Santa marta Colombia

 

Even though my family is from Colombia, and we travel there very often, I always feel like a tourist in my own country.

why?

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Brick lane

Who doesn’t love to explore London?

The beautiful thing about London is you can go to different parts of the city and find different cultures, weather its food, clubs etc. The diversity around London is the reason why I love this city so much!
So today I decided to go to the other side of London and explore Brick lane. It’s been a while since I’ve been here but it’s seriously one of my favourite places to go!

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Hey everyone! Since I’m going to be travelling soon I’d like to show you my little travel essentials i like to pack with me to the plane. Some of the products I use are inexpensive and easy to get at your local drugstore 🙂  My main priority is to have a clean face when I’m going to go on a long flight so the first thing I pack with me are face wipes. Face wipes to me are so essential since they freshen up your face when you’re feeling tired or you need a bit of moisture on your face.  I usually use either the No7 face wipes or the Boots refreshing cucumber wipes.

Again my priority is to make sure my skin doesn’t look dull,tired and dry after the flight so my main focus is hydration.

After cleansing my skin with the wipes I use Avène Thermal Spring Water which helps soothe your skin. When I’m feeling fancy, I go the extra mile and use the cucumber or avocado face mask which also really helps freshen and moisturise my skin.  Another method I use is after applying the thermal spring water, I wait 5 mins for it to sink in on my skin a little bit then apply Kiehls oil which is used to wake the skin up, I usually apply this in the morning (or daylight on the plane) with my advanced night repair serum which I will talk about in a moe! But first… the lips!!

I suffer from this horrible thing called dry lips (ikr?) where Vaseline, Nivea chapstick or even eos doesn’t help banish this embarrassment, (it’s not a lack of water problem, I drink a lot of water!) so I tried Lanolips and FINALLY my dry lips have disappeared! I usually apply this at night or in the morning so they can stay hydrated. So I HAD to take this to my flight since the dry air is literally poison to my lips. Literally apply when you’re starting to feel you’ll need it and voila!    Okay so I know this works for some people but oh my gosh Estée Lauders Advance night repair really saves my skin every time I fly with noo fail! Even after a night out and my skin looks dull or tired I apply this serum at night (or in this case, on my flight) and my skin looks hydrated, alive and definitely no where near dull.

Make sure you apply this to a clean face, it helps restore and repair the skin. It’s main use is for anti-wrinkle but I mostly use it for its other benefits. Since I have combination skin so sometimes I have a greasy face day or sometimes it’s a dry as the Sahara desert face day, it’s always hard to find the perfect creams and serums that help my skin. This serum helps balance things since it’s not oily, it doesn’t leave a heavy residue and it’s not really a gel either, it’s like a combination of the two but with a light texture that you barely feel it’s on your face but at the same time packs a powerful punch against those wrinkles and dull skin!

Seriously, hiiighlyy recommend it!

Hopefully you guys enjoyed reading this and found these products useful as they have for me 🙂

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I’m officially back in London and I’ve still got time before uni starts, so I decided to take a mini trip to Brighton!  Thankfully, this weekend was sunny and warm, It’s usually hard to get those two combinations in British weather, so it was a pleasant stay at he beach!       we decided to try out airbnb for the first time and to be honest, it wasn’t so bad! We ended up having a cheap room with amazing views! Brighton is such a beautiful place to stay especially when the weather is great with sunshine! 

I’m just gonna talk about the pros and cons of Brighton, mostly you’ll see is views and food!! So I hope you enjoy! 

 

The most important thing I love is food, so luckily Brighton has a variety of foods to try! Each restaurant had their own little theme, for example just by the beach there is an American styled diner which sells the typical American breakfasts, but also offer alternatives such as the English breakfast (one pictured above, doesn’t that look delicious??) this place offers an 50s/60s atmosphere with a great attention to their clients! You’ll see what I mean with the image below 🙂 

See what I mean?! Super cool and different, you don’t usually feel like you’re being transported to another place and this place definitely did the job! 
The next and obvious place to visit in Brighton is obviously the pier, where you can buy candy floss, churros, basically anything awesome! And of course have a chance to play at the arcades or go on the rides! 
 
There are a few warnings though, if you do buy ice cream, candy floss or anything delicious, you will be followed or even attacked by the mischievous seagulls! You have been warned people!! Oh and you will find an amazing view to take pictures 🙂 

There are two piers in Brighton, one which I’ve shown you at the beginning where it was burnt some years ago and the newer one where it’s nearer to the shopping centre, sea life and where most people usually stay or chill at the beach. The beaches are very pleasant to sit and relax or play about although I do warn you, the water is fuuurreeziingg cold!! I think those who actually swim in these waters are super brave to handle that temperature! The beaches are all rocky but its nice to walk around and enjoy :3

 
The fish food here is really nice too, we went to the regency restaurant where it has its classy and cute ‘victorian’ style.
This seafront restaurant was home to a very rich women who enjoyed dining by the seafront with the amazing view, but then converted into a restaurant in the 1930’s, its known to be one of the oldest yet popular place to go and dine. 
 
We chose a sharing platter called the Extravaganza shellfish platter (hot) which had a whole lobster with melted cheese on top (drool), oysters, mussels in wine and king prawns, I’m sure I’m missing more things since it was a huge plate but meh the picture shows everything! This place is amazing if you love fresh fish and the amazing view of the sea and the west pier (the burnt pier).
Hope you enjoyed reading! I’ll be posting more of my little adventures here n there :3 
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Who likes to travel? I do!!

So this year I decided to go to my home country, Colombia! And trust me, you,d want to visit this place, there is so much to do and explore!
Sadly I didn’t have enough time to explore more of Colombia than I had wished to buut here are some things I got to do 🙂
I’m gonna be mentioning the good stuff and the bad stuff here, so bare with me! 
 

Cartagena from the hotel view, Bocagrande.

 
So my first stop was Cartagena, here there’s no doubt you’ll find plenty of things to do.
But first a couple of tips; tourists usually stay in the area of Bocagrande, where the hotels are right by the beach, most of the hotels have at least one – two pools and you’ll be close to many important things like a shopping centre (who doesn’t love shopping?) Juan Valdez (because who goes to Colombia without trying out Juan Valdez coffee) and a couple of grocery stores.  Now as you know, tourist season usually starts June-August so prices for hotel, taxis and other things do go a little higher than it would any other time.
Speaking of taxis, if they hear or see you aren’t from Cartagena, they will try and rip you off when it comes to rides. So my main tip here is before getting on a taxi, ask how much they will charge for the destination you wish to go, and always try to ask for a lower price.
Alrighty, back to the fun stuff! Bocagrande, is the main tourist place where many stay. It’s by many beaches and you can enjoy Cartagenas lovely sun and warm water! Seriously back in England, there’s no beaches with warm sea and it just feels amazing to just run to the ocean without the fear of freezing your butt off!

Beautiful sunset, Cartagena Bocagrande.

 
One thing to be aware though, once you arrive to any of the beaches, you will be welcomed with many annoying people offering ‘the deal of the day’ like cheap seating to sunbathe and other things which I will mention in a second, with this, always bargain, ask for more seats for the price they offer or just budge down their prices ( as you can see, you have to bargain a lot here).
If you have a girlfriend or if you’re reading this and you’re a girl.. Guurll you will be bombarded by the locals asking if you want a massage or ‘la trenza’ which they do some braids on you. I personally don’t like being massaged or braided by them and trust me, they will try to insist by touching your shoulders or doing a little massage, just keep repeating no and eventually they’ll go away.
( even though i love my country, there are a couple of annoying things like this. But I got be honest here explaining the good and the bad) 
Right, now the good stuff!!
Even though you do get bombarded by the locals there are some good things here, the warm sea is a mega plus for me, sandy beaches and the amazing heat! One thing you should do is take the opportunity to visit ‘la ciudad amurallada’ there you visit many museums and see many pre-Colombian artefacts!
Tip: if you visit the meuseums at the end of the month eg. The 30th or 31st of the month, some meuseums are free and you save a ton! 
Unfortunately, I only managed to go to two museums that day, the one pictured above, is where they give a history of the cruel slavery made by the spaniards, they show us the horrible tools they used on women and men to torture them ( they had a claw that they used to rip the female slaves breast..seriously wtf.) some items the slaves used to carry with them, and even some witchcraft items they had. All very interesting, even though very cruel and sad, we get to see part of a history.

Some random items from one of the museums including tobacco.

 
After this, there’s some stairs which lead you to modern art of Cartagena, there you,Lloyd see some beautiful works, luckily I got the chance to take pictures of some!

 
As you’re wondering around la ciudad amurallada, you come across this chocolate shop, which calls the,selves the chocolate meuseum, there you’re greeted by a very friendly worker who shows you different chocolates made with cacao, they even let you try all different types of chocolates! From white chocolate, to dark, to chocolate with almonds and chocolate with honey or jam! It may not seem that wow, but if you know me, I am a chocolate lover. And for some reason, these chocolates tastes different to your local newsagents chocolate. So it’s worth a try! Especially when it free! It’s not hard to miss as they’ve got a couple of shops around la ciudad amurallada.
(I would’ve taken pictures but I was too busy stuffing my face with free chocolate, sorry guys!)
There are many beautiful plazas there but my favourite has to be the one near the museum of St. Peter Claver. Within the museum, you’ll be able to see where he slept, and even see his mummified body!

The plaza near the museum de San Peter Claver, there’s many shops around it also a beautiful church.

 
Finally, there’s the islands! Ohh the islands! You’d be able to visit them via boat which is very adventurous, there’s the islands deal Rosario, and Baru island. The one I visited was Baru island, also known as ‘playa blanca’ or white beach.

Playa blanca, Isla de Baru.
 
By far I prefer these beaches! White sand, clear blue water! And obviously the hot sun, because the water is so crystal clear, you can wear your goggles and do your own little scuba diving, you can see different corals and swim with the fish! Without paying to go scuba diving! Just bring your goggles and you’re good to go!
If you buy a package trip which includes the boat ride and food then you’re good to go. Our food had the choice of either fish or chicken. I had to choose the fish since it’s freshly picked.

Coconut rice, patacon and fried fish!
 
You can see a difference between the islands waters and Cartagenas ocean, apparently according to captain chocolate, our boat captain (seriously his name was chocolate!) there Cartagena waters are mixed with the river Magdalena, and that’s why it’s so dark, whilst the islands water are pure ocean water, and that’s why it has it’s beautiful light blue colour.
White sands, clear blue waters, you can swim further and swim with fish! 
 
Tip: beware, captain chocolate told us, and I’m sure the other captains told the people they were taking, you should always remember the captains name and the boats name, so at the end when it’s time to take you back, they will call out the boats/captains name. If you don’t go when it’s time to go. They will leave you. 
 
Hope this helps and gives you a little insight on Cartagena and the beautiful islands!
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