helloworld Travel The Lakes, Tauranga - Recent staff trips

The initial planning was just Italy and Croatia but we found such a great airfare with Turkish Airlines, via their Hub city Istanbul, we decided it was too good an opportunity not to stop and spend a few days in Turkey.

We had a few days in Istanbul and then headed down to Gallipoli and pay our respects to those “diggers” who fought on the Gallipoli Peninsular during World War 1.

Our Istanbul itinerary we booked with one of our amazing suppliers and was such a beautiful city with amazing architecture, wonderful people and yummy food. We walked for miles on an organised walking Tour taking in all the tourist sites, visiting the Spice Market, the Grand Bazaar, stunning mosques & a lunch cruise on the Bosphorus river. (this river separates the 2 continents of Europe and Asia)

Kylie and Steve at ANZAC Cove

Our visit to Gallipoli was as heartfelt as expected and very sombre, but it was such an incredible experience to stand on the beach at ANZAC Cove and spend a few moments in silence, share a thought, shed a tear and say a quiet “thank you” to those who died here over 120 years ago. I encourage every single Kiwi to visit this special place.

Village of Monterosso

 Off to Italy and we started with a visit to the town of Bari in the Puglia region of Southern Italy – this is the ancestorial hometown of Steve’s family dating back to the early 1700’s – it was incredible to walk in the same footsteps of Steve’s Great, Great, Great grandfather  – more amazing memories to pop into the “mind bank” to reflect back in future years.

The leaning towerof Pisa

Our time in Italy was based around a 13 day coach tour with Globus “Italian Mosaic” and we had 3 nights in Rome before joining the tour group. The tour was very in-depth starting and ending in Rome and included Pisa, Florence, the Cinque Terra, popping into Switzerland for the day before heading South for a few days in Venice. Then into Tuscany and probably one of the highlights with a visit to the medieval town of San Gimignano and a Tuscan dinner at sunset – just stunning !!!

Kylie, Steve and friends enjoying a Tuscan Dinner

Heading further south to Naples and the island of Capri, a couple of nights in Pompeii which was also an amazing highlight – such a devastating event the eruption of Mount Vesuvius but incredibly interesting to visit.

Back to Rome to finish up an incredible 13 days on the road – so many sites visited, so many boxes ticked and so many photos taken – more of living life and making memories.

From Rome we flew to Dubrovnik, Croatia for a few nights before we joined a 7 night luxury small boat cruise ending in Split. Dubrovnik was AMAZING, we walked and we sat and we ate and we drank, then we walked some more.

Looking out at the Dubrovnik Old Town

Dubrovnik, Jewel of the Adriatic – we will be back !!

Our ship was called Desire and had 34 guests onboard (maximum capacity of 40 guests) – this is, without a doubt, the best way to see the 100’s of small islands that are dotted along the coast of Croatia. Every day the captain found a beautiful secluded bay for a swim stop, where he anchored up and we just jumped off the back of our boat into the stunning clear, warm Adriatic sea.

Kylie and Steve boarding Desire in Croatia

Nights were spent in different ports where we went off exploring - we really didn’t want this cruise to end as we were having such a wonderful time.

Our flight home was out of Zagreb so we took a coach transfer (One of our favourite recommendations for our clients)  from Split to Zagreb BUT with a stop in the world famous Plitvice Lakes National Park. As part of the transfer it included entry and guided walk and according to my Garmin, we spent 3 and a half hours and walked approx. 13km. It was beautiful and so many waterfalls going absolutely nuts as it had been raining in this area for a few days.

Kylie and Steve at the P Lakes - Croatia

Onto Zagreb for a night before boarding our Turkish Airlines flight all the way home back to Auckland via Istanbul and Singapore

Too many highlights to cover but suffice to say – we came home buzzing and our cup was truly full with amazing photos and memories that will last a lifetime.