalls and Gemma captured these brilliantly. It's not all about the waterfalls though - as the park covers almost one thousand two hundred square miles; there are also deep valleys, and huge meadows. Gemma said she believes the park should go down as one of the wonders of the world, and I agree! The photo below reminds me of a scene out of Jurassic Park with that huge waterfall - it's absolutely stunning. Before Gemma kindly donated her photographs, I recently wrote a post on America's parks - if you want to read more, click  here.

One of my favourite things about travelling - and one of the reasons I started this blog - is planning. I know some people prefer it their trips to be planned for them and use travel agents, but I love doing it all myself! I think part of the reason for this is that I love the anticipation of my next trip! If I start planning it early, I get even more excited about it. This week I was sitting in the house on a rainy day and decided to cheer myself up by booking a trip to Rome in February! I've been once before but it was a brief trip with work, so I'm looking forward to discovering it properly this time round - and planning it down to the finest details! If you have any top tips for the stunning city of Rome, then I'd love to hear them. Please feel free to get in touch on my contact page.

If you've got itchy feet and are looking for a new opportunity at work, then you might want to read on. If you like stargazing, then you should definitely read on! Arctic SnowHotel has a vacancy for someone whose task is to scan the sky all night long in Lapland! Aurora borealis are one of the biggest attractions in that part of the world, and the main part of this role is to stay awake and observe the sky and if the northern lights appear, you wake the visitors.  Last season, more than two hundred people applied for the post, and two of them got their dream job.  All you need is a good grasp of English, and be able to spot the difference between a cloud and the aurora borealis. Arctic SnowHotel is in the tiny Finnish village of Lehtojärvi, and was build for the first time in 2008. Since then it has emerged every winter season, with construction work starting in late Octover when ice blocks are lifted up from the nearby lake. The speciality of this hotel are t...