I’ve got a lot of exciting adventures to look forward to over the next few months, including trips to Belgium, Edinburgh and South America, as well as lots of plans around London and a visit from a certain lovely Australian.

While all of this makes me super excited it also means we’ve been saving hard to fund all of this. Being in Rio de Janeiro for the World Cup is going to cost a small fortune by itself let alone with all the other adventures on top.  (And no I can’t do less or miss a few things out…of course I need all these adventures in my life!)

The last couple of months have been pretty tough and I’ve found myself almost constantly wanting to either pull my hair out or scream.  To make my life that little bit easier, it would be extremely handy right now if I was to win the lottery (not that I ever actually play the lottery but still).

Just at a time when we’re saving hard and all those spare pennies are needed for very important things, such as my fifth yummy chocolate coated waffle in Brussels or another sip of Caipirinha on the beach in Rio, the money gods seem to be looking down on us saying “they’re having too much fun, let’s play with them”.

An extra cocktail (or two) on the beach always goes down a treat

First, our shower at home went cold and stayed cold. Then the dishwasher came to a standstill. The TV was next on the list and just wouldn’t turn on. They say things come in threes right, so I was expecting that to be our lot. But no, whoever was looking down on us wasn’t finished yet. The laptop was next. No internet?!! Oh god how will I cope?! Alex then went and lost the charger for the tablet *insert wifely nagging here* so our phones were the only technology we had left. But then, just because we hadn’t had enough blows already, our car had a costly MOT to then only go and break down 2 days later. Brilliant.  Bloody brilliant.

Things clearly do come in threes, but obviously that’s three per person 😦

So it looks like we’ll have to stay in a favela in Brazil and hitchhike our way across Peru to Machu Picchu. I guess that would be an adventurous story to tell at least!

But, with the bad, there has been some good.

I was extremely surprised and super excited to find out last month that I had been nominated for Best Female Travel Blogger at the Low Cost Holidays Blogger Awards 2014.

To say I was surprised was an understatement. I only started Mrs Ayla’s Adventures in September last year as a way to share my experiences with others and talk about one of my biggest passions. I never expected to meet and become friends with so many other bloggers, go on blogger trips and events, and I certainly didn’t expect to be nominated for an award, alongside some brilliant other bloggers too.

There’s now a week left until voting closes when the winners will be announced at a swanky event in London (did I hear free bar?). So, for those of you who read my blog and enjoy hearing about my adventures, I would be eternally grateful if you would take 2 seconds to vote for me here.

As tough as some other things might be at the moment, I am honoured to just be nominated in the Blogger Awards and that is enough to put a huge smile on my face 🙂

An extremely happy me 🙂