Babymoon in the Welsh Countryside

As I hit my third trimester of my pregnancy (and we came to the end of the mammoth and stressful task that had been applying for me to stay in the UK on a Family Visa) Dan and I decided we should have a little weekend away to relax, and enjoy some time ‘just us’ before baby joins us.

We booked a gorgeous little AirBnB nearby Raglan, in Wales, which for us was roughly an hour’s drive from our home in Bristol.

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A Day In Transylvania, Romania

Transylvania often conjures pictures into ones mind of great looming castles and murderous vampires that transform into bats and fly across the mountains.

Well, one part of that is correct at least (hint: It’s not the vampires).

Some people don’t even realise Transylvania is a real place, not just a made-up land from storybooks. However, it is – and until the Romanian Unification in 1918 it was its own province.

The region of Transylvania located in the centre to north west of Romania, and is bordered on the east and south by the Carpathian Mountain Range.

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Bucharest’s secret treats – Romania

Home to around 2 million people, Bucharest is both the capital and largest city in former Communist nation, Romania.

I’ll admit, while I’ve had the urge to explore Eastern Europe for some time now, Bucharest as an individual location wasn’t high on my priority list.

But just a few days in this history-filled city that was once known as “Little Paris” was enough to have me recommending to everyone I spoke to that they give Bucharest a try.

From the expanse of social, political and cultural history on offer, to the friendly people, good food, abundance of beer – especially in the beautiful Old Town area (not that I could enjoy it, as I was pregnant at the time) – and ease of accessibility to get around on foot or subway, there were so many things that made Bucharest a winning travel destination to me.

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Magical times at the Harry Potter Studio Tour, London

Hello Hogwarts!

As someone who was a child when the first Harry Potter books were originally released, and then the first movies too, I was definitely one of those humans who was caught firmly in the grips of HP fever.

I shouldn’t say “was”, because – let us be honest – I still am. I still re-read the books every other year, and will forever have the Deathly Hallows symbol tattooed on the skin over my ribcage to remind me of my love for this wizarding world which gave me happiness, hope, and sometimes pure escape during my childhood.

The first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was released when I was 5 years old, in 1997, but it was in early 1999, at the age of 7 (and an avid bookworm by this point already), when I first came across it.

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The funnest marathon on earth? Marathon du Medoc, France

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A marathon where you are encouraged to get tipsy, and it’s mandatory fancy dress – is it a dream or a nightmare?

For thousands, it seems, it’s a dream – and one that they get to live out in reality once a year near Bordeaux, France.

Marathon du Medoc, held every year in September, includes more than 20 wine stops along the 42km track plus offers specialities such as oysters, steak, and ice-cream too.

This year I got to head to Paulliac, the small village where the race starts and finishes, to experience Medoc for the first time – From the sidelines, of course! I had the cough very important job cough of being cheerleader to my fiance, Dan, that kept me much too busy to run it myself.

That, and the fact that I’m extremely unfit and the idea of a marathon gives me shivers…

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Incredibly grand AirBnB in Bordeaux, France

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Paris France is always a good idea, right?

Definitely!

And the beauty of living in England is that I can pop over whenever I damn well please… Although, it’s more likely whenever my bank balance pleases… I think all of us here know the struggle to live on a ordinary salary with the extraordinary urge to travel.

In fact, last week I got to visit France for the first time since I moved to the UK just over a year ago, which I find astounding, as the land of the French is just so accessible to us here in Great Britain.

I just hadn’t gotten the chance yet.

But anyway, the point is: I FINALLY got around to going there (Again – I visited back in 2013 on my first trip to Europe) last week when my fiance, myself, and a few of our friends headed to the Bordeaux region for a marathon Dan and two others in the group were set to run (More on that next week!).

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A wicked weekend at Alton Towers theme park

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The sun wasn’t out, but our guns were!

As a foreigner living in the United Kingdom, it’s almost a rite of passage for me to visit Alton Towers, one of the major theme parks in England.

Practically everyone who has grown up in the UK, or lived there for some time, has visited the park before.

But, after almost a year living in Bristol, I (an adrenaline junkie and rollercoaster lover) had somehow not gotten around to it yet!

So, to combat this problem, recently Dan, our friends Will and Elyse, and I headed to to the Towers for a weekend of fun.

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Exploring the brauhaus’ of Cologne

 

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Germany is a country well known for its beer, so what better what to enjoy a weekend in the nation by spending some time indulging in local beer at brewhouses?

Dan and I spent a weekend in Cologne recently, a city neither of us had travelled to before.

One of the popular features of Cologne, the fourth most populated German city, is the stunning architecture scattered across the Rhine River-split city, so it’s not all just beers and banter!

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Top 5 money saving tips for travelling to Iceland

 

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Iceland is a notoriously expensive country to visit.

Due to the higher wages and therefore higher living costs, the prices of food, activities and accommodation can be quite a shock to travellers arriving in the Scandinavian country.

Recently my boyfriend Dan and I travelled to Iceland (If you haven’t seen all my videos and blog posts about that trip, you can find them here) and luckily we prepared ourselves beforehand for the financial heart attack that Iceland would be to our bank accounts.

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