Travel: The New Forest...in a tent

If you’d asked 15 year-old me, “what’s your idea of hell on earth?”, one of the answers very near the top of my list (I was an angsty teenager) would have been “camping”. When I was younger, and we camped in the south of France almost every summer, I loved it - but camping and female adolescence do not mix, in my opinion, and my enjoyment had plummeted. School trips in the midst of my earliest menstruation, Guide camps in ancient, leaking canvas tents, and the prospect of festivals meaning no indoor plumbing for four days sort of killed my buzz about it. 

Fast forward to 2016, and I’m in a long-term relationship with a boy who possibly loves the outdoors more than yours truly. Eeeeeeeek. So, last weekend, I finally bit the bullet and agreed to go for a one-night camping excursion in the New Forest - conveniently, only about an hour from my own bed. I approached the “adventure” (the boyf’s words, not mine) with increasing trepidation, and imagined long, painful walks in the pouring rain, damp, sleepless nights breathing in mouldy air, and an abysmal diet of custard and Mars bar pieces (okay, so that one was definitely a hangover from my Guide camp days).

So, imagine my absolute shock when…I actually had a good time! If I ever needed the reminder that getting out of your comfort zone is a pretty invaluable thing, it was now. Sure, we weren't wild explorers sleeping under the stars and trekking from campsite to campsite, but I was still pretty proud that I not only survived but also enjoyed myself. Of course, a lot of that was to do with Siegfried, who was more than aware of my reservations and went above and beyond to ensure I was comfortable and happy.

We took the car, which gave us the means to have all of the essentials with us, as well as a space to secure them in. We booked in at Ocknell campsite, which was just over £20 for the night, and had toilet blocks (although no showers; I’d decided that as we were only away for one night, I could forgo that luxury!). We headed there first to scope the place out and nab a good pitch. Despite a small issue with my booking, they were very helpful and accommodated us whilst that was being sorted. Heading away from the hard-pitches that resembled caravan car parks, we found a nice spot where we could park the car as near to the tent as we liked, and which was surrounded on three sides by bushes. Siegfried had supplied the tent - a simple 2-man REI set-up that blew all of my recollections of struggling with poles and pegs out of the water - and within minutes we were headed out again, off to a walk that I’d found online. 

Forever petting random dogs that cross my path

That didn’t take us as long as we thought it might, but truth be told we were about ready for a drink and some food by the time we came full circle. My parents had told us a hilarious story about their trips to the New Forest, which consisted of getting “completely rat-arsed” (my mother’s actual words!) at local pub The Sir Walter Tyrrell and walking the mile back to their campsite pretending to be aeroplanes… So we thought it only fitting that we stop by for a drink in their honour. It didn’t seem to have changed much, and was a nice pitstop before we got ourselves back to the tent and set up our extremely sophisticated camping stove, inherited from my parents. Instead of finding a local restaurant or pub, we had decided it would be much more authentic to cook for ourselves - and we managed a pretty decent feast: steak, onions and mushrooms, corn on the cob, half a baguette, and a good bit of cheap white wine to wash it down with. 

Upon finishing dinner, I was surprised to realise just how exhausted I had been by the day’s activities. Proving that I am definitely not yet ready to graduate Camping 101, we drove to the toilet blocks for a last wee and teeth-brush, and clambered into the tent and our sleeping bags. Inside, with the minimal 3G that had haunted me all day, and with nothing to do but actually talk to each other, I was pleased to discover just how nice that is: just talking to Siegfried, with no distractions or alternative activities. It sounds extremely sad, but I’d forgotten just how much fun we can have when chatting complete shit to each other! 

Camping: always a great time to
catch up on some reading

With the help of a sleeping pill, and Siegfried’s ever-willingness to get up and cook breakfast whilst I sleep longer, I slept somewhat soundly through the night, and woke up feeling refreshed, happy, and more at peace than I had in a long time. As a compromise for me going hiking and camping, we spent that day in nearby Lymington - a cute little seaside town with a picturesque harbour and plenty of pubs and coffee shops to keep me ticking over. Because is it really a trip away if you don’t have cake?! 

In that vein, Siegfried wrote in more depth on his blog, about his tips to get your reluctant girlfriend (aka me) to go camping with you. We may be chalk and cheese sometimes, but this trip confirmed that that really works sometimes, and there’s no one I’d rather leave my comfort zone with (or, as my mother put it, Siegfried is my comfort zone).  

Opinion: So-Called "Clean" Eating

I was on the sofa the other night, scrolling through my Facebook feed, when I came across a link a girl I used to go to college with had shared. Entitled “Clean Eating’s Dirty Secrets”, the screen cap showed a young girl unknown to me (who, it turns out, is Grace Victory: “the internet’s big sister” and UK lifestyle and advice blogger with 106,000 Instagram followers and 209,600 YouTube subscribers…oops) holding a green smoothie and a plate of that hipster go-to of the moment - avocado on toast. The original Facebook post was by a girl I don’t know, who’d written a rather long paragraph about how “dangerous and unhealthy” she feels the clean eating regime has become, from personal experience with it. I was a bit skeptical at first - the clue is in the name, how bad can clean eating really be? - but the original poster claimed to have come to this conclusion from studying nutrition, and my curiosity was really quite piqued, so I clicked on the link. I figured I would watch the first five minutes or so and see whether it would be worth a watch. I ended up stuck to my iPhone screen, watching the whole thing right through to the end. It’s a really fascinating and somewhat unnerving look into a fad that seems innocent on the surface but actually harbours some disturbing information that definitely isn’t advertised under #cleaneating. I’m always a bit wary when writing these opinion posts, because I don’t want to pretend I’m some huge expert and expect some people will be offended by what I say, but I think this is an important issue that needs more coverage. 

Travel: Ultimate Washington D.C. Guide!

I’ve been wanting to write a post about Washington DC for a long time now. In fact, I think I said I would last time I returned from there, but...didn't (oops!). You may or may not know that I studied abroad in DC for the 2013/14 academic year, and that's where/how I met my (American) boyfriend. Since then, I've returned to visit around four or five times, so I consider myself pretty well informed on the city. 

DC is a strange place. Specifically designed as the capital of a then-new United States, it still sort of feels like a faux-city. It's split into four, somewhat diverse sections: North East, South East, South West, and North West - like on a compass. Some of these areas are extremely affluent, clean, and business-oriented, whilst others are strikingly under-developed and lacking in resources on many levels. That being said, I haven't seen nearly all of what it has to offer, but what I have, I love. 

I've broken the post down into several components: things to do; places to eat and drink; places to shop; how to get around. I intend for it to be a pretty comprehensive guide to what I consider to be the best of DC. I'd love to hear your comments or additions, whether you've been to DC or not! 

Lifestyle: Stress Relief

Like a lot of people, I’ve got a rather long and complicated mental health history. But recently, I’ve been hopeful that I’m coming out on the other side, and wanted to share with you guys what helps me keep happier and calmer day-to-day. These are probably things that you’ve heard before, and might seem obvious, but it’s also a way to remind myself of what tools I have to deal with on bad days. 

Café Review: Reloved Tearooms (Dorchester, Dorset)

It feels like I’ve only just managed to sit down after one of the busiest weeks ever! I worked six days in a row, with three of those days being 10+ hour shifts, and I am shattered. Even after I finished yesterday afternoon, I immediately had to leave for a trip to visit my grandma (what a romantic start to Valentine’s Day, eh?!). 

So today’s post is just a quick review of a café my mum and I came across today in Dorchester. We’d left dad going through the list of odd jobs Granny’s always got stacked up for him, and took the dog for a wander through the town. When I was little I used to find Dorchester really boring and uneventful, but it’s sort of come into it’s own recently! Little independent shops and boutiques have sprung up, and their trusty department store Gould’s has had a much-needed facelift. It’s sometimes difficult having the dog with us, but a few places are happy to let him come in with us, or we take it in turns to browse whilst the other one waits outside!

Travel: Bristol

Why have two cocktails when you can have four (for the
price of two?!)

So my trip to Bristol was far too short, especially once I'd realised how well this city and I would get on! I was visiting a friend who's just moved there, but she had an exam the following Tuesday, which meant that I didn't go until Saturday afternoon, to give her time to revise. We'd booked a table at Turtle Bay, a Caribbean restaurant that has an amazing 2-4-1 happy hour - a rare find on a Saturday night! Apparently it's a chain (normally when I go somewhere new I like to find a more local place to eat), but we couldn't resist BOGOF cocktails! Apparently neither could anyone else, because the place was rammed! We managed to grab some drinks just before happy hour ended, and even a seat to drink them at while we waited for our table. It’s a good job we did, because the trip seemed a little wasted once we realised just how hot all the food was! Neither of us are big spice people but we figured that if we went for some safe options (i.e. nothing with the words “chilli” or “jerk” in them) we’d be okay. Uh-uh! Cue lots of water-downing. So, whilst I could appreciate how quick and fresh the food appeared, the experience was kind of wasted on us.

Travel: Prague (part 2 of 2)

Day 3 (Tuesday January 5th)

This was one of the days I was looking forward to the most, because it was the day we headed to the zoo! My boyfriend and I spend a lot of time at the zoo in Washington D.C. because it’s fun to get out of the house (i.e. student digs) and see all kinds of different animals - and it’s free! Zoos in England are generally very expensive (as in, £20-30 a head), and Prague was an absolute bargain for 140Kč/£4/$6! We’d had several recommendations and it’s regularly on lists of the top ten “best zoos in the world”. Even though it snowed pretty steadily all day, this only added to the atmosphere. Obviously it wasn’t packed, and it was nice being able to wander around without getting in people’s way or coming across too many others. It was an easy ride tram-then-bus ride from the city centre, and both modes of transport had extremely clear electronic signs to show you which stop you were at/which direction you were going in/etc. 

Birchbox Review: December

This month my Birchbox was actually a Birchbag; a really cute, emerald green/sparkly/velvet beauty. I haven’t had the opportunity to use it as a clutch yet, but apparently you can also buy a chain on the website and make it a cross-body bag too! Which is great because I always forget to pick clutches up (eyes covered monkey emoji). I also got two, as I bought my sister a subscription for Christmas! So I was a little cheeky and swapped a few things around (shhh, don’t tell!). To be fair, she’s pink-crazy so I was kind of doing her a favour swapping her red lipstick for my pink one!

Travel: Prague (part 1 of 2)

I’ve been looking forward to writing this post for so long! I’ve always enjoyed travelling, but I’ve definitely been more inspired to travel since spending a year studying in the United States. I also met my boyfriend there, who is very passionate about seeing the world. So when he comes to visit me, we try to get somewhere in continental Europe together; obviously it’s much easier to get to from here than from America! 

Last January we went to Paris, and this year it was Prague’s turn! We chose Prague mostly because of recommendations from friends, and also because of how cheap it is. It’s the first country we’ve travelled to both having never been before and where neither of us could speak the language (we picked up some essentials from this guy on YouTube!). We were there for four nights, three full days and two “half”/travelling days, but managed to squash so much in that this is going to be part one of two! I’m hoping this will be helpful to anyone thinking of visiting the city; enjoy!

Day 1 (Sunday January 3rd)

Having arrived at Stansted at 4am for our 6:40am Ryanair flight (never again; even easyJet was better!) we were pretty knackered once we landed in Prague at 10am. So the first thing we did was decidedly un-European: got a McDonald’s! But at least that gave us fuel for finding the apartment, because transport into the city centre had us a bit muddled! My boyfriend went to get us 3-day transport passes (only available at select metro stations but also at tourist information points; there was one of these in the airport’s arrivals area). They cost 310Kč (approx. £8.60/$12.50) but we ended up getting “Airport Express” (a private service, not public transport) tickets too, as we thought they took us directly into the city centre. Actually, they kind of did, but had two stops: one to connect to the B metro line (passes work for all forms of Prague’s public transport: trams; buses; subway/underground) and one to the A metro line. Therefore that was a bit of a waste of money - although only about £7 - because the public bus does exactly the same thing, just a little slower! We also didn’t know how to get to the metro from the bus stop, but found it after several wrong turns! I’ll talk more about transport later but the long and short of it is: Prague’s public transport is amazing and I want every city to follow their lead!

Our apartment was absolutely gorgeous; we found it via Airbnb, which I use regularly. It was a perfect size and everything we needed, especially as we wanted to be able to self-cater to keep costs down. After a quick nap, we headed out to do a food shop - getting an incredible amount of stuff for around £14/$20! Prague has Tesco supermarkets, and while I know it’s a bit of a cop-out, it was nice to have something so familiar and (somewhat!) easy to navigate in amongst all the foreign-ness.

By that time it was time for dinner; I’d used Yelp! to find a couple of local, authentic restaurants that wouldn’t break the bank, but the first one we got to had an hour’s wait so we quickly moved onto the one slightly further away: Restaurace Mincovna. This was meant to be because we had an incredible meal there; we loved it so much we visited again on our last night! It was just off Old Town Square (a popular area/neighbourhood in the centre of Prague) but not packed with tourists and with very reasonable prices. We shared a veal tartare to start, and then I had veal schnitzel with a potato salad, and my boyfriend had the “knee of roast piglets”. The name was a bit off-putting but it was possibly one of the best things I’ve ever tasted; so tender, literally falling off the bone! With a glass of wine for me and a half-litre of tank beer for him, the meal came to 1000Kč with tip - around £27/$40. We were floored by both the price and the quality, so I’d definitely recommend it! The staff were extremely friendly and - like most of the people we interacted with - fluent in English. 

There were still Christmas stalls set up around the square (as well as the biggest Christmas tree I think I’ve ever seen!) so we wandered around a bit after dinner, and discovered an amazing traditional Slovak pastry: trdelník. This is rolled dough wrapped around a stick, then grilled and dipped in a sugar and walnut mix. Most places also offer it with Nutella spread inside; anything carb-loaded and dipped in sugar/Nutella/both is an absolute must for me. As it was pretty cold (around -3 degrees centigrade!) and we were still quite tired from travelling, we didn’t stay out for long, but it was great to see the square all lit up in the dark. 

Day 2 (Monday January 4th)

View from the Charles Bridge

We must have needed to sleep because we didn’t manage to drag ourselves out of bed until 11am on our first morning! I did feel a little guilty, but what’s a holiday if you can’t do exactly what you’d like?! In the end it was a perfect day; we wandered over the Charles Bridge* - five minutes walk from our accommodation - with snow falling! On the other side we visited the John Lennon Wall^; a tribute to the musician which was famously re-created each time Communist authorities whitewashed it. It’s full of paintings of Lennon, Beatles’ lyrics and quotes. My favourite was “may the best of your past be the worst of your future”, although this is apparently originally an old Irish saying! 

Next, we headed to a museum we’d read about in our Lonely Planet Pocket Prague guide book, about a Czech man named Karel Zeman who was known for his contribution to film special effects. At 140Kč - or £4/$6 for a student ticket (always check for a student price as many places offer a discount as long as you have some kind of student ID!) it was perhaps a little smaller than other museums we visited in that price range, but nonetheless very interesting. I hadn’t heard of Zeman before but he really was a pioneer of special effects, and the exhibits showed you exactly how he created innovative footage. There were also lots of hands-on, interactive things to get involved with (fetchingly modelled here by my boyfriend), which broke up the reading and made the experience fun and memorable! 

Now I don’t know about anyone else but my boyfriend needs to eat around four to six times a day, so by this time a refuel was needed! In another twist of fate, we failed to find the nearby cafe I’d found on Yelp, and headed back towards the Charles Bridge. On the way we chanced upon Pekařstvi Karmelitské± - a lovely Czech café/bar/bakery where we gorged on sandwiches, crepes, and pastries washed down with a French press of coffee for around £5/$3 each! Again, the woman behind the counter was very helpful and it was a great place to sit and catch our breath; we both read and my boyfriend journaled for a bit. 

After wandering back over the Charles Bridge, we stopped off at the apartment to decide on a place for dinner. We ended up at the Globe Bookstore and Café - an English language bookshop with a pub-cum-restaurant-cum-bar in the back. Unfortunately the store - one of the main reasons we’d gone - closed whilst we were still eating; when we’d looked at the website the “opening hours” displayed were 10am-midnight but it seems this must have been just for the café. Regardless, we had a good meal and mega cheap cocktails, so it wasn’t the worst thing to happen! 

So that’s days 1 and 2 - I hope you enjoyed it; part two (days 3, 4, and 5) will come later on this week. And if you've been to Prague, please let me know in the comments!

*Charles Bridge - Karlův Most, 110 00 Praha 1

^John Lennon Wall - Velkopřevorské Náměstí, 100 00 Praha 1

±Pekařstvi Karmelitské - I couldn't find a website for this but it's address is next to/very near to Karmelitská 268/26, 118 00 Praha 1!

Dashing through the snow

Although it already seems like a lifetime ago, I'm still buzzing from the festive season! I had a really good time celebrating with family and friends - especially as my boyfriend arrived for a two week visit on Boxing Day (he's American so we don't get to spend much time together)! That's the reason for my absence from the blog in the last few weeks, but now that we're back from a few days in Prague (more of which later!) I wanted to post a little round-up of how I spent the holidays. 

Birchbox Review: November

This month's box was a collaboration with Skinnydip London, an awesome accessories company that I’ve known about for a while. It seemed like a bit of a random pairing, and bar the box design and an add-on phone case and voucher (which you had to spend £22 to redeem anyway) there didn’t seem to be much Skinnydip influence. I was disappointed in the phone case design, as Skinnydip do a lot of really cool, quirky cases - such as this one - but the Birchbox offering was the same shell print as was on the box. I didn’t go for it because you also had to pay a small fee to have it included. The brand did take over Birchbox's Instagram page for a day, which was fun, and the box itself was packed!

Reviews! The Courtyard Café and 'Carol'

A few weeks ago, I went with my family to the Hartley Whitney Christmas Market. The Christmas festivities in my town get worse yet more crowded every year, and HW is such cute little place full of independent boutiques; much more promising. Ironically, the highlight of the night ended up being the meal we had in a permanent HW fixture: the Courtyard Café - a cafe/restaurant at the back of Hartley Antiques. I’d been there for coffee before, but hadn’t really appreciated how much of a bar/restuarant it was too, and as the burger vans on the street weren’t the most appealing, we decided to give it a proper try while we waited for the fireworks that always end the event. 

Blogs baby!

I actually find blogs to read through Instagram. I am completely addicted to Instagram - I’m forever scrolling through my feed and furiously double-tapping! Even with blogs I’ve known about for a while, I often click through to new content having read an Instagram post about it. So when I was thinking about who I might include in this “fave bloggers” post, I got straight to looking at my Instagram likes. The four lovely ladies below are the ones whose photos I “heart” almost every single time, and I’ve tried to show you why they make my Insta-feed sparkle!  

Dear Santa...

I’ve seen lots of ‘Christmas gift guides’ around, and while it’s a bit self-indulgent writing about what I’d like to find under the tree, I thought I’d share them before doing a more traditional ‘gift ideas’ post. Let me know what you think in the comments: what’s on your Christmas list? What are you thinking about getting other people? Do you like surprises or have you already shared your Amazon wishlist with all your family and friends?

Birchbox Review: October

So since I'm on a bit of a reduced budget now that Student Finance isn't my main source of income, I decided to invest in a monthly beauty box. I spend way too much money on new products every month, so I figured this was a way to try out new things without breaking the bank (and my dressing table drawers!). After a bit of research, I chose Birchbox, and I've been recording the results by posting reviews on my new Villoid profile! But as that's a rather limited platform, I wanted to include an expanded version here. This month there were a few products that I’ve decided to save, so I’m not able to review them just yet! One of the things I like most about these kinds of boxes is the size of the products; I can keep them to use when travelling! This way I save money, and have loads of luxury beauty items to use whilst I’m away. Let me know what boxes you subscribe to (or would like to!) and your opinions on the products featured, and any others!

Café review: Caracoli (Guildford, Surrey)

Once again I found myself in Guildford this Friday! In order to get the biggest bargain on a pair of shoes from Urban Outfitters, I had to return two pairs and re-buy them instore, so I was back again this week to return the last pair! Wanting to try somewhere different - as always - I did a bit of research and came across some great reviews of coffee shop/food store Caracoli. 

Café review: Coffee Culture (Guildford, Surrey)

I went for a little shopping spree in Guildford last week, with my mother and sister, and we stopped in this lovely, independently-owned coffee shop in the town centre. I love independent café's - probably because I used to work in one, but also because I go to university in Brighton, where new ones open every week! I know that familiarity can at times be useful and comforting, but exploring what different things the world offers is so exciting! I also feel that independent establishments can be more interesting and welcoming, with an eye to detail that chains don't need/want to bother with.