Married Life

We have been lucky to be able to enjoy some incredible vacations since we got married. The highlights:

The Umbabat

Our ultimate favourite vacation spot is located in a game reserve right next to the Kruger National Park. As most of you know, the Kruger National Park is one of the most visited destinations in South Africa. What you might not know is that there is about 180 000 hectares of land around the Kruger National Park, which forms part of the Greater Kruger. This area used to be privately owned land, but in the late 90’s, the owners agreed to create additional Nature Reserves by dropping all their fences in order to increase the size of the Kruger National Park and allow animals to roam free in a larger area. One of these Nature Reserves is known as the Umbabat, bordering the Timbavati and Klaserie as well as the Kruger National Park. This means that you are staying on a private area where only a selected number of visitors are allowed, but you have the possibility of seeing all the animals that you might have seen while staying in the Kruger National Park. We love visiting the Umbabat and try to do so as often as possible!

Thailand

After our tropical breakaway in Zanzibar, we decided that 2015 would be a good time to explore Thailand. We were psyched when we arrived at the airport just in time for check in, ran to the boarding gate just to find out that our flight had been delayed. Five long hours of waiting later, they announced that our flight was cancelled! We couldn’t believe it, after such a long wait our vacation might be cancelled! The next fifteen minutes was a bit of a blur, but some way, somehow, we managed to get on the only other flight leaving on the same airline within the following 24 hours. Vacation back on! We first visited the city Chiang Mai with its colourful temples and elephant rides, then visited the Big Buddha in Phuket, explored hundreds of islands in Koh Samui and ended off in getting lost between thousands of tiny stores in Bangkok. On the way back, we stopped over in Qatar for a quick overview of the contrast between the dunes and the city, before heading home.

Mauritius

In June 2015 we were one of 4 couples who shook up the Solana Beach hotel on the beautiful island off the eastern coast of Africa, Mauritius. This was our second all inclusive island holiday and we can certainly recommend upgrading! Relaxing on the beach sipping cocktails, catamaran cruising, air gliding, snorkelling, glass bottom boats, way too much food and great friends. Nothing wrong with that!

Catalunya

At the beginning of 2016, we visited friends staying in Europe and explored a few new places while we were there. We had the most amazing time exploring the French Riviera and the land of the Catalans! We started in Barcelona where we spent New Year’s Eve, then travelled across the French Riviera all the way to Monaco and back. On the way back, we chose smaller roads directly next to the scenic coastline and then drove from the one winery to the next, tasting here and there. We then passed through the winter wonderland Andorra where we got to play around in layers of snow for the first time. We then moved on to sunnier skies in Madrid in Spain followed by Porto and Lisbon in Portugal, ending off back in Barcelona. While we were there in January, the weather was not too cold at all and it was nice that there were not too many tourists. It was an incredible holiday full of history and stunning scenery!

The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

In June 2016 we were one of 4 couples camping hard core in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park on the border of South Africa and Botswana. We travelled 999km to the park and stayed for 10 days. Half the vacation was spent on the South African side of the park in fenced off campsites with running water, and the other half spent on the Botswana side… no fences or running water, but much more exciting and we can’t wait to go back! On the way back, we popped in at the Augrabies Falls National Park to view the waterfall and river raft and Mokala National Park where we enjoyed staying at the campsite of the year, Mosu Lodge. It definitely turned out to be one of our favourite holidays!