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NYC September 2018

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As you can see from my previous posts I’ve already visited NYC.  Instead of doing a daily recount as I usually do to avoid repetition I’ve decided to list the things I did that I didn’t do before and general top tips. DUMBO Flea Market: There’s a flea market in DUMBO Brooklyn selling vintage clothes, trinkets, jewellery and knick knacks. It’s on Pearl St every Sunday. Definitely recommend if you like a bit of vintage.  Greenwich Village: it’s an area with really nice 4 or 5 storey brownstones. There are restaurants around this area and is generally quite hip. It’s also where the outside of Carrie from SATC & the Friends apartment was filmed if that’s any interest to you.  SATC: 66 Perry Street. Friends: Corner of Grove & Bedford St.  Top of the Rock: as far as observatory towers go the main outdoor ones are the Top of the Rock at the Rockefeller Centre and the Empire State Building. I’ve been to both and preferred the Top of the Rock. If you have always wanted to go to the Empi
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Mykonos, May 2018

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After breakfast we headed to the pool for some quality sunbathing time. After a few hours we headed to the beach which is about a 3 minute walk from the pool. There were loads of sunloungers so we chose one and we were shocked to find out that we had to pay €15 per sunlounger. Again not what I would expect from a 5 star hotel so close to the beach. I would have expected some loungers to be reserved by the hotel for guests to use free of charge. Following this we headed over to where there were no sunloungers and laid on the beach.  We then headed back to the hotel and had a well needed shower and relaxed until the early evening.  We had dinner at the hotel restaurant as we were too tired to go into the town. This hotel is quite secluded and there are 2 other restaurants nearby, but that's it. There aren't any bars or supermarkets nearby. The closet place is the old town which is 30 minutes away. This hotel is perfect if you just want to relax like us but if you want to be close
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Mykonos, May 2018

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We got out of bed at 10am which trust me was a struggle and headed for breakfast. The breakfast was generally what was I expected. Lots of choice, fry up food eg bacon, eggs, pancakes, fruit, so much bread, desserts, salamis, cheeses, cereal etc.  After breakfast we ended up booking a catamaran tour for the Wednesday to one of the neighbouring islands.  Next we got ready to head to the old town for some shopping. We ended up buying some jewellery for ourselves and family and other souvenirs for friends. The one thing about Mykonos which is good and bad is that there are very few souvenir shops selling tat. Most of the stores sell really nice things and the boutiques are quite upmarket. This sucks as you want to buy everything. The streets of the old town are exactly like every Instagram photo you've ever seen. Pristine white buildings and cobbled streets, it's so beautiful. I've never seen a Greek island like this.  As we were wandering we stopped at the bar Bonbonniere whi
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Mykonos, May 2018

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My friend Aura and I decided to venture to the island of Mykonos this summer. We took a quick 4 hour easyjet flight from Gatwick at 6am and arrived at 12pm. We were staying at the Myconian Imperial Hotel and they collected us from the airport. It was about a 30 minute drive to the hotel. As first impressions go it didn't start out well, the bell boy asked to take my luggage and when I said no he got a bit shirty and aggressive. Not what I would expect from a 5 star hotel. I ended up having to give the rude bell boy my luggage as our room wasn't ready yet. We had about an hour to kill and so we had lunch at the pool restaurant. Before that one of the staff gave us a 'tour' of the hotel in broken English. Which wasn't necessary or appreciated, the hotel wasn't that big. I think we were both capable of finding the spa and pool by ourselves.  We proceeded to order our lunch which was a tall order as the waitress didn't seem to be able to understand either of us.
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Madrid, March 2018

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The next day I headed off at midday for some lunch. We returned to Plaza Mayor and ate at Gustos. I finally got some well needed paella and Sangria of course. There are different types of paella such as traditional seafood, chicken paella, squid ink paella and paella with noodles (weird I know). I settled for the traditional paella which was yummy.  We then headed to the Cathdedral which looks very impressive from the outside. Entry is permitted to all anytime apart from on religious holidays. It's a €1 donation and probably the largest cathedral I've been in. Also the only church I've visited that wasn't cold inside and had wifi. The cathedral had the usual stained glass windows, impressive ceilings, pews, worshippers and paintings of Jesus but well worth a visit as it's virtually free.  Just around the corner is the palace which reminded me of Versailles. It's pretty grand and ornate. The queue was far too long to comprehend queuing in so I just took a few pho
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Madrid, March 2018

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First blog post of 2018! My journey takes me to Madrid for a few days. I got the 6:30am BA flight from Heathrow to Madrid and got to my hotel Iberostar Las Letras at around 11am. I would recommend this hotel, the room was very spacious, high ceilings and large windows. It's also on Gran Via which is one of the main streets in Madrid so in a great location also. The only criticism I have is that the lobby is tiny. I was able to check in which I was pleasantly surprised by.  I had a quick change, got a map from reception and headed out for some lunch. I walked 5 minutes to Puerta Del Sol which is a kind if plaza were several streets feed into. There are several shops in this area such as Apple, Zara, El Corte Ingles, Sephora and Pull & Bear. There are also hoards of people milling around this tourist area. There are a lot of beggars, people dressed up as Disney characters, little stalls selling souvenirs and the Puerta Del Sol metro station.  A further 5-7 minute walk and you arr
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Hoi An, September 2017

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I left the Bay Hotel at 5:30am for my flight to Hoi An. After we arrived at the airport and I paid the driver was demanding an extra 10,000 Dong/£0.32 for some unknown reason. I think it was some kind of airport surcharge he had to pay but I was so apprehensive of getting ripped off I refused to pay again for something I didn't understand. Combined with the fact the taxi driver didn't speak English he gave up and waived this 'surcharge'. To be honest it was probably legit but considering what happened next I'm glad I didn't give it to him.     I headed into the terminal and didn't see my flight on the screen. I quickly realised that I was in the international terminal. I asked where the domestic terminal was. I was told it was downstairs. I followed these instructions but all I found was the arrivals terminal. So headed back upstairs and enquired with someone else. It turns out that the domestic terminal is actually in a DIFFERENT BUILDING and this taxi driv
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