wanderlust tag!

I saw this tag on Sarah's blog (check out her blog, gives me proper travel jealousy!) and I thought I'd give it a go! Just like Sarah, I like to think I'm well traveled  even though I'm really really not and there is so much more to see! I didn't really like today's blog every day in may topic, so I thought I'd do this instead!

1. Your most treasured passport stamp?

source

I recently got a new passport, so I don't have any at the moment! I only had two in my old passport anyway - generally everywhere I've been has been in the EU, and if it wasn't in the EU then I went on a cruise and you don't ten to get stamps when you go on a cruise - in fact you barely even have your passport checked. Anyway, in my old passport I had a Russian stamp - from a stereotypically scary Russian woman with a machine gun and a stamp from San Marino, because even though they have an open border agreement with Italy you can get your passport stamped for a bit of money, which we did. I still have that passport somewhere.

2. Can you recite your passport # from memory if asked? 

Nope! And I can't see a reason why that would be helpful even if I did? Surely you can only get places and stuff with the passport itself?

3. Preferred method of travel; planes, trains or automobiles?

source

Ahh it all depends! I love cars for short distances because British trains annoy the living crap out of me but I get travel sick if I have to go too far. I love trains for when I'm heading down to London etc or in the Netherlands because they're quick and easy and get you to where you want to go. But generally I suppose planes because I love take off and landing, and just the general idea of them (how cool is it that you can get to another country in an hour, when only like 70 years ago that would have been quite unthinkable for most people?). To be honest, it's not listed, but I love cruising - so ships! You wake up in a new country every day and don't even realise you're travelling. 

4. Top 3 travel items?

That's really difficult, because I don't think I've ever been able to get on a plane without going over my luggage allowance. Passport and camera for a start, both are complete necessities! And I'd probably say iPod, because I hate having to sit and travel for hours upon end without something to do! But yeah, I'm really not the person to ask, I do not travel light! 

5. Hostel or hotel?

I don't know! I've only ever stayed in two hostels, one on a trip to Edinburgh which was pretty miserable and the second one was in Amsterdam which was incredible. Our room was painted like an LSD trip and when we looked out of the window we could see the prostitutes in their windows, and sometimes if they left the curtains open in the upstairs room we could see them walking around naked. It was an experience to say the least. I suppose I'd say hotel, purely for the privacy that comes with it!

6. Are you a repeat visitor or do you explore new places?

I like to explore new places. There are so many places in the world and things to do and see, it seems a massive shame to stick to the same place. I've never understood people that go to the same country, to the same hotel every single year for two weeks. How are you not bored?

7. Do you read up on your destination (culture, history,safety) or do you wing it?

I don't know! I haven't really been too far out of Europe so you grow up knowing about these kind of places and their safety and culture and history and don't have to look too much into it. I do tend to read about places before I go though - I don't want to miss doing something really good! 

8. Favourite travel website?

Ahh I don't know! I never generally take much inspiration from them, I already have a massive list of places I want to go to! But if I'm planned to go somewhere then I always check Wikitravel, because it's always really helpful!

9. Where would you recommend a friend to visit? Name city & why.

For anyone who hasn't been to Amsterdam, I would definitely recommend it. It's one of my favourite cities in the world. It's such a small city too, people often forget that, it's not even the size of Birmingham. The Red Light District is of course worth a visit, but there's so much history and so many other things to do there too, all with a cracking atmosphere. It's as close the UK as Paris is (pretty much!) and so definitely worth a quick city trip. 

10. You're leaving tomorrow, money is no option, where are you going?

If money was no option, I'd probably head straight to the U.S/Canada and travel around because the only thing stopping me from doing that right now is the cost! There are so many cities out there that I want to see and things I want to do! I'd also love to go to Brazil, Czech Republic, Israel, Latvia...I could go on but I'll be quiet! 

I'm not going to tag anyone specific, so if you want to give this tag a go, go for it! It's quite enjoyable!

#BEDM: talking to my thirteen year old self.

If you could talk to your 13 year old self, what would you say?

• Be nicer to your Mum. She's not the devil, and these days you look forward to her ridiculous iMessages and Skype chats that end with "Annie, I've gotta go, I need a poo". She'll make you wet yourself laughing and make you die with embarrassment when you run into her on a cross city line train after you've been shopping and she's been at work and she pulls out your newly bought underwear in front of hundreds of commuters. Watching Graham Norton is never the same without listening to her crease herself along to it, and you'll never forget the big hug in the kitchen when you find out that you're going to find it hard to have children as you sob your eyes out. Give her a break more often.
• Be nicer to your brother. He's actually the most selfless person you will ever come across in your life, and yes, he's an annoying thirteen year old now, but he's the guy that's going to leave your favourite chocolate bar on your desk in your room because that's his way of saying he's happy you're home from Uni. And he doesn't get any better at conversation, it was only the other week that you managed an hour long Skype call for the first time ever. Give him a break too.
• Stop caring so much about your friends at school. Yes, you feel left out and you don't feel like your friends really care too much about you, and guess what? You're probably right. When you leave school in three years, you will only keep in contact with one. And guess what else? That's totally fine. In this world, you're supposed to be friends with some people and others not so much. So don't let it get to you, it turns out you meet some cracking people and none of it matters much anymore.
• Pay more attention in German. Turns out you're going to move to a country where the language is a mix of English and German, and you'd have helped yourself a lot more if you'd been a bit more up for it.
• Be more grateful for your Dad and Stepmum. When your friends are bitching about the evil stepmothers, yours is helping you with your art homework and letting you have your favourite things for tea and that means you're incredibly lucky. When your friends are bitching about their Dads, yours will stay up all night to help you out with an administrative law essay, and will get up at 6am on a Saturday morning to drive you to work, even though you didn't ask, and will take time off work to make sure he can pick you up from Birmingham Airport even though you could have got the train. Remember how lucky you are.
• Keep an eye on your weight. You have a flat stomach now, but you don't look after yourself properly and it's not long until it disappears. Enjoy being thin while it lasts, you have a lot more weight related crap to come. You're not actually fat, despite the fact you think you are. 
• Gossip a little bit less and ignore people a little bit more - stop letting every little thing piss you off.

I won't lie, I found this one quite difficult. Although there's a lot I'd change about my life, it largely involves me being a nicer to people more. That's something I still need to work on. And even though I'd change a lot about my life, I wouldn't change the destination I've come to, if that makes any sense at all. 

#BEDM: my dream job.

blog every day in may: If you could do anything in the world to make a living what would it be?

I've always suffered from a lack of direction when it's come to having a job, and it's now only at the age of twenty two that I have a sort of idea of what I want to go into. 

source

oh god i could literally still to this day sit here and eat every single one of those.

It's still a family joke that when I was little I wanted to be the woman that sold the rotisserie chickens at Asda - when I was a little girl we used to have Saturday night tea, which was always fresh bread, rotisserie chicken, taramasalata and other lovely kind of things - it was my favourite dinner, and even though we don't tend to have it anymore, I think that's where that one came from.

I have to say, I've probably moved on a little bit since then. I've always really enjoyed having a job, working for your own money is like an aphrodisiac to me and it's something I really miss since being a student and not being able to work (especially out here in the Netherlands, slight language barrier). 

I applied for a Law degree knowing that I had no interest in being a lawyer, although it was a good degree to have, I do kind of wish I hadn't done that, careers advice at University was really quite limiting as a law student, if I didn't want to do the LPC or the BPTC they didn't have much of an idea what to do with me. I honestly think that if you're going to be a solicitor or a barrister, you really have to want it. I just don't. I'll always have an interest in the law, I did enjoy my degree to a point, but just not enough to make a career out of it.  

source

I have a little more of an idea these days. I love the Internet, I've fed a massive addiction to being on the Internet since I was thirteen or so, and I think it would be massively stupid for me not to go into some sort of Internet related career - you've got to do something you love after all. I love news and current affairs too - I am a complete news junkie - constantly on the BBC news app, watching BBC news, checking google news, twitter and facebook. It's very rare that someone will say to me "Did you see this in the news?" and I'll answer no - hopefully one day, I'd love to go into some sort of current affairs journalism, or a political journalism, working on shows like the Daily Politics, This Week, Newsnight, Question Time, or even something like Have I Got News For You. 

Sat here in my PJs it all seems a bit far off and a complete dream, but hopefully one day it won't be too far off! What about you all - what's your dream job? 

blog every day in may: traditions

We all make up traditions that carry over year after year. What is your favourite tradition? Big or small, share the details and why you enjoy it.

So I know this isn't a tradition I've made up, but Bonfire Night if my favourite tradition. With Christmas not being very important to me (sorry, not sorry), I think I may actually love Bonfire Night a little bit more. For a start, it's ridiculous in a kind of the-only-kind-of-ridiculous-Brits-can-do. Boiled down, it's a celebration of a foiled "terrorist" plot over 400 years ago, by pretending to burn one of the terrorists/revolutionary (depends on your feelings on that by the way) on the stake. Yay, lets re-enact an execution. I spoke to an international friend about it back in Nobember, and his only response was to laugh and say "Most countries celebrate actual revolutions, y'know? Only in England would they celebrate one that failed." 

source

source

source

source

source

Bonfire Night brings up so many memories for me. The house I grew up in was next to a massive park, and it was where most of the Birmingham radio stations would present from - if we didn't go to the display we'd open the windows and we could hear the radio presenters and see the fireworks. The time my Dad was looking after me and my brother and I think I must have nagged him so much, that he just packed up and dragged us out to the display. Making a guy on a family camping holiday and me and my cousins winning the competition on having the best guy. Making firework crayon pictures in Year Three in the run up and being taught sparkler safety in Primary school. Being so cold one year that I was honestly convinced that I was going to die. Watching the fireworks with my first proper boyfriend. My first year at University - getting lost in Bute park but still having sparklers - and one failed attempt at us all having a photo spelling out our initials with the sparklers. Second and third year, having our own mini firework display in the back garden - shoving fireworks into plant pots because it was the only way we could bury them in a concrete yard (I don't recommend that one by the way!). 

I was quite upset missing Bonfire Night last year because I was out here in the Netherlands. Instead we made a mini fire and drew a picture of a Guy to burn - no fireworks because the sale of fireworks outside New Years is illegal in the Netherlands apparently (boo!). I just love the way that no matter what, every town and city puts on a display - some with their own traditions like in Ottery St Mary where they have the flaming tar barrel run (seriously tho) or in Edenbridge where they got so many people coming into their town they had to have a negative marketing campaign to stop people descending on the town. 

So yep, that has to be my favourite tradition! 

blog every day in may: my best friend

blog every day in may: Who are your best friends and what makes them so special?

check out this guy's mug shot man

Today's blog every day in May post is about your best friend - and whilst I'm one of those people that barely has any friends but the ones she does have are pretty much all the best - I thought I'd focus this post on this bloke, and introduce you all to Thomas, because as I mentioned in my first May blog post, he's the guy that used to be my ex-boyfriend but now he's just my best mate (I reckon he probably had a lucky escape!).

I met Tom when I was sixteen and I moved to a new school for sixth form and so did he. It was back in the Myspace days, and he added me and we started talking. I fancied him straight away, and I remember that his Myspace page said he lived in Mordor and I found myself googling where that was to see if it was close to me - I had no idea that it wasn't even a real place. I don't know what's worse, the fact that he said he lived there, or the fact that I thought it was real. 

We started going out pretty much straight away, and two years later, before I started at Cardiff University and before he moved to go to Swansea University, we found ourselves in one of our locals. We randomly split up, a completely mutual decision. I still loved him, and I hope he still loved me, but we'd both had parents who got together at about our ages and split up years later, and I didn't want history to repeat itself. We thought starting afresh at University was going to be for the best. 

I'd like to say it was all going to be happy and sweetness and light from then on, but it wasn't. Tom ran straight into another relationship and it absolutely cut me up. That wasn't the deal we'd had. We spent the first year of University being alright with each other, hating each other, being alright with each other, hating each other etc etc. It all came to a head after a drunken night out, and I left him on a kerb arguing on the phone with his girlfriend after a quick crappy half shove half punch from me and stormed off home. He rang me later to apologise. For some reason, from then on, things got better and we seemed to move forwards and just be friends with each other again.

He ended up splitting up with that girlfriend, and I've seen a few more girls come and go since then - and he's listened to me cry about boys (usually the same bloody boy). He's a great one, and one of the only friends I've had where I've been perfectly happy to sit and blog in his room while he screams blue murder at Fifa, or Call of Duty or whatever it is now. Some of the best times of my life are sitting in his car at McDonalds at three am and he makes me laugh just as much as he ever did. His Mum is like a second Mum to me, my Granny thinks the sun shines out of his arse, he knows which chips I think are too "potatoey" and will happily polish them off and I'm always really grateful we managed to work things out and stay friends.