Steve and I recently had a lovely weekend in Stockholm celebrating Midsummer. The trip had been booked for quite some time but it ended up nicely coinciding with our 'one year until we get married' date. Whilst this was a nice coincidence, booking a trip to Sweden during Midsummer, and booking our wedding for the Midsummer weekend were definitely not coincidences. It's a great time of year, a celebration of life and love, and I'm delighted that it'll become all the more special for Steve and myself. Midsummer to the Swedes is a bit like Christmas to the Brits, everything shuts down for the ..read more

I'm very lucky that I get to call Ireland my second home because it really is one of my favourite places in the entire world, especially the north of Co. Antrim where my family have a house. Every time I visit I get to check out favourite locations from my childhood, as well as visiting something new. It's also given me the unique perspective of experiencing how Game of Thrones has had a dramatic impact on tourist numbers, something I have very mixed emotions over. Once quiet and tranquil spots where I spent my summers running around are now overrun with coach tours. The surge in tourism has ..read more

Long time, no blog. I can't believe it's been nearly a year since I last published something. But it's not without trying, I have plenty of half finished drafts in varying degrees of completeness sat in my posts folder. I haven't fallen out with the blogging world so to speak, but I have found that updating my blog has dropped off my list of priorities. This makes me sad. I love writing here and I have so many things I want to share. Perhaps I'm overwhelmed, so many blog posts but so little time. But I want to do better. I still love food, travel, and life in London and I want to continue tal ..read more

There was only ever one contender for where we would stay in Bali, and that was Canggu. My sister Helen has been living there for over two years and her stories of beach bars, cool cafes, and relaxed vibes instantly sold the town to me. Bali was never a huge wish list destination for me, the tales of drunk teenagers and raging beach parties isn't really the holiday vibe I go for, but Helen assured me that Canggu is not like this, and she's absolutely right. Once a secluded surfing spot, the town is now a busy haven of local businesses, whilst still retaining that relaxed and easy-going energy ..read more

Steve and I have been living in our flat for a year and a half now and I cannot believe how quickly the time has flown by. Despite our tiny little space only comprising of three rooms, it's taken a while to get just right. I'm definitely not finished with the flat yet, there's a few things I'd like to add to the living room / kitchen area, plus we're still using a spare bed and bedside tables from my parents that I'd eventually like to replace. But aside from those extremely minor details the flat is more or less a finished article. The nice things about living somewhere so sm ..read more

My hair has always been an important part of my image. For a third of my life it was bleached blonde and when your hair is white, it's hard to not make a big deal of it. I loved having bleached hair, it really suited me and I enjoyed playing around with temporary colours. But it came with plenty of problems, the damage and upkeep being two of them. Eventually I got to the stage where I'd had enough of the straw like condition and frequent trips to the salon. I decided it was time to start growing out my roots and embrace my natural hair colour, whatever that turned out to be. Growing out my h ..read more

I'm not long back from a two and a half week trip around Indonesia, and boy what a whirlwind it was. The country is huge and we did our very best to see as much as possible, but now I'm yearning to return and see even more. Whilst we did travel around a lot, I found the trip pretty relaxing compared to our previous holidays, especially as the heat forces you to slow down. Island hopping isn't the most demanding of activities and save for a few treks and early starts I didn't return home feeling exhausted, which is quite often the case with the type of holidays I plan. Indonesia has always b ..read more

Lovely new haircut from Dom at Rush Tower Bridge* This evening Steve and I are off to Indonesia for just under three weeks. Obviously I'm excited. I'm excited to see my sisters, my friends, and to discover a new country. But I'm also a little scared. I'm scared of falling into the sulphurous blue lake of Mt Ijen, of being bitten by a Komodo dragon on Komodo island, and of not being able to protect my skin from sunburn. But hopefully I'll be ok and everything will go to plan. Beach holidays aren't really my bag, I'm so pale and sun sensitive that I'd rather not put myself in a risky position w ..read more

I love an early morning flight, it means you arrive at your destination with an entire day of exploring ahead of you. However, I am not a morning person in the slightest and despite my 31 years of existence, I have yet to embrace the habit of waking up early feeling fresh. Fortunately for me I am willing to put myself through the discomfort of an early alarm if it means I get to jet off somewhere exciting. Nevertheless a 7am flight still fills me with a little dread so I've started to look for ways to make the experience of break of dawn travel a little easier. Say hello to airport hot ..read more

Maastricht was the final stop on our whistle stop tour around the Netherlands. Despite it being a couple of hours away by train from Utrecht, it was en route to Brussels which is where we caught the Eurostar back to London. Maastricht is very different from the other cities we visited. Cultural similarities here are much more in tune with Germany and Belgium, compared to the north of the country which feels more Nordic in comparison. Because of this Maastricht ended up being my least favourite city but that's not to say I didn't enjoy our time here because I absolutely did. The city is tradi ..read more