Visiting Agra and the Taj Mahal

When you think of must-see places in the world, the Taj Mahal is going to be pretty high on the list. For me, it was proper bucket list territory, so I couldn't wait to experience it on my India tour. We ended up visiting at sunset and it was just perfect!

Exploring Delhi with On The Go Tours

Last April, I was travelling home from uni when I opened my email and found I'd only gone & won a trip to India! I'd entered one of my Austria photos (from this post) into a photography competition run by On The Go Tours and they'd picked me to experience their Taj Express tour. Having wanted to visit India for many years, I was thrilled! Our trip started in Delhi, where we had three whole days to explore the city.

Since our flight would have arrived late on day one, we opted to book an extra hotel night and arrive a day early. We stayed at the Jaypee Siddharth, and it was one of my favourite hotels of the whole trip, even if the Diet Pepsi was extortionately expensive in the hotel bar... and the fact that we had a party happening on the patio under our window every single day. This early start gave us the opportunity to get our bearings a little- let me tell you, we needed that time! We've all seen footage of New Delhi with its chaotic traffic and vibrant bustle, but nothing can prepare you for just how busy it is. It was quite overwhelming at first, and although we quickly got used to the pace of Delhi life, it was nevertheless a culture shock.
After spending the first day recovering from the flight and venturing outside the hotel for a quick McDonalds (ever the culture vulture), we met up with our group at the welcome meeting. On The Go operates group tours, so for our trip we had a local tour guide and driver accompanying us everywhere, as well as four other travellers: a South African couple and two Australian men. It was a great chance to meet new people from different walks of life and gave a sense of camaraderie to the trip- especially when things went wrong! 






Denim jacket: Simply Be Blouse: Boohoo Skirt: Boohoo
This slow start gave an odd aspect to the trip, where we were in Delhi for three nights but only really experienced one day there. The second day was when things really got going. We met our group in the lobby and headed off to Old Delhi for a rickshaw ride around the bazaar. Unfortunately most of the shops were closed because it was a Sunday, but we still got a sense of the area. Weaving between the narrow labyrinthine streets, getting stuck in a bottleneck behind a jubilant celebration and watching monkeys scurry across the dangling wires overhead was the ideal way to experience Delhi life. 
Our ride ended at Jama Masjid- India's largest mosque. Standing in the courtyard of the red sandstone building really brought home the scale of the building, elevated high above the city. We could only see a small amount of the inside as it is largely reserved for worshippers, but the intricacy of the work was breathtaking. Even though it stood right in the heart of the Old Delhi bustle, there was a sense of peace to the whole site.
This was a busy day of sightseeing, so we only had a short time to explore the mosque before heading off to our next stop: the cremation site of Gandhi. The Raj Ghat- the memorial for Ghandi- is located in a park less than 1.5 miles away from the Old Delhi bazaar, but it's like a different world. Set in a lush green park, with colourful flowers lining the pathways, you can hear the birds tweeting. Visitors move leisurely around the park, and speak quietly, respecting the significance of the site. (Well, mostly. As we took our shoes off to enter the area of the marble platform, the American woman in front of me was being reprimanded for carrying her shoes in. She insisted she didn't mind holding them, completely missing the point that she wasn't actually allowed to do so!) 
Our next stop was another site of death. I was surprised by how prominent death was as a theme to the tour, but of course that's my specialist subject, so I found the whole thing incredibly interesting. This time we headed to Humayun's tomb. Humayun was a Moghul emperor in the 1500s and when he died, his wife commissioned this grand memorial. The grounds now contain several other tombs, including one for an unknown person. All four sides of the grounds are identical, so you have to be careful not to lose your bearings, and adorable little Indian palm squirrels scarper about around you. They look just like chipmunks and they're so much cuter than our squirrels!

After a long day of exploring the city, we were driven back to our hotel, via a quick stop off outside the vast Indian Parliament building. A couple of hours rest was followed up by our welcome dinner, where we were treated to the most delicious lentil curry. It was a tiring day but certainly worth it for how much we got to see. And we still had another 7 jam-packed days to go...
Thanks to On The Go Tours for this prize. In the interests of full transparency- the competition was open to everyone and I have not received any compensation to write these posts. Affiliate links have been used in this post.
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5 Reasons to Stay at Manchebo Beach Resort Aruba

While I was in Aruba, I had the pleasure of staying at Manchebo Beach Resort on Eagle Beach. Every traveller will know that choosing your hotel is one of the most important decisions you can make for a holiday- after all, it can be the difference between wanting to go home straight away or never, ever wanting to leave. Luckily for me, Manchebo falls into the latter category. It was such a lovely, friendly place to stay and really helped make my visit amazing.

7 Activities to Try in Aruba

We've already established why you should visit Aruba, but what should you do when you get there? I was very grateful to be given the opportunity to try a huge host of varied activities, and I've chosen my seven favourites to create a list of must-do adventures. As I've said before, this happy island really gave me a sense of empowerment, so I tried a lot of things that I never would have considered before. It's amazing how much you can achieve when you push yourself beyond your comfort zone! 

 

Five Reasons to Visit Aruba

At the end of May, I was lucky enough to spend a week on the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, invited to encounter its beautiful beaches and renowned friendliness for myself. If you follow me on social media, you may have seen me talking about this gorgeous country a lot lately. It was just such a wonderful experience that I couldn't help but share it, and now I want to give five reasons why you should also visit Aruba.

A Place on the Plane with Saturday Night Takeaway

Remember in 2016 when I went to see Saturday Night Takeaway and I wrote a whole blog post about how it was basically a dream come true? Well, as everybody who follows me on social media will know, that dream only went and got better because my mum only went and won a place on the plane to the series finale in Universal Orlando... and took me with her! I may have gone into full Rylan mode when she called to tell me- screaming and sinking to my knees next to the sofa. I'd like to say I'm joking but I'm not. I really like Ant & Dec, OK? (Well, we all know it turned out to be only Dec but the less said about that the better I guess) I wasn't intending to write about it- I even left my camera at home, so these are going to all be bad phone photos- but as you can probably imagine, it was an absolute dream and I can't resist typing out a few words! Make yourself comfortable because this might be long...

Florida: Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom Day 13

The final day in Florida always needs to be spent at Magic Kingdom, trying (and failing) not to cry. Our tradition is to always go on Pirates of the Caribbean as our first and last ride on the trip, and this time we decided to stay until closing time. The fireworks display was so beautiful that I teared up! Don't judge me! 

Somehow, on the first two days, we totally missed the new Little Mermaid area of Fantasyland. I'm so glad we stumbled upon it on our last day, as it's gorgeous and the new ride, Under the Sea, is one of my new favourites. 

We also had a peek at Belle's house but decided against meeting her and Lumiere. As much as I love Disneyworld, I'm not one for queuing up for hours to meet a student in fancy dress! 

While waiting for the Festival of Fantasy Parade in Frontierland, there was a trio of musicians playing country renditions of Disney tracks. It was such a great way to keep us entertained.

 When we went to Tom Sawyer Island, we got on the Becky raft! Yay!

 Magic Kingdom is so beautiful at night!

And, with that, it was time to head back to England. See you soon, Florida! 

Florida Walt Disney World: Hollywood Studios and Downtown Disney

Let me give you a little hint about Walt Disney World: Hollywood Studios is rubbish! Ok, it's worth it for Tower of Terror (one of the very best Disney rides), and the Star Wars ride, Star Tours, is great for fans but, other than that, it's pretty boring. There's really just a lot of shows. Although I appreciate theatre, I don't go to Disney World to sit down for 45 minutes watching actors. I'll always visit, but it really only takes out a couple of hours of your day, especially if you get Fast Pass and don't need to queue. 

The transportation at Disney is pretty annoying. From the Transportation Centre, we had to get to Magic Kingdom (we chose to use the ferryboat) and then catch a bus to Hollywood Studios. Way to make it easy, Disney! 

Everyone should ride Tower of Terror. It's the best drop ride I've ever been on, and I've been on a few! I love me some drop rides! 

Since Hollywood Studios is so small and, to be honest, a bit dull, we bailed out early and headed over to Downtown Disney for some shopping and dinner. 

My favourite was the art shop. Look at this gorgeous painting of Beauty and the Beast. It was huge and I'm absolutely in love with it, but it was about $500 too much for me! I did end up buying some art (and it was big I had to have it shipped over) but you'll have to wait to see that!

This is pretty much the only photo I got of all four of us together: Me and Rich with Laura and her fiancé Matt. Oh, and happy holidays! 

Laura and I have been eager to eat at T-Rex ever since our first visit to Disney, as she nicknames me T-Bex due to my disproportionately short arms. Unfortunately, although the food was good and the dinosaur decor was awesome, the service was shockingly bad. Our server got our order wrong, asked us if we wanted sauce- then forgot to bring it over and even declared Rich had to sort out the card machine when it wouldn't work. She actually suggested that maybe it didn't work because we'd been using the card too much. Funnily enough, it worked as soon as Rich was at her shoulder. A real shame as I'd been looking forward to that meal for 3 years!

Both Downtown Disney and Hollywood Studios are fairly mediocre experiences that you need to get done. It's best to get them both done and over with in one day.

Florida Walt Disney World: Epcot

Back in 2011, we visited Epcot in the late evening and only had time to eat (imaginatively in the UK section) before the park closed. This time I was determined to see all of Epcot, to eat sushi and bratwurst, and to make a day of it. And we certainly did that!

We could see the big globe thing (apparently called Spaceship Earth) on the horizon from our hotel room, which was nice as it made me feel more connected to Disney.

Morocco was my favourite section of Epcot. It's huge (I got lost looking for the toilets) and laid out like a Morrocan marketplace. It also has the most beautiful architecture. Ok, so it's stylised, artificial architecture but it's still pretty!

I may have bought some macarons at the French section... and nearly a Dior perfume, the bottles of which were being engraved with the purchaser's name. I wish I'd bought it now! 

The fireworks display, IllumiNations, is spectacular and we secured a really great spot right at the barrier to the lake. Although Epcot won't last a whole day, it's definitely worth getting there a little later in the afternoon so you can stick around for the fireworks. 

After my lukewarm first impressions of Epcot, I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy it much more than I expected. And, yes, I did get my sushi and bratwurst! 

Florida Walt Disney World: Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom is one of my favourite Walt Disney World parks, behind Magic Kingdom and Typhoon Lagoon. I wouldn't call myself an animal fan as such, but it's so interesting to learn about different breeds. Plus, it has some of the most exciting rides, such as Dinosaur and Expedition Everest. 
The silverback gorillas are so beautiful. I had no idea just how powerful their limbs look.
The gorillas were spotted on the Maharajah Jungle Trek, which is a great way to learn about animals at your own pace. My favourite was the bat room. They were huge bats, with wing spans of 6ft. They actually slept upside down with their wings wrapped around them too- I half-thought that was a vampire myth! 

If, like me, you're a bit more lazy, there is the Kilimanjaro Safari, where you sit in a little van and get driven around the safari site by a knowledgeable guide. The park was so quiet that there was no queue for the safari, so we went on it twice. Our second guide, Josh, was my favourite as he told us the collective noun for every animal we passed. Did you know a group of cheetahs is called a coalition, flamingoes is a flamboyance and giraffes is a tower? Now you do! 

 



Each area of Animal Kingdom is divided into three main locations and themed as such- Africa, Asia and Dinoland (although there are a few smaller areas too). 

In Africa, there was an Afro-pop band named Burudika, hosting a street party. Their music was so joyous and celebratory. Everybody was dancing and the musicians were clearly enjoying every second. 

 Although Animal Kingdom doesn't have the same magic as the likes of Magic Kingdom, it's definitely worth a visit if you're at Walt Disney World. I guarantee you'll come out having learned something.