Being away from our families for Christmas this year, we decided to do something special so we wouldn't get too homesick! Our city of choice was the beautiful Amsterdam. While we didn't see the White Christmas we had been crossing our fingers for, Amsterdam turned out to be an amazing city that exceeded all our expectations. Upon our early arrival on the 23rd of December (another bargain flight!), we caught a train from the airport into Amsterdam Central...

On a chilly Saturday morning the week before Christmas, we made our way to St. Pancras International Station in London to catch the Eurostar train to Paris, France. After an amazingly speedy train ride, we found ourselves alighting at Paris Norde Station. Armed with mercis and bonjours at the ready, we made our way along the Parisian streets to our hotel near Montmarte. We were greeted warmly (in English, much to our disappointment-our French hellos were obv...

After our four hour 'luxury' bus trip (we'd somehow ended up in the first class lounge!)we arrived at Vilnius bus station in Lithuania. After a short walk to our hotel, we checked into our room and hit the streets. Even though we had arrived late in the afternoon we made the most of the remaining sunlight and checked out the Town Hall, the Central Cathedral, the Gates of Dawn and various other impressive buildings. We were up bright and early the next day, bravi...

After a 4 hour bus trip from Estonia, we arrived in Riga, Latvia. It was a chilly 4 degrees with heavy fog. After checking into our hotel and dropping off our bags, we went exploring at the local markets. We spotted bargains galore, and purchased some yummy fresh fruit and veg using our Latvian lats that we'd just changed over from euros. Next we went and had a wander around Riga's Old Town, famous for it's German Art Nouveau architecture, picturesque old build...

Our trip to Estonia started out in our typical style, with a 4am start to catch our bargain price flights. After a 3 hour flight (which is long by Europe's standards!) we landed in the capital of Tallinn. It was a chilly 4 degrees when we emerged from the airport, so we were quick to find a seat on a shuttlebus heading to the city. After a stroll through Old Town and a bite to eat we checked into our hotel. It was a gorgeous building full of character and wonderf...