Harry Potter: Warner Brother's Studio Tour

This past week I did something very exciting for any long time Harry Potter Fan: I went on the Warner Brother's Studio tour in London. The tour contains loads of original props, costumes, and full sets and takes about 3 hours to get round (although I could easily have spent many more hours if I'd been by myself!). 

The most amazing part for me was really seeing how much work goes in to producing big budget movies like these. Obviously I didn't think it happened overnight, but I never considered the thousands of hours it takes professional architects, artists, designers, animal trainers, and everyone else to put it all together and the tour really gives you an insight into all the different elements.

I'm not a die hard Harry Potter fan (I never lined up a midnight for the books or movies) but I do have very fond memories of reading the books in my childhood, so you definitely don't have to be the biggest fan to really enjoy the tour. Overall it was amazing and definitely worth the £30 price tag! 

I took about 100 photos but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who wants to go on the tour themselves so I've included a select few below.

Prop food that was laid out in the Dining Hall

Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour on Diagon Alley

The Potter House

Gryffindor Common Room

Professor Umbridge's Office

Drugstore Makeup travel essentials (for hot weather)

My hot weather and travel makeup is much simpler than my everyday makeup, but when I'm out in the sun all day the last thing I want is to feel my makeup sliding off my face. Instead I wear these few basic products to make myself feel more presentable but still like my skin can breathe!


1. Face powder with an SPF. 
As someone with oily skin, sunscreen and foundations just do not agree with me in the heat, so I use a powder as a substitute. Also, my skin tends to be better in the sun (in terms of not breaking out) and with a bit of a tan I don't really feel the need for foundation

2. Waterproof mascara

Personally I use waterproof mascara year-round, but it's definitely a must if you're going to be getting in the water.


3. Eyelash Curler
Not everyone will agree that this is an essential, but I curl my eyelashes even on days when I'm just wearing mascara because I feel it makes my eyes look so much more awake.

4. Chapstick

I cannot be bothered with lipsticks or anything of that nature when I'm travelling. They'll end up melting in the heat and getting ruined. I love this Nivea chapstick in particular because it is pigmented enough to double up as a cheek stain and contains SPF.

5. Concealer
I only really wear concealer in the evenings when I'm on holiday and if I need it. I don't use a special concealer in the heat, just my favourite Revlon Photoready concealer with a bit of powder over the top.

Make up removal

What you use to remove your makeup (particularly in the summer) is just as important as the products you're using.

Personally I use a homemade olive oil makeup remover for my eye makeup like this one. The idea of tugging at my eyes with cleansing wipes or rubbing cleansers containing alcohol all over my eyes (read the labels - even most "gentle" cleansers contain some kind of alcohol) just doesn't seem like a great idea to me.

When I did use eye makeup removed though I really like MAC's Tranquil Cleanse Off Oil:

For my face I tend to use a cleanser with salicylic acid just to make sure I'm killing any bacteria that's built up on my face from the excess oil (ew). I love the Neutrogena Oil Free Acne Wash year-round but it makes my face feel even more fresh and soft in the summer months.

That's it! I don't bother with foundations, blush, eyeshadow etc during the summer months. I used to pack them when I went on vacation but as soon as I went out with a full face of makeup I instantly regretted it.

Tips for the solo traveller

source: Tumblr

Having just returned from my very first solo travel experience, here are some things I wish I had known  before leaving:

1. Plan, plan, plan. I'm a very laid back person and when you're travelling with a group of friends getting lost on the way to your hotel, missing a boat, or getting stranded in a foreign city all seem like exciting adventures and so I usually don't feel the need to plan out every detail of a trip. These things are markedly less enjoyable when you are travelling alone so make sure you plan out where you're going to go and how you're going to get there, rather than just winging it.

2. Budget carefully. Unfortunately, a lot of things in this world were built for two meaning hotel rooms are likely to be much more expensive if you're staying in them alone. Hostels are a good alternative. Personally when I'm alone I would prefer to stay in a hotel unless I could find a safe and reputable hostel in a central location (I have stayed in some horrific places in the middle of no where with friends and they are definitely not places I would be comfortable staying alone!). Especially if you are going somewhere off the beaten track, some of the cheaper hostels can often end up being fairly quiet making the experience even eerier. This is just a personal preference as a female traveller, but I would recommend thoroughly looking in to the location and reviews of anywhere you're going to be staying.

3. Print out walking maps before you arrive in your destination. This is definitely something I would never normally take the time to do, but you may find your phone doesn't work, where you're staying doesn't have wifi and the language barrier is extreme. In which case, knowing where things like internet cafes, supermarkets and attractions are from your hotel can be incredibly helpful.

4. Speaking of the language barrier, do research on the local language. It's always a good idea to take a guide book and learn a few key phrases so you can at least greet and thank people, but make sure how likely it is you are going to be able to communicate with people at all if you don't speak the language. In many European cities you will be able to communicate with shop owners and waiters in English, in others you will struggle. For example, I naively assumed I would be fine in Rome not knowing any Italian but there were many restaurants we ate in where I would not have been able to order if I hadn't been with an Italian speaker. Make sure you know these things before you go and plan accordingly.

5. Remember you don't have to accommodate anyone else when you're travelling alone! Don't like museums but always visit them because you're used to travelling with an art lover? Skip them! If you get to a city and decide you want to spend your days wandering around, enjoying the sunshine and eating and ditch your itinerary, then do it!

6. Most importantly, don't be afraid to try things just because you're travelling alone! If you meet a group of tourists in your hostel and they invite you to a bar crawl, go! (if you want to, obviously). Don't  be afraid to try nice restaurants, spas or anything else because you're alone either. This was a silly worry I had before travelling alone, particularly eating in restaurants by myself but I noticed there were usually a few other people eating alone, often reading a book. I had honestly never noticed other solo travellers before I travelled alone!

Hopefully I will be taking another trip in the near future and I will definitely try to plan (and budget!) it better next time. Overall travelling alone is a great experience and perhaps equally enjoyable to travelling with friends.

Los Angeles Trip

Santa Monica Beach 

Life is different in Los Angeles. Every other person you meet will be an aspiring actress or singer, usually with a day job as a waitress or cab driver. I spent most of my time in Malibu and Santa Monica and have to admit that L.A. is nothing like I expected it to be, but I loved it nonetheless.

This was my first trip to Los Angeles where I had complete control over what I wanted to do so I felt obligated to do all the perhaps cliched and touristy, but time-honored traditions, including dinner at the Ivy, shopping on Rodeo Drive and Melrose Avenue, visit the Kodak theatre, the Walk of Fame, the Viper Room, Santa Monica Pier and a lot of other things. Here are a few photos from my trip and some recommendations on where (and where not) to go.

The Ivy: I can't even remember what I ate, I think it might have been spaghetti. Essentially, it was nothing special. It was very cramped and you pay a lot for average food (although I am very spoiled when it comes to good food).

Rodeo & Melrose: Rodeo drive tends to be a little out of my price range, but Melrose is much more eclectic and affordable. Unfortunately my favorite store there Gas Bijoux closed down last year.

The view from Hollywood Hills

Hollywood & all the jazz: I've done a tour of Universal Studios before, so this time I went on a tour around the rest of Hollywood. From the Walk of Fame and Kodak Theatre to celebrity homes and a view of downtown and the Hollywood sign, it really went everywhere. I love going on tours, not because I'm particularly interested in celebrity homes but because it's a great way to see the city.
By a mile, the best place I ate was Geoffrey's in Malibu. It's an restaurant in Malibu with an ocean-view, a perfect place for lunch or breakfast. The food was delicious, healthy, and reasonably priced. Plus with the beautiful summer weather it's wonderful to sit out looking over the ocean and feeling the gentle breeze while you eat.

Cab drivers were by far the most interesting people I met while in L.A. One turned off the meter and took us on a tour of Santa Monica. I told another that I lived in China a few years back and he proceeded to tell me how the Chinese government was sending students to UCLA to learn to build weapons. I was not aware that such a class was offered there. Regardless, it made for some interesting commutes.

Photos of where the rich and famous come to pay thousands for a piece of leather & where the rest of us come to gawk ;)

Ten Days in Spain

I think I need to move to Spain because the whole country seems to operate on the same sleep schedule as me. Sitting out at restaurants and bars until one in the morning on a Tuesday night is how life should be.

Places I want to visit in 2011

Instead of resolutions, here's a list of places I want to visit in 2011.
The first couple are realistic and there's one that is really just wistful thinking.

New York. I've been before, but obviously there still tons to see and I have found some ridiculously cheap flights.
Despite having lived in Europe for 13 years of my life, I have never been to Paris. This is the year that changes. Hopefully this will be my first trip of the year as my friends and I have plans to go in early spring.
Do I even need to explain why I want to go to Bora Bora? Highly unlikely to happen in the near future, but it's top of my list of places I must visit eventually.

That's it! I don't think the list is too ambitious (except perhaps the last one) and is totally doable within the next year.

2010 in Pictures

As a perfectionist, I always find it hard to say that a year was good,. A year is far too long an amount of time to be able to classify it as one thing. Parts were great, parts were utter rubbish, there were bits that made me laugh, bits that made me cry, bits I'll never forget, and bits I hope I don't remember.
I will say that 2010 was a year of change. Change is something I'm quite used to, but this is the first real year it's been change I've dealt with by myself. It's the first year I've gotten to do whatever I like and really just had myself to answer to. With that in mind, I'm happy with the choices I've made in this past year.
So without further rambling, here's a summary, in pictures, of where I went this year.

There was a little bit of England

And a lot of Scotland

Monaco

Santorini

Rome

Nice
And of course, I can't forget the beautiful west coast. Somewhere I still consider a bit like home.

There were also two weeks spent in Spain where I didn't take a single photo. You can just guess how lazy that holiday was.

So if I had to classify traveling in 2010, it would definitely go in the "good" category. Although there were no more regular family holidays, no more getting everything paid for, and we did get stranded in airports on a few occasions, I had fun, I got to choose where I wanted to go and do and I saw a lot of wonderful places.

Hopefully 2011 will bring lots of new adventures for all of us.
Thanks for reading!

Hello!

Hiya, just here with a quick update and a few photos of rare sunny days in Scotland. I've been kind of overwhelmed with school work in the past month and have completely neglected (but not forgotten) this blog. Hopefully with the holidays coming up I'll have some more time and something a little bit more interesting to post about.
Until then, please join me in remembering what blue skies in Scotland look like.

View from Stirling castle

Ruins of some fort I cannot remember.

Sunny day at a beach in Ayr.

Don't let these pictures fool you, it may look like a beautiful sunny beach resort but it barely even hit 20 degrees most of these days. Although with our below freezing temperatures right now it feels like I'm in a different country.

West Coast is the Best Coast

I thought I would share a few pictures of the magical place that is the Pacific coast of Oregon, a place I occasionally call home ;).

Pretty amazing, huh?

Hi from Hainan!

I actually wrote this post nearly a year ago but never ended up publishing it, so I thought I might as well now.
A popular holiday spot for expats living in Asia, Hainan island was somewhere I visited fairly often during my time in China. And here I am once again. There are more tourists and kids than I remember, not something I would have noticed in my youth plus I've definitely been spoiled with amazing holiday locations. It's your typical tropical island: golden beaches with clear blue water, palm trees, bars in the middle of swimming pools, but without a lot of the trashiness that can come with certain other resorts (Cancun, I am looking at you). If I'm being totally honest I can't tell you how much or little there is to do on the island. Every time I've been I've stayed in a huge hotel on the beach with plenty of pools and things to do. I've always stayed in Sanya, which is an area at the southern most tip and
where most of the hotels are concentrated. Like a regular tropical holiday, most time is spent on the beach. I took a banana boat ride and some friends went scuba diving. Overall, I would say this is a great holiday stop if you are living in Asia, but if you're going to come all the way to Asia from somewhere else I would hit up the Thai or Malaysian islands instead.