TRAVEL - Memory Hostel, The Best Hostel In Da Nang, Vietnam

Are you thinking of travelling to Da Nang, Vietnam soon? If you're reading this blog post then chances you are; and I don't blame you! Da Nang is a rapidly growing destination for backpackers and we can see why. Bordered by stunning jungle mountains on one side and an endless horizon of the East Sea on the other, Da Nang is a travellers paradise. It's an amazing part of Vietnam, which offers something for everyone! From Marble Mountain to the amazing My Khe Beach you'll have plenty to do during your stay in Da Nang.

If you're looking for a place to rest your head then look no further than the Memory Hostel! Situated in the heart of Da Nang, you'll find yourself in the perfect location to enjoy the best attractions and activities the city has to offer. The hostel is surrounded by shops, restaurants, traditional markets and so much more. With prices starting at just £5 PPPN, and that's including a super tasty, traditional breakfast you get so much more for your money! (Also, as a treat for you all.. If you email to book your stay and quote STEPHANIE you'll receive an extra 10% off your booking, and if available, have the best room!) 

I am very grateful to be able to work alongside Memory Hostel to show you why this beautifully thought out accommodation could be your home away from home. Memory Hostel does exactly what it's name suggests, it offers a memorable Vietnamese family experience - while still managing to work around it's Western visitors demands. The staff are second to none, they welcomed us with open arms and truly gave us an unforgettable, rewarding experience that I will tell you all it later in another post. You'll never want to leave! (I'm getting emotional thinking about it)

The building itself is stunning, the unique architecture is breathtaking! The bricks are constructed beautifully uneven - differently to your average building which makes Memory Hostel stand out from the moment you see it.  Decorated throughout with these funky patterned tiles, it gives a real feeling of nostalgia, and of course look amazing in all of your travelling pictures.

I stayed in a shared dorm on the 5th floor. Everything about our room was perfect. Amazing view of the Dragon bridge, Comfortable beds, everything was spotlessly clean and the bathrooms are just WOW! Traditional concrete basins and still keeping the tiles throughout. The room offered everything we needed, storage boxes big enough to fit people in, bed lights, plugs, wifi, AC and fans for those extra warm nights and the most amazing view of the Dragon Bridge and river in the area.

There are 5 floors for accommodation within the hostel. They include dorms, single rooms, and double rooms too. Making the hostel great for everyone. Doesn't matter if your a solo traveller wanting to make friends in dorms, or wanting some alone time Memory Hostel has you covered.

You can even enjoy the roof top bar area, it's pretty quiet in the day if you just want to head up and chill out in the sun - at night it brings a fun, social atmosphere - have a few drinks, play some card games or join in with the hostel activities for the night. Just take in the views and enjoy the music all around you.

Keep an eye out for another post about my wonderful time at Memory and everything we got up to! It's a must read if you're heading to Da Nang and want an authentic experience!

Remember, if you looking to book Memory Hostel, you can recieved 10% off by sending an email directly to sale@memoryhostel.com and quoting STEPHANIE.
Or, to make it easier.. just follow this link to their Booking.com page  :)

What do you think of Memory Hostel? Where have you stayed? 

Stephanie xoxo.

TRAVEL - Leo Leo Hostel, Best place to stay in Hoi An!

Hey Everyone!

[Image from Leo Leo Hostel  Facebook page]

We're half way through our Vietnam trip and currently staying in a wonderful little city called Hoi An. Hoi An is a must see destination for backpackers travelling the country. Hoi An holds a stunning historical old town center with canals offering boat rides, traditional Chinese style shops and some of the best beaches I have even stepped foot on.



We're staying in Hoi An for three nights, and are fortunate enough to be staying at the Leo Leo Hostel. I wanted to write this post to tell you about our favorite place so far on our trip! Leo Leo Hostel is in the perfect location for those who want to do everything. It's a 5 minute walk away from the old town, where you can find tailors, food, clubs, colorful decorations and so much more. We've so far walked down every night and found something new.

When we arrived at Leo Leo, we were greeted with the biggest smiles and friendliest hellos! Given free Vietnamese tea on arrival and given a map full of tips of the top places to go and see. The staff at Leo Leo are happy to help with any questions and can recommend the best places to try new food, see some history or pick up the best custom made garments in town.

Check in was an easy procedure, gave our names, gave our passport information and were taken to our room. Our room was great! We shared a dorm room with another three friendly backpackers. It consisted of five single beds (not a bunk bed in site!) The beds were super comfortable and included large locker drawers under the bed for luggage. Each room has AC and a fan, and our room also had a small balcony that looked over the street out front.

I love that the rooms don't have bunk beds, it made the stay a lot more homely - Leo Leo definitely thought about quality over quantity. The room was the cleanest room we have ever stayed it, and was cleaned every day by the staff which made us feel so comfortable. Our room had a bathroom included which felt a lot more homely than having to walk across a hallway. The bathroom included. BY FAR the best shower we've discovered so far! It has a waterfall shower head with just the right amount of pressure, a standard shower head you can take off the wall to use as you please and also a running tap. Everything you need to clean yourself after coming home from the beach.

That's the next good thing about Leo Leo Hostel Hoi An, The location. It's located on a lovely street near the old town. There are clothing shops, mini marts, spas and plenty of food stops within two minute walking distance from the hostel. We walked the a maximum of five minutes every night to reach Hoi An's old town - I'll create another post about everything you can see and do in Hoi An as a follow up, but old town is on the top of the list!

Hoi An also offers some fantastic beaches near to the hostel. We headed to a different beach each day using the bicycles we rented from Leo Leo. You can also rent scooters or private taxi straight from the front desk too! Everything was arranged for us whenever we wanted it, and the process was so quick and easy.

Your stay at Leo Leo also includes free breakfast! I can highly recommend their banana pancakes with chocolate syrup, I had it every morning.... but they have plenty to choose from. In addition to breakfast, it includes free water and tea, free pool table and please take advantage of the roof top social area. Every night we would socialize upstairs on the rooftop until the early hours (But also became quieter when others went to bed... best of both worlds!) They ran events, like family dinner when the hostel is busy enough, dress up nights and drinking games.
Highlight of my trip was Sh*t shirt night and Fear Pong (If you haven't heard of it, Google it)



I didn't see the staff as staff, they became friends straight away. We played card games together, talked about our travels, had a few drinks. We never had an issue with communicating, all the staff have advanced English and were happy to teach us some Vietnamese to.

Last, but not least - They also have two adorable Corgi pups called April and May who will join you on the roof for the evening. They are the sweetest dogs in the world who just love having everybody's attention.

The whole experience is some homely, I didn't feel like I was in a hostel at all. Facilities were great, staff were the best you will find in all of Vietnam, location was perfect and I can guarantee you would love every aspect of this sweet hostel.

You can book Leo Leo Hostel on a number of different websites, Here is the link for Booking.com
At £14 for three nights including breakfast, you won't be able to find anywhere better!

If you've found the page, I hope you found this review useful and I really really hope you book into Leo Leo Hostel!

Stephanie xoxo

D I Y - MARBLE HEADBOARD

Hey guys!

Just a quick one from me today, but I'm going to share with you how I made my boring, basic Ikea headboard into a super #extra marble master piece!
It cost me just over £5, and took around half hour to complete. It makes my bed look super expensive and luxurious!

Apologies for the horrible wallpaper, it doesn't really fit the beautiful aesthetic of the DIY project. We're moving out so there isn't much point in me redecorating just yet.

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Here's what you need;

A head board (Duh... but you can do this with anything!)
Marble contact paper ; Here's the one I used (Marble Contact Paper)
Scissors
Hard Card/Sturdy Plastic
*Optional sticky tape*

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First thing you'll need to do is grab your headboard, this took me a while as it was screwed into the bed frame. Finally I managed to pull it off and placed it on my mattress to get started.

This is the contact paper I ordered from Amazon. The link is above. It's the perfect width for my headboard and 2 meters long so I have plenty left for future projects!

The contact paper is really simple to use. Once opened, there is a piece of sticky plastic holding the roll in place. I used this to secure the roll to one side of the paper to stop it rolling back up. Make sure you attach it to the back of the headboard around 2inchs in. As the back of the headboard won't be seen we don't need to cover the whole thing.

When securing the paper, you need to ensure that it is lined up with the bottom of the headboard. We don't need to over lap the bottom as we need to be able to put it back into place. Again, the bottom is not seen. Ensure to leave the top of the paper handing over the edge ready to stick down to the top of the headboard in the final steps.

If you need some extra help to ensure it stays straight when you're putting it down, use sticky tape to hold sections in place. Try and use one that wont leave a sticky residue. If it does leave a sticky mark though, don't worry; you should be able to wipe it down after the material is pretty durable.

Once you're all lined up, you are ready to go! It's super easy. Just peel back the backing. Ensure to do this inch by inch. I found it's the easiest way to minimize air bubbles. Now take your bit of plastic. Whatever you'd like to use, I used a Blackhead Peel Off Mask box at first, but it wasn't hard enough so I used my GAME rewards card in the end instead. 

 

Use the card to push towards the area where you are pulling away the sticky back plastic. This step helps to reduce the air bubbles and make the headboard look more authentic rather than cheap. Once the paper is down it's kinda hard to work with. So do try and go little bit, by little bit to get rid of those bubbles. Just to save yourself some hard work after.

 

Now, I missed a photo here but it's pretty straight forward. Now that the made base is down. You'll hopefully have left over contact paper at the top of the board. Before you think about it! Do not try and stick it like you'd wrap a Christmas present. You'll end up with creases visible at the top and we don't want that. Instead, use the scissors to cut a small line where the two corners meet. Fold the side stripe down, and then cover with the top area. This will mask the corner and give you a beautiful clean edge. 

And that's the end! Once you're happy with the result, attach it back to your bed and lounge in your new wonderful marble masterpiece!!
*adding your Stitch stuffed toy is optional*

Stephanie - xoxo 

 

T R A V E L - / / HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF A SHORT STAY IN PARIS.

I was fortunate enough to head over to beautiful Paris for the April Bank holiday weekend with the other half. You'll be able to find a whole blog post about what we got up to *HERE* - It includes everything we got up to over the 3 day trip with photos of all the AMAZING views and places we were able to visit.

This blog post will describe how we managed to get the most out of our short stay - and offer some tips and recommendations to how you could too!

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So you're thinking of heading to Paris for a few days, but want to fit in as many sightseeing stops and visit the best attractions without breaking the bank? Fear not; although Paris can be expensive, you can get the most of it if you just scratch beneath the surface.

Firstly, shop around for the best flights and accommodation deals! The less money you spend getting to Paris, the more you have to spend in Paris. Browse comparison websites such as Kayak or Icelolly. We booked ours using Expedia.
Expedia did everything for us! It found the cheapest flights to Paris, and offered us a fantastic list of hotels that we could filter out.
We flew from LHR to ORY. LHR is easy to get to using any of the bus services such as Megabus or National Express. Megabus can be booked in advance for £5 a seat! We opted to drive and used PurpleParking for only £42 - and I used Quidco so also received 10% cashback.

We chose our flights for April 28th-May 1st, and stayed in the 4* Hotel Mercure Paris Montmartre Sacre Coeur for a total price of £215 each. Meaning our trip cost £572 over all for the both of us.
You can find hotel's starting from £40 a night based on 2 sharing on Tripadvisor - It's easy to get the price lower than £500.

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Now, on to the main event. What can you do in Paris on a tight budget?
Paris, as a whole is an expensive place - but there are so many things you can do to make your money last!

There are a number of famous attractions you can visit completely free for all ages!

1. Basilica Sacré-Coeur 

 One of Paris' most captivating sights, many people like to view the elegant and prominent architecture from the foot of the 300 steps beneath. The building itself is located on the highest point of Paris - which offers a breathtaking panorama view of the city.
We entered the attraction walking from Montmartre itself rather than getting the metro, by doing this we were able to wonder through the quaint village and visit a lovely artist area full of wonderful paintings. If you would like to visit from the Metro station, please be aware of the sellers as you approach - Keep everything close!

2. The Cathedral of Notre Dame.

Many of us know about The Cathedral of Notre Dame from the well known Disney movie we all loved as a child (I know I did).
It's a fantastic piece of French History boasting remarkable Gothic architecture. The towers of the cathedral stand tall and proud over the ever-changing bustling city landscape. The beautifully crafted figures on the entrance to the building will transport you back in time, not to mention the stunning artwork and detailing inside. You'll also find a number of facts about the Cathedral inside, such as the building timeline - starting from 1163! It was a long project!
As it's one of Paris' main tourist attractions, be prepared to queue. To avoid the line simply turn up early in the morning, or later in the evening. It's definitely worth the wait though!

3. Montmartre Cemetery

 

Now I understand this can sound pretty morbid, but if you find yourself in the Montmartre area, head to the Cemetery. I promise you would have never seen anything like it. It may look like a scene to the world’s scariest horror film, but it really was a great experience. It's home to a number of celebrities including Alexandre Dumas (The writer of The Three Musketeers) and world famous actress Dalida (her grave/tribute was beautiful).
The cemetery was home to thousands of graves, including the super elaborate tombs with up to 16 family members buried inside.
Honestly, it's not as weird and spooky as it seems. It also makes a for a peaceful retreat from the crowded tourist areas and it's something different to do in your spare time.

4. Jardin de Tuileries

Please take full advantage of this beautiful garden! If you walk from Place de la Concorde through the garden you'll arrive at the entrance for the Louvre Museum. It's a stunning 20 minute walk with plenty of cafes to enjoy some food.
But it's also the perfect location to take full advantage of a homemade picnic in the sun! The park has plenty of seats and benches to use for free during the good weather and the fountain is a lovely spot to settle down before you visit the huge museum!
We went to our local shop to buy our picnic in order to save money for our big night ahead - Ham and Brie Baguettes with crisps, tomatoes, chocolate and a bottle of wine. Small but just enough for us, and can easily be purchased for less than 10 euro. We had enough Brie for 3 days!

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In addition to the free attractions I spoke about above, Paris are very giving to their under 'younger' generation. With a number of places offering discounted (or even free!) entrance fees for those under 25.

5. The Louvre Museum.

After your walk through Jardin de Tuileries - you'll arrive at the Louvre! The most visited art museum in the world! You'll spot the famous glass pyramid entrance straight away. It's a pretty impressive and memorable building and has some truly remarkable exhibits. We went on the Saturday, so the queue looked intimidating but it was something we both really wanted to do so we stuck it out - and were surprised at how soon we actually got into the building. Due to recent events, Paris is on high alert so security is of course top priority, so everyone entering the building is security checked which results in waiting. However it took hardly any time at all.
Even better, when we went to buy our tickets we were informed that because we were under 25 we were allowed into the exhibits completely free of charge! (YAY! More free things!). It really is as easy as showing your driving license/passport and voila!
The Louvre was one of my favourite attractions in Paris and I'd recommend it to everybody. I fell in love with Napoleon III apartments. #Housegoals.

 

6. Eiffel Tower

Of course, the biggy couldn't be missed off my little list of things to do. It's kind of hard to forget about and for good reason! The Eiffel Tower's structure is amazing as it stands alone - but the views from the top are spectacular and show just how enormous Paris actually is!
Now if you're brave and fancy a cheap challenge, you can walk up to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower for free. (It's a lot of steps, you've been warned)
But again, Thanks to Frances under 25 discount, you are offered a lower entrance price if you'd like to take the lift. Now we got the lift to the very top, at 14 Euros each it may seem a bit steep but I assure you it's worth it.

I'd suggest going in the evening, due to it being so popular the queue is something else. You have to queue for security, queue to collect your tickets and then queue to get onto a lift. It takes a life time. We went in the rain on a Sunday at around 8pm and I think our waiting time was only around 15 minutes to get onto the lifts. Much better than what we would have experienced in the sunshine on Saturday.
We managed to get up while it was still light enough to see everything, but by the time we reached the bottom the Eiffel Tower was lit up. A site we'll never forget! 

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7. Jazz Clubs

In addition to all of this, Michael and I are huge fans of live music, and Jazz specifically for Michael. Both of us agreed that our Jazz Club night out was our favorite part of the whole trip.

Now, we started splashing the cash a bit here compared to our other outings. We were able to buy the cheaper rate tickets again as we're under 25 to view a show at Duc De Lombards. One of Paris' best jazz clubs, if not the best. Located only a 2 minute walk from Chatelet's metro it's easily accessible.

We paid 23 euro each, for our front row seats to see Manchester based Jazz musician Matthew Halsall and his band, along with LA Jazz singer Dwight Trible. *give them a Youtube*
The atmosphere was electric, and the good vibes were contagious, everyone loved the music and the band connected with the crowd all night. Drinks were pretty expensive, at 29 euro for the cheapest bottle of time.
You can always pre drink before you leave, we picked up bottles of rose for 2.75 euro at our local super market.

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8. Restaurant Dinner Cruise

And last on my list of things to do! This was the big spender for us, but we did go all out. We had our last supper on the Paris en Scene. A three course meal with a bottle of wine on a boat travelling down the Seine. We paid 104 euro over all, which sounds like a lot - it works out around £88.

For a boat trip, three course meal and a bottle of wine I'd consider it to be a very good price! We booked the more expensive seats so that increased our price by 10 euro, and included the bottle of red wine that also upped our bill - It can be done for less!
If I remember rightly it was 39 Euro for just the meals, your best bet is to book online before hand as it fills up quickly.


The boat took you up and down The Seine, meaning you were able to see all the sites on both sides of the river. Including the Eiffel Tower and the original Statue of Liberty!

The service was amazing, they could cater for any additional dietary needs (I'm a vegetarian and nothing was too much hassle for them). The staff were polite and informative and the boat played some beautiful music that worked as a romantic soundtrack to the evening. The cruise itself lasts just under an hour and a half and I personally think it's totally worth the money!

F A S H I O N - / / D A Y T W O - G R E E C E

Aloha!

Day two here in Kefalonia!

We went down to Agosoli yesterday and seen some turtles swimming around the fishing boats waiting for some free dinner. We also headed to a few of the beaches close to our villa - I'll share a bigger post after full of names and places too. 

Another bargain outfit post, this outfit cost less than £10.
The black Croptop/Bralet I grabbed from Primark as something quick and easy for me to wear at Bestival. I paid £3 for it, and bought the same in pink also.
It's super soft and can work with anything!

The shorts, I bought as part of a two piece set off Ebay - The top's super cute, but the sizing is completely off. These shorts were a size large, I assumed that because they were from China, it meant large in China - which is bit smaller the than UK. But these shorts were huge on me, so had to be brought in with a stitch. Yet, the crop top was tiny and gave me a super unflattering side boob so sadly I can't wear it :(

I'm sure I used the sandals for every outfit I brought with me on holiday, because Thomas Cook only give a 6k weight useage! 6k! redic!

But oh well. It works ;)

E V E N T S - / / B E S T I V A L 2 0 1 6

The Bestival Long Weekender 

Let's just get straight down to it, Bestival 2016 was something completely new to me. Thanks to the guys at Get-Involved, I was lucky enough to attend three of this years BESTIVAL events, - Common People, Camp Bestival, and Bestival itself. I don't know what I was really expecting but there were loads of things going on the whole time we were there.

In this post I'll go through a shit tonne of stuff, but I'll mainly focus on the things I find most appealing from my experience at this years event - including Fashion outfits/Camping/Music/Food an the overall experience. 

In previous festival posts I've stated out what I got up to day by day at the event, kinda like a little festival diary. Well, Bestial was a whole 4 days of lots of travelling, lots of walking around, lots of booze, a lack of sleep and just none stop giggles so all my days molded into one - but it was bloody good!

Now, word of warning, this post will be a long one, but it'll be filled with funny pictures and just stuff I (probably more than likely not everyone) found interesting and just cool little things for people to know about. 

Now that the little introduction-ish is over, let's just straight in! 

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My boyfriend and I were kindly given two press tickets to come down to experience The Future at this years Bestival. Michael's a Bestival veteran, this being his third/maybe fourth year. I was a complete Bestival virgin and I didn't know what was coming/had completely the wrong idea but we'll talk about that as we go along. 

We headed down super early Thursday morning, we were going to get up at like 5.15am, but over slept and managed to get up, dress, fed and out the door by around 15/20 minutes I think? Our friend Chris joined up for the journey - We like Chris!

We had a long journey ahead of us, We had to get a train from Cardiff, that took us to Portmouth Harbour - with one change on the way. Taking around four hours. We we're all pretty happy as we got on the train, but after an hour or so, tiredness kicks in and it was bedtime for a few hours.

The first leg was pretty each though, we just had to sit there - no messing around, trains weren't over crowded, no delays, plenty of room for our stuff and we loved having the table to sleep on - every little helps! 4 hours later, our train was done! 

Once we'd arrived at Portmouth Harbour, the queue for the ferry was just as you stepped off the train. The queue wasn't very long at all from what we could see, but we didn't realise that it went inside the building and around the corner - It was pretty busy, and we had to keep moving closer together to make sure the trains that arrived after us didn't clog up the station. The line moved a lot faster than we thought, I'd say we must have been on the third ferry after we'd arrived? Again, it was very straight forward, we dumped our gear on the floor downstairs and headed up to the deck to see the sea. 

A little windy, but helped to wake me up a bit. Not a bad little 30 minute boat ride really.

The boys had perked up a little bit, Michael doing the Brock squint again....

Now to the dreaded bit. The long as wait for the bus that takes you to the actual festival site. The queue went on for what seemed like forever. Honestly, you couldn't see where it finished for a good hour or so. We stood waiting for our bus for around 2 hours before we managed to get on one. The nearest toilets were at the cafe by the pier, so we couldn't jump out of the line to use them.. If you know me at all, this was heart breaking for my bladder. I hadn't drank anything, not even water since the night before. This was the worst bit of the journey by far - but then I can compensate because I couldn't suggest any way of making it any easier, it's just a busy place to be!

Our bus trip made up for it though, we went whizzing around the island in an open top bus, Isle of Wight is so beautiful! It'd be great for a little getaway in the future. I didn't see any chains, everything looked to be independent/family ran businesses  including pubs/farms/boutiques. It was like something out of a movie. I spotted some signs for town names that were familiar from when I visited the island at the age of 8, which was a nice little memory rejogger for me.

The bus took around half hour to reach the site, simple directions to the entrance, a short walk across a little field and then just line up in another massive queue. At this point I felt absolutely gutted, another few hours of standing around... Thankfully! We were able to grab our press bands from the Box Office and walk straight through! (Sorry Chris) The staff were super friendly, told us exactly what to do and where to go - top guys once again!

So, now we're finally in, 9 hours after leaving Cardiff - but we're here!

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Camping

Camping was split into a number of areas at this years Bestival - Orange/Black/Quiet/Boutique/VIP/Artists

We headed to Black camping first because we heard through the grape vine that it was the place to be, and by god it was! The place was ram packed! Ideally, we needed a space for my tent, Chris's tent and 3 more spaces for his friend. This was unrealistic, we couldn't even find find a decent space for our tent - the first gap we found.. we were told they were 'waiting' for a friend - so we moved over a bit on the path and were about to set up... when some bloke asked up 'Do you do ket?'.. exactly what I thought the festival was going to be - full of bloody loonies, I'm not going to be able to move without someone breathing drugs in my direction.. I'm all for people to do whatever they want as long as it doesn't effect others. but this bloke bugged me from the get go.

I replied no and he told me 'not to camp there then.' What a wankerrrrrrr. So we moved because If we stayed I would of killed him by the end of the weekend haha.

I asked one of the guys from the Festaxi where the best place to camp was, or ANYWHERE with room that wasn't full of bellends! He sent us to Quiet Camp - which was yellow camp last year I think? I loved our camp! but I think it's because it was quiet haha, I can party until dawn, but when it's bed time, it's bed time - I'm a party pooper soz! #sorrynotsorry. 

We managed to bag a good circular area until Chris joined us, we had plenty of room for our tents, and our new friends when they arrived. 

We made some new friends who also joined our little circle, Callum and Jon were also part of the press covering the event and fit into our little family straight away! 

It was quite a walk from the stages, but simple to find. I think most of the official campsites were a while away from the event, but it made sleeping nice and easy... but if you wanted to, you could hear from the tent, I was so tired one night I was falling asleep waiting for one of the girls outside the toilets but I wanted to hear Katy B again - Luckily I could hear her from our tent. BEST OF BOTH WORLDS!

Apparently, the campsite was a lot smaller this year, with the Prepitched tents taking up a large area at near the entrance. This should be looked into for next year - because Black camp was stupidly busy, ,and there was nowhere else to go apart from quiet camp, which is fine- again, I LOVED QUIET CAMP!

Noone bugged me, noone broke or stole anything, noone was super loud and everyone was really welcoming around us. 4.9/5 - 0.1 taken away for the distance away from the stages - but then it wouldn't be so quiet so I'm just being picky.

#TEAMYELLOW

(Super dark Polaroid taken by the super heroes behind us.)

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Food

Now here's another important bit, food! Now I'm not a fussy eater, but I also am. I don't eat meat - but don't mind products that include meat (so I'll have gravy/gelatin ect)

So far, at CP and CB I'm been more than fine with the choices, and once again I was not let down!

We had all the classics from every festival - Such as the Flaming Cactus (My favs!) and I <3 Sausage, but also tried out a few little gems that were hidden.

Thankfully, On the first night I was invited the The Mix Kitchen - Unpredictable Summer run by Co-Op. These guys were life savers, we were so tired from the journey down - we wouldn't of grabbed anything else. Co - Op upped the game! The chefs came out with a list of stuff they could make for us, but we could pretty much ask for anything and they'd sort it out.

I had the most amazing dish ever, I couldn't tell you exactly what it was called, but it had couscous, shredded carrots, beetroot, lentils, salad leaves, cheese, potatoe, peppers and some sort of wizards sauce that bonded everything together! It was truely amazing, and my bowl was filled! It took forever to get through.

Free champagne and water was also a bonus! Winner winner!

As you can see, Michael is a bit happier now he's been fed and watered. Michael has a specially made chicken and noodles bowl, He was best pleased! haha.

Lease flattering photo of either of us, but we also caught up with another Chris we met at Camp Bestival! We chatted for a VERY long time. 

We had a lot of snacks in our tent, I'm a sugar freak so packed sweeties for breakfast every day - Not the most nutritional sorry but gets me up in the morning!

For lunch on Friday I had a sweet chili and halloumi cheese wrap, and Mike bought some sort of chicken wrap. I waited a long time for it, at least 15 minutes. I was absolutely starving to so it felt like forever!  I guess the cheese just wouldn't cook. I was super excited to tuck in, but when I did, a volcano of sweet chili sauce erupted into my mouth. I'm only a sensitive little flower anyways, but this was something else! I spent the next 10 minutes starving my little butt off just starring into my food, wanting to eat it but soo scared to in case I die (not being over dramatic at all) The wrap itself was great though, the bread was oven cooked so nice and crisp with a herby layer to add texture.

BUT! Praise the lord, The Flaming Cactus sorted me out once again! Even though I didn't buy my wrap from their store, they covered it in smooth cucumber yogurt and fixed my wrap! It was gone within a second. Thanks again for saving the day!

For dinner, I spotted a Risotto stand, I love Risotto - it's so easy to make, soaks up all flavors and I've never been anywhere that doesn't have a vegetarian equivalent. I bought the large mushroom risotto from Risotto2Go. The portion was huge!  It was super creamy, soft and fluffy. With three different types of mushrooms, herbs and some beautiful cheese thrown in I couldn't think of anything better.

 It fed Me, Michael and everyone else tried a bite too. 

I had four of these while at Bestival - pretty bad because I didn't check out many other places, but once you like something, you like it! 

(MORE RISOTTO! and Mikes Burger from the place next door on Sunday)

Saturday the heavens opened and it was the biggest, muddiest mess I'd ever seen in my life, but we made the long trek purely just to fill our bellies at Flaming Cactus - We ordered exactly the same as we did at Camp Bestival, and my Burrito obsession has stuck. To good to wait, luckily someone snapped a photo of us because we completely forgot while we tucked into our foodporn. We ate two of these, one for dinner and one for tea. Only fair seeing they saved my food the day before. LOVE YOU GUYS!

Sunday was our 'day of rest' not really... we stayed until the early hours - but food wise our bodies were so tired and full of booze and burrito that we took it pretty easy.

Here Michael had a pulled pork burger (back to his normal Camp Bestival routine) from The Burger Co - While I didn't take a photo, but had chips with plenty of ketchup. And then we shared another round of Risotto for dinner - with a box of nachos to see the night through.

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WHATS ABOUT?

I was so grateful to be invited to the press viewing of Samsung's Hypercube - Now it does look like something out of the sci-fi movie Cube, but inside is The Future (ah see what I did there?)

Samsung had teamed up with the Rock band Biffy Clyro to create a new Virtual Reality experience for everyone to enjoy. This is the next state of technology and it was executed so well!

Once inside, the dark cube was light up by lines of blue tablets and headsets, it kinda reminded me of Tron? 

 

We had to follow the instructions on the tablet, and then put the VR headset and headphones on and just enjoy the ride.

The VR experience was a Biffy Clyro music video, but with a 360o perspective. if I were to look straight forward I'd see the area Biffy were performing in, but If i turned my head I could see everything that was inside the room they had recorded it in? I don't even know how to explain, but I could see everything that the band could see, and probably a bit more! If I turned 180o from where I started I had fireworks firing at me at one point!

I loved it! It wasn't what I was expecting at all but I'm super excited for this technology to become every day! It's amazing and if you get the chance to experience any VR soon, please do it! You won't regret it!

Magically Woods

We found the woods while drunkenly walking back from the Space port one night and decided we were in no right state to explore it so would come back the next day. I'm so glad we did! It was full of lots of things to do, such as listening to inspiring talks at the Bestival University, chilling in hammocks, playing in the park and hitting some cool bars with live music. Here's my favourite parts. 

The forest had loads of little things hidden around it, sculptures in the trees, sensory areas and little statues just laying about.

My favourite book growing us was Tin Tin - Even managed to rack up a £60 fine from the Library because I wouldn't return it haha.

This pretty cool bridge looked beautiful all day and night, I wanted to take a shower in the stream but noone would join me.

The bridge was decorated with spot lights and these pieces of fabric hanging down - I don't know why, but it looked super pretty!

Over this little oriental bridge was a little quiet bar, which had live acoustic music playing all day by indie artists.

Again, no idea what this area actually was, but it had a load of artsy features throughout the path, This one matched my outfit so I stuck a pose.

and we found a play ground! I had way too much fun in here, and Michael got a bit carried away and managed to swing me into the elephant - #gameover

We also found a cool little jazz spot! You walked through a shipping crate into a giant teepee which had jazz music playing all day. When we arrived there was someone playing the piano with a few couples dancing in the middle. It first caught my eye because it's called The Blind Tiger - which is one of my favourite clubs in Newport, Wales. I thought it might had been a chain, but it was even better!

On our way back to camp after spending a little time in Blind Tiger, we spotted some giant bubbles floating around and a few kids following them, so we thought we'd follow suit because, you know, bubbles!?

Michael got a little close to the action as you can see here;

 

Some of the bubbles were bigger than us, it was nice to see something aimed mainly towards kids, but fun for all.

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