Yorkshire Wildlife Park

A few weeks ago my mum and I planned to go to the Yorkshire Wildlife park near Doncaster. It was my second time there and I still love it.

The limas stole my heart!















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What you Really Need to Pack for 6 Months Travelling

I’m going to take a break from sharing our trip around South America today and look at how successful(or not) my packing skills were.

Before I left here’s what I packed, I have crossed out the things that I got rid of almost immediately. They either didn’t make it to the airport, were thrown away, or were posted back within a month. In bold are some things that I bought along the way that I felt like I needed, or were a bit of a naughty splurge.

Shoes
Hiking Boots
Gladiator Sandals
Toms
Flip Flops

Bags and Accessories
Backpack
Rucksack
Tote Bag
Small, leather night time bag
Belt
Hat
Gloves
Scarf/Sarong

Electronics
Ipad and charger
Ipod and charger
Earphones
Splitter
Camera and charger
Small device to upload photos to Ipad
USB
Travel Hairdryer
Straighteners
Travel Adapters

Toiletries
Lush Shampoo Bar
Lush Conditioner Bar
Deodorant
Dry Shampoo
Tooth Brush
Tooth Paste
Moisturiser
Face Wipes
Hair Brush
Bobbles
Hair Grips
1 Big hair Clip
Head Band
Coral Nail Varnish
Perfume Stick
Tweezers
Nail Clippers
Mentol Chino

Make Up
Foundation
Blusher
Blusher Brush
Lip Balm
Lipstick
Mascara
Eye liner
Eye Liner Pencil Sharpener

Medicine
Painkillers
Inhalers
Savlon
Plasters
Anti Allergy tablets
Mosquito Spray

Underwear
12 pairs of pants
3 bras
1 sports bra
2 thermal socks
3 trainer socks

Clothes
Water Proof Coat
Windproof Under Jacket
Thermal Leggings and Vest
Jeans
Shorts x 2
Skirt
Day Dresses x 3
Night Dress
Smart Dress
Maxi Dress
Bikini
Hoody
Jumper
Cardigan
Long Sleeved Shirt
Long Sleeved T-Shirt
Vest tops x 2
T shirts x 5
Leggings
Tights
Pajamas

Extras
Sewing Kit
Online Banking Gadget
Big Bike Lock for our bags
Small Wire Lock
Folder for Documents
Note Book
Pen
Pencil
Spanish Dictionary
2 x Zip Lock Bags
Small, lightweight laundry bag
2 plastic bags
1 book


Additions
I purposefully tried not to buy too much as I would have to carry it around on my back, and I needed to keep a little room for gifts that I wanted to bring home. I did however buy a couple of things. I replaced my flip flops as they got worn out very quickly from all of the walking. I also bought a jumper from Bolivia, mainly because I liked it so much. I didn’t really need another hoody, but it was good to have a spare one for washing days etc. I also treated myself to a long blue maxi dress in Argentina. This was perfect as the weaher in Buenos Aires was over 40 degrees and I found that a lot of my clothes didn’t really suit this weather. Finally, I bought some Mentol Chino when I was in Ecuador. This is kind of like Tiger Balm, and proved to be great for mozzy bites.

Subtractions
The gladiator sandals were on their last legs and eventually it was time to leave them behind. I had a nice pair of Havaianas that I could use as dressier sandals for the evening. Again, an evening bag wasn’t necessary, I either used my Tote bag, or didn’t take anything out with me. The Ipod and the little gadget for my Ipad gave up the ghost in the first month, so they were sent home along with the charger. Nor did we use the USB. If you read my review of the Lush products here, you can see why these were binned. Face wipes weren’t replaced once I finished them as soap and water sufficed. Because of the sticky weather foundation and lipstick weren’t practical. Tights and my smart dress weren’t ever used. Finally, the extras weren’t really necessary, but if the situation came up they could have come in handy.

What you really need
If I were to go again, I would definitely pack:
- Lightweight clothes which are easy to layer and match with other pieces that I'm taking.
- My lap top as blogging was very difficult without it.
- I really loved my light weight, down, wind proof coat which could roll into a small pocket. I used it when it was cold, and as a blanket or pillow on the bus .
- Scarf was perfect to use as a sarong, cover my shoulders, and as something to sit on.
-Taking plenty of underwear definitely helps if there are long periods between washing days, but also they’re easy enough to wash in a sink if you are desperate.

What you don’t need
-You can buy most toiletries in shops and markets throughout South America. This is the same for make up too.
- Gloves and hats can be bought when you get to chilly places.
- You don’t need any clothes that are too formal or dressy, as most travelers keep casual, and sometimes it’s far too hot and sticky to dress up.

Most of all, just remember to take things that you are really comfortable in. For South America you have to prepare for all types of weather, but most things are available to buy in the shops. You could support local business by leaving a few things at home to pick up later, and if there are things you don't need, you can also donate them to people that need them.

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1. You Know You're Back Home When...

Hairdryers work at full pelt, rather than the light breeze that I could extract from them in South America! 5 minutes to dry my hair instead of 20 minutes. Nice!

P.S I love my kimono dressing gown I bought from Japan!

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Back in England Goals Update 2/5

I don’t know how I managed to keep this all to myself until now, but I have the biggest goal to check off on my list today!

Yup, I got a job! Hurray!

I’m going to be working as a bank Health Care Assistant for the NHS in Norwich from August. This means I’ll be working in all the wards in Norwich Hospital, helping out the nurses and making sure everyone is well taken care of.

This also means that I have to move away from Sheffield and down to Norwich for a while. Nick and I went to Norwich last week to have a look around, suss out the areas and catch up with a few mutual friends there.

I am so ready to go back to work and face the challenges that come with it.

This is a tiny baby step in the direction of where I want to be. I know it’s going to take a long time, but it’s better to do it right!! I don’t want to share too much as I am a strong believer in tempting fate, and don’t want to do that now!

Because I am in Italy at the moment, the others are being put on hold. But I have until August to achieve the wardrobe and room one thanks to moving to Norwich, and the nurse uniform is enough incentive to get serious about the exercise!

Hope you have something to celebrate this weekend!
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Weekend: Catching Up

So many people to catch up with and so little time! This weekend started on Friday when I went to see Go-go, the Sheffield Steel Roller Girls founder. She moved back to her home town of Guildford while I was away so I won’t get to see her so much. Sad faces.

We met in the rainy city on Friday afternoon with Kandy and Pepper, two other lovely roller girls. We did a bit of shopping and caught up (and warmed up) over some amazing Carrot and Coriander soup at the Forum.

That night we had a reservation for Amigos. A Mexican restaurant on London Road. I’d never tried the food here before, and was even more encouraged when I discovered that it was a Bring Your Own restaurant, meaning I could buy my own tasty berry cider to have with the meal.




Saturday morning I was up bright and early to get ready for my jaunt to Nottingham. I had last minute plans to meet up with some friends from uni, I hadn’t seen Chloe since we graduated back in 2008! Such a long time ago!

We had dinner at Annie’s Burger Shack. I first went there back when I had visited home from Korea and love their burgers. They all have a mountain of creative toppings. We weren’t disappointed with ours, although I was a little disappointed in Chloe and Stacey only selecting the original burger! They felt so overwhelmed by the choices that that’s all they could pick!


Feeling full we went back to our hotel to get ready for the night. We went to my favourite cocktail bar in Nottingham, Cocotang, which does amazing cocktails. I tried the Dirty Cinderella and Popcorn, which tasted amazingly like buttery goodness! Yum.




We finished our night in Rock City, our old haunt from university. We felt really old! We had a bit of a dance to some of the classics, then decided to let the young ones carry on into the night while we went to bed!

On the way back to our hotel, we had a bit of a moment where a very intoxicated man decided to throw his Subway sandwich at a billboard that I happened to be walking past. Unfortunately some of his sauce bounced off the billboard and landed smack bang in the middle of my forehead! The lovely Lizzie, being the good friend that she is decided to Instagram it before helping me clean it off! Typical!

We finished our reunion on Sunday morning with breakfast at Bill’s. We planned our next trip before saying our goodbyes!

I finished the weekend doing spot of reading and resting after tiring myself out!

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Italy!

As if 6 months travelling wasn’t enough…I’m off to Italy today for a week!

This is a belated birthday gift for Nick from his parents.

A girl can never have too much sun!

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Travel Tuesday, Torture and Tombs in Lima

Lima, the capital of Peru was surprisingly diverse and beautiful. There are two main areas of the city, there is the old centre where all of the colonial buildings and sights are, and then there’s Miraflores and Barranco which are the modern, wealthy, residential areas. Surprisingly, it’s right on the coast, so you can go from cathedral to beach in just 20 minutes.

We stayed in a hostel called Barranco's Backpackers Inn. This was one of my top 3 hostels of the trip. The shared dorm room for 6 people was spacious and lovely with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the sea. The mix of people made staying there really interesting, we met the funniest and most memorable people from the trip. Old and young all living and chatting together. Our favourite character of all has to be Pedro, an old Dutch man who had been travelling for years and looked like Saruman from Lord of the Rings. He was very relaxed and always had a good bit of advice, or an interesting story to share. If you ever visit Lima then you should definitely stay here.

Barranco turned out to be the right choice of area for us. There were beautiful old buildings, colourful flowers, a plaza that was always filled with people chatting and playing, lots of nice coffee shops and restaurants. Add to that that you’re just a 5 minute walk from the beach and it is the perfect place to have a city stay.





You can walk around the coast to Miraflores, another popular area which is a shoppers paradise and you can get your fill of familiar food here with nearly every fast food chain imaginable. Tucked away in Miraflores are the ancient ruins of Huaca Pucllana. These ruins are pretty impressive when you realise that they have stood the test of 2 invasions, from the Incas and the Spanish. I’m not quite sure what it was about these particular ruins which made them leave those when they pillaged everything else!




My favourite thing about Miraflores was the park packed with cheeky wild cats. They hid in the flower bushes and would jump out if they saw someone with a tasty looking sandwich or someone that looked particularly comfy. It appears that Nick looks welcoming too…


Unfortunately this is when my second illness episode started and my first night in Lima I had to go to bed really early and I didn’t stir until the next morning. Feeling a little better, we decided to counteract our binge on Western culture in Miraflores by going to the old centre.

We started by watching the change of guards which happens every day at 12. It’s pretty extravagant, and what’s more, it’s free! Nick was more entertained by this poor dog who had been dressed up by his owner.

Next, we visited the catacombs, and underground crypt with hundreds and thousands of bones. They think that upto 75,000 people were buried there. This was closed as a burial site in the 1800s after it was filled with victims of the plague. The bones had been arranged into fascinating shapes which added to the creepiness of being in a mass burial site. To do the tour of the catacombs you have to do a full tour of the church of San Francisco, but it is definitely worth it!

Needing a breath of fresh air after being in the staleness of the catacombs we grabbed some lunch and took a walk around china town. Feeling ready again we braced ourselves for the Spanish Inquisition museum. This was really interesting for me as I’ve always heard people say ‘what’s this, the Spanish Inquisition?’ but never really thought about the true meaning of it. We discovered that only 32 people were killed in Peru over 250 years. The Spanish left the indigenous people to it as they believed that they didn’t actually have souls. The unfortunate 32 were killed on suspicion of being Jewish. The museum entry is free, there is a guided tour and you can go underground to explore the old torture chambers.

We got back to our hostel that night after a heavy day, so decided to treat ourselves to a burrito from a really nice Mexican restaurant. Try and find it in Barranco if you go, although it has no signs outside and looks like a canteen inside. The food was very very tasty!

The next day I was back to feeling ill, and only had the energy to roll down to the beach and lay there most of the day. Not a bad life, eh?! Unfortunately the illness didn’t get any better after this, Nick fell ill that night and the rest of our time in Lima was spent taking it easy, napping and skyping.

I’m just glad that we had our two action packed days so I felt like I didn’t miss too much of the city.


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