UNIVERSITY LIFE

Hello all, 

I haven't updated here in a while but I thought I should. 

Its not week 8 of university and I am really really enjoying my course. BUT, it is sooo much handwork and it is so time consuming. I honestly feel like I have barely any time to just relax. Like yeah, there are times when I'm not doing anything but Im constantly worried about the next thing that I need to do. This can be so annoying. 

This week is especially busy which I think is why I feel like writing here, to kind of escape for a minute and jot my thoughts down. Ive got to go and interview someone tomorrow which makes me kind of nervous since its someone I've never met before and what if the lecturer doesn't even like our idea and it's all a waste of time. URGHHHHH so stressed. 

On Wednesday I have a free day where I'm going to visit my boyfriend which should help me to chill out a little bit. Then on Thursday I have a full day of filming of a short film which needs to be edited and completely finished by SATURDAY!!!!!! This is one thing that I hate about working in a group, you have to find a time that you can all do and this is normally the last minute. For me, I'd much rather get things like this over and done with ASAP buuuuttt, not much you can do. 

Anyway, theres only 4 more Mondays left till the end of the semester and I can't quite believe that that means I'm pretty much half way through the first year of uni already. Itsss crazzzzyyy. 

Well, I'm going to be a lot more present on my blog again so I'll be back in a few days. 

Remember to check out my other social media

Instagram: @amberlouiserebeccas

Twitter: @ALRSBeauty

YouTube; Amber Louise Rebecca

HOURGLASS VS ABH STICK FOUNDATION

Hellloooooo,

I wanted to do a quick little VS on here. Today I'll be talking about the Hourglass and the ABH stick foundations.

So in August when I was in the US I picked up the Hourglass stick foundation. I had wanted this for a while but I don't know why I wanted it. Like, no You Tuber said it was good or anything I just had seen it on the Sephora website and wanted to try it. Anyways, when I was in the store I saw it and thought ok why not, lets just try it.

I'm in the shade Buff which is pretty much the perfect match to my skin, I was matched in store so I should hope it is! When I first tried it on I literally just wore it to breakfast and thought it was nice but I wasn't sure if I was in LOVE with it since it was my first time wearing it. It was also incredibly hot that day so I was maaaajjjooorrrrlllyyy sweating which kind of made me think that it was the foundations fault, lol, stupid, I know!

After only wearing that foundation once that time then kind of being freaked out by the sweating I decided to try it again that same holiday but in the evening when it wasn't so hot. I should have mentioned earlier that this foundation is soooo full coverage for a stick foundation. It blends out as easily as a stick foundation probably can too! At this point though, I still was not IN LOVE with it.

I started using it quite regularly because I just thought it was so easy to use, it being a stick and all. Then I went back to my regular drugstore foundation and that my friends, is when I realised I loved this foundation. I genuinely try not to use it that much because I don't want to run out and you can get it here but its SOOOOO expensive!

LOL at how long this post has been already. So getting onto the other foundation. As you can probably already tell I clearly have a fave. After falling so in love with the Hourglass foundation I decided to get the ABH one. I was really lucky in that my Uncle who lives in New Jersey was coming to visit us so I could just easily order it to his house for him to bring. I was literally so blooming excited to try this foundation. I'd seen reviews and it seemed good.

To get to the point I genuinely wish I hadn't bought it. I've used it twice and whilst I'm typing this I'm thinking about how I'm going to give it another chance tomorrow. Anyways, this foundation is genuinely the most difficult thing to blend EVER. I literally cannot blend it. Ive tried with a brush and a beauty blender and with different moisturises and primers on but nothing works! I really really wanted to love this foundation but I just don't.

Like I said I think I'm going to give it another go before I completely decide that its the worst foundation I've ever used... bit harsh but its genuinely true.

If you want to see a video of me using this foundation so you can see what it looks like etc then let me know on my Instagram: @amberlouiserebeccas

MY LIQUID LIPSTICK OBSESSION

Ok so the title of this post is actually pretty obvious from my Instagram (@amberlouiserebeccas) but I genuinely am obsessed with liquid lipsticks.

Since I have this crazy obsession I've decided I'm going to film a video for you guys that will take about 15 days to film. Lol crazy I know. 

My plan is to wear a different brand of liquid lipstick each day and then film throughout the day giving updates on how good they are/if they're worth the price/ how they feel on my lips, all stuff like that. I'll probably come up with some sort of ways to rate them all so that you guys know which are the best. 

At the moment I have these liquid lipsticks that I'll be wearing and trying on for you: 

-Dose of Colours

-ColourPop

-Kylie Lip Kits

-NYX

-Jeffree Star

-Gerard Cosmetics

-Milani

-Lime Crime 

-Jouer 

-Stila

-Beauty Bakerie

-theBalm

-Ilamasqua

-Huda Beauty 

-Too Faced

Anyway, my job for you is to go to my Instagram (at the top of this post in pink) and comment on my most recent picture if there are anymore liquid lipsticks you'd like me to add into this video! I really want to try out the ones that you guys have had your eye on but aren't sure how good they are. 

I also want you guys to let me know what tests you want me to do in the video. For example I'll be eating with them on, drinking, wearing them for the whole day and by this I mean I'll be obviously living my day to day hectic life with them on. Let me know if there are any other 'tests' you'd like to see. 

In return for your help you guys have the chance to win a Kylie Jenner Lip Kit as my giveaway is till open and is open till Monday the 31st October. 

Thanks for your help loves xoxo

I MADE A TWITTER

Hello guys, I've given in and decided to make a Twitter. My username is @ALRSBeauty so go and follow me on there! Don't forget to subscribe to my You Tube which I upload to on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays! And finally remember to check out my Instagram- @amberlouiserebeccas

KYLIE JENNER LIP KITS

I am so excited because I finally decided to get me some Kylie Jenner lip kits. Even though it cost me £34.85 in custom fees at this very moment in time I'm too excited to care.

The kits that I got are: Kristen, Posie K, Maliboo, Kourt K, Candy K and Leo. I'm waiting to do a first impressions video of them all so I have tried them yet and it's killing me!!! In this video I'll be swatching them and giving my thoughts on them.

The video will be up on Monday at 4.30PM, BST. And good news guys, I'm doing a giveaway of a Maliboo lip kit!!

Anyway, hope you all have a great day xoxo

MY NEW INSTAGRAM

A few days ago my Instagram got deleted. I had to make a new one. My new one is now @amberlouiserebeccas , pretty much the same with just an s at the end. 

Go and check it out! xox

MY COLOUR POP COLLECTION

Today I decided to swatch all of my Colour Pop liquid lipstick collection and make a You Tube video. You can watch the video by clicking here.

I wanted to do a more in-depth review about what I thought of the Colour Pop liquid lipsticks. First of all I absolutely love the colour range that Colour Pop do. There is literally every colour under the sun to choose from and all of them are stunning. They're all so pigmented and go on the lips really nicely.

The price is obviously also a huge pro to the liquid lipsticks. They are sold at about $6 each so are soooooo cheap. Obviously with price comes quality. The biggest problem I have with these is how drying they are. I've got over 20 colours of the matte lipsticks and worn basically all of them for a full day and these are the ones that cause the biggest problems. If i try and top up my lipstick it just makes it look worse as well. Although they do have some problems, they're still worth the money!

If this happens to you I'd suggest making sure you use a lip balm before you put your lipstick on and that should help. I really do recommend these just because if you aren't wearing them for a whooolleeeee day they will be fine. I wouldn't recommend wearing them for dinner thought because that got quite messy for me although I've still done it again.

So thats basically my review, if you want to see my collection remember to click here.

Deciding to Commute to University

So as you remember a few weeks back I posted that I perhaps wanted to commute to university. I've now had to make that choice and I've decided that it'll be best for me to commute. With my anxiety being away from home is really hard and I just don't think its worth me being sad over.

I guess the reason that I'm writing this is to let people know that living in halls isn't a MUST. If you go to a uni close enough to your house you can commute...and you'll be saving a lot of money.

Anyway, I'll be updating you on how I'm finding it in a few weeks xox

My Makeup Wishlist

Soooo atm I've been buying so much makeup yet there is so much more that I want...ahhhhhhh. I have to stop spending money. I thought making a wishlist would make me stop so I can see everything that I want right in front of me. Then, when I have the money, I can gradually buy all the things that I want.

1. Modern Renaissance Palette.
I want this palette soooooo badly. It's literally out of stock everywhere at the moment but I am going to buy it the second that I can. That is one thing that I know I won't be able to control myself when I find out its back!! I mean, who can control themselves? ITS BEAUTIFUL 

2. Hourglass Bronzer.
Hourglass in the UK is so expensive which is one reason I don't want to buy this yet. Hourglass actually is expensive in the US too. It's just an expensive brand I guess. The bronzer is $50 and it looks amazing. I want all their other powders too but I'm just obsessed with bronzers atm (as you'll see). I'm waiting till my family go to Florida for them to buy me this so it's slightly cheaper.

3. Tarte Shape, Tape Concealer
Everyone is raving about this concealer at the moment and I want to give it a try!!!!!!! Again, its out of stock at the moment but the second that it comes back I'm going to have to get it!

4. Makeup Forever Stick Foundation
I really want to try this foundation. Apparently its so great and I love stick foundations at the moment. I love the Hourglass one and I've tried the ABH one. Perhaps I'll do a  blog post on them? Anywaayayyy, yet again I'm waiting till my family go to the US for them to grab this for me!

At the moment I can't think of anything else but I think I'll keep updating this page with everything that I want. xox

CHRISTMAS WISH LIST

I wanted to do a post on a Christmas wish list website that I use. It's not specifically for Christmas, I used it for my Birthday too, but since Christmas is next that's why I'm calling it that.

This website is sooo great and it worked really well for my birthday. You simply make an account, add the web address of the item that you want and then send the link of your list to your friends/family. They then are able to reserve whichever item they want to get you and can go straight to the link to buy it.

You can continuously add to it throughout the year if you want to. I've been adding since my birthday was over in August so I know that when I think of something I want I don't forget it (that tends to be what happens.)

The benefit of this is that you know you have told everyone what you want but you don't actually know what you're getting and who from. Its so simple and I've got my whole family using it now. Hope this helps you too!

Go check it out: http://www.dontask-dontget.com

Shopping for Makeup UK

So I thought I'd do a post about where I shop at most in the UK.

My favourite place ever is Feel Unique. They have so many different brands on that site which is soooooooo good. I'm actually just about to order another Urban Decay concealer from there lols.

Another brilliant thing is that its free delivery over £15 AND  I have a 15% off code just click on this link: http://referme.to/VmAfRNo

Happy shopping guys xox

Anastasia Beverly Hills Highlight Palettes

Recently I got the ABH Moon Child glow kit and the Sweets glow kit.

I wanted to do some swatches because these palettes are so unique (especially Moon Child) and beautiful.

This one is the Sweets palette. The shades in this are 'Marshmallow,' 'Sassy Grape,' 'Taffy' and 'Butterscotch.' Marshmallow is a pearly shape, Sassy Grape has a purple tint to it, Butterscotch is the bronze colour and Taffy is more pink. All of these shades are so different so you get highlighters that can work on so many different looks. This is what makes them so great, not to mention how pigmented they are! 

Here are the swatches: 

Moon Child is completely different to any other highlight palette I have seen. The colours are all more blue toned so I personally wouldn't wear them for an everyday look. Saying this they would be so good for a night out or to use for a dress up look. Again, they are incredibly pigmented as you can see. 

These palettes are definitely worth the buy. If you want one perhaps for day to day I'd go for the Sweets palette. However if you do like having that blue hue on your day to day highlight go for the Moon Child. 

Orrrrrr maybe just get both?

MY INSTAGRAM

Helloooo,

I decided to make an Instagram where I can post makeup tutorials, fashion stuff, travel stuff and whatever I feel like really... 

Go and check it out and give me a follow @amberlouiserebecca. 

Once I get to 100 followers I'm doing a small giveaway of a Benefit Hoola <3

Commuting to University?

After my last blog post I've been thinking a lot about commuting to university. I really haven't been enjoying living away from home. I'm such a homey person and always have been. Literally every morning I wake up and just wish I was at home.

I've tried everything to make myself feel better like going to society stuff, going to all my lectures and making friends on my course and hanging out with my flat mates. I just feel like I need to be at home, I've eaten one meal since I've been at uni because I feel so sad being away from home.  Everyone thinks that I am just homesick but I don't think that that is the case, I know what it feels like to be homesick and I just don't think this is the case.

My university is only 55 minutes on the train away from me and then a maximum 20 minute walk to the campus so all together an 1 hour 15 minutes. That really isn't bad to commute to uni considering that I only have to be in 3 days a week. I'm about to give it a go in the coming weeks to see if it's doable and whether I feel any happier so I'll keep you updated. Although I am worried that I'll miss out on the 'uni' life, I really am not the type of person that goes out clubbing and stuff anyway. I just wanted to post this to say to the younger people, don't feel like you HAVE to stay in halls if you know you're going to be unhappy.

Starting University

Hi guys,

I wanted to start blogging about my uni life because I'm sure there will be people reading my blog that will be starting university at some point in their life. So at this moment I am three weeks in. I'm finding it really difficult at the moment and everyone keeps telling me that everyone feel this way.  To make me feel better about starting university I've decided to start a 'what I wore' blog series I guess you can call it.

I'm going to be posting about what I wear for nights out/ lectures/ to society stuff. All of that stuff. Hopefully you can get a few tips and outfit ideas for yourselves. I'm also going to be writing my progress at uni and how I'm settling in. I hope that this can help people who are going to uni next year etc.

Anyway, so I'm going to start off with my first day of uni outfit. Here it goes, this is what I wore to my first lecture...

I wanted to wear something comfy but something that kind of looks good at the same time. I wasn't bothered about impressing people but when you dress nice I think that it can boost your confidence which I needed some more of since I was about to meet a bunch of strangers. 

So what I decided to wear was just a casual t-shirt from Toyshop, an Asos Bomber Jacket, River Island leggings and scarf and a pair of boots from Just Fab. Ohhhhh btw guys, these boots were literally only £12 including shipping. When you first sign up you get like 70% off or something. Just a little tip ;) 

Anyway, although this is my uni outfit this is obviously an idea for school, college etc. I'll be uploading my outfits regularly from now on so stay tuned! xoxo

One Day Travel Blog: New York

So I decided to do another one day travel blog about my week in New York.

I've been to New York a few times before because I have family out there so this wasn't my first time. I haven't been in about 5 years though so it had been a while and I forgot how much I loved this place. The atmosphere of New York City is like nothing else.

We stayed in SoHo which we have never done before and I ended up really liking it around there. There's loads of cool restaurants and food places. On one day we went to two different cupcake places just to see which one we preferred. Tbh we did a lot of food eating whilst we were here. We tried cupcakes, cookies and doughnut shops (FYI these were all on different days).

Another really fun thing we did was a tour of Manhattan from the Hudson River. We went on a speed boat for 6 people and had a really cool tour guide. He even let us drive the boat. This tour was really great, especially for first time visits to New York. Here is a cool picture I took from the boat!

One last thing that is clearly a must whilst you are in the US is shopping. I don't even want to talk about how much money I spent in Sephora and Victorias Secret. I'm going to be doing a haul of all the stuff that I got from America that you can't get here so stay tuned for that.

Well, this is my last travel blog for the summer but, like I always say, there are more blogs coming. xox

One Day Travel Blog: Lanzarote

Hello again,

I've just got back from Lanzarote. I only went for 4 days with a few of my friends. I didn't realise how pretty Lanzarote was actually going to be. I think that's why I'm writing this because it's actually so beautiful. Look at the pool in our villa!

I also really wanted to talk about something so funny that I did; ride on camels. This is like a must do in Lanzarote because they have so many camels here. We rode them on these volcanoes which were covered in black sand which in itself was also really cool. So if you are in Lanzarote I'd recommend doing that why travel to Egypt to go on camels when you can do it here.

Another really fun thing we did was go wine tasting. Although this only consisted of tasting two different wines it was really fun and we all had a great time. We got to see the vineyard which was so pretty. We saw how they put the grapes in like, mini craters I guess. The wine was really good, of course.

We also went to see how they cook with the heat from the volcano. Seriously, how cool is that.

Finally we went down to the beach one day and OH MY GOSH, I did not realise how pretty the water here was going to be. Basically the Maldives right?

My point is, even though Lanzarote doesn't seem like the most glamorous place it was really really nice and I 100% will be going back there for a cheap yet nice holiday!

One Day Travel Blog: Portugal

Hey guys,

This past week I have been in Portugal doing some fun stuff with my family. I had literally only got back from my travels a week ago and I headed off again. I just wanted to write some of the stuff I have been doing and share some pieces.

One really fun thing we did was go and play golf. I have 3 younger sisters and our close family friends have 2 kids so the dads took us all to play golf. This was so fun because all of us were so bad hahahaha. We played at the golf course Vale Do Milho in case anyone wants to go. It is family friendly but a full on 9 hole golf course. In the heat it did get incredibly exhausting.

Another fun thing that we did was go on a speed boat around some of the caves in Portugal. I think I'm going to upload this to my You Tube channel because some of the pictures don't really show how awesome this trip was. The only downside was that I had food poisoning so about 10 seconds after I got off the boat I was throwing up. wooooo for me. I really don't regret doing it though, thats how good it was. And the beach that it was at was so pretty.

Finally, another great thing, a MUST if you go to Portugal is Slide n Splash. We've been here like a million times before but every time it's just as fun. Definitely go if you are going to Portugal soon, it's great for the whole family.

Well, I just wanted to let you know some of the fun things I have been doing since going travelling. I've actually got another holiday planned for 2 weeks time so I'll do another blog post on it.

Speak soon xo

Travel with Me: My You Tube

Hi guys, my videos are now up on You Tube (most of them). Take a look if you want to see more of what we did whilst I was travelling.

MY CHANNEL

Travel with Me: Home Time

Well everyone, I am writing this from the comfort of my own bed. I got home this morning at about 11AM UK time. I am so tired because we had an 18 hour journey. I know, so tiring.

I wanted to tell you about our last day because it was kind of stressful but also the most perfect day. So, our flight was not until midnight and we had to be out of the hotel at 10am. So we had no idea how we were going to spend the time in between.

At first we went to get some breakfast and we ended up to going to one of the trendy places called The Library. The BLT was to die for, so good. We tried to stay in there as long as possible but we obviously got quite bored. After that we decided that I should get my nails done lol. We thought this would take longer than it actually did, I just got a manicure, I should've got a pedicure too.

Once we had wondered around Seminyak a bit we decided to find the beach to get lunch there. After walking for probably an hour and arguing continuously about where the beach was we finally found it and it did not disappoint. The waves are so giant I can't even explain to you how big they are, its actually crazy.

We sat at a little bar and had some food and later realised that they had those bean bags and umbrellas that you always see in pictures so obviously we stayed here to watch the sunset. Again this was such a great decision.

Once done here we headed back to Seminyak for some dinner then went to the airport early. Tbh the wait for our flight really wasn't as bad as we expected and it was better than just sitting in the hotel lobby.

I'm so sad to be home. I want to go back again so badly. Hopefully my blogs have been fun, even though I am going to blog other places that I go...

ps. don't feel like you have to take a backpack travelling because my biggest regret over the past month is taking a backpack, I wish I had a suitcase.

Travel with Me: Day 28

Again, sorry I haven't been posting much, we'e mainly just been chilling. We did move hotels again so we are now in Seminyak. This is a lot more busy than Ubud and has a lot of trendy restaurants so the past few days we've been eating some really good food. Although, most of it has been American like burgers and stuff. ooooppsss.

The hotel we are in now is perhaps the best. We have our own private pool. I know. Amazing. You'll have to check out my You Tube to see the tour of our room because I don't think pictures do it justice.    Today it rained for the first time since we begun our adventure so we went out to dance int the rain. That's also on my You Tube. It looked so gloomy but still so pretty so I thought I'd show you guys.

I can't believe our travels are almost over. It's honestly making me sooo sad. At first I was so nervous to come but now I don't want to leave :((((

I think the next blog will probably be the last one from my travels but I of course will keep blogging! xoxo

Travel with Me: Day 25

So as you may have noticed a few days have gone past since I last wrote a blog. That's only because we've literally just hung around the pool the last few days and theres no point telling you guys about that.

I really wanted to go to the Monkey Sanctuary whilst we were here in Ubud but I'm too scared because we didn't have enough time to get the rabies vaccine. So I think we will give it a miss. Today we drove down to a different hotel. This one is better than the last. Wait for it....

Honestly the view is spectacular, I mean, look at the rice fields. Its so beautiful.

Once we had unpacked our bags we went for a massage. I've only ever been to two different places for massaged in my life, one of which being my Grandma (she's a masseuse). My point is, this massage was so different to anything I've ever experienced. They were so rough but I guess not in a painful way because it was good. I'd recommend getting the traditional Balinese massage.

For dinner we just stayed at the hotel because there isn't much near this hotel. Tomorrow we're going to go into town to eat. Goodnight xo

Travel with Me: Day 22

So it's been 3 weeks since we got here. And we only have a week left here in Bali. I really wish that we had decided to stay longer at some of these places but hopefully we can do this again one day. I really don't want to go home!!!!!

Right so let me show you our hotel. Btw, the hotels in Bali are a bit nicer than the ones we had been staying in as it is cheaper and also I wanted to treat myself. Anyway look how incredible this is

I really feel like I'm in paradise right now. It is so nice and calm here and the people are so lovely. I definitely want to come back. Tonight I chose somewhere special to go out for dinner. I chose this place because I knew the they had a traditional dance to watch whilst you eat which sounded amazing. The dance was nothing like I've seen before (check out my YouTube to see it). The outfits, the actual dance moves, the people were all so incredible. The first night here in Bali has been amazing. 

Travel with Me: Day 21

Today was a bit of a sad day as we visited the War Remnants Museum. Which obviously is about the Vietnam war and was incredibly sad seeing some of the things that we saw. Obviously I didn't take any pictures here as even though your allowed, this seems fairly disrespectful.

We went out for drinks at the hotel sky bar which was beautiful to see Saigon from up above. Its actually crazy how busy it gets here and how many motorbikes there are!!! I hope I never see one again!!! Lol who am I kidding I bet there will still be some in Bali.

Sorry this post is so short. I did have a good day despite going somewhere so sad. Even though you learn and see things that put a bit of a sombre mood on the day I would still recommend going here. It does educate you on what happened and I think its good to know these things. We're off to Bali tomorrow so I'll 100% be a lot more cheery then. xox

Travel with Me: Day 20

Look how beautiful this Pagoda is.

So yeah, this is what we did today. We visited the Vinh Trang Pagoda. This Pagoda is so beautiful, as you can see. There is actually so much to see here. There is a reclining buddha and a happy buddha. The architecture here is incredible and if you are in Saigon and want to see something beautiful and get away from the busy streets you MUST come here. You won't regret it.

I also wanted to share with you the toilet that I had to use today. Yeah this is it. This is the first time since we've been here I've seen a toilet like this. It was actually harder to pee than you'd expect. But I managed it. Lol tmi. 

We went out for dinner tonight to a place called TnT BBQ. It was really great. As the name states it was BBQ food which was incredible. It's run by an American guy which means they have DR PEPPER, one of my favourite drinks. Clearly I got this even though it was slightly more expensive. Yet again would recommend going here. My tummy is full and I am happy. xox

Travel with Me: Day 19

We've had such a great day. As I said in my last post we went on a tour to the Mekong Delta River. Firstly we stopped to see the people of the Mekong Delta. We saw how they kept bees to make honey and they let us try a special tea of theirs. It was really delicious actually, might get the ingredients to make it at home.  They also sang us a song and gave us their CD (this will all be on my You Tube, don't worry).

As we were walking through to get onto our boats we saw the strangest thing ever which I just wanted to share with the world.

Yep, thats two goats in a bag. Like, what. You wouldn't see that in England.

Anywhoooos, we got on our boat and we got to wear a non lá, you know, one of those traditional Vietnamese hats. I literally was so excited about this because I thought they were so cool. Plus I wanted a touristy picture of me in one. 

The view down the river was so extraordinary. It was actually beautiful, as you can see. It was so peaceful such a contrast from the busy streets in Saigon. 

After this we headed to a place where they made coconut candy. Ok guys, I HATE coconut but, these sweets were so yummy. If you get the chance to try these and you don't like coconut, just try them anyway. They are so good, especially when they have just been made. You can get them in different flavours as well which does't make sense to me but yeah. 

Finally we went to have lunch. Now as you know I'm extremely fussy. So when I saw what it was for lunch I kind of freaked out. Yeah, its that fish. Luckily it was served with rice which I just ate a lot of or I would have gone hungry. I am fussy but I also HATE fish so seeing this was like my absolute worst nightmare.

Anyway, today was such a fun day. We saw some beautiful things and had some great food (excluding the fish). Tomorrow we are going to pagoda which will be interesting. 

Travel with Me: Day 18

We've arrived in Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon. There were a few issues at the airport so it took us ages to find our taxi and get to our hotel. So far Saigon seems exactly like Hanoi but I'm sure that I'll have an explore and realise that it's not.

As we got here quite late we just went out to get food. You will be so disappointed to hear we went to.....Burger King. Lol really taking advantage of the Vietnamese culture. Seriously though, we only went here because it was right next to our hotel and we were starving. It was good to be fair.

We're having a boring night again tonight as tomorrow we are going on a tour to the Mekong Delta. I'll keep you updated. Night.

Travel with Me: Day 17

I'm just going to start off with a picture of what we did today. 

Yep, we had mud baths. I had planned to do this since I knew we were travelling as it is something that I think is soooo cool and anything thats good for my skin I'll do. Being in the mud was actually so cool. Like as long as you are up for it, it is such a good experience. I can't explain it probably but in mud you can properly float and its such a strange sensation. 

The process went like this: 

-First you must have a five minute shower. I guess to clean yourself since you are going to be getting into communal mud baths

- Then you get into the mud bath and sit there for 30 minutes I think it was. Whilst we were in ours we met a guy from California and chatted to him about where he had traveled. 

- Then you get out and stand in the sun- to let it dry. So the mud basically becomes like a mask. 

- Then you shower it off once it is all dry. 

- After this you go in some special hot water for 30 minutes and then you are done. 

We also got to go in some man made waterfall things that they have there and swim in the pool. This was such a funny experience and I'd deffo recommend doing this if you are going to Nha Trang. 

As today was our last night we decided to go out for a few drinks after we ate. Luckily I found a place where we could do both at the same time, Louisanne Brewhouse. This place was really great. The service was slightly slow but they are so incredibly busy you can't blame them. They had all different types and sizes of beer. I tried strawberry beer which personally I was not a fan of but you have to try these things. The food there was really great too. The atmosphere was really friendly as everyone was drunk. wooooooo. 

Travel with Me: Day 16

Today we went to the beach which was actually the most disappointing thing ever. The water looks so nice and beautiful until you get right up to it and see the amount of rubbish that is in it. You honestly would not want to swim in this water its disgusting. It really put me off staying at the beach. We did though and had a good day- I got a tan.

Since the beach was kind of upsetting us at how gross it was we did go home earlier than we wanted but we had planned to go out for dinner kind of earlier tonight since we haven't really been eating properly since we've been here. By that I mean we haven't exactly been eating breakfast and lunch like we should be.

The place we went for dinner was incredibly pricey but it was so beautiful. It was right on the beach so the view was amazing. The food was great too. I got spaghetti bolognese. So typical right? Just in case you want to visit this restaurant is called Ana Beach House and Bar.

Although we haven't done much it has been a good day. We're doing something kind of strange but fun tomorrow so stay tuned.

Travel with Me: Day 15

Just realised that its been two weeks already since we left home. I want it to slow down. At first I thought I would hate being away from home but now I don't want to leave this beautiful place.

We arrived here in Nha Trang this morning and oh my goodness we had to fly on the smallest plane ever. There was seriously probably about less than 50 people on this plane and only one air hostess. The steps literally folded out from the back of the door. I was genuinely so scared but luckily the journey wasn't long and it wasn't too bumpy.

Nha Trang is a lot busier than Da Nang so we are back to the hectic life, having trouble crossing the road yet again. At least this time we had been given some tips: just go. Because we only got here this afternoon we have only had time to go out for dinner and look around a little bit. Oh and I now understand why people call it little Russia. It's literally full of Russian people, people keep speaking to us in Russian and we haven't even been here 24 hours. 

The restaurant we went to was a pizza restaurant  After going out of my comfort zone last night I wanted to have a homey meal tonight. It was really good and now I'm feeling so full and tired. 

Tomorrow we are off to the beach I think. xoxo

Travel with Me: Day 14

Well... today is our last day here and we didn't really have much to do. We decided to head down to the beach which was good until it started raining. So we had to head back to the hotel.

Its really difficult to describe how quiet it is here. Hanoi was soooooo busy and this is like deserted. Theres barely any thing to do. I guess thats why we only decided to stay here for two nights.

Tonight I went out of my comfort zone a bit and we went to have some Vietnamese food. As I've mentioned before I'm probably the biggest fussy eater there is. So this was a huge step for me. We went to a restaurant called Sofia. I had some spring rolls which were so delicious. I've never really liked them until now. I also got some chicken noodles which were really good too. Maybe I'll try some different food now.

Anyway tomorrow we are going to Nha Trang. Not sure what I'll think of this as I'd heard it being referred to as 'little Russia.' We will see.

Travel with Me: Day 13

Today we went on a really fun tour. At first we weren't sure what it would be like because it was literally us two, a tour guide and a driver. It was kinda awkward. The tour guide asked us if we were married hahahaha. He said that to be together for 3 years and not be married at our age is strange in Vietnam.

The tour started at the Marble Mountains. These are mountains, made out of marble, which are named after the elements. The mountains have lots of things to see such as small shrines, caves and beautiful smaller temples. There are monks that live on the mountain too. The mountain honestly had some really beautiful things to see. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

When we got to the top you could see the other mountains and the rest of Da Nang. It looks pretty beautiful if I say so myself. 

Once we were done at the mountains we headed to the Goddess of Mercy. This is a giant statue of the Goddess of Mercy and there are also some smaller temples here. Again I'll just show you the photos. 

So even though we thought today was going to be fairly awkward at the beginning it actually turned out to be a great day. We saw some really amazing things and our tour guide was great!

Travel with Me: Day 12

As I type this we are now in Da Nang.

My first impressions of Da Nang are that there really isn't much to do here. We only have two days here so its not a problem. They have a beach and we have a tour booked for tomorrow which means we don't have to be doing nothing.

This evening we just went out for a meal. We went to a place called My Casa. It was food that you'd eat at home like spaghetti bolognese which is of course what I had, because I'm incredibly fussy. We also had a few drinks which were delicious.

Sorry I don't have much to say yet but tomorrow I'm sure I'll have a few pictures from our tour.

Travel with Me: Day 11

Today we've had a slightly more chill day. We hadn't gone out properly around Hanoi and there were a few restaurants that I wanted to go and try so we decided to just wander around Hanoi and eat food! Yep its as fun as it sounds.

I really wanted to go to 'Note Coffee', its the place where you stick notes on the wall- you might have heard of it before. So I was on a mission to find this place. To be honest, it was a bit of a challenge as didn't have google maps, only a REAL LIFE map. In the end we actually gave up and just went and walked round the Hoan Kiem Lake (Sword Lake is what most tourists know it as.) In the middle of the lake is a temple called Temple of the Jade Mountain which is a beautiful temple. Unfortunately we couldn't go in as we didn't have enough money. But it was still just as beautiful to look at from the outside.

Luckily right by the temple was a waffle place which I also wanted to go to, wannawaffle. Although the service in here was a little slow, the waffles really made up for it. I mean, look how yummy they looked. And, I can assure they really did taste as good as they look.

After failing to find the Note Coffee in the morning we decided to try again after refueling on waffles. And we were in luck! This place is the best place I have ever been. Like waayyyyy better than Starbucks. Just because of the atmosphere. All the sticky notes are so fun to read and to see other peoples stories. I also got to try the famous egg coffee. Which woah, its amazing. I can't even describe it you just have to taste it for yourself.

After eating food all day we're now back at the hotel getting ready to go and eat some more food. HOORRAAAYYY.

Travel with Me: Day 10

I'm super tired right now, we just got back from the longest journey ever. BUT, it was such a great day. We went to Halong Bay which from Hanoi is like 6 hours of travelling. In a way the 3 hour journey there was good because we got to sleep on the coach woooo. It was honestly like being back at school on a school trip HAHA. The journey also wasn't all that bad because I had the funniest American family sitting behind me and listening to their conversation for 3 hours was great. I honestly know all their families names now, and they all begin with D. That must be like, a 'thing' in America, like the Kardashians.

Anyway, when we got to Halong Bay we went on this boat to take us around and had lunch. I was slight disappointed because it was such a gloomy day. Oh well. Anyway, the lunch was really good, there was rice, chicken, fish, vegetables etc. However about half way in I found a hair in my chicken which obvs put me off it but whatever.

We firstly visited this floating village. All the people here live on Halong Bay which is literally the craziest thing to me. Although theres not many of them, I don't know how people can live here! I think they were all one giant family so I guess they all want to stay together. The people that live here run bamboo boating trips so of course we did this.

When the boating was over we went back to our bigger boat and started our journey to some caves that are in the bay. The caves were really cool and of course had a story behind them. Something about a princess but I wasn't listening that well tbh.

And once that was over we had to head back to our boat for another 3 hour journey back *yawn*. The journey was so worth it though, the bay is as beautiful as it looks in all the pictures.

Travel with Me: Day 9

Guess who's in Vietnam? Me, YAY! We made it to Hanoi.

My first impressions of Hanoi are 'wow it is so crazy busy here' but I think I kind of like it. I probably won't after a day or so but at the moment I actually like how hectic it is for some strange reason...Our hotel isn't great which is kind of stressing me out lol. I read online reviews of there being cockroaches so now thats all I can think about. There also is no window :O But we aren't here to just sit in a room so I'll try not to complain too much.

We went out for dinner tonight because we were sooooo tired when we first arrived so we needed to nap. We went to a place called Gastro which was so cheap, even cheaper than restaurants we went to in Thailand, and it was really good food. So as always, if you are in Hanoi, check it out!

We're going to Halong Bay tomorrow which will be the longest day ever so were trying to get an early night which is why this blog hasn't been incredibly interesting.

I'll be posting tomorrow as always so stay tuned!

Travel with Me: Day 8

Well well well it has been a week since we began our adventure. As I type this I am back in Bangkok but in the same chain of hotel- the Amari. It's literally connected to the airport which is why we are staying here (we have to get up at 6am).

We went out to get some food from the airport and got soooo lost trying to find somewhere to eat, not sure how. In the end we got McDonalds which is always so great, its like a taste of home. We've also now just got room service and we're watching The Office which is nice as well as we can just chill in our room before our flight tomorrow.

Anyway, tomorrow we get to Vietnam and I'm not sure what to expect but we will find out what it's like soon. I also made a YouTube video about our time in Bangkok and Phuket so go and take a look at that!

Speak tomorrow xo

ps The Office (US) is amazing and if you haven't already you should watch it.

Travel with Me: Day 7

Well todays blog is going to be so boring..soz..We literally have been chilling round the pool all day which has been really nice since I feel like we haven't had a day to relax yet. Ive been getting my tan on ;)

I'm quite sad though because tomorrow we have to leave to go back to Bangkok. We're only going for the night as our flight into Vietnam is from Don Mueang Airport soooooo we kinda need to be there.

Sorry todays blog has been sooooo boring but there are more fun times ahead, I promise xox

Travel with Me: Day 6

oh my gosh... I had the most incredible day. This morning I went to visit some elephants. I feel like this is something that everyone should get to do as elephants are so amazing.

We started by getting to know one little elephant and learnt some terminology such as what Mahouts were (the people that train the elephants) and even learnt some Thai. Then we got to go and have a ride on their backs. We went and saw some amazing sites from the elephants back which was so incredible. Honestly the journey was really bumpy (unsurprisingly) so it was kind of hard to take good pictures but I got a few for you guys to look at.

When we were done here they even took us back to the hotel free of charge. Lol not the elephants, the people that run the place. So if you want to visit this place its called Siam Safari. Seriously, if you are visiting Phuket its a must.

Dinner was not planned for tonight which kind of stressed me out but I luckily found somewhere on trip advisor that seemed good. We went to a place called Higher and guys it was really really great. They even gave me a free cocktail for booking online- just a little tip ;). The food was great, I had lasagne, classic fussy eater.

 Oh btw, we are staying in Patong. My thoughts on Patong is that its not really a place you would go with your family, especially not at night. Its quite the party place so if you're not into that either perhaps here isn't the best place.

Anyway, I'm off to sleep as its 2am and yep I'm still trying to get out of being jet lagged!

Travel with Me: Day 5

Helllooooooo!!!!

I've been super excited all day because we are now in Phuket!!! Even though we had to get up so early in the morning I am so so happy right now. We are honestly in paradise.

The hotel we are staying in is so beautiful. Its called the Amari Phuket. Honestly the view from our room is incredible....LOOK!!!

We didn't do much today as we just got here but tomorrow we are going to see some elephants so I'm major excited for that as its something thats on my bucket list.

Well, we are going to grab dinner now at the hotel. This post has been so short but really nothing interesting has happened thats worth writing about.

Travel with Me: Day 4

Hi guysss! So today we went to the Temple of the Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho) but first, we went on a boat. Tbh the boat ride was all a bit dodgy. In Bangkok the tuk tuk drivers try and make connections with other 'companies' so they both can make more money out of tourists and we ended up having to go on a boat trip.

Ok from the story from the beginning is, we went out of our hotel to find a tuk tuk and I knew we weren't meant to get someone that was standing right outside the hotel, (they're normally looking for naive people to con) but we did this anyway. On the way to Wat Pho he firstly makes us go into a cloth shop. Clearly we were not going to buy anything so it was kind of scary being in there in fact I kinda thought they were going to rob us or something, lol. Anyway thats just one example of how they all work together to try and get money so if you're going, beware of this. 

Then the tuk tuk driver dropped us off specifically at a boat trip to get to Wat Pho. Once we were here and he had left we basically had no other option but to get this boat and I'm telling you, this trip was not cheap. After trying to get a lower price and kind of failing we just decided to get on the boat and go on this trip despite not really having enough money for it....oh well. 

Once we were on the boat it was actually a really good trip. We got to see how people lived along the Chao Phraya river which is honestly crazy to see. There were kids playing in the river and waved at us as we passed by. At first I felt sad that they were not as fortunate at us but then saw how happy they were, and thats all that really matters. 

Once we got to the temples we only had the option of going to Wat Pho as the others were shut by the time we got there- we overslept. This temple is so amazing- I mean, just look at the pictures!!!! 

 

After we had a look around the rest of the temple we decided to head back but this time on the cheap boat, lol.

Today showed me how important happiness really is and you don't have to have the best things in life to be happy :)))))) 

Goodnight xo