Takin' it easy

Hola Amigos!

Summer continues to shine on in the beautiful sun and what a glorious Summer it has been so far! The weather has allowed for many a beach barbecue, woodland picnic and sunset drink and thus not so many a blog post (sorry!)

Summer essentials and some lovingly collected shells from this weeks camping adventure.

Firstly, today I simply wanted to take the time to say happy Holidays and congratulate everyone who last week collected their A level results! I received my AS grades and was very happy which was followed with a celebratory camping trip down to the beach with some of my lovely chums (photos to follow once they have been developed.

Secondly, after much running up and down and round and round the country I finally had the chance yesterday evening to sit down with my mum and think about all the adventures I have had...well I would've done if I wasn't so exhausted, best nights sleep in a very long and canvas-related time! Which is why I am writing to you all today to say take it easy (as the post title suggests)... it is great to travel, explore and adventure but sometimes it is important to sit, think and soak up your wonderful surroundings be it at home in the garden, in London in a beautiful park, dozing in a European holiday hotspot or jet-setting off to a wonderfully exotic location. Otherwise us travel-folk become obsessed with 'seeing' as many places as we can without really seeing and appreciating the places right under our feet and right in front of our eyes!

The Big World Small Girl map is beginning to fill up with this Summer's clutter!

That's all I have time for today as I am off to Cornwall to catch a few waves before the Autumn leaves fall upon us!

Life update and an inspiring brand discovery!

Hello everyone!

Well it looks like Britain has finally got round to getting some sunshine in and just in time for an epic Glastonbury and Wimbledon! As per usual, life has taken on a whirlwind characteristic hence my blog is seeming a little sparse at the moment but college finishes next week and so I will have plenty of time to catch up!

Life has been pretty good these past few weeks with two beautiful festivals one after the other (Glastonbury and Blissfields) in glorious sunshine. In the collage below is a picture of me and my mum at Ben Howard (glasto) and also me with my dread that I have finally managed to acquire(Blissfields)! Also below photos of busy open days in Cornwall, crazy friends and mojito o clock!

Now back to the serious stuff - what caused me to write this post. I was reading an article the other day and stumbled across this brand name:

A little research revealed that this flip flop company was set up by two brothers orphaned in the 2004 boxing day tsunami and were motivated by their unique and wonderful, travel-rich up bringing to create an ethical brand that could give something back to the world and are using profits to set up children's homes. The designs are colourful, simple and summery - I cannot wait to save up and get my hands on a pair! (Which I will definitely review on here.) I recommend you read more here as the story behind the flip flop is truly inspirational and touching.

Well that's it for now, I shall be back with more reviews, gap year ideas, summer festival write ups and some more India installments (honest!) asap...

I'd love to hear about your summer so far, let me know your exciting adventures in the comments!

Enjoy the summer sun and keep exploring,

Animated adventures!

Happy Wednesday! It's the middle of the week, which means we are half way to the weekend (hallelujah!) and so this is just a short post today to keep us moving on through this icy January week. This is a GIF I created using a series of photos I took of a sumptuous sunset that graced, and made our evening in Sorrento on a trip to Italy this summer, as we gazed across the calm ocean to the magnificent Vesuvius (yes, I did climb it!)

This is my first time using a GIF maker so I'd love to hear what you think or any tips and hints you have! Sorry the quality of the image is not great. Let me know if you would be interested in seeing more posts like this in the future - all comments and advice are read and received gratefully!

Something for a Rainy Day

September has come and brought with it rain, college work and...well just more work and to further worsen matters the only travelling I’m getting to do is the train journey into college each day...not exactly thrilling eh? I am suffering from serious nostalgia and really craving some of that summer sun from this year’s trip to Sorrento, Italy with my mum. (Pictures of one of our favourite spots we discovered, Marine Grande).

However it’s not all doom and gloom, it was my birthday a week or so ago (woo!) and have acquired a rather gorgeous collection of maps to mark on places I’ve visited and dream up future travel plans. I also received a great book on planning a gap year from the lonely planet which I will write a review on when I am less busy...

I shall leave this post on a positive note with one to add to my bucket list; trekking in Nepal, inspired by the whopping, weather appropriate, mass-load of woolly jumpers that have just turned up on my door step.