Holiday Haul + Minis

Hey!

Now University is over for the Summer I have a few holidays planned. Which means, I need to shop for clothes and the best thing of all...minis! Does anyone else love buying minis or is it just me?

Travel | Bern, Switzerland

When I went interrailing in 2016 I planned to make long thought out posts about each country that I went to. However, I only got as far as Amsterdam and Berlin and then forgot to do the rest! So I've decided to include photos of the places I went with information that I can remember. Here are photos from Bern, Switzerland:

Haul | Travel Size Products

In June and July I am going abroad so I needed to stock up on some travel size products. All products mentioned are 100ml or under which fits in with the UK's guidelines on bringing liquids in your hand luggage.


The first item is simple but important- Carex Aloe Vera Hand Gel (50ml). I want to bring it with me so I can bring it out with me to make sure my hands are clean. I like the aloe vera one as hand sanitisers can be drying and I have sensitive skin so aloe gel helps to keep my skin calm. Pretty simple really!


The next item is a slight cheat. This item I already owned so I didn't buy it with the others but it is still a travel size product that I am bringing. This is The Body Shop Strawberry Shower Gel (60ml). It is the perfect size and the strawberry scent smells particularly fruity and perfect for summer.


Then is the travel size of Batiste Blush Floral & Flirty Dry Shampoo (50ml). The scent doesn't really matter to me but I use dry shampoo every week of my life so this is a necessity! The big bottles I usually buy are way too big to bring so this is a good size.


As someone with lots of baby hairs that stand up on end, I need hairspray. Likewise to my dry shampoo, my usual bottle is a huge bottle so would be no good for travel! This is the L'Oreal Elnett Satin Extra Strength Hairspray (75ml). The Elnett hairsprays remind me of my Mum as I always remember seeing them on her dressing table as a kid. When I used to do dance competitions she would use it on me so for that I just had to buy it when I saw it!


For heat defence, I picked up the VO5 Smoothly Does It Tame and Shine Heat Defence Spray (100ml). I actually didn't realise until after I bought it that this is for dry hair rather than wet hair which is when I had it in mind for, but it should be okay! I always try to avoid hairdryers but regularly use hair straighteners. 


Lastly is my all time favourite, Urban Decay De-slick Make Up Setting Spray (30ml). I buy this regularly on FeelUnique and love it for travelling. It keeps my make up in place well and I love it for hot weather as it has temperature control. It works wonders for stopping my make up from melting off in the heat! If keeping your make up in place on hot days is an issue for you then I really recommend this.


So that's it! Anything else I need travel sizes for I am just decanting from my full size products into empty travel bottles. 

Travel | Dublin, Ireland

If you've been reading my blog for a while then you would know that at the moment I am on a gap year with plans to travel. I have already been to Spain so far with friends and on February the 10th my friend Antonia and I went to Dublin for 3 days. Neither of us had been to Dublin or Ireland. We only booked it a month previous and just thought, why the hell not? 


To give you a bit of context, Dublin is the capital of the Republic of Ireland and is not in the UK. Down the middle the River Liffey lies with either side being the North side and South side. 

Dublin 72 Hour Freedom Pass

We found that the best way to get around Dublin was to buy the Freedom Pass on Expedia for £25.50. The Freedom Pass lasts for 3 days which is how long we were there for. With the ticket you get to ride the green hop-on hop-off open top bus tour as much as you want as well as being able to use the public buses to your hearts content. It also includes a bus to and from the airport, a free ticket to the Little Museum of Dublin, a guidebook, a city map and vouchers to other attractions and restaurants. This seemed the cheapest and easiest way to get around the city without the risk of getting lost or confused. We didn't use any public buses but we relied entirely on the tour bus as it ensured we could get directly to all of Dublin's attractions and then back to our hotel. 

As soon as you get to the airport you can collect your pass and guidebook and someone gives you the low down on how it works and what they recommend to go see in Dublin. Then, there was a bus already waiting to take us to the city centre. The pass is so easy because all you have to do is scan it on a chip-reading machine and away you go! The buses always came regularly, I believe it was every 10/15 minutes and they really helped you to get where you wanted to go with ease. The best part was that every bus driver does their own live tour where they give their own take on the city with all kinds of facts and jokes. You get to learn so much about the city and get to see it all clearly at the top of the bus where there is only a roof on the first quarter of the bus. The whole tour lasts just just over an hour. I do recommend actually sitting throughout the whole tour and not getting off so you can see how the bus driver describes the city and its history in their own unique way. You also get to see so many beautiful buildings. If you want to be a real tourist then I really recommend getting this pass so you can use the sightseeing tour bus. 

Tourist Attractions

There are plenty of things to do in Dublin. Dublin has such a rich history which you will hear about repeatedly at a lot of the attractions so if you are interested in history and the Easter Rising then you will like this. Dublin is packed full of statues in memory of various icons in their history and you'll find roads, monuments and houses all dedicated to various figures. James Joyce is a name that pops up a lot!

Before we went to Dublin we knew we wanted to visit the famous Guinness Storehouse which the bus stops directly outside of. Guinness is a beer that Ireland pride themselves on and all the locals will talk about it and drink it. The Guinness Storehouse is amazing because you get to see how it is made, the history behind it and get a complimentary pint for yourself. The building is even in the shape of a pint of Guinness! We bought our ticket in advance on Expedia for £13.91 which I do recommend as it is the cheapest way to buy it and it also means you can skip the line. There are multiple levels. You enter on -1 and then you go to the ground floor for an introduction to Guinness and the four ingredients in it. Then you go to 1 where you learn about the brewing process and how casks are made and the methods of transport used over the years to transport it around the globe. Level 2 is the taste experience where you learn how to fully appreciate a pint of Guinness. Level 3 then is where you see all the advertisements they have used throughout the years whether on TV or on paper. You can even go into a photo booth where you become apart of an advertisement! Then there is level 4 which is my favourite; the home of the Guinness Academy. Here you are taught in groups how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness in simple steps and then you get to try it yourself. After you've completed the lesson you get a certificate and even get to drink the pint you poured. I've never poured a pint before so this was really fun! With Guinness you have to pour it at an angle to a specific height and then leave it to sit for a while before topping it up again. The perfect pint keeps its white frothy head the whole way through. We didn't bother with the next level but the next level is a restaurant where you get to experience traditional Irish food with Guinness. But the main event is the top floor where the Gravity Bar is. Here you can drink your Guinness with a 360 degree view of Dublin and you can get giddy by sitting on comfy sits right 
against the windows. Don't look down!

We also visited Kilmainham Gaol which is an old prison in Dublin. It is a mix of a prison of very old design, to the newer form of prison where the prison cells are circled around the middle so the guards can see all. You get taken on a tour through the prison by a guide who tells you so much about the prison and the people who were in it. It is so creepy when you get to look into the old cells which are dark, cold and eery. At one point you get to stand exactly where political prisoners had been executed by firing squad and stand in the room where the executioner measures the prisoner up ready to be hanged. Additionally there's a museum attached where you get to read old artefacts and even read a letter a prisoner had written to his mother before he was executed which is a pretty heartbreaking read. I strongly recommend visiting and you will leave feeling emotional.

Our freedom pass allowed us into the Little Museum of Dublin so we took a trip there. On the outside it looks like a normal old Georgian house in a street of other houses, but on the inside it looks so grand. On the bottom floor you can see/view the Easter Rising in comic strip form along the walls which helps if you find reading texts boring and we also got to see about the people who were executed at Kilmainham Gaol which we were at previously. Upstairs you then get to see all kinds of history in relation to Dublin, whether its to do with the war, women's rights, newspapers, fashion or the famous band, U2. It is all, or mostly, donated by those who live in Dublin so it feels very homely and community driven. This is a nice short little visit if you've got some time to spare!

Another attraction worth visiting is the National Wax Museum Dublin which, as the name suggests, is a museum of wax figures. There are various rooms and levels which teach you about figures of Dublin's past, Irish athletes and other notable Irish public figures. There are also plenty of singers, film stars and animated figures such as LaLa from the TellyTubbies and The Simpsons! One of the funniest parts is that there is a recording studio which drums and a keyboard. You can select a song and you are filmed in the music video singing and playing along. We did have people walk in on us screaming the words to a High School Musical song! Additionally there is a horror area with a few jump scares. You can take a photo with Freddy Krueger, watch Hannibal Lecter try to escape his prison and see casual human skins hanging from the ceiling. Not real of course!

Our last stop on our trip was to Dublin Castle. A wander around the grounds and going inside the castle is lovely, taking in all the beautiful furniture and décor. There is so much gold and luxury! It was nice to look around and see how royalty lived. They have lots many mirrors, even mirrors that you aren't even tall enough to see in! There is plenty of art and in one of the rooms there is art all over the ceiling. They have long benches in that room so I suggest lying down on them and taking a look at the ceiling. It doesn't take long to wander round overall so this could be a good one to do on your last day. 

These were the only attractions we managed to visit in our time there, but because the sightseeing bus takes you all around Dublin you get to see everything from the bus even if you can't be there. There are plenty more attractions we didn't physically go to such as Temple Bar, Phoenix Park (one of the largest city parks in Europe) and the famous Dublin Zoo, but we got to see them from the bus. You're spoilt for choice on what to do really.

Shopping

Dublin seems lovely for shopping. We were really close to the shopping centre where they have plenty of fashion stores. I was particularly excited about the fact that Primark is called Penney's in Ireland so went there purely just to say I've been to Penney's! They also have the likes of Forever 21, MAC, Zara, H&M and New Look. I didn't buy any clothes but did go to the Inglot stand in the mall to buy some eyeshadow. There are stores that you will find in England and stores you will not so its a nice mix of both. Had I brought a suitcase with me on the trip I might have done a bit of shopping!

Eating Out and Pubs

Dublin is expensive, there's no denying that. You will need to make sure you have spending money if you plan on eating out and going out at night. There are pubs a plenty in Dublin so you won't be short on alcohol but you will be paying high prices. I paid 6 euros for a cider! As for eating out, we tried to go for cheaper places but there aren't many. Also, as vegetarians my friend and I didn't feel we had much choice in restaurants. We had to stick to Italian during our trip. Our favourite restaurant was The Italian Connection on Talbot Street. For breakfast, we found that it was cheaper to just go to Tesco and get pastries. We also stuck to Tesco for lunch and just got ourselves a meal deal. The breakfast at the hotel was 9 euro per day per person and had we eaten out for all our meals it would have been one expensive trip. My advice if you're on a budget is to buy what you can from the supermarket and only eat out on the night. TripAdvisor is your friend for finding what you need from a restaurant. Also, I weirdly noticed that in all the restaurants we visited they didn't offer much alcohol wise. They had wine and Guinness, maybe a beer on draught, and that was literally it. I usually go for a cider on a meal out but had to reluctantly stick to lemonade. 

Our Hotel

We stayed at the Beresford Hotel, situated on Store Street, which is close to O'Connell street, where we could catch the sightseeing bus. It was really hard to find and took us an hour and asking 2 people but we finally got there. It is a budget hotel which fit our needs. The staff were friendly and the rooms were basic. They seemed fairly clean but the walls are thin so you will hear the people above you/next to you in their rooms. The room was also annoyingly hot and we had to have the window open at night. It wasn't a luxury stay but if you're just going to be in and out of the hotel and only need somewhere to sleep, that's cheap and in walking distance of restaurants and bus stops then I would say this is right for you.


Overall we had a lovely (yet tiring!) trip to Dublin. It was a quick 3 day trip in the week but we fit a lot in and I was home in time for work the next morning. Admittedly I had my doubts because I read a lot of views online that Dublin was a rough area. I was originally planning to go alone but everyone I told had doubts due to hearing that it was rough. Despite this I experienced zero problems in Dublin and never felt unsafe. To be fair Dublin is a capital city and whenever you're in a big city you should always take care of your belongings and making sure you don't walk in rougher areas anyway. And anyway, contrary to this we met many lovely Dubliners who were very friendly and helpful! If you're wanting a budget friendly, last minute city break then I think you should really consider Dublin. I'm glad I visited and it was a great experience. The flight out there with RyanAir was only £9.99 too!


I'm sorry this was so long- I had so much to say! Nevertheless I hope this was interesting to read and that you would enjoy seeing more posts like this when I visit more places this year. There is so much more I could say and so much I have missed out but I'd be writing a long essay otherwise!

Travel | Alicante, Spain

To start off my gap year I went on holiday with my two friends, Antonia and Vicky, to Alicante in Spain for 5 days. We had been planning to go away together after we had finished Sixth Form for a long time, so when the time finally came we were pretty excited!

DAY 1- I reluctantly woke up at 5.45 AM for our 2 and a half hour flight. It felt really weird to be going on holiday with just friends and not family! Annoyingly when I walked through the X-ray bleeper thing it got set off, even though I wasn't wearing anything metal! Apparently it was from my ankles but there was nothing metal there, just my leggings. Weird huh? Anyway, it was actually Antonia's first time abroad and on a plane so it was interesting to see her reaction to take off, flying and landing. When we arrived in Alicante it was actually raining! We knew there was going to be bad weather that day but it was still a bit of a disappointment to us when we got there. After checking into our lovely hotel, Melia Alicante, we walked around the Alicante area to get to know it and found somewhere to stop for a drink. I tried Aperol for the first time with high hopes but I actually hated it! In the evening we went to a restaurant and tried their local wine which was probably the best wine I have ever tasted. Much better than the Aperol, for sure! Then it was on to a bar by our hotel to drink cocktails where we actually made friends with an older couple who happened to be staying in the same hotel as us.

DAY 2- The next day we woke up to nice weather so we decided to go to the beach. But first we took advantage of the buffet breakfast and I stuffed my face full of croissants and watermelon. We managed to have a couple of hours on the beach and put our feet in the sea but then suddenly a thunderstorm came over! Fortunately the beach was right on the hotel's doorstep so we didn't have far to go to get back under cover. The thunderstorm was so heavy the streets began to flood so we had no choice but to stay inside for the rest of the afternoon. We filled this time by playing cards (I'm glad to say I won some games). Luckily by the evening the rain had stopped and the worst of the water on the roads had gone so we went out for a meal again with a new wine to try. It wasn't as nice as the first one but still good!  We ended the night at our new favourite bar and I discovered my new favourite cocktail: San Francisco. 

DAY 3- From our hotel we could see Castillo de Santa Barbara which is a castle up a small mountain in Alicante. We decided to go up to the castle to check it out. You can get a lift up to castle then walk the rest of the way. Let me tell you, it was beautiful! The weather was much hotter and nicer with clear blue skies so the view was spectacular. We could see over Alicante and the sea. We also got to learn about Alicante history and the backgrounds of families who had been living there for generations. After our trip to the castle we decided to relax by the pool so we could finally soak up and enjoy the lovely weather. I was reading my book called 'The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August' by Claire North. In the evening, we found another nice restaurant to go to. Annoyingly, on the menu I saw 'Pasta Carne' (which is meat) and 'Pasta Vedura' (which is vegetables). As a vegetarian I went for the second option expecting veggie carbonara, but only the pasta was vegetarian! The sauce still had bacon in it so I had to frustratingly pick out all of the bacon bits. After our meal we went out and had cocktails. I think I had a little bit too much because I ended up being sick when we got back to the hotel!

DAY 4- The start of my day wasn't too great as I ended up being sick twice more so had to skip breakfast. But after having a nap I felt a lot better and ready to go out. We decided to walk to town and check out the shops there. Antonia wanted to go to Pandora to get a Spanish flag for her charm bracelet to represent her first holiday abroad. We spent absolutely ages looking for Pandora but eventually found it in a Corte de Ingles store. One of the biggest hits of the day was discovering a Kiko Cosmetics store! I knew Kiko existed online as I had seen bloggers talk about it but I didn't know they had stores. We went in store and I think we spent a good half an hour in there in awe of all the make up. I ended up buying a blue eyeshadow stick, blue mascara and a eyelash night treatment. We also saw  Sephora store and freaked out about it because none of us had been in a Sephora before. On the evening I decided I was a bit fed up with constantly eating pasta so I decided to try something different. I ended up having a weird dinner: chips and bread dipped in vegetable soup. It was surprisingly delicious though! I wanted to order a chocolate milkshake instead of wine thanks to my being sick experience but the waiter ended up bringing me hot chocolate instead. It felt weird drinking hot chocolate in a hot country! The rest of the night was Fanta Lemons for me.

DAY 5- Last day! We had our final breakfast (I had way too many croissants) then we checked out of our hotel room. We relaxed by the pool for a couple of hours in the afternoon then had our final meal together at lunch time where I ordered Spanish omelette baguette. However, the waitress brought me French omelette baguette which I hate! I then re-ordered my Spanish one...but another French one came. Thankfully we were third time lucky and I  finally got what I ordered. Afterwards, we played a few games of cards before waving goodbye to Vicky. Rather than coming home with Antonia and I, Vicky was leaving on an earlier flight to Madrid to have a weekend there with her family. After she left, we went down to the beach for the last time and went in the sea. We then relaxed by the pool taking in the beautiful scenery for one last time. Our flight was at 23.55 and we ended up sitting next to a man on his own. He proceeded to tell us that he had a candyfloss vending machine business he was bringing over to Spain and showed us photos on his phone of it. Odd!  We were pretty tired by the time we got home and I finally got into bed at 3 AM.

Overall we had a great holiday and it was nice to be away with people I had been friends with since Year 8. We had just finished sixth form so it was a good way to celebrate the end of our years in education together before we went on to other stuff in our lives. Although, me and Antonia are planning to go away next year travelling as well. So watch this space!

Also, credit to Vicky who allowed me to use some of the photos she had taken for my post. You can check her Instagram out here. She is a make up and travel lover!

Where did you go on holiday this year? Let me know!

10 Steps To Planning A Holiday with Friends

Hello!

So in just over a week I will going on holiday for the first time solely with friends. It will feel weird being without my Mum or other family members, but I am excited to have this little independent adventure with my friends! I'm sure it will be the first of many in my gap year.

This little holiday abroad was about a year in the making, so I thought I would share with you a 10 step guide on how to plan and arrange a holiday with your friends. Let's begin!

1. Find out who is [seriously] up for going on holiday.                                                                                                                                                                                        Perhaps make a group chat on some sort of social media (we did on Facebook) and see who is seriously up for it. The reason I say seriously is that sometimes there are people who will say they're up for something but not actually do it or try to save up money for it!                                                                                                                                                           
2. Decide when would be the best time to go and how long for.                                                                                                                                                                              Next you need to decide when would be the best time to go and how long for. You may have to decide how long for after you've chosen your destination and accommodation so you know how much you can afford. But if you already know for sure you want to go for however long, then why not? Things to consider: Will anyone be in education or work? Will you be travelling in peak time or off-peak time? How long would it take people to save up enough money? For us, we decided the best time to go would be after exams but before the start of University. Then, we decided going in September would be the best because it would be cheaper for our student banks as it wouldn't be peak time due to people going back to school. As for money, we worked out we would need until after Christmas, around Jan/Feb, to save up enough money; giving us about 4/5 months.                                                                                                                                                
3. Get an idea of what you and your friends want out of a holiday.                                                                                                                                                                           Do you like city breaks? Or do you prefer a holiday by the beach? Inclusive hotel? Villa? Walking around attractions? As for us, one of us preferred city breaks whilst I preferred to be on the beach so we compromised by deciding we would go somewhere which was a bit of both. Comprising is the best way to book a holiday for everyone so you can all enjoy it equally.                                                                                                                                                             
4. Find destinations you like the look of and pick one.                                                                                                                                                                                                Make a list of destinations you like the look of. The best websites to use to do this is TripAdvisor and Expedia. What we did was make a PowerPoint of all the destinations we liked and included what you can do there such as attractions, activities beaches and nightlife. Then everybody voted on which they preferred which turned out we all agreed on equally. This is the best way to choose somewhere fairly and ensure the majority get their destination.                                                                                                          
5. Research accommodation you like the look of and pick one.                                                                                                                                                                                      I think Expedia is the best way to find accommodation. Again, we made a PowerPoint on accommodations with what they include, photos and prices per night so we could all equally vote on it. We ended up having two hotels and one apartment as options and nicely enough we all voted on the same hotel! The cheapest accommodation might not always be the best and the most expensive might not always be the worst. One thing we considered was one hotel was more expensive but it was conveniently by a beach and included breakfast. So the best way is to consider the pros and cons.                                                 
6. Look up transport.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Using Expedia we then found out the best flights for our chosen dates. Obviously this would differ if you only needed a train or coach to get to your destination. Things to consider are what time you want to get there and what time you want to get back. If you travel early morning to go there for example then you get that whole day whereas if you travel late then you miss out that day on holiday. The same goes for coming back, if you travel late you get that whole day still whereas if you travel early you miss that day. That might be something to consider if you're only going away for a short while.                                                                                                                                                    
7. Calculations.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                So now would probably be the best time to work out how much everything is going to cost. You need to add up your accommodation price per night and your transport price. Remember to divide it by however many people are going! You also then need to work out how much spending money you'll need to take. To do this you must consider whether you're travelling to an expensive area or not, what you want to do (i.e. buy 2 of your meals of the day out) and how long you're there for.                                                                     
8. When can you book?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Can you all afford to book the holiday now or should you get back together in a couple of months to see how everyone is doing for money? Like I said earlier, we didn't book straight away and instead gave ourselves 4/5 months to save up more money first. You don't need all of your spending money straight away, just be sure that you will save up for enough spending money in time. Also, who is going to book? Is one person going to book it up and all of you give the money to them?                                                                        
9. Get back together nearer the time.                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Nearer the time you might all want to meet up again to discuss what you will need to bring on your holiday. Perhaps take a pen and paper. This will be useful to plan who takes what (for example, do you all really need to take a hairdryer?) and also helpful if one of you hasn't been abroad before which was the situation with my friend. Sharing makes it cheaper and easier to pack. You can share shower gel, shampoo, appliances and medication as some examples! You can also then arrange how you're going to get there and back from the airport/station/whatever it is and decide times to meet.               
10. Be excited!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              There is nothing more exciting than travelling with friends especially when it is your first time away without family. Remember to be excited and try not to get stressed about all of the planning: enjoy every moment of it!

So that is my 10 step guide. My last tips are to make sure you have all the travel documents you need (such as travel insurance and health insurance) and to share a suitcase if you can. It makes it so much cheaper, trust me! Remember to look after one another on holiday and always bring your phone with you in case you somehow get split up or if there's an emergency.

I hope this helps. Let me know if it does I'd love to hear!

Travel | Brighton, UK

Hello!

This weekend I went on a trip to Brighton with my boyfriend for our first little holiday together. We both really needed to de-stress and take some time away from our day-to-day lives plus we had never been to Brighton before!

After a 4 hour train journey full of card games and revision (for me), we made it to Brighton. It was a sunny day but slightly cold and windy. With help from Google maps we found our hotel and checked in so we could drop off our stuff.

We spent Saturday checking out the beach and Brighton pier. Somehow we justified spending £5 each just to go on a small roller coaster on the pier that goes upside down and looks down over into the sea! However when we were on the ride I hit my hand against my ear (essentially punched myself in the ear) and it pushed all my piercings slightly into their holes which made my ear bleed a bit! Ouch! We spent a lot of time sitting on the beach with our phones away from us just watching the calming sea and breathing in the sea air. It was highly relaxing. And of course, it was traditional to go get chips by the seafront in typical British style.

In the evening we got dressed up and went for a lovely meal to a little Italian we found when walking where I had a vegetarian lasagne and a sublime chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce and brownie base with squirty cream pudding. We were planning to go for cocktails afterwards but we couldn't find the place so instead we went back to our hotel with our own alcohol and music to have our own party.

 On Sunday we checked out of our hotel and had croissants for breakfast. We chilled on the beach again then took a stroll down The Lanes where there are some cute little shops. There is this quite well-known chocolate shop called 'Choccywoccydodah' where you can see some amazing cakes! Our favourite was this wedding cake with skulls that said 'Til Death Do Us Part'. We also went for an Italian buffet for lunch and a hot chocolate in the afternoon just to chill before our journey home. 

But let me tell you, the journey back was a nightmare! It turned out our journey was cancelled because there was a shortage of staff! We quickly had to get on to a train which we were told was going to go to where we needed to get to next but that was cancelled too! Instead we had to take a completely different journey which then got delayed because someone was walking on the tracks! Because of the delay we then missed the train we needed to get on which happened to be the last direct train to where we needed to be next. What was originally a 4 hour journey with only 2 change of trains turned in to an 8 HOUR JOURNEY full of multiple trains, walking and a coach! We didn't get home until 2 AM and we were both absolutely exhausted from travelling for 8 hours. We had travelled to so many train stations that were nowhere near to our end destination and it was quite stressful! However, we managed to get home in the end. 

Apart from our nightmare of a journey home we had a brilliant weekend and I thought Brighton was really pretty. Although it was cold the rain stayed away and it was rather quite relaxing. Now I feel like I need to go book another weekend away!

Have you ever been to Brighton?