Last year I was luckily enough to travel a total of eight times, to seven different places so I thought it would be a shame not to share all those amazing trips with ya'll, which is why I've decided to kick off my blog with a timeline of 2015's travels.
JANUARY: BARCELONA, SPAIN
Barcelona is an amazing city with so much to see and do. We were there for 5 days and still didn't get to do everything we planned to (but our comfortable hotel beds may be partly to blame for this lol). They have great shopping centres, sights to see and even decent nightlife. It's actually more than great for shopping, they have their own Oxford Street - Catalunya area I believe, Westfield - Diagonal Mar and even their own Selfridges like department store - except I cannot remember the actual name of it, oops. Let's just say I got trigger happy with my bank card out there, and came home with a lot more luggage than expected! Their clubs are along the beach in the Passeig Maritim area which isn't too far from central. I must say the transport links that they have are fab, we managed to navigate round the city easily with a simple map. Unfortunately I cannot say much about the food, as we typically stuck to the fast food outlets such as Mcdonalds, KFC, Burger King etc. we weren't adventurous enough to try the local cuisine, although I don't doubt that it would have been nice. We did visit the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner though which was lovely, especially their cocktails - my favourite!
FEBRUARY: AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
This was my second time in Amsterdam and to be honest I love the city more and more with every visit. It's such a bright and vibrant place with again so much to see and do. We stayed in the Arena Boulevard area this time, our hotel was right opposite the station (as well as a burger king which was ever so convenient!). As the transport links in Dam are so great, regardless of where you stay you'll always be in Centraal within no time. In our case it was about a 15 min journey which suited us fine. As it was a weekend trip we decided to go clubbing two nights in a row, both nights we found ourselves in Brasil bar which like every other club is in the Leidersplein area. This club in particular we took a liking to as it played all our favourite genres of music - Hip Hop, R&B, Bashment & Afrobeats and goes on until 4 in the morning. But the party didn't stop there, we managed to come out and find another place in the same square, that went on until past 7am. When we asked the security what time the club was closing he said 'I don't know maybe 7/8/9, whenever' and that, is why I love Amsterdam!
MARCH: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
Sweden, Stockholm especially was a place I had wanted to visit for a while, and so when PartyNextDoor announced his Europe tour I thought what better reason to go! (Especially as London tickets sold out within seconds but let's not even talk about that). It seems everyone had the same idea as the concert was full of Londoners! We had a very fun couple of days out there, but didn't get to explore the city much as we spent the days getting turnt and the days recovering lol! The night life is rather good, considering that we didn't even go on a weekend. However we did witness some of the clubs moving a little 'bouji' with their admission policies, so perhaps do your reason before heading out. But Sweden I will definitely be returning soon as there's so much more of you that I need to explore!
APRIL: SOUSSE, TUNISIA
This holiday was just perfect. It was the first family holiday that I had in years, so it was nice to just take a break from everything and spend that much needed quality time. The resort we stayed in had pretty much everything that we needed, so the only time we left it was for our planned excursions or if we fancied eating out for dinner (all inclusive food gets quite sickening after a while). We had our own beautiful private beach and two large outdoor pools, as well as an indoor one - which meant that the beach was often empty, heaven!! For our excursions we went quad biking in the 'desert' (it was so fun though) and to the zoo where we got to feed the giraffes and go on a camel ride. Can I add that I now have a new found love for giraffes and camel rides are so much scarier than I imagined lol. Oh and the zoo keepers will offer to take your phone into the animal's habitat to take pictures for you, for a tip of course. Although it's literally pennies so you might as well! Unfortunately this was only offered to me with a cheetah, instead of my favourite animal (tiger). We also saw a cabaret show organised by Thomas Cook, I wasn't too keen on paying for this show but it was definitely worth it, we laughed from start to finish! If you're looking for a peaceful break that won't break the bank, Tunisia is a great shout!
MAY: ST LUCIA, CARIBBEAN
Where do I start with St. Lucia... I'd be lying if I said I didn't fall in love with the island. From the culture, to the food, to the night life... It was just the best! Our hotel was right on the beach, which meant that we woke up to a beautiful view of the clear blue sea and sun every morning. Okay I'm starting to sound like a holiday rep trying to sell ya'll something lol nah but honestly, if you haven't already you've gotta visit! May is a particularly good time to go, as they have their annual Jazz Festival (don't worry it's not actually just jazz music) where they have some great acts perform over a series of days. As this is a really busy time on the island so the night life is poppppin'. I'm always sad when leaving somewhere to come back to England, but I was super sad to be leaving this island. It's alright though cause I'll be back again this May to fall in love all over again! Haha.
SEPTEMBER: IBIZA, SPAIN
Ibiza is such a fun time! This was my second time going back but staying in a different area this time - Playa D'en Bossa. However, we still found ourselves going back to San Antonio as much as possible as our favourite and one of the only urban clubs resided there (Soul City we love you). For those of you that don't already know, Ibiza is a party island known for it's crazy nightlife. Despite having been twice I still don't believe I'm cut out for the Ibiza life, as fun as it is the non stop drinking and partying is too much for my old soul (I know I'm only 22 but still). I would definitely recommend everyone to go at least once though, they have some amazing clubs and parties that you have to experience. Particularly Ocean Beach Club & Zoo Project! I'm not a house head so I wouldn't recommend all the 12hr techno nights lol.
SEPTEMBER: MARRAKECH, MOROCCO
Morocco is another place that was always on my bucket list, and finally I managed to sway some friends into going! The weather was beautiful, the hotel grounds were beautiful but the food? Lol well let's just say two out of the three of us ended up with tummy bugs! The local cuisine definitely didn't agree with us, which sadly left us on edge for the rest of the trip. However, despite the food hiccup we still had an awesome time. We stayed in the newer city, which meant that a lot of area around us was still being renovated but we didn't mind as everything that we needed was in close proximity. We booked to go on a quad biking & camel ride excursion (again), which was a lot of fun! I was still nervous of the camels though lol I had one right behind/beside me which felt the need to rub up on me every other minute. We also went to the medina which is their market, where we got to see how argon oil was made and some other cool stuff. Just be on your toes as there can be some dodgy people around and a lot of hagglers - don't be afraid to say no! But if you are interested in purchasing something it's time for you to haggle them, don't accept the initial price as chances as they're bumping you! Another thing to watch out for is their roads, they drive like lunatics with no means of safety so what sounds like a simple task of crossing the road turns into a bloody chore! Motorbikes are very common in Marrakech, as is having 3 people sharing one - even with children. Anyway let's end this on a positive, french trap music is lit! If you go clubbing whilst in Morocco you're bound to experience the club going crazy over it. There has never been a time that I have wanted to understand French so much!
DECEMBER: AMSTERDAM
Amsterdam is always a good idea, hence why I decided to return! This time however, was to celebrate my 22nd birthday. We stayed in a pretty looking apartment not too far from central, as we were a group of 6. As it was a few of my friends' first time in Dam we attempted to do some touristy stuff, but this didn't ideally go to plan as the girls were very fond of their sleep lol. We did still manage to go to the Museum of Prostitution though, which was worth the €7 (?) entry. You get an insight of how it is living as one of the Red Light girls through stories, pictures, videos & even room exhibitions. We also took a stroll through the Red Light District, hit up some coffee shops - the typical Amsterdam must do's, and of course hit the clubs! However as we went during the week, I must say the night life wasn't as lively as we had anticipated - despite it being the week of christmas and all! But, Brasil bar never fails... we managed to shake a leg or two there! Lastly let's talk about food, when you're in Dam it's inevitable that you're going to eat a lot! Besides the regular KFC trips we hit up Hard Rock (incase you can't tell by now, I love me some Hard Rock Cafe), a Nutella bar where we had the finest waffles and even tried a ting ordering from a NL version of JustEat! Lol. Our amazing Uber driver (Shout out Jamal) told us about some 24hr burger and pizza places cause when hunger strikes!! Quick tip though, don't order a feast at 5am and expect it all to arrive. We were missing 12 wings and never heard from them again LOL
Well that's my 2015 travels in a not so small nutshell! Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, talk to ya'll in my next post
xo
