Must See: Portland's Grotto Festival of Lights

Having not set foot in a church for some time I was slightly skeptical at the thought of visiting Portland's Catholic Grotto for their annual Festival of Lights, but the promise of thousands of sparkly Christmas lights drew me in. What is a divine sanctuary by day is transformed over the holiday period to a beautiful show of lights, carolling, and storytelling. I ended up staying to see two of the musical performances that were going on that evening, one of which was a traditional choir group and the other of which was a bluegrass band! I highly recommend it to anyone visiting the area over the holidays. And if you don't happen to live nearby, here are some pictures for you to enjoy anyway.

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!

Snow, snow, everywhere.

Day 6 and no signs of it ending anytime soon, not that I'm complaining.

Snow Day (well, night)!!

So as the snow literally batters down outside my window (seriously, it's been snowing for about 15 minutes and there's already an inch or so on the ground) I am excitedly planning which cozy outfit I will wear to venture out tomorrow and where I will go. The park will probably be an icy death trap tomorrow but I think it will be beautiful so I might try and get some pictures. Otherwise I can't see myself making it beyond Starbucks.
For some reason the snow is making me incredibly excited. It's a reminder that, despite all the craziness that happens at this time of year, it's a time of happiness.
It better not be gone in the morning ;).

P.S. I just went bounding into one of my flatmates bedroom to see if she wanted to go frolic in the snow. She was not impressed. Please tell me I'm not the only one who regresses to a five year old when it snows?

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.

Getting Deals: The Hotel

I like to think of traveling as one of my favorite hobbies, and I know as well as anyone that this hobby happens to be a huge money drainer. A few relaxing weeks can quickly become thousands of dollars before you've even left your house. Money is probably the biggest deterent to a lot of people traveling (or at least, this is what I tell myself. Because why else wouldn't you want to travel?). One thing I refuse to skimp on is the activities, because if you're not going to visit the sites you want or do the activities you want, what's the point of being there?
So that leave a few things: accommodation, flights, food, and transportation.
Quite possibly the most important thing you need to do is set a total budget, then divide that by the number of days and work out what you have to spend on what. Once you start working out what you need to spend money on you realize that what may seem like a lot may not get you very far.

The first thing I do is look on discount hotel sites. Unless you're staying in a hostel or couch surfing (both good options, but not for me personally) you probably are going to be staying in a hotel. Sites I've used include hotels.com, laterooms.com, and lastminute.com. It's important to check a few different sites because often the same hotel will come up with different prices depending on where you're looking. It also makes searching quick and easy since you can pull up loads of hotels in one area, compare prices and see pictures of them all. Another great site I've discovered is hotelyo.com. They have huge discounts, often on really nice places in great locations. The only problem with this site is that there are only limited number of locations available at one time so this would be great if you are lucky enough to find where you want to go or are just looking to get away and don't mind where you go.

If you have the option of traveling in the off season and during the week, you can save a lot of money on the hotel. Actually a lot of cities are wonderful to visit during the off season as you avoid both the crowds and the extremes of the weather. If you're lucky enough to be able to travel during the low season, definitely take advantage of it.

Extra tip: If you are walking into a hotel on the day without a booking, often they will lower their price slightly to give you a deal (don't ask for too much of a reduction, $20 tops) since selling a hotel room at a slightly lower price is better for them than having an empty room.

Let me know of any other tips you have for getting great deals on hotels.
Happy traveling!

Culzean Castle, Scotland

These photos were taken on a recent trip to Culzean Castle in Scotland. The building itself was fairly interesting, although we accidentally went on an incredibly drawn out tour that made me want to sleep for a hundred years. The top floor used to belong to the Eisenhower's and they would stay there when they visited Scotland. The real beauty of this place though was the sprawling grounds. The gardens are beautiful and well-maintained, there is a duck pond, and it sits right on a clifftop at the coast. It would be such a wonderful place to come on a warm summer's day with a picnic (which in Scotland usually occurs one or two times a year, if we're lucky).

Athens

(Academy of Athens)

(Athens University)(National Library)

As you have probably heard Athens has been having some economic/political problems which led to a few strikes earlier this year and the bombing of a bank which killed three people.
We stayed at the Melia Hotel Athens, which ended up being really close to where the bank bombing took place. It was still all black and there was piles of flowers and photos outside, it was really sad.The ground floor restaurant in our hotel was closed when we arrived as there were lots of cracks in the glass from where rocks had also been thrown. A little disconcerting.

Anyway, the first night we decided to go out and see Sex and the City 2 since it had just come out. When we left the theater at around 11:30 p.m. the feeling outside had dramatically changed, there was literally no one about, but there were police officers with large guns walking around and we encountered a few guys who made very lewd comments. Overall, it left us with a very uneasy feeling and we seriously considered leaving right then and going to Santorini early.
We decided to stay though but needless to say didn't walk anywhere at night again.

Athens is not a very pretty city but it was nice to see the Athens trilogy, which consists of the National Library, Athens University, and Academy of Athens (all pictured above). We had a wonderful dinner one night at a restaurant in Syntagma Square, where there are a few fancy hotels. It was hellishly expensive (and I think we were the only ones under the age of 30 in there paying for our own dinners) but seriously yummy and had a lovely view of the acropolis.

So I'm adding Athens to the list of places I won't be visiting again but am glad I saw once.

Pic of the sunset from the rooftop pool at the hotel.

Avoiding the Heat

Today it's 97 degrees and tomorrow it's meant to be above 100 so I am taking refuge inside my air-conditioned bedroom. Being from Britain, I do not do well in extreme temperatures.

Anyway, yesterday I went shopping on SE Hawthorne which is a notoriously "bohemian" area in Portland-not somewhere I would usually shop, but I managed to find a rather cool sweater without even looking. I got it for $14 and the intense sequin detailing on the arms and the fact that it's 50% wool made me think it's probably worth a bit more so I thought it was a great deal! I am usually pretty funny about "vintage" shopping just because I don't really like the idea of wearing clothes someone has worn before but I ignored those feelings and bought this beauty anyway!

I would have tried it on but I can't even bear the thought of putting on a sweater and jeans at the moment.

I also picked up this painting at an antique store to hang above my bed. I'm trying to make my room a little more Grown Up, even though the only time I'm here is holidays and the purple walls are not helping. Maybe I'll make that a summer project, since it's unbearably warm I could repaint my room. I would probably just do it a neutral eggshell white as every time I have painted a color I get sick of it in six months, but any suggestions on fabulous colors I could paint my walls would be much appreciated!

So now that summer is here I have been spending a lot of time watching movies, something I rarely have the chance to do during the regular year. It's one of the main reasons why I stay up until around 5 in the morning doing nothing but starting at my computer screen (yes, my life is that exciting).
Anyway, I decided to do a review of the movies I've seen in the last couple of days.

First up: Toy Story 3
Now I have to admit that about 75% of why I went to see this movie is because my little brother wanted to. The other 25% was because I vaguely remember enjoying the first one years ago (and then hating the second). So surprisingly I actually really enjoyed this! It was a nice family friendly movie, didn't run on for too long (about an hour and a half I think) and overall was nice and satisfying. Not sure I would've gone to see it with my friends but if you have anyone young you're taking to the cinema it's definitely something they will enjoy.
Rating: 4.0/5

And then there was Letters to Juliet.
I know this isn't everyone's opinion, but whenever I see Amanda Seyfried in a movie, I don't expect much. Let's be honest, the only reason she's in anything is because she's blond and pretty. But regardless it was a decent chick flick with a cutesy story about a woman who wrote to "Juliet" many years ago about her one true love and returns many years later, with the help of Seyfried, to find him.

Rating: 2.5/5

Alexis Bledel has continuously disappointed me since her departure from Gilmore Girls (anyone see Post Grad? that was painful). But I actually quite enjoyed this movie and I like both of the male costars (Jake from One Tree Hill and Jason from Friday Night Lights). The plot is interesting, it's about a mortgage broker working on Wall Street and his girlfriend and "the new guy." You are never really sure which point of view is right up until the very end and it definitely questions the trust we put in narrators.
Beyond the plot twist though, it's little more than your typical love story.

Rating: 3.0/5

And finally, Wild Child starring Emma Roberts. It's about a teenage girl who rebels against her father and gets sent to a boarding school in England her mother once attended. Despite her snarky L.A. attitude and many attempts to get expelled, she ends up fitting and and finding true friends. A chick flick, but a good watch if you're bored.

Rating: 3.5/5