Habitually, I enjoy imitating a small hibernating bear throughout the festive season. I’ll book those few days linking Christmas with New Years off on annual leave, create a nest for myself on the sofa, unashamedly veg-out in the same set of PJ’s, chow down triple the recommended dose of camembert and steadily sup away through […]
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Let’s swiftly skip over lamenting just how quickly this last year has passed. It was April just last week, I swear. Perhaps 2017 can go as evidence that there’s still truth in the old saying; time passes at a ridiculous rate if you’re having fun. This was the year you might argue my desire to wander tipped over into an obsession; and somehow I […]
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Sat in the eye of a storm; the clothe-splosion engulfing my living room floor, progressively getting more chaotic as I came to the realisation that the twenty-four hours I had back in the UK was actually a stressfully short amount of time from landing at Stansted, fresh from Croatia to getting back on the road […]
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Germany’s second largest city Hamburg is like Berlin’s older sister; understatedly cool, modest and confidently sure of herself, but there’s that shared underlying streak of edginess and rebellion that Berlin brazenly flaunts. When I was trying to find a word that describes my trip, ‘unexpected’ seems to best capture my experience. Hamburg was totally unexpected. If you’ve […]
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I think someone hacked my ‘interior design goals’ Pinterest board, turned it on its head, added a sprinkle of quirky seafaring-style and thrown a couple of sheep into the mix. Confused? All becomes clear as you enter the lobby of 25hours Hotel Hamburg HafenCity, which was my base for my summer weekend in Hamburg. Welcome to […]
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I utterly love Europe. Sure, I can get a little contented about where I live sometimes, but other days you’ve just got to give yourself a sharp elbow and remember that being part of this continent makes it possible to spontaneously hop over the sea one weekend, day-trip in fantastic cities such as Dublin, and […]
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On a post Pulpit-Rock high, I was feeling mega keen to get my hiking boots out for another spin, and being so close to North Wales after our recent move to Manchester, I was committed to Snowdon for our next mini-adventure. Hey, look at me eh? Dog, an actual mortgage and choosing to ramble about National Parks on […]
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Adjective – Fairy tale: “having a special and attractive or beautiful quality, like something in a fairy tale“. You’ll rarely find a blog post or piece of travel writing on Brugges that doesn’t shoehorn this term into every paragraph. ‘You’re going to Belgium?’ ‘Oh’ they say, ‘go to Bruges it’s beautiful! Street’s like a fairy tale’ Yup, Well hey, how […]
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“I’m going to hike this!” I say to people, thumbing up a stock photo of the scenic panorama from Norway’s Pulpit Rock. “Oh awesome, how’s the training going…?”, “Uh” I splutter… “You hike a lot?”, “Um… hike? …No?”. I had to chase a spider from the toe of my hiking boots as I dug them […]
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What do you do when you find yourself with a surprise week off work? Book a spontaneous few days in Northern Europe, that’s what! In an unexpected twist, over Christmas I found myself accepting a new job in Manchester which in turn saw me gain a nice 10 day gap of unemployment-bliss before I jumped […]
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If you’re a twitter follower of mine you may already be ‘virtually’ acquainted with the new man in my life. No, I haven’t traded my husband in for a trendy new model, instead, we decided to turn two into three and invited a tiny pup into our home, so yup, I’ve become one of those annoying ‘doggy mothers’ […]
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When I booked my flights to Bucharest it was that week that sits just before Christmas. I was bored and frustrated; I hadn’t managed to secure a December break, and I was panicking slightly that I was teetering on the brink of 2017 and I had nothing to look forward to. Cries first-world-problem tears I’d […]
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My trip to Romania was a prime example of ‘book now, sort out the details later’, so when I paid for my flights to Bucharest I then set about looking at all the things I could do, see and eat in the capital as well as researching trips to the famed Dracula Castle, because that’s a […]
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It feels surreal to have my wedding dress hung up in our wardrobe. It’s actually tattered beyond understanding and still has remnants of Icelandic volcanic beach, grass, mud and flecks of what I (sort of) hope is my own blood clinging to the hem of a formerly spotless frock. It was only a short few […]
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2016, you’ve been strange; economically, politically, professionally and personally! Anyone else exhausted?! Although it’s been a slow-motion car crash in some ways, I can’t deny that for me, this year has brought with it it’s fair share of incredible moments. So as we sped head-first into 2017 with a shaky sign of relief, a whole […]
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This F.P. Planet: Just Another Travel Blog; Exploring Europe and Beyond 