accommodation — Blog

It’s 6.00 am. I haven’t woken up this early in such a long time that I can barely remember how to turn off the alarm that’s now blaring at me. I’m suddenly thrust back into an old world of getting to bed on time, of showering to wake yourself up, and of fumbling around in the morning darkness to avoid waking the sleeping family sprawled out all around me. Turning the alarm off before the entire family wakes up feels like a massive victory at this point, but I succeed. Still got it.

Whilst getting up this early is reminiscent of my old 9-5 life, everything else about this morning is entirely different. Read more…

IndonesiaViv Yapp2 July 2018bali, surfing, hotel, accommodation, family travel, bucket list Comments

The private luxury villa and its superhero cast

Some of the sweetest moments on this trip have tended to be the simplest. Like sitting at the departure gate as a family, quietly waiting for our delayed flight to board, and hearing our little two year old suddenly shout out at the top of his lungs, “SO, WE MEET AGAIN!!!”, in what may be the cutest superhero voice ever spoken. It was a beautiful way to inspire laughter amongst a random group of strangers all wishing they were somewhere else, and yet all stuck there just the same…

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IndonesiaViv Yapp25 June 2018accommodation, bali, indonesia, villa, luxury, private, hotelComment

A Balinese bamboo hideaway

Why is there no road rage in Bali? This is the thought racing through my mind as we speed through village roads and rice paddies on our way from the beachy hustle and bustle of Seminyak to the jungle-clad interior of Ubud…

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IndonesiaViv Yapp18 June 2018accommodation, bali, hotel, airbnb, indonesia, ubud, bamboo, architectureComment

12 hours in Ponsonby

After almost two months of travel through the North and South islands of New Zealand, we reached our final stop, Auckland; a city that feels as wide as Hong Kong feels tall. We stayed in a quirky little area called Ponsonby, a wonderfully ironic name for a place with such a hipster vibe…

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New ZealandViv Yapp25 May 2018ponsonby, food, hotel, accommodation, breakfast, shop, travel, family travel, 12 hours inComment

Finding freedom in Abel Tasman

One of the best things about travel is that feeling of being somewhere new and exciting, whilst at the same time feeling a subtle sense of connection to this place you’ve just stepped foot in. Like hearing an old song and being suddenly transported back to a very specific moment, travel has a way of making you feel a certain way in a certain place, of taking you out of the everyday and therefore of exposing you to new things, new stories, new feelings, even if those feelings are hard to put into words sometimes. And there is definitely something about New Zealand that does this for us.

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New ZealandViv Yapp11 May 2018accommodation, new zealand, nelson, Abel tasman, hotel Comments

7 life lessons from a Kiwi campervan

This is where we used to live. It wasn’t a mansion, but at 1500 square feet it felt a tad bigger than the home we swapped it for recently on a 7 night campervan trip in New Zealand. And whilst we love our old home, and whilst we miss our old home, we won’t be forgetting our time spent sleeping in the great outdoors anytime soon. Here are the 7 life-affirming lessons we learnt when we downsized our square footage by a casual 95%, and felt more alive than ever.

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A 'tree top' New Zealand adventure

For all the infinite wonder that the internet brings, some of its ills can at times feel bigger. The rise of the troll, our ever dwindling attention span, or perhaps the most subtle - our fondness for exaggeration. After all, if everything is “epic”, so is nothing.

And then we arrived here, Fossickers Hut…

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New ZealandViv Yapp21 April 2018glamping, accommodation, eco, newzealand, luxury Comments