The TMI Travel Tag

The lovely Ness tagged me in her brand new tag, all about one of my favourite ever ever ever things - travelling! I'd be a fool not to join in, so enjoy...

Marbella

What was the last country you visited? I actually just got back from Germany - I went to Berlin with my university course!

How many countries have you visited? I think it's sixteen, but I'm almost certain I'm forgetting somewhere...

What is your favourite place on the planet, that you've been to? It's easily Krakow, Poland - it's hard to explain, but I feel so safe and at ease there. I've visited twice and I'm hopefully going again this Summer. It's such a clean, beautiful and friendly city with such a rich culture and history, I'd recommend it to anyone.

Krakow

What is your favourite place in your home country? Derbyshire because it's utterly beautiful and brings back so many lovely childhood memories; also London, because the buzz of the city is so much fun.

If you could board a plane now, where would you go? I desperately need some sunshine in my life, so unfortunately it wouldn't be Krakow. I'd have to choose somewhere like the Caribbean or Australia, where I can sunbathe (with factor 50 on, mum).

What's your cup of tea - tropical island getaway, snowy ski break or city exploring trips? Well I'm terrified of going skiing and I absolutely do not tan, so my favourite kind of holiday is a city exploring trip. I've been lucky enough to go on 3 cruises, so I've seen some of the world's most famous cities and got to spend a day at a time exploring them. I'm a history lover, and also a massive suck for pretty architecture. Next on my city list is Bruges, Belgium!

Malaga

What are your top 3 hand luggage must-haves? Hand cream, a decent book and some source of music. I can't fly without music!!!!

Any travel tips to share? Learn how to say please and thank you in the language of whichever country you're visiting; it's only polite, and it makes the attitude of the locals a lot more relaxed and friendly. Trip Advisor is a gem, too.

Most embarrassing moment abroad? Without a doubt, when I was in Malta and we visited some sort of Lego-Land place. My brother is 3 years older than me, and I've always wanted to do everything he can do. So naturally, when he started walking along the tiny wall alongside the water (I honestly don't know what it was, some sort of fake river maybe?!), I followed suit. I fell in, I cried, I had to strip off in public. *hangs head in shame*

Turkey

Biggest disappointment? When I was little, I had an unnerving obsession with Ancient Egypt; until I was about 13, I was desperate to be an Egyptologist. My aunty and uncle took me on a cruise when I was 8, which incorporated many of the ancient wonders of the world - one of which was the Great Pyramids of Giza. I had never been so excited for anything, and it almost lived up to expectations - it was AMAZING. However, right at the last minute we were told we couldn't go inside the pyramids, which for 8 year old me was just strop-inducing.

Nicest surprise? Villefranche-sur-mer. I wasn't expecting much but it's just jaw-droppingly beautiful.

Three places at the top of the travel bucket list... Mount Rushmore (South Dakota, USA) / Budapest (Hungary) / Bruges (Belgium). I actually have my travel bucket list up on my blog, and it looks all fancy. You can see it HERE

Berlin

Favourite food discovery... I'm a horrendously fussy eater, although I did try snails at the captain's cocktail dinner on my last cruise, aged 16. Wouldn't recommend.

Why do you travel? I can't think of a reason why anyone might not want to travel - our world is full of such amazing places, filled with wonderful and inspiring people; I know I won't get to visit everywhere before I die, and that truly saddens me so I grasp any chance I can!

What three things would you take travelling, if you could? My grandad had a little teddy bear, which he called Mr Bean, and he used to take it away with him - I have it now, but it lives at my house and I just don't trust myself to take it away with me in case I lost it, but I'd love to. And also, my entire make-up and book collections.

Have you picked up any phrases from travelling? I know a few things in various languages, but nothing springs to mind really!

What two places would you not go back to and why? The Dominican Republic, because we couldn't leave the resort and for someone who gets bored as easily as I do, that's just utterly ridiculous. And Paris, because I had an awful experience on the Metro which has left me absolutely terrified. I'd probably only go back if it was with someone who wanted to propose to me *insert sassy girl emoji here*

Marbella

Your dream travel companion... Honestly, I don't know - just somebody who is as interested in history and culture as I am!

Most surreal travel moment... Probably seeing the Pyramids at Giza - I'd been fascinated for so long that to see them in the flesh was a real pinch-me moment.

Sorry that most of my answers were SO LONG. I can't half ramble on sometimes; even if you're not tagged, feel free to join in and use the hashtag #tmitraveltag to let me or Ness know over on Twitter!!!

DFDS Mini Cruise to Amsterdam // Review & Photos

I have such a love of travel, but when you're a cheap-skate like me it can be difficult to do as much travelling as I'd like to. So when I was browsing through the Living Social website, the 'Escapes' section caught my eye. On there I found a deal for a mini cruise to Amsterdam, at the low price of £79 for two people - between my boyfriend and I it would be  a mere £40 each. We invited a few friends and booked it immediately.

The Details

Price - £79 for two people.
Length - 2 nights on board (we left on Wednesday afternoon and arrived home on Friday morning)
Time in Amsterdam - 5 hours.

When the day of our trip finally rolled around, we got a taxi to North Shields ferry terminal, and checked in. This was so much easier than I imagined - we showed our passports and we got given a boarding card which doubled as our room key. Our rooms were absolutely tiny, but for two nights it had everything we needed - and for the price, we really didn't mind!

The journey itself was fine; I get sea sick but on a boat this big I barely felt a thing. The boat was really expensive which to us was the only downfall - it was over 5 euros for a Smirnoff Ice, which left us feeling gobsmacked. We raided the duty free for alcohol and mixers and had a few sneaky pre drinks in our cabin, before heading to one of the bars to take part in the quiz... which we won!

We docked at around 9.30am on Thursday morning, and boarded a coach which took us from the port into Amsterdam itself - this transfer was included in what we had already paid. It took around 40 minutes, and there we were in Amsterdam. We decided to find somewhere to eat, and down a side street we found a lovely cafe which did full English breakfasts for just over 6 euros.

We spent the rest of the day just wandering around the streets, exploring the Red Light district and admiring the canals. Being there for 5 hours meant we couldn't go to one of the museums or the Anne Frank house, because we didn't want to run the risk of missing our return coach journey. It also meant we had an excessive amount of time to not do much - that was our only negative point; 5 hours isn't enough time, but it's also too much time.

Amsterdam is beautiful, full of bikes and happy people, fantastic architecture and crazy coffee shops. It's not as expensive as I thought it would be, and even in September the weather was lovely. On the whole I would so recommend the DFDS mini cruise, because it gave us the chance to visit a wonderful city for such a cheap price, with the added bonus of two hilarious nights on board a ferry.

DFDS Seaways Ferry.

The Bulldog Coffee Shop, Amsterdam.

One of many canals...

My clique in The Dam.

Jack and Rose/My boyfriend and I

This is my favourite ever photo of us!

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my trip and if you are considering a DFDS mini cruise, definitely go for it!

My Trip To Marbs // Summer 2014

I went to Marbella (well, sort of - we stayed a short drive away from the tourist and celeb hot spot!) in August with my boyfriend and his family. I was looking at my photos this evening and realised I never got around to blogging about my trip, so I thought I'd do a short post about what I got up to over there!

The holiday involved a lot of chilling out, which was fine by me after the busy and stressful year I've had! We had a beach day and visited an amazing safari park, as well as spending time by the pool and with my boyfriend's aunty & uncle who live over there.

Selwo Safari Park - click here // We had an amazing day here, it was such a fantastic experience being able to get super close to animals such as baby goats and even lemurs! We walked through all of the park, and then rode on a safari to see the giraffes and zebras, and then got to feed hippos - such a crazy and amazing thing to be able to do.

Peurto Banus // This is literally THE poshest place I've ever been. Like if you don't own a yacht or Ferrari/Bentley/Aston Martin, you are severely out of place. There was every designer shop you could think of: Vivienne Westwood, Cartier, Dior... It was paradise for my car-loving boyfriend and shopaholic me, even if we were too poor to indulge ourselves. We ate at a fantastic Italin tucked away in one of the streets and up a flight of stairs, which sadly I can't remember the name of, but it was lovely!

Malaga // We drove into Malaga for the day, and we did a bit of shopping and wandered through the streets, taking in the culture and the views.

Marbella // We also spent a day in Marbella, which is a crazy mish mash of old and new. The seafront is modern and busy, full of tourists and sun worshippers. But the real gem of Marbella is the old town: winding streets with independent shops and gorgeous little tapas bars. It was one of the highlights of the holiday for me!

A fun day at the beach

Encountering zebras on safari

The sunset at Peurto Banus

Obligatory couples photo

Dress - Primark, £5

Out in Malaga for the day

Dinner OOTD

Dress - Bank, £10

The Lavender Shop, Marbella Old Town

Pink scooter, my dream ride