Tag: travelling

Sunday Seven: Places you should visit!

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Is it summer time yet? No? I can hear the collective groan as so many of us have to wait for the summer to roll around so we can go away and have a little break. I’m very lucky that my family liked to travel when I was growing up, I’ve seen some beautiful countries and hope to add to the ever growing list. This week I wanted to share with you seven places I loved and that you should visit!

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Paphos, Cyprus 

I’ve been to Cyprus a few times with my family and I absolutely love it. We’ve been going since I was quite young and my last visit was just before I started uni. We’ve stayed at the same hotel each time, but the town itself is constantly changing. There’s also a great waterpark, great excursions you can do and a lot of history around. One day I really want to take Ali and show him one of my favourite holiday destinations.

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Sorrento, Italy 

Ali and I first went away together with his family all the way back in 2009 to Sorrento. In the picture above (excusing my awful choice in ‘fashion’) we are standing at the top of Mount Vesuvius. We’d spent the day walking around Pompeii and looking at the history of it. Aside from that Sorrento is very tourist friendly, which means it can get busy but it’s also easy to get around. Also, the food? To die for, I loved it. You can also go over to the Island of Capri which oozes glamour. I want to go to different areas in Italy but Sorrento was a good place to start.

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London, UK 

I’ve been in love with London for as long as I can remember. I was taken to Oxford Street with my Mum and Nanna more times than I can count. London to me means excitement, it’s where I see shows, meet friends, go to events, explore the rich history of a wonderful city. London will always be special to me and I couldn’t just say one place, I love it all!

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Amsterdam

I went to Amsterdam just before my 21st birthday. While we stayed closer to the Red Light District, it was on the last day we found the real beauty of Amsterdam in Vondelpark, if I were to stay again I would definitely pay the extra to stay near the park, also their Hard Rock Cafe is incredible.

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Greece

I’ve been to Greece a lot. The first holiday I  went on with my parents was to the island of Crete, we went time and time again and I fell in love with it. I wanted to use a picture from then but couldn’t find any in digital. Fast forward about 18 years and I’d gone back to Greece, this time to Athens with Ali  for a week long class, and looked at the history of one of the greatest civilizations to have ever lived. Oh and for an Ouzo or two.

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Orlando, Florida 

Anyone who knows me, knows Florida was going to be on this list. My parents have taken me to Florida at least 3 if not 4 times. I was very lucky. I like going and acting like a kid, going to Disney, Universal, shopping in the outlet malls. I can’t see myself going for a while but damn right I’m going back.

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Harry Potter Studio Tour – Watford 

A must for ANY potterhead or anyone who just liked the films. Seeing everything up close, admiring the artistry and the detail on even the smallest things. I need to go again at some point, it’s only been a few years since I went but it’s already changed so much from pictures. It really is a must.

What are some of your favourite places to visit? Let me know in the comments below!

Sunday Seven: Seven Things My Weekends Are Made For

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Lie Ins 

I try not to make plans before 12pm, after 5 days of having to get up early a lie in is all I want most weekends.

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Baking

I’m not keen on actually cooking, but baking is entirely different. There’s no pressure if you’re just baking for yourself or for family and, you know, it’s less likely you’ll go disastrously wrong with cookies or cupcakes.

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Sofa Days 

Being able to curl up with a duvet or big blanket, usually with a stack of books and mug of tea is one of my favourite parts about the weekend.

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Good Food 

I don’t stress about what I eat at the weekends. If I want a burger, I get a burger. If I want to eat a bag of cheese puffs, I eat a bag of cheese puffs. Life’s too short to be constantly worrying about what you eat and I’m speaking from experience.

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Travelling

Depending on where you want to go, a weekend or long weekend can be the perfect time to go exploring. Last weekend I was up in Durham , I’ve also spent a few days in Amsterdam before. Now that we’re working, Ali and I are also looking at going to different places across the UK for the weekend. I love a good relaxing weekend but exploring is great too.

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 Quality Time

The best part about the weekend for me is being able to spend quality time with the people I love. Waking up and dozing with Ali on a Saturday morning, not having to rush to get up and get showered just makes me so happy. It’s definitely the little things.

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Book Bingeing 

If I have a free day, I read. It’s as simple as that. I love curling up with a good book (or three) and just blissfully enjoying reading. Since finishing uni I don’t have the time to read as much as I used to, simply because I drive to work, rather than getting the bud everywhere. With that in mind weekends are the best, you can stay up late reading Friday and Saturday with no consequences, win!

Of course there are so many other things I could have added to this list but these are just a few. What do you like spending your weekends or days off doing?

Let me know in the comments below 🙂

Hello September! Welcome to third year!

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I’ve made it! I’m slightly slower than I was last year but I can’t believe that this month I will be starting the third and final year of my undergraduate degree! It’s absolutely crazy that I’m at the last chapter already, people used to tell me it would fly by and I rarely believed them, but I should have. I’m excited and terrified to be getting back to uni at the end of the month, but that’s not the only reason I should be excited that it’s finally September, oh no! This month is going to be incredible and I’m almost climbing the walls that so many positive things are starting this month such as –

  • I’m going to Amsterdam in 5 days! Yes I’m finally getting to do my little bit of travelling with Amy and Dani as my birthday treat to myself. I’m going to be a dork and go to a load of museums and galleries as well as the Anne Frank House, which is what I wanted to visit since I was a little girl!
  • I’m running my own Freshers Fair stall. This year I won’t be aimlessly walking around finding something to sign up to, I’ll be trying to make sure people join the horse riding society! Although I probably won’t be able to ride for the whole of the academic year it’ll be great to help others enjoy the sport.
  • Not as exciting but I’ll get to see a Neurosurgeon this month to have a spine check up and hopefully some good news
  • It’s soon going to be my FAVOURITE season, Autumn, bring on the hats, scarves and Hot Chocolate!
  • I’m playing Freshers! Yes! This week we were asked to play a show at The Fighting Cocks in Kingston during freshers week, hopefully it’ll be super busy and a great night to play!
  • I finally get some kind of routine back! It’s been quite difficult this summer without a routine, so I’m hoping that my mood will go back up again once I’m around people and have a schedule.
  • Oh and just to mention IT’S MY 21ST BIRTHDAY THIS MONTH!!!! I’m so excited to finally be hitting 21 and have some great things planned as well as a night out with some of my best friends 🙂
  • I finally get to go back to uni. After having 6 months off of lectures I am 100% ready to get back to studying, I’ve actually kind of missed it over the summer and I’ll be applying for my masters soon, Eek!
  • It’s the Rugby World Cup ❤

As you can all see September is going to be an absolute blast! I’m so excited that it’s finally here and I’m going to be enjoying every minute of it! I want to take the chance to say thank you to you all for reading alongside my time at uni and assure you that just because I’m in my last year of undergrad does not mean the blog will be finishing!! I have a lot of great ideas ahead!

A long drive.

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The British countryside is beautiful, you don’t quite realise how much so until you’ve spent 5 and a half hours in a car with that as the only thing to look at, that was until I bought Mr Bump at a service station as my travelling companion. Yes today we travelled up to Durham for Ali’s grandparents Diamond wedding anniversary (60 years!).

I can’t write much as we haven’t arrived too long ago but I’ve already been fed with delicious food and possibly the greatest cakes you’ll ever taste (Ali’s gran is a pro). So right now I’m feeling quite tired, a little nervous, a little anxious and ready for bed!

Also, a shout out to my beautiful Eleanor who had surgery today! Feel better soon my lovely.

The return- part two

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Four am is  a wonderful time of the morning, the stars are still out, its calm and it’s quiet. At the same time it gets to 8.45 and you feel like you’ve been up all year. This morning I got up at that unsociable hour to pick up Ali’s older sister from the airport on her long awaited return from travelling! Claire is a few years older than us and shes just gone travelling solo across Asia, something in my eyes which is an incredible achievement. It is lovely to have her home after all these months although all of us will be moving out in the next 2 weeks! (Scary huh?) I got lovely presents over the last two days from holidays, Claire got me a lovely bookmark (which should come in handy with all the books I should be getting for my birthday) and a small clock for my desk at uni. Ali got me a lovely present as well , converse shoes are always a winner for me! 

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Seeing Claire come back from travelling made me get the travel bug again! I watched so many people coming back through with backpacks that I was so desperate to find a plane grab Ali and go and explore. I’m not personally attracted to Asia although it does seem very interesting for me the key to the world is Europe. Europe has so much rich history that I honestly can’t get enough of it. Rome is the first stop, next summer which will be so exciting. The I want to go travelling across Europe for a month, I want to head to Australia and meet my childhood friend (although on this occasion it will more than likely be on my own as long haul flights arn’t Ali’s cup of tea!) and just look around. Once I turn 21 I want to head back to the states to visit New York, Florida and California (top of my list right now). I could list everywhere in the world I want to go but it would take a while. I’m not stupid I know I might not get to see everywhere I want to go but I at least want to try.

Now everyone is back however uni is getting closer and closer and it does feel very weird. I only have 10 days (well 9 now seeing at it’s night time) until I pack everything up and leave Basingstoke behind. I’ll be honest and tell you that I am in a blind panic half the time, how will I do this? how will I manage that? There are bigger questions like will my student loan come in on time? Will I find my course ok? Will I be able to keep up? I often get the worry that I wont be good enough for university. I have this need to be one of the best or the smartest even though most of the time it doesn’t matter. After speaking to some lovely friends I have I’ve been assured that they too are waking up with butterflies and feeling a bit sick while battling with the excitement of it all. If I’m honest as long as I have Ali and a supportive group of friends I should get along just fine. I already know that Kingston have a great support network in many different ways but it is still really daunting.