Being a Tourist

Its not often that I go right into London and be a tourist, but when I do I always love it.

Last weekend was Claire's last weekend in London before we head off travelling and then she heads home, so we decided to do some touristy things and take advantage of the 28 degree days.

Saturday night started with dinner at Ping Pong in Southbank. After we stuffed ourselves full of dim sums and delicious squid we headed off for a walk.. Starting at the London Eye we crossed the Golden Jubilee Bridge and headed for Trafalgar Square. Possibly my favourite part of London, Trafalgar square was packed full of people standing around, taking photos and generally enjoying the extended hours of daylight and fact we could be outside (at night) without a jacket. We kept on walking through Picadilly circus and onto Leicester Square. We excitedly went to m&m world which has just opened.. and I must say its sooooo much better than the New York store. 4 levels of merchandise, chocolate and goodness. mmm yum!!
The night finished off with a viewing of Bridesmaids in Leicester Square.. (which reminds me I must go and see a movie premier there sometime)

The highlight of my weekend was the sunday afternoon lounging around Hyde Park. We had talked about having a picnic in hyde park for a very long time. It was always either too cold, the weather suddenly turned or we woke up too late to get ourselves organised for it. But we finally made the plans and we spent the afternoon of the hottest day of the year sitting under a tree, having a delicious picnic on Mark's and Spencers food and watching the other thousands of people who had the same idea as us to head to the park.
There seemed to be a revival of rollerblading/skating and hundreds of crazy skilled skaters would fly by showcasing their skills.

The weekend finished off with some apple cider and then Pimms and lemonade by the Thames. Pretty freaking awesome weekend...

Now to get through the next few days at work when I finish on Thursday and I'll be a tourist heading around France, Italy, Spain, Greek Islands and Thailand for 2 months.... tough life eh..

Ascot Races

Last weekend we went to the Royal Ascot Races. I don’t know if it was the weather, the abundance of mud, the lack of seating or just the British attempt at a race day but it didn’t live up to expectations.

Don’t get me wrong I still had a great day. It was fun to dress up, see some friends, drink pimms and cheer on the horses but there was still that niggling feeling that Magic Millions is a lot better.

The day started early with a 6.30am wake up call. We got ready (complete with my own handmade fascinator which I am extremely proud of by the way) and headed to Temple station. The bus pulled out slightly behind schedule and we headed for Ascot, an hour and a half drive away. It was raining on and off which didn’t do wonders for my hair.. or my outfit which I believe looked better without a cardi and/or wrap. We were provided Pimms, wine and a buffet lunch which filled the spot.

By the time the races opened it was pouring and we had to make a 5 minute walk to the venue, not fun, but we got in without hassle and it was there we got to enjoy being in the famous race course.

Pushing our way to the fence after trampling through a field of mud, we secured ourselves an ok position to view the races. It was at this time my highlight of the day happened… I saw the queen! She made her grand entrance with cutie Phillip in carriage and waved to the crowd. I like to think she waved directly at me… for purposes of a really great blog post lets suppose she did. It was pretty cool to see ol’ Lizzie and definitely lifted spirits.

The rest of the day was spent cheering on the horses, walking through mud and having a great time. The bus ride back was painful though as we were so tired and I just looked forward to getting out of my ruined muddy heels. We did drive past Windsor Castle though which was pretty darn cool.

So all in all, I still had a great day. Something to tick of my list of things I want to do.

But really, the Poms don’t do a race day like the Aussies do!

Something to aspire too..

I have been trawling the web for some cool travel websites, to see what other travel bloggers write about, where they have been and generally getting some tips, ideas and plans for all future trips I want to do.. (the list grows every time I find a new website)

My favourite site so far is about Nomadic Matt. An American travelling the world and making all of us extremely jealous of the amazing trips he does.
I love his website, because alot of it is so relevant to me, cheap places to stay, cheap eats, things to do on a budget. exactly what im looking for in a nutshell.. well a webshell shall we call it?

Despite the amount of travel I have done I am pretty jealous of this amazing travel lifestyle matt has. One day I'll start my own website similar.. Something to aspire to!

Check out Matts website http://www.nomadicmatt.com/ I guarantee you will be planning a trip to somewhere exotic after reading it!!

Happy Anniversary!!

It has been one year since we left the comfortable, warm, beachy surroundings of the gold coast and headed to the big smoke I now call home.. London.

The year has gone so fast, but when I think about when I last saw my friends and family it does seem like such a long time ago.
The year has been filled with plentiful trips around europe and to america, that have constantly filled the gap in my life. It has not however eased the travel bug that is constantly coming out.

Every week I have found a new place I want to go and its added to the list. there is not enough time or money to visit them all, which saddens me beyond belief.
The only thing I can think of to do is getting myself a super cool job in the travel industry, becoming a professional travel blogger and/or researcher and getting paid to see the world. Its my only answer to fill the whole my heart!!
So anybody... everybody.. please send my details to every travel company you know to get me my dream job!!!

A year in pictures

Next week it will be a year since we left home.. crazy i know! Its been the best year of my life and I have loved every second of the amazing travelling I have done.

Here is the past year of my life in pictures..

June

We left on june 14 and headed to phuket, soaking up the sun, the cheap food and drinks and our enjoying the start of our big adventure

July

We spent almost two weeks in my favourite country of the world.. Croatia. Dubrovnik and Split are absolutely beautiful and I would head back in a second!

August

After 2 months off I started working, it didnt last long and we headed to Lagos in Portugal for a long weekend. We spent the whole time relaxing on the beach, eating cheap food and generally doing not much at all.. amazing!

September

A group of us headed to Oktoberfest which was super great fun. The first day was a write off for most of the boys... Mitch drank 5 steins in 3 hours, asked us to take him out of the beer hall and passed out in the park.. he also spent the next day spewing his little heart out. All in all it was still a fun 4 days.

October

We spent Halloween in the best place possible... New York! we saw the halloween parade and got a little dressed up.

November

We were still in New York in November.. Hands down New York is my favourite city in the whole world. The place is amazing and I couldnt get enough of it. I almost wondered if we have moved to the wrong city!

December

The temperatures dropped severely and it start snowing. It was so amazing to wake up and see a blanket of soft white snow over everything. I made my first snowman!!

New Years

We saw in the new year under the london eye watching the amazing fireworks. they went for atleast half an hour and by the end you could barely see them due to the smoke all around. It was the perfect way to end 2010 and start 2011 in a new city!

January

I became a skiing professional in Les Deux Alps in France. It was the most fun week ever. I started out as a gumbi in the beginners class having never skiied before,  but by the end I was one of two who did a blue run out of the whole class and I survived!!

February

We were mean to head to Egypt, but due to the riots there our tour and flights were cancelled. we were absolutely devastated! luckily we were able to book a last minute trip to canary islands. Mitch spent the week diving so I spent the week sleeping in, going to the beach, reading and shopping. pretty much the perfect holiday!

March

I didnt go anywhere in March which is pretty disappointing, but I did turn 23 which was pretty exciting!

April

We spent an amazing 2 weeks touring around Turkey, with a special stop in Gallipoli for ANZAC Day. That was the best experience of my life and i cherish every memory of it. Lest We Forget.

May

My second month in the year I have been gone where we didnt go anywhere. I spent the days counting the weeks till the next holiday!

June

And here we are... one year on and still loving living in London!