It was a crisp autumn morning and we were excited to go on a little adventure to a famous German castle. We stepped off the train in the tiny village of Moselkern and were reminded that no one seems to live in Germany…every village is empty and they don’t even have corner shops like they…
Volunteering as Lumberjacks in the Mosel Region | Germany
After four months in Asia we were pretty zapped by the heat, we still wanted to return to the Philippines but the flight price and duration weren’t very appealing so we just went on Skyscanner and searched cheap destinations from the Maldives. The cheap countries to fly to were Germany, France and Switzerland so we…
How to visit The Maldives on a budget
What if I told you that you don’t need to be rich or sell an organ to be able to visit The Maldives? It all depends on how you travel the country, you could spend $10,000 a night for a water villa on a resort island OR you could pay as little as $30 for…
Swimming with Manta Rays on Ukulhas Island | The Maldives
Ukulhas island was the fourth and final local island we visited in the Maldives and our last chance for seeing manta rays. It’s a fairly popular island with a big selection of guesthouses, a few eaterys and an award for being an eco friendly island. Our guesthouse host met us at the jetty and he…
The good, the bad & the ugly on Feridhoo Island | The Maldives
I found Feridhoo Island by chance, it’s one of the more recent local islands to open its doors to tourists and from what I read it had a desert-island vibe thanks to hardly any other tourists, an incredible beach and some of the best house reef to snorkel. Some people had also stayed on expensive…
Exploring Thoddoo Island | The Maldives
Thoddoo Island is a bit of a black sheep sitting alone in the Indian Ocean just north of the cluster of islands that form the Ari Atoll. It’s encircled by a reef and best known for its large lagoon and it’s production of fruit. Even though it’s slightly removed from the Atoll, it’s still very…
Visiting an idyllic sandbank in The Maldives
I’m a sucker for a sandbank, a slither of sand rising out of the sea, a new island forming and more reason for the Maldivian’s to laugh in the face of global warming. We asked a few locals if they thought the Maldives would be covered by sea in the future and they confidently said…
Dolphins, Turtles and Coral Reef | The Maldives
I have a bit of an obsession with dolphins, I’ve always dreamed of seeing them swimming in the bow of a boat, jumping and playing in the sea around us. We pretty much experienced this in Alaska but instead of dolphins it was porpoises…to be fair their even cooler as they are back and white…
Living the good life | Visiting a Resort Island in The Maldives for $30
Some of the resort islands in the Maldives allow tourists to visit on day trips which is the perfect compromise for people like us that choose to spend our money more wisely (sorry fancy resorts but we could buy a campervan for the price of one night in a luxury villa!). The deals vary, some…
Finding paradise on a budget | The Maldives
The Maldives has always been one of those dream locations, an unreachable goal that only winning the lottery could help us get to. But things have changed in the past few years and now there are hundreds of affordable guesthouses to stay at on the local islands. There are around 1200 islands in the Maldives,…
The worlds most beautiful train journey | Ella to Kandy, Sri Lanka
When we read that the train ride between Ella and Kandy was said to be one of the most beautiful in the world we had to see if the rumours were true. The journey would take 7 hours and a seat in second class costs just $1.30 or 70 cents for third class…it was a…
Exploring tea plantations at Lipton’s Seat | Sri Lanka
The 6:40am train took us from Ella to the town of Haputale which sits on a dramatic ridge-line surrounded by lush green hills and tea plantations. School kids were hanging out the doorways enjoying the cool breeze as the train casually chugged through the hill country and after an hour we arrived in Haputale. We…
