Drinks around the world

Drinking Our Way Around The World

It’s no secret that I love a fruity cocktail. In fact most of my family and friends will forever relate the Piña Colada song to me because every time a cocktail, pineapple, or just a drink in general is mentioned, I start singing the tune – with Hawaiian style dance moves included of course. Yes, I like Piña Colada.

As it’s almost Christmas and I’m sure the celebrations are already in full swing, I thought I would add to the festivities by sharing some of the best and most popular drinks from around the world that we’ve come across on our travels. They’re not all cocktails – I promise – and they’re not all alcoholic. Unfortunately, Piña Colada isn’t on this list (sigh) because I’ve not yet been to Puerto Rico, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying what the rest of the world has to offer.

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Addicted to blogging

The Crazy Wonderful Things We Do in the Name of Blogging

That feeling of pure excitement when you arrive in a new destination cannot be compared to anything else.  Stepping off the plane into the humidity of a different country; flicking through your passport to find that new stamp; eagerly awaiting your suitcase so you can rush off to your luxurious hotel, where you stare wide-eyed at the panoramic view from your balcony and flop down on top of the ginormous comfy bed, before going out to explore the city.  So exciting.  So thrilling.  So blissful.

Right?  Well, our trips usually go something a little more like this…

Stepping off the plane into the humidity of a different country; posing for a photo in front of the plane once we’ve waited for everyone else to get off and get out of the shot; flicking through our passports to find that new stamp and, if there isn’t one, holding up the line until we get one; eagerly awaiting our suitcases so we can rush off to our hotel, where Mr Ayla is very nicely told to either wait outside or stand behind the door so I can take an appropriate amount of photos of the room before he messes up the bed or the contents of our suitcases start spilling out everywhere; then finally checking what’s on my huge long list of things to do first and heading straight in that direction.

No Alex, you can’t sit down and relax, we have places to go and things to see.  What do you think this is?  A holiday?!  Tut.

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Be More Adventurous

Last month I wrote about Things I’d Never Do Again When Travelling and I was genuinely surprised by a lot of the responses I got. Comments like “I would never do that” and “you’re much braver than me” had me thinking…me? Brave? Really?!

Apart from the time I was almost mugged in Namibia, I have never thought of myself as a brave person. I’m just a reserved little lady who likes experiencing new things! Whether it’s visiting somewhere I’ve never been before or an adrenaline-pumping activity, I always jump at the chance to do something I’ve never done before. The name of the blog is, after all, Mrs Ayla’s Adventures, so it’s only right that Mr Ayla and I give you lots of adventures to read about!

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Waffles in Bruges Belgium

My Three Course Taste of Travel Menu

Over the past couple of years I seem to have become a bit of a foodie, always on the hunt for something new to try and eager to experience local cuisines whenever I travel. I browse as many blogs, reviews and tips as possible, not just on what to see and do, but also on what to eat. I’ve noticed myself talking about, blogging about and taking pictures of food more and more often and my Instagram feed now seems to be filled with more photos of food than it is of travel (oops!)

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Sunrise at River Ganes Varanasi India

Weekly Photo Challenge: Dreamy

Varanasi, with all its colour, noise and chaos, isn’t usually the sort of place that springs to mind when you think of the word “dreamy”.  But on the dark misty morning that we set out in our little boat to watch the sunrise over one of the world’s holiest rivers, it was just that.

In the pitch black of early morning, our friendly guide told us all about the River Ganges and how thousands of people come to take a dip in its sacred waters every day.  We then received a lit candle in a bed of flowers which we sent down the river with our wishes.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Adventure

As soon as I saw that the theme of this week’s photo challenge was adventure, my head started spinning. I love going on adventures, so much so that I had to put the word ‘adventure’ in the title of my blog…so how on earth was I supposed to pick just the one?!

Instead, I decided to share a few of my favourites with you, from setting off on the start of an incredible adventure around the world, adrenaline packed activities like skydiving over the Namibian sand dunes or climbing mountains; trying new things, meeting new people, and everything in between 🙂

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Silhouette

Christmas Day last year we found ourselves in the desert city of Jaisalmer, a beautiful place to spend the day but somewhere that doesn’t celebrate the festive season like we’re used to.  With not much to do in the way of Christmas evening festivities, we decided to climb up a hill to watch the sunset over the city and the Fort.

Along the way we walked past small homes, cows in the garden briefly paused their grass munching to watch us, old people sat in the doorways and waved hello to us as we passed, and children ran out to climb the steps with us.  When we reached the top, they sat with us, smiling and grinning that they’d made new friends, even if we couldn’t speak the same language.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Texture

India is full of such diverse landscapes from huge bustling crowed cities, snowy mountains, the dusty orange deserts, rolling green hills and white sandy beaches. Every new place we explored seemed like it was in a whole other world to the place we’d just come from and I loved everywhere for each different sight it offered.

The Thar Desert was one of the highlights of our time travelling around this incredible country. Just outside the desert city of Jaisalmer, our home for the night was a gorgeous (if freezing) luxury tent.

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My Favourite Beaches Around The World

Seeing as we’ve had a fair bit of sunshine and hot weather in London recently, I thought I’d continue the sunny theme on the blog.  It’s no surprises that this weather has had me daydreaming about sunning myself on a tropical beach somewhere with the cool sea to jump into whenever it takes my fancy.  Instead, I’m stuck in the office, shivering from the air-con that’s on at full blast, and by the time I get home and can enjoy the little bit of evening sunshine that’s left, I’m way too hot and sticky from the horrid commute.

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