Disneyland Paris at Christmas

How lucky was I that I had the opportunity to go to Disneyland Paris at Christmas. As soon as we got back from our first ever trip in February we literally booked this trip a few weeks later. We had the disney blues bad. We thought what could be better than going and combining both disney and Christmas.

As my sister is a teacher and I am a nurse trying to find a weekend in December where we could go was proving impossible. We managed to find some dates and booked to go from the 21st- 23rd. With our previous two trips we have always got on the first flight available out and then come home on a late night flight. This time we got a flight from Manchester to Paris at 06.10 and the flight took 55 minutes. We then got our luggage and got on the magic bus which took around an hour. We then arrived at the hotel which was the Hotel Cheyenne (post here). We checked in, and dropped our luggage off as we couldn't get into our room until 3pm. After this, we headed straight into the park and we were in there for about 09.30 which I think is pretty good going. It is such a short flight you can still have your entire first day.

We had made a bit of a schedule as to what we wanted to do each day. This day was dedicated to meet and greets in the main park. We were really excited about the meet and greets, but as always the queues can be big. We queued for Thumper and it was definitely took way over an hour. The most exciting thing on the first day was the parade. My sister had seen sneak peeks of the parade, but I wanted to save it to see it for myself. It was such a fabulous parade and they definitely went on all out with theming. Everything was as you would expect Christmas themed, but it was really magical. There were lots of new characters on the parade who I hadn't seen previously, which is always exciting. It completely got me into the spirit and I watched it twice on the first day.

Before we went this time we had fully prepared ourselves that it was going to be sooooo busy especially as it was the weekend before Christmas. To our surprise it was the same kind of busyness as at Halloween. The queues for the rides were big, but a few of the bigger rides were down due to the heavy spouts of rain. As always we took advantage of the fast passes and used the disneyland app to keep up with the waiting times of each ride.

There was no denying that they have decorated Main Street amazingly as they had a huge Christmas tree at the start of the street. It looked incredible and as soon as you walked through the gates, and it put an instance smile on my face. My sister and I did however find that some areas had no decorations at all and it didn't give me the same excitement the entire way round the parks. It was slightly disappointing and I think there was actually more decorations when we visited at Halloween (post).

My sister and I decided to treat ourselves to breakfast with the characters at Plaza Gardens. It was a lovely experience. We met lots of characters including Eeyore, Piglet, Winnie, Minnie Mouse and Donald and Daisy duck. The experience did however feel a little bit rushed as it was a very quick picture and they move on. With some of the characters if you were not ready and waiting, you literally missed your opportunity and there was no going back. Overall though, we had a fabulous time and I would definitely book and treat myself to a character breakfast again on another visit.

We booked onto a full board meal plan for this trip. If you book through the disneyland website itself you can build your holiday and adapt it to what you want. I think I would always opt for some kind of meal plan whether it is half board or full board. There is no denying that the food is expensive, and even if you eat at the counter service rather than the restaurants you will easily spend 50 Euros each on food a day. The meal plans are normally less than this for and you can eat in the restaurants and fill your boots.

On the last day we decided to treat ourselves and eat at one of the Disneyland Hotel's restaurants called Inventions. It was another character meal and it was such a special end to the holiday. The food was incredible at this restaurant, it is part of  the premium meal plan and you could tell. On the standard meal plan which is what we opted for each meal has a worth of 35 Euros. You can exchange this worth in and pay the difference. I think we had to pay an additional 35 Euros which is a lot and I would never have paid 70 Euros. However, with the meal already being half paid for it was one last treat to us.

In 2019, I was lucky enough to visit Disneyland Paris three times. We went for the first time in February and were instantly hooked. If you have read my recent travel plan post, you will know that my sister and I have booked to go to Walt Disney World Florida at the end of May and I couldn't be more excited.

Lucy
xoxo

Hotel Cheyenne at Disneyland Paris

When we went to Disneyland Paris back in February we stayed at the Hotel Santa Fe and we loved it. This time when booking to go at Christmas there was literally no difference in price between the Cheyenne and the Santa Fe, so we decided to go for somewhere new. This trip was for 2 nights and I have to say we spend very minimal time in the hotel.

In comparison to the Santa Fe there really isn't that much difference between them. The differences are the theming of the two hotels. I was interested in staying at the Cheyenne as its theme is western and the rooms are decorated surrounding Toy Story. My favourite disney character is Jessie so I thought this would be cute. On arrival, I loved how the outside of the buildings looked as they are in blocks spread out around the site. Initially I loved it and I couldn't wait to get to our room. However, when we entered our room I was a little underwhelmed. I thought that the rooms looked a little dated. The rooms are never massive but they fit everything in that you need. I thought it looked quite plain and could do with a refurbish. My sister felt the same way.

On this trip we opted for the standard full board option so we had breakfast in the hotel. The breakfast was really lovely, as it was on our last trip. It offers everything which you can want. It has cold food options, hot food, cereals and pastries. It definitely sets you up for the day and you are able to fill yourself up. If you are going with children, even the fussiest of child would be able to find something to eat. The breakfast in the hotels open really early so you are able to get in, eat, and get into the parks for 8am to be able to take advantage of your extra magic hours. My little tip would be that if you want to meet a princess at the princess pavilion, we always get to the park for 8am and head straight there. The queues for the pavilion can be soooo long. If you go and it is less than an hour then you have been lucky. They normally vary from 75-90 mins.

We didn't actually book to eat in the Cheyenne restaurant on this trip for our evening meal. However, you can book to eat in any of the disney hotels if you want to. With the standard meal plan you can eat in the Santa Fe or Cheyenne and you do not need to pay any additional costs. If you chose to get an afternoon flight and you arrive in disney later in the evening, I think it is a good idea to eat in your hotel on arrival at 6-7pm and then if you choose to you can then head into the park for the fireworks. We did this on out first trip and it worked fantastically.

As always the staff in the hotel were lovely and the check in process was easy. From the airport, we got on the magic bus. This time we booked through Hey's Travel and you got the magic bus included in the price which was a bonus. Back in October, we got on the train from the airport and it was 19 Euros each way and it took about 20 mins. The bus takes about 50 mins as it goes to the different hotels. The Cheyenne was the second drop off so it was a really easy journey.

All in all, I would stay at the Hotel Cheyenne again. The room was clean and it provided us with exactly what we needed which was to sleep and shower. Me and my sister always love getting back to our hotel and having unlimited disney on the TV. Come on there's nothing better than coming back from the fireworks and being able to dance and sing along to High School Musical from your bed! Like I have already mentioned, I think they could do with an update and a lick of paint. Maybe this will come after they have the new Marvel hotel which is opening in autumn 2020 and to be fair looks like it is going to incredible. It is my sister and I's goal to stay at the Disneyland Hotel but unless we win the lottery, that is definitely in the distant future.

Lucy
xoxo

Disneyland Paris' Halloween Party

For this halloween trip it fell that on the Saturday whilst we were they, Disneyland Paris were holding one of their annual halloween parties. My sister and I had never heard of these parties and we were excited that it was being held whilst we were there. This year they had two parties, one on Saturday 26th October and one on actual halloween the 31st. It took us a while to decide whether we could afford to pay for tickets to the event, and also whether it was actually going to be money well spent. The tickets costs £60 per person. We did a bit of research and there had been a lot of good feedback about some of their parties, however there had been some negative feedback regarding the length of queues for the character meet and greets.

My sister is an absolute gem and is always surprising me and whilst at work she sent me a ticket to the party. This is funny as in hindsight I had been planning on doing the same, but waiting until pay day. We were both so excited and instantly changed our initial plans for the weekend. I did a blog post all about how this time we decided to stay outside of Disneyland Paris, this meant that we had to be a lot more organised with our time. At this point, we had already bought our three day park tickets. With the halloween ticket any guest can get into the park from 5pm and have access to the rides. On this evening, the park closed earlier than usual. Over the Autumn months we hadn't realised that the park closes much later than usual. When we went in February the park closed at 8pm, whereas this time it closed at 10pm. We were surprised at this as we thought 10pm was late for children to stay up in order to be able to watch the fireworks. On the day of the party the park closed at 8pm and the fireworks took place earlier than normal. We decided to leave the park around 6pm and got back to our hotel to get changed, we got back to the park for 8pm for when the party officially started. We were astonished to find out that the party goes on until 2am!

We had managed to get our hands on the programme for the evening before the actual night of the event. We are planners just for the plain fact that we want to be able to make the most out of time at the parks. We had looked to see the meet and greets which we were available, and we were really happy as they have party exclusives that they don't have at any other times of the year. The party also features other favourite characters who wear special halloween attire and they all just look so fancy. They released the times and locations of each meet and greet so we had a rough idea as to where we needed to be at what time.

It is no secret that we are both massive lovers of the parades as they just make the whole experience 10x more special. On these two evenings they put on a special exclusive parade which they only perform at the night time parties. They did two performances of the parades in the evenings which we both absolutely loved. They had all the classic villains but also some special guests.

My sister's favourite character is Daisy and she looked super cute in all her attire so we headed there first. We then decided that we would get into the queue for Marie and in retrospect this was the worst decision. She isn't normally a character which you can meet in the standard meet and greets. We queued for about 45 minutes and quickly realised that the queue was not moving at any kind of normal pace. It was one of those situations where we had dedicated ourselves to the cause and in the end the queue was for over an hour and a half. If you like villains such as jack skeleton, oogie boogie, or the evil queen, I would for sure recommend heading there as soon as the party starts. We met two girls the day after the party and they said that the queue for oogie boogie was 5 hours!

We headed to frontierland which is where they had this fantastic fiesta style party going on. It had djs, goofy dancing and performers everywhere. We were stood waiting for the mickey and minnie meet and greet and having a fabulous time as the atmosphere was absolutely fantastic. Everyone in the queue and all of the meet and greet staff were dancing and singing along to the music, it definitely made the 45 minutes of queuing fly by. We were sad that by the time we got to the chip n dale queue it was already closed. Each character had specific time slots, chip n dale's was between 11-00.30. We got there by midnight and the queue was already closed for any more guests to queue which was slightly disappointing.

Another great aspect of the party is that every guest member is able to get on every single ride in the park. This is fabulous as lots of the guests buy just the party ticket and you get all the benefits of the normal park tickets but all of these exclusives as well. For £60 it is good value money and I think this is the reason why it is such a popular event.

All in all, if you asked me if I would go again the answer would be yes. In all honesty I don't think I would book to go back to the halloween party again next year unless we planned to go again for halloween. However, if they had these parties at other times of the year, for example at Christmas I would for sure be up for attending a special party as we did both thoroughly enjoyed it.

Lucy
xoxo

Can you do Disneyland Paris on a budget?

If you have read my latest post all about our trip to Disneyland Paris at Halloween you will know that this was very much a last minute trip. It was approximately two weeks before we had a crazy idea to just "have a look" at prices. Back in February as it was our first trip so we decided to book it through Disney directly to make it a little bit easier. This time when we looked at booking it through Disney the prices to stay at any Disney hotel were extortionate. I'm sure it was due to it being last minute, so we have definitely learnt to book it in advance. When we go at Christmas we are staying in the Hotel Cheyenne and have booked it as a package through magicbreaks. It is definitely about looking around at the best prices and deals which are out there.

My sister and I have read lots of blog posts and watched vlogs about staying outside of Disney and how you can save so much money. We started to look around at booking everything individual and we soon discovered it was working out much cheaper. Lots of people had recommended staying at the Ibis hotel at Marne de Valle. We decided to stay there and for two nights it was £180, which for £90 each we thought was a decent price. Honestly, this hotel was in the best location and we were super lucky that we had fallen upon this. We got on the RER at Chessy (the stop for Disney), and it is just one stop which is a 3 minute journey to get to Val d'Europe which is where the hotel is located. You go up the train station stairs and the hotel is literally directly in front of you. The RERs are every 9 minutes in the morning and about every 15 minutes at night. My sister and I were convinced that we were able to get on the train and to the Ibis hotel, quicker than the 20 minutes walk it takes to get through the Disney village and to the Disney hotel which we stayed in last time which was Hotel Santa Fe. The tickets for the short train journey cost 1.90 Euros each way. We actually bought a book of ten tickets for 15.80 Euros which saved a little bit more money. We have both said that for future trips we would definitely stay here again. It was also easy to get from Charles de Gaulle airport to Val d'Europe. The tickets were 19 Euros each and the journey was about 15 minutes. This saved a lot of time compared to getting on the DisneyExpress bus which goes around the houses and takes well over an hour to get to the Disney hotels. 

Once the hotel was sorted it was time to sort the flights and this was the biggest test of all. They were all so expensive. As we were only going for two nights we wanted to ensure that we had booked good flights so we could make the most of the time we actually had there. We for sure could have saved £100 or so on flights if we wanted to fly out at 1pm and come back at 11am. However, we would have lost so much actual time in the parks. We decided to fly with EasyJet there and back, the flight out was at 7am and on the way home at 8pm. The flights were expensive at around £200 each, but like I have said it ensured we had time to do everything we wanted to do with only having such a short time span. We thought it was 100% worth paying the extra money. 

We researched the best and cheapest way to buy the tickets for the Disneyland parks. On the Disneyland Paris website for two three day/ two park tickets it costs £371. We looked on Attraction Tickets Direct which is who we have booked some of tickets for Florida next year through and made a small saving as it totalled £354. This was very easy to book. 

In total we paid £490 each. I know some of you will be reading this and saying to yourselves that this on not on a budget, and in some respect I completely agree. On this trip it was the flights which made the total cost increase. However, we did only book it two weeks before and as already stated the flights are always expensive if you want an early morning flight out and a late one home. Both flights there and back were completely full to the brim, there wasn't one free seat. For future though I would recommend booking the flights as far in advance as possible to save as much money as you can. I think it is difficult to actually do Disneyland Paris on a very tight budget as the ticket prices are always going to be the same amount. I think our hotel was a very reasonable price and as a whole Paris is not a cheap place to stay. In the end we were both happy with the amount we paid. The deal offered by Disney including hotel, flights and park tickets was coming out at a minimum of £800 each.

An important aspect to think about is the price of food. Back in February when we went we booked a full board meal plan. I would recommend looking at the price comparisons between staying in Disney with a food package and the difference compared with staying outside of the Disney complex. The quick service diners are the cheapest food option that they offer, but I would definitely not describe it as 'cheap'. If you opt to buy a dining plans I would definitely recommend using the restaurants over counter service as you can pre book all your reservations meaning you can utilise your time so much better.  As we experienced the quick service counters can have huge queues, we queued for one and a half hours in Videotropolis. You may be thinking why did we queue for so long, and the answer is it was one of those things where we were in the queue and we had dedicated ourselves to it and we thought if we left we would only end up in another huge queue some where else. It was frustrating however in the end the food was nice and we managed to get on with our day. A burger meal in there with a drink was 20 Euros. I would say over the three days on dinner and tea in the parks we spent at least 50 Euros a day each. Therefore, like I have said already you have to think about the different in price between getting a dining plan and paying yourself.

When we go at Christmas we have booked a package just like the first time we went. It is about going and doing it in different ways and working out what is the best way to make it work for yourselves. I know for myself that going for your first time it can be very overwhelming, and I have a post with some other tips I wish I have known about before our first trip. My one top piece of advice is to definitely shop around look around the internet for different deals, and like we did this time the different options which are available.

Lucy

xoxo

Halloween at Disneyland Paris

Since going to Disneyland Paris for the first time in my life back in February, I have been dying to go back. In May we booked a trip to go at Christmas as we thought it would just be so magical. However, we then saw the theming for Halloween and my sister and I decided we just had to be there. It just fell that we both had annual leave the same week, and after a short conversation of should we / shouldn't we? we quickly decided we needed to be there and started the process of scrolling the internet for the best deals. As it was last minute we thought we might be able to get a fabulous deal. We were definitely too optimistic and to stay in any Disneyland hotel like we did last time it was coming out way above our budget. With a bit of research we decided to stay in Paris and travel in ourselves. I have an upcoming post on how we did it on a budget.

Once we went through the gates at Disneyland Paris we were overwhelmed with the spectacular theming throughout the park. They really do go to town which is great as it makes the experience even more magical. They change their programme for October and have special parades, performances and meet and greets.

No matter what time of year you visit they do two different parades each day. In the morning they always do two of the same parades which have the theme as to whatever season you are going. Then every night at 5.30pm they do the disney on stars parade which is just the most fabulous spectacular, and every single person watching has a continuous smile on their face. This time it was obviously a halloween themed parade in the morning  featuring all of the disney villains. It was led by mickey and minnie dressed up in the absolute most divine and cutest costumes you have ever seen. This parade had lots of characters who you would not normally see on a daily basis and it was great to have more variety and not to just have the 'bigger' characters. It featured cruella de vil, queen of hearts and jack skeleton. It is also huey, dewey and louie who are just the cutest next to donald and daisy.

There was also lots of exclusive meets and greets. I love that the programme of meet and greets change throughout the seasons and the characters change up. Throughout halloween the meet and greets include characters such as stitch, queen of hearts, cheshire cat, max and daisy duck. As always they had all the princesses in the princess pavilion which you can meet, but the queue is normally very long. I discussed in my first post all about using an app called lineberty and how you can get exclusive meet and greets with characters such as woody, buzz and minnie so head over to that post for more details.

They decided to have some halloween exclusive food and snacks which we thoroughly enjoyed. I have written an in depth a post about where you can eat in disney and my recommendations. This time we didn't have a meal plan and had a very different experience to last time. There is no denying that the food everywhere is expensive. However, using the counter services makes things cheaper. We queued in videotopolis for over an hour and a half just for burger and chips as we thought the prices were reasonable, but it was just soooo busy. If you do book any kind of disney meal plan I would very much recommend taking advantage and booking in advance restaurants for all your meals. The counter service although much cheaper than all the restaurants, we found on all three days we had to queue no matter where we chose and it added a lot of time and effort on to the day.

Overall, we had an absolutely incredible time and we both said we would recommend to everyone and anyone to visit at halloween. The whole feel was just so special and we had a fantastic time. Going for a second time means you have so much more knowledge on just the simple things which we spent our first trip trying to get our heads around. We used the fast passes to our full advantage, used the Disneyland app to watch for the queue times, find the parades information and we planned our days out so much more to ensure we got everything done. When I came back from my first trip I wrote a post listing all of my top tips for first time visitors, as I would have found it so useful to have read something similar before my initial trip. We also treated ourselves with tickets to the halloween party which is an exclusive event which happens twice during the week of halloween. It costs £60 per ticket but the park closes to all non-party visitors earlier than normal at around 7pm. The park is then only open to party members for the entire night until 2am. The party has exclusive meet and greets and one-off parades, you can also go on all the rides and enjoy special food and snacks. We thoroughly enjoyed the party but it was a very long day and also very busy meaning the queues for all the meet and greets were huge. Although, if you are a huge disney lover I would recommend going and treating yourself as it was lots of fun.

Lucy
xoxo

Santa Ponsa Majorca

I was lucky enough to be able to escape the normality of life and head off to Majorca for a family holiday for two whole weeks. We are very lucky that we have a close family friend who owns an apartment on a private golf complex. It is amazing to be able to step out of the back garden and be at the pool. It is so peaceful and tranquil and it was the break that we all needed.

We have stayed here before so we know the surroundings very well. The apartments are situated on a golf complex between Santa Ponsa and Port Adriano. Santa Ponsa is the biggest town near to where we stay. In a taxi it takes less than 10 minutes to get right into the heart of the town. Santa Ponsa itself is a lovely bustly place which brings tourists on mass each year in the summer months. It has lots of shops offering a variety of goods, it is great to take an afternoon just to walk around the many streets and go in and out of the shops to see what they all have on offer. There is also the beautiful beach which is clean and enjoyed by everyone. Surrounding the beach there are lots of bars and restaurants which you can stroll to, to have a little break and refuel. There are a variety of hotels and apartments both budget and high end depending on what you are wanting.

Most nights we went into Santa Ponsa for our evening meal and some drinks. If you want to just go for drinks there are some lovely bars situated on the beach front, or if you are wanting to have a little more of a messy night you can definitely indulge into that! We have pretty much eaten in 90% of the restaurants within the area over the years and I am going to go through some of my favourites. The area has a great variety of cuisines which is fabulous if you are a foodie like me. If you are wanting some american type foods like burgers there are two restaurant recommendations - O'Brady's and Fat Sam's which we have been too many times. There is a lovely restaurant on the edging of the beach which is always very popular it is called Empathia. This sells a variety of foods including more traditional spanish foods such as paella, we all had lovely food on this visit and my pizza was delicious. Jackie's is a little restaurant on the main strip near the beach which we always ensure we go to, and on this trip we went twice. They do incredible pasta dishes and my rigatoni bolognese was delightful. To add some variety to our palate we ate at both chinese and indian restaurants. Bombay is a little indian restaurant which is always busy which is obviously a great sign, they do a lovely set meal and the food was delicious. On the same street is a chinese restaurant called China Ming which the entire family love, it does great food at very reasonable prices, it is not fine dining but it is all round somewhere we all leave with full tummies.

If you are staying in Santa Ponsa you can easily get to Port Adriano and is definitely worth a visit. It is a secluded port where many boats come in and out of on a daily basis. The port is surrounded by a variety of restaurants and bars which are all high end, however in the day you can definitely have a nice chilled lunch overlooking the port. We love going to down to the port and it is lovely just to stroll around it.

I have already done blog posts on visiting both Palma and Soller, they are must see places if you have the time and money to get to them. Santa Ponsa is in a very central location which is great meaning you can easily get out and about. There are lots of local buses to get you around. If you are going with children or just want a great day out you can get to Western Water Park easily it is a great day out and we have visited many times, unless you go like we did this year on the only day of the year where there was a storm and flooding! All round, Santa Ponsa is a lovely place to visit and it caters to everyone.

Lucy
xoxo

Palma

Palma is a beautiful city and one which I have been fortunate enough to visit numerous times. It is a city which is full of vibrancy and style. As there is a big port in Palma the city is often full of tourists who are on worldwide cruises and they stop here. We visited in August and the city was definitely bustling with both tourists and locals. It has lots of picturesque buildings and churches. It is home to their stunning cathedral which is one of the main tourist attractions. It is very clean and well maintained and you can tell that they take pride in their city and its surrounding.  

As always there are lots of little coffee and cake shops which you could stop off at to refuel. There is a main street called Paseo de Borne which houses lots of fabulous shops. Some of these are higher end and if you want to treat yourself then you will definitely be able to.

We spent the day strolling and exploring the city and ventured into the Old Town which consists of narrow cobbled streets, pretty quaint squares and courtyards, and little bakeries to stop at. When the sun is shining it is a perfect time to go for a stroll into the quieter parts of the city. Like I mentioned before if you are a little bit of a shopper like me, you can definitely take advantage here. I love high street shopping and the Zara here is huge and three stories high. I always take a few hours looking around the shops every time I visit, as alongside the well known stores it is lovely to see the individual shops. There are so many great shops selling lovely gifts and clothing. Me and my sister love to look in these stores and pick up some unique pieces such as jewellery. There is also Palma's city beach which is easily accessible from the centre and is beautiful at all times of the year.

We keep saying as a family it would be lovely to take a weekend away and to stay in Palma itself. I think me and my friends would also love it. I know a few people who have been to Palma for weekends away and they have all thoroughly recommended it. If I was to take a weekend away I would do it in the summer months in the nicer weather. I say this is as in some cities there are lots and lots of tourist attractions to see and do. This city is not somewhere to visit if you want to be able to constantly have things to do and have to rush around in order to get everything done. It moves at a much slower pace and whilst there are things to see and do it is more about taking a relaxed approach.

Lucy
xoxo

Soller

I have been lucky enough to visit Soller a few times now. I was trying to work it out and I think this was my fourth time visiting. It is a lovely little quaint town located on the northwest coast of Majorca. It is quite interesting as to get to Soller there is a train that runs from Palma on a daily basis. If you miss the last train you are basically stuck! 

We got on the train early in the morning from Palma and the journey took about one hour to get to Soller. This journey is a very popular tourist attraction and our train was full to the brim. The trains run approximately every hour and the last one back is around 7pm. One piece of advice would be to sit on the right hand side of the train as it is more of a picturesque journey. The train is a pleasant but slightly rickety journey which is expected as you are literally spiralling up in to the mountains. Once the train has pulled into Soller you enter the main square of the town. There are some lovely shops, the church and lots of cafes. This area is always bustling with both tourists and locals.

If you want to get down to the port you can either walk or you can get the tram which run every 20 or so minutes from the train station right into the port. When you buy your train ticket in Palma you can get a combination ticket for 32 Euros return and you get the tram included. If not you can buy the tram tickets once you get on for 7 Euros. As expected these are also very busy with tourists but it is a short and pleasant tram ride. Once in the port it is beautiful. It is surrounded by lots of little cafes and souvenir shops. There is a great range of restaurants some along the front looking over the port, and a few set back into the little streets. We got off the tram and were in desperate need of a pick me up so stopped at the closest coffee shop we could find. I have to say it was a great choice it was called Can Tambora and had such a wide range of cakes and treats.

We spent about 6 hours in Soller strolling around and taking in the views. It is a lovely day out and I think it is a must if you are visiting within the vicinity. One of my work colleagues visited Palma last year and took a day visit to Soller. She loved it that much that this year she actually stayed in Soller for three days. She said she would definitely recommend staying there if you have the chance and they also have a beautiful beach. Everyone is so welcoming and it has such a lovely relaxed feeling to it. We sat having a drink looking over the gorgeous port for well over an hour.

Lucy
xoxo

Plaza Beach Marbella

We had decided that at some point during our girl's holiday to Marbella we would attend a pool or beach party. On Instagram and through some research we had seen that there was a large range of pool and beach parties within Marbella available. I discussed in my first post which detailed our entire holiday to Marbella that Puerto Banus is the higher end part of the town where the majority of these events are held. After a lot of research and calculations we decided that Plaza Beach was not only the best value for money, but also looked the best for us.

We went on a Tuesday which turned out to be a great decision. If you go between Friday-Sunday the price doubles if not triples. We bought a package which in total costs 230 euros. There were four of us and we split the price between us. With our package we got a jacuzzi which was much much bigger than we had anticipated, they fit 12 people and it was fabulous. We also had a big day bed with towels and a magnum of prosecco included in the price. This was our big treat of the holiday and it was worth it for sure. Plaza Beach opens at 1.30pm and finishes at 7pm.

We anticipated that the drinks were going to be expensive and we had looked at the price list online when we booked it. The drinks were very widely priced depending on what you wanted. The magnum of prosecco that we got included with our package was 75 euros to buy individually. We did the maths and for just under 19 euros each we got another bottle as we got 8 full glasses of prosecco out of it. My friend bought a large jug of strawberry daiquri which in hindsight was probably not worth it as it did not go very far and cost 60 euros. We then moved on to bottles of rose which the cheapest was 26 euros. We thought this was a pretty decent price. If you want individual cocktails they were 15 euros or more each. Spirits and mixer varied from 15-17 euros each depending on which spirit you choose. Some of the prices were laughable as there was a bottle of champagne available for over 1000 euros. Thank the lord we didn't get too merry and pop that on the credit card!

We were a little bit unsure as to what the vibe was going to be like. We wore heels there but took them off and wore our sandals for the rest of the day. There was music playing and we were actually all relieved that everyone was just chilling and enjoying themselves. We had seen pictures from places like Ocean Beach and Nikki Beach which seemed to be a little too wild. At the weekend I expect that there is much more of a party vibe but I think you can make it what you want it to be. The jacuzzi 100% made this afternoon the best it could be. In all honesty we were definitely living our best lives. It is a little more money to spend and all though the jacuzzi fits 12 I think that would probably be too many people as the day bed would fit 6 comfortably.

All in all, we had a fabulous time at Plaza Beach and if I was ever to visit Marbella again I would definitely go back.

Lucy
xoxo

A Girls Trip to Marbella

This holiday with my friends was just what the doctor ordered. Going on holiday with three of my best friends what more could I ask for? I had briefly been to Marbella a few years ago on a day trip when we stayed in a resort a little further along the beach called Benalmadena. I was so excited to go back and explore further with my friends. Marbella over the last few years has become well known for its party scenes and beach clubs. We wanted it to have a holiday where we could go to the beach and pool during the day, and then be able to go out and enjoy ourselves at night.

We booked the trip for 4 nights and we flew out on a 9am flight from Manchester. From the airport we got on the bus to the centre of Marbella which only costs 8.50 euros each. We then got a taxi from the centre to our hotel which was 7 euros. Our hotel was located on the beach front it was called Skol Apartments. We booked this trip only three months before we went and we were struggling to find somewhere to accommodate four adults. We were impressed with the location of the apartments and the accommodation itself. We were staying on the seventh floor and the apartments are two tiered. We had a lovely view from our balcony overlooking the town and across into the sea. We decided to stay in Marbella rather than Puerto Banus which is where we thought the majority of the nightlife would happen. To our surprise Marbella itself had a large range of bars and places to drink. We all agreed if we were to visit again we would make the same decision. Marbella had much more of a chilled vibe and we liked that we had the option of going to Puerto Banus if we wanted to rather than the other way around. To get a taxi into Puerto Banus it costs approximately 12 euros.

The night we arrived we went to explore Marbella and try and get our bearings. We decided to head for some tapas and a few drinks. It was lovely and we found so many little bars to drink at. Our first Tapas experience of the holiday was at La Bodega Del Mar which was located on the sea front in Marbella. The food was lush and it got the holiday started in the perfect way.

We spent the next day on the beach front relaxing and taking in the sun. We hired beach chairs which were 6 euros and came with a thick mattress which were heavenly to lie on. That night we headed in to Puerto Banus for the first time and we went for a walk along the harbour which was very impressive and had some pretty hefty sized boats. We had pre-booked a table at La Sala which is a well known high end restaurant. We had decided it was our fancy dressing up and going out night which did not disappoint. The food was incredible in La Sala and after 9.30pm they have a live singer on who was fabulous. After we finished our food we headed inside to the bar area to listen to the music and have a little a dance. We then headed out to the main part of Puerto Banus and well let's just say we got home at 4am.

After surviving a mild hangover from the night before, another day at the beach was calling us. After the heavy night before we decided to stay around Marbella and we ate in a lovely Italian restaurant called La Tagliatella. The concept was great - there were 10 pasta choices and over 15 sauce options. You mixed and matched to your choice so you created your own perfect dish. The portions were huge when they arrived, we definitely could have shared. I had rigatoni ragu and it was really tasty. All the girls said that their food was lovely, just that the portions were a little too large.

Before the holiday we decided we wanted to attend one of the bigger pool or beach parties. We decided on Plaza Beach. We had had some friends recommend it and also it seemed the best value for money. We did quite a lot of research into which one to choose as some of them are really expensive. We booked before we went and there are a lot of different price options depending on what package you choose. We splashed out a little bit and chose a day bed with a jacuzzi which costs 230 euros in total. When we got there we were really surprised at just how big the jacuzzi was as it fitted 12 people. We had a big day bed and for the price we also got a magnum of prosecco included. I am going to write a separate post detailing more in depth information about our experience at Plaza Beach, so keep your eyes peeled. After the party had finished at 7pm we headed back to our apartments and headed out for some dinner. We headed into Marbella's Old Town and stumbled across a lovely Pizzeria. We drank sangria and ate pizza until we couldn't fit anything else in.

On the last day we headed to the pool area of our apartments. We were really impressed by the size of the pool area, it was two tiered with two massive swimming pools. We took in the last of the rays and then headed out for some final tapas tasting. We felt as though we hadn't quite taken in all of Marbella's Old Town (mainly due to the ample of wine consumption the night before!), so we headed there to explore a little further. We wanted some final tapas and we found a little restaurant and ordered a large variety of the menu. We weren't that impressed with the food in all honesty. It was average and everything was extra salty. After this we headed back to the hotel and waited for the bus to take us to the airport.

Overall, I think I can speak for all the girls when I say this was one of my favourite holidays that we have ever taken together. A lot of memories were made and we all enjoyed exploring both Marbella and Puerto Banus.

Lucy
xoxo

Current Travel Plans

So I am very lucky to say that I have quite a few holidays in the pipeline. At the start of the year I had plans to try and save and put any holidays on the back burner. However, lots of exciting opportunities have come up.

First up, I am off to Marbella in Spain with three of my best pals. We still love our girls holidays and I am excited to get away with the girl's and forget about normal life for a few days. We have a few beach parties and trips planned which will hopefully be fantastic. This is only two weeks again now so it is getting very close.

I get home from Marbella and then I head to Santa Ponsa in Majorca for 2 weeks. This holiday is a family trip with my parents and sister. Everyone always say they think it's lovely that we all still go on holiday together and I don't get why we wouldn't. We are staying on a golf complex which is private and is just luxury and pleasant. You can do what you want and when you want. We can walk into the town centre at the night time. It's lovely and will be the break we all need.

Earlier this year in February my sister and I went on out first trip together to Disneyland Paris. It is all we have talked about since we got back and we knew we needed another trip in the pipeline in order to dust away our Disney blues. We originally wanted to go in October but it was really expensive. We then decided to look at the prices to go the weekend before Christmas, and by some miracle it was cheaper than any other time that we were looking at. It is sooo exciting and we are staying in a Disney hotel again. This time we have chose to stay in the Hotel Cheyenne which is toy story themed.

The most exciting trip which I have lined up is my sister and I have also booked to finally go to Walt Disney World in Florida. Once again after going to Disneyland Paris this year, it set us into overdrive about finally getting to go to Florida. We have booked to go at the end of May 2020. We have booked it so far in advance just for the simple reason that we have longer to pay it off. This is going to be a once in a life time trip as boy it has cost a lot but we are already soooo excited. We have booked a package holiday so we are staying at a Disney hotel called Colorado Springs, and we have access to the Disney parks for the 11 days which we are there. We are hoping to also do some more exploring outside of Disney and also head to Universal Studios.

One of my close friends from university is taking the dive and moving to Canada. I had the original plan to go out and travel with her for around three weeks when she first moves out there next February. We had booked onto a travelling tour for 10 days but it has since been cancelled. We have struggled to find another tour which we want to go on as February is not the best time to travel around Canada due to the weather at that time of year. Therefore, we have made alternative plans that I am going to head out there around September/October time when the weather is better and there are plenty of tours available. The plan is pretty much the same to go out for about 3 weeks and travel around Canada.

For now they are all of my travel plans which I currently have in the pipeline. My ultimate travel goal is to at some point head to Australia and New Zealand. Realistically I think that is going to have to happen in 2021 as there is only so much that I can realistically afford.

Do you have any travel plans?

Lucy
xoxo

The Roman Colosseum

If you want to find out all about my recent travels to Rome you can read all about it here. I had such a fantastic time, and Rome is definitely a must visit place. One of the must visit attractions is the Colosseum and I thought I would dedicate a post to it.

Before the trip my family and I had done some research into whether we needed to pre-book to go to the Colosseum or not. My friend had not long been herself and said there is ample of opportunities to buy tickets on the day. She was not joking, when you arrive there are hundreds of people selling tickets but I am always a bit unsure about whether they are all official or just a scam. We had bought a 48 hour hop on hop off bus ticket, and with the same company you were able to buy off them tickets for the Colosseum. We pre-booked a slot of 2pm to go the next day. The tickets were around 30 euros each, which I think is the standard price from wherever you decide to buy your tickets from. 

If possible I would definitely try and pre-book tickets, or if that is not viable then I would recommend at least booking a time slot. We went in April and the queue was pretty big. If you have a slot booked you will stay have to queue. We queued for about 40 minutes, but the other queue was easily 2 hours as it snaked all around the outside of the Colosseum. We found it all a little bit unorganised as there was three separate queues and there was only one person who worked there trying to organise hundreds of people. Once in the correct queue, there was a tight security process which I am always happy to see. You can pay for a guided tour with a tour guide, an audio tour or you can just stroll round at your leisure. We opted for the audio tour which I would recommend. There wasn't much to read inside to find out about its history, whereas the audio tour was split up into sections and you go can round slowly at your pace and listen to the relevant information at each point. For the extra few pounds it definitely brought the place to life.

It was really interesting to find out in much more depth about the Colosseum and its use. It used to hold 50,000+ people at one time. Its main use was for gladiator contests and public spectacles. We have all heard of gladiators but it really brought to life seeing exactly how it was viewed. It's quite barbaric to find out that they use to let prisoners have second chances by competing in the tournaments in order to have freedom known as people vs beast games. It used to be the main source of entertainment and tourists would travel from far and wide to come to events. You are able to see the underground area which is called the hypogeum which is thought to have been where they held the gladiators, prisoners and animals.

Despite it being so grand and such a big piece of history for Rome it was not actually in use for its purpose for that long. It unfortunately became damaged quite significantly from an earthquake in 1349 and has been restored to be a tourist attraction over the years. In 2018 it was actually the most visited tourist attraction in the world with over 7 million tourists visiting it.

As well as the Colosseum you can visit to more sites called Palatine Hill and The Roman Forum. The Forum houses ruins showing different eras from the city of Rome. Palatine Hill is one of the oldest parts of ancient Rome left and was once the home of many emperors.

Overall, we are all had a fantastic day at the Colosseum and if you visit Rome no matter if you are into history or not you have to go. Rome has to keep so much of its history alive and this is a perfect example of how they have done this.

Lucy
xoxo