2L Travel Blog!

We were actually planning on going to India but after being unable to decide where exactly to go in such a vast country, we instead decided to go to neighbouring Sri Lanka! Sri Lanka (or Ceylon as it was formerly known) is an Indian Ocean island located off the south eastern tip of India, nestled between the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.   It measures 435 km by 240 km and has a very diverse landscape, ranging from sandy beaches and arid plains to highlands and rainforests.   It is most famous for its ancient Buddhist ruins, including the 5 th century fortress of Sigiriya and the ancient capital of Anuradhapura, which dates back more than 2,000 years. However, it is also famous for producing Ceylon Black Tea, which is universally acknowledged as the most superior tea in the world. This time we flew from the UK with Qatar Airways, via Doha, which takes around 13 hours.   Quite a long flight really but the standards and service on Middle Eastern airlines (Qatar, Emirates

When people used to ask me what the most beautiful half marathon course was that I had ever run, it was always a difficult question to answer.  I've been fortunate enough to be able to run through some of the most amazing places in the world and narrowing it down to just one has been next to impossible.  Well, now I finally have a good answer for that question: the Rio de Janiero International Half Marathon. For decades, Rio has been known as one of the most beautiful destinations on the planet.  It's been the subject of many travel shows on television and there have even been  songs written about it.  To be able to visit and see it firsthand is an amazing experience in itself, and to be able to run alongside the coast for 21km brings that experience to the next level. Rio is easy to get to because of its popularity as a tourist destination. There are a number of regularly scheduled flights into Rio's Galeão International Airport from cities around the world. If yo

'You can’t build a house on sand' , they say, so how about building a series of 5 star luxury hotels on sand islands artificially reclaimed from the sea!   Well that’s exactly what they did to create the Palm Islands of Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira off the Persian Gulf coast of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). I’m not totally sure how we ended up here on vacation because we were trying to decide whether to go for a city break or a beach-based adventure holiday.   However, after a lot or research, we decided that Dubai offered us all of the above.   We therefore booked a 5-night trip in April, staying at the 5 Star Fairmont Palm Hotel ( https://www.fairmont.com/palm-dubai/ ) on Palm Jumeirah. Getting there was fairly easy with direct flights from the UK taking around 7½ hours.   We flew with Emirates Airlines and would definitely recommend them, as the quality and service was as good as we’ve ever experienced.   We’d also reserved a tr