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The Northern Blog Awards 2018: an update and a thank you

6th October 2018 2 Comments

This year has been a momentous one for this travel blog. Pack The Suitcases has gone from getting a couple of hundred views per month to up to 25,000. What used to be the occasional ‘like’ on its Facebook page has now escalated to emails and messages flooding in every week from people all over the world asking me things like ‘Where can I find soy milk in Madeira?’ (I have no idea mate). And most exciting of all, I was shortlisted for a travel blogging award in the Northern Blog Awards.

I thought I’d better update you on it because I haven’t mentioned it on here since. So here is said update…

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What to pack for a summer city break

2nd September 2018 6 Comments

Here’s a few tips for what to pack for a summer city break or general non-beachy summer holiday. I find summer really hard to pack for so have wasted many hours of my life thinking about this subject. A summer holiday is going to be warm, or you hope it is. But going to a city and doing day trips or visiting different towns isn’t like a beach holiday. You can’t spend the whole time in tiny dresses and flimsy sandals if you want to pack in loads of exploring, sight-seeing and of course eating. Just to add to the torture, RyanAir somehow expect you to cope with looking your summery best within 15kg so it’s not like you can just throw everything you own in and hope for the best…

I normally steer clear of writing packing guides but my what to pack for a spring city break one seemed pretty popular so I’ve now mentally committed myself to doing all four seasons. Like I said in the spring edition, if this helps even one other woman staring at her ‘floordrobe’ and wanting to burn it all the night before going away, I’ll feel I’ve done some kind of heroic good deed.

Right. Here are my summer packing tips…

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Travel lovers: here’s how to reduce your carbon footprint by planting trees

7th July 2018 6 Comments

Reduce your carbon footprint by planting trees | PACK THE SUITCASES

Bit of an unusual post here, but this is one way you can reduce your carbon footprint (and guilt, sort of) caused by air travel. Planting trees (in the UK). I’m sharing this idea because I find that the major downside of being a frequent traveller is the huge negative impact it has on two things: my bank balance and my carbon footprint. The financial impact is way beyond salvage, but we can at least try to do something about the impact on our planet.

A couple of years ago, just after starting this blog actually, me and my other half bought a grove of trees to offset the carbon emissions we cause with our air travel. Every month since then, we’ve donated towards growing this little grove. Whenever I mention this to other people who travel/go on holiday a lot, they’ve been dead interested. And I think it’s important to at least try to travel in a greener and more ethical way. So I thought I’d write a post about it to share what I do. Hopefully regular readers won’t mind the slight diversion from my normal posts.

ANYWAY, if you travel a lot and do anything good to give back to the planet, let me know in the comments. I’m always up for trying to stop killing the earth.

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36 unusual, alternative European city breaks for your next holiday

24th June 2018 3 Comments

36 unusual and alternative European city breaks | PACK THE SUITCASES

I wanted to put together a post about alternative European city breaks because so often when people say ‘city break’, it’s just a byword for going off to the classic Paris/Rome/Barcelona/Berlin/Amsterdam options. But there are so many other alternative, more off-the-beaten-track cities that can still give you all the culture, sightseeing, shopping and (of course) eating that you want from a city break.

This post is a bit different from my usual inane ramblings. As well as sharing some destination ideas that I’ve loved myself, I thought I’d use it as a chance to get some inspiration for my OWN future city breaks in Europe.

So I asked around a load of fellow travel bloggers and they obliged me with a whopping 29 unusual European city break ideas. Always keen to have my own say, I added another seven of my own favourite up-and-coming city break options. And voila – here you have this huge list of 36 alternative European city breaks to give you some food for thought for your next holiday…

Put the kettle on. It might take you a while to get though.

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I’m shortlisted for a Northern Blog Award! And I’m begging for your vote in a totally not desperate manner!

21st June 2018 18 Comments

So… I’ve somehow ended up shortlisted for a Northern Blog Award for this here travel blog! What is going on in the world?! I don’t know how this has happened. But obviously now here I am begging you, my lovely readers, for your vote (and not sounding at all desperate, right?).

Here’s a bit of background to it and how you can vote for me. If you want to. No pressure. I just won’t ever speak to you again if you don’t. Ahem…

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What to pack for a spring city break

7th April 2018 2 Comments

Here’s a few tips for what to pack for a spring city break. Typically, it’s going to be warm-ish in the day and bloody cold at night and RyanAir somehow expect you to cope with this MADNESS within 15kg. I don’t normally do packing guides but I was just pondering what a faff packing is in changeable spring weather.

You know that thing when it’s the week before you go away and you empty the entire contents of your wardrobe all over your bed yet still you have NOTHING to wear? So you end up chucking all sorts of mismatched crap into your suitcase? And then you get to where you’re going and nothing is right?

Yeah, that.

That’s something you don’t need to do. I promise. Sort of. To be honest, I still find packing hard in spring (or autumn, TBH). But we always tend to do a city break in April/May so I’ve learned some things over the years. If this helps anyone with packing, I’ll feel I’ve done some kind of heroic good deed for the world.

Right. Here are my tips…