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The Travelbunny: February 2015

Travelbunny February 2015

Spring is just around the corner, at least I hope it is, so I’ve had a little tidy-up on the blog and given it a slightly cleaner look. What do you think?  I hope you like it. I’ve also introduced a new feature on The Travelbunny; a monthly round up of what’s been happening in the past month and a taster of what’s coming up.  I’ll recap on articles posted during the month and where my travels have taken me recently. There’ll be updates on what’s been going on in my little social media world and with other bloggers that I love to follow. It’s been a busy month.  Here’s what happened in February…

Writing

February posts were all about our trip to Vietnam in January.  We spent a few days on Phu Quoc, an idyllic little island off the south coast of Vietnam followed by a couple of nights in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) for New Year celebrations.  We then travelled to Mui Ne on the coast for a week by the sea. Sand dunes, sightseeing and lots of food was involved! Mui Ne is also the kite-boarding adrenalin hub of South East Asia but that was a bit too energetic for us so we got some exercise by playing a round of golf! Click on the images below to read more…

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Travel

Last month saw an unexpected trip to Dubai and my first visit to the UAE.  This was a press trip arranged by Dubai Tourism in conjunction with Emirates and Ritz Carlton to coincide with the Dubai Food Festival.

Dubai tower blocks

Photo Credit: Kathryn Burrington www.travelwithkat.com

A nice surprise was that Kathryn from Travel with Kat was on the trip.  So nice to travel with friends! We stayed in the lap of luxury at the fabulous Ritz Carlton on Jumeira Beach.  The itinerary was jam-packed and we attended lots of food festival events as well as a Food Lover’s tour of old Dubai with Frying Pan Adventures, a visit to the top of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest man-made structure, and a fantastic desert safari with Alpha Tours.  If you want to learn more about Dubai, old and new, and Emirati cuisine stay tuned for articles on the blog throughout March.

Bloggeries

#CelebrityCookOff

February saw my first ever social media cook off.  If you’re wondering what a cook-off is it’s where some of the Celebrity Cruises destination bloggers, that’s Elle, Lucy, Cherie and I all cook the same recipe at the same time at home in our own kitchens.   As we worked through the recipe we Tweeted, Instagramed and posted to Facebook the pictures of our cooking skills/disasters using the hashtag #CelebrityCookOff. We got multi-tasking down to a fine art!  It made for a fun evening and a delicious Seafood Mediterranean Risotto for dinner that night.  It was interesting to see the results – all of our dishes turned out slightly differently despite using the same recipe.

https://instagram.com/p/yus0UqJL8s/?modal=true

#TravelBookChat

I’m so pleased that Jayne of ‘Girl Tweets World’ and Monica aka ‘The Travelhack’ have resurrected the Twitter book club ‘TravelBookChat’. Thank you ladies!  February’s book was Tracks by Robyn Davidson; an account of her 1700 mile solo trek across the Australian Outback, with only a few camels and a dog for support.  Quite appropriate that I had a few encounters with camels in Dubai whilst reading the book.

https://instagram.com/p/y9MG_5P9JK/?modal=true

If you’d like to be involved March’s theme is ‘Iceland’ and the book is  Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Time & Date: March 24th at 20:00 GMT (that’s 7am Wednesday morning for those in Sydney or 3pm Tuesday for New Yorkers.)

Where: Twitter

With@JayneyTravels & @TheTravelHack

Hashtag: #TravelBookChat

Simply log onto Twitter and search for the hashtag #TravelBookChat.

Plans for March

We’ll be packing up the car in March and driving down to Morzine in France for our annual ski trip.  We’ll ski the Portes du Soleil area taking in Morzine, Avoriaz, Les Gets and will cross the border into Switzerland too.  There’s a new igloo bar made entirely from snow and ice in Avoriaz so we’ll be seeking that out – I love a bit of quirky cool! The Portes du Soleil has 285 slopes, 196 mountain lifts, 11 snowparks/boarder-cross/ski-cross, 90 slope-side restaurants and is 400 km².  Enough to keep us busy for the week!  The snow, although late arriving, is good this year and we’re hoping for some bluebird days and sunshine skiing as we’ll be there towards the end of the month.

mountains callling

The Mountains are Calling…

So, that’s what I’ve been getting up to. Where are your travels taking you this month?

Kathryn Burrington

Sunday 8th of March 2015

Wasn't Dubai fascinating! Quite the mash-up of cultures and the old and new. Have a fabulous time skiiing. I'm off for a bit of pampering, later in the month in Mallorca.... think yoga on the beach.

Suzanne Jones

Monday 9th of March 2015

Enjoy your yoga retreat and think of me practicing my Asanas in the Church Hall on Tuesday!

Bridget @ A Traveling B

Saturday 7th of March 2015

Your ski trip looks amazing, Suzanne! And very interested to hear more about your travels to Dubai, it seems like a unique and fascinating place. I'll have to check out Burial Rites - I am already having Iceland withdrawals!

Suzanne Jones

Monday 9th of March 2015

Looking forward to the skiing Bridget. Iceland is so easy to love!

Just Add Attitude

Tuesday 3rd of March 2015

Compared to you I have had a positively lazy start to 2015. I hope you enjoy your ski holiday. I look forward to hearing more about, and seeing pictures of, that igloo bar. ;)

Suzanne Jones

Tuesday 3rd of March 2015

The trouble is being so busy makes the time fly by too quickly!

Lucy

Tuesday 3rd of March 2015

Looks like a great month – especially looking forward to reading about your Dubai adventures, it's rapidly rising up my 'to see' list! Have a great trip to Morzine too, no ski trip for me this year but I'm planning on a fix of snow at least for a day as I'll be near the Alps in Annecy this month.

Suzanne Jones

Tuesday 3rd of March 2015

Thanks Lucy - always good to have things to look forward to! Dubai was full of surprises :) Ahh Annecy is absolutely beautiful - I haven't been for years so I'm looking forward to following your trip there.

Monica

Tuesday 3rd of March 2015

Wow, it sounds like you've had an amazing month. I'm really looking forward to your Dubai posts. Dubai seems to be such a Marmite destination and I have no idea if I'd love it or hate it.

How are you getting on with Burial Rites? I'm gripped already. I don't think she did it but I have no idea where the story is going to go...

Suzanne Jones

Tuesday 3rd of March 2015

Dubai was full of surprises - nice surprises. Haven't started Burial Rites yet but will soon. I'm skiing the week of 24th but I might be able to sneak a couple of tweets into #travelbookchat

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