Category: England

Adventure is on your doorstep

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I’ve never really been one to explore much of my own country; I tend to prefer jetting off to exotic locations with different cultures and cuisines, with people to meet who live completely different lives to us, and far away from all the responsibilities at home. But after big trips to India and South America over the last year, we decided to spend the bank holiday weekend exploring some of England for a change.

We made a little road trip of it, the beautiful city of Bath being our first stop, where we splashed out on a fancy meal and hotel to celebrate our 7 year wedding anniversary (yes, that makes me feel old!).

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Cats and Cake at Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium

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I know I talk about animals a lot but there is a reason for that…animals are simply great.  There is no doubt about it that every single animal is fascinating in its own way and even though I spend a lot of my spare time with them when I volunteer at London Zoo and with my own pets at home, there is still some sort of magnetic pull wherever I am in the world that has me heading straight for the nearest fluffy nosed creature around.

So when I heard that Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium, the UK’s first cat cafe, opened up in London earlier this year there was no doubt that I had to go.

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My Latest Adventures

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The last few weeks have been pretty crazy and I haven’t had much time to sleep let alone keep you all updated on my adventures!

Since Belgium, which was only last month but seems like a lot longer ago now, I’ve been pretty much non-stop.  And what with jetting off to South America this weekend (woohooooooooo!!!), it would be impossible for me to tell you about it all before I go.  You are such an inconvenience South America 😉  So, I’ve managed to condense my latest adventures into this one post to give you an idea of what I’ve been getting up to lately.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Spring

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I love Spring, when the weather gets warmer, the smell of fresh rain and cut grass drifts through the air and colourful flowers are in abundance. Everyone seems that little bit happier and, in London, you may even get the odd smile from a passerby.

The cherry blossoms that dot the trees are my favourite, bright pink or white, giving a normally dull looking street a burst of colour. On my trip to Edinburgh this weekend, the view from outside the guest house we stayed at was beautiful. Not only could did we have a brilliant view of the Castle right at the end of the street, but the road was also lined with pink cherry blossoms, making it look like a pretty picture from a Scottish fairytale.

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A Chocolate Ecstasy Tour

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I may have just had a long weekend in Belgium, but that didn’t stop me going on a chocolate tour of London the week before. This was purely because I wanted to treat my chocoholic of a mum and not out of my own desire to stuff my face with chocolate. Obviously 😉 My sister also wanted to come along because who can resist a day of eating chocolate?

I’d spoken to Jen, our lovely guide and the creator of Chocolate Ecstasy, beforehand so I already felt like I knew her. As soon as the group had all gathered we were all given a bottle of water to cleanse our palates throughout the day.

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Mr Ayla’s Birthday Adventures

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This weekend was Alex’s birthday and, me being me, I obviously liked to have a couple of exciting things planned to celebrate.

First off, seeing as I had a weekend of fun activities planned, I thought I should make his actual birthday a relaxing one after a long hard day at work.  And what better way to relax than to put on some comfy pjs and just chill.  So a onesie party it was!

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Flavours of Morocco: Restaurant Review

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I eat out far too much to write a review on every restaurant I go to, but somewhere I tried for the first time recently was just too good not to write about.

My friend and I wanted to try somewhere different from the usual places we eat out so we took a drive around locally to see what we could find.  We stumbled upon Flavours of Morocco, a little Moroccan restaurant a short 10 minutes away from my home; it’s twinkling lights and pretty Moroccan decor invited us in as well as a chance to try some proper Moroccan food for the first time.

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Christmas…? What Christmas?!

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What with my upcoming trip to India, I’ve been struggling to find time to fit in writing around all the planning.  And when I plan a trip, I really plan a trip.  No bars spared, I will put all my energy, concentration and every waking minute into making it as incredible an adventure as it can possibly be.  I may end up completely drained and about to pass out from exhaustion but it will all have been worth it in the end!

For this trip, as well as getting an extortionate amount of tips from other bloggers and twitterers (the #travelindia hashtag by Poonam has been super helpful), I have been reading up on India from my stack of books.  This is something I always do when I go away and I think it’s a great way to research.

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Up and Away at the O2

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Living so close to the O2, or the Millennium Dome as it used to be known, climbing it was something I just had to do when they started running the activity.  I often go to the O2 for a night out and Alex always comments on how much he loves the view of London from here so I thought the climb would be a great idea as a birthday present for him.

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My Latest Adventures

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This weekend has been a pretty fun one so I thought I’d update you on my latest antics and adventures around London.

On Friday night I went to Traverse Mingle, a big event for travel bloggers and anyone in the travel industry to get together to socialise, network and have fun.  It was held in the plush Cumberland Hotel on Oxford Street and we even had a mini red carpet to get our pic snapped on!  So of course I had to put a pretty frock on!  Everything was free all night – entry, canapés and drinks so it was bound to be a messy night for most!

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