ICELAND: OMAM & Reykjavik

Asides from travelling, one of my other passions is music. I own an eclectic mix of tunes but I particularly love anything with chilled and acoustic vibes. Therefore when I received the Of Monsters and Men (OMAM) album for Christmas I was delighted. The music is uplifting yet soothing and crafted with up most care. They are most famous for their single Little Talks from their debut album My head is an animal. So when I learnt that this band originate from Iceland, I took it upon myself to use this as a perfect excuse to bring music and travel together on my little blog. I actually visited the capital, Reykjavik, in the Summer of 2011 as "R&R" after an expedition in Greenland with a team from my school, and absolutely loved it. Although Iceland is quite an isolated, and at times desolate and barren country, this city is thriving, creative and colourful. The magic of Reykjavik is only further heightened by Iceland's dramatic landscape and lack of any other built up areas for miles. So without further ado, whack on some OMAM as I take you through some of my personal Reykjavik highlights ...

In the city centre; pretty signs and flags.

The colourful, toy-like houses scattered around, even in the main city centre, are certainly a sight to bring a child-like excitement into your stroll round town. At first it was so bizarre to see these houses which I so desperately want to believe are made out of Lego being used in daily life without a single hesitation or giggle.


Welcome!

Probably THE best wall I have ever seen. Especially handy for rushed commuters who may be fixing their tie on the way to the office...

I definitely recommend anyone who visits Iceland to take a boat trip of some form. Although we set of to see minke whales, I was just as satisfied admiring the plethora of dolphins and puffins we sighted on our journey. Other activities I would implore you to investigate would be visiting the local thermal beach, which is a nice way to relax and even better still, is free! For those interested, excursions to check out local geysers, volcanoes and other natural features are also available. However make sure you leave plenty of time to bumble around all the wonderfully quirky shops and cafes.

You can see the sea from almost anywhere!

A perfect way to end the day.



Even industrial ships make for a striking picture in Iceland.

We ended the trip by taking a dip in the blue lagoon - a must-do for any Iceland goer! And if being thermally heated wasn't impressive enough, the lagoon is fully outside in the dramatic rocky landscape. A much appreciated treat after a 3-week trek in Greenland!

Have you even been to Iceland? What's your favourite capital city?



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!

[Snowy] Adventure of the Week!

This weekend our lush green fields, sprawling urban cities and quaint little English towns were all graced with a smattering of snow, a white blanket caressing the landscape and bringing the mundane and the ordinary to a grinding halt. For some, this was a hindrance, for others, and I hope this includes you, a blessing. (I know the Surrey school kids were particularly pleased that the snow had finally come...) Despite the snow being a tad late for a white Christmas, it certainly didn't stop me racing up to the common with my friends - sledges in tow and grins on our faces - for some chilly winter larks. And although this scuppered any plans of travel for this little explorer, the snow was definitely a welcomed opportunity to kick back, relax, and have a bit of fun! Here are a few photos from my weekend antics:

The local ponds choc-a-bloc with shivering swans and seagulls, all posing nicely in this magical scene.

Frozen wetsuits, boots and gloves on our washing line from our latest surf trip...might need to defrost them before the next!

Bunting from the summer got a wintry make-over.

Smile!

Footprints in the snow.

Over the hill and far far away...

Above and below: messing around with the condensation on my window.

How have you been enjoying the weather? Day off or a right nuisance? Let me know what you've been up to!

Happy January!

Hello all you lot in the blogosphere!
It's been a while eh?! I hope you all had a superb festive season and are entering the new year with renewed energy and vigour!...Who am I kidding, January is a tough, long and work-crammed month for the best of us. So to cheer you all up on this soggy Tuesday, I shall be taking a photographic overview of jolly holiday memories past in a series of posts!
Today, a whistle stop tour of my Christmas and Boxing day:

Happy Christmas! Me and my lovely brother!

Cards: A compulsory Chrimbo day activity - a much preferred charades alternative... 

The Cake! 

Here are a few shots of the moon I caught on a little late-night stomp. The last one was done by super-imposing three shots of the moon using the same settings but from different angles. 

On the walk around a very dark and deserted, sleepy, turkey-stuffed Oxford neighbourhood.

Some twinkly lights through a hedge.

Will being pulled along on his spangly-new penny board by Licky-Mickey the crazy dog...

Me having a little mess around with my new camera (woo!!!) and dad's iphone to create a picture of a picture of picture...go figure!

 A quizzical look... 

Musical gifts were enjoyed in the car...though not perhaps by all simultaneously...a wide range from Of Monsters and Men to Wu Lyf to Kylie!

And then all that was left was the rainy journey down to Cornwall for the new year! (Look out for more on that in a post sometime soon...)

So that's it; a little trip down memory lane to shake off the January blues. Feel free to comment below, I'd love to know how you are coping with this cold and dreary month!

 

London: South Bank and the O2

Hello folks!

This week's adventure also happens to be a musical extravaganza - this time a trip out to the capital city to see the one and only Jason Mraz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, let us begin:

twinkle twinkle little...London eye...

Walking round the big city, drinking in some of the sites before the gig. The trees along South Bank were all strung with twinkly lights - very festive.

hazy book stall - a place that breeds dreams

In the "Winter Wonderland" market, as we nibbled toasted chestnuts and took in the wonderful smells of cinnamon, mulled wine and German sausages, we stumbled across this extensive and magical book stall. I could have honestly spent forever there, which of course was not possible.



majestic; St Paul's



Just before we submerged ourselves into the hectic underground, I turned round to face this magnificent sight and just had to take a quick snap.

The concert itself was absolutely incredible. He even played some of his old stuff for us true fans! His music has this wonderfully chilled quality yet lively and playful; the kind of stuff you just can't but help to smile to. The staging was simple, yet very effective. Then again, when you have a stage presence as large as Mr Mraz, you don't really need any fancy gimmicks to sell tickets; just good tunes, an infectious smile and a lovable personality. I would write more about how totally-super-duper-amazing this was, but words literally cannot describe it. All I will say is I definitely recommend you check out this incredible man's music and if you ever get the opportunity, go and see him!

Oh yeah, and I couldn't leave without showing you my best new purchase of my very own Jason Mraz t-shirt...I know what I'll be wearing next week to college...

Lights, camera, action! [Travel tips]

Right here goes my first attempt at sharing with all you lovely people some of my ultimate tips for travel and adventure!

To start with, I would like to advise you on the joys of taking a video-recorder with you on your travels. Now I don't just mean a multi-functional-digital-fantasmagorical-double-fast-snaptastic-what-za-majic, but a: Real. Actual. Camcorder.

Don't let new-fangled technology cull old traditions! In our family, it was always common practice to make a home-video tour of wherever we visited and some of our exciting excursions: a practice I would like to stick to through-out my exploring years. Below you can see me with our very old - possibly even vintage now!? - family camcorder. We went nowhere without that beloved contraption.

A few holiday snaps stored away on the computer or uploaded to facebook can never ever compete with the sheer bliss associated with rediscovering old holiday videos and reliving cherished memories.

Whats your opinion on camcorders? Any other top-tips for remembering holiday memories? Let me know!

Adventure of the Week - South Hampton, Ben Howard

Well hello there. Firstly, happy belated beginning of advent! November has flown by leaving us with frosty, sparkly December - Christmas here we come!? Whose excited yet? I still can't believe it is coming quite so soon...

Anyway, getting back to the point of today's post; my "adventure of the week". This is to be a weekly post, to ensure regular blogging and to have an excuse to ramble on about the minor excitements in my life as well as larger ones. After all, every explorer needs some form of adventure to get her through each week.

So here we go - adventure of the week #1: My (long awaited) trip to see Ben Howard, Southampton.



hues of gold



Waiting in anticipation!!!





 For this wonderful outing I was accompanied by mon pere as we set off to Southampton Guild Hall. On arrival (after a little difficulty in entering the car park) we fell out of the van and straight into a que - and a rather lengthy one at that. Despite being at the tail end of those entering, we still managed to wheedle our way into the front third of the crowd.

The support act was the stupendous Willy Mason. Admittedly I had not heard of him before entering the building however I shall definitely be investing in a song or two of his beautiful bluesy riffs and husky voice. This one is called 'we can be stong' and is one of my current favourites. To the left are a few snaps I managed to grab frantically waving the camera above my head (it's not easy being a short girl in a seemingly extraordinarily tall crowd).

Here you can see you're very own "small girl" in comparison to some of the loftier members of this audience. A lot of tip-toeing and jumping was done on this fine evening it must be said. It was however, most definitely worth it as Devonshire Ben delivered a cracking performance displaying incredible skill, especially for someone so new to the music scene - he has just one album!

Around the stage hung individual spot lights, framing Ben like little stars.

One of my favourite songs of the evening was Black Flies, the dynamics were just incredible. Ben has this awesome ability not only to project his music, but to fill every inch of the room with it. I love live music and it's safe to say from a skills level, Ben Howard is definitely one of the best performers I have seen along with his brilliant band (I particularly like the crazy female bassist). Even the lighting and graphics were superb, with images of waves and Devonshire roads projected onto a large moon-like shape hung at the back of the shape as the lights switched between shades of blue, amber and gold.





To conclude, I have placed my favourite photo of the evening above. You can't see the band very clearly, but you can see a little of the effect of the lighting as Ben broke into one of his heavier instrumental sections. Overall, the evening was a delicious blend of delicate acoustic guitar, all the way to full blown prog-rock explosions. A unique and incredible style of music and definitely an artist I would love to see again.