Upcoming trips #2: USA & Canada

As you may remember I took a short trip to London in February earlier this year. However, I have also been planning a slightly more major trip for the past couple of months. You could already read about it in my very first post of this year, as I will be taking a 2.5 week long trip which will take me to the United States of America and Canada. Finally, after 3 years of not having been to the good ole US of A, I will return to one of my favorite places in the world and I will hit up a few new ones at the same time. I just finished booking my final flights and since my itinerary is now complete, I thought I’d share. On top of that, I will inform you of any plans I already have. If you have any must see places for me to add to my list, please feel free to leave a comment below!

This July I will find myself on a plane heading for New York City. I will be flying with Aer Lingus, from Amsterdam, via Dublin to JFK airport. I will only stay there for one night, as I will take an early flight out to Toronto, Canada. Toronto will be my first real stop on this trip and I will stay there for 5 days. I have never been to Toronto, so I don’t have much of an idea what to do while there. All I know is that I have a hotel in the most historic part of town (in a Georgian town house!) and that I really want to see Niagara Falls. I already figured out how to go there (take a bus and then a shuttle) so I will definitely check that out for one day. As for the rest: I have no clue. I will most likely just walk around and stumble across things as I go along.

After 5 days I will head back to the US and go to Boston. Again for 5 days. And again in a Georgian town house, not too far from the downtown area and really close to a train station. I already read that Boston is a good town for walking, so I plan on doing that. I may want to follow this trail that I have read about which takes you past all the major places, one of them being Harvard of course. On top of that I want to go to Cape Cod, do some shopping (there’s an Ulta not too far from where I will be at!) and if I get the chance I would also like to visit the house of one of the great American writers such as Mark Twain who used to live near Boston.

My final stop will be New York City: my favorite city in the whole world. I will be here for 5 days as well, but on the final day I will have to be on a plane later that evening. Since this will be my 6th time in The Big Apple I will skip the very touristy things. I plan to do some thorough neighborhood browsing and plan to have a look around Staten Island, Brooklyn as well as Soho, The Village and the Meatpacking District. For some reason I have never gotten a good look around there and thought it about time. I will also go and walk the High Line, a park built on old elevated railroad tracks.

I also plan to do most of my shopping in NYC. I definitely want to go to Victoria’s Secret and Sephora, but also Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters and the major drug stores. As you could read above I also want to try to go to Ulta which should be make up heaven! I just finished booking all of my flights, trains and hotels, so I’m all set and ready to go. Now all I have to do is save up some money to spend while I’m there and I’m good to go. I just can’t wait to go back!

What are you doing this summer?

Road Trip Music

I love listening to music while I’m on the go, but some music just makes for a better travel companion than others. This post is on my top picks of songs that make me want to hit up highways in a car with an open top. It just makes me wish that I actually had a car, lol.

Rascal Flatts – Fast Cars and Freedom

This song just makes we want to hop into car and drive along desert roads of the old Route 66. It just does.

Rod Stewart – I Know I’m Losing You

I love the gritty feel of this song. It has a great build up and a great solo to top it off as well.

LeAnn Rimes – Can’t Fight the Moonlight

THE I’m-hanging-out-with-my-girls and I’m singing at the top of my lungs type song.

Deanna Carter – Strawberry Wine

Ah something a bit more romantic. Ultimate summer love song and it’s country. Country music has always made for the best road trip music.

Robbie Williams – Me and My Monkey

Because it is about a road tip. To Vegas. With a Monkey. Nuff said.

America – Ventura Highway

I just love how laid back this song is and the harmonies are great too. It reminds me of watching sunsets while drinking beers and just having a laid back evening.

Canned Heat – On the Road Again

Another classic song! I guess this has to be the ultimate road trip song ever.

Johnny Cash – Further on Up the Road

I can’t remember whether I’ve posted this before, but this song is too brilliant not to post another time. Originally by Bruce ‘The Boss’ Springsteen, but I love this version so much better. Johnny Cash is also a must have for any road trip.

Bobby Blue Bland – Farther Up the Road

Apart from country, I guess blues makes a good second as road trip music. This oldie by Bobby Blue Bland is perfect, just don’t get confused thinking it’s the same song as the one above it. It’s not!

King Curtis – Memphis Soul Stew

This may not be blues, but it definitely gets you going and keeps you going and it makes you hungry if you’re not careful. Other for more road, for more music, or for actual food.

What are your ultimate road trip songs?

London 2012: Day 4

Ah my final day in London! This day was by far the laziest of all. I was so tired from all the walking I had done the days before that I decided to really take it easy. I slept in, checked out of my hotel and left my luggage at the hotel and headed out on the town for one last time. The hotel I was staying at was pretty okay actually. I was surprised that it had a good mattress. It was also clean, although the room could do with a bit of an upgrade when it comes to the decor, but other than that: it was good enough to rest my head as that’s all I did during my 4 days there. Best part: the guy at the front desk asked for someone to help me with my luggage on my way out. Always nice when they do that!

I set out the door of my hotel around 10.30 AM and first bought myself a train ticket to Gatwick Airport. It is advisable to just take a regular train and buy your tickets on the go, rather than getting on the Gatwick Express as it is cheaper and nearly as fast. During weekdays there are even direct trains going from St. Pancras to Gatwick for only 10 pounds for a single ride. On my way into the city when I arrived it cost me 15 pounds but that included a day travelcard for the tube. In total it cost me 25 pounds to get in and out of the city and I believe Gatwick Express costs around 35.

After getting my ticket I bought some magazines from WH Smith as I always like seeing what magazines in other countries look like and how they write about different topics. Since it was London Fashion Week right when I was there, many magazines had special Fashion Week editions out so I bought one of those and a discount pack. I was late for breakfast at the hotel so instead I went to Starbucks, grabbed a latte and a sandwich and found a spot just reading and sipping coffee for an hour. I then set off to go to The British Museum.

British Museum exterior

My other major touristy visit was this massive museum that houses everything having to do with ancient cultures such as the Assyrians, the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians etc. It’s pretty much a collection of artifacts which the Brits plundered during the Victorian period. Okay not plundered, as many of the British aristocrats who provided artifacts for the collection often got permission from the countries the items came from, even though some of them now want it back. The museum is most famous for the Rosetta stone which is the only reason why anyone is able to understand Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Interior of the museum

Another thing the museum is famous for is the grand hall from which you can go and explore the museum. There is this massive circular staircase in the middle and this amazing glass roof that gives the impression of the room being 20x bigger than it actually is. I decided to just browse around as much as I can. I had already been to the museum once, a long time ago and only saw a few things at the time, so now I was set on getting a good browse around.

The museum starts with Egyptian sculpture and moves into Greek, Assyrian and Roman artifacts quite flawlessly. There are 5 floors in total and not all of it caught my attention. I spent most of my time gazing at the Greek vases depicting the works of Herakles or Hercules as he was known in Latin. And I also learned things about Greek & Roman culture that I didn’t know yet, or I remembered facts that I once used to know. During my teens I was obsessed with Roman, Greek and Egyptian ancient culture, especially the mythology and all of these facts just came boiling to the surface. I now I actually want to go and bust out my old mythology books and read up on them again!

Inside the museum: sculptures taken from the Parthenon on top of the Acropolis in Greece (Greece actually wants these back)

I spent nearly 3 hours at the museum. You could very easily spend the entire day there if you read everything and look at every artifact but like I said not everything grabbed my eye so I just walked right through the exhibitions on early Medieval artifacts and other things that didn’t interest me. By this time I was quite hungry and thirsty again and there was a Starbucks across the street so I huddled up again on a couch with a mag and just sat there for an hour reading and people watching.

By now it was really time to head back to the hotel, pick up my luggage and hop on a train to the airport. I arrived at the airport well on time, had a bite to eat and by the time I had finished my meal it was time for me to go to my gate. After an uneventful flight I arrived at Schiphol Amsterdam Airport safe and sound and got home around 10 PM to a rainy and windy Holland. Would you believe me if I said the weather in London was in fact better than at home? I’m sure that’s a rare thing!

This post finalizes my posts on my 4 day trip to London and I just made me fall in love with the city all over again. After New York, London is my favorite city in the world! I hope these posts make you see why. I still have one more post coming up in which I will show you what I bought fashion wise and then everything will be back to normal again on the blog. I hope you enjoyed my little ramble about my travels and since I’ll be going to the US and Canada over summer you are assured of more of these posts in the near future.

Do you love London as much as I do? If yes, why? If not, which city do you love most?

London 2012: Day 3

Day 3 of my trip would be devoted to more walking and plenty of shopping. I hit up Oxford Street and Soho and ticked off plenty from my fashion wish list to make a shoplog once I get back. So keep your eyes peeled for that but now let me just tell you what I exactly did on Day 3.

Marble Arch

My day started with a crowded subway ride during London’s rush hour. Perhaps not the best idea, but I was a girl with a mission: hit up Primark before everyone else did. I took the tube to Marble Arch and since I had never been able to take a proper picture of that monument I decided to go ahead and do just that before going to Primark. Luckily for me Primark was quiet when I got there and so I could browse to my heart’s content without having to step over people or be pushed around by crowds.

After Primark I hit up some more major store chains, which is what you do when you shop on Oxford Street. I went to Forever 21, TopShop, Urban Outfitters and Monki (in Selfridges). I found green pants (yay!), not 1 but 3 (!) bulky sweaters and two really cute dresses. I had also found out where the MAC Pro Store was located (in Carnaby Street) and browsed around there too. As I now found myself in Soho, I walked around some more into the general direction of Leicester Square and also found Make Up Store AND Illamasqua shops located in the Carnaby Street area. So, if you like make up and you are shopping in London, go to Carnaby Street!

Since it was only 4 PM I tried to see which movies were showing at that time, but again found nothing good playing so I just got onto the tube again and headed back to the hotel. My feet desperately needed a rest and I just watched some TV while reading blogs and writing a few of my own (including this one). I decided on having sushi for dinner and going to bed on time to get ready for my final day in London.

And so that was day 3. Not much to say unless you want the entire relay of my shopping experience. It’s just high street shopping, which is something you like or you don’t. I loved hitting up the vintage stores and markets in East London a few days ago, but also the boutique style stores in Covent Garden on Monday. Oxford Street has all major chains with some flagship stores (Primark & Topshop) which are huge you feel you’ll get lost.

Shopping high street stores is a beast on its own and my only advice is to go there early enough before major crowds show up. If you plan on shopping London’s Oxford Street I can highly recommend starting from Marble Arch and working your way eastward towards Tottenham Court Road. You’ll find yourself coming across Primark, Forever 21, H&M (several times), Dorothy Perkins (several times), Pull & Bear, Aldo, Topshop, Urban Outfitters, Super Drug, Boots and department stores such as Selfridges, Debenhams and House of Fraser. In case of a rainy day, you can also go to Westfield Shopping Mall at Shepherd’s Bush. It has most of the stores you will find on Oxford Street, but you won’t get wet.

Where do you prefer to shop: vintage stores, boutiques or the high street?

London 2012: Day 2

Day two in the English capital turned out to be a great day. The weather was amazing, with a slight breeze but plenty of sunshine making it perfect weather for walking. And walk I did. I set off from my hotel around 9 AM. My first stop was the Twinings tea shop on The Strand. It’s the only official Twinings-only shop in the world and they have many varieties that aren’t available in Holland. Argyll Square – View from my hotel room

Houses on Argyll Square

Tudor style houses near Chancery Lane

Clock of the Royal Court of Justice

After picking up nearly 10 different teas including a ‘vintage’ Darjeeling I walk about for a bit as I wanted to go to Temple Church but it wouldn’t open until an hour later. I found myself walking along the River Thames and found a bench bathing in sunlight. I sat there people and boat watching while listening to music and waited until I could go to Temple Church.

Chestnut tree (?) on Victoria Embankment

Fierce looking dragon near Middle Temple lane

I had heard that Temple Church would be difficult to find and while trying to find it, I figured why. The church is surrounded by other buildings that are part residential area and part offices. It is completely encased and I found it by walking into a narrow alleyway. If I hadn’t I would have most likely walked passed it. Temple Church is quite a strange place. It’s only a stone’s throw away from the heavy traffic of Fleet Street/ The Strand, but yet it’s so quiet and peaceful when you walk into the courtyard. It doesn’t even feel like you’re in the middle of London.

Temple Church

The interior of the Church

Effigies of the Knights Templar

Temple Church is famous for being round on one end rather than having the shape of a cross. In the round part of the church you will find the famous effigies of the Knights Templar as featured in The Da Vinci Code. The ones you see in the picture above are actually plaster casts of the original which are on the other end of the room. The casts were made during the Victorian era for the World Exhibition and placed in the church after the originals were badly damaged during The Blitz in WWII. The Church is still active which is why it is only open at specific times a day.

Original entrance door of Temple Church

The reason why Temple Church is hard to find: courtyards and narrow alleys

Fountain with National Gallery

After the Church I walked via The Strand to Trafalgar Square and had a pit stop at Starbucks and Superdrug where I picked up some make up by brands that aren’t available in The Netherlands. I then went to the National Gallery where I walked around for a few hours viewing mainly Impressionist and Dutch 17th century art. The museum houses art from the 1200s till 1900 and since it is huge I picked two categories to go and see because I didn’t want to spend such a lovely day indoors all day.

The National Gallery is definitely worth a visit. If art isn’t your thing you should just step inside to see the interior. It is hands down one of the most majestic buildings I’ve ever been in, without it being preposterous. It’s a beautifully designed museum, especially the room called Central Hall and the rooms directly adjacent to it. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures inside the museum so you’ll just have to believe me or go there yourself. The museum is free so just stop by and pop in to have a look whenever you’re near it.

After viewing Monets, Renoirs, Rembrandts and the like I felt hungry and had lunch outside in the sunshine with a delicious salad. With it only being 3 PM and having gone through my plans for the day already, I set off towards Leicester Square to see if I could catch a West End musical. Unfortunately nothing struck me as remotely interesting and there aren’t many movies out right now that I think are worth visiting so I decided to take a beeline toward Covent Garden. There I found the most amazing shoe store on Floral Street called United Nude. It was too pricey for me, but nevertheless these shoes are eyecandy in its purest form. The shoes seem to be a combination of design and architecture and seem impossible to walk in.

I had quite a browse around Coven Garden, bought a few things here and there and headed west again along Shaftesbury Avenue towards Piccadilly Circus. There’s a Waterstone’s nearby as well as an HMV (I like their book section there too) and plenty of food places. So I bought some books and quite exhausted found a table at TGI Friday’s as I was craving a burger. I finished my meal with an Oreo sundae icecream and took the Underground back to the hotel. My feet were killing me after walking around for nearly 12 hours, but that’s how I like London best: by foot.

Stay tuned for more blogs about my London trip later this week!

How is your week coming along?

Upcoming trips #1 – London

I started this year with an overview of what the new year would bring for me. One of my plans includes doing some traveling again. By now I have arranged most of my trips and so I thought it would be fun to inform you about them: what hotel I’ve picked out, what I plan on doing there etc. And of course if you have any suggestions, feel fee to leave a comment and tell me what I shouldn’t miss.

Tower Bridge, London (this is my own picture)

My first stop this year will be London and I’m excited to say that I will be going there in less than a month! I am gonna go for only four days during springbreak, but ever since I went to London in 2009 (after years of not having been there at all), I fell in love with it so much that I have been going back every year. This year is no exception. By now I’ve seen most of the touristy stuff, so I will be doing some sightseeing, but my main plan is just to browse around the city as much as I can (weather permit).

I’m staying at a very simple hotel as I’m not planning on spending much time there. The hotel is near King’s Cross Station and I was staying in the same area last year so I know a few pubs and places around, so even if the hotel is a horrible mess I can just hang out there. The hotel comes with breakfast and is close to public transportation and that’s the most important thing to me. I’m flying into Gatwick so I’ll be able to catch a train which takes me straight to St. Pancras and my hotel will be just a 5 minute walk, another plus!

As far as plans are concerned I honestly don’t really have any. I may want to try to hit up Temple Church, but that has very limited accessibility so I will have to look into whether it will even be open during my stay. Another thing that I might do go to a museum. This is mainly on the list for a rainy day. I’m thinking of going to the National Gallery or The British Museum. I’ve never been to the first one, and the last one has been ages since I last went there. I also want to go see a West End musical. Preferably I’d like to see Legally Blonde as I tried to go last year, but didn’t manage.

Other than that: there are no plans. I may want to go to Brick Lane as Rough Trade has its main store there and it’s apparently a very vibrant part of London. I will naturally be doing some shopping, but I’m not planning on doing a huge amount of spending. Last year my wishlist was huge, now: I have nothing on it. So we’ll see how it goes. I think I will just let my plans depend on tips from locals and whatever the weather is like. One thing I love about London is that by just walking around you’ll find something new regardless, so I think this trip will be fun.

What are your travel plans for 2012? Would London be on your list? Anyone planning on actually going to the Olympics this summer?

Dublin Day 5,6,7 & 8: Dublin Castle, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Writer’s Museum, Shopping

Day 5:

After the long walk the day before, I was tired, cranky and exceptionally lazy. On top of all that, I was in some serious muscle pain from the walk as well so I slept in late and we didn’t set off for doing anything until the early afternoon. This day we wanted to visit the medieval part of Dublin, or well, what’s left of it anyway. We had a late breakfast at a coffee shop on O’Connell Street with the very apt name Scrumptious where we had bagels and tea. We then set off for the oldest part of the city to visit Dublin Castle.

Tower from the old Norman castle & chapel (later addition)

Bell Tower at Dublin Castle

Not much of the original castle built by the Normans in the 12th century is left, but there is still one tower and during the tour around the building we were led into an archeological dig where other remains of the castle had been excavated. Much of the castle had actually been built much later to house the viceroys who kept an eye on Ireland for the British kings and queens. They are therefore also called the State Apartments.

The Harp: Ireland’s national symbol along with the shamrock.

Fun fact: The harp used to face the other way, but that was too similar to the Guinness emblem, so Guinness sued and the harp has to be depicted facing the other way ever since.

The apartments are filled to the brim with British propaganda. Its only function? Persuading the Irish to succumb to British rule. Well, as we all know that didn’t quite work out in the end. We were shown the drawing room, the dining room, throne room and another large room where they inaugurate the Irish president every 7 years. Fun fact: the rooms are still used by the government for formal occasions such as state visits and important meetings.

Hall way: used to model parts of the White House

Drawing room

Dining room

After the tour we went for a snack (read: oreo cookie milkshake) and walked to Grafton Street to check out some more shops without actually buying anything. It started to rain at this point so we quickly sought the drought and warmth of a nearby pub where we had a few drinks. After that we had dinner at another Italian restaurant in Temple Bar where they forgot to deliver the desserts and I first tried cider made out of berries. Good times!

Day 6:

Another lazy day. Our original plan was to visit the house where Oscar Wilde lived for the first 20 or so years of his life on Merrion Square. We first grabbed some Starbucks and walked to the house only to find out that it has been closed to the public since 2007. Bummer. So instead we visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral with St. Patrick’s park

We walked across town and got to the Cathedral much quicker than we had anticipated. It taught us how small Dublin’s city center really is. Once at the cathedral we saw busloads of American tourists get of a bus and with only 30 minutes until the cathedral would close for the Sunday afternoon service we decided to wait it out and come back later to visit the church. The next 30 minutes were spent people watching on a bench in St. Patrick’s Park after which we found a pub to grab a bite to eat and something to drink.

Center of St. Patrick’s Cathedral

At 16.30 we went back to the cathedral. If you’ve seen cathedrals before than St. Patrick’s Cathedral won’t show you anything new. Two facts worth mentioning though are that Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels, was the deacon of the cathedral and that Handel played his Messiah on the cathedral’s organ. With another 1,5 hours to kill before dinner we walked around Temple Bar some more and had a fantastic dinner at local hotspot Saba which is a Thai restaurant on Clarendon Street.

Day 7 & 8:

There isn’t much I can say about Day 7. All I did was shop while my friend visited Christ Church’s Cathedral. I hit up Pennys (the Irish version of Primark), Top Shop, Forever 21 and New Look. We had drinks at THE Temple Bar in Temple Bar and had a real pub dinner at a pub just off O’Connell Bridge.

Day 8 was slightly more eventful. We had packed our bags the night before as today would be the day we’d be leaving lovely Dublin. At 7.30 the fire alarm was set off at the hotel making for a not so nice start, but hey we had to get up on time for check out anyway so it didn’t really matter to us. We had breakfast at a coffee place around the corner of the hotel and visited the Dublin Writer’s Museum. Here you can find out about all the great writers Ireland has produced, from James Joyce to George Bernard Shaw, from Bram Stoker to W.B. Yeats as well as Oscar Wilde, the aforementioned Jonathan Swift and many of their contemporaries.

The museum only took about 1 hour to visit, but they did have a great little book shop in the back where I bought a Gothic novel called Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin. It’s basically about a man who sells his soul to the devil, is imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition and ends up in a lunatic asylum. Should be a good read methinks!

After the museum we bought some final souvenirs for our families and headed back to the airport around 1 o’clock. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare so I went into some of the shops and now have another book for my wishlist (One Day by David Nichols) and bought the Daisy perfume by Marc Jacobs which was on sale at the airport shop. With that final bout of shopping we got on the plane and arrived in Holland safe and sound after an uneventful flight.

If you ever thought of visiting Dublin and are doubting whether you should go: GO! It’s a really great little city. It has a lot to offer, makes for great walking and shopping and the food is great and definitely not expensive. The only annoying thing are the obnoxious traffic lights that turn green, then immediately switch to orange and it takes forever until you are allowed to cross. My favorite things: the walk around Howth, Kilmainham Gaol, the whiskey tasting at Jameson and Dublin Castle. In short: it was definitely worthwhile.

Places I’d Like to Visit

I know, I know. I only just got back, but especially at times like this I think up my list of places I would still like to visit some day in the (near) future. Most of these places have been on my wish list for a while and I don’t know if I’ll ever get to visit all of them, but it’s good to dream about it!

Source: weheartit.com

Places in Europe

I’ve lived here all my life and yet I’ve not seen all that much of Europe. As a kid and in my teens, my parents never took me and my brother on ‘standard’ vacations to Spain, France or Italy. We usually stayed home and took day trips and later went on vacation to the UK. Therefore my list contains plenty of countries that most people will have been to already. Since I’m a city girl I would really just want to go to certain cities rather than countries. I just can’t deal with too much nature and small villages!

- Greece (especially Athens)

- Italy (especially: Rome, Milan, Florence, Venice)

- Spain (I really just want to go to Barcelona!)

- Scandanavian countries & Estonia. I have actually had this plan for a while to fly to Talinn (Estonia), move on to Helsinki (Finland) then on to Stockholm (Sweden) to finish the trip in Kopenhagen (Denmark). I think I’d want to visit Norway on a separate occasion. Like I said: it’s a plan which I think would be pretty easy to execute, all I need is time and money to do it. 

Places in the rest of the world

Of course I don’t just want to stick to good old Europe. There are also a few places in the rest of the world I’d like to see:

- Egypt (I was a sucker for Egyptian Mythology when I was a teenager!)

- Japan

- China (I’d actually want to go there and teach English)

- South Africa

- Australia & New Zealand

Real plans

My real plans so far are very limited. The only thing that I have lined up for real is Dublin in August. I’ll be going there for 8 days. Never been there so it should be interesting. Lots of Celtic history and hopefully I can also visit some of the towns near Dublin to see a bit more of Ireland than just the capital.

I’ve already started thinking of where I want to go next year as well. Since I haven’t been to the US since 2009, I’ve decided it’s time to go there again. I definitely want to go to New York City (duh!), but I also want to hit up some towns I haven’t seen yet. Major cities on that list are Boston and Miami. Though Miami in the middle of July/ August may not be that smart weather wise. Therefore I am keeping my options open. I was also thinking of maybe skipping across the border and flying to Toronto to change things up a little bit.

Naturally, there are always places I want to revisit. I would love to go to Chicago again. LA is also high on the list to visit again. And of course I can never get enough of New York City and London so I will definitely be going there again.

Study Trip to Edinburgh

After 8 days of being in London, I left in the early morning to catch a train, then a plane, then another train to hop onto a bus to get onto a boat for the rest of May 9th. Because work didn’t want me to travel from London to Edinburgh straight away I had to make a major detour to join the study trip to Edinburgh.

Before I left I was actually quite nervous. The only people on the trip who I really knew were the two girls who organized the trip as they are in one of my second year groups. Everyone else though, I didn’t even know. Luckily, the group turned out to be a great bunch of people and I had tons of fun and being with a group of 50 people didn’t turn out to be as challenging as I expected. They were always on time, didn’t cause any havoc and were just a great group to hang out with.

We arrived in Edinburgh on Tuesday the 10th of May. By the time we arrived at the hostel I had been traveling for nearly 36 hours. We took a bit of a detour though so we could pass by the castle which they used to turn into Hogwarts for the Harry Potter movies. The castles and the surroundings were super pretty!

After freshening up a little bit, we split the group into three and went our own ways. One group went to Edinburgh Castle, another to the National Gallery and the last group went to visit Napier University. I went to the university (I already saw the other two spots on a previous trip to Edinburgh almost 5 years ago) and I think it was very interesting what they had to say. Later that evening the entire group went clubbing and did some Karaoke. Since I had promised a student I would partake in our very own rendition of a Spice Girls song I was very quickly turned into Baby Spice (including pigtails) and with 3 other students we performed Wanna Be.

The next day was an early start and we visited St. Andrews. Can you say pretty? We were very lucky as it was bright and sunny while we were there, but right after we got back into the bus it started pouring. The man who gave a presentation and showed us round was extremely nice and to me this was one of the more interesting stops during the trip.

St. Andrews is the world’s oldest golf course and is right by the ocean. All the big names in Golf have played there and the surroundings are insanely pretty. Look at those skies! In the afternoon we went back to Edinburgh and went to the Story Telling Center. Another highlight of the trip. It was great to hear some Scottish folk tales and to hear how someone remembers and tells stories.

On Day three we went to Glasgow. Before heading to the School of Art and Braehead Shopping Mall, there was some spare time which I spent walking all the way to Glasgow Cathedral. I just felt like I had been in that bus for too long so it was great to stretch my legs and take a good walk. Unfortunately I ended up being a tad late because all the traffic lights weren’t cooperating but I literally made it just in time. The School of Art was interesting as the entire building was designed by Mackintosh and built at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.

That evening I went for dinner with a good part of the group of the students and our bus driver and went for a bit of a walk through Edinburgh at Twilight all by myself. That also made for some pretty pictures:

After that it was time for a Ghost Tour of the city with plenty of humor and scares. On Friday, the final day we went to a Leisure Centre in Edinburgh and headed home again. We made it to the boat just in time and arrived in Breda the next day.

All in all it was a great study trip. I can’t compare this trip to any others, but all I know is that it was a great trip. The students were great. The two girls who organized the trip were amazing and had everything under control rendering me and my colleague almost unnecessary. Now, I only have today left and then I have to get back to work again.

London Days 6, 7 & 8

After 5 days of touristy things and some sightseeing, my final days in London would be spent shopping. My friend left London in the middle of the night to catch a flight to Italy. That gave me plenty of time to scour the town for make up, clothes and of course, shoes.

I arrived at Oxford Street a bit early. The only thing open was HMV. I browsed around for a bit and when I left a girl approached me. She needed a model for a hairdressing course for Toni & Guy and if I would like to get a new haircut. I had plenty of time on my hands so I agreed to go with her. It took 3,5 hours, but I now have a new haircut which looks great and it didn’t cost me a thing. Hurrah!

After a quick Starbucks break I went on with my shopping spree. My initial plan was to do Oxford Street & Covent Garden on Friday and go to Westfield Shopping Mall on Saturday. I ended up spending so much time on Oxford Street though that I never even had the time to go to Covent Garden. I went to all the major department stores, Top Shop, Aldo and then some. I also hit up Primark, but that was mayhem so I got out as quickly as I got there. By the time I was done shopping, I was starving and stopped at this nice Italian place just off Oxford Street to grab a bite to eat. Then onwards to the Odeon Cinema on Tottingham Court Road to watch Water for Elephants. That was day 6.

The movie was alright. I now know why I wasn’t interested in reading the book. I don’t like the story, but the movie is pretty: the costumes, the colors, the atmosphere are all very tastefully done. If you don’t like romantic love stories however, you’d better stay away from it. Plus there are a few parts of the story that move so fast that as a viewer you don’t have time to feel the emotions of the characters (when Jacob’s parents die for instance). The plot sometimes feels a little rushed to get it done within 2,5 hours and I never even read the book. Rob looks pretty though so you’ll get enough of eye candy if you like him .

Saturday ended up being a let’s-go-across-town-as-many-times-as-possible day. I started my day by taking the subway up to Camden Market. Unfortunately the place was sprawling with touristy shops selling hats and sunglasses. I did spot the occasional punkers but you’d hardly notice them amongst all those loud Italians. So I walked around for maybe 30 minuts and grabbed a train to King’s Cross to sort out my train for Monday morning.

After that I went to Covent Garden where I finally bought a pair of Dr. Marten’s (the 1460 in Cherry Red Smooth in case you’re wondering) and went to Urban Outfitters and Space.NK. I walked back to my hotel to drop off some stuff and left to pick up my phone. By this time it had been 5 days and 3 trips to the repair shop and by the time I went to pick it up it still wasn’t functioning. Frustrated the guys from the shop offered me to swap my old Blackberry for the one they had on display at no extra charge. So now, finally, after almost 5 days of agony and frustration I again have a functioning Blackberry.Double hurrah!

After the phone debacle I went back to Urban Outfitters because I had spotted a cardigan, didn’t buy it and then decided I really wanted it anyway. So I went back, got the cardigan and went to The Strand to go to the Twinings Shop which was about to close. I got my favorite tea and stocked up on some more to try out and went for pizza. Dropped off my stuff at the hotel again and went to the Embankment tube station to join a walking tour called Bloodcurdling London. I took a walking tour with the same company last year and loved it and this one was great as well though not as much fun as the other one. Thoroughly exhausted I arrived back at my hotel, reinstalled my Blackberry and went to sleep.

Sunday (which is today) was a quiet day: I sorted out my taxi/ train ride for tomorrow. I also went to Heathrow airport to ship some stuff I bought which I don’t want to drag around for another week. The post office at Heathrow is the only post office to be open on a Sunday and since I didn’t have any major plans I decided to take the 2 hour journey to and from the airport.

After writing this I will go to Leicester square to find a cool musical to watch tonight and if I can’t find anything I like, I will go to watch another movie. Then I will have to sort out my suitcase and repack so I can take a cab to the train station at 5 AM. Not looking forward to that, but hey, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do right? I will catch a flight to Amsterdam, then go to Breda to get on a bus to go to Edinburgh and go on the study trip with my students.

I will post a haul post (with pictures) once I get back next weekend. In the mean time, this blog will feature even less posts, as I don’t think the hostel has a WIFI connection. I will have a few Song Challenge posts coming up though!