Travel Lightbulb

The countdown is on, coming soon.......I'll be on the road again  😎

The majority of photos I post are sunny images that make me feel good, but I had to feature this one! It was taken in Portugal on a night where the moon just popped out from behind the clouds and shone beautifully on the calm sea below.  It was a gorgeous balmy summer night and the church in the foreground was lit up perfectly. Oh to be back to those warm nights! By this time of the year, after what feels like a long winter, I'm desperate for the sunshine to come out; for the temperatures to rise, and for the summer to finally be here. Bring it on!

I'd like to wish you all a very Happy Easter! For some people, it's an important religious holiday, while for others it's about some time off work and eating chocolate bunnies or eggs! All over the world people celebrate in different ways.  In Bermuda, they make their own kites, and everyone goes to the beach to fly them. In Poland, they have water fights - celebrating on Easter Monday (or Poured Monday as they call it) with water guns; empty bottles, and good old buckets! I think we all associate Easter with eggs, and in Haux, in France hundreds of people turn out to eat a giant omelette made from over 4000 eggs! Some surprising but fun traditions from other parts of the world, and I'm sure most of you have been making the most of the bank holiday weekend if you're lucky enough to get the time off work. Wherever you've been spending Easter, I hope you've had a great time x

Friday marked the first day of astronomical Spring - and before some of you try to tell me that Spring started on the 1st of March...that is meteorological Spring - the astronomical seasons refer to the position of the Earth's orbit in relation to the Sun. Nice to get that off my chest! Normally I love this time of the year but this time round it all feels very weird. The garden is springing into life, but we are spending more and more time at home.  Longer days, shorter nights. Knowing that milder, sunnier days are just around the corner. Flowers are another of my favourite things about Spring - after a cold, gloomy Winter, there's nothing better to make your soul smile than the thought of summer being just around the corner. If we all stay in now, then hopefully the sooner we will be able to get out; enjoy the fresh air, and make the most of the new season.

Travel is a huge part of a lot of our lives and it has felt so strange in recent weeks, no matter how essential this is for our health, to be so restricted to where we can go in the world. Our well-being is the most important thing, and I'm sure you're with me when I say let's hope this all sorts itself out soon so we can go back to normal. Maybe this horrible situation will make us appreciate everything a little more too.  I did consider pressing the pause button on my blog for a little while, but came to the decision that this won't last forever, and perhaps now is actually the perfect time for us all to research some great new places to visit and to make travel plans for when the virus is under control. Stay safe everyone and let's hope that this is all over soon. 

I love taking photos of animals when I'm travelling, and I spotted this cute character when I was on holiday in Capri. I was initially taking a photo of the stunning beautiful building but then I noticed the little face peering through the balustrades. I thought it was a nice holiday snap, but the story gets even better.  A few days later, I was chatting to a waiter in a restaurant and happened to show him the photo on my camera. He said "Oh I know that dog, she's called Chanel, her owner sprays her with Chanel perfume before they go out for a walk!" I always knew Capri was an exclusive island, but that story took the biscuit - the dog biscuit.....of course! 

Sometimes I find places on my travels that are so good, I really don't want to share them! I know it's selfish, but today's hidden gem is so good, I can't not tell you about it. Before I go any further, how would you feel waking up to this view every morning?  This was the stunning scenery that I enjoyed from my bedroom at La Fenice, a wonderful family run bed and breakfast in Positano. I stumbled upon it by chance, and by the time I left I not only felt like I was a member of the family, but I also realised I had found one of my favourite places in the world.  The property spans three hectares of the Amalfi coast. It's perched on a hill with villas and cottages that drop down a series of steps, right down to the Tyrrhenian sea. One word of warning - if you don't like steps this place might not be for you, but you may also find Positano a tricky place to visit because there are steps everywhere. For those who aren't daunted by that - you...

One of my New Year's resolutions was to pay more attention to my little blog. You may think I've already failed in doing that, given it's now the end of February, but I say better late than never! I have, in fact, been spending my time writing and coming up with some great ideas for Travel Lightbulb. One change that you should have already noticed is that I'm posting on a Monday, and not a Friday as I have done in recent years! One thing that won't change is that my aim to give you an insight into some of my favourite places - those top tips that will help you get more out of travelling. Next week, I have a cracking suggestion for a stunning place to stay in Italy, so watch out for that. I'll also be coming up with some lovely ideas for destinations you might want to visit in 2020. It's not just a new year, but a new decade...I'm determined to make it a great one, so why not join me on my journey!