Nikedun Blog

For some people Halloween is just as exciting a holiday as Christmas. I have many friends who put just as much effort into their scary costumes in October as they do when they're putting their tree up in December! There are various well known events around the world, such as the famous parade in New York, but I decided to have a look at some of the coolest (or creepiest!) places to celebrate this spooky holiday. How about travelling to Transylvania? The country of Romania not only has stunning Gothic architecture but the impressive Bran Castle was said to be home of Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. The castle is open to the public, and they do special Halloween tours! Long beach California may not strike you as the most spooky place, but the cruise liner Queen Mary that docks here is. This is one of the most unique places to celebrate on Halloween. So-called 'Dark Harbor' starts on October the 1st and runs for a month, offeri...

One of the things I love about travelling is feeling like I'm escaping the day to day stresses of life. For me, part of that is putting my phone in a drawer and forgetting about the outside world. For others, it's about constantly putting photos on social media, and showing all your friends and family the fabulous places you're visiting. A recent survey commissioned by WorldSIM has revealed that 31% of travellers still don't use their phone when they travel abroad - perhaps because they're worried about returning home to a monster mobile phone bill because of international roaming charges. That means that a whopping 69% of people do use their phone while travelling. These days it's very rare to see people without a phone in their hand - but when you're on your hols, I find it a bit sad. I do upload the odd photo, and also use my phone to research places when I'm on my travels. However there's a big wide world out there - when you...

It's that time of year everyone.....Christmas is upon us, and I'm sure many of you are getting ready to finish up at work - if you haven't already! I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas when it comes. Take time to relax and chill out, and if you're travelling over the festive period - ENJOY IT! To all of you who dip in and read my blog - thank you for your support.  HAPPY CHRISTMAS!x

I always think that the end of the year is quite an emotional time. It's a poignant moment to look back at the last 12 months and remember all the good times. I've had some wonderful travel adventures during 2016 and am already planning my trips for the new year. To all of you who are avid travellers like me - happy new year, and happy new travels when they come! Let's hope 2017 is a happy and healthy one for us all xx

Travel is my passion, and one of the main reasons I work so hard is to be able to go on amazing trips to all sorts of places around the world.  I'm very excited about 2017, because this year I'll be marking a milestone birthday and I plan to do it in style!  I'm planning various trips throughout the year to all sorts of places, and can't wait to tell you all about them! I'm hoping to discover lots of things to feature on , so watch this space! Some people are terrified of milestones, but I'll never understand why - as someone once said to me "it's better than the alternative"! It's time to embrace a new decade, and I plan to do it with passion...bring it on!

The stunning aurora borealis, or northern lights, have always fascinated me. It's a naturally occurring phenomenon making it notoriously difficult to predict any further in advance than about two hours before it happens.  So you can see why people feel blessed when they are lucky enough to witness the lights. Auroras occur throughout the year, but they're invisible to the eye during the light summer months, so if you want to plan a trip to try to see them, then doing that in the winter is your best bet.  With long dark nights, January to March are the three most popular months for Aurora hunting. I decided to feature the lights in March, as the daylight hours start to stretch out by them, and it can be a very rewarding time of year. As the Aurora is so unpredictable, you stand as much chance of seeing them in Norway as you do in Finland, so it's a real gamble, but if it pays off, you're in for a once in a lifetime experience. Isn't Mother Nature wond...

This is the time of year when I get very excited! I'm lucky enough to be able to take a few months off each summer and travel the world....and it all starts next week with a trip to New York City. This will be my third trip to the Big Apple, and having done most of the major sights, I'm determined to seek out some new cool places to feature on my blog. I'm not only going to New York this year though, so there will be plenty of awesome tips for you on in the weeks and months to come. For those of you not travelling this year, I'll attempt to cheer you up with some lovely pics of my jaunts across the world!

This week you get three photos instead of the usual one, because when I got back from my trip to Rome a few months ago, and started looking through some of my photos, here seemed to be a bit of a theme going on....bikes! On every street here seemed to be one chained up, ready to be ridden home from work, or even used as part of a pretty display outside a clothing shop with flowers in the basket.  It didn't seem right to choose one and leave the others out, so I decided to extend my post this week to feature them all!  I remember a few years ago after coming back from Sicily, I had taken a huge amount of photos of the cute little Fiat 500's, and framed them all together in my house...I might have to do the same this time with the Roman bikes!

It was perhaps inevitable that the UK's Brexit negotiations would have an impact on the way British people would change the way they travel. With so much uncertainty over how the talks will play out, and with the pound still weak, a new poll has revealed that more than half of Brits are looking to travel long-haul, rather than to European destinations. A poll of 2000 Brits carried out by Holiday Hypermarket suggests that Brexit is encouraging Brits to be more adventurous in their choice of holiday destinations. Searches to destinations such as Goa and Phuket are up, while bookings to the Dominican Republic and Mexico have also seen an increase. I am totally against Brexit and love being part of the EU, but perhaps the uncertain future is encouraging people to get out there and explore a little more when they go on their travels. Maybe it's one positive to take from a situation many Brits I know feel is a very depressing one!

I started my travel blog to bring some of the wonderful off the beaten track places I've discovered on my travels to other people, and I've recently found someone else who loves doing a similar thing! Vanessa Grail is a London girl who moved to Paris, and has written a book, 'Don't be a tourist in Paris'. The book gives readers some brilliant insider tips, and Vanessa shares her ideas of how to avoid the tourist traps and uncover the real Paris. Below are just a few of my favourite ideas from the book. Old artist studio in Musée de Montmartre  Montmartre is one of my favourite places to visit in Paris, but I had never heard of the Musée de Montmartre. It's inside the oldest building in the area and one of the old artists studios as been restored so you can imagine how it felt for the likes of Renoir to sit and paint in the French capital.  Le Refuge de Fondues, restaurant  So what about eating off the beaten track? Vanessa writes about Le Re...

Having spent most of the summer on the beach myself (yes, I'm a lucky girl!), I found some new research about the costs of beaches very interesting. TravelBird's Beach price index ranks over 300 beaches around the world on the cost of spending one day at each.  Vietnam After pricing five essentials (sun cream; water; beer; lunch, and an ice cream) they ranked them to give holidaymakers the information they may want before booking a holiday. The most affordable beaches in the world are in Vietnam, while the most expensive were found in Norway.  Norway The bit that interested me most about the research though, was the beaches in the UK. I sometimes feel for families who stay at home to holiday in the British Isles, but end up spending more money than if they'd gone out of the country to holiday. For instance, the research revealed that the UK's most expensive beach is Priory Bay on the Isle of Wight.  Priory Bay, Isle of Wight So where is the chea...

Many people find travelling a stressful experience, and one way to chill out when flying off somewhere is to check in to an airport lounge. Well at Heathrow, Virgin Atlantic have unveiled an airport lounge with a difference.  The Coppa Club igloo is on the roof of the Heathrow Clubhouse, and seats up to 8 people. It's decorated in Nordic style, and you're able to enjoy food and drinks before your flight with spectacular views of the runway - a plane spotters delight! The pop-up lounge is only at Heathrow until the 14th of January, but I love the idea of making the airport experience more fun - just what travel should be all about!

You've chosen your location; booked your flights; and now it's time to capture the local sights on camera. I've got some top photography tips for you from the Jessops Academy team to help you plan ahead and take photos you'll be proud to show off when you return.  Do your research Before you arrive, research the best places to visit and the top tourist attractions. Sometimes I have a look and see how others have captured it, and think about what I could do differently. Would it look great with the sun high in the sky, or at sunset? The rule of thirds The secret to mastering this technique is to visualise a grid of lines running horizontally and vertically breaking your image into thirds. Compose your key point of interest by placing them in one of the thirds or intersecting points of the grid, and that will instantly draw attention to them and make your photo pleasing to the eye. Foreground detail Finally include something in the foreground...

In just four days time, I'll be finishing work for a couple of months and heading off on my travels. Not only do I plan to find more amazing places to feature on my blog, but I also need a bit of downtime, so forgive me if I don't post for a few weeks - I'll be back with some holiday ramblings very soon!  In the meantime I'd love to hear where you plan to go this summer, whether you're planning an exotic trip or staying at home to explore the delights your own country has to offer. Whatever your plans, let me know them, and if you find anywhere I should be featuring on my blog....please get in touch. Happy travelling, and don't worry.....the 'lightbulb' will be switched on again soon! 

Who would have thought that my little travel blog would reach the grand old age of seven! It's been such a great journey and I'm proud to have had lovely reactions to my travel musings with those of you who take time to read it each week.  Thanks so much for your support, and keep travelling!

I'm a very positive person, but I start this blog post on a negative note! I'm not a fan of whoever said all good things must come to an end, because my summer of fun has just finished! I had an absolute ball discovering new places in the Caribbean, and Portugal - two of my favourite destinations.  However it's now time to return to reality, and get back to the day job I love! The good thing is, I have some wonderful places to share with you over the coming months, from funky beach bars to a stunning part of Portugal with no tourists. I hope you'll keep following my blog, and if you have any suggestions of your own from your summer travels, I'd love to hear about them. 

I've visited many busy tourist destinations in my years of travelling, from the crazy crowds at Machu Picchu, to the madness of Tokyo. I loved every minute of those trips, but there's also something wonderful about discovering places that are almost devoid of tourists. The last time I went to Rome, my main aim was to find places where the locals hang out, and avoid the tourist traps. I proved it was possible, and even came home with money....from Rome....amazing! A survey by Travel Supermarket has revealed the fastest growing tourist destinations across the globe, and the places we should be visiting before the get oversaturated with fellow travellers. Top of the list is Jakarta in Indonesia, with visitors numbers predicted to double by 2025.  India has the highest number of destinations set to grow the fastest in the next seven years, with Jaipur likely to see an 88% increase in tourism.  The research shows that if you want to be the first to go som...

Road trips are a great way to see the sights at your own pace, and discover new places that are totally off the beaten track. If you've never travelled this way, then I'd highly recommend it!  I regularly post my travel pics on social media and TravelSupermarket recently analysed some of the most picturesque pit stops and driving routes that get shutters clicking whilst on a road trip. The most Instagram-worthy road trip in the world, and the most popular over the summer months is....Route 66. Incredibly, the 2,448 mile long American hot spot was papped 1,198,035 times - no surprise given its stunning views! Second on the list is the stunning Great Ocean Road in Australia. It winds alongside the wild and windswept Southern Ocean, home to the world-class surf at Bells Beach and the craggy limestone spires of the 12 Apostles.   Closer to home, the UK has also made the top 25, with Causeway Coastal Route in Northern Ireland making it the 20th most ...

With Halloween on the horizon, I thought I'd feature something a little bit different this week rather than the usual spooky, haunted house ideas! For those who don't know what dark tourism is, it's visiting destinations usually associated with death and suffering.  It's a musim that is on the rise with British holiday-makers, and data released by Kiwi.com has revealed the top destinations visited by Brits in recent years. Considered the most disastrous nuclear power plant accident in history, Chernobyl has become an unlikely tourist destination in recent years, as travellers risk being exposed to lethal levels  of radiation in a bid to get a glimpse of the derelict town which has been left untouched since 1986. Another destination that draws many is Auschwitz, the concentration camp operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. Having been truly horrified after my own visit to a concentration camp in Germany, I think it's import...

Many of you will be embarking on holidays in the coming weeks, as you head off to celebrate Christmas and New Year somewhere special. So I've come up with some top tips to help you have the best holiday ever.  Many people booking a holiday at Christmas time want to go somewhere warm, which means prices in places like the Caribbean and Mexico can be extremely high. Instead, why not go closer to home, to Italy, Greece or Spain - there is a much higher potential for cheap airfares.  Depressingly, lost bags on busier travel days of the year have a 50% increase, so the chances are you've got more chance of losing your bag in December than in March. Make sure you have a change of clothes so you aren't caught out!  If you're on a budget, consider celebrating away from home at the start of the New Year, rather than in the peak Christmas period. Travelling after January the 3rd can cut prices dramatically, and can also mean your destination is a bit less...