travel blog

There is something extremely romantic about road tripping through the Coromandel Peninsula. Narrow piece of land (40 km at its broadest point!), surrounded by ocean, makes you feel like being lost in the middle of nowhere even if you know for sure where exactly you are going.

Over 400 rooms of interiors so dazzling and magnificent and art so precious your eyes literally hurt and you forget how to breath – that is Winter Palace, one of six buildings of the gargantuan Hermitage museum in Saint Petersburg (Russia).

Exploring new destinations makes our heart beat faster. But let’s be honest, no matter how beautiful, extraordinary and unusual is what we’re about to see, it’s not only the final destination that makes us happy and free. The road, the anticipation can be equally sweet and uplifting. Be it those precious hours on a plane, when you’re disconnected from the rest of the world and all you can think about is how you’ll land on an unknown territory in a few hours. Or a wonderful road trip with the warm wind in your hair, endless snacks in a car and your favourite music playing so loud you can’t even hear ourself singing.

New Zealand might be green and blossoming all year round, but there’s that unique magic in Spring, when you can literally feel the nature waking up. And fragile, very feminine and delicate beauty of the blossoming cherry trees is definitely a highlight of the season.

I must admit, looking at the enormous captions Alex is posting on Instagram lately, I start feeling a bit guilty. Seriously, not all my blog posts are that long!.. Wait a minute! But doesn’t it mean his captions can make a great post? Well, we’re about to find out, as I’m posting his latest Instagram update here. Right now. As a real blog post. Call me lazy, or call me creative (cause I still did an effort to pick photos!), but it’s happening. Because these 15 places to see in Moscow are so epic, you definitely should know them!

Tauranga lures tourists in with its magnificent beaches; Rotorua boasts extraordinary mud pools, geysers and colourful steamy lakes; Taupo relies on its giant lake as a great source of activities for tourists all year round… It might seem that despite being New Zealand’s fourth largest city, landlocked Hamilton will never be that attractive to visitors. But don’t be fooled by the first impression! It’s proximity to Hobbiton is definitely not the only reason to visit Hamilton.

What can one do in under three hours? Well, I can write a short article, for example. Or bake a cake! Or travel from Tauranga to Napier. But can one explore an entire city in three hours? That’s what Alex and I decided to check out on our layover in Qatar back in May.

‘With endless baroque and rococo palaces in turquoise, yellow and pink colours, iconic golden domes of the cathedrals, hundreds of bridges guarded by bronze statues, Russia’s ‘cultural capital’ is the most precious stone in the crown of the world’s largest country. That is the place where all the tsars and aristocrats wanted to live in the past and the place not to be missed today.’ That’s how my article on Saint Petersburg, published in Verve magazine, begins. And no matter how hard I try, I can’t describe this gorgeous city any better:)

We only had around an hour to whizz through the yet sleepy, early morning Arrowtown on our way to Tasman glacier, but you know what? It was enough to make us looking forward to another trip! The cutest lil’ town I have ever seen, that has that magical, enchanted feeling, as if you’ve accidentally took the wrong turn on the highway and found yourself in a new Universe, where everything is so familiar, yet a bit different, like in your favourite children’s book of fairy tales.