Will Travel For Pandas

July 15, 2020December 25, 2023 Kirsten

Snapshots from Vienna

Within Europe, Vienna was the first place I visited specifically to see the giant pandas! I booked the trip almost as soon as they’d announced that Yang Yang had given birth to twins – which was a risk, but I got lucky and those babies were adorable^ I also took my mum along on the trip, we really got a great deal and ended up paying £300 for the two of us for flights and 3 nights in a hotel, which was one of the benefits of travelling in February! So it was a little cold, and there was snow and ice on the ground, but we still had a great time – just need to go back in the nicer weather as I think it will be an equally beautiful city in the summer time. I didn’t take so many photos on the trip so there’s not a whole lot to share but here’s just a snapshot of 3 days in Vienna in February 2017.

July 1, 2020December 25, 2023 Kirsten

P A N D A S @ Ä H T Ä R I Z O O

I was lucky enough to be able to make my first trip to Finland and Ähtäri Zoo during the winter of 2019 to see the Snowpandas in the snow – and this experience of seeing pandas very quickly jumped to the top of my list of panda things to do! It was such a highlight to see the pandas rolling and playing in such deep snow, and it was great to visit a new country to see it – this was my first time in Finland, I’m definitely going to have to go back not only to see the pandas again but also to visit in the rest of the country. On this trip I was lucky to travel with another panda-loving friend which meant it was an easy agreement that we would just panda-watch for all 3 days of our trip! I ended up taking over 2000 photos on this trip, which is just ridiculous, this is a hugely cut down selection and is still a lot for one post!

June 24, 2020December 24, 2023 Kirsten

Bruges in January

Back in January I visited Belgium to start 2020 – I was invited to the Giant Panda Global Awards held in Pairi Daiza on the 3rd of January, so I added a couple of days onto my trip so that I could visit elsewhere in Belgium. I’ve been to Ghent a couple of times as I have a friend there, and I’ve also been to Bruges before on a day trip. However I went to Bruges very unprepared so I didn’t make the most of my time there, I decided I would spend the weekend in Bruges this time and I did a little research before going! After being at Pairi Daiza and getting some viewing time with the pandas of course, my friend took me back to Ghent, and then I caught the train to Bruges, so I ended up having pretty much 1.5 days in Bruges to fill. I took so many pictures on this visit, and I did so much walking around the city – so I rounded up some of my top things to do when visiting Bruges!

June 17, 2020December 24, 2023 Kirsten

Pictures from Ouwehands Dierenpark

Of course as well as seeing the pandas at Ouwehands, there were plenty other animals to see! I didn’t get nearly as many pictures as I usually take, so I don’t have many pictures, or of every animal that they have. But it’s a very lovely park, it really feels a little in the wilderness and it’s quite a big park, which was a nice surprise that I didn’t expect. So today sharing some pictures and a little info of what I have from Ouwehands. I was really hoping to visit again this year, even before the baby panda was born, as they have a pair of polar bear cubs which are just adorable in the videos posted on their social media pages! Our visit was on a weekend in February, and actually the weather was great, it was sunny and not too cold, and whilst there were a lot of people at the zoo, it wasn’t so busy that there were too many people.

June 10, 2020December 24, 2023 Kirsten

Chengdu City Guide

Welcome to Chengdu! Chengdu was the first city I visited in China back in 2016, and I’ve been back every year since – however I did most of these things in the first two years, and only added a couple of things in my last two years of trips. If I am able to travel this year I’m planning to tick some sights off my ‘to see’ list in the city. I really love the city, I don’t find it too hard to navigate, and it really doesn’t seem too big – however the population is 16 million, fairly close to Beijing 21.5 million (for reference, Scotlands apparently tiny population is 5.5 million). But it has such a different vibe to Beijing. In the past 4 years there has been a lot of development in the city, whole skyscrapers have been put up all over the place and I’ve really felt the expansion of the city when travelling around the area of the Panda Base which is just outside the city centre. This isn’t an extensive guide by any means, but just provides a few really interesting and cool things you can do to add to your trip to see the pandas (which is probably the reason for most trips to the area)!