Stocking Island, Great Exuma, Bahamas

For me, one of the best things about living in Belgium is the ease of travel. Coming from the east coast of Canada, where a two hour drive wont get you out of the province, it is constantly amazing to me to live in a country where a two hour drive will get me to one of four other countries.

Even though Belgium is roughly the size of Nova Scotia, each region is different – in language, culture and architectural styles, not to mention geography.

Andrew and I have tried to use our time in Europe to travel as much as we can. You can visit the Passion for Travel category to read about our adventures. If you are interested in travel photography, please visit my ACM Photography website.

Over the past few years I have amassed a lot of travel related websites. When booking a trip in Europe or abroad, I often return to these sites. Hopefully you will find them helpful too. This is by no means an exhaustive list, simply some of my favourites.

Travel Reviews

• Trip Advisor – This is my one stop trip review site. If the reviews are bad here, I don’t go there.

• Virtual Tourist – Another great review site with tips from people on the ground.

• Lonely Planet – Read the guidebooks, visit the website.

• Bootsnall Travel Network – a great site for independent travelers.

Air Travel

• Expedia - I often find the lowest airfares on this site and I’ve booked a lot of hotels with them as well.

• Kayak – I use this site all the time, to compare prices on flights and hotels.

• Ryaniar – This no-frills airline flies out of Charleroi airport and I’ve had some very low cost flights to Ireland and Spain. Great for a last minute getaway but don’t expect any services.

• Attitude Travel – This site list all of the low cost carriers that fly out of Belgium.

Hotels

For the most part, to find hotels I use a combination of Trip Advisor, to find the top picks and expedia or Kayak to find the lowest prices. Listed below are some other links that I’ve found useful.

• Holiday Inn Hotels – It’s all about the Priority Club points

• Venere – Another Hotel reseller with a European slant.  They have reasonable rates and you usually don’t have to pay in advance.

• Hot Dog Holidays – find hotels that allow your pet to stay with you.

• Dutch Farm Holidays – Stay on a working farm in the Netherlands.

Favourite Places

Andrew and I have been fortunate enough to discover some really fantastic places over the past few years. These are some of the spots we would return to without hesitation:

• La Benjamine – We’ve been back to this beautiful B&B in southwest France again and again. It is far and away my favourite place to stay. Not only is the setting beautiful, but the inn itself is as well. The hosts, Dawn and Cedric are the warmest people you will ever meet and the food is divine. If you are in the area (or even if you aren’t) don’t miss it.

• Duin & Kruidberg – This castle in the Netherlands is absolutely gorgeous. It is on the pricey side but worth it for a fabulous weekend getaway.

• The Mount Juliet Estate – This is another fantastic weekend splurge. In the Irish countryside, this manor house sits between a racehorse stud farm and a world class golf course. Oh, and there’s a spa too!

• Hotel des Grandes Ecoles – Affordable, beautiful and totally Paris. This hotel is definitely where I will stay whenever I’m in Paris.

For

Stocking Island, Great Exuma, Bahamas

me, one of the best things about living in Belgium is the ease of travel. Coming from the east coast of Canada, where a two hour drive wont get you out of the province, it is constantly amazing to me to live in a country where a two hour drive will get me to one of four other countries.

Even though Belgium is roughly the size of Nova Scotia, each region is different – in language, culture and architectural styles, not to mention geography.

Andrew and I have tried to use our time in Europe to travel as much as we can. You can visit my travel archives to read about our adventures. If you are interested in travel photography, please visit my ACM Photography website.

Over the past few years I have amassed a lot of travel related websites. When booking a trip in Europe or abroad, I often return to these sites. Hopefully you will find them helpful too. This is by no means an exhaustive list, simply some of my favourites.

Travel Reviews

• Trip Advisor – This is my one stop trip review site. If the reviews are bad here, I don’t go there.

• Virtual Tourist – Another great review site with tips from people on the ground.

• Lonely Planet – Read the guidebooks, visit the website.

• Bootsnall Travel Network – a great site for independent travelers.

Air Travel

• Expedia - I often find the lowest airfares on this site and I’ve booked a lot of hotels with them as well.

• Kayak – I use this site all the time, to compare prices on flights and hotels.

• Ryaniar – This no-frills airline flies out of Charleroi airport and I’ve had some very low cost flights to Ireland and Spain. Great for a last minute getaway but don’t expect any services.

• Attitude Travel – This site list all of the low cost carriers that fly out of Belgium.

Hotels

For the most part, to find hotels I use a combination of Trip Advisor, to find the top picks and expedia or Kayak to find the lowest prices. Listed below are some other links that I’ve found useful.

• Holiday Inn Hotels – It’s all about the Priority Club points

• Venere – Another Hotel reseller with a European slant

• Hot Dog Holidays – find hotels that allow your pet to stay with you.

• Dutch Farm Holidays – Stay on a working farm in the Netherlands.

Favourite Places

Andrew and I have been fortunate enough to discover some really fantastic places over the past few years. These are some of the spots we would return to without hesitation:

• La Benjamine – We’ve been back to this beautiful B&B in southwest France again and again. It is far and away my favourite place to stay. Not only is the setting beautiful, but the inn itself is as well. The hosts, Dawn and Cedric are the warmest people you will ever meet and the food is divine. If you are in the area (or even if you aren’t) don’t miss it.

• Duin & Kruidberg – This castle in the Netherlands is absolutely gorgeous. It is on the pricey side but worth it for a fabulous weekend getaway.

• The Mount Juliet Estate – This is another fantastic weekend splurge. In the Irish countryside, this manor house sits between a racehorse stud farm and a world class golf course. Oh, and there’s a spa too

• Hotel des Grandes Ecoles – Affordable, beautiful and totally Paris. This hotel is definitely where I will stay whenever I’m in Paris.