The places I've been

I've only ever had 3 proper holidays abroad in my life time, which I feel like at 27 isn't that much.

I have traveled a lot, and moved house a lot (6 times in 5 years 😱) but when it comes to overseas, unfortunately I don't have a very long list of destinations. However, the places I have been are some of the most historical and beautiful places on Earth, and I'm insanely lucky and blessed to have visited these places with the people I love the most. Almost all of you who answered my poll questions on Instagram yesterday had voted for me to write about where I've traveled to, so here goes. 💙

Paris (1998 & 2007)

Paris was so nice I went twice! 😅 The first time was with my mum and her friend when I was 7 years old. We stayed on an overnight coach, got the ferry from Dover and arrived in Paris God knows how many hours later. All I can remember from the coach trip, was almost completing my 100 page colouring book, eating copious amounts of spearmint chews, watching the Men in Black movie and complaining a lot. I also remember there only being one toilet on the entire coach, and finding a  discarded Tamagotchi in the toilet bowl on one such visit. (I know, it's weird what memories my brain keeps and throws away.) I don't really remember the hotel, or actually getting to Disneyland but I do remember the rides. We explored Sleeping Beauty's castle, went on a Star Wars 4D adventure, Rush mountain roller coaster and got lost in the Alice in Wonderland maze. 

It's called fashion sweetie, look it up

But easily the best part was the haunted mansion, where we were taken around on enormous moving chairs whilst hologram ghosts glided through the air, and creepy ass music boomed from the speakers into our ears. (I've always been a ghoul, even since I was little.) Once it got dark, we watched the parade and the fireworks, but it was raining so the fireworks weren't all that spectacular. Unfortunately that is all I can remember of the trip. Of course I enjoyed every minute of it. The atmosphere was so weird and magical, it truly felt like I was in a different world far far away from home.

     

2007

The second time I went to Paris was with my mum for our birthdays.

We went for a very short weekend and stayed in a small and hidden hotel, based in quite a dodgy area of the city centre (The hotel and the staff were lovely, but we were pretty sure we heard a gunshot on our first night there 😂)

My photo

I'm pleased to say that we managed to fit in a lot of things in such a short space of time. We explored Montmartre, visited the Sacre Cour, The Eiffel tower, Arc de Triomphe, The Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, Moulin Rouge and walked down the River Seine until our feet were throbbing. 

We went to the Louvre mainly to see the Mona Lisa, but once we got inside we couldn't seem to find it.  It wasn't until we'd ended up back at the entrance, turned around and realised we had walked right past her, because she was so small! She was displayed behind a red velvet rope and looked majestic as hell. Of course we weren't allowed to take photos, but that was definitely a pinch me moment, and I'm very happy that I've been able to see some of Da Vinci's work in real life.

The night we went to see the Moulin Rouge was incredible. We went to the Hard Rock cafe first (obviously) and had burgers and Jack Daniels before going to watch dozens of Parisian women doing the can-can on stage with their boobs out whilst we sipped champagne. (There was a variety of performances other than boobs, like magicians and Cirque du Soleil acts etc.)  Unfortunately we didn't get any photographs of any of it, so you'll have to give it a google if you want to see. With regards to the interior of the building, it was absolutely gorgeous, swathed in red silk curtains and paintings and the gift shop was filled with tiny hand made windmills (which I had to buy).

The food we had whilst in Paris was so bloody delicious. Whilst walking around the Montmartre we had ham and cheese crepes which were honestly the best crepes I've ever had, and we even made time to stop for a Guinness (not for me, ew )

Mum with her pride and joy (not me, the pint)

And on the last day we went to Mcdonald's where there was an actual patisserie inside. Overall our trip was short and sweet. We wanted to see the Notre Dame and maybe go and find Jim Morrison's grave stone but we just didn't have enough time. The photos I've included were taken on my Motorola Razr phone so please excuse the slightly rough quality. I will definitely be going back to Paris some time in the near future.There is something so magical about it that just cannot be put into words, but rather best experienced in person, by yourself or with someone you love. 💙

Egypt (2009)

This was another holiday with family to celebrate my mother and I's birthdays. This time I went with my aunt, my parents and their 4 friends (those family friends that you call aunt and uncle, but are no relation to you at all.) The 6 hour flight made me anxious as hell so getting there safely was a relief in itself. We stayed at the Sheraton hotel in Luxor. Unfortunately for me I shared a room with my auntie, who is famous for snoring so loudly that she'd wake herself up, so I definitely did not do much sleeping on this trip. I can't remember what we did in what order as we stayed for a whole week, so I'll write about the good stuff. 

Sheraton's swimming pool, overlooking the Nile

First of all, there was an absolutely enormous pool and there was highs of 24 degrees almost every single day, so ya girl got a gorgeous suntan. Secondly, we went in January which was Egypt's winter time, so whilst me and my dad were in hot pants sweating our asses off, the residents of Luxor were walking around in scarves and woolen hats.  And thirdly, their Mcdonald's and KFC was by the far the best I've ever had anywhere. Why is food in general always better when it's not in England?

We did all sorts of good tourist-y stuff; We visited Karnak temple, the Valley of the Kings and went on a Felucca to watch the sunset on the river Nile. If you don't know what a Felucca is, it's a tiny narrow and very unstable boat that we all had to sit on for almost 2 hours whilst our asses were going numb, as I held on to my dad's arm refusing to look out onto the water because I was petrified. (I'm very scared of open water.) Luckily for us, the men in charge of the boat were very laid back and spoke really good English, so when my uncle asked if they minded if he could take a piss over the side of the boat into the river, they said it wasn't a problem.

My photo

The Valley of the Kings was by far my favourite place that we visited, mainly because I got to see Tutankhamun in the flesh and bones, (I'm being serious, hear me out.) For the entirety of the trip, and leading up to the trip, all my mum and aunt could rave about was seeing Tutankhamun. But when it finally came to that and we were all standing outside of his tomb, literally no one else wanted to go in with me. So I headed down by myself, deeper and deeper underground. His sarcophagus was right in front of me against the wall as I entered the tomb, and there was a guard sat in the corner who greeted me. And as I marveled over King Tut's gorgeous blue and gold coffin the guard told me that I could see Tut in person. I didn't quite understand what he meant, until he gestured behind me and when I turned around I couldn't help but gasp in shock. There he was, dead, small and glorious in a glass tank with only a tiny piece of cloth to cover his modesty. His brown and decayed eyeless face stared back at me through the glass, and I could not believe that I was looking at someone who was older than Jesus Christ himself, and still in such incredible condition. Keep in mind that I had no idea they were displaying his corpse, I thought it was just his sarcophagus that was on display. My family were also shocked that I saw him in person, as it didn't say or state any where on the pamphlets or by the tour guides that you would be able to see his corpse. To this day, I'm still proud of myself that I went down and saw him when no one else would. It's definitely a good conversation starter 😏

The people of Egypt in general spoke very good English and were very polite (with the exception of a few creeps who followed me down a street constantly trying to hold my hand) and every shop we went into we were greeted with sweet Egyptian tea and the free will to spark up a fag. (Back then I used to smoke 10 a day so this was very convenient for me). The architecture of the buildings - big and small - we went into was so beautiful, all decorated with intricate tiles and I loved hearing the call to prayer echoing through the hot breeze in the evenings. There was cute little lizards that would dart around by our feet at the pool, and the colour of the starry night skies were a clear deep indigo that I'd never seen anywhere before.

Whenever I tell people that I've been to Egypt, they automatically assume that I've visited the pyramids in Cairo. But I haven't, and I'm not disappointed about that. Luxor was an incredible experience, and I would really love to go back there and see it all again, as it was just so beautiful and interesting to a history boffin like myself.

The Netherlands (March and August 2017)

 

If you know me, then you'll know that I'm just a tad obsessed with NL. You'll also know that for years leading up to my holiday, I'd dreamed and dreamed of going but somehow just never got the chance. So when my mum texted me one evening to ask if I'd like to go with her on the overnight ferry, I burst into tears of happiness (and because I'm a little bit dramatic.) We got everything booked and paid for instantly, and when the date arrived we headed off to Hull. We found our little cabin, unpacked and wandered the ferry in search for some dinner. It wasn't until it was pitch black outside that the ferry started moving, and I found it equally fascinating (and nauseating) to look out of the window at the entire east coast of England, sailing by with its lights twinkling off the surface of the ocean.

My photo

The next morning we awoke and had our breakfast as we pulled into the docks of Rotterdam. The ocean was a brilliant turquoise colour and the skies were clear and blue. I was so bloody excited that I was almost vibrating. 

We hopped onto another coach and arrived in Amsterdam just before noon. My mum had pre-booked tickets for us at the Rijksmuseum, so that's where we headed to first.

The building itself is absolutely stunning, and of course we couldn't pass up a photo opportunity of us together in front of it. We pretty much zoomed around the museum as we had limited time to explore the city (coach driver's fault not ours) but we were both chuffed to see some real Van Gogh's and of course The Night Watch. 

                                              

As we were on our way to the Hard Rock cafe for lunch, we stopped by a beautiful little shop where a pair of ladybird earrings caught my eye. Everything inside was hand crafted and just so lovely. The earrings were a little too expensive for me, but a plate with the Girl with a pearl earring painted on completely won me over, and I bought it for my mum as an early mother's day present. At the Hard Rock cafe, we had burgers (again) with coke whilst listening to Metallica, and we even got given a free brownie each on the house by the lovely waitress who served us. On the way out I stood and took as many photos as possible, trying to capture the city passing me by as the clock counted down. 

We headed back towards the Rijksmuseum as I wanted a picture stood in front of the Iamsterdam sign (I know, I'm the worst kind of tourist) and after that we went into the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh museum gift shop (unfortunately we didn't get chance to see the Van Gogh museum as there just wasn't enough time 😓) I bought myself a bookmark and a key-ring with Van Gogh's Irises on, and a Iamsterdam wrist band. 

After that we didn't have much choice but to head back to where our coach was. To our advantage, the coach was parked right outside of a cafe, so we sat down inside and had a brew and talked about how much we loved Amsterdam, how shit it was that we only had 5 hours to explore it, and how we were definitely going to come back again. Also just want to mention that the cafe was called The Van Gogh cafe and the staff was so lovely and my brew was brilliant 🍵

Inside the Van Gogh cafe. My photo

💙

My second trip to Amsterdam was 5 months later and I went with my best friend. I'm not actually going to write about that here, as I've already written a full blog post about it called 'Amsterdam Dreams'. (You should be able to find it on my home page 😊)

Although the number of places abroad I've visited isn't many, I've made memories that will stay with me forever. All of these countries have their own kind of magic, and it's that magic of traveling that I will always crave and love because there's nothing better in my opinion than experiencing an entirely different culture and soaking it all in. I could write endless novels about the places I've been to, how they made me feel, how they were all like a living dream, but instead I've written it in this blog just for you, because you all asked for it (and you deserve it because it's been over a month since I wrote my last post.)

Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed it, and that it made you laugh.

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Until next time my loves!

Violet x