405. Barcelona eats.

 1. Ugot.

Great stylish little cafe with a vintage theme. Offered a mixture of brunch items such as omlettes, eggs benedict and shatshuka. Best brunch place we visited. Ranges between 8euros - 10euros.

 2. Federel Cafe.

More of the minimalist hipster with a macbook vibe, you can sit in the windows of the cafe which makes for outdoor eating. Some of the staff are nice some are rude so it's a lucky dip with service. Very large menu and lots to choose from. Adored my brioche toastie with cheese and ham shoulder. The boyfriend said the omelette in Ugot was better. About the same price as Ugot. 7euros - 12euros. More variety.

3. Bar Fidel

Great little sandwich shop, which had a great authentic feel at bargain prices.

4. El Xampanyet

Very popular with all the tourists and there's a reason why. It's tasty, authentic and 1 litre of cava is 10 euros. No pictures as I was too busy enjoying it. The staff are super friendly and helpful, there's such a great atmosphere and it's very affordable. Recommend to arrive 10 minutes before opening if you want a seat!

5. El Poble Sec (Road)

There's a road filled with lots and lots of small restaurants/bars which all offer a Spainish snack called Pinchos. They aren't anything special but they are quite fun to eat and range between 1- 2 euros so a bargain if you're on a tight budget.

404. Mr. Bao

A lovely little place in Peckham, Mr. Bao has had residency for the last couple of years. Bao's seem to be the craze as of late making their appearance at most pop-up street markets and the well known Bao in soho.
This little place is a perfect for a light lunch or evening cocktails and tit-bits.

Menu Done asian style, you get handed a little menu which you tick what you want. Split between the side dishes and bar's there's a great variety between veg and meat. Well balanced I'd say.

Interior Nicely done, nothing fancy. Nice exposed light bulbs, bit of floral tiling. However this place is very small and they've made good use of the space they have. Fits about 25 people.

Food Tapas style each plate came out as soon as it was ready. We opted for four sides to share and a bao each for a light lunch. This was the perfect amount.

First came the pork dumplings. Probably my least favourite out of everything, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy them because I did. The only thing was that the pastry didn't taste fresh and split easily when picked up. They should've been slightly more crisped, however the filling was great, well seasoned and light. Although the biggest faux pas is that soya sauce was not provided! Sriracha sauce was instead... 6.3/10

Next came the sweet potato fries with wasabi mayo. Ooo lordy these were good. Almost like tempura, the batter was lightly crisp and semi flaking off. The wasabi mayo was delicious (although could've been stronger personally) but they were great. A lovely little side dish. Highly recommended, however they are a bit stingey on the mayo. 8.4/10

Then followed by Soya and Ginger Edamame beans and Fried Chicken with siracha mayo. The edamame beans were delicious, the sauce was great sweet and salty. Can't go wrong. The fried chicken was good, nothing to rave about. But great if you can't resist a bit of some crispy fried chicken. Came with siracha mayo, which for me was ok but would've preferred a sticky honey and soya sauce. 6.1/10

Lastly came the Bao's. These were pretty darn good. Lots of flavour, fresh and tender. A good size too, you might think they were a bit small but the dough is rather filling but light at the same time. I opted for the Chicken and Kim Chi whilst the sister went for the Slow braised pork and Peanut powder.  Delicious. 6.8/10

Price Sides £3-4 / Baos £4 - £5

Rating 7.6/10

Verdict Service is a bit slow, very small restaurant and do need a larger venue especially when you allow large family with buggies. However bang for your buck. All the above came to £22! Great food too.

Address 293 Rye Ln, London SE15 4UA

403. I don't like to wash my hair.

We all get fucking lazy and hate to wash our hair. I thought now that I've hacked my hair off to a bob length it would be easier. Nope, still hate washing my hair. Maybe I'm gross, lazy, or just don't want to conform to society. Who am I kidding. Nah, just lazy and gross I think. However when I discovered Batiste, circa Reading festival 2008, that helped wash away any greasy looking festival vibes and was from then on my saviour.
However I always had a problem with it, it left me looking like I had dandruff. No matter what advice people told me, "rub it in properly" or "use it the night before" it still left a white residue on my dark head of hair (I know they do a brunette one but I'm not paying extra for that, plus back in 2008 i remember it was about £1.50 for a can!). Not only that but it irritated my scalp.

Anyways I've tried a few other dry shampoos in the process, Mark Hill (did weird things to my hair) , herbal essences (kinda-ish worked), label m (didn't work), superdrug's own brand (nope, didn't work).

So I kinda gave up. Until I saw a new brand in Superdrug called CoLab which had the cutest bottle design, it was half price so I thought I'd give it ago. Trying the original scent for a clean fresh smell, it worked a dream. All varieties promote that it doesn't leave a white residue! Which it didn't! And it worked beautifully not leaving my hair feel too dry either! After a couple test runs I ran back to Superdrug and stocked up on a couple more bottles (opted for the extremely cute fruity scent with smiley faces on the bottle and the tropical covered in the trendy look of "plants on pink" print).

Not only is this stuff great but it's vegan friendly, not tested on animals, and protects your hair from uv damage and pollution!

So guys test this shit out! You'll never look back.

402. Rome eats.

1. Gelateria Cecere Antonietta - via del Lavatore 84, Rome, Italy (Trevi)

A friend who'd been going to Rome for many years recommended this place. Just round the corner from the trevi fountain, this area is filled with gelateria's so I was glad I had this place recommended to me. And it didn't fail to deliver, we opted for a lemon sorbet and double chocolate. Oh me oh my, the lemon was perfectly crisp, moist and refreshing. Not sour but softly sweet that it didn't become sickly. Then the chocolate, that was so perfectly creamy and indulgent. A definite must when visiting the Trevi Fountain. About 4 euros a pop.

2. Il Fornaio Via Dei Baullari, 5, 00186 Roma, Italy

Another recommendation from my friend. This was such a little hidden treasure, traditional and small. With a mixture of sweet and savoury treats to choose from we decided to try their foccacia and a slice of the pizza displayed in their window.

3. Pizza Zizza Roma

A great lil restaurant (teeny tiny) that's worth coming as soon as it opens. It has two tables outside and one inside, that's about it. Round the corner from St Peter's Basilica, I've heard queues can be rather lengthy. Luckily we got there just as it opened. Friendly service, we were offered the tasting menu and agreed to tried all the delights. Whilst waiting we were treated to trying one of their arancini balls which were deep fried cheese rice, so crisp on the outside by moist on the in. Mmm mmm. Then came the platter of pizza slices, just the right size for seven different varieties, the base was lovely and crisp and the ingredients fresh and tasty. My favourites were the pesto topped ones! Highly recommended and for a mere 18 euros for two people, you can't go wrong.

4. CamBio Vito

Another day another gelateria! I delved in for the Stracciatella (vanilla with chocolate shavings) and a hazelnut one. So fresh and creamy! Rather filling after scoffing my face with pizza, great size portions for 4 euros. A must.

5. Market At Campo Dei Fiori

One of our last stops before we left Rome was a place we happened to stumble across. This market was filled with all the goods. Men will try and lure you to try their array of truffle infused saucey things, and you must embrace it. Because as soon as you try one, you want them all! We stoked up on truffle infused pesto (7euros), big ol' wedges of parmigiana (price by weight), sticks of garlic salami (also price by weight) and obviously penis pasta (a bargain a 2.50euros a large pack). It's really pretty and quite fun and such stunning location.

385. The Edit.

So since I've been back I'm trying to rid of my rice gut and get myself some abs for the Summer. Indeed that means working out. So far I've started running on the treadmill for about 15 minutes each morning, I'm hoping I can slowly do more and more. Yes I am that unfit. On top of that I'm doing the 30 day ab challenge. Wish me luck, mean while I'm still wishing the below could be my work out outfit...

1. Watch, Nixon, £100 Buy Me

2. Leggings, Stussy, £30 Buy Me

4. Sports bra, Nike, £55 Buy Me

5. Trainers, Nike, £159 Buy Me

5. Necklace, Amazon, £22 Buy Me

383. Made by Dawn.

New bikini designer "Made by Dawn" caught my eye on Pinterest with it's minimalist designs and organic colour palette. Created by Hawaiian surfer and former model Dawn Peterson, her cool vibes have moved from the beach to bikinis. With a slight nod to a sporty look, it's still feminine and delicate in contrast to current brand "Triangle" who use stiff neoprene and harsh lines to outline shapes. "Made by Dawn" feels a lot more intimate, relaxed and carefree. Their tops remind me of what I wore when I was younger, but in a fresh and innocent way. I like how they are unstructured and fuss free. A definite designer to keep an eye on this summer.

Prices from £68

Shop at Matches

382. My Pick.

MONKI

£50

Buy Me

381. The Edit.

Having been away for the last six months, I feel it is finally time to revert my blog back to what it was. A frivolous amount of fashion, fun and photoshoots. 

Easing myself back into an actual wardrobe with clothes, it's exciting to be able to wear heels and coats again, so here is my latest edit reliving that sassy 90's vibe.

1. Backpack, Moschino, £388 Buy Me
2. Sneakers, Converse, £44 Buy Me
3. Leather skirt, Coach, £595 Buy Me
4. Tank top, Topshop, £22 Buy Me
5. Necklace, Amazon, £22 Buy Me

380. Top travelling tips.

Whilst travelling there some things which I wish I had bought with me, stuff which I wish I left behind and so fourth so below are some things which I think you should pack and additional tips.

1. Pack an extension lead - Some hostels may have a couple of plug sockets, so when there's about 10 of you in one room life's easier with some additional plug sockets.

2. Passport pictures - When applying for visas you need passport pictures, it's just very handy to have.

3. Don't bother with miniatures - You'll end up spending more money, my friend and I would just buy one normal size bottle shampoo/toothpaste and carry it between us. Money was scarce.

4. If you can get wheels on your back pack then do - I didn't have a wheely backpack but Nikki did, people helped her a lot more than me. Everyone carried her bag for her where I was always carrying it mine on my back, hers had bloody wheels! I didn't loose any weight or got fitter by this. So get some wheels.

5. Get a go pro - If there's one thing I wish I had on this trip it's a GoPro, I carried my massive DSLR but it's heavy, big and not waterproof.

6. Leggings - Screw the harem pants, they are fucking ugly and leggings last longer, more versatile and generally less offencive.

7. J Pillow - You're travelling a lot and always have a coach or plane journey round a corner, you need to invest in a good pillow. I wish I'd known about the J pillow before hand because they are so much better than the C shaped ones.

8. Deet - I got bitten to shit, and it hurts. Opt for the deet 100% that does the shit. Don't listen to any hippy that bangs on about how bad it is for your skin. Because it's worse when you have about 50 red itchy splurges all over your body which wake you up at night because they are fucking irritatingly itchy and sore.

9. Anthisan - That shit that gets rid of the bites, you might still get bitten. That one time you forget to spray on the deet, it's a bugger. So make sure you have the cream to heal that pain.

10. Antihistamins - For the time when you have a really bad allergic reaction. For some reason in New Zealand I mysteriously had the worst allergic reaction ever, the cause is still unknown. I had to take antihistamines for a month to make sure it didn't make a surprise appearance. Also they help with bites.

11. Hip flask - Because you're poor and can't afford the drinks in the club.

12. Socks - There are dirty places, there are cold places and there are places that only give you a pillow to sleep with.

13. A giant square of fabric - I call this a sarong, some call it a blanket, some call it a scarf and perfect if you're visiting temples. Therefore extremely multifunctional.

14. US dollars - In asia when paying for shit like visas they lurve (require) the US dollar. Will work out cheaper compared to any other currency.

15. Those giant clip things - You know the type that abseiling people kinda have or trekkers have to clip their water bottle to your rucksack. Well they are super useful when all your stuff doesn't fit in your bag. 

I didn't advise all the obvious ones because you can figure out that yourself. Those are my top tips. Enjoy.

376. Travel diary. Bali.

Semiyak A small town right next to Kuta, this is a nicer and less commercial place to stay in comparison to the Aussie filled Kuta. This is the best place to start and end your journey. Being a £4 journey to and from the airport it's cheap and convenient. I would recommend staying in an airbnb if there's a group of you as you can get gorgeous places with swimming pools. Otherwise stay at M hostel. It's the most well known hostel round there and the guy who owns it is quite helpful. There's lots of good places to eat round the area and if your staying in the hostel there's a supermarket right next to it. We took a day trip to Tanah Lot, one of the sites not to be missed. It's gorgeous floating temple made of natal rock formation. Kind of hard to explain. But cool and rather spiritual as you'll find bali to be. It cost roughly £2 to get in and a taxi there (1hr long) costs about £5 but to get back is double as there aren't any taxis around and you have no choice. A cool place you'll definitely have to visit is potatohead you could spend the whole day there. Expect it to be more expensive than average bali as is is rather an upmarket place to hang out.

Ubud This is one of he nicest parts of bali, it's the most rural and out the tourist spots and has a real sense of bali. We headed to the monkey forest. This too was about £2 entry. It's a gorgeous spiritual forest which feels like your in the jungle. There are monkeys everywhere! They are quite forthcoming especially if you have food. Bring your own bananas if you want to feed the because they rip you off a bit inside. They will climb on you but don't worry there are people about to help you. We saw lots of baby monkeys which were so cute, sitting on their mums back or just being cuddled. I definitely recommend this place it was a fun place to be. After we walked into the central of Ubud, there's a rather large market which is great to pick up little presents and test out your haggling skills. I bought a pretty sarong for he equivalent of a pound. The lady started off at 75k but I eventually got it down to 20k. What a bargain. I also got a pretty crochet tie up crop top for £1.50. This too started very high but I just haggled it down. It's worth doing. It's such a colourful market and has lots of art and souvenirs.

Tabanah If you're wanting more of a romantic get away to somewhere secluded in the countryside then Tabanah is your place. We found a gorgeous place to stay on airbnb which was expensive for bali but affordable if you want to pay for a little luxury. I would highly recommend where we stayed. It was idyllic. We had our own private infinity pool, outdoor bath tub and a shower that made me feel like I was in a herbal essences advert.

 

Gili Islands

This by far has been one of the most beautiful places I've visited. However the Gili islands are made up of three islands in total. When booking your ferry I would advise you to do it at the port as this is where you'll get the best price. For our journey from Padangbai -> Gili T and Gili Air-> Padangbai shouldn't be more than 500k. The boat journey isn't the funnest if you wanna pay that little, you can probs upgrade to a nicer boat for double the price but the journey is about 2 hours. Not the one hour they tell you. 

Gili T - Known as the party island, we only stayed there for two swift nights as this wasn't the best place to relax and was definitely the most built up and the busiest. With lots and lots of restaurants to choose from, they surprisingly don't mark up the prices compared to mainland that much at all. All the food is pretty damn tasty and when you're in Indonesia you won't be able to stop eating the chicken satay with peanut sauce. 

We went snorkelling and within five minutes saw giant turtles about 5 meters away from the shore line. It was amazing! So many fishes too. Try and take your own snorkelling kit if you plan to do loads as they do rip you off with renting the gear on this island.

I highly recommend stayed at Happy House, this was a really lovely homestay. Working out at about £15 a night it's best to stay there if you're a pair. You get a big double room with air conditioning and a lovely little mosquito net canopy around your four poster bed. Your ensuite is outside and is pretty nice, even get breakfast included and an ulimited supply of tea and coffee which is incredible. If you plan on getting the scrabbled egg for breakfast it's pretty bizarre as they put parmesan on it and kinda ends up tasting like carbonara. 

They also rent bikes, don't pay more than 50k (£2.50) you should be able to haggle. And you can use them for the whole day, we ended up cycling around the whole island, stopping off along the way for a nice little dip as it was sweltering hot. 

Gili Air - Getting from Gili T to Gili Air is about a 30 min boat journey and will cost you 40k. No haggling involved as you should buy it from the port on the island from the information desk. 

Gili Air is noticeably cleaner and quieter. The vibe is a lot more calm and you'll notice it's also a little cheaper. We stayed at Banana Bungalow which was recommended by a friend. This was the same price as Gili T for a similar kind of set up. Really pretty area, and its right next to the beach. We stayed here for three nights. There wasn't lots to do but it's perfect for relaxing, swimming, snorkelling and lots of eating. Our favourite place to eat was Zipp bar, the food was incredible, cheap and you got amazing views in the evening. If you're wanting something western they do really good pizzas too. 

TOP TIPS FOR VISITING BALI

1. Don't let taxi drivers mug you off - Make sure they put the meter on and you only pay what the meter says. Alot of the time they will start driving and say a price, when really it's a fraction of the price.

2. Make sure you have small notes at all times. - Taxi drivers and market traders will try and mug you off as they never have small change. So always try and pay the correct amount.

3. You can do things last minute - Booking things last minute is totally fine. They seem to always make it work.

4. Haggle - Haggle absolutely everything.

5. Cycle around Gili. - Careful your butt hurts.

6. Bug spray - Where shit loads of it.

375. Travel diary. Australia.

Melbourne

Melbourne has so far been one of favourite cities I've visited and definitely better than Sydney. Well that's my opinion. It had such a cool vibe about it and I could totally see why it's been voted one of the most live able cities in the world.

There wasn't so much as sites to see, it was very limited when we went on our tour. But definitely visit the botanical gardens if you get a chance, it's totally beautiful and check out the art gallery too.
We wanted to stay here for longer, there's so many good places to eat, bars to drink at and clubs to party at. Oh and don't let me forget the shops to spend your money at!

Section 8 - Party here. It's got such a cool relaxed dance vibe with no pretentious feelings about it. It's outside too so you don't get too sweaty.

                           

Hosier Lane - This is the main road for all the sickest street art about. You'll see loads around Melbourne. It's so beautiful and colourful.

Sydney

                           

Three sisters and blue mountains - This places was truly stunning, if you want to see any history in Sydney then here is where you're going to get it. Kinda like their version os stone henge.

Get the ferry - Take the ferry from the Opera house to Manly. Manly has gorgeous beaches and is great to spend the day there. It's not as busy as Bondi and it's prettier. The ferry return is about $14 and you get stunning views. Great for a nice touristy picture.

Sushi on Stanley - You have to eat at this place, the food was incredible and really cheap. Serving all fresh Japanese food it cost no more than $10 and you got a lot for your money. It's a tiny little place but has real authenticity about it.

Brisbane

Brisbane is definitely a quieter city. Night life isnt massive but we spent new years at a cool club called T.B.C. With a similar vibe to London, it's underground and plays music which isn't in the pop charts. A nice change to the awful backpacker bars we've ended up in.

I also went to the Steve Irwin zoo, it was amazing! So many cute animals, the Koalas were definitely a highlight.

Fraser Island

Only 4x4 are only allowed on this island, so if you plan to go without a tour make sure you have a 4X4. Luckily we were with friends. Also note, there are basically no facilities on this island. You have to buy all your food in advance and all amenities. There are about two shower and toilet blocks. Which are all a long drive from where ever you stay most likely. As we were camped out on the beach, however idyllic and waking up to the crashing waves of the sea, it was hard to find somewhere to hide and pee.

Lake McKenzie was incredible though, a natural lake in the middle of the island, I'd never seen anything quite so clear before. The sand was the whitest and cleanest sand I had ever seen and the water was insanely clear. Beautiful. We even did a bit of snorkelling and saw some turtles!

Driving around Fraser Island itself is fun. We weren't the most prepared, as we got stuck in the sand a few times and had to be towed out by fellow drivers. This was common but we didn't have any equipment to help us out. Driving was also a very trecherous thing, lots of bumps and if you get car sick. This isn't for you.

Perth

I enjoyed Perth a lot more than I thought, not many people venture to the West coast but this was on our way to Bali. Nikki also had family there so it was really nice to spend some friendly faces. There were so many beautiful untouched beaches and it felt so serene.