Montana & Yellowstone

If you missed my NYC blog post, catch up here. After gallivanting around New York, my family and I headed off to Montana. Bit of a random place to go, but my brother and dad visited this ranch a few years ago and said it was a must. I spent over a week, eating a ridiculous amount of food, being a cowgirl and going practically technology free (never done so many puzzles in my life before). They were right, it was a must.

After trying to stay on my horse, lots of funny memories and also a few scary ones being made. We said goodbye to the new friends we made in search of a grizzly bear and Old Faithful. No luck on the grizzlies, but if you get the chance to go to Yellowstone National Park, you should. It's glorious.

I have so may pictures and so many new memories from this whole trip. I wont bore you with them all, but yeah going away with your family in your 20's ain't so bad. Holiday of a lifetime.

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New York

I recently came back from what can only be described as one of the best holidays of my life to date. My family and I went to America for a trip to Newwwww Yoooorrrkkk (obvs, Alicia Keys reference) and Montana, with a few places in between. If you are thinking 'What the firetruck do you do in Montana' let me paint the scene, think horses, gorgeous mountains, bears, cowboys (real ones), minimal people and taverns, not pubs people. 

We saved all our pennies for this trip, which we've been planning for some time and I thought I'd start with sharing the NYC section first...

I ate a lot of food, pizza, burgers and more. So much meat in fact, I am currently an honorary vegetarian because a bacon detox minimum was required post-holiday. The sandwiches were from Katz's Deli, which has featured on Man vs Food (need I say more?) and was a truly New York experience.

New York is also famous for brunch and breakfast is kinda a big deal. The french toast was from a really cute and un-assuming breakfast spot in Greenwich Village, Cafe Condesa. Big points if you can comment which film Pershing Square is featured in, another incredible breakfast spot.

We did the usual sightseeing, Empire state, Wall St, 9/11 memorial, Central Park, Macy's etc. Before we arrived we actually booked a private tour with Real New York Tours and did The Half Apple Downtown Tour which I couldn't recommend more. If you are going to NYC, you will not be disappointed by this company. Our tour guide was a charming New Yorker called David, who knew everything and was a lot of fun to hang out with.

Evening-wise, one of the best nights we had was at the Stand Up NY Comedy Club. Ok, not kidding, full on tears-rolling hilarious-ness. We got tickets cheaper from one of the ticket sellers in Times Square and it was brilliant. It's quite intimate, so they really use the audience and we're aged 20-mid 40's (can't remember how old my rents are...) and all 5 of us were in hysterics. 

Foam finger, an essential. This is me at the Yankees match, which was so much fun and another experience I would totally recommend. You actually do order hawt dawgs and beers from a guy who passes them down the stand. Amazing. 

We also did some shopping, duhhh. Here's proof of my damage done in Sephora and the pouty pic is a Mac Cremestick liner I bought in Beurre so I can pretend to be Kylie Jenner.

All the excitement meant many tea breaks were needed, especially if alcohol wasn't on hand. How cute is this tea in the cafe attached to Urban Outfitters? Hope you liked my travels, if you have travel posts, please link as I am already dreaming of another escape!

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Viva Espana

This year I've been lucky enough to get out to Berlin, Croatia, LA and Spain and as I've shared some pictures from all of my trips so far, here's a few from Spain...

1. My grandparents live in a small rural Spanish town called Calasparra

2. The figs are fresh from their neighbor who speaks zero English and told me off because I still haven't learnt any (I will I swear!)

3. My Grandma makes a mean paella

4. The little puppy was one that had been abandoned, unfortunately they don't have the same animal rights as we do, so sadly this is quite common. Don't worry though, this little guy was saved!

5. It's really unfair that we don't have siestas - a nap in the middle of the day is brilliant

I wonder where next year will take me!

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All pictures are my own apart from the very first and last, which are from weheartit

California Dreaming

So, you know I said work had got pretty busy? Well, last week I was in LA for a week long digital art exhibition and a whole host of meetings. I didn't get much downtime unfortunately, but here's a few pictures of sunny LA that I managed to capture.

 Huntington Beach

 LEGO! At the Lego shop in LA Disney (where the exhibition and hotel was!)

 View from a dinner meeting at the Jazz Kitchen

 Surf Comp at Huntington Beach

 The gorgeous Santa Monica

My favourite fries ever

What did I learn in LA then? 

- Fries with nacho cheese are amazing, why don't we put nacho cheese on everything? 

- Life is 100% better when it's sunny, even if you have work
- American people are either insanely skinny or of the cuddly persuasion - dedication both ways!

- I want to live in Santa Monica

- Everyone is overjoyed at Disney

- You can make anything out of LEGO

- Americans LOVE the royal family, a LOT (especially Diana) 

- A British accent immediately makes you smarter, hotter and more likable in LA - score!

- Don't ever go downtown in Hollywood, unless crystal meth, homelessness and a dash of genuine crazy is what your into... 

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Croatia: My New Favorite Place

Hi everyone! I'm like a dodgy magician at the moment, one minute I'm here and the next minute I'm gone. I'm back though *clouds of smoke, doves and other magical shiz* and this post is a full of a few snaps from my holiday the other week.

I went away with four friends to Dubrovnik, Croatia and it was a-maze. Honestly, if you get the chance to go then you really should. It's absolutely gorgeous, full of lovely people, great cocktails and some yummy food...

 The gorgeous 'Old City'

 Half way up our daily 200ish steps (ouch)

 My new name

 The girls!

 One of the many many night out photos

 Classic knee shot

 Lokrum Island

 View from the top of the city walls

 Where's the camera?

 So gorgeous!

 By the Onophrian Fountain in the Old City

 View from Cafe Buza 

 The harbor

Dubrovnik

So, you want the low down huh? here we go...

Where to stay:

- We stayed in an apartment just up from the Old City as we wanted a pool to ourselves for the week. If there are a lot of you heading to Croatia then a villa can be a more affordable option. Otherwise there are some great hotels, including a large Hilton that is in a really good location (not as many steps as ours!). 

What to do:

- You have to scale the Old City walls for a breathtaking view of Dubrovnik from every single angle possible

- Eat ice cream, a lot. Not sure if it's because it's so close to Italy, but the ice cream was amazing. Each cone costs about 80p too, so you can try a lot of flavors for pretty much nothing.

- Visit Cafe Buza, a super cool bar which claims to have 'the most beautiful view', not wrong! If you're feeling brave you can also jump off the cliff with fellow brave people (not me!). 

- Drink cocktails! There are loads of places to grab a cocktail no matter what your budget is.

- Soak up the sunshine. It was 35C+ whilst we were there, so make sure you have a high SPF and lots of water, especially when you scale those walls. 

Where to go:

- Lockrum Island: This pretty little island is just a 12min ferry trip from the Dubrovnik Harbour and is basically where people go to dip in the sea. I have to say that the sea is beautiful in Croatia, you feel like you are in paradise. There's a botanical garden (no joke like 5 flowers), lots of restaurants and some bars too. 

- Cafe Buza: Most beautiful view in Dubrovnik, enough said. 

- Art Cafe: Cool, indie, arty bar that makes some amazing cocktails for hardly any money.

- Sky Bar: Top40 playlist? Check. Cocktails in a bucket? Check. Incredibly good looking people from Australia, South Africa and other 'sexy places'? Check. Great atmosphere? Check. More dancing than you can shake a stick at? Check. Croatia certainly isn't your 'let's get wasted' Malia style place, but people do like a good time and the Sky Bar is a good stop on a night out. 

- Glam Cafe: Stop by for a shake, smoothie or juice. Especially good for a hangover!

- City Walls: Get your arse up all those steps and make your way around the city walls

- Club Revelin: This is the biggest and apparently best club in Croatia and where everyone goes on a night out. It's in an old fortress, which is pretty cool and we had some very fun nights in there. Keep an eye out for posters around the Old City to see if anyone is playing, we saw Sebastian Ingrosso and that was one of the best nights out during our holiday. As a warning, skip the evening where it is 'Dream Girls' this is basically where the half naked dancers that are usually in cages 'perform' some kind of strange porno/burlesque thing. 

- Marco Polo: There are loads of amazing places to eat (deffo have a pizza at least once!) and Marco Polo is a great restaurant tucked up down one of the alley ways in the Old City

- Buy some souvenirs: There are loads to buy and some really cute homemade things. My friend got her baby niece this adorable wooden toy and some candles from Candle City (think that's right), which is mental.

There's loads more to do and if i haven't tempted you, it's pretty cheap and just b-e-a-utiful (I mentioned that a little). I had a good time anyways...

Link me up if you've been anywhere recently! I am already looking for my next adventure "The World is a book, and those who do not travel only read a page" Saint Augustine (any excuse!). 

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