Wandering Old Wardour Castle in Tisbury, England

Recently we were visiting friends who live in Shaftesbury, Dorset in England. Due to a hectic travel schedule involving both Vienna and Venice in under two weeks, my husband and I were only able to stay in England for a few days. The bulk of that time was reserved for catching up with Joey's high school bestie Jason and his wife and kids, as well as a day trip out to Stonehenge, which is about 40 minutes away from Shaftesbury. Needless to say, there wasn't a huge chunk of time left over for travel blog exploration.

But Jason's lovely wife, Emily, was immensely supportive of my travel blog and YouTube channel endeavours, and was excited to show me around the area so that I could make a couple videos and articles during my stay. A BIG shout-out to the beautiful and enthusiastic Emily; we loved staying with them and will hopefully repeat our stay in the near future!

One of the highlights of the Shaftesbury area is the Old Wardour Castle, a lakeside medieval stone ruin that is amazingly picturesque and surprisingly intact despite being partially destroyed during the English Civil War. Emily and I ditched the boys and headed out on a morning girls' trip to the castle to see what we could find.

Visiting Stonehenge: What to Expect from the Stones

Recently I was able to check off a big item from my bucket list: #24, See Stonehenge.

I have wanted to personally stand near the towering rocks at Stonehenge since I was a kid. My parents used to own a big coffee table book about the "unsolved mysteries" of our planet. Stonehenge was one of the chapters in that book, and the stones were presented with huge, brightly coloured photographs that featured the sun peeking through during solstice. It all looked so magical and beautiful, and that particular destination became a goal of mine.

Flash forward to today, and my husband and I found ourselves in England visiting our friends Jason and Emily in the town of Shaftesbury. Luckily for me, Shaftesbury is about 40 minutes away from the Stonehenge Historical site. So on a Saturday afternoon, we headed out on a bit of a road trip to fulfill #24 on my bucket list.

Euro Disneyland Paris: A Surprise Trip to France

My parents, who are in their fifties and are just now starting to become world-travelers, recently returned from a trip to Disneyland. They went with my sister, who is 24-years-old, and had a total blast! I was inspired as I flipped through their photo album, viewing pictures of them hugging Eeyore, dancing with Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas, and jumping the line of 500 small children to get first dibs in a picture with Mickey Mouse. Close to retirement, new to travel, my parents are excellent examples that it is never too late to start crossing items off your bucket lists!

10 Places You'll See on a Bus Tour of London

When I organized a Europe Trip with my junior high students two years ago, I had a huge, long list of the places and things I wanted to see in London, which was one of our stops. The travel company that was responsible for taking care of my lovely students and I did their best to accommodate my demands, and I ended up seeing or visiting virtually all of the places on my list.

Ride the Chunnel

Tunnels are fun places. Every kid loves to crawl inside them, engineers dream of building the perfect one, treasure hunters covet them and what they may contain. I used to hold my breath every time we drove through one on family vacations, particularly while driving through the Rocky Mountians of British Columbia, where tunnel after tunnel gobble up the highway. If you made it through the entire tunnel without letting go of that breath, well, I'm not sure what you'd get but it was always a challenge.

Visit Windsor Castle and Maybe see the Queen

It's British fever these days, what with the Royal Wedding hot in the news: William and Kate, Pippa and her show-stealing dress, and those oh-so-cute miniature flower girls. So I thought, what better time to talk about visiting Windsor Castle, home of the Queen and her royal family?

Ride the London Eye

Photo: Nico Trinkhaus London Eye and Westminster, England -CC-BY-NC

I spy with my little eye... something ginormous! That would be the London Eye, a giant sightseeing Ferris wheel-type contraption on the south bank of the River Thames in London, England. This machine looms over the river and offers a wonderful view of London by lifting its passengers 135 meters into the sky, slo-o-o-wly, then lowers them back down again. Passengers sit or stand comfortably inside the Eye's giant pods, which can hold up to 28 people. Distant photographs show the London Eye as being deceptively small - the wheel itself is huge and the pods spacious and restful.

Visit the Tower of London's Creepy London Dungeon Wax Museum

When I was sixteen, I went to England to visit a pen pal. I'd been writing to my friend Graeme from the age of 11 or 12, when I'd met him at a family friend's birthday party. I thought it was terribly exciting that I had a friend in England, and even more so when I found out I was able to visit him the summer before I began Grade 11!