After a fairy tale trip to Neuschwanstein Castle, we set off along Germany’s Romantic Road, driving through tiny Bavarian villages surrounded by forests and peaks. We climbed higher through the Austrian Alps, passing through ski towns where the snow lay like thick icing on rooftops and clung to the branches of pine trees. This winter wonderland followed us to the next adventure of our European road trip, a week visiting Slovenia.
In the last three months, we’ve travelled over 5,000 miles across nine countries in Europe by car. The journey has taken us from the canal-lined streets of Amsterdam and the beaches of the Algarve to Bavarian castles, Slovenian lakes and finally, to Prague. Here’s a look at our experience of travelling Europe by car, including the benefits, tips and some key things to consider if you’re planning your own Europe road trip. 
Visiting Bavaria feels like stepping into a fairytale. Picture forests of tall pointy trees, rolling green fields and medieval towns set against a backdrop of the jagged, snow-topped Alps. Then there’s the castles that dot the landscape, including a turreted Disneyesque masterpiece that looks like it’s been pulled straight from the pages of a storybook. How could we resist visiting Neuschwanstein Castle?
Portugal’s capital Lisbon is a city full of winding cobbled streets, bright yellow trams, wide piazzas, historic buildings and UNESCO treasures. Picture medieval towers, dome-roofed monasteries, baroque palaces and ornate churches. If, like us, you have just a few days to explore the city, it could be worth getting a Lisbon tourist card which grants you discounts, free travel and entry to top attractions.
Welcome to our latest pet sit, a Portuguese farm house with a veranda framed by pink flowers. There are orange groves in the garden, a pool and never-ending sunshine. Each morning we stroll around the 30,000 square-metre grounds of our home for the week, followed by a friendly pack of dogs and pigs. How exactly did we end up in this slice of rural heaven? Let’s rewind 2,080 miles to the start of our road trip to Portugal.
Do you dream of escaping the daily grind for an online job that would allow you to live abroad somewhere cheap and sunny? In our digital nomad destinations series, we’re chatting to remote workers who’ve achieved this dream and now live in various corners of the world. This week Shane from The Working Traveller, who I finally met in Chiang Mai this year after five years of following his blog, talks about expat life in Turkey.
It’s only now, when we’re just about to set off on a new adventure, that I’ve felt inspired to sit down and write. Amongst all the recent summer house sits, family get-togethers and work, I somehow lost my will to write. Now the car is ready to be packed, there’s a map with a route through Europe etched in our heads and I’m ready to face the road, and the blank page, once again.
From Welsh weddings to hiking Snowdon and house sitting all around London, these past two months in the UK have been crammed with activity. Between family visits and zipping around the country we’ve definitely dropped the ball with work, blogging and planning for our upcoming Europe trip. So, as we start to pull ourselves together again, here’s a look back at our hectic summer adventures in the UK.