explorer son

Prince Charles Secret Romanian Hideaway (not secret anymore)

We have been staying in the village of Viscri (Deutschweißkirch), where we discovered a secret!  HRH, The Prince of Wales owns a traditional Saxon house there. Here in this sleepy town of Viscri, there is no direct public transport, and the back road is a slushy snow track that we took for about 40 minutes […]

Visiting Sighișoara and Dracula’s birthplace

A blanket of white snow lays across the rolling hills and drapes softly on the boughs of the trees that form a soft arch as I drive through. The road has not been snow-plowed, so I am somewhat nervous, but I soon learn to take it easy, and just go slow and enjoy the journey […]

Medieval Romanian New Years Eve Celebration

This year we wanted a really special and traditional New Year’s Eve. We are in Transylvania, Romania, and to experience an event that will show us the real hospitality and Romanian culture would be amazing. So we were so pleased when we contacted Unglerus Medieval Resort, tucked away in the authentic village of Biertan, a designated Unesco World […]

Premier Luxury Mountain Resort Bansko Bulgaria

Each year on our world trip, just before Christmas, we take time out of our busy travel schedule to have a few days “family time”, where we relax and have some fun. This is our third Christmas away from the family I grew up with in Australia, and that alone can be tough emotionally.  So […]

Dracula’s Bran Castle for sale for $80 million

It is a cold crisp winter’s afternoon when we visit Bran Castle. The pond below is frozen in a crisp sheet of ice. As we wander up the hill, we hear this castle is for sale.  Want to buy a Castle for 80 million dollars? This looming castle is a legend, said to be Dracula’s Castle, […]

Christmas in Romania for Traveling Families

This is our third Christmas away from our Australian family and friends, and we sure miss the traditions we remember back in Adelaide, South Australia. For us, Christmas always started in November.  We put up the Christmas tree and decorated it very early. We owned about 50 Christmas movies and we would watch one every […]

I get a new camera for Christmas

YAY – finally I get a new camera, and it is just in time for Christmas! It is a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX200V Camera from Media Galaxy in Brasov, Romania. We walked into Media Galaxy and it was packed with customers. All around people were madly Christmas shopping. It seems to be the same the world over […]

Visiting Brasov Romania for their Christmas Markets

Visiting Brasov Romania for their Christmas Markets We decided to leave Bucharest early and drive to Brasov to stay. On the way, my gut feel was to change the tires to winter snow tires and not just rely on carrying snow chains. It was Sunday, so it was amazing that I found a little workshop […]

Bucharest and one of the most amazing restaurants

This is a really quick blog of our amazing three nights in Bucharest. You can scroll through and enjoy this with photos. So how did we get here? We left Veliko Tarnovo before noon after exploring the cute town. We then headed in ‘pea soup thick fog’ to Ruse. We had hoped to explore this cute city […]

Exploring Bucharest Christmas Markets Romania

We decided when we were in Turkey that we would head to snow for Christmas. So on the way, we had a stop in Bucharest, Romania and country number 43 on our world trip. We mainly chose here because (we are Australian, and we have grown up with a hot Christmas, so) the idea of […]

Exploring Veliko Tarnovo Bulgaria

Yesterday saw us heading north in Bulgaria. We wanted to see the historical little town of Veliko Tarnovo and arrived mid-afternoon. Veliko Tarnovo is the medieval capital of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom and the town with the most dramatic setting in the country. It is perched on several hills, and the Yantra River meandering through. […]

Exploring Old Plovdiv Bulgaria and a Renaissance stay

We finally left Istanbul, Turkey after a great 6-week stay, and headed to Bulgaria in what seemed to be hours and hours of driving on the Turkish side in the rain. For the first time ever we had smiled at a border crossing.  I nearly fell out of the car.  Firstly the Turkish side checks […]