Dorset

My blog has focussed a lot recently on the fantastic places that I have visited outside of the UK, but I thought that today I would talk a little about the country that I live in, England. You would be right in thinking that when the weather is dismal the country is grey and dreary, but when the sun is shining there is not a prettier place in the world.

And I think that Dorset is the icing on the cake.

In the summer months, Dorset is a great destination for a weekend away of a trip to the coast, and it offers you plenty of spectacular views of the coast.

The Jurassic coastline is the first World Heritage Site that The UK has to offer, which spans through Dorset and East Devon. The landscape is rugged and its no surprise that it has joined the heady heights of the Great Barrier Reef and Grand Canyon, we have wonders of the world in England too! If you come to the area then you can hunt for fossils on the beach and visit the Dorset County Museum for a chance to see ones that someone else dug up. Keeps the dirt out from under your nails!!

The winner for most people along the coast is Durdle Door, which is one of the most iconic features in the region. It’s an arch in the rocks and it is said to be the most photographed rock formation along the coastline (according to my Dad). Each year there are over two hundred thousand people who walk along this stretch of the coast line, and it is truly beautiful. Due to the pressure of the spray from the waves, eventually the arch will disappear and it will just stand as a stack of rock in the water.

If you came across Dorset on a sunny day you would be mistaken for thinking that you were in Europe; we too have white sandy beaches and crystal waters! (although swimming in them is not for the faint hearted, be warned!) The best beach in the region has to be Sandbanks, where the rich and fancy free live.

The closest town to the beach is Poole, but the area is often nicknamed Britain’s Palm Beach by writers and journalists. The are has the fourth highest land value in the world, don’t you know!

 

 

Cruising Around Norway

I have always had a passion for travel, since the first holiday abroad that I remember; two weeks with my family in Italy. I remember thinking how majestic Venice was and how when I was a grownup I would like to travel to work by gondola.

So in 2004 when I passed my A levels, my mum offered to take me on a cruise. “Oh God!” I thought “a cruise is full of old people!” but I obviously sucked it up as she seemed so excited.

And it was absolutely magical. The cruise that we took was around Norway and I would strongly recommend it to anyone who doesn’t like flying (a firm plus in my mum’s positive tick sheet) and who loves to see areas of natural beauty from a different perspective.

The cruise left from Southampton and headed straight to the Norwegian town of Bergen.  We took a funicular (like a cable car) up the mountains to see all of Bergen and get out first glimpse of the ffjords, and then reboarded the ferry for our journey.

I was obviously panicking the entire time as I hate heights, but I coped and by holding firmly onto the edge of the car I saw some beautiful snowy mountains and chocolate box houses.

We then visited the Royal City of Trondheim and saw their attraction, The Old Town Bridge, which was once the only way in and out of the town centre, when the city was the hub of Norwegian trading.

Over the next few days we sailed through the arctic circle and down the Raftsund strait, stopping on Harstad (the largest of the Norwegian islands) and seeing where explorers had been before us.

We sat and had coffee in the university town of Tromso; soaking up the atmosphere and watching people go about their daily lives before we boarded the ship again, ready for an excursion where we got to go kayaking in a ffjord.

I thought that sort of stuff only happened in the films! With hindsight, I don’t think my Travel Insurance covered this, and with the recent news of a teenager dying after a polar bear attack in the country, I realise we were luckier than we thought. We didn’t see polar bears, but saw a whole host of other wildlife on our sail.

On the return part of the journey we visited Seven Sisters (not the borough in London!) where folklore tells that the arrow from Hestmannen’s bow formed the hole in the mountain, and you can see the prettiest landscapes in the area.

On the return part of the journey we visited Seven Sisters (not the borough in London!) where folklore tells that the arrow from Hestmannen’s bow formed the hole in the mountain, and you can see the prettiest landscapes in the area.

If you really are scared of flying then a cruise is a great way to see the world, and give you a really interesting perspective. Its also great value for money as you get to see a lot of different towns and sights with your accomodation and travel paid for.

I Want To Be A Part of It…. New York New York!

Slightly different post today.

I have a trip to New York to book in the next couple of months, and I really need your advice as to where is good  to go.

I want to know where I should be heading straight for, where the eclectic little eateries are and what landmarks are totally overrated. I’m only going to be there for a week, so I would love to know where to avoid, where to head to and what to do to fill my exciting few days!

Of course when I come home I will give you the full low down on how I found the city.

Help me out people!!

Word of the Day…. PARADISE

 

Gorgeous examples of the places I am heading off to this weekend….

In reality, gorgeous examples of the places I will be heading off to in my dreams this weekend, when the reality of the matter is that I will probably make it as far as the gym and the supermarket!

Where is paradise for you?

Spotlight On…..Brisbane

This gallery contains 9 photos.

  In 2008 I had the good luck to go and visit a friend in Brisbane. It was tinged with sadness as it was to see a very good friend who had moved home a few months back and who I missed, but edged with excitement as I got to see her little boy and […]

Torrey Pines State Reserve

I have spent a lot of time in San Diego, but I wouldn’t go back there if I didn’t love it. I use it as a base to see some other places, but when I was there this year my sister and I decided that we would actually see the area around Del Mar and what our adopted home had to offer us. My sister had been in the country for three months and therefore had built a daily life there, doing nothing all day except embracing the slightly crazy Californian love of exercise.

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So she decided that she would take me to explore Torrey Pines State Reserve. I love cliffs and the beach, but am not a fan of walking. “it’s not far” she said “and once you get to the top, its spectacular. YOU WILL LOVE IT”.
After about two minutes of walking up a steep incline I had had enough. It was hot, yet people were putting me to shame running up the hill in shell suits, of cycling up at breakneck speed. I didn’t think I would make it, and I wasn’t sure my Travel Insurance covered death by too much sweat.
After a handful of pit stops where we ‘stopped for a little breathe’ we made it to the top. And she hadn’t lied to me after all.

You could see down the coast for miles, and the ocean looked so pretty and calm at the bottom of the steep cliffs. I was in paradise. Why would I ever want to go home? Luckily the tide was low so we could clamber down the cliff paths to the beach at the bottom. My sister pointed out the old cliff paths that had eroded away thanks to the sea, and we meandered down the way to the beach at the bottom. We went and had a poke around flat rock, laughing at the kids chasing the crabs and just enjoying being carefree and happy as we chased the waves and ran back the safety of the cliffs. The tide came in as wound our way along the shore and back to the car, serene and calm after spending a pain free morning actually doing exercise.

If you ever get the chance and the weather is nice then don’t avoid taking the trip. It’s free and its beautiful, and you will really feel at peace when you stand at the top of the cliffs and marvel at the wonders of Mother Nature.

My Favourite Destination, It HAS to Be La Jolla.

I’ll let you into a secret. Yes I would love to travel across the world and I have a great big list of places that I would love to go to, but if you told me that I could only travel to one place for the rest of my life (like the film Groundhog Day) then I would choose it without a second thought.

I love La Jolla. My family live in Del Mar, and I love taking the drove down the coastal road to the town, with the sea to my right and Torrey Pines State Reserve ahead of me. Roof down, sun out, this is my place. So La Jolla would win, hands down.

All three of my cousins now attend La Jolla Country Day, and they study so close to the beach that my little green eyed monster comes out every now and again. I studied near a train track, but that was about it!

So La Jolla is the place that makes me happy. I think I could live there forever; just sitting on the cliffs and watching the world go by. Poking around in the rock pools and watching the children splash in the water; watching the pelicans in their formations as they glide through the air, so delicately. My uncle once told me that pelicans only travel in prime numbers, something I knew to be a fib by the look on his face, but nonetheless when I see them coming I always count them.

My favourite thing is to walk down to the sea wall and walk out to sea; the wall doubles back around on a little beach where seals lay and bask in the sun. Its mesmerising and I could watch them for hours. I might be easily pleased, but there is something so serene about the place and I feel relaxed when I know I am on my way. And I always cry when I have to leave California. Don’t get me wrong, I like London but if I could never sit on the cliffs again I think a piece of me would be lost.

My grandfather used to visit my Great Auntie in California before she died, and they would always make their ritual trip to the The Crab Catcher. It’s a fantastic restaurant that looks out over the bay, and they serve lots of delicious fresh seafood, caught that day. The soft shell crab is their speciality, and it’s well worth a visit. It’s delicious.

If you are in the area and stuck for something to do then you won’t regret making the trip to La Jolla. If you like to scuba the waters are often still enough, but if you are like me and just seek a little respite from a busy day then walk a while till you reach the cliff tops, take a seat and relax there. The heat will warm your bones and the lapping of the sea against the rocks is a sound that can so nothing but to calm you. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world.

The City Of Angels, Californ-I-Ay!

So I went to LA. Los Angeles, the City of Angels, The Big Smoke….. Never appealed to me but I thought seeing as I was over there I should probably make the effort, and I actually ended up seeing the city twice, by accident. The second time was by air which was an experienced, as my flight home through Chicago was cancelled and I had to get an ‘American Eagle’ (more like a sparrow!) back to LA to make a flight to get me home to London. (luckily I had travel insurance for that one; I had been toying with not bothering “bad stuff just doesn’t happen!”)

But the first was planned, and me and my sister took the car and drove the Pacific Coast Highway to the city. We went first to Hollywood, then Venice Beach, then Santa Monica Boulevard, followed by a drive home through the Orange County, spotting Laguna Beach, The Hills, Redondo Beach and some of the other places we remembered from the films.

Hollywood

I loved the idea of Hollywood, thinking of Marilyn Monroe and Greta Garbo and the BratPack, but in real life I spent a few hours feeling uncomfortable in a seedy location, having people talk directly to my boobs. I’m glad that I’ve been, but I won’t be rushing back.

Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier

Venice Beach had a really bohemian feel and we ran along the sand and dodged the roller bladers heading for us. We then walked the few miles to Santa Monica Pier, which was my favourite place in the whole road trip. There was a general air of fun, and we felt happy and serene as we played the pier games and dined on chips from a cone.

While we were there we did go to Universal Studios and Disney, but I’m going to cover them in another post as there is just too much going on with that. I will say that Disney is a whole other world and I think magic really does happen there.

Orange County

On our way home we drove down the Pacific Highway as far as Camp Pendleton and then got on the freeway. We had lunch at the end of Newport Pier which was absolutely delicious, and I looked out for dolphins as my sister watched the surfers perfecting their sport.

I think I’d like to live in the OC……

48 Hours in ….. Palm Springs, CA

If you have forty-eight hours to spend relaxing, then you should take the trip to Palm Springs. We went because we were tired of the ‘June Gloom’ over San Diego, and wanted to make people think we had seen a little sun in our trip to see the family in the States!

So we drove inland to Palm Springs, and we weren’t disappointed. The drive took around two hours and I was fascinated to see how the landscape changed from the sea scenery in SD, getting more and more sandy and arid as we drove through Temecula, Sun City and the Moreno Valley, finally ending up in the resort, Rancho Las Palmas.

It was gorgeous. Not far from Coachella (the location of a festival which I seriously want to go to next year. This year my cousins informed me that their friends saw our very own Ellie Goulding, not to mention Brandon Flowers, Wiz Khalifa and Lauryn Hill. They weren’t allowed to go) you really are out in the desert, and you can feel it. Its warm and arid, so we found the hotel room and headed down to the pool. We swum til lit got dark and went and got some food, taking to bed pretty early.

And there was an earthquake in the night! Nothing massive, but enough to wake us all up and give our Aunt a call to let her know we were all safe and sound.

The next day we got up and did more of the same. the resort that we were staying in had an attraction called the Lazy River, which is a slow-moving rapid that you took a rubber ring and relaxed in. the water propelled you round and round, and we spent hours there just laying and catching the rays. I’m so pale that I couldnt even sit out in the heat of the day, so while my family went round and round on their rubber rings, I read a book under the safety of the parasol. We did this for two days, and then came home!

Palm Springs isn’t especially exciting; there isn’t anything to see really and if you are after an adrenaline packed few days then it wont suit you. in the winter you can go up into the hills and ski, but I love it in the summer. There’s nothing like a break from the busyness, and its SUCH a relax!!

In light of the earthquake and the fact that it is so hot out there and us Brits aren’t used to it, I would recommend taking travel insurance as America is so pricey for health bills. I went with Swiftcover travel insurance as I had limited funds, but I think that different insurance companies offer different benefits. If you plan to hit the powder on your trip then make sure that your policy covers ski injury in case you are as accident prone as me. I can just imagine falling off one of the ski lifts and doing myself a damage 🙂

The Dominican Republic – Paradise On Earth

Before I went to the Dominican Republic, I didn’t even know where it was. So when my friend suggested a last minute trip to the Caribbean thanks to some too-good-to-be-true offer that one of them had found, I could do nothing but accept.

Turns out that it is the second largest island in the Caribbean (thanks mother!) and the weather is always balmy and warm, but it’s not just an island of beaches. If you love paradise but need something to do other than swimming and basking in the sun then don’t discount The Dominican Republic as there are plenty of excursions to keep you occupied on your trip.

We stayed in Punta Cana which is on the east side of the island, and in a true girls holiday style we decided to go on the Saona Isle Catamaran tour. We expected a trip out to an island with all sorts if fun; barbeque, swimming and snorkelling off the boat, bathing in the sun and getting a chance to see some of the gorgeous Caribbean landscapes. And we weren’t disappointed.

It took a while to get there and one of my friends was a little travel sick, but once we were on the boat we had a great day. The highlight of the trip was a pit stop at a natural swimming pool where we could see star fish in the wild and swim in some of the clearest waters I have ever seen. It was an experience that I don’t think I will ever get again, and I had such a fantastic time.

The food at the BBQ was nothing like you would get in the UK; no overcooked sausages or burgers. We dined on BBQ chicken and fresh tropical fruit, with warm fresh bread and amazing salads…. The type of food that you crave when you are in the warm, all washed down with fresh fruit cocktails and copious amounts of water.

The hotel that we stayed in didn’t fail to disappoint either. There were acres of stunning gardens and a private sandy beach, and the pictures we took looked like they were straight out of a glossy magazine for some luxury travel provider. You could choose from a view of the gardens or a view of the beach, and for an extra cost a lovely lady would come out to your lounger and give you a massage if a day of sunbathing and doing nothing had got too much for you.

 

Needless to say, my trip to the Dominican gave me the deepest honey tan I had ever had. I took the time to use a high factor and ensure that I didn’t burn my skin and have to sit out of the fun for a few days (I’ve done this before and didn’t want to do it again, I miss out!)