

Who We Are
Castles and Canals consists of wives Dani and Tori. Originally from the US, they have called Amsterdam their home since 2018. Join them as they share their love for travel, exploration, cruising, and all things Disney.


Dani Holmes-Kirk
Dani is an avid runner and loves a good “run-cation”. As a lifelong fan, she is passionate about all things Disney parks and RunDisney. She blogs about running and fitness over on WeightOffMyShoulders. You can also find her on the socials as @irisheyes1982
Tori Holmes-Kirk
By trade, Tori works as a technical artist and indie game developer. In the winter you can also find her playing goal for an ice hockey team in Amsterdam. You can find here as @supertorio on the socials or at her personal blog.
Videos - New uploads most weeks!
We are continuing our seven night sailing on Icon of the Seas with our first visit to St. Thomas as well as our last full sea day of the Voyage. We’ll bring you along as we try out more of the onboard activities including crowns edge, the water park, bingo and even archery! We’ll try out even more of the onboard dining options. And we’ll groove like hip cats at Lou’s Jazz and Blues.
For the last night of my 2024 visit to Tokyo Disneyland, I booked a room at the new Toy Story Hotel. Come along as I show you around this incredibly themed hotel. And I'll take you to breakfast with me at the hotel's Lotso Garden Cafe. I already can't wait to go back again!
We are continuing our Voyage on Icon of the Seas. We'll be docking in St Kitts, but first we have a sea day to continue exploring this amazing ship. Plus we take in two of the best shows at sea, Aqua action and Starburst: Elemental Beauty! There's still so much to do, see, drink and eat on board!
It's finally time for us to board our first Royal Caribbean cruise, and we picked the biggest cruise ship in the world, Icon of the Seas, as our first ship. Join us as we embark in Miami, and begin our seven night Eastern Caribbean cruise.
A short train ride away from Amsterdam, you'll find the Dutch city of Zwolle. We spent a weekend exploring this really fun city while spending our first weekend ever on a houseboat. We had the best time and can't wait to go back. So come along with us as we show you some of the things we got up to.
Travel and Adventure Tips, Advice, and More
Earlier this year, Dani and I were scheduled to take our first ever cruise, a five day mediterranean cruise from Barcelona on the Disney Magic. Unfortunately the week before, covid finally hit our house. We made a quick pivot and rebooked for a cruise our friends had already scheduled; a 4-Night Very Merrytime Bahamian Cruise from Port Canaveral. It was really just the best time.
The past weekend I joined my wife and a group of friends traveling to Athens Greece for the Marathon Weekend. The event consisted of three races, a 10k on the Saturday evening and a 5k and Marathon on Sunday morning. Of course there would also be some sightseeing to be done and some really delicious food to eat.
Earlier this month, Dani and I took a long weekend in Lisbon. It was the first time either of us visited this beautiful city and we had a genuinely lovely time. After touching down at the airport and a harrowing cab ride to our hotel, we took a long walk enjoying the sights, food, and ambience of the city.
A few years back, l saw a blog post about visiting Malta and it quickly jumped up on my list of places I wanted to visit. Our friend Antionette told us about a 50k ultra race on the Maltese island of Gozo and that was all it took to get Dani on board for the trip. I swear we do take vacations other than just race-cations.
Inside Amsterdam Forest there is a beautiful area called Bloesempark (Flower Park). Inside this part there are four hundred さくら (sakura) or cherry blossom trees. For a few weeks every spring these trees blossom together in a beautiful explosion of pink and white.
Rome had always been one of those places I've longed to see. The history and the Romance of the city is something I've wanted to experience first hand since I first learned about the ancient structures in school. So for my first birthday living abroad, it was an easy choice for a place to visit. So Dani and I spent four days there in this past July.
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It’s our last day on board, but it’s also our first time visiting Perfect Day at Coco Cay. And we’ve booked Hideaway Beach, an exclusive adults only area. Later on the ship we’ll check out the dueling piano bar. And we’ll show you what it’s like to disembark with the Key program.