Mission Complete: First holiday of the year

I am now back from my little trip to Spain. I had a lovely four days away! It was so nice just to chill out, relax and not have to think about work... or do any work.  We spent some time on the beach, we spent some time exploring, and I even went for a 3 mile run on the beach one day which was so nice.

Spain in Spring: Day Three

It's Fridaaaayyyyyy!!!! Plus it's the 1st April!  HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!  Today I bring to you day three of my Spain outfits post.

Spain in Spring: Day Two

Yesterday's post demonstrated which clothes I packed for day one of my trip to Spain.  Today I am back with day two of my Spain outfits posts.

Spain in Spring: Day One

I have had the last week off work and all I wanted to do was relax and chill out.  It's been mental at work recently and I have been working six days a week so I couldn't wait to do whatever I wanted.  However the last thing I did was relax and chill out.  I have been so busy!! It's always the way.

Then I went and booked a last minute trip to Spain so this morning I was awake at 3am and happy to be heading to the airport.  As I am away for the next few days I am going to do a series of pre-planned, outfit posts, showing you the clothes I took to Spain.

I found it extremely difficult to pack as I only took hand held luggage, and I didn't know what the weather could be like.  My phone was telling me it would be sunny one day, rainy the next day, and windy the next.  So I tried to mix and match my outfits the best I could.

Maria's Festival Guide

It's fast approaching my favourite time of year...

FESTIVAL SEASON!!

Summer Holiday: Las Vegas - Hawaii - Los Angeles

I don't know about you but I have been so tired recently! I have been coming home from work, lounging on the sofa under a blanket after work, going to bed early just to stay warm, then waking up and going to work the next day.  I blame the weather and the time of year.  January is officially the worst month ever.

A friend and I have been dreaming of summer.  Hot weather, the beach, the sea, so last night we decided too book a holiday.  My friend came round and over a Chinese takeaway, cups of teas and excited squeals, we managed to book our dream holiday.  Me being me, it was nothing uncomplicated.  I do like an elaborate and complicated holiday.  I am going to give you a little insight to what we booked.

We had carried out lots of research over the last month.  We had checked prices with a few travel companies, and calculated the price of doing our own thing.  In the end we called Virgin, who were really helpful, patiently listened to out girlish high pitched excitedness, and offered us the best deal.

In July we are flying out to Las Vegas. Where we stay for 3 nights.  I cannot wait to check out the fancy hotels, visit the Neon Museum, go to the Grand Canyon, go shopping and check out what else Vegas has to offer.  Virgin threw in a limo ride from the airport to the hotel, what a great start to the holiday!

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We are then flying over to Hawaii where we stay in a hotel on Waikiki Beach for 6 nights.  I am excited to check out the beaches, hike up diamond head, go to Manoa Falls, go to the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve and visit Arizona Memorial and Pearl Harbor.

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I feel like I will never want to leave Honolulu but then we are off to Los Angeles where will be spend three nights.  Here I am looking forward to check out some rooftop bars, maybe do some yoga, look at the Hollywood sign, go to the Hollywood Bowl, visit the Runyon Canyon and much more.  We certainly won't be able to fit everything I want to do into three days.

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As you can imagine, I am SO EXCITED!! I am doing two of the things I wanted to do this year, visit somewhere I have never been before and travel outside of Europe.  I don't like to wish time away but I cannot wait until July!!!

Have you been thinking of summer holidays?

Switzerland Adventures: Part V

Earlier on in the week I shared my stay in Bern with you, which you can read here.  Whilst I was staying in Bern, I took a day trip to Geneva.  

Switzerland Adventures: Part IV

Bern was like no place I have ever been before.  After researching the place before I traveled, I expected it to be smaller, I didn't expect to enjoy it so much.  I took 621 pictures in Bern (don't worry, they are not all in this post!!), expect clocks, the amazing buildings and architecture, creepy stalker men and Albert Einstein.

Switzerland Adventures: Part III

Visiting Basel after Interlaken was a stark difference.  You can read all about my Interlaken experience here.  Whereas Interlaken was calm and serence, Basel was busy and bustling, but that was fine as I wanted my adventure to include a range of Switzerland.

Switzerland Adventures: Part II

This post may be a little delayed.  Ok very delayed.  I took this trip back in the summer.  But with dark, cold January approaching I think we could all do with seeing pictures of beautiful mountains and sunshine.  You can read all about part 1 of my Switzerland trip here.

After Zurich I took the train down to Interlaken.  I got off the train with my massive bag and suitcase and started the walk towards the hostel, following the map around the little streets.  My bag was ridiculously heavy, it was a boiling hot day and I was sweating.  But the scenery kept me going, and I didn't get lost!  I had never seen a scenery like it, it was the most stunning thing I had ever seen!!! The pictures will do the talking!!

Weekend in Canterbury

On Saturday I went off to Canterbury for a short weekend away.  I had never been to Canterbury before and it was lovely to see the Christmas markets, the cathedral, lovely Christmas lights and the cute little streets.  I had already completed my Christmas shopping so it was nice to have a relaxing stroll around, exploring the place.

The hotel room.

Sink envy  You know you're getting old when you start liking sinks.

Bathroom selfie and a weird hand.

Canterbury cathedral.

Cute little streets.

The most adorable bookshop.

My outfit for the evening.

It was a shame the weather was so pants.  It was SO cold and windy!!

Despite the rubbish weather it was nice to get away and chill out rather than spending my weekend working.  It was good to relax!

Reading Festival - The end of festival season

May be a little bit late in posting this.  But nevertheless, here we go.  It took me ages to upload the photos.  Oops.

For me Reading Festival signals the end of festival season.  It is the last festival of the summer that I usually attend, and it means that autumn is coming.  I have been to Reading Festival numerous times, and each time I come back, feeling like I cannot wait until the festival next year.

On the way to Reading Festival... the cleanest we would be all week!

This year I was super excited as I didn't get to show my presence at last years Reading Festival and I missed it!  I went with 1 friend and we had early bird tickets.  I had never bought an early bird ticket before.  But having a regular festival weekend camping ticket means waking up ridiculously early on the Thursday to get down to Reading for the morning to secure a good camping spot that isn't drowning in mud.  Having now experienced an early bird ticket, I can safely say that I would get this every time from now on.

Our home for nearly a week.

It should only take less than two hours to get to Reading from my home, so at 2.30PM we set off... and didn't arrive in the camp site with all out luggage until 9PM! Yes, that's right.  It took us 6 hours in the car due to traffic.  We couldn't believe it!! We were so frustrated by the time we got there we just wanted to crack open a can and chill out.  However we had to choose a camping area to set up the tent, we already had a camping area in mind so we headed to green camping area.  We then had the challenge of choosing a good spot and setting up the tent, however it was dark, so this involved stamping around the soggy ground to see which was the least soggy and then making good use of the head torch to set up the tent.

After this mishap, everything was fine.  We woke up the next day to sun.  Then rain. Then sun.  We were incredibly lucky with the weather for the whole weekend.  It did rain, and the place pretty much turned into a mud bath at some points, but there was a good bit of sunshine and dry weather too.  I have previously been to festivals where it has rained non stop.  During this festival I tanned... a lot!!

Gin and beans for breakfast!

Switzerland Adventures

Guess what?! I finally have internet! Woohoo!! So I am here today to tell you about my adventures in Switzerland. I will have to do this in parts as I went to 9 towns and cities, and took 2000 photos.

On Tuesday 14th July I set off from London to Zurich.  I felt so unprepared, I had only booked it a week prior to the trip, but had spent that week doing so much research.  I was so excited and couldn't wait to land in this country I had never visited before.  I nearly cried on the flight there, I thought I had forgotten to take my bank card, but I was saved and found it in my luggage in Zurich airport.  I took the train into Zurich, then walked to the hostel.  I'll admit, I got a bit lost.  But thanks to the google maps images I had screenshotted on my phone, and the research that I had done, I was able to re-trace my steps and eventually found the place late afternoon.

Disneyland Paris March 2015

It's been a while!! Far too long in fact!!  I have been away from this blog far longer than I intended to but my life has been crazily busy recently.  I was meant to be moving house in March, along with a trip to Disneyland, I applied for a job I never thought I would get, got an interview which I only had a couple of days to prepare for, I got the job which I started a week later.  I did not end up moving house in March, it was put back to April, and then to late May (which means I have't moved yet boo).  Anyway, that's all for another blog post.  Here I am going to tell you all about my trip to Disneyland Paris.

I went to Disneyland from 16th March to 18th March.  I had been before when I was 6 years old, so going back almost 20 years later, a few things seemed familiar but I did not remember too much.  I took so many pictures, 560 to be exact, so I am going to let the pictures do the talking (don't worry I won't show you all of them, although here are a fair few)!

Goodbye Summer!

A long silence from me!  I've been working hard and I was finding it difficult to keep up with a blog whilst learning so many things in my new job, then I went on holiday, then my internet wouldn't work.  But now hopefully I will be able to blog more regularly.  I am here to show you pictures of my holiday that I went on at the beginning of September.

I had not been on holiday in two years so when my Mum asked me if I wanted to go to Majorca with the family I was super excited. Unfortunately I could only go for six days due to work, but it was a good break nonetheless.

Before going on holiday I went bikini hunting as I seem to have grown out of my old bikinis.

In the sale from River Island.

Top: River Island.
Bottoms: Next.

The sea and beaches were lovely...

View from the balcony...

We went to some caves...

We went on a boat...

And had an awesome time...

Me and my Daddy.

There were these.... odd shaped bottle openers everywhere.  I of course had to choose the biggest one and have a photo with it.

Have you been on any good holidays this summer?