I Heart Paris! Paris thinks I'm "just OK"

Paris is awesome. The end. Well, not really the end - but I really feel it's worth saying as I, honestly, truly, 100% love Paris. It's a super awesome city with great food, great parks and you can literally walk everywhere. I last visited in May, a trip we initially planned after booking tickets for the French Open. As an aside - this was amazing. I'd never been before and it was everything I was hoping for. We had bought tickets for the cheaper court (of course) but actually ending up seeing both Murray and Nadal play (separate matches) so I would have been bummed if I'd been on the more 'spensive court watching Djokovic play Gasquet.

We spent the rest of our time in Paris, drinking, eating, wandering, parking (as in, being in parks, not parking cars) and sightseeing, and I could waffle on about all the lush things we did if I thought anything I said would be new information to anyone.

Anyway, my point is, I love Paris. And I'll tell you what, Paris loves me! Actually no, that's not right - Paris loves my Kate Spade purse. I'd not been off the train 5 minutes and it was gone - having been to Paris before I practically stuffed my bag up my top once on the metro so it could only have departed from me during the shuffling to get off the Eurostar / across Gare du Nord / waiting for the metro. I mean, it happens. When you travel a lot it's bound to happen sooner or later - you get to the hotel front desk, go to grab your credit card and go 'fuck, it's not here'. Luckily I was with my boyfriend who was able to pay for everything during the weekend we were there but it really made me realise the obvious importance of not keeping all your important things in one place. What if I had my passport in there as well? Losing all my money, credit cards and debit cards in one go is bad enough, but what if I had been alone? How would I have even been able to get any emergency cash? It's a shitty lesson to learn but an important one nonetheless - luckily enough I was away for a long weekend not too far from home, but it could have been a million times worse. Why did I even need to take my whole purse with me? Whoever took it is now the proud owner of my gym, nectar and boots advantage card - and all power to them - but really, I could have just left them in my beaut Kate Spade on my bed and just taken the essentials. 

Main lesson - just because you're on holiday doesn't mean everyone is going to treat you nicely. In fact, some people are probably going to treat you worse. Just chalk it up to experience, by a new (better) purse, and leave your boots advantage card at home.

What's your worse travel-theft-horror story?

p.s. I will truly have eternal pity on anyone else who has to experience the Eurostar Customer Service team, but that's for another day...

Weekending: Edinburgh (March 2015)

Edinburgh is one of my favourites. I've been there with friends and with boyfriends, for romantic trips away and to the festival. I have been there enough times to have my favourites that I always visit as well as always having a list of new places to try. On our most recent trip we (me, my boyfriend, my friend, her husband) were there mainly to visit a friend, but my boyf and I decided to make a long weekend of it to get the most out of the city.

Travel

We got the train there and back - going up at around 11am on the Friday and returning about 2.30pm on the Monday. My friends who joined us got the sleeper train up overnight arriving Saturday morning and then flew back Sunday evening. Like most UK cities, Edinburgh is easy to reach via a number of travel options, and if you book well enough in advance then it's more than affordable.

Accommodation

Once again, we stayed in the Nira Caledonia hotel - one of my favourite hotels in the world. This was my third stay there, and we definitely had the best room I've stayed in there so far as our bathroom had a bath with jets rather than just a shower that I've had in previous stays. The bed was as big and comfortable as I remembered, and I gave the huge bath a go (and used the jets, though be advised to not try and figure out how to turn them on until the bath is full) which was delightful. The hotel gifted us a bottle of wine as well which was a lovely touch. We ate there for breakfast all three mornings during our stay, and also ordered some room service on Sunday night, and each meal was exactly what we were after. I cannot recommend the Nira Caledonia highly enough - with the lovely staff and relaxing rooms I can't imagine staying anywhere else in Edinburgh.

Food

Friday night - burgers at Red Squirrel - one beef and one chicken. They were awesome. We also shared a beetroot salad which was deffo in my top ten salads.

Saturday morning - breakfast at hotel (I believe I had poached eggs on toast, followed by some fruit and yoghurt)

Saturday evening - Hanams. We left it until that afternoon to decide where to eat, and after some googling I came across Hanams, which serves Kurdish and Middle Eastern cuisine. It's also BYOB with no corkage fee, which definitely made it a cheaper meal. Definitely one I would return to if I was in the mood for that type of food.

Sunday morning - breakfast at hotel (think this was my scrambled eggs and smoked salmon day)

Sunday lunch - Set-menu at Wedgwood. This was delicious, and such good value! I'd eaten there before on my birthday last year, and the food was just as inventive and interesting as I remembered. I believe I had goats cheese with curried lentils to start, then sooomething for my main (i'm annoyed I can't remember this) and then sticky toffee pudding. The food here is delicious, and the set lunch menu costs £12.95 / £16.95 for 2 / 3 courses. You can't really go wrong!

Sunday evening - room service. I had a smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich, with some chips. Obviously.

Monday morning - final breakfast at the hotel.

Monday lunch - train picnic!

Sights

As we had all visited the city before, we didn't feel the need to do any of the touristy sight-seeingy bits this time around. Instead, we did a few geocaches along the Leith River Walk, and visited the Camera Obscura museum, which, although pricey, I would definitely recommend.

Shopping
The main shopping street in Edinburgh is Princes Street, which is full of all the standard high street shops. A couple to look out for though are Zara, which has a huge section upstairs of their child and baby clothes; Russell and Bromley, which has a great selection particularly from their mens range; and HMV, which has a really awesome vinyl section (I picked up Purple Rain and Blue whilst I was there).

Writing this all up now it doesn't seem like we did much aside from eat. But that's the great thing when you visit a city you know so well - you can just relax and wander and have a lovely time without feeling like you have to be go-go-go all the time. For me, that's what Edinburgh is all about.

A Guide to... Rome

Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill

You can buy a ticket that grants you entry to both the Colosseum and the Roman Forum (plus Palatine Hill) for €12 per person. The best way to get your ticket without having to spend too much time queueing is to buy your entry pass from outside the Roman Forum - the queues here are much smaller than at the Colosseum, and when we got there at around 9.30am we were only waiting for about five minutes. Once at the Colosseum, if you are after an audio or visual guide you have to queue again, but this is a much (much) shorter queue than if you were buying your tickets then and there. The audio tour we did cost €5.50, but we found it a bit lacking in information and wasn't all that clear. Also when we went, two of the 6 audio-tour points were closed off and there is currently no replacement audio so these two sections were a bit redundant. Probably worth doing for the cost, but maybe do a bit of reading-up on it first.

Circus Maximus

En route to the Colosseum, and open to the public to walk through. Has a running track around the edge if you are that way inclined!

Vatican Museum, St Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel

Everyone who visits Rome will tell you that the queues for the Vatican Museum are ridiculous. Well, they were being kind. The museum opens at 9am and when we got there at that time the queue was already enormous, so goodness knows what time the people at the front had arrived. Luckily, we had planned ahead and booked our tickets and tour in advance - there are a few options but we pumped for the 3-hour one that took in the museums, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica, at a cost of €37 per person. Our tour guide was spectacular - she knew her stuff and made the whole thing so much more interesting and engaging than I could have ever imagined. She gave us a detailed overview of the paintings to look out for in the Sistine Chapel so when we got in there we knew what we were looking at (no loud conversations and no photos allowed at this point) and it made the whole experience so much better. At the end of the tour we climbed up to the top of the dome of St Peter's Basilica (which has some very questionable steps) and the view of Rome from their was breathtaking. I highly, highly, recommend this tour, and even if this one doesn't take your fancy then you really must look online and book something in advance. 

Pantheon

Free. Can get very busy - we wandered past a few times and there didn't seem to be a quiet time. They request silence as it is a sacred building, although the large crowds mean that this isn't often adhered to. The bar directly opposite does a good bottle of house red wine if you fancy a drink with a view, although I wouldn't bother stopping for the food. Instead, walk about five minutes and eat at Maccheroni instead.

Trevi Fountain

Beware: this is currently under renovation and covered in scaffolding. Google suggests that this will be the case until Autumn 2015, but as there is no clear date it suggests this could be an ongoing process. You can still walk over the top of the fountain so you can get the scale of the structure, but this is currently not a trip highlight.

Spanish Steps

Currently has scaffolding and a large Fiat advert at the top so slightly underwhelming. Is worth it to sit on the steps and take in the surroundings, plus there's a very nice coffee bar nearby.

Piazza del Popolo

Rome is awash with various piazza's, but Piazza del Popolo was our favourite. Large, relaxed and with a beautiful fountain, this would make a great pit-stop.

Piazza Navona

Probably our second favourite piazza. Another good one to have a wander around in, before stopping for food and great service at Cantina e Cucina.

Stadio Olimpico

Rome's largest and main sports stadium, this is primarily used for football but also hosts rugby games. It is a bit of a walk out of town but if you're going to an event there the atmosphere will drag you along.

Altare della Patria / Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

A beautiful building, particularly when the sun is shining. There are two guards watching over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which makes for a moving memorial.

Santa Maria in Trastevere

A beautiful church in the equally beautiful Trastevere. The square outside hosts a number of bars and cafes, and this is a great spot to stop and have a drink and people-watch, before heading to dinner at Ivo a Trastevere for a pretty incredible pizza.

We flew to Rome from Luton on Monarch.

We flew back from Rome to Stansted on Ryanair.

We stayed in Trastevere, in an AirBnB apartment.

2015 Travel Plans

So following on from my post on my 2014 Travel and Events Round-Up, I figured I would write one detailing my plans for the rest of the year seeing as we are now at the start of it. It will be interesting to see how many of these plans actually pan out before the end of the year, and also I LOVE writing a list.

* My first trip isn't too far away - I am going to Rome for a long weekend in early February with a couple of friends. None of us have ever visited before so we are planning carefully to try and cram in all the sightseeing-y bits as well as check out some awesome restaurants and bars - I have been given the last two as my research responsibilities so if anyone has any recommendations please do let me know! We are also fitting in a six nations match - I've never been to the rugby before so I'm definitely looking forward to that. Will probably need a few thermals though I reckon?

* Not long after that my boyfriend and I are going to Edinburgh with another couple we know. We are staying in the Nira Caledonia (one of my favourite hotels) and I can't wait - I'm excited to re-visit some of the great places we ate and drink at on our last visit. As well as this I want to fit in a visit to the Camera Obscura museum as I have never been, and MOST IMPORTANTLY! Visit our dear friend who has just this week had a beautiful pair of twins. 

* In April I have a birthday. To detract from the horror of this we are going to New York for 5 nights, incorporating the dreaded day itself, and I'm so looking forward to it - I have been to New York an handful of times but not for a few years and I can't wait to get back there. I've already got a few bits planned (such as a basketball game on my birthday) and we're staying in the New York branch of the Ace, so I can't see how this is going to be anything other than awesome.

* Next on the list is our summer holiday. We've decided to have a bit of an adventure this year, and are hoping to go interrailing in June, taking in Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Bratislava and Prague. I need to really start planning this, but I've got the basic schedule down (including train times from place to place) and so the next step is looking at accommodations. I'm thinking a mix of cheap hotels and airbnbs, but any recommendations for this for any of these cities would be welcomed! I've never been to any of these cities before and am definitely excited to explore some new areas.

* In one of the blogs I read - Emma's Travel Tales - she mentioned staying in the Citizen M hotel in Glasgow. Not having Glasgow near the top of my destination list (sorry Emma!) but intrigued by the hotel I had a look at the other locations they have, and Rotterdam caught my eye. I haven't been to Holland since I was young but Amsterdam has never really appealed, and so we're thinking maybe a little weekend away later in the year may be in order?

* My school friends and I all have big birthdays this year (hence the New York trip I am taking) and so we have been talking about doing something to mark the occasion. At the moment the current favourite looks like a little weekend break to Whitstable in September before it gets too cold - beach, fish and chips, pubs and walks. Sounds right up our streets!

* At some point last year I read a post in What Joanna Ate about a stay she had at The Pig. It sounded lush so I got googling, and saw that they have a few hotels in various places. We're thinking about maybe doing a little pre-Christmas trip in December to the one in Bath, probably mid-week to avoid as many people / tourists as possible!

Now I just need to stop spending money so I can afford it all...

Weekending - Stratford-upon-Avon

I recently spent a weekend in Stratford-upon-Avon on a hen do, and although some of the bits and pieces we did were quite hen-specific other parts were definite must-dos for anyone visiting this lovely town for a couple of days. Here are some of my highlights.

* There are lots of choices for places to stay, ranging from budget guest houses to boutique hotels. As there were a few of us though we decided to rent a cottage for the weekend, and settled on the Unicorn Barns. The house was lovely and perfect for our group - the rooms (especially the communal areas) were lovely and spacious and the kitchen was fully-equipped with all the cooking utensils we would need. The house was about a 20-minute walk away from the centre of town which was really nice as well, it meant we really felt we were away from the centre of town in a relaxed setting. However, the communication from the owners beforehand was frustratingly slow and I'm now having problems getting our deposit back so do bear this in mind if you go down this route.

* Stratford-upon-Avon is well-known for it's cultural history, and this shouldn't go ignored when visiting. Our hen was keen on afternoon tea, so we did a river cruise with Bancroft Cruisers which included prosecco, tea and scones, as well as an informal guided tour of the area. This was perfect for us - our guide was the right balance of amusing and informative, and they were more than happy to accommodate any requests we had when booking. This is excellent value for money, and comes highly recommended from me. Post-cruising we continued our exploration on foot - stopping at the RSC (mainly in the gift shop) and also the church Shakespeare is buried in.

* In pretty much every area in the world you can find something a bit more unique to do if you search [google] enough. I wanted to find a museum that was a bit different to the norm for our trip, and found the perfect one in the form of The MAD Museum. We were't entirely sure what to expect before we visited as I couldn't get the website to load properly, however we needn't have worried as this was a fun and fascinating way to spend our time. With things that would enthral both kids and adults, this is placed firmly at the top of my list of recommendations.

* As popular as Stratford-upon-Avon is, it should go without saying that there are multiple dining and drinking options. We only ate out once during our trip (as we used Benson's Catering one night who were great - all the food tasted fab and they even washed up afterwards!) and chose The One Elm to do this. Everyone enjoyed their meals and it was very reasonably priced so I would visit again - even if one of our (two) waitresses seemed super grumpy!

* And finally, shopping. It seemed to me that Stratford-upon-Avon had just the right mix of high street shops and independent ones, with a few of us making some purchases during our visit...!

We were so lucky with the weather when we visited as it was generally really hot and sunny, and this really made the weekend just that little bit more special and it really seemed the ideal place for the hen do. I'd never visited the town before so I'm really glad that I now have, and also know a few places to visit again if I return!

Weekending - Oslo

This past weekend my boyfriend and I visited Oslo. It was the first time either of us had spent more than a few hours in Norway so we were both super excited to have an explore and discover somewhere new.

Since we've got back and people have asked me about it, the two things I have found myself repeating are that it was a) HOT and b) PRICEY. I think Norway is one of those places that people assume is all hats and snow, but it was actually hotter the weekend we were there than it had been in London over the last couple of weeks so it just goes to show how important it always is to check the weather forecasts! We already knew food and, especially, alcohol would be expensive so we took a bottle of wine with us and then bought two at the airport when we arrived in Oslo to save us a bit of money.

I would generally write a bit of a highlights list when writing up trips like this, but as there were no real low-lights I'm instead going to do a mini travel diary.

Friday

We flew with Norwegian and ended up choosing a flight that left at 5.50am. This was, obviously, a decision led by price, but it actually worked out well as it meant we had the whole of Friday to spend in Oslo. The flight was great - we had loads of leg-room, the in-flight magazine was actually full of interesting articles and it had free wifi! Thoroughly recommended. We were staying in Grünerløkka in an apartment I found on airbnb which was perfect for us - cheaper than most hotels and meant we could be as flexible as we liked. We spent Friday exploring the area - stopping for coffee / hot chocolate and apple juice along the way. We walked along the river and even though it rained a little it was still absolutely beautiful.

After a quick change of clothes at the apartment and a glass (ok a bottle) of wine we headed out to dinner at Villa Paradiso. After a 30-minute wait at the bar which we spent nursing a (£7.90) pint each of the locally brewed beer we were seated and ordered a pizza each - one four cheeses and one ndujla - and both were delicious (and huge). The broccoli and ndujla sausage on mine were fresh and spicy accordingly, without being too overwhelming. Including the beers the meal came to about £45.

Saturday

This was the day we had dedicated to exploring Oslo a bit but not doing anything too taxing. We walked over to the Royal Palace park and spent a couple of hours sitting, reading and taking in the greenery. One thing we noticed about Oslo was that it was very, very green - there are parks, trees, and grass-filled areas wherever you look. We took a wander over to Frogner Park to look at the sculptures - stopping to buy some watermelon on the way (to give you an idea of the heat!) Frogner Park was quite a strange experience - it was one of the busiest places we visited over the weekend but seemed to be popular with both tourists and locals. It's worth a visit, but nowhere near as relaxing as the park at the Royal Palace.

It was well into an acceptable drinking time by this point, so we headed to the Summit Bar at the Radisson Blu for a couple of drinks. The good thing that we found about Oslo drinking prices is that they are pretty generic across the board - so the drinks we had here were no more expensive than the drinks we had in the pub on the corner. It's pricey, yes, but at least you know what you're getting when you walk in somewhere for the first time.

We headed on to dinner after this and, after a bit of searching, made it to Illegal Burger. The burgers and fries were exactly what we needed after a day of walking around in the sun, so I'm glad we persevered! The burgers were around £10 each, so in total we spent around £40 I think.

Sunday

Whilst I was doing my research I stumbled across a walking tour on frommers.com that was right up our street (how punny of me). We chose to do it on this day as the National Gallery has free admission on Sundays, so we spent a lovely few hours making our way through this in the sun. I'm really glad we found this, as it seemed a much better use of our time than if we had just been wandering aimlessly around the city.

For dinner that night we headed to Egget Kafe where I had a spanish tortilla and he had bratwurst. Again, with drinks, this came to around £40, so in general I don't think we did too badly in our food-spending. After dinner we went to Fru Hagen for a drink which was nice (although the food didn't look too desirable) before we headed back to the apartment to pack for our flight the next morning.


As always, I had done all my research before we left which was even more important than usual seeing as food and drink can be so expensive. We didn't eat anywhere super fancy but our three meals out were all delicious and, I think, really good decisions. If I were staying in Oslo again I would re-visit all of them. And I guess that's the question - would we visit again? The only thing that would stop me from re-visiting really is the price, it was a lovely city - quiet, clean, green - but I'm always going to be someone who likes to have a bottle of wine with dinner and house wine is always going to be at least £40 a bottle. For those of you who this isn't an issue for then yes - visit immediately! For me though, I think there will be other places I'd like to visit for the first time before I make a trip back.

T-Minus...

So this is just a little post to note that this time tomorrow I will be in Oslo! I like to write a little note before I go away just so I can record my excitement - I am really looking forward to pretty much everything, but seeing the apartment (found on airbnb.co.uk), going to Frogner Park, and doing a walk I found online from National Theatre to the National Gallery are pretty near the top of my list.

But! There is one thing I am excited about most of all. My boyfriend has never been on a plane before. I am SO EXCITED to take him on his first plane journey - fingers crossed he ends up loving it rather than vomiting into a sick bag...

Planning, Planning, Planning

For me, planning a holiday is almost (almost!) as much fun as going on holiday. I love every aspect of it - googling destinations, researching restaurants, scrolling through hotel images - I have planned holidays I'm never going to go on, holidays I could go on at the drop of a hat, and holidays that would make an awesome honeymoon. I have hotels in random destinations bookmarked for future reference, and have a list as long as my arm of places I've picked out to visit one day. It goes without saying that as soon as one holiday is over I'll be planning for my next one.

So this weekend we are going weekending. I have already, of course, done my lists of things to do, eat, see and drink, but the week before is when you need to make sure you do all the more less-exciting travel arrangements. We leave on Friday, and this is how my week will pan-out:

Monday

* check the weather forecast

* check I have the details from the apartment owner

* give the boy a task to do (research transportation and how we get from airport to apartment)

Tuesday

* write packing list

* order money

Wednesday

* re-read packing list, make any amendments

* collect money

Thursday

* check-in

* buy travel insurance

* pack!

Friday

* fly, fly, fly away!

Weekending - Edinburgh

Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities. I have spent numerous weekends there - visiting friends, attending the festival, going to a wedding - and every time I visit I always think "next time I'm here, I definitely need to..." I visited for a 3-night stay recently, and here are my highlights...

* We stayed in the Nira Caledonia, which is one of my favourite hotels. The breakfast can be included in your stay and is totally worth the price.

* We had dinners at La Favorita and Wedgwood - the former being a more casual affair serving pizza and pasta, and the latter being perfect for a special occasion (i.e. my birthday!)

* We had lunch at The Grain Store, which has a £12.50 / £15 set-menu at lunchtimes. Absolute steal, especially for Southerners like me!

* We spent Saturday evening at Bond no. 9, which serves delicious and interesting cocktails as well as some cute options for bar snacks (we had haggis bon-bons, of course)

* A couple of times during the weekend we found ourselves in the middle of Princes Street, needing a wine-break away from noisy crowds. On both occasions we made our way to The Balmoral Bar at the Balmoral Hotel - a touch on the pricey side but the drinks are high-quality so you could definitely do worse on Princes Street.

* Even though the weather was a 'touch' on the rainy side, we sucked it up and trekked to the top of Arthur's Seat. Was a lovely way to while away a couple of Birthday hours!

* I've flown up to Edinburgh a few times, but this time it worked out cheaper and easier to get the train. We went up at a popular train time so upgraded to first class (only £20 extra I believe) but stuck with standard class on the way back and kept ourselves happy by bringing a train picnic with us (you can always improve a train journey with cheese and red wine, that is just a fact of life.)

Edinburgh is such a lovely city there is always something to occupy yourself with. Our trip was mainly eating, drinking, walking and exploring, and suited us down to the ground.