Wanderlust

After coming across the Wanderlust Magazine in the shops the other day, it gave me a new found love for the word and I decided this word sums me up. Whole and Complete.

Bonnie Scotland

I never got around to posting about my the best new years I have had in.. well ever..
We headed to Bonnie Scotland for 5 days to spend new years in the highlands.

Our first day was spent in Edinburgh and we headed out for a walking tour. It rained, and rained and was freezing but we pushed through it to see the amazing city and learn its history. I loved Edinburgh, it was such a cute city and reminded me of a bigger version of Bath. I wish I had more time there to see the place in all its beauty.

The next day we headed off for our 4 day Highland tour with Wild in Scotland. Our tour guide Danny was crazy, funny and a true Scotsman! We headed for the highlands stopping in Stirling to see the William Wallace statue and memorial, passing amazing glens (Glen Garry, Glen Nevis and Glencoe) and lochs and finally reaching Stromeferry, where we were staying for the next 3 nights.

New years eve day was spent on Isle of Skye. An amazing island, with incredible scenery and history.  Oh and hairy coos which are the coolest animal and probably deserve a blog post all to themselves.

We had a few different nationalities on the tour so we celebrated midnight of each country during the day, starting with New Zealand and a haka performance. I do have a video of this but it wouldnt load :(

New years eve night was the best new years I have had ever. Stromeferry is a tiny town with literally a population of 17 so everyone in the town got together for a night of kilts, bonfires, fireworks and lots of buckfast! It was an amazing night.

Thankfully we had a day off on new years day to sleep in and relax. Later during the day a Sherlock Holmes like shooter took us out along the loch to show us how to shoot a shotgun at clay pidgeons. This was probably the scariest thing I have ever done but atleast I can say I shot a gun! (I missed the clay pidgeon in case you were wondering, however mitch got 2 out of 3!)

Our last day was a crazy one, racing to get back to Edinburgh. We stopped by Loch Ness, but sadly Nessie didnt show her face that day. Personally I think she was camera shy.

Because of the snow which was falling heavily and the fact we had to get back to edinburgh by 7pm we didnt get to see most of the battlefields and amazing scenery along the way down which I would have loved to see but oh well! we did get to see it through the snow covered windows.

I would have liked a few more days in Scotland, so I think I should definitely go back there sometime.. but probably in the summer so I dont get frostbite!

 

I met some amazing people and had the best time in scotland. I think its going to be pretty hard to top the New Years I had!

Slack

Yes I have been ridiculously slack on the blogging post of late and really need to find my love for it again.

Its been a crazy few months, change of job.. twice, a freak out that I wont get a job and have to go home, close to bankruptcy (not literally but I was skating on thin ice in the money department), crazy busy weekends and now starting to pack up!

I have 6 and a half weeks left in London and I cant believe that its come up so quickly. Im so excited to see my friends and family but Im really not ready to leave London. the fact i have a deadline now is starting to freak me out. I havent done everything I wanted to do, I finally found a job that I love and dont want to leave, I dont want to leave my new found friends and most of all I dont want to live 22 flying hours away from Europe!!

It's a good thing we are heading to Berlin next weekend for a few days.. i'll keep you posted on what its like!

Happy 2012!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

I've gone off the blogging radar for a little while but im back!! I've got new years resolutions, new goals, new ideas and a whole lot of inspiration for what I want out of 2012 and im excited!

A few weeks ago I booked my flight.. the one way ticket out of London which signifies the end of an era and that piece of paper (well email) is basically a constant reminder that I have limited time left in this amazing part of the world. I leave on the 5th of April leaving me with 13 weeks to find a job, save some money and cross everything off my to do list. I really need more than 13 weeks for this!

A job is first thing on my list. Sadly the best job I have ever had came to an end before christmas and I really need to find some work before I become beyond bankrupt.
Saving money is the next thing.. I have plans to go to Ireland in March and if I dont have any money I'll be begging on the streets of Dublin.
My to do list is getting bigger by the day, it grows every time I think of something I wanted to do or see but always put it on the back burner because its one of those things that I can do anytime... It's practically the 11th hour right now and I'll be in a mad rush to fit everything in before I leave.

2012 is going to be an amazing year. It has started off with a bang and I hope it continues to do so!

Im feeling festive

Yes I do realise its still atleast 5 weeks until christmas but the christmas spirit is in the air and I'm getting excited!!
What better way to start feeling festive that with a stroll around London. The lights and decorations filling the streets are amazing. I'm loving Regent Street with its huge display of twinkling lights and ohhh Harrods.. the already amazing building is covered with lights showing its beauty to the londoners!

I cant wait till christmas and I'm already planning on visiting the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park this weekend.. now its just to decide where to go ice skating.. Tower of London, Somerset House, Hyde Park or Natural History Museum... oh the choices!!

Tagines, sand dunes and camel rides - Moroccan adventures

Well I did it.. I ventured to Africa for a taste of the Moroccan life and whilst it had it's up and downs I can really say I loved it.

I should probably mention before I start that I was going there by myself.. Well I was meeting my 2 lovely friends but I had to fly there by myself... Something I really shouldn't do. After my last horrendous flight coming back from KL by myself and the fear that instilled in me, I was quite nervous if I'm honest to be going on another flight unaided.
The flight was fine but after arriving to Marrakech airport and waiting for my transfer I realize they have forgotten me. So I'm stuck in the airport.. alone, nervous, angry and being hit on by various Moroccan men. Awesome.
After an hour and a half, 2 phone calls and £10 of credit later I finally make it to the hotel. Yippee!!

After the stressful beginning it got better as we headed out to the sahara desert. If I could have stayed anywhere in morocco, hands down I would choose to camp out in the sahara. It was amazing. The red dunes that go for miles, the luxury camping complete with western toilets, proper beds and turbans. One night was spent on top of a massive sand dune watching the sunset. This single moment is one of the most amazing experiences of my life. How many people can say they watched a sunset from the middle of the Sahara sitting on a sand dune...??

Whilst I loved being out in the desert , the camel ride was not so great. It started good and it was pretty exciting but the novelty was quickly lost after we realised how painful this was on our bums. I felt for the poor boys that had to sit on them.. I hope they werent planning to have children anytime soon!!

After 3 nights in the desert, I was silently applauding myself that I hadnt been sick.. the morrocan bug had quickly spread around camp... until the day we were leaving which incidently was the day we had to drive about 10 hours to our next stop.. 2 vomits on the bus later and I was completely and utterly under the spell of the morrocan bug... so not fun!! And I take full responsibilty of spreading the vomiting part of it around our group like wild fire. They dropped like flies after that!! 

So I should probably mention about the tagines (just typing the word has sent my stomach into uneasiness). The tagines were great... for the first couple. Slowly after that the taste of one tagine to the next was turning into one big gigantic cumin spice of a meal. And dont get me started on the stale bread!! I think everyone barr Alisha would be absolutely fine if we never had to eat one again.

I shouldnt complain because I had the best time on my week in Morocco. I met some really amazing people, had some great times and ticked another country off my to do list!

Tube Tales

With all my previous jobs I have had in London I had the luxury of being able to catch the bus or walk from home which was pretty much the greatest thing about all the jobs i had... now that im an upper class girl working in the heart of mayfair it is imperitive that I catch the tube everyday. I can now say these journeys into London each day has opened my eyes to the commute most londoners face and I have to say its not a fun one...

Firstly, no one, and i repeat no one makes eye contact. If you do its probably the end of your life as you know it. If your face isnt buried into a book, the metro, your laptop or iphone and you decide to gaze around to look at fellow passengers be wary of someone else doing the same. The awkwardness of catching someones eye will leave you utterly ashamed and wish you could curl into a ball and hide from the world. your eyes do funny tricks as you quickly dart them left and right, up and down to relieve yourself of the embarrasment.

Secondly, no one talks, and if you do everyone will hear it. I cant count the number of times I have overheard an emotional sob story between friends about a current break up, a bitch about that awful girl at work who gave you work to do a minute till home time, a whinge about the kids... no one wants to hear it.. unless its really funny like the time 2 girls were saying they wouldnt come to Australia because of the hail.. i mean really.

There are some very (how shall I put this..) dumb people out there who have no idea of the etiquette of being on the tube.
LET PEOPLE OFF THE TUBE BEFORE YOU GET ON. This one annoys me the most. I mean really dont push your way on before the rest of us have got on. I now push my way back and have been known to barge a few people out of the way because I could almost not get off in time.
TURN YOUR MUSIC DOWN. No one wants to hear britney blasting from your ear phones.. (Do I sound like an old whinging nanna??)
PLEASE USE DEODOURANT. I detest standing next to someone holding onto the railing above and their armpit is practically in my face and they forgot to either shower and/or use deodourant.. its not fun.
ITS PROBABLY BEST NOT TO FALL ASLEEP ON THE TUBE. We dont enjoy listening to your snoring, but I do get enjoyment out of the fact that when you woke up and asked where you were, you figured out you had gone 5 stops too many. Classic.

I could literally go on and on about the ups and downs of catching the tube but I'll leave it at this... catching the tube everyday for work is expensive... £27.60 for a weekly pass just for zones 1 and 2... not the best thing for my poor bank account.