Jedi Training at Hong Kong Disneyland

Hey Guys, here’s a quick post to tell you about the awesome Star Wars experience that we had at the end of last year.

We made our annual trip to visit family in Hong Kong last December, and as is traditional for us, we stopped off at Hong Kong Disneyland for a day with the kids. Even though the park is pretty small (there’s a general lack of space in HK) there’s usually a few new attractions up and running each time we visit. With Disney buying up the Star Wars brand in 2012 (for $4 Billion!!!), it hasn’t taken them long to develop some cool new attractions to push on the back of The Force Awakens, to a whole new generation of tiny Rebels and Jedi.

Stormtroopers on Patrol

For a start they’ve up-cycled the classic Space Mountain ride in to Hyperspace Mountain; an intense, rib jarring coaster ride through the galaxy with a fleet of unfriendly Imperial Tie Fighters on your tail. As we stumbled out, we were confronted by a Stormtrooper Garrison led by the evil, chrome-plated Captain Phasma, who rounded up this family of rebel-scum for inspection, eventually choosing to release rather than imprisoning or exterminating us.

We slipped straight from the clutches of villains and in to the company of heroes as we joined the queue to meet the Little & Large of the Millennium Falcon crew; everybody’s favourite walking carpet Chewbacca and R2D2 – just as exciting for the parents as it was for the kids!

Meeting Chewie & R2D2

But the real highlight of our Star Wars experience was signing the Boys up to ‘Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple’.

Our younglings donned the customary brown robes, joined a group of eager padowans upon the open air stage, and under the watchful gaze of Jedi Masters, received their weapons ready for a lesson in lightsabre combat.

Young Jedi 

After running through various fight sequences and picking up some new combat skills, the embryonic Jedi were soon thrust into action when their secret location was uncovered by the scourge of the galaxy himself, Darth Vader, and the Seventh Sister Inquisitor (from the Star Wars Rebels cartoon on Disney XD) who burst in to the Temple.

Each eager young Jedi took his and her turn to battle the two Sith Masters in front of their cheering families, eventually forcing Vader to unleash his secret weapon upon the young rebels; the terrifying Kylo Ren!

Such was the ferocity of Ren’s combat skills that it eventually took the Jedi Masters and their army of young apprentices to combine their mastery of The Force to drive the evil Sith Lord from the Temple. Victory was theirs!

It’s hard to put in to words how cool it was to watch the Boys take part in this awesome activity and to cheer them on to victory as they defeated the wheezing galactic bogeyman who unnerved their parents when they were children themselves! We were both pretty envious.

The best news is that there’s no additional cost in enrolling your Kids in Jedi Training; it’s covered in the cost of your ticket to the park (prices here). However, places are limited so you need to enrol them as soon as you arrive (at The Space Trader Station in Tomorrowland) to try and guarantee them a place. Also, don’t be late for the performance, as we saw a number of inconsolable kids being told they were too late to join in. There’s also an age limit of 4-12, so it’s pretty much impossible for the shorter parents out there to sneak in on the action.

We’re looking forward to heading back to Hong Kong Disneyland next December for more Star Wars action (hopefully with some new Rouge One inspired rides), as well checking out the currently ‘under construction’ Iron Man Experience, which is due to launch this month!

Disneyland + Star Wars + Marvel = Best Day Out Ever!

Tuesday 3 January 2017

Trip Review: Gothenburg, Sweden

A trip to Sweden has become an annual thing, usually to visit friends in Stockholm and Leksand, but this year we decided to give the second city a try, and jumped a Ryan Air flight to Gothenburg.

Training in Progress

Annual Trip

As usual we travelled en mass with a group of 8, including the little ones. City Breaks are not ideal for small kids due to the amount of hiking around you inevitably do, but we went for it anyway.

It’s a little embarrassing how great Sweden is; I mean everything works, runs on time, it’s clean and accessible. Due to the Scandinavian knack for design, it’s all pretty great to look at as well!

We rented a great apartment at Hotell VR40, just 10 mins walk from the centre and each bagged ourselves the Gothenburg City Card top help us get around.

The City Card may seem a little pricey at 375 SEK (24h) or 525 SEK (48h), but it gets you on pretty much all the public transport, on boat trips, in to museums and lots more fun stuff. Believe us, it’s worth your money. Find out more Here.

So once we were settled in to our awesome apartment and picked up our City Cards, we hit the streets of Gothenburg to take in the sights. Expect lots of canals (it was modelled on Amsterdam) and boulevards. A historically significant seaport, the maritime influence runs through everything from food to architecture (even the opera house is designed to reflect ship hulls and sails).

Gotebörg Street Art

A great way to see the city is by canal, and we used our City Card to join the Paddan Tour which snakes through the city’s waterways, under its many bridges and even out into the sea. This is a great experience for the kids, so if you’ve got the little ones with you, strap on a life jacket and climb aboard.

Enjoying the Paddan Tour 

Sunny Gotebörg

As usual we made a beeline for the fish market to check out the local seafood. In Gothenburg it’s a place called Feskekôrka (Fish Church – you’ll understand when you see it), where we gathered together a variety of fishy delicacies to make an awesome seafood picnic at the canal side.

The Famous Feskekôrka Fish Church

Fishy Delicacies at Fish Church 

With bellies filled, we headed for Gothenburg’s hipster area Haga, which is a great place to chill out and stop for Fika (coffee and pastries – usually super-sweet cinnamon rolls). There are also lots of cool shops where you can blow your money on vintage clothes, high end trainers and antiques.

Hipster Haga

Day 2 saw us catching the ferry out to Styrsö to check out one of Gothenburg’s many sleepy outlying islands on it's beautiful Archipelago, where the boys spent the majority of the time spotting jellyfish from the docks and harbour walls.

Exploring Styrsö

Island Life

On our return to the city we headed to the amazing Universeum science centre, where you get to walk around their manmade rainforest complete with tiny monkeys swinging above your heads. This place is heaven for kids and we spent several hours inside, where the boys got to hold tropical snakes, explored the universe at the great Space exhibit and marvelled at the stunning array of sea life at the aquarium. Again our City Card got us in here, as well as the more adult Museum of World Culture next door.

Universeum & Boys at Liseberg

As if the Boys were not hyper enough by this point, Universeum just happens to be right next door to Liseberg, Gothenburg’s superb amusement park. Whilst our City Cards got us in for free, if you want to hit the rides and rollercoasters, you’ll need to buy a Ride Pass (SEK 195 per person). It’s well worth it though; the rides are amazing!

Ready for some fun at Liseberg

We spent the bulk of our last day at Maritiman; Gothenburg’s floating maritime museum. This is not like any museum we’ve ever been too. Maritiman comprises of 19 assorted vessels, all linked by walkways which allows you to walk through each of the ships in their fleet. The highlights for us were the hulking Småland Navy Destroyer and the Nordkaparen Submarine; boys being boys, they obviously loved the giant artillery of the Destroyer and the torpedo room of the Sub. Don’t leave Gothenburg without visiting Maritiman!

Ships at Maritiman

And then it was all over. We can’t recommend Gothenburg enough, even with small kids in tow. It’s cool, it’s beautiful, the museums are superb, the locals are friendly, it’s easy to get around and the canals really set it aside from its big brother Stockholm. In fact it’s overtaken the capital as our favourite Scandinavian city!

Sorry Stockholm (we still love you), but bravo Gothenburg!

Weekend in Romania: Bucharest & Transylvania

It's been 6 years since Florence and I last went away together alone, in fact it was on our Honeymoon to Mauritius. Since then there's been kids, two of them!

Free for the weekend!

So now they are old enough to be locked in the cellar for a couple of days without starving*, we saw a window of opportunity to spend some quality time together on a weekend away. I've always wanted to visit Transylvania, so Flo surprised me with a short break to Romania for my birthday; awesome wife alert!

We flew out of Luton Airport on budget airline Wizz Air, (the first time I'd heard of these guys - they're pretty decent as well) and 3 hours later we were touching down in Bucharest.

Wizz Air to Bucharest

Our itinerary was a tight one: arrive  on Saturday afternoon  and explore the city. On Sunday we were booked on a day long tour to Transylvania and Walachia, returning to the capital in the evening, and leaving  on Monday afternoon.

With such a tight schedule it was important to tap right in to the main vein of the city right away, so we joined up with a ton of other travellers on a free walking tour of Bucharest, provided by the awesome Vlad of Walkabout Free Walking Tours.

Good turn out for the Walkabout Free Walking Tour

Romania in the summer is damn hot! It was 34°C during our stay (late June), so make sure you have sun cream and water whenever you head out, especially if you're exploring on foot.

We met up with the group on the sprawling Bulevardul Unirii (Union Boulevard), Nicolae Ceaușescu’s extravagant marble runway leading through the city to his even more ostentatious Palace of the Parliament - the 2nd largest administrative building in the world (behind the Pentagon) and the world's heaviest building. The dictator travelled to North Korea looking for architectural inspiration, building this gigantic ode to communism on his return at a cost of €1.75 Billion. A few years later he faced a firing squad - go figure!

The gigantic Palace of Parliament in Bucharest 

Part of the appeal of visiting Bucharest was to explore what we assumed would be a city built of brutalist communist architecture. What we actually discovered (apart from the Bulevardul Unirii and Palace of the Parliament) was a city bursting with breathtaking Art Deco buildings, inspired by the architecture of Paris; a welcome surprise.

Just one of Bucharest's many Art Deco buildings.

However, whilst Bucharest is characterised by its wonderful buildings, it was painful to find that around 90% of them are defaced with crude graffiti. You'd struggle to defend it as 'street art' (something we're fond of), it's more like vandalism for vandalism's sake, and there seems to be little appetite to tackle the problem. The Romanians are extremely proud of their rich history, so it's mystifying to encounter such a lack of civic pride.

Roman Emperor Trajan Statue & The CEC Palace

The walking tour took us across the city centre, from the bustling Old Town to the protest battleground of University Square, with our able guide Vlad regaining us with the great history of the city, its escape from the grip of communist rule and further bloody revolutions. Bucharest is also a statue enthusiast’s heaven; from grand towering effigies to confusing modern art - you could spend a couple of days exploring this element alone.

We highly recommend the Walkabout Free Walking Tour to first timers in Bucharest; it's the best way to get an immediate grip on the city.

We ate at Caru' cu Bere in the Old Town that night, chowing down on traditional Romanian dishes like Sarmale (Cabbage leaves stuffed with mince and rice) and Kransky's (large pork sausages laced with cheese). Vegetarians may not fare well in Romania (Vegans even less so!) as there's a culinary obsession with meat, cheese and heavily fried foods.

Traditional Romanian Dishes

We were up at the crack of dawn the next day as we boarded the (thankfully air conditioned) bus of Travel Maker Tours, and headed out in to the stunning Romanian countryside on a tour of castles in Walachia and Transylvania.

Our first stop was Peleș Castle in Prahova County. We really started with the best here, visiting the former Royal summer retreat of King Carol 1, which is probably the most beautiful castle we've ever encountered. The facade was fairytale-esque and the inside featured the most intricate decoration imaginable. Unfortunately it is common in Romania to charge visitors extra to take photos inside many attractions, so having already paid for entry we decided not to be fleeced any further. If you want to see inside Peleș Castle, click here.

King Carol's Peleș Castle

Next we headed across the border from Walachia to Transylvania and on to Bran Castle, Bram Stoker's inspiration for Dracula's Castle and the inspiration for our trip.

It's important for vampire enthusiasts to do a little research before setting off for Transylvania to avoid disappointment. Dracula is a work of pure fiction and whilst its author Bram Stoker did base the story loosely on Romanian King Vlad Tepes (The Impaler), Castle Bran, which is marketed as Dracula's Castle, has little to do with him. Luckily we were aware of this, but our guide had plenty of stories of tourists freaking out because they expected to see "Dracula's grave" there!

The infamous Bran Castle 

Bran Castle is still worth the visit though, but expect to find a less ostentatious castle than Peleș Castle, as this one was constructed for soldiers from which to guard the main trade road in to Transylvania. Horror enthusiasts can still look forward to seeing implements of torture, a Witches Scale and all the cheap and nasty, super-fun Dracula merchandise you can shake a stake at!

From Bran Castle we ventured further into Transylvania to the lovely city of Brașov, circled by the Carpathian Mountains and characterised by baroque buildings, towering churches, and lively cafes and bars. There was a market taking place in the large Council Square when we arrived, and we wasted no time in getting stuck in to the various street deserts being peddled by stall holders.

Medieval city of Brașov

The kiwi fruit ice cream was a hit on a blazing hot day, as was the Kürtoskalács, a large, coconut shaving-covered pastry tube, originating from Hungary but sold widely across Romania. Our tour guide Valentin also turned us on to Rom, the only Romanian chocolate confectionary to survive the Communist era. It's a strong dark chocolate laced with rum, with a really interesting back story. It's an acquired taste, but we stocked up on it for the journey home none the less.

After a 4 hour trip back to Bucharest, we just about summoned the energy for a late night pizza at the City's brilliant, beach-themed 'Food Hood' before hitting the sack. There was a few hours left in the morning to take some extra shots of the city, stock up on Dracula souvenirs and kiss goodbye to the glorious sunshine before our flight back to the UK.

Bucharest's trendy Food Hood

Our trip to Romania was short, but well worth the effort. With a little more time we would have spent a few  more days in the glorious countryside of Walachia and Transylvania, but we're pleased to be able to tick a new country off the list. 

Rainbow street art, Communist chocolate & Dracula souvenirs 

The only downside  was that our visit coincided with Britain's bizarre decision to opt out of Europe, and we spent a fair bit of time fielding questions from both Romanians and other international travellers about the logic of such a decision. The Romanian tricolour flies proudly in unison with the EU flag across the country. As a nation long beset by the fall-out of wars and oppressive regimes, they understand the real value and protection of international collaboration, and it's reflected in their attitude and welcoming nature. Do yourself a favour, visit Romania.

* We didn’t really lock the kids in the cellar. They’d make too much mess down there. The kennels are a far more suitable solution.

Taking to the Skies of West Wales

Taking to the skies

Way back when we first started dating, during that period when you're really trying to impress each other, I booked Marcus a surprise flying lesson for his birthday.

15 years later (Jesus, we're getting old) he returned the favour with a gift voucher for a 30 min flying lesson along West Wales’ beautiful Gower Peninsula, with Gower Flight Centre.

I've jumped out of planes before, but had never piloted one, so I was super excited for the lesson, and to see how the kids would react to their mother taking the controls of a plane.

The C42

The weather was great on the day that I flew, and the kids' started to get really excited as we approached Swansea Airport.

Marcus booked with Gower Flight Centre because his friend Matt is a pilot there (his old job was as a guitarist for sadly missed Welsh rockers The Blackout - check him in action here!), and it was Matt who strapped me in and took me up for my lesson.

Ready to go

Once airborne, we flew over spectacular views of Oxwich Bay, Worm’s Head and the National Trust's Rhossilli. Somewhere between Three Cliffs Bay and the Loughor Estuary, I was handed control of the plane; taking the stick and flying solo. I was a little nervous to take over from Matt and was surprised at how difficult it was to keep the aircraft steady. I was encouraged to steer in different directions but I think I was too cautious to make any sudden movements in such a tiny plane. All in all, it was a fun experience.

View from the Cockpit

Gower Peninsular

Whilst I was in the air Marcus and the kids explored around the airfield. The boys watched in amazement as skydivers jumped out of planes above, saw the Wales Air Ambulance helicopter come and go, and got up close with the old jets scattered around the site.

An old jets lays in wait for eager young explorers

The family met me at the plane on my return and the kids took turns exploring the cockpit. Matt the pilot then very generously offered to take Marcus up for a quick joyride before his next student arrived, and off they went!

The boys exploring the Cockpit

We all had such a great time at Gower Flight Centre and the kids loved seeing their parents take to the skies, exploring the airfield and getting snapped in the cockpit.

A flying lesson is such a great experiential gift to give, and it will live long in the memory. At Gower Flight Centre Trial Gift Flights start from £59.00 for 20 minutes, but prices will obviously vary with other companies elsewhere. It was well worth the money and Matt and his team put us at ease and looked after us well.

Thanks to the guys at Gower Flight Centre for an excellent day!

Pilot Matt & The Boys

In such small aircrafts flying is weather dependent, to ensure your safety. Our flight was cancelled 3 times due to bad weather, so be aware of this when you book a lesson.

Trip Review: Okinawa, Japan

Hey Folks, Marcus here and I’m just like you; we’ve both got a list of ultimate travel destinations. The top 2 places on my list are Hawaii and Japan, so when the prospect of a week in Okinawa (known as the Hawaii of Japan, apparently) was raised, my bags were packed before the tickets were booked.

At Hong Kong International Airport Ready to Go!

At the time we were in Hong Kong on one of our annual trips visiting family. The great thing about HK is that it’s a Hub, so it’s easy to fly to other destinations in Asia, and there’s always a deal to be found. In the past we’d hopped over to Malaysia and South Korea, but this time Japan beckoned.

All I knew about Okinawa was that Mr Miyagi from the Karate Kid hailed from there, and that was fiction, so really I didn’t know anything at all about Okinawa. We booked through a travel agent who sold it to us on with the “Hawaii of Japan” spiel, which was cool as we hadn’t had a beach holiday in ages and the kids love the sand and surf. Within days we were disembarking our Dragon Air flight (a great airline servicing Asia who we’ve flown with a number of times) at Okinawa’s Naha Airport, picking up our hire car and heading North on the Okinawa Expressway to picturesque Yomitan, where we’d be staying at the Hotel Nikko Alivila for 3 nights.

The View from Our Balcony

Hotel Beach

The Nikko Alivila is an amazing resort, with its own beach in a stunning location, excellent facilities and staff who were great with the kids; all that you need!

Dolphin and Whale Show at the Ocean Zone

Like I said, we’d hired a car as usual so we could get out and explore the island. Our first stop was Ocean Expo Park in the north of the island. Built to commemorate the Okinawa International Ocean Exhibition of 1975, the Park is divided into 3 main areas; Flowers and Greenery Zone, History and Culture Zone, and the focus of our visit to the park, The Ocean Zone.

Underwater Viewing

The amazing thing about the park is that you can wander around inside for free, taking in the many dolphin and whale shows, which were a real hit with the boys. If you’re on a budget, this is a great free day out, but if you’ve got the money, we definitely recommend spending the 1850 Yen (kids under 6 go Free) on a ticket to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, one of the largest in the world. The gigantic Whale Shark and Manta Ray aquarium is something else, and the kids can got their hands wet handling star fish and posed for photos within the jaws of a great white shark. This really is a must see attraction on the island.

Inside the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

Following the end of World War 2, America developed a huge military presence on Okinawa which remains to this day. Such is the size of the American influence on the island and it’s economy (over 50,000 US Military personnel are stationed there), it often feels more like the US than it does Japan; you can buy a Taco almost anywhere!

We took a trip to The Mihama American Village, a large entertainment complex located in central  Okinawa Honto, an area housing several American military bases.  Resembling a big American outdoor mall with lots of shops, restaurants and cafes, it’s hard to believe that you’re in Japan whilst there. However, its proximity to a large military base means that you’ll often see low flying fighter jets banking overhead and landing in the distance. It’s real Top Gun stuff! 

One major positive of visiting the American Village is that you’ll immediately want to submerge yourself in some real Japanese culture as soon as you leave. We headed off to the district of Naha to visit the grand Shuri Castle.

Shuri Castle in Naha

Although originally built in the late 1300s as a residence for the Ryukyu kings, the castle has sadly been destroyed several times by various wars and fires, meaning that what is presented now is almost entirely a reconstruction. Don’t let this put you off though, as the reborn Shuri Castle is a spectacular site, and its hilltop setting allows for great views of Naha.

When visiting new cities we always try and check out the local fish market, and the Awase Fish Market was well worth the visit. The range of fish and seafood on display was spectacular and of course we got stuck in to a variety of raw and cooked seafood dishes from the various eateries inside. The Sashimi in particular was out of this world!

Delicious Fresh Sashimi from the Market

Rainbow Coloured Fish on Display

Just cruising semi-aimlessly around Okinawa in the hire car threw up lots of fun things. From abandoned fighter jets at the side of the road, Pineapple theme parks and breathtaking coastal views, there was always something to stop and marvel at.

Abandoned Fighter Jet

Nago Pineapple Park

With our departure day looming, we checked out of the Hotel Nikko Alivila and headed closer to the airport, booking in to the Okinawa NaHaNa Hotel & Spa in Naha for a night. This was a great modern hotel with views stretching out over the busy tourist shopping area of Kokusaidori. Our kids are train mad, so when they caught site of a Monorail from our hotel window, we knew we’d be spending a fair bit of time riding the thing around the area. This did allow us to check out more places than we would have on foot though, and the Boys had a blast.

Monorail Spotting

The various indoor markets of Kokusaidori were fun to visit, selling all kinds of disposable crap that the children couldn’t keep their mitts off. We had super-fun Teppanyaki meal at Sam's Sailor Inn, with 2 Chef’s employing various culinary acrobatic manoeuvres and tricks whilst cooking your food on a hot griddle right at your table. Yes it was touristy but everybody loved the experience and the food was great.

Dinner at Sam's

Kokusaidori Shoppers

And just like that our trip was nearly at an end. A taxi dropped us off at the wrong airport terminal, which meant we had to walk to the next one with our bags in tow. However, this slight inconvenience turned in to one of the highlights of the trip, as the route to the next terminal ran parallel to the runway, where several waves of fighter jets were taking off in pairs right next to us!

As exciting as this was, it also reminded us of the sizable impact the American military presence has on Okinawa, namely the dilution of the traditional Okinawan culture, which gets shooed in to the corners by the fast food joints, shopping malls and an endless file of Army Surplus Stores.

Our trip to Okinawa was wonderful, but I still don’t feel like I’ve truly visited Japan. Next time we’ll go Godzilla-style and tackle Tokyo!