West Coast is the Best Coast

I thought I would share a few pictures of the magical place that is the Pacific coast of Oregon, a place I occasionally call home ;).

Pretty amazing, huh?

Hi from Hainan!

I actually wrote this post nearly a year ago but never ended up publishing it, so I thought I might as well now.
A popular holiday spot for expats living in Asia, Hainan island was somewhere I visited fairly often during my time in China. And here I am once again. There are more tourists and kids than I remember, not something I would have noticed in my youth plus I've definitely been spoiled with amazing holiday locations. It's your typical tropical island: golden beaches with clear blue water, palm trees, bars in the middle of swimming pools, but without a lot of the trashiness that can come with certain other resorts (Cancun, I am looking at you). If I'm being totally honest I can't tell you how much or little there is to do on the island. Every time I've been I've stayed in a huge hotel on the beach with plenty of pools and things to do. I've always stayed in Sanya, which is an area at the southern most tip and
where most of the hotels are concentrated. Like a regular tropical holiday, most time is spent on the beach. I took a banana boat ride and some friends went scuba diving. Overall, I would say this is a great holiday stop if you are living in Asia, but if you're going to come all the way to Asia from somewhere else I would hit up the Thai or Malaysian islands instead.

Santorini, the most beautiful place on earth?

Okay, so I have to admit that what made me want to go to Santorini years ago was:
Yup, I am a sucker for bad chick flicks but The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants just made Greece look so beautiful. Combined with the fact that pictures of Santorini are absolutely everywhere, it's a place I've always wanted to go.

I think we chose the perfect time to go (late May) as we still got wonderful warm weather with mild nights but we avoided the scorching heat and hordes of tourists (something I was very surprised at, a couple of times a day big groups of tourists would come in from the cruise ships and then completely clear out a few hours later).

We stayed in the Aressana Hotel and Spa, which was a little cheaper than the original place we wanted to stay but I am glad we chose this one instead as it was in Thira and walking distance to everything we wanted to do (although Oia was a beautiful city too so I would stay there as well). The hotel itself was nice, it had everything a hotel needs. We didn't try the spa though as it was horrendously overpriced. Breakfast was included and was absolutely delicious, I'm already craving this pastry/ cake thing that was half sweet and savory and covered in powdered sugar mmmm I have no idea what it was, but it was delicious!

We went to Oia for the evening to watch the sunset from the ruins of the castle. It's supposed to be one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world. To be honest, the sunset was nice but nothing special. The coolest thing was actually seeing the hundreds of people who came to watch the sunset. Some brought picnics and sat there for hours to get that perfect view.
We also rented quad bikes which was great fun. Lots of tourists seem to rent quad bikes or dune buggies, as the island is pretty small it's a great way to get around!
There are also some great little boutiques in Thira which don't close until midnight so we spent a couple nights just wandering around through the winding streets trying on clothes. The beaches are nice in Santorini, but not the nicest I've ever seen. They are black sand because of the volcanic ash which is pretty cool. Overall, Santorini just had a lovely atmosphere. It was the perfect combination of authentic Greece and a tourist resort, I will definitely be back!
And now a few pictures for your viewing pleasure...