Hello Summer 2023!

Hello Everyone

I hope you are having a wonderful July whereever you are in the world. As it's been a wee while since I stopped by I thought I'd fill you in. 

The last three months have been epic. Here is my flight schedule alone:

Phuket --> Bangkok --> Singapore --> Melbourne --> Gold Coast (overland to --> Brisbane --> Sydney --> Phuket --> Bangkok --> London --> Paris (overland to Montpellier) --> London.

As they say I haven't been everywhere yet but it's on my list!

April ended up being an incredible month as I returned to Australia, thanks to a wonderful invite to attend a 7 night Detox at Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat in Queensland. Here is a little excerpt: 

Gwinganna Detox Program

I’ve been invited to join a seven-night detox program at Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat. They are winners of the World’s Best Eco Spa Awards (2022 World Spa Awards) and it is beyond exciting. Well, until I read the small print…

So it’s no gluten, dairy, coffee, alcohol, no processed sugar, AND no Wifi. If the list of dietary exclusions doesn’t send me into a tailspin, the thought of a digital detox does. A wave of self-doubt comes over me.

I was sure it would be incredible, as all the online reviews suggest, but how would I cope? Was I just setting myself up for a week-long cold turkey headache and one where I couldn’t even post a ‘rescue me‘ message on my social media?

My friends didn’t help either! One friend commented on my Facebook page ‘This sounds like NO fun at all!‘ Those are all the things I love’, another lamented. I was getting the sense that they all felt I was off for some Iron Woman challenge...

You can read the full blog post here:

https://www.littlewanderingwren.com/the-gift-of-a-gwinganna-lifestyle-retreat/

Why visit the Yarra Valley?

The Yarra Valley is known for its beautiful Victorian countryside. You’ll find rolling hills, lovely vineyards, and charming small towns. For me, you must visit and enjoy the mixture of fabulous nature and wildlife, world-class wines and gins, the opportunity to enjoy local gourmet food, and of course to meet the friendly locals. 

It’s great for a day trip, perfect for a girl’s dream weekend, and the sort of place you could easily stay a while...

You can read the full blog post here: Weekend Wanders a guide to the Yarra Valley

The keen readers amongst you will see that France has featured heavily in our recent travel plans. 

Some of you may know that Mr Wren would love to live in France. As this is not currently practical, we will try to enjoy some time in France each year. Thank you to the Tourism Boards in Lyon, Avignon and Montpellier who kindly shared their city passes for us to enjoy their cities.

The other reason for our French trip was to attend Roland Garros. This year I am hoping to complete my Fan Slam which is to attend all four tennis Grand Slams, from the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and in September to return to Flushing Meadows for the US Open.

Why is Roland Garros so special?

'This tennis tournament is a top sports event in Paris and one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world.

The tournament is held in the fancy Roland-Garros Stadium located on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne in the western suburbs of the city, part of the affluent commune of Boulogne-Billancourt. The French Open is a smart affair. Spectators arrive looking well-dressed unless they are tourists!'

We can't leave without a little trip to enjoy the beaches of Thailand. We were invited for a wonderful stay at the Outrigger Beach Resort, Khao Lak. 

Why visit Khao Lak?

'Khao Lak is always in our humble opinion worth the trip. It is quieter than Phuket Island.

The white sandy beaches are very natural and whilst the hotels and resorts are beachfront, they’ve been developed to be set back and nestled amongst the trees. It gives a wonderfully unspoiled feel to this area, despite there being a plethora of holiday choices.

For now, and especially in May typically at the start of the rains, it is blissfully quiet'

You can read the full post here 

Tucked away in beautiful Khao Lak: Outrigger Beach Resort

Lastly how do you feel about the Artifical Intelligence (AI) of ChatGPT? 

Little Wren's guide to finding great massage in Thailand was a chance for me to try this out and see how I might integrate AI into my writing and whether I felt there was a place for it in my writing. The above massage blog post was written used ChatGPT in some parts. I challenged my readers to work out if they could tell which parts were a robot writing and which parts were me.

For me the joy of blogging is to write the posts. I'm sure I would be more eloquant if I used a computer to generate my words but it goes against the grain of what I'm trying to do.

So for the record all of the above was written by me!

If you would like to keep up with all my wanderings I'd love to see you at the following:

• Little Wandering Wren Travel Blog
• Little Wandering Wren Instagram
• Little Wandering Wren Facebook
• Little Wandering Wren TikTok
• Little Wandering Wren YouTube

My TikTok and YouTube Channels have some of our other fun events of the past few months from Bruce Springstein  and Glastonbury Festival.

Phew that's me ready for a cuppa here. Thank you so much for stopping by to read. How's your summer going?

Disclosure: Some of the above are from my sponsored trips, all these are clearly identified on the posts.

Happy Wanderings to you all, near or far! 

PPS Linking with thanks to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday. I hope you will stop by and enjoy all the Mosaic Monday posts

PPS I keep intending to delete this blog as I spend all my time at www.littlewanderingwren.com but everytime I come back to it after several months away I see all your lovely comments! So thank you!

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