I'm a Celebrity - Get me out of Fort Kochi!

We arrived at Ernaculum Town station in Kochi later than expected - it was already getting close to dusk. We didn't know it, but we still had another 1 hour journey to take us to our guesthouse in Fort Kochi.

Outside the train station, there was a large queue ... and a surprisingly orderly s

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Indian Railways Sleeper Class to Kochi

Our next destination after Varkala was Kochi. 5 days earlier, while we were still in Kovalam, we had purchased train tickets from a Travel Agent. He had explained to us which ticket classes were available for a trip from Varkala to Kochi, and advised us not to take Indian Railways Sleeper Class or

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The Windswept Cliffs of Varkala, Kerala

The next place of interest travelling north up the coast from Kovalam is Varkala. The cliffs of Varkala are famed for their dramatic, windswept appearance and precarious shopfronts perching over the edge.
Reaching the Cliffs of Varkala
The journey from Kovalam to Varkala takes almost 2 hours by

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The Kovalam Lighthouse Beach Experience

One week before arriving at Kovalam Lighthouse Beach, I sent an email to our hotel requesting an airport pickup. The fact that I got no reply should have been an early warning sign.

When we arrived at Trivandrum airport, I reckoned there was a 50/50 chance that someone would be waiting to pick

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INDIA - I'll Never Do It Again

‘INDIA - I'll Never Do It Again...’ I first came across this expression while chatting with a fellow traveler at a beach cafe in Agonda, South Goa. She pointed out a table on the beach with this inscription carved artistically into the wood.

It sums up the conflicting emotions felt by many tra

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Jet Airways Inflight Experience

Several weeks before starting our trip to India, we went online and booked 2 domestic flights directly with Jet Airways. We had never heard of the airline before, so we were curious how our Jet Airways inflight experience would compare to other budget airlines.

We booked the following one-way

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Mumbai International Airport

Arrival at Mumbai International Airport (Chhatrapati Shivaji) and transfer to the Domestic terminal was blissfully straightforward and efficient. At passport control we produced our e-Tourist Visas, and were processed quickly enough.

After clearing passport control, we strolled into a large and

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Istanbul Leather Shopping

One of the bonuses of a short stay in Istanbul is the opportunity for shopping. There are some great bargains to be had in the bazaars and highstreets of the city, and if its leather you're after, look no further. You'll find that shopping for leather in Istanbul can be a very social

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/shopping-for-leather-in-istanbul/

Istanbul Mosques and Minarets

We dedicated our first full day in in the city to visiting some of the “must see” Istanbul mosques, museums and monuments. Because there are so many of these, and with a limited amount of time, we had to be quite selective.

In part, this was made easier for us by the opening times of some of the

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Istanbul Eateries and Accommodation

We would only have 2 nights and days in Istanbul. To optimize our time in the city, and to find the best Istanbul eateries, we did as much planning as we could before leaving home.

After sorting out our transfers, our next priorities were accommodation and food. Following a good deal of online r

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Istanbul Airport-City Transfer

Planning our visit to Istanbul from the comfort of our living room, using Google Earth as our map reference, seemed straightforward enough. To avoid the expense of taxis, we decided to arrange our own Istanbul airport-city transfer.

We would be arriving at Sabiha Gokcen - the furthest of the 2

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Turkish Airlines Inflight Experience

We were quite excited about flying with Turkish Airlines for the first time. Our expectations of the Turkish Airlines inflight experience were justifiably high, considering they were once the No.7 airline in the world (recently dropped to the No.18 position - see The World's Top 100 Ai

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/turkish-airlines-inflight-experience/

Rome Attractions

For a short 2-3 day break in Rome, you need to be extremely selective: There are just so many Rome attractions to see, and to see the sights properly you need to spend the time.

It also helps to pace yourself and vary your activities to avoid a cultural overload. There are only so many museums

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/rome-attractions/

Inexpensive Rome Restaurants

Rome is like one giant restaurant. Every street seems to host a series of eateries tempting visitors with their delicious Italian kitchen aromas. In our experiance, it's pretty difficult to get a bad meal in Rome, but if you're looking for inspiration, here are our current favourite Rome r

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Rome Hotels & Guesthouses

We often use Rome as our launching pad for long-distance flights to Asia. Many of the bigger airlines offer a variety of flight options starting or ending in Rome. As a result, prices are often cheaper than flying out from other airports, since many Rome hotels & guesthouses can be booked at

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/rome-hotels-guesthouses/

India Travel Plan - West Coast

Choosing the best dates and flights for a long-haul trip to the tropics involves a little more than just picking a few free weeks to visit shortly before you leave. When it comes to finding some of the best travel opportunities, whether the Seychelles, India or the Caribbean, it often pays to star

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Inspiration for Some Unique Activities

Fancy a city-center infinity pool over 50 floors high? How about some Desert Dune Bashing, or a 4½ km zip line tour over the Panamanian jungle?
Whether you're into water rafting in Borneo or beach combing in Goa, for inspiration check out these accessible, inexpensive & unique activities at S

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What’s the Damage? Final Venice Budget

A short trip to Venice is potentially one of the most costly city breaks you can take. Even with a Venice Budget, why is this city so expensive?

Well, we noticed a few things that might explain this. Apart from the artists and artisans, not much is created or grown in Venice: Goods and
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The Venice of "Don't Look Now"

If like us you’re a bit of a movie fan, then this section is for you. The Venice of Don't Look Now is encapsulated in a 1973 British-Italian thriller directed by Nicolas Roeg, adapted from a short story by Daphne du Maurier. It was filmed at a variety of locations throughout Venice, showing a see
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Venice Osteria and Trattoria

Considering that Italy is pretty much one big restaurant, there’s never any difficulty finding somewhere to eat. Whether a Venice osteria and trattoria or pizzeria, there are plenty of places to choose from. In our experience, the overall quality of food in Italy is generally good to very go

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Vaporetti Essentials: Get a Day Pass

Of course, one of the reasons we all go to Venice is to travel on their unique vaporetti transport system. Unless you are particularly flush with cash, you’ll want to do this in the easiest and most economical way possible. For a short weekend, a Vaporetti Day Pass is the answer.
Vaporetti Day P

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Booking a Venice Hotel

Choosing the Ca ’Fortuny Hotel Venice was the result of some precise online research. Finding a good, reasonably-priced hotel in Venice that’s not too far from the centre can be a challenge in itself. It's therefore always a good idea to scrutinize the best deals that are currently on offer.

We

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Venice off-Season

How much should a short 2-night break in Venice off-season really cost?

With low-cost airlines flying from numerous destinations, the return flight is possibly one of the cheapest items of a trip to Venice. However, even this can be deceptive: The budget airlines fly to Venice Treviso, not to

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Budget Accommodation Highlights

Traditional & cost-effective budget accommodation: The hotels and guesthouses you book will have a dramatic effect on your overall travel experience. Check out our recommendations for some of the best, most cost-effective budget accommodation we've discovered in our recent travels.
Our Budget

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The Temple of the Tooth

Before we left Kandy we took a few hours to visit the celebrated Temple of the Tooth. This is where they keep one of Buddha’s teeth as a holy relic. The relic is regarded as a symbolic representation of the living Buddha and is the focus of a daily series of offerings, rituals, and cerem

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Beneath the Knuckle Mountains

During our stay at the , we arranged several treks through the surrounding thickly-jungled mountain areas. Whenever we emerged into a clearing, we could see the Knuckle Mountains bathed in mist in the far distance.

It's clear to see how these mountains got their name. Local residents s

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Polwaththa Eco Lodge

From Kandy, we had arranged a pickup by tuk-tuk to take us up into the surrounding mountain jungle to the Polwaththa Eco Lodge.

We were looking forward to a peaceful break, close to nature and away from the hustle and bustle. Our tuk-tuk driver arrived on time shortly before noon. We paid Rs

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Elephant Orphanage - Return visit, but none of them remembered me... http://www.sandspice.com/pinnawala-elephant-orphanage/ #ElephantOrphanage #Pinnawala #SriLanka

#SriLanka Elephant Orphanage - Return visit, but none of them remembered me...

http://www.sandspice.com/pinnawala-elephant-orphanage/

The poop from #Pinnawala #elephant #orphanage has its uses: Need recycled paper made from elephant dung? Great for those "Don't Forget" notes...

Kandy Lake Comfort

From Sigiriya, we travelled the short distance to Dambulla by tuk-tuk. We were in two minds whether or not to visit the Dambulla Cave Temple. The deciding factors were time and the weather. It was still raining, and we didn't want to delay our bus trip to Kandy. We were heading for the Kandy lake

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Lion Rock Sigiriya

After spending our first wet night in Sigiriya, it was still raining the next morning. However, our plan was to climb to the top of the famous Lion Rock buddhist monument, and a wet day wasn't going to stop us doing that.

Before that, we had a look around the grounds of our guesthouse. It was

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Ceylonica Beach Hotel Negombo

Our flight arrived in Sri Lanka in the early evening. Since Bandaranaike International Airport is actually much closer to Negombo than to Colombo, we decided to make Negombo our first port of call. This actually makes a lot of sense if you are first heading east to the central areas. We were

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