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Author: Claire

Travel day – Helsinki to Auckland

Travel day – Helsinki to Auckland

An easy train out to Helsinki airport. We’re flying FinnAir to Seoul then AirNZ home.

Before I even got to the airport I’d decided I would never fly FinnAir again. Their customer service is terrible! I booked these July flights in January. They did not bother to reserve a seat for us on the AirNZ flight, and when checking in they could not check us in for our second leg either! So AirNZ had no idea we were coming up till about 3 hours before the flight. Normal back in the day, not so normal these days when you can check in online 24 hours prior. Frustrating!

So we checked in, through security and then directly to duty-free. I’d found a flavour of Baileys Irish Cream in Europe and it was very very nice! I’d searched high and low through NZ duty free and liquor websites and could not guarantee I could source it in NZ, so I was buying bottles to take home! We wandered round the airport, finally settling at our gate. 

Not sure if Mum expects my hour by hour flight commentating but she gets it! Hauled this out of the depths of what’s app for you to enjoy!

Hour 0 – Boarding was at 4.50pm for a 5.15pm flight, which as soon as I saw it I thought ‘what a joke’, you can NOT load a long haul A350 that fast. Ended up starting to bored at 4.30 but not from the bridge….to a bus, then round to the plane attached to a bridge?? So so odd. Loaded from steps at the back, again so bizarre! On we got. 3 seats in the middle bit and CK one row behind on the isle.

Hour 1 – Off we went, late even though boarding started early! ‍♀️The take off was fantastic at full thrust it was so quiet! Even more so when the wheels got put away. It was really really noticeable how quiet the engines were and how good the sound proofing is! Amazing! Yay Airbus! ✈️ Entertainment system only got livened up once the seatbelt sign went off at some reasonable altitude, we’ve got cameras on the tail and on the belly. Would have been nice to watch that during take off!!! It’s got this great timeline of how long the flight is, when food is coming and when they’re turning the lights out for sleeping. Thought it was an 11 hour 50 min flight – today we’re going to knock it out in 11 hours and 5 minutes! Tail wind maybe? Then all the documentation came out – that would be me doing all that x 4 people while the rest of the whanau started on movie watching.

Hour 2 – Food! No choice – get what you’re given. Was nice though. Chicken casserole / pasta salad / wafer chocolate bar thing + blueberry juice. Got up and put a hoody on – planes are always so cold! Went to the business class toilet and brushed my teeth (not using plane water!!) and put aligners in – good girl me ‍♀️ Fell asleep but Connor came over and woke me up

Hour 3 – Tried to get back to sleep. Did some praying. Tried to parent CK from afar. Tummy unhappy probably due to onion in dinner.

Hour 4 – 7 Broken sleep

Hour 8 – Got frustrated with 2 inconsiderate people having their window shade up lighting up the entire dark cabin! Let RK put her head on my lap to sleep, she’s between her mummy and daddy and loving it. She went back to sleep quickly. She’s so cute when she sleeps.

Hour 9 – Watched time go by! Breakfast got served, no choice again. Omlette with cream cheese inside with a side of cubed up potatos and broccoli. More blueberry juice.

Hour 10 – Eyes burning, put glasses on, looked at movie selection. Nope nothing that takes my fancy. Thinking Seoul is going to be a bit of a nightmare. Need to go to transfer desk to check into next flight, also carrying 3 bottles of baileys from duty free in Helsinki but want to pop into the city. Unsure how that’s all going to work? Can’t check my baileys as our luggage all been checked through to Auckland so if I take it out of ‘air side’ I’m significantly over the 100ml thing! It’s bagged with no tamper and a receipt etc up butttttt doubt that means anything to anyone at security!

Hour 11 – The final hour.

So into Seoul we went. Decided we would go into Seoul, found a mall we’d like to visit, found a bus and off we went, in the pouring rain as only Asia does at that time of the year! 

By this time my three bottles of baileys had got tucked into my carry on suitcase. We splashed around, got wet but found the mall, had some food looked around then back on the bus to the airport to try and check in!!! We queued up, I’m sure we looked odd because we barely had any luggage it had all been checked through! I get to the front and again explain I’m a transfer customer and really shouldn’t be here….but I need boarding passes x4 and I have a wee dilemma of 3 bottles of baileys that I don’t want taken off me at security!!! So she looks at what luggage is against my booking, 3 bags. “And a 4th item that is a car seat” I exclaim. She looks confused, so I’m half thinking it’s got lost, again. Ahh well. Whatever. So she fortunately checks my carry on bag. Of course I’ve emptied out my drone and lithium batteries etc, added my 3 bottles of baileys, packed them in with my jacket that’s now dried from the rain because it’s so hot and muggy in Korea and off it goes.

We process through security, we splash out on airport food again, then we get to our gate and see the most magnificent thing….night time dark sky! Wow it’s been months. Our plane gets delayed due to a passing weather event. Then we board.

Hour 0 – Sat delayed by engineers flushing through liquid something? Nothing to be concerned about apparently. Then weather stopped all traffic. Once that passed by we were pushed back exactly 1 hour delayed, to the minute! We joined the other delayed flights and slowly taxied up to run way for our turn.

Hour 1 – Take off pretty dodgy. In the dark and foggy smoggy rain. Very bumpy but we’d been warned by our captain, Mike. What a noisy Boeing Dreamliner this plane is! That Airbus definitely was quiet. My well travelled wee girl was pretty scared so we held hands and I talked her through it. Not captain Mikes first rodeo, won’t be his last, he’s got pilots chatting in his ear ahead of him and behind him, he knows the weather forecast well. Woulda been a challenge for Captain Mike and his colleagues though. So the whole plane sat still in the dark in the terrible turbulence for probably an hour. Little pre schooler behind us : ‘the plane is going down’  His Daddy: ‘UP!!!’  Preschooler : ‘The plane is going down and up!!!!’ Haha.

Hour 2 – Still turbulent but the crew informed us the flight deck had allowed them to start their duties, they were great getting water out to everyone then finally dinner. At 1am local time! Me n rubs had chicken, boys had beef. Cheese cake for dessert!  

Hour 3 – Finished up dinner, went to the toilet and then back to our seats. Fell asleep while all cabin lights still on. Just couldn’t keep eyes open.

Hour 4-7 – Slept quite solidly between my two kiddies  

Hour 8 – Woke up over PNG. Checked to see we’d finally given up 33 thousand feet for 37, that’s a bit better! Less bumpy up here! Moved to RK’s window seat and she fell asleep on me. Watched the world go by. 

Hour 9 – Snuggled my girl. Boys swapped seats. Snuggled up with my husband. Then the cabin  lights went on….slowly and orange like a sunrise! Yawn. Breakfast rolled out, omelette, hash brown, sausage + fruit salad + muffin + yoghurt. I didn’t get to the yoghurt, way too full! 

Hour 10 – Ate breakfast then sat with the rubbish. Took photos of us near Brisbane on the flight map for Han. Watched the air hostesses working hard. Put glasses on, eyes been working hard on not much sleep. Started watching Whitney Houston movie but decided I wanted to watch with my nice Sonos speakers at home to hear her properly so gave up on that.

Hour 11 – The decent into Auckland. Beautiful.

 

And we were home. Customs almost took our Camino shells off us but when I kicked up a fuss the supervisor came over and let them through.
Sister n law swooped past with our car, we piled in and I drove us home as BK was a wee bit too tired.
Drove into our garage just as the sun set on a Friday night. Perfect timing.

Half unpacked and into bed for everyone! We all slept solidly right through the night.

Europe trip 2023 – complete.

Yes the next trip has been dreamt up, will be a different one that’s for sure, may even lead a group of parents and teenagers….watch this space!

Team Knowles, over and out.

Till next time,

Claire x

Helsinki, Finland

Helsinki, Finland

The ferry is an easy trip. We walk on, find a table and stash all our gear.

It’s 2.5 hours to fill. I just sit, by now I’m just too shattered to be much use to anyone. 

We find our accommodation, also very central in the city. Top up on food but not too much! 

We spend the next day doing the sights. ALL the Santa / Christmas stores – because, you know, Santa lives in Finland! A church in a rock, the absolutely stunning library.

Then it’s the 11th of July, the day before we fly home, so I spend hours and hours repacking our gear. We’re still not at our luggage allowance limit, but almost – and we’ll be thankful for that on our layover! 

All the AirTags batteries are checked then they’re safely stashed in pockets of our luggage.

The 12th is a quiet start as we have an evening flight. On our way to the train station we stop at our favourite mall for last this and last that. Then it’s off to the airport!

Tallinn, Estonia

Tallinn, Estonia

 

We arrived into Talinn about 3pm.

A cute little vintage bus took my interest as soon as I got off so photos sent back to my step father in NZ “look at this bubble bus!”

Messages back that it was a Japanese interpretation of a 50’s bus. Ahh the knowledge base that is my parents.

From asking about snow in Morocco to buses in Estonia. 

We ubered to our accommodation- that APP is SO useful when moving a family round. It is so cheap and a lot of times, unless the kids go free, it’s not worth putting the family on public transport for the price, when you add in the ease of getting someone to pick you all up and drop you off where you want to go, with or without gear, it is just a 1000% worth doing. The interesting conversation from a local has also been such a highlight as we drive.

We spend the next couple of days exploring the city, we’re staying central again. 

We walk through a beautiful park and find the Baltic Sea, oh the sights, smells and sound of the ocean!! 

We wonder round the city taking in the sights. We buy more stuff to add to the collection to take home.

By this time it’s early July and we have daylight for 18.5 hours. Sleep is getting harder! Strangely they don’t have shutters on the windows which we find odd because they must have long cold winters and they’d be really handy then too! 

I repack all our gear again, it’s time to catch a ferry to our final EU country.

Riga, Latvia

Riga, Latvia

  

You should know now, Riga is CUTE!! 

After a 4 hour bus ride where I sat on a work call for most of an hour we arrived in Riga. 

The bus dropped us off miles away from our accommodation, it was raining so we caught an Uber….turns out we’d arrived into Riga on their busiest week of the year, right amongst the Latvian Song and dance festival that only happens once every 5 years and for which people from every corner of Latvia descend upon Riga to celebrate their cultural traditions from each region through song/dance and amazing costumes. There was a parade going….it was 4pm, it had already been going 6 hours (it carried on for another 3!!) 

We gave up on the Uber who could not find a way around the parade.

So loaded up with all our gear we stood in the rain and watched for a bit, then when a gap came we sprinted across the road. Oh what a sight we must have been.

Found our accommodation, checked in and went to get food! We could hear the festivities still going. Ladies had ditched their very wet shoes. But on the whole, everyone was very happy and not at all concerned it was pouring with rain! Absolutely chucking it down! 

We spent the next couple of days enjoying the festivities. The weather thankfully cleared. Walked Mum round on FaceTime seeing the sights, shops, markets, parks. 

RK and I had a little cafe date without the boys, we bought more luggage to help with our overflow and to replace an older suitcase that was breaking and not keeping up with the (fast) pace! Fortunately we left NZ with very little luggage so had the capacity to add,. You all know this isn’t my first rodeo, I’ve dragged this family round Europe before! I know what happens – they buy stuff! (ok ok, and i buy stuff too!)

We did a walking tour and learnt a few things. Enjoyed the architecture. 

It was lovely to be staying so central.

My favourite colour is burgundy so I loved their flag and lots of merch / clothes in that colour.

After a few days it was time for the final bus journey of the trip

Vilnius, Lithuania

Vilnius, Lithuania

Vilnius was the beginning of the end. It was the last leg of the journey. We were tired and it was not going to be helping that I was moving us every 3 days! 

I have 3 photos in my phone of our time there. RK sleeping, a bubble tea RK got and our luggage at the bus station when we left.

We spent a couple of days in a hostel in the middle of town. It’s very ‘up and coming’ city and after a morning of wondering round the city aimlessly we’d seen the Google top sights. 

Not too many tourists so we just lived local life. Got a magnet for my collection, went to the supermarket – got caught in a rain storm on way back, went to cafes for a change of scenery. Lazed about. 

BK enjoyed his co working space.

Didn’t love the hostel so was glad to be out of there. Ruby got bitten by bed bugs. One night there was a band playing below our window into the small hours. A few sketchy people around so was glad to have our own 4 bed room. 

Looking back I kind of wish we’d got a car and got out of the city. There were a couple of things I would have liked to have visited about an hour away.

Travel day – Nightmare!

Travel day – Nightmare!

So it was meant to be an easy a quick bus trip to connect with Swiss train to the airport in Zurich, short hop up to Copenhagen then another quick hop to Vilnius, Lithuania.

It wasn’t that! …and I’m missing a bag and a car seat 😩

—-

Well I managed to write the above as we went along so I’ll fill in the gaps. It was QUITE the travel day! One I won’t forget for a long time! 

We got up early, out the door and to the bus stop looking like a travelling circus!!!!!

The bus was late! So odd for Swiss public transportation! 

It finally got to the train station and you’ve never seen me run so fast with my big pack on my back, and a bag of food and a suitcase….with my family trailing behind me!  Found a platform board to work out which platform our train was coming in on, ran to the platform. Got there with a couple of minutes to spare.

Train was late! Again! So odd!

I’d built a big buffer of time in so wasn’t too concerned! 

Train arrived, on we went, with all our stuff! 

A lovely hour of Swiss scenery.

Off at Zurich airport and wow what a long line for check in. We stood in that line an hour and a half! Crazy! We got to the front of the queue just as they started asking ‘anyone else for Copenhagen’ 

We checked our bags and made a beeline for  security. More waiting.

Finally got to our gate. 

“Your carry on suitcase is too big”

What on earth? I just checked my stuff, nobody said anything about my carry on!

“We’ll put it in the hold for you”

Um you should know I’ve got a drone in there with a LITHIUM battery. And 2 power banks and whatever else you said couldn’t go checked, so no you can’t have my bag! It’s got to go in the pressurised cabin!

“Take those items out and carry separately”

Whaaaaa????? Okay then. Whatever.

So i open up my suitcase and haul out all my electronics. I’m thankful for a bag of food I’m carrying because now it’s food and a drone and all kinds of other things! The whole how heavy and how many items I’ve got has entirely become irrelevant!! 

They tag my bag and it goes into a forward hold, right by the stairs onto the plane. I better get that back I think to myself.

I’m one of the last people to board and we’re right at the back. Typical.

I sit. Cute plane I think to myself. It’s like what I’d imagine famous singers fly their crew round in. Little cute private jet feeling.

As we taxi I can feel it’s got some pep to it, then we take off using about a 5th of the runway length. Woe! Powerful little thing! Gosh I love aviation.

But for some reason, we’re late and as we land I think, I’m not sure we’re going to make our connection. Oh. No.

I turn on my phone and my emails clear, oh they’ve worked out we are going to miss our flight. We’re now in Copenhagen but not flying to Vilnius, Lithuania we are now flying to Berlin, Germany. Great. Thanks for the email update but my boarding passes are wrong!!! Gaaah!

They throw my suitcase back at me, THANK YOU, as I disembark the plane, then I run for the transfers desk, family in tow. I quickly explain my boarding passes are wrong and I need new ones right now! She prints them off and we again run to our gate. The flight attendant is very happy to see me, had already printed my boarding passes so chuckled my other ones and the ones I’d just had printed….and we board.

I wonder if our checked luggage got the memo I wonder out loud as we board another peppy jet and my suitcase gets taken off me AGAIN to be put in the forward hold.

Hello Berlin! You’re one of my favourites but I didn’t expect to see you this trip! 

So now I really have the wrong boarding passes. Off to the transfer desk again….we pass the carrousel…

BK “ahh isn’t that your bag going round and round?” 

Yes!!!!!

So give up on transfers desk, grab my pack and it’s through arrivals, back round to check in…

Hello! I’m actually a transfer passenger but I saw my bag going round on the carrousel…so here it is! 

Them : your going where? 

Vilnius

That flight already closed

I’m. A. Transfer. Passenger. I’m. Not. Meant. To. Be. Here! 

So they make a thousand phone calls, check my bag and back through security we go.

We make it, barely. 

By this time Team Knowles are only barely holding it together, we never buy airport food but BK finds something for us to eat as we wait to board.

We get on our final flight to our final destination.

We arrive and of course, my bag arrives but we’re missing BK’s duffel with his and CK’s gear in it and RK’s car seat.

We do the paper work. We tell them very loudly we have an AirTag in the bag and can see it’s still in Zurich, it didn’t even get on the first flight!! They tell us the car seat lost its way In Copenhagen but has already been found and rerouted. It’ll be delivered tomorrow.

We find a bus, make our way to our accommodation.

Find more food and fall into bed.

What. A. Day.

Road trip – Switzerland + Lichtenstein

Road trip – Switzerland + Lichtenstein

As I start to write this in December I realise why I stopped writing my blogs, I was utterly exhausted, burning the candle at both ends!! 

So the next few blogs weren’t written as I was on the go. They’re written months later you’ll probably notice a wee bit of a different style, a bit less detail!

We chose not to pay the $80NZD vignette toll as we entered into Switzerland, we’d barely be in the country 2 days and it seemed a ridiculous amount to pay. So we informed our navigation to NOT take us on those roads, country back roads for us it was!! Which actually was extra beautiful.

We arrived to our Airbnb with a pool, kids were STOKED!!! And in they got! 

The next morning we piled in our Peugeot for the final time as a family. We back roaded our way the mini country of Lichtenstein which was 40 minutes away. We found a lovely cafe for morning tea, it was expensive but great service and food!! Little R found some donkeys so was itching to leave the cafe and stand by a paddock watching the donkeys. One kind of came up to her which just made her day!! I looked round some shops by myself. Actually can’t remember what the boys did! Ha!

After a drive round to see a bit more, we back roaded back to our Airbnb. Gave the car a clean out then BK spent the afternoon driving west to Basel, Frace to drop it off. He then train back to us. Took him ages but he enjoyed the drive as he popped back into Germany to use the autobahns!! Swiss trains are pretty spectacular too, along with the scenery!!

A second great experience with Peugeot Euro drive. Loved it. Most DEFINITELY recommend. 

The kids and I stayed at the Airbnb, they swum and I downsized our gear and packed and packed and packed!!!

BK returned and carried on packing, it turns out we’d accumulated a bunch of stuff while we had our own wheels! 

The following morning it was up early for a travel day….it was meant to be easy, it wasn’t!!

Till next time,

Claire

Road trip – Austria

Road trip – Austria

It was going to a long day of driving so we got up early to get on the road at 7.30am. 

We were heading west to Vienna back through Slovakia. We found Slovakia quite cheap so we called in at ikea to top up purchase a few things and to have their famous meatball lunch!!

After driving a bit more. Mum must have been tracking my phone because a message came through….”are you going to that outlet mall” I had no idea what she was talking about so I was informed it was behind me and given a web site link! 

So we drove over to have a look! It was so cute. All the shops were in a historic village type of design. Every brand was there from Nike to dyson to dolce cabana to Lindt. Little R scored some new shoes and a hoody. 

We did a one night stay by the airport, offloaded BK. He was flying to Armenia to see a work colleague. I drove into central Vienna with the kids. We found our Airbnb and we’re so blessed to get a park right outside so we could unload all our gear and Brendan’s as he’d only taken a backpack with him. After trip to the supermarket I put the car safely in a parking garage for the next two days as we explored the city. 

We went to the technology museum, I thought we’d only last an hour but we lasted 2! We went into the old town and saw the Spanish riding school horses in their stables. We saw the beautiful St Stephens church, I think mass was just finishing because the organ was playing at full volume! 

We then went to the butterfly house, that was a bit of a waste of money so we went round that twice.

Then it was 3.30pm and I was utterly exhausted so back to the house for a rest. 

Kababs for dinner then us 3 snuggled into our beds for an early night! 

I hadn’t really got a plan for what to do before we picked up Brendan from the airport but I didn’t need to worry, Mum did! 

So I was given a cafe name, once I’d put it in Google maps and off we went for morning tea, mum on video call enjoying a cafe she’d visited when she was in Vienna. We had hot chocolates and got to try apple strudel cake and an Austrian chocolate cake. Yum.

After that I went and got the car back out of the parking garage and drive about 20 minutes out of the city to go tobogganing. Kinda like luging but kinda not. A cart on a rail, you control the speed. RK didn’t enjoy it but CK and I did! 

After that thrill I found a park on Google maps out by the airport, I thought I was going to a ‘yatton park’  but it was more ‘mclarens falls’ (with no falls!) we saw some men playing disc golf. I’ve heard so much about that game but never seen it played.

Once we were bored of that we drove to a park up place by the airport and watched the planes land till our Daddy’s one came in. Then it was a long drive of 4.5 hours towards Innsbruck. So blessed it’s summer as we cruised the autobahns in the evening we could see the beautiful sights. We rolled into our Airbnb  just after 9pm. It was still light outside. Haven’t seen the sun set in weeeeeks, months even? 

After a quick one night stay, less than 12 hours! It was a long day of driving and touristing ahead of us. 

This was our 3rd time to Austria and each time before I’d tried to get to the Swarovski flagship store in Wattens but failed. This time it was third time lucky! We arrived before it opened. Admired their grounds and iconic face waterfall and went to the store where BK bought me my first figurine! “Carry on luggage!!!” the lady said to me as she was packaging it up! 

After finishing up there, it was off to the only other touristy thing I wanted to do while in Europe (along with Sintra in Portugal) we drove 2 hours to the Neuschwanstn castle. This is the castle Disney castles are modelled off. It’s under major Reno at the moment so I didn’t get tickets to go in, that would be a waste of money. 

Once we arrived we found parking, finally found how to catch the bus up the hill – nobody was walking 40 minutes up hill in 30 degree heat – and up we went! 

We first went to the bridge behind it to admire it, had lunch perched on some tree stumps. 

Then walked round to admire it from the base. Beautiful and so worth the mission. 

Back on the autobahns and into Switzerland we went. 

Till next time,

Claire

Road trip – Poland

Road trip – Poland

We drove north and into Poland. We’d decided staying in a big city wasn’t for us so chose an area called Zakopane. 

We arrived to a very beautiful area in the mountain. Very Queenstown-ish we thought. 

And it was cold! 16! All the central heating was on. We’re not carrying winter jarmies so I hunted through the cupboards for extra blankets. 

The following day we decided it was time for a water park. The area we were staying in is known for its mineral pools. Polands biggest and most famous was 15 minutes away.,

We purchased a 4 hour pass and had a lovely soak. Being a Sunday afternoon it was busy but we could always find somewhere to linger. We had fun on the hydro slides, in a whirl pool, a pool with disco lights. 

We’d brought sandwiches and water with us so inhaled them then BK bought hot chips and drinks (at resort type prices!) to top us up. It was a lovely time and something different to do.

The next day after that we missioned up to Krakow. What a pretty city! Not what I expected. Google reviews found us some cheap parking and we wondered round the old town enjoying the sights, the architecture, the art work for sale. We then went over to the Jewish quarter and wondered round that. I wanted to go into a Jewish bookshop but it appeared closed.

Topped up on thickshakes we made our way back to the car and drove 20 minutes to a salt mine. Again, came across some cheap parking and lined up ready for our tour. It was a beautiful hot day but I changed to jeans, grabbed my hoody and my beanie and ended up wearing both!! The tour started with 400 steps downward!! Took ages!! Once we were at 110m below ground and the guide started with the history and information. It was fascinating, the use of wood is extensive. The guide joked there was several forests of wood in the mine, I’m sure she wasn’t wrong! The salt would damage and weaken any other substance but with wood it makes it firmer, like stone/concrete. 

We walked through tunnel and mine shaft. We saw lakes of brine, so beautifully blue in colour.

We walked a total of 3km over 2 levels, apparently only 1% of the whole mine! Crazy! 

Once the tour was over we caught a lift up to the surface. It spat us out not anywhere near where we went into the mine, so after finding our car, getting massively long donar kababs it was the long drive back to our apartment. 

One very full touristing day!!

The next couple of days BK worked. 

The kids and I rested.

We popped into the Main Street which was so pretty. I found someone selling deep friend potato curls on a stick. Yum.

I also drove for the first time in 12 weeks!! I needed to get some practice in for later in the week. 

Poland you were lovely but now it’s time to turn west for a wee side mission of returning our Peugeot.

Till next time,

Claire 

 

Ps I’ve added a few photo’s from inside the salt mine. A carving into the wall – you can guess what it’s of! A chapel for the workers of the salt mine back in the day. The track for carts to be pushed along. Fascinating. Never been anywhere quite like it.

Road trip – Slovakia

Road trip – Slovakia

We arrived to a large apartment on the 5th floor. Checked in and Bk found his favourite supermarket, Kaufland. He was there ages texting me pictures of how cheap it was and “this is what Europe supermarkets should be like”. Needless to say, he returned with half the supermarkets worth of stuff!!! We’re only here 4 nights! 

The first day I did absolutely nothing. Didn’t leave the apartment. Travel fatigue had hit and I was exhausted, not at all interested in anything. BK took the kids out for a bit which was a lovely break for me, of course he returned with more stuff from Kaufland!!!

The next day I hauled my self out to a mall, had a very nice vanilla thickshake, bought R some new shoes and an extra small suitcase. It turns out we’ve bought way too much stuff since having the car and it’s all gotta go somewhere when we give the car back and get on a plane again! R decided she was having it as hers once we return home so that’ll suit her for camps, sleep overs and trips to Hawkes Bay.

I’d struggled to settle on an Airbnb in Slovakia. There were lots of options yet not many things to do. The city we are staying in is small and the only one attraction, is a castle. One of the top things to do in the entire country! So early the next morning we got up to go visit. We got to the entrance gate only to realise that it had a fairytale thing going for this week, it was all in the Slovak language and the people at the gate told us there was no point us, who only speak and understand English, going in. What a fail! Looked at going to a look out but that was upwards of $50 NZD to visit, which is pointless paying for with kids! So back to the apartment it was for some ball throw and catch, some packing, some educational screen time.

BK worked and I did a bit of work on all 3 of my roles I juggle in the second half of the year. Anything to get me ahead is a win!

 

And that was Slovakia. Just a bit of catch up really. Nothing touristy.

Till next time, 

Claire