I visited Barcelona at the start of September 2025 with my mum and Chanaé, my daughter. When we were planning the trip the challenge was to try and see new things, as well as check up on some places we'd seen before.

We were right next to a frosted window with views into the kitchen, where we could watch the food being crafted on the other side of the glass. I love a chef’s table experience, and this ticked that box, just with a sheet of glass separating us from the action - all the views, but no cooking smell... winner winner.

When pulling together my Budapest packing list, I wrote down what I'm going to be getting up to; how much walking, the different types of activities I'll be doing, what the weather may throw at me, and even consider getting stuck for an extra night. That way I'm not just looking through my wardrobe thinking, I like that, I'll take it - but making it more specific, space saving for a small cabin bag allowance, and planning mix & match outfits.

Our trip to Abu Dhabi and Dubai was everything that you’d expect from that region of the world. The buildings were incredible, everything was spotlessly clean and the service was impeccable… the fine dining options were pretty decent too!

Gill has wanted to go to Amsterdam since she was a little girl; but she can’t really put her finger on “why”. We managed to tick off most of the main sights in around 34 hours. What we didn’t quite manage to do was eat all of the food that she mentioned in her bucket list. But there is plenty more of the Netherlands to discover in the future when we can try to sample them.