SKIING IN ZELL AM SEE, AUSTRIA – February 11-18

HI EVERYONE! As most of ya may know (especially from the title of this post..) I have just been skiing (literally writing this on the plane home)! So like last year, I will do a daily diary if that makes sense?? ENJOY THIS RIDICULOUSLY LONG POST!

Day 1 – Travelling there!

So the actual journey from our house to the airport was pretty smooth, even though we took a wrong turning, but we still got there within a good amount of time, and even had time for some lemon drizzle cake and a creamy cooler from Costa which kept me going whilst waiting for the others, but we had LOADS of time as our flight was delayed by…….4 HOURS! We had so much time to waste it was crazy! PLUS I missed the England Rugby game..what a nightmare! We casually made our way through security and then walked VERY slowly through duty free..went for a meal because we could get something like a token each which gave us some money (not much) off of food/drink when there was a delay, so we went up to a lil foodie place and I had a pizza (oh well), others had fish-less fish and chips and then one had a burger. It wasn’t tooooo bad but it was for the price! Anyway, we boarded the plane at about 6pm, and it was a 2 hour ish flight making it 8pm UK time (I watched Bridget Jones) and Austria is an hour ahead, so that made it about 9pm, then an hour to the hotel so we go there at 10pm and we hadn’t eaten any dinner!!!!! The hotel said they would give us some cold dishes for us to eat when we arrived, and my goodness me there was a lot of food…However, as there are like 3 1/2 vegetarians out of 7 of us, the meat platters were no good, so we were on the bread rolls and eggs:)  We then went up to our rooms and turns out, I had the ‘master bedroom’!! I had 2 dressing gowns, 2 pairs of slippers, a safe and the best bit.. some Milka love hearts! I think Mum and Dad were jealous. OH, Anna didn’t come with us this year, she went on the school ski trip to Spain instead! 😦

Day 2 – First Ski Day!

We had to get all of our ski equipment (in order to ski..) so we did that in the morning and it took us AGES! As it was the school holidays and the day after the main travel day, EVERYONE was in the shop. Thankfully we had already booked our boots so we went straight through and had them done within 10 minutes, but the queues for the ski’s, poles and helmets took so long!!!!!! The staff were bringing out water for everyone because it was just so hot and cramped. But we got that done after almost 2 hours! We went up to get into our ski wear so we could go out in the afternoon for a ski and a bit of lunch up the mountain(chips from the restaurant and a roll prepared at breakfast). It was a GORGEOUS day so the visibility was amaze which made the views so good! The ski conditions were pretty similar each day. As it was so sunny the snow was very slushy and difficult to go over, and other places was just ice, no winning! At the bottom of the slope was our hotel and the last 20 metres was near impossible to get down! Witnessed a few wipeouts and experienced a face plant down that bit.. We came back in, chilled, watched more wipeouts and then went down to the sauna and pool which was v v relaxing! Then we went down for dinner (more dinner bits will come in other days) and went up to bed!

Day 3 – Zell am See & Funny Balls!

We stayed in the resort again for our second day to do a few more slopes there and get some lunch on the mountain (same food as day before). A ski day is pretty much the same each time so I won’t bore you with the slope numbers, how steep they were, when we did them etc! Dinner was good though! I can’t remember what I had for a main (probably pasta and tomato sauce) but the dessert was REALLY strange!! It was 2 balls with like breadcrumbs on them, with like a marzipan custard sauce, a jam and some chocolate sauce?  I quite liked it though..

Day 4 – VALENTINES DAY & Kitzsteinhorn!

So we decided to have a little adventure on the ol V Day! We went and skied in the Kitzsteinhorn ski area and although we did more travelling than skiing it was still a really good day of skiing as the snow was quite good! We did a few runs down before going all the way to the top, taking out ski’s off and going to Salzburg’s highest panorama platform or the ‘top of Salzburg’ which was 3029m high:)))) We also stopped for lunch up here. So we had our pre prepared rolls from breakfast with us and mum also bought us some pancakes which came with apple sauce.. odd combo but it went SO well! I am NOT ashamed of how much of it I ate because it was toooooo good! We skied down and then went and got the bus back to our hotel. The bus was SUPER busy so it was rather uncomfortable standing with a pair of ski’s squashed against the door, especially when I had an itch on my nose:/ When we got back, we found our duvets in the shape of a heart and it was so cute! We then chilled, pooled, dined and then went to sleep!!

Day 5 – Ski Jump & Fireworks! 

Our 5th day consisted of going somewhere we hadn’t been before but it was quite difficult in the snow conditions! I could hardly move my ski’s, let alone do parallel turns on a red slope…! But to get to this slope, we had to go up a chair lift, but before doing that we went on a T-Bar because we wanted to do another easy run. Quick tip, never go on a T-Bar with someone half your height, it’s not comfortable (it’s meant to be behind your bum, but for me, it was very close to the backs of my knees so I was purely clinging onto the bar thats connected to the wire! We got down (raced Dad, I won) and then got the chair to the top and managed to get to the blue and red whilst avoiding any black runs! We stopped for lunch after a difficult and slow run, again with a sandwich and some chips to share… 🙂 Then we went to look at the view and I had to get some pictures because it was GORGEOUS, and we also had some pics of us all with the view.

We had been told earlier in the week that there was going to be a ski jump… they bigged it up loads. There was a MAJOR turnout and we were worried we would miss it because our dinner took aaaaages (missed the soup) but we didn’t miss a thing. We were going to go out, but luckily mum and dad’s balcony over looked the slope the jump was on so we just wrapped up and stood out there. There was a hot air balloon that kept going up and down and about 4 jumpers who all jumped then walked back up the slope while we all waited 🙂 But then FINALLY something interesting happened… fireworks! There were so many it was amazing (even though we thought there was the potential for an avalanche to occur)!

After it finished, everyone went to bed, mum and dad went down for a drink and I stayed up in the room because I was SO tired!

Day 6 – Zell am See & Too Many  Drinks! 

Day 6 was basically the same as any other day 🙂 We skied, had food (egg and chips this time.. mixing it up, making life SO much more exciting), watched some para-gliders take off and fly around (I AM SO DOING IT WHEN I CAN!! BUCKET LIST), skied down, went for a drink in a cute bar, went to the sauna and got ready for our fancy gala dinner. This consisted of like a million courses (about 6) but the menu seemed to go on and on and on. I can’t remember what the dishes were but one of the starter bits was a multi-vitamin sorbet. We had an image in our heads of a green sorbet… but it looked like a mango sorbet. Little did we know that there was alcohol in it (who knows what it was) and there was 1 non-alcoholic one which they gave me first, then we gave it to Evie who is 10, which was probably the best was to go.. I was happy;) I had pasta for dinner again and it was nice as per:) I think dessert was a chocolate cake but I wasn’t really feelin it, and it was also displayed at breakfast the next morning! After dinner was great… I went to see my friend Lauren who was also skiing in Zell am See! We only went for a few drinks but it was lushhhh to see her and get out as I hardly ever go out! I got back to the hotel at a sensible time (thank goodness I had a key otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to get in) and I went to breakfast a bit later in the morning.. 🙂

Day 7 – Snow, Pizza & Magic! 

Our last ski day was a bit disappointing. The sun had left us with snow, fog and rain. We went out at about 10:30/11 ish again, skied for 2 hours and then we all went down to the bottom! Last year, we went for a curry/pizza on the last day, but as we had the taxi at 11:30, we couldn’t go for lunch the next day, so we had lunch there on this day… if that makes any sense?? I had a pizza because if you know me, pizza is always the way forward. We then went in, chilled for a while and then went to the sauna, where there were some drunk German’s and lots of nakedness (not by us). At dinner, there was a magician who came round and she focused on Evie. She did 2 tricks and they were both very good! One was a card one where an imaginary bug wrote the card Evie had picked out on a chalkboard, and the other was a bit of string which she broke up and then put it back together again. Who knows how she did it!

Day 8 – Travelling home!

Finally home day! We packed everything up, made a sandwich at breakfast, dropped our bags down at reception and then went for a wander around town before we got the taxi to the airport. It was a veeryyyyy slow journey  because of the traffic but we got there eventually with good time:) Check in and security was all good, we had a fair bit of time to wait as well as an hour delay, but thats better than a 4 hour one! Flight was easy going, not comfortable seats though! I had a smoothie and some pringles bc why not??

We got home at about 7ish, then mum went to pick Alfie up and get some essential food items, and me and dad went to pick Anna up from school (yay)!She was exhausted from an overnight bus journey so I don’t blame her! Seeing Alfie was soooo cute as he was just bounding around the kitchen not knowing how to go to for a cuddle! We picked up a Chinese for tea and then we went to bed!

 

Sorry for the length, it’s taken aaaaages to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See ya when I have my next adventure?!

G

 

 

PARIS – October 22 – 25

Well, where to start! Me and my family went on a little holiday to Paris for a few days over the October half term. We were definitely embracing the tourist life while we were there, visiting the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Disney.

So the first day was just travelling. We went up to Paddington station via train on Saturday 22 and then got the Eurostar to Paris. Then from the station we got a taxi to our apartment. When we arrived outside the building, I was a bit put off as it wasn’t attractive (you could also tell by my face apparently..oops). But then as we walked into our apartment, it took us all by surprise! It was sooooo nice! We had 3 double bedrooms, a kitchen, a lounge and then a balcony which overlooked the Eiffel Tower and the River Seine.

 

Our first whole day included going up the Eiffel Tower and going on a little boat trip. So we left mid morning to walk there, thankfully it was a nice morning! We walked along a path in the middle of the river, that had trees running down both sides of it. It was so pretty because of the colours of the leaves and it was basically Autumn heaven!!

We did a lot of queuing when we got there and I didn’t actually realise quite how big the Eiffel tower was until I was standing next to it..so at this point I was questioning my decision of wanting to go up (I did do it!). We got in a lift and me and mum only wanted to go up to the floor closest to the bottom, but that was still quite high! I think I coped very well, but mum didn’t seem too keen on going to the edge to look at the incredible views, so instead she sat down and ate her lunch (which took her forever.. love u mum).

 

We then went on a boat trip which stopped off at lots of different touristy spots, but we got off at 1 and that was it.. I think. This was to go in and see the Notre Dame. It was so so pretty, but it was raining which put a little downer on it:( So we went home after this to chill and get ready to go out for dinner to a little hotel restaurant which was yummy:)

Our second day consisted of going to the Louvre and shopping!!!!! We decided to take the metro because taking taxi’s everywhere would be quite costly, take a long time and wouldn’t show us the proper Parisian lifestyle! This day suited everyone which was good, but it was enjoyable for everyone too!

We obviously had to see the Mona Lisa, but the other areas of the museum were actually quite interesting! There were a few people doing their own painting which looked almost identical to the originals!  I won’t bore you to death with images of the museum so I’ll only insert a few.

 

We decided to walk to the shops because why not… It was a bit of a trek but it was worth it when we got there! It was basically heaven for all you shop lovers as the main shop we went to, Galeries Lafayette had LOADS of top designer brands and I was very happy to be walking amongst them (as seen in my vlog – link will be at the end). We also went outside of this massive sort of department store to find the more ‘in our price range’ stores. THANKFULLY, there was a Zara across the road so we went into there. I found loads of nice things in there, however I picked out my fave pieces and tried them on. The first item I tried on was a long sleeve bodysuit with a choker neck and a big plunge! I love this top as it is so gorgeous and I love the design on it! I also tried on a mustardy coloured, leather mini skirt. It doesn’t sound that nice when I describe it, but trust me, it looks SO GOOD in person! I ended up buying both of these and it came to just under €50.

http://www.zara.com/uk/en/woman/trending-now/floral-print-bodysuit-c773004p3962042.html 

http://www.zara.com/uk/en/woman/skirts/mini/faux-leather-mini-skirt-c498017p4061025.html

 

Our third day was…………….DISNEY DAY! Our whole holiday led up to this moment. We had never been throughout our whole childhood as I have always been scared of dressed up people (secret: still am) and we just weren’t too bothered. I feel like at mine (17) and Anna’s (15) age we are able to appreciate it more (or not), but Anna loves all things Disney so it was time to go. We got there via the metro and it stopped right outside the park which was useful. There are 2 parks for those of you who don’t know, so we went into the Walt Disney Studios first because it was right in front of us basically!

We went on the Tower of Terror first because it had been recommended to us a few times so we just had to go on it! My favourite quote of this ride and potentially the day was by mum, saying half way through the ride ‘I haven’t even squealed yet’….alright mother, not everyone can stay quiet (me)!!!!!!!!!!! We also went on the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith which was CRAZY! For starters, I don’t really like roller coasters, then finding out it ‘may’ have a loop the loop in it, that was just brill. It went SO quickly and it was just madness. I would tell you what it was like on the inside of the ride, however I had my eyes closed for 97% of the ride (as shown below) so I can’t say much

For lunch we went to Planet Hollywood which catered for all of us (2x vegetarians, 1x gluten free and 1x normal). Myself and Anna were cheeky and had a pizza which tasted just like an Asda’s own 50p pizza (not bad tbf). Mum and Dad both seemed to enjoy what they had! Also, a little side note, I thought the interior was super cute.

After lunch, we went into the Disneyland Park. It was all Halloween themed so at the entrance, me and Anna had a lil pic taken because it looked very cute. As we walked through, we saw crowds of people.We had no idea what was happening until an announcement happened, saying that Mickey’s Halloween parade was starting. This consisted of ‘scary’ dancers on swegways and dressed up as scarecrows, along with a few Disney characters coming through on floats to very VERY catchy music. We then wandered off to the rides etc. I can’t remember the order of what we went on so I’ll just name them! We went on Indiana Jones which I didn’t think was very nice because it threw me all over the place AND there was a loop in the middle! We also went on ‘it’s a small world’ which was sort of Anna’s choice.. It was quite a long wait and it was hard because all there was, were small children not being able to stand still and constantly bumping into my bum :)) We got onto the boat that took us round the ‘river’ and not going to lie, it was one of the weirdest experiences of my life! It was just full of hundreds of dolls from different cultures and countries dancing and doing things related to their country.. strange. Another exhilarating ride we went on was Space Mountain. I could hear people screaming so I was a bit wary of it… But THEN, on the ride, it was just full of twists and turns and again, I can’t say much because my eyes were shut for the majority of it! We also went on Pirates of the Caribbean which was a very nice, gentle ride! Then we went back to our apartment and went to sleep after a very tiring day!

 

The day after we went home 😦 We took the metro which was a bit of a mare with 3 suitcases and then our ‘hand luggage’, got to the station nice and early and then got on the Eurostar at about 1 it, so we got home at about 6.

It was such a good holiday to go on and I will definitely go back at some point!

G 

 

KEFALONIA!!!!!!!! – AUGUST 2 – 16

(I’m writing most of this on the plane so it will be from now and then maybe when I am back home).

As many of you guys will know from my social media activity (Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram), you will know I have been on holiday in Kefalonia for 2 weeks with my family! We were lucky enough to get an afternoon flight from Cardiff so we weren’t rushing much in the morning as we were able to leave mid morning (get in!), PLUS, it was a rainy n windy day so I was quite happy to be leaving the country on that day to go to a hot country (and we are coming back to some nice weather which is just a win win!).

The flight thankfully was just over 3 hours, so it gave me time to watch some of my film, do a bit of blogging and help a man sitting next to me do his crossword!

Again, when we arrived, it was a very small airport that can only ‘park’ 4 planes at a time I think..?. But it was very similar to Crete, it was right next to the sea!! After doing all our bits at the airport, we got our hire car and tried to find our villa! It was different to what I was expecting, as almost all the roads are very bendy and very narrow, but Dad was driving so we were all good (not saying mum is a bad driver btw). It took us about an hour to find the villa (meant to take 20 mins) but then there were so many roads we couldn’t navigate our way around! But we finally got there. We drove up a rather fancy, private drive leading to the door, and even though it was a PINK villa, it was still nice and the pool looked lovely! We went straight out for dinner because it was late and we were quite hungry so we went to the village taverna which did us fine (peak how I was ill though).

(I won’t do everyday because you guys will get bored of me just saying pool, beach, sleep all the time!)

We went to explore the closest town, had a lovely meal (halloumi obvs) right next to the sea so it was very pretty.

We also went to the closest beach, which turned out to be one of my faves of the holiday! The water just looked so inviting and it had rocks which people were jumping off of so we joined in after a few days (but I posed on top of the rocks, livin life on the edge).We visited this beach multiple times throughout the holiday because it was so nice and was really close! Me and Anna went snorkelling one time and we literally saw like 1 fish. So we didn’t bother going again..

On one evening, we went to another small beach which was next to the village one. I stayed on the beach because I wasn’t feeling an evening swim! But Dad went snorkelling and we all saw him zooming off towards something, turns out, he saw a turtle, but as he dived down to see it more closely, it swam off 😦 But how cool is that!!!!!

In the evening, we went out to what turned out to be one of our fave restaurants! We had driven past previously and it looked really nice and busy, so we thought we would give it a try! It was actually so so pretty as it was just surrounded by loads and loads of olive plants and trees, and there was a little bridge to get over to get into the restaurant which made it look even prettier!

WHAT I ATE:

I had the same as mum, which was a pepper and a tomato stuffed with rice and cheese with a tomatoey sauce, then with salad and a few chips on the side! It was yummy, however as I have a small appetite I couldn’t eat it all and I felt so bad leaving like a whole tomato ://

WHAT I WORE:

I wore a pair of white lacey shorts that I got from Topshop last year and then just a black tank top also from Topshop last year!

We also took a ferry trip over to another part of the island which would’ve taken a while to get to if we just drove! IT WAS CRAZY getting onto the ferry! All of the staff were shouting ‘left’ and ‘right’ at everyone and trying to push the vehicles, when really they weren’t helping it move at all! (It was a lot less manic on the way back!). We went to a couple of beaches that were recommended to us. One had ‘red’ sand and clay cliffs and the other supposedly looked like the caribbean, but I didn’t see the resemblance if I’m honest:/.

The clay beach was rather cool. What everyone was doing was getting small chunks of clay, putting it in the sea then rubbing it on their bodies! It looked hilarious with everyone walking up and down the beach with grey skin! But it’s apparently really good for your skin so at least there was a decent reason to!! We also collected a few bits to take home with us!

We went to the other place for lunch which was literally on the beach. Ngl, the service was awful and the food followed that. I had probably one of the worst tasting and looking meals of the holiday. It was meant to be scrambled egg with tomato and cheese. However it was LATE and it looked like baby food… so I had a few mouthfuls and ate the bread and fried potatoes instead. The beach was nice though so we stayed there for maybe an hour until we went home.

We visited the village restaurant again on another night..

WHAT I ATE:

I had halloumi (again) and then I also ordered a pizza (typical G). Guys I’m going to tell you one thing… DON’T order a pizza in a foreign country (apart from Italy, or unless it is an Italian restaurant) because it is NOT what you are expecting at all. This happened to me last year in Crete as well. So I ordered this simple cheese and tomato pizza, so y’no, pretty standard and simple. It came out in a fancy dish so I was excited, the guy put it down and I knew it was going downhill from there. It was HUGE, rather firm and had a large amount of cheese on it. Now as a fellow cheese lover, I can say I do enjoy my cheese, however this was just horrendous. I ate maybe 2 pieces and couldn’t eat anymore.

When you get the bill, they come out with shot glasses. 2 had a wine mixture (adults) and the other 2 were a spoonful of what seemed like fondant icing on a spoon stuck in water (kids… I preferred the wine).

WHAT I WORE:

A dark grey and white maxi dress from TK Maxx, also bought last year!

(Be prepared to be bombarded with pictures and little text!!!)

Starting off the second week, we went on a boat trip! The first few who boarded (us included) were then named as George’s (see below) wives, sisters, brothers, grandfathers etc, and he then told the other guys that came on after us. There were around 20 of us all piled onto a cute wooden boat named ‘Queen Bee’, and we set off for the day (9:30am ish – 5pm ish). We headed towards a fish farm, where they said we may see turtles and dolphins. We all managed to see a turtle, even though it sounded like Peter and George (guys running the trip) were saying ‘turkey’, so we were all very confused, but we soon realised and went running to see it!

The next stop on our ‘tour’ was at a stunning bay which I think you could only get to via boat. The sea colour was incredible and the bay was basically white. It was a bit stoney so I personally struggled getting out of the sea! Most people were jumping and diving off the boat, some cruised on the smaller boat and others of us climbed down the steps and got in ‘elegantly’. Then we got back on the boat and went to another little island, which apparently had rabbits on? The guys brought out snorkels, umbrellas and bats and balls for us all to use so people did indeed take advantage of that! After all of that, lunch came out! They catered for all of us! Those who were just normal eaters, vegetarians and then those with special dietary requirements (what a bunch we were!). We also went back to another clay beach, then headed home!

 

On another night, we went back into the closest town for dinner. Again, it was right next to the port, and Dad said he saw a seal looking thing (turtle), so then the people who overheard started looking for it too! It didn’t reappear so who knows if it was a turtle or not! Then we did a bit of shopping, so myself and Anna bought little bracelets which have meanings behind them and Dad bought a towel because he was complaining his was too small…..

WHAT I ATE:

Halloumi (again) with peppers, courgette and aubergine, topped with a hell of a lot of parmesans and almonds, then a vinegar dressing to finish! It was really big, it was nice but not the best so I again, didn’t finish it!

WHAT I WORE:

A white tank top from New Look, bought it a few years ago, a blue and white patterned skirt I got from Primark last year, and my white Havianas that I bought from Office in July 2016.

Another trip we went on was to some caves. We sat in a boat and a ‘guide’ paddled us around! When I say guide, I mean the photographer of the boat! The water was an amazing shade of blue so all you wanted to do was jump in! We then went to another town for food and an hour on the beach, then went to another town to go on another beach for a swim and ice cream!

Another restaurant we went to was near the town we usually went to,but there was a castle up there and the restaurant next to it was meant to be amazing, but it closed at like 6pm….  so we just went to the other one down the road which was really good! The view was fab, and the waiters were all chatty which was nice!

WHAT I ATE:

Some really nice white crusty bread came out so I had some of that for a starter, then for a main I had halloumi (AGAIN) with some roasted vegetables. Then again, after we asked for the bill, they brought out a little bucket with a tube of some sort of alcoholic mix, and brought out FOUR shot glasses!

WHAT I WORE: (Didn’t get any pics:()

Patterned, blue, loose fitting trousers from Urban Outfitters and my white topshop cropped tank top.

Then one day we came across my all time fave beach! We chilled there for most of the day! We had lunch so i had a cheese toastie and a few crisps on the side. The beach was really nice as there were waves!!!!! Typically, the sea is still, so it was nice to have a change! Myself and Anna then decided to sit in the side and give ourselves mermaid tails, which turned out much better than expected…

So another day was a day that was celebrated every year. Snakes appeared… So we trundled to this town expecting to see loads of snakes slithering around, but no, we went down a cute lil church that held this ‘event’, and there were maybe 5 teeeeny tiny snakes in boxes…… There was one guy letting everyone touch the snake, and I think it was religious as well as people were having the snake placed on their head which looked terrifying. I was freaked out even letting it rest on my hand. Never again. But then we went back to ma fave beach n chilled there for half an hour. There was a square patch that was cornered off because turtles went to lay their eggs there! HOW CUTE!! Then we went out for dinner to the town again!

WHAT I ATE:

We went to an Italian!!!!! So I had to have pizza and it was soooooo yummy, but I had a bread roll before hand so I didn’t eat much at all (one slice, but I’ve had it for lunch the next day!)

WHAT I WORE:

A black floral, slightly cropped jumpsuit, bought in 2016 from Topshop and my white Havianas.

For our final full day/night, we went back to the village beach for a swim n jumping, then back to the villa for pool time n showers and then out again for dinner at the pretty restaurant!

WHAT I ATE:

I had spaghetti Neapolitan (not exactly Greek..) and a small piece of bread, and then yogurt and fruit for dessert.

WHAT I WORE:

The same as the night before, my jumpsuit and Havianas.

Our final day (today) was spent again at the village beach for a quick swim, then back to the pool and showers then the airport. For the flight, I am wearing my Havianas, white cropped tank top from Topshop and my cool blue patterned loose trousers from Urban Outfitters.

EXTRAS!:

• My bikini’s are from Urban Outfitters (bought 2 years ago and this year) and my black and yellow floral one is from Topshop (bought 2 years ago
• We came up with a game called ‘On the Noggin’, which me and Anna went against Mum and Dad in a game where we had to bop the opposing team on the head with the (Barbie) ball…. Recommend it tbh
• Myself and mum won the volleyball with 194 passes
• My sunglasses are from Topshop, bought last year
• And my quote of the holiday was ‘I thought the cleaners were supposed to clean’

 

Congrats to those of you who made it to the end! Sorry about the length of it, but I hope it was enjoyable!

G x

 

WEEKEND TRIP TO LANCASTER –  JULY 23 – 24

WARNING: This is a bit of a longer post so maybe get a cuppa to be prepared for a (good) long read!! 

SO! It was a family member’s 80th birthday, along with an 18th, so the ‘closest’ relatives travelled to Lancaster. Most of the party live near the venue already so they didn’t have far to travel, however us lot down south had a lengthy journey to get up there, us lot being Mum, Dad, Anna, Grandma, our Aunty, Uncle and Cousin ( we left the dogs:( ). Us Goodall’s went up on Saturday and the journey was around 5 hours, whereas the other guys went up the day before and their journey was around 10 hours! We stayed over night in a small cottage which was linked with a pub in a place called Carnforth. It was actually better than what you would’ve thought for just a 1 night stay (you could happily stay there for longer)!! There were about 5 cottages?? of which had very similar layouts (kitchen, bathrooms, small garden, bedrooms and a lounge area).

When we got there, we sorted out rooms and other bits, then mum and Uncle Alex went out the supermarket to get a few essentials… essentials being pimms, cider, crisps, baby-bell’s and milk! We sat outside as it was still a nice day so didn’t want to waste it! We all got a little bit peckish after a while so we phoned up our fave pub from when we used to go up to visit family! Thankfully they catered for all our many needs and could fit us in, however along the way, we stopped off at several different memory places, including Grandma’s old house, Grandad and Chop the dog’s memory bench and the school of where Grandma used to be the headmistress!!

We then arrived and the pub hadn’t changed AT ALL in the past however many years we haven’t been there (maybe 4?)! Grandma met her old milkman, and the menu and layout of the pub hadn’t changed one bit! It was great because it was literally, a trip down memory lane! I went for a standard Grace, boring option of egg and chips… oops! THEN it was time for pudding!!!!! The younger GG would’ve gone for their sticky toffee pudding (rate the 12th bday), however, as I was quite full, I knew I couldn’t handle a big slice of it, so I shared a HUGE ‘mound’ of profiteroles which came with cream and ice cream and good Lordy was it good! We quite simply demolished it in about 5 minutes… (goodbye getfitwithG&E :/). After eating we just went back to the cottages and went to sleep!

The next day, we had to check out by 11am, so we had plenty of time, so we just went for breakfast, however the quantities of fruit, cereals and juice were quite low. We didn’t eat much because we knew we had a big lunch coming up so we limited ourselves! We had a few pastries (which turned out to be FRUIT and NOT chocolate..disappointment) and some toast.

We had to go back and get ready quite quickly as breakfast took longer than expected. So we speedily made ourselves look rather fancy (shock, I went for my jumpsuit again) and got out the cottages and left. It took about 40ish minutes to get there, and the satnav took us on a lovely scenic route, however I’m not sure how efficient that route was! But we got there in the end and we thought we were at the wrong location at first, but turns out we were all good! I opted for sandals instead of heels because I thought it would be safer!

The venue was absolutely incredible, it was huge and we had our own room which was also amazing. We were greeted with some bubbly which was lovely! It was like a country house so the garden was so so so lush. It was huge and so….green…..like there were flowers everywhere! I had absolutely no idea what I was having to eat as we had pre ordered and either my memory is awful, or we chose a while back! But as I’m a vegetarian, I had melon for my starter. This came in yellow and orange melon, watermelon, and also a sorbet! I was sitting next to Evie and she was a veggie, then she wasn’t, then she was both and it all got very confusing, but she didn’t have any idea on what she was having so she was panicking a little bit! But it came out and it was like a ham chunk with salad and some sort of sauce on the side…. GAME: TRY AND FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS FROM THE PHOTO BELOW!

For mains, I had some sort of stuffed aubergine, with mushrooms and courgette or something, with a tomato sauce on top, accompanied by a potato and peas. The meat eaters ate chicken and Evie had pasta! Pudding was great! It was meringue, cream, blueberries and raspberries with a fruity (don’t know what it was) sauce.

The children’s table (18 and under) all got a little present! We all got a paper weight in the shape of an animal and they smelt lovely! Mine was an owl, Evie’s was a horse, Anna had a mouse!

Evie then started doing gymnastics up and down the room as well as outside when we went out to explore! The gardens were SUPER pretty and SO photogenic!

After our little exploring walk, we all gathered together in the room to watch the bday gals cut the cake! The cake looked incredible! It was 2 tiers and had a few little dogs on it, along with a car containing the girlies! It was so cleverly made and also tasted pretty darn good!

We then left the party and had a pretty easy journey home thankfully!

Sorry for the REALLY lengthy post! I didn’t realise I had so much to say!!!!

G x

 

SKIING 2016

So this is going to be a post on what I did every day on this week of skiing!!

DAY 1 – FEBRUARY 13

We left home at about 9 to get to London Gatwick. Our flight was about 14:15 so we gave ourselves plenty of time. We checked in, went through security (obviously my bag had to be checked, as did I, even though I had nothing on me!) and then found a seat to chill in for a couple of hours. I had a drink and McDonald’s (nice, healthy start G👍🏼).

 

When the rest of our family arrived, me and Anna went for an explore around the airport which had plenty of nice stores including Zara, Victoria Secret and Ted Baker.

 

After some exploring we headed over to our gate to get on the plane. It was a massive trek to the gate to thankfully I was in comfortable shoes!

 

After a couple of hours on the plane, we finally arrived in Austria! The runway had the most incredible view ever! We could see the sun setting over the mountains, and on the top of the airport, people were looking at the views!

 

After we had reached the hotel, we went straight down for food as dinner ends at 8, and it was 7:30… The food choices here are interesting, so I just had spaghetti with tomato sauce! Then we all went up to bed and slept very well!

DAY 2 – FEBRUARY 14

We decided not to do ski school this year so we had such a chilled out morning, apart from an early wake up (7am) but had a major lie in and had a late breakfast! We had to go to the ski hire shop before anything, and we were in there for so long, sorting out 8 of us with ski’s and 5 of us with boots. EFFORT. We went back to the hotel with our boots on so we didn’t have to go back in to the boot room to put them back on again. We went up on a bubble lift and then up on a chair. We only did blues which was nice, but they were tricky:( we went through a tree route which was a blue to avoid the black bits which was useful! The end bit was horrendous as it was all churned up and steep and just hard, so the snow plough was the way to go. When we got back, we found the double bed duvet shaped as a heart as it was Valentine’s Day and some Milka chocolates for everyone!

 

We all showered and got changed then went down for dinner. I had chosen Spring roles which we very yummy, however very hot and there was quite a lot!

 

After dinner, we played Bubble Talk which was a game we got for Christmas. This was such a nice way to end the day as it doesn’t require much thinking and it’s fun (only because I won…) ! We then all slept incredibly well and woke up later!!

DAY 3 – FEBRUARY 15

 

Today was very cold in my opinion! We set off at about 10:30 ish, and did the same run as the day before. At the top of the bubble, there was a wooden swing which me, Anna and Evie (cousin) sat on for a few minutes!

It was nice to get familiar with the runs again and we didn’t push ourselves too far. We did a couple of runs then had some lunch (a chip butty – again, very healthy…). We also played the game of who could take the most unattractive selfie (of course I won that)..

 

 

I got very cold and my knee was playing up (cry:( ) so I went down to the hotel along with everyone else and stopped there.

Skiing back down gave us some more views which were amaze-balls and very instagramable!

 Mum and Anna went back up and me, dad, Evie and Aunty Ros came in. Dad decided to go for a wander around the resort/town, Aunty Ros and Uncle Alex went back up the mountain and me and Evie chilled in our room, with her watching Netflix and me doing my blog!!

Dinner was interesting. 5 of us had lasagne (including me). Dad also had it, however as he has gluten free meals, his was more of a deconstructed polenta lasagne…

didn’t fancy much for the dessert so I just asked for fruit salad, but they brought out a HUGE bowl/cup of fruit with cream and ice cream!!

DAY 4 – FEBRUARY 16

We decided to go to another area which was nice to have a change! We got the bus which took about 20 minutes, and we got straight on the slopes, the chair lift took AGES and it got quite chilly but we powered through it!! The conditions were good so could get some nice turns in. The bottom part was very hard to get down as it was very slushy and churned up. We then took the same chair up and another chair to get to the very top. It was crazily foggy so we couldn’t see a thing (which was bad as we could go down a black or a blue depending on which way we went…). We finally got down, had some food then went back on the bus. I didn’t get any photos because there weren’t many opportunities 😦

In the evening we went into the town as there was a ski race on. It was very cold and it didn’t start until 7 (we got there at about 5, nice). We had a drink and listened and danced to the live music which was very good and had all of us jumping up and down like the typical teen.

 

 

The race was televised which was pretty cool!! It looked so pretty looking up the 50 metre or so slope as there were lights and it just looked nice and chilled.

 

DAY 5 – FEBRUARY 17

We went to the glacier which was about a 30 minute bus journey. This was probably the better day out of all of them so far. It was very sunny and not tooo busy which was nice. We did a few runs then stopped off at an ice bar for lunch! Inside they were doing drinks and had a cool structure and seats made from ice.

 

 

In the evening, sadly I wasn’t feeling amazing so couldn’t eat very much, but the dessert was a cream cake served with a strawberry sauce which was quite yummy…

DAY 6 – FEBRUARY 18

We stayed on the slopes which we covered on the first couple of days. It was worryingly quiet which was quite nice as it wasn’t busy so had plenty of space for wide turns (needed). It was quite foggy which could’ve explained why it was so quiet. Our favourite run avoids a black slope, so it goes through the trees which is super pretty. On the last go down, I tried the black, I managed it without falling over thank goodness!!

We decided to go up to the top of the mountain, and it shocked us. It was sunny, warm and blue sky!

It looked really cool above the fog which gave me good photo ops.

We stopped for lunch at a cafe at the top after a couple of runs.

 

Then after lunch we did a few more runs then me, Evie and Aunty Ros came down the mountain, and Anna and Mum went up again. It took us about 45 minutes to get down as it was quite churned up and I’m not a fast skier!!! Then we got in and I watched a few episodes of Modern Family!!

DAY 7 – FEBRUARY 19

Today was freezing and snowy. It wasn’t too bad at the bottom of the mountain, however at the top it was awful. It was pretty much a blizzard so the cafe at the top was packed and people were desperate for a seat. Skiing down wasn’t great as my hair was frozen and I was super cold.

We went down a red and it was so hard as I could hardly see where I was on the slope, how thick or compact the snow was and the ice. Once we had got down, we went through the tree run (bum burner) and the snow was again unpredictable !

In the evening we went into the town because there was a market. It wasn’t as impressive as we thought it would be as it was v similar to a tacky English town market.. Then we went back, went for dinner, played a game and went to sleep!

DAY 8 (LAST DAY) – FEBRUARY 20

It was a very chilled morning as we had to check out by 11 and the taxi to the airport was at 2:30pm! We went to another hotel for drinks which was by the lake, and there was a bonus as it was v sunny!

For lunch we went to a pizzeria crossed with an Indian (weird) but we all found something that suited us (obviously pizza for me). Dad had a curry which was huge and looked so good!

We then headed back to the hotel to get the taxi and said goodbye to the hotel dog:(

 

Thankfully it didn’t take too long to get there so we got there in good time! As I’m no good going through security, of course something had to go wrong. My boarding card disappeared. We were all panicking a bit, check my bag, coat pockets and my teddy… Luckily we were able to get another one otherwise we would’ve been staying in Austria for a bit! The flight was good and landed safely:)

Passport control took ages though. We finally managed to get through after about an hour after landing:((( we made it fun by making it a race between the others, obviously the Goodall’s won 👍🏼 our luggage was the last ones going round the belt so it was nice and easy to get it! We got the bus to our car and said bye to the others, however we bumped into them again roughly 5 minutes later in McDonald’s… We had it as a takeout as it was a 2 hour journey home and it was 9:30 pm ish. It was a faf in the car as we wanted to be comfy but it was hard with hand luggage and food around us so the lights were going on and off every minute, tomato sauce fell on the seat, chips were falling out of the boxes etc. We arrived home and ended up going to bed at about 12 ish 😦 I was straight out so I had a very very good sleep!

The overall holiday was amazing and I cannot wait for next year!!

G 

TRAVEL

Travelling for me is really interesting. I’ve only been to Europe countries and Morocco once, however I’d like to explore more.

When I was younger, our summer holidays were always to the South of France, right by the beach. We then went to Spain as we grew older, then Portugal for 3 years running, then last year we went to Crete. I will definitely be going back to these places in the near future!!

Every February, we all go skiing in Passo Tonale, Italy. It’s always been a tradition for 8 of us to go for a week and do ski school. Because ski school is only 2 hours a day, we get the rest of the day to ourselves, which we usually get a hot drink and lunch – typically pizza!

The hot chocolates are incredible!  

The views we get from some of the slopes are amazing! One of the slopes, Blaze, has the view of the Dolomites from part of the way down. It is amazing to see from that point.

Crete in the summer in 2015 was gorgeous. The places we visited and the beaches we went to were perfect. Swimming in the sea was a definite as it was so warm (much better than Spain)! Snorkelling was fun, and because we had the underwater camera (which isn’t fab) we could take blurry photos. Here, I look really excited to be going in and looking at all the fish!

Some of the towns we went to were gorgeous. We went to one where there was a harbour and it looked so nice so I couldn’t resist taking photos!

Obviously, when we went on our boat trip, snorkelling had to happen and also jumping off the boat which everyone on the trip was doing…

G