Having previously tried a spa break in Chester and wanting to escape the stresses of the working week we booked their £270 ‘Escape for the night’ package, a chance to enjoy their spa facilities with a treatment plus dinner, bed and breakfast.

The Spa Thermal Journey

Our visit began with a two hour passage through the thermal journey, a chance to unwind in the spas hydrotherapy pool, saunas and steam rooms.

This section was quite small and whilst for a while it was us and another couple it did feel a little crowded when the numbers increased to eight. More annoying were two women who hogged the pool chatting away loudly intermittently breaking to cackle loudly at something mildly amusing.

The escape however was to jump into one of the saunas or steam rooms. There were four on offer.

Firstly a scented sauna with water poured over hot coals through star anise in the centre of the room. Changing mood lights added a relaxing touch.

Across the passageway the Finnish sauna provided a more intense heat and from the wooden benches you can face through the floor to ceiling windows over the Lancashire countryside. The intense heat meant I could only take in the view for a few minutes before moving on. The two steam rooms provided a little more relaxation and the dark rooms felt calmer.

A Quick Cooling Down

At the end of the passageway a silver metal chute deposited small chunks of ice which we were told we were to rub over our bodies to get the blood flowing. As crazy as it sounds I tried and it was bloody cold forcing me to leap into the nearby shower pressing all the three buttons along the wall. Thankfully hot water soon brought my body back to life giving me the chance to test the other two buttons – a cool mist shower and six strong horizontal cold jets.

Suitably invigorated by the spa facilities we headed back upstairs for our treatments. Angie had opted for a vitally fast facial whilst next door I was treated to a calm back, neck and shoulder massage. Thirty minutes flew by and I left the table with a few less knots in my shoulders.

A Three Course Dinner

As part of the package, a three course dinner was available at Mr Freds, one of two restaurants at the hotel. Beginning the meal with King Prawns wrapped in rice paper served with pickled carrots, ginger and bamboo shoots was perfect. Nice and light in preparation for the main course.

Angie opted for lambs liver with bubble and squeak mash whilst I went for the traditional ground rump steak burger. Both were cooked to perfection but left just enough room for a dessert of yoghurt pannacotta (Angie) and melting chocolate and orange fondant (me.. yum!)

The finale was a liqueur coffee and we relaxed in the lounge following a day of de-stressing. Something we all should do once in a while.

It appeared that our waitress in the Royal Oak pub in Eydon was as surprised as us to learn that llama trekking wasn’t just confined to the Peruvian hills.

Yet this is exactly what you can do deep in the Northamptionshire countryside at Catanger Llamas.

Catanger Farm – Home of the Llama

16 years ago Mary Pyrse took out her first trek through the green countryside when its safe to say people thought she was crazy to be doing so.

Today she leads out between 800-900 people a year proving that a simple idea can lead to an enjoyable day out for everyone.

Catanger Farm is home to around 35 llamas used for the treks, their soft fine down hair and for breeding.

As we drove up the long driveway the paddock to our left was dotted with llamas each one interrupting their grass munching to pop their head in our direction curious of the new visitors.

We parked up next to a purpose built lodge with our fellow trekkers as Mary appeared from the nearby metal roofed barn to lead us into the lodge.

Inside she introduced us to her husband and daughter, the latter joining us on the trek, and to give us a brief history of both the farm and the llamas as a species.

You can tell Mary loves her animals as she speaks proudly of their trips to the streets of London and their starring role in the BBC’s Horrible Histories. They’ve even met Philip Schofield.

Meeting Grappa, our new best friend

With the introduction over it was off to meet the star attractions, the nine llamas that we’ll be taking out with us on our walk. Mary talked us through the best way to walk alongside your llama and as they would rather flee than flight there were very few danger. In fact the only possible hazard was in-abruptly walking into the back of one as it stopped for a toilet break. Something that did nearly happen to one girl on our trek.

Everyone was given their own llama ranging from the boisterous to the calm. We were to share one and were introduced to Grappa, a long haired white llama and very inquisitive. He instantly sniffed us out to check we were in fact human and, satisfied we were, off we set into the fields.

The trek

Over the next two hours we trekked across flat green fields with nothing but the sound of our own voices and the occasional snort from one of our four-legged companions. It took a few minutes to get used to the handling of Grappa but he gave us no trouble other than trying to grab a chunk of grass whenever we came to a stop.

The walk was taken at a gentle pace that allowed us to take in our surroundings and after a while it would take us by surprise that we turned to see that we had a llama beside us given their quiet demeanour.

With February at its mid-point the fields were muddy in parts which led to the joy of squelching through the trickier parts between fields but I think no matter what time of year you visit, it is the relaxing feeling you get from trekking around the English countryside with an animal not native to it that is the most rewarding.

Being part of a group made the occasion more enjoyable as you got to know your fellow de-stressed walkers. As llamas are particular about where they sit in the pack it’s easy for couples to be split given you the opportunity to strike up a conversation with others or with Mary who in particular made sure she spoke to every one of her guests. Our group ranged from a group of four university friends to couples enjoying a birthday treat.

A vow to discover the countryside

The trek passed swiftly and we were tinged with sadness when Mary announced we were back on her farms land and we began the final stretch back to the lodge and barn.

We led Grappa back into his enclosure and said our goodbyes. He’d been the perfect walking partner around the countryside, our weekend away from the busy paced life we’re used to, and we vowed that it won’t be long before we discover more of it.

The £95 half day llama trekking experience was kindly provided to us by Mary Pryse at Catanger Llamas, however as always the views are our own. 

Working full time as we both do travelling around the world comes in the form of short breaks when our annual allowance permits us.

When we first started our blog just over two years ago the idea was to share our experiences and hopefully inspire our readers to follow their dream and travel as well.

With our own travels limited it also means sharing our experiences have dwindled. Nevertheless we want to inspire you by sharing our passion for travel.

Announcing our “Plan a Trip” feature

About a month ago I was reading an article on TNooz discussing Five travel APIs to beef up website user experience and happened upon a website called Rome2Rio.

According to their website, Rome2Rio offers a “multi-modal, door-to-door travel search engine that returns itineraries which may include air, train, coach, ferry, mass transit and driving options to and from any location.”

“Cool” was my initial reaction (as it usually is to anything) but playing around with the site I found it fascinating. It combines different forms of transport so that a trip to Europe won’t just consist of flying from city to city but more a mixture of road, rail and air.

“If I found it helpful, maybe others will” I thought.

Well it just so happens that Rome2Rio offer a whitelabel solution that allowed me to incorporate their technology into the MyPostcardFrom website.

So a few weeks down the line we’re happy to announce that you can now Plan a Trip on our blog.

Travel Guides

In addition to the “Plan a Trip” feature we’ll also be starting a set of travel guides to the countries, cities and towns we’ve visited over the years.

Our first guide, to the UK, was published a couple of weeks ago and we will be bringing you more in the coming weeks.

With our country guides we’ll give you our verdict on the best places to go and how to get around whilst our city/town guides will go into more detail on what to do whilst you’re there.

Hopefully these will give you some inspiration and we’ll be looking to see what works and what doesn’t.

In the meantime we want to hear from you.

What do you think of the “Plan a Trip” page? What do you want to know before you visit a country?

In 2012 the museum relocated to the Urbis Building in Manchester opposite the city’s Victoria station and it was in passing that we decided to go in for a look around.

Entrance is free which is always a bonus and we paid a pound for a guide book that gives a little insight into what to expect.

The Football Collections

The collections cover the drama, history, skill, art, faith style and passion of football and are found on the first and second level. Levels three and four house changing exhibitions which unfortunately were closed on our visit.

The noise of a passionate crowd roared as we wandered around the displays on Level one which include the replica Jules Rimet trophy lifted by Bobby Moore when England won the World Cup in 1966. The room was busy with people glancing at displays or playing with the interactive features.

One of the most interesting features I found was the FA 1863 minute book in which the original laws of the game were written. I’m sure at lot has changed since.

Test Yourself with Football Plus

Level two is mainly made up of the Football Plus experiences; a chance to test yourself with challenges such as a penalty shoot out, one-two and Pass Master. These come at an extra cost and were full of kids hogging them so we gave them a wide berth.

As a child I collected and played with Subbuteo so looking into the small cabinet which housed some examples was like reminiscing about scoring the perfect flicked goal.

Up Close with the FA Cup

On the way out we passed the FA Cup and the opportunity to have a photo lifting the famous trophy but we balked at the £5 asking price.

We were only in the museum for half an hour but that was plenty of time to get around the two levels that were open.

Angie found it interesting despite a dislike for the sport but for me as a lifelong football fan, it was fascinating and I can’t believe I left it this long to visit.

We wanted to share with you five websites that we use when researching and booking flights, trains, accommodation and trips around the world.

Skyscanner.net

Skyscanner is always the first port of call when we’re looking to book a flight anywhere in the world. It’s a great way to compare prices across the airlines.

It’s fast, reliable and saves us an unmeasurable amount of time in visiting several airline websites and still not knowing if we’ve found the cheapest.

One of our favourite features is the ability to add “Everywhere” into the destination and select a whole month or even a whole year to find where the cheapest place to visit is and what time of year. We haven’t followed through on it’s suggestions yet but if you’re looking for some inspiration on where to go, give it a shot.

Rail Europe

We’ve used raileurope.co.uk a few times recently to book trains from Austria to Slovakia and throughout Portugal.

It’s results are detailed enough to plan out your journey making sure you hit connection times if necessary and gives information on what to expect from the different classes.

Rail Europe’s most impressive feature though is the speed of the ticket delivery. On both occasions we’ve had them delivered to our home within two days of ordering even if the trip was weeks away.

Hotels.com

This website and it’s app only came to our attention in the last year but it’s the only one we use now to book hotel accommodation around the world.

Hotels.com has a great search function that allows you to search counties in the UK so if you know you want to Northumberland but not sure where it’ll still return results. The results filters are pretty nifty too allowing you to select hotels near landmarks.

We’ve joined the Welcome Rewards scheme where every ten nights booked we get a free nights stay – pretty handy if you’re travelling the world.

Hostelworld.com

Every now and again we want somewhere budget to stay so we head straight to hostelworld.com to see what we can find.

During our round the world trip we use the site to book most of our accommodation through Asia and Australia. We always order our searches by overall rating as we’ve found you can trust the reviews.

Hostelworld recently led us to Stay Inn in Lisbon, a small boutique hostel in the Portuguese capital which was perfect located to the outdoor restaurants and bars yet was very quiet at night.

Viator

Whilst we haven’t used viator.com in a while due to us doing things on a whim when we get to a destination, it’s a great place to research what activities and trips you can do whilst your visiting.

From experience their service is excellent and we received email conformation when we purchased a trip which we printed ready for showing the company when we eventually met up.

We hope these are useful to you but also let us know what websites you use when planning and booking a holiday.

Note: We were not paid to write about any of these sites – these are websites we visit and use on a regular basis

What made the story about the 33 year old Liverpudlian more astonishing was that he completed his journey without stepping foot on a plane.

Talk of heading into the unknown

Angie and I have often talked about a long distance journey overland. Of quitting our jobs, renting out the house and packing a couple of rucksacks to head out into the unknown. Fuelled by Angie’s growing fear of flying it seemed like a logical approach to reaching the other side of the world.

With a trip to New Zealand the likely candidate our only tricky negotiation would be the ocean crossing from Indonesia to Australia yet Graham had to cross the Atlantic, a far larger obstacle.

Graham set out on his Odyssey Expedition on New Years Day 2009 taking him almost four years to complete the Guinness World Record attempt and has charted every leg on his blog of the same name. Four years would too much of a break from our reality so we’d plan for a year, long enough to relax and watch as the world slips by a train window.

Organisation and Budgeting

We’ve watched as Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman have ridden motorcycles around the world. I sat mesmerised as a child by Michael Palin’s numerous journeys to places I’d never heard of as a young boy. Yet these have had teams behind them helping to plan the route, organise visas and film every second. Graham did all of this himself so I tip my hat to him.

With the Odyssey Expedition he’s proved that anyone and everyone can do a journey of such epic proportions. Living  on less than $100 per week Graham used services such as CouchSurfing and by hitching rides on cargo ships.

Whilst the idea of jumping aboard a ship sounds appealing CouchSurfing is one of those things that we don’t think we’ll ever try. Not that we don’t see it’s benefits (hell, it’s a lot cheaper than hotels) but by our nature of being extremely introverted and wanting our own space at the end of a long day exploring our location. All in all meaning we’d have to budget for a little more than $100 a week.

Kickstarting a thought

I’ve not read all of Graham’s daily updates but the few I have has sparked the thought of what is possible, where we can go and how we can accomplish it.

We might not be able to visit every one of the 201 countries of the world but we can at least add a few more to the list of those we’ve already visited. So it’s time to start dreaming of border crossings without the airport crowds and alternative forms of transport other than the regulation planes.

All for a good cause

Graham did his journey whilst raising money for Water Aid and has a total of £7,500 to date, an impressive return. We’ve just donated so why don’t you.

Have you given up your job to travel the world? Has Graham’s story inspired you?

Beginning its life as the Hotel Waterloo back in 1937,  it opened with 102 rooms accommodating 125 guests and set new standards for furniture and interior design. Through the 1980′s the hotel fell into decline and towards the end of the decade it closed its doors for the final time.

During the Queen’s Coronation Tour of New Zealand in 1953 the hotel hosted the Queen’s entourage. Luxuries that were afforded then were still evident when the building reopened in 1991. The target audience however has changed as the hotel rooms were converted to house travelling backpackers.

Location and Interior of Downtown Backpackers, Wellington

We chose Downtown Backpackers primarily for its vicinity to the capital’s train station from which we would be departing two days later. It was also a short taxi ride from Wellington’s inter-islander ferry terminal and ideal after a three hour journey across from the South Island.

Taking the elegant staircase up to our room we found it to be a good size with a double bed, desk and TV within the main room.

The room’s selling point however it the original tiled bathroom. Though it now looked dated in comparison to most hostel accommodation in New Zealand, it was a romantic reminder of a different generation.

Wanting to explore Wellington we found everything within a short walking distance. The Beehive and the main shopping street of Lambton Quay are just five minutes away. Further afield it is a ten minute walk to the famous Wellington cable car a 20 minute journey by foot the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand.

Eat in a Ballroom or spend an evening in the Downtown Bar

Back at Downtown Backpackers we enjoyed an evening in the Downtown Bar where we whiled away the hours on one of the pools tables where as it was a Monday night all games were free.

Though we didn’t eat there we popped our head into the on-site cafe which used to house the Hotel Waterloo ballroom. The dance floor may no longer be in use but the high ceilings and  windows etched with the hotel emblem make sure the building’s heritage is kept intact.

So whilst the type of guest may have changed through the years the building remains as it once was and that can only be a good thing.

Photos supplied by Downtown Backpackers

The town of Byron Bay was a little hectic with backpackers so we decided on a walk out to the lighthouse which we had been told was the most easterly point in Australia.

Taking the coastal road it took us around an hour to reach the lighthouse where we got to look out over the Pacific Ocean. Between June and November it’s possible to spot humpback whales as they migrate north from the feeding grounds of Antarctica to the warm breeding ground waters around the Great Barrier Reef.

We took this photo on our way back down into Byron Bay having browsed around the tiny insides of the lighthouse.

Have you been to Byron Bay? Did you make the walk up to the lighthouse?

Released in the UK on 13th December the film, like its predecessors The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, was filmed in New Zealand.

Where fantasy becomes reality

Fantasy landscapes of snow capped mountains and rolling green hills are actually a reality in New Zealand so it’s no wonder people are eager to visit.

In fact a survey  in 2004 following the release of the third film, the Return of the King found that between 120-150,000 tourists visited New Zealand because of the Lord of the Rings movies.

I’ve been to New Zealand three times since the original trilogy and although I’m a huge fan I’ve never been drawn to dressing up as an elf and embarking on one of the several tours around that country that visit the areas in which they were filmed.

However I may be alone in that as since 2004 47,000 visitors each year have visited a film location.

One place I would like to visit is the fictional hamlet of Hobbiton, in the hills near Matamata, a location that alone attracts  20,000 tourists per year.

Built upon the existing Alexandra Farm in the Waikato region of the North Island the “Shire” was constructed over eight months in 1999. As many film sets were dismantled after filming had finished, Hobbiton was rebuilt and now functions as a place for fans to congregate for two hour set tours and farm stays.

100% Middle Earth as New Zealand prepares for the Hobbit Trilogy

Promotions have already began with the official tourism slogan of “100% New Zealand” being revamped to “100% Middle Earth”

Air New Zealand have also got in on the Hobbit action with their brilliant air safety video.

It seems the tourist board and the country’s tourism industry is well prepared to garner all the attention that the trilogy will send their way. Whereas following the original trilogy almost ten years ago, New Zealand tourist operators had to react rather than be proactive as thousands of fans demanded to see real life film sets.

In an interview with the Guardian Melissa Heath, owner of Southern Lakes Sightseeing, said that “I don’t think anyone in New Zealand was ready for it.”  Today the company runs a purely Lord of the Rings focused tour and may well see visitors flocking to see the latest sets.

So will 2013 see a new wave of tourists eager to see the new locations, which are still to be revealed? My guess is that they will and that can only mean good news for New Zealand. One thing is for sure, on our next visit to New Zealand I may have to don my Hobbit feet and head to the Shire.

Have you been to any Lord of the Rings set locations in New Zealand? What was your experience?

Photo credit: Joshua Eckert

Each week we’ll post the most liked and shared photo as our photo of the week.

Your favourite this week was of out photo of Pulau Payar Marine Park near the island of Langkawi in Malaysia.

We’d taken a speedboat out on a day trip to a small island between Langkawi and Penang, whose waters were home to all kinds of tropical fish and their larger siblings, reef sharks.

Whilst Angie took to the water to do some snorkelling I went for a wander around the beach and wooden deck surrounding it to grab this great photo.

There’s no doubt that water looks enticing. Who wants to be there now? We know we do!