As you probably know (because I won't stop banging on about it), I recently visited the Caribbean for the first time. It was everything I imagined it to be and more. The bright blue sea, the powdery white sand, the sunny skies... right down to the chilled, friendly vibe. It's definitely whet my appetite for these beautiful islands and I'm already making plans to visit again. Although I stayed in a hotel last time, the idea of a villa intrigues me. Your own private space where you can relax without worrying about other people. No loud parties coming from the room next door, no rush to get to breakfast before all the good food has gone and, crucially, nobody to judge you when you unleash your giant inflatable swan into the pool and start snapping photos. Luxury Retreats specialise in finding the perfect accommodation to match each traveller, with over 300 destinations including houses in Anguilla, St Lucia, the Bahamas and beyond. With this in mind, I've done a little research on the Caribbean islands and come up with a travel wish list, with three nations I'd love to visit.
Being a literal Master of Death an' all, you'd probably expect me to be pretty hardy when it comes to spooky stuff. You'd be wrong. I am a massive wuss! 15 years ago I put myself on a self-imposed horror film ban, which is still standing, because the nightmares I got afterwards would be ridiculous. Hearing a creak in the house at night, or the shadow of a tree branch brushing past my window, is enough to make me cower under the duvet in fright. Yet, for some reason, there is one terrifying pursuit that I absolutely love to put myself through: The London Dungeon (oh, and also graveyards, but that's not really relevant to this post). My first visit to the London Dungeon was for my hen do, and I loved it so much that I visited the Edinburgh Dungeon shortly after my wedding too. This summer, the London Dungeon are putting on special adults-only after-hours events, and I couldn't resist going along to check it out.
What a couple of months I've had! From finally attending Eurovision, to jetting off to Aruba for my first press trip, I've had the perfect opportunity to tick off lots of goals. I've definitely found that my third set of my goals are much more achievable than the first two, and it's making me feel really positive about getting at least 75% of them completed before the 1001 days are up in 2020.
#2 Visit 10 new-to-me foreign cities 3/10
Technically, Lisbon isn't new to me. I visited when I was a child but I was very young and my only memories are seeing the black-and-white tiled floor, and a very vague memory about a big glass building that may not even be in Portugal after all. For the purposes of my goals, I count a new city as anywhere I haven't been as an adult, so I'm including it. Oranjestad in Aruba, however, is absolutely a new-to-me location. Two new cities in one month, taking my total up to three- what a great few weeks!
Oh, Instagram. Is there any social media platform that makes you feel more frustrated, and less accomplished, than Insta-bloody-gram? As soon as you gain a follower, you lose five, and it seems like no matter how much you work on it, no matter how much you love your photos, no matter what strategies you put in place, it just doesn't make a difference. Of course we can all sit here and say 'it's not about the followers' but let's face it, most bloggers want to gain an audience, and with Instagram becoming more and more important for securing opportunities, the majority of us would like a boost. As I was slowly crawling towards my next milestone of 4000 followers, I decided to set myself a challenge: Throughout June, I'd spend a week dedicated to one of four different growth strategies, and see if I could secure that number.
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.
Do you ever do that thing where you find something nice in the sale, buy it even though it's definitely not weather-appropriate, and then completely forget about it by the time the relevant season comes round? That's exactly what I did with this dress! I bought it from Sainsbury's in the winter of 2016, intending to save it for the summer. Only by the time summer emerged, it was buried in the bottom of my wardrobe. Earlier this year, I cleared out most of my clothes and came across it again. This time, I made sure not to forget it and it finally got its chance to shine, 18 months after purchase.
Dress: Sainsbury's (similar here)
Leggings: Evans
Shoes: Primark (similar here)
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!
