Be a tourist in your own city!

I have been slacking on this blog and I apologize, but I have been busy having a life! Haha, sorry. Lately I have been busy exploring the city that I live in & loving every second! Don't get me wrong, London is FAB but Bournemouth has a beach, forests, hidden castles, and great nightlife!

While Bournemouth is fairly new to me (even though I have lived here for almost 2 months), I think we can all take note here-- exploring the city you actually live in can be just as exhilarating as traveling the world! Think about it, there are probably loads of tourist attractions back in Phoenix, Arizona where I was living for the past 6-7 years- but truthfully? I've probably only seen camelback mountain, fashion square mall, and the inside of every bar in Scottsdale. I don't know what the capital building even looks like nor do I know anything about the history of Phoenix/Scottsdale. Even when I'm back in Milford, Michigan, Palm Beach, Florida, or New York (all places I have lived) I don't do very "touristy" things... In fact I avoid time square like the plaque and I other than the beach I'm not even sure what there is to see in Florida. This is actually a bit sad because I quite enjoy history and learning about people and places!

So I've been getting to know Bournemouth, past and present and meeting some fun characters along the way. During the week from getting home from London I spent my time off exploring castlepoint shopping centre, Bournemouth Towne centre, tower park cinema, and pokesdown vintage district (where I discovered an alice in wonderland themed vintage shop & a thrift shop where i finally scored some gloves and killer cape coat for basically pennies!)

Then Last Saturday I joined my new friend James at his "hot tub party" expecting it to be rainy and freezing and have zero interest in being in a "swimming costume" (which I now have to call it because I've been told calling it a "bathing suit" makes me sound like a posh asshole.), but as luck would have it, it was a beautiful day!! We enjoyed hot tubbing, sausage rolls (still strange to me but delicious), random Indian food, pizza, and cocktails! Ps. England sells cider in 2 liter plastic bottles like its soda hahaha I die.

Later that night Aaron made his way down to Bournemouth! (Australian guy I met in Paris, partied with in London, come on keep up!) and we stopped for a casual drink at this place called the dancing jug then on to a club called Cameo & Myu bar which is heaps of fun. We stopped to take photos with the fire twirling guy on stilts out front (beat that scottsdale) before indulging in strawberry martinis and red bull vodkas and dancing the night away! On the way out I was informed that Aaron had never been to a proper strip club so we went over to wiggles (did I mention everything in England is super straight-forward) and after I sufficiently embarrassed him we took a taxi home and laughed our asses off at the whole experience.

The next morning James picked Aaron and I up with his friends Britta and Zuhleika (who were also visiting from London) to go see some sites! We went to Christchurch to check out this super quaint beach with colorful beach huts, kayaking, sailboats then had lunch at his house (left overs from the hot tub party), followed by a visit to highcliffe castle which was INCREDIBLE! There was Alice in wonderland-esque mazes, and the castle itself was breathtaking! Later that evening Aaron and I went down to sandbanks to see the ridiculously humongous homes and see the island (it was too cold by that point to really explore much), then went to a restaurant/bar called Aruba before taking him to the train station to head back to amazing London.

Shockingly enough, the next couple of days were great weather! I would even call Tuesday HOT!! I took Olivia (one of the girls I'm au pairing for) down to sandbanks again and spent the day sticking our feet in the English Channel, searching for sea shells, and eating ice lollies. Amazing. Then later saw evil dead at tower park with James & I'm still having nightmares haha!

Next adventure was one extremely close to home- the dad at the house I'm living in told me about a park that was a little off the beaten path to take Olivia and the dog too & I discovered probably the prettiest random forest with rivers, intricate lush green trees, ending in a big open field with the craziest park jungle gym I've ever seen! It was all built out of sturdy wood and was huge! Compared to parks in America I was blown away- no plastic bull shit, I'm talking huge wooden play bridges and such. Later that night my super lovely friend Charlotte and I went out to dinner in westbourne which is apparently a great place to find delicious restaurants & a few cool shops! We went to this pizza place called soho where I had a pizza with red pesto, spiced nuts, sun dried tomatoes, and sweet potato (so random who thinks of these combos seriously!?) but it was so yummy I can't complain!

In the mix of all this fun I've also been attending interior design classes at the art university Bournemouth and LOVING it!!! Acting is still my main dream/goal but as my education is mostly design based I figured I'd continue some studies abroad- meet some people, add to my portfolio, and my résumé! The class is full of amazing women and one fantastic guy & so far I am seriously enjoying new things about color theory, lighting, and trends. The class breezes by and puts a big smile on my face mid-week!

Basically bournemouth has a little bit of everything, lush forests, beaches, ridiculously posh homes, night clubs, pubs, farms, random cow sightings, and a killer art university. Ba da ba ba ba... I'm loving it!

I'm sure I'm leaving loads out but at the very least its a quick update of what's been going on during my European adventure for my friends and family who've been asking!

Xx

Spring songs, reads, and shows

I have been spending quite a bit of time on trains and planes lately which means a lot of reading, music, and Netflix time. Here's what I've been into lately, feel free to share some suggestions of some songs/books/films I should download! Xx

On my playlist:

• Blue and Yellow- the used
• Lucky Ones- Novelties (my good friends band - downloading their EP "searching for better weather" is an absolute MUST
• Colorblind- Counting Crows (all time fave)
• Frank Sinatra- Miss Kitten and the Hackers (strangest song EVER but I can't get it out of my head so I had to download it)
• Come and get it- Selena Gomez
• 22- Taylor Swift, every girl in their 20's has T-swift on their play list #typical
• Drinking from the bottle - Calvin Harris
• Issues- Kings of Amarillo
• I like you better when you're high- Composition VI ( remember that band I saw in Paris? The one Aaron plays in?- well, they're fantastic- check them out here-- soundcloud.com/compositionvi

On my Netflix queue:

• the secret diary of a call girl-- based on the "diary of a London call girl" books... One word, AMAZING, a must watch show in my book, totally risqué and deviant. Perfection.
• the in-betweeners- most British comedy shows are a little too dry for me but this one has hit the nail on the head. Witty and funny.

On my Kindle:

• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy-- it was tough to get into the first book honestly but half way through I was hooked and the next two books read like butter. Really brings attention to some serious issues in Sweden along with sharing a tantalizing story of a very lovable albeit strange woman named Lisbeth Salander. I seriously wish there were more than 3 books, I just want to follow this woman's life forever.

• Six Questions of Socrates-- I saw this book at a small book store at the Camden Lock and read through a few pages, came home and immediately downloaded it. So far it's enlightening as well as intriguing a must read if you're into philosophy.

• Tiger Lily-- a dark book about life in Neverland with the lost boys. So up my alley.

Well there ya have it folks! Send me your favorites for my next downloading frenzy!

Xx
Laura

London's calling! Xx

This past weekend I headed to my new favorite place on earth- London again. I am in love with this city, i love the anonymity- how you can walk down the street in a super hero costume and everyone would just assume you were going to a stag or hen party, then forget about you completely the 2 minutes later, i even love the weather & don't mind the stairs. This time i was going to meet Rochelle before she goes back home to Arizona & I can't even fully describe how amazing the weekend was! When I first arrived at the hostel I knew that Rochelle's flight had been delayed by an hour and that once she landed in London her phone wouldn't work, so I quickly ran to the co-op (mini supermarket) to grab some snacks, figuring she would be hungry and knowing it would be too late to get any decent food by the time she got settled. When she arrived she seemed a bit overwhelmed by the traveling experience due to the fact that she had 3 very heavy bags with her (I can tell you from experience, that's THE worst). So it pained me to tell her that our room was in the 3rd wing of the hostel, on the top floor... And there were not lifts in the whole building. Yikes. At that point she opted to check her largest bag into the luggage room and just use what was in her carry on, carrying a 60 pound bag up 8 flights of stairs. Hell no.

After the initial set backs we freshened up and headed over to Bodo's Schloss, a super posh alpine themed club on high street Kensington. I was told by everyone I spoke with that the chances of getting in were slim to none- even if you managed to get on a promoters list (which I did thanks to twitter), so I was prepared to wait in a massive cue, or be turned down all together. While we did have to wait it only took about 15 minutes- maybe that's because we didn't make it there until 1 am. As far as London clubs go Bodo was massive, each room leading to yet another room, the music was from 2 years ago but I'm beginning to think that England is just in a time warp when it comes to the media (I'm going to start fucking with people and predicting the future). Rochelle and I danced the night away, making friends with the only other New Yorker in the building (go figure) until 3 am when we decided it was time to get McDonald's and a taxi home. On the walk to McDonald's we asked an attractive stranger if he knew where the nearest cash point was, he directed us towards the nearest one and we realized that he was French, Rochelle and our new friend Jean-Baptiste got to chatting about life in Paris and he then joined us on our quest for McDonald's. Turns out, you can make friends pretty much anywhere in Europe.

The next day our first stop was Primark. I HAD to show Rochelle this store which is basically a broke yet fashionable person's heaven. The store is MASSIVE and you can get everything from dresses to throw pillows, shoes, exercise clothes, tights, beanies and everything is under £20. I've bought beanies from there for literally £3. In love. The draw back? They don't sell their clothes online & it only exists in England.

Next up we headed to check out covent garden- we wandered through the street art market and tried to grab a table at punch and Judy's but there weren't any so we walked over to the Essex serpent and got a table for 3 (Rochelle's from Alex from high school in California was meeting us for lunch- he has been stationed at the Air Force base in Cambridge). We tried to order some ciders while we waited and I was ever so rudely told that we couldn't order until our friend got there and we couldn't take up a table that fit four people with just the two of us. I tried to explain that he was on the tubes coming to meet us and we just wanted to grab a drink while we waited for him and would order food once he arrived. I was rudely ignored and I went back to the table, unsure of whether our ciders were on their way or not (they came 15 minutes later). When Alex arrived he got a lager and Rochelle proceeded to ask me if I was going to get any lunch (we were going to afternoon tea shortly afterward and I had mentioned that I might save my appetite)-- the server then exclaimed "if you're not ordering food you can NOT sit at this table!" Rochelle and I looked at her in shock and told her that Rochelle and Alex planned on ordering food, I just wasn't that hungry. No idea what we ever did to her, but I now understand why Americans started the tipping system- if a server treated me like that back home I'd just leave a crappy tip... Here you don't tip anyway, so they can say and do whatever they want. Anyways, on the plus side the food looked delicious and the company and atmosphere was great!

Next on our agenda was high tea at the Kensington hotel, where Jean-baptiste was also meeting us :). Upon arrival we were greeted by very pleasant staff who took our coats and directed us to a beautiful table by the fire place. We were served champagne, our choice of teapot, tons of yummy finger sandwiches, followed by a gin and tonic sorbet, scones with lemon curd, clotted cream, and strawberry preserves, as well as about 1000 mini desserts. It was the fanciest thing you could possibly do on a cloudy day in south Kensington. It was elegant and super posh but not in the awful "you're not good enough to be here" kind of way. It was great conversation with great people.

We then went back to the hostel to change into some casual pub-hopping attire, but before we went out there was one thing we HAD to do. Kings cross station, platform 9 3/4. Yes, it exists and if you don't know what I'm talking about then you've never seen or read Harry potter & you need to stop reading the blog immediately and go read those instead.

After platform 9 and 3/4 Rochelle, Alex and I went up to a little train station Mexican place for some corona and guacamole while we waited for Alex's friends Andrew and Angie to meet us, I had no idea what the night had in store but I was ready for anything. We started at a pub in Piccadilly Circus, jäger bombs started flowing, followed by some becks lager, then on to the next bar. We wandered down into Soho and I pointed out a busy bar with no line, a full liquor well and good music, we went in ready to dance and have a good time when Rochelle and I looked around and she whispered to me "I think this is a gay bar" it only took me a second to look around and see that she was indeed correct. We waited for the guys to order drinks before telling them-- Andrew and Alex are american Air Force, in my experience- many military men are not pro-gay bar haha, but these two guys?? LOVED it. They started dancing their butts off ordered more drinks and made friends with just about everyone in the building. Amazing.

Next our friends that we met at Le Pop in bar in Paris came to meet up with us as the gay bar was closing and we went over to a random place called Madame jojos. We were instantly transported back in time in the best possible way. Everyone was dancing to Elvis and doing the twist and our crew happily joined in the fun. Go finally got to use my random ballroom dancing talents from my time as an apprentice teacher at Arthur Murray in Scottsdale! Ha!

When we headed back to the hostel Aaron (incredible Australian guy we met in Paris who lives in London) and I sat up in the hallway talking to random people from all over the world until I eventually had to head to sleep.

On Sunday it was time to see the sites, and we couldn't have picked a better day to do it, it was 70 degrees (Fahrenheit) and sunny!! We started with a full English breakfast at a local pub in earls court then took to the tubes to see buckingham palace, went over the embassy to see the royal guard, walked through Hyde park and chatted with a lovely British couple who had the cutest little doxen puppies. They informed us that it was black Sunday a day where the retired members of the royal guard come home and there's this big gala. We tried to follow the marching band music to actually get a photo with a member of the royal guard but we just missed them (I WILL get a picture kissing one on the cheek before I leave the UK). We then kind of just wandered, we saw Westminster abbey, Big Ben, the London eye, parliament buildings, looked over the Southbank bridge on the Thames.. Then caught a double decker bus to Waterloo where we stumbled upon the alchemy food market. I'm not sure how often this market is there but I'm so happy we found it, we tried some samosas and pakooris and had the best homemade chai tea ever! Heavenly.

Next up was Camden town, we stopped and met Alex for a drink at the bucks head pub, and then Rochelle and I explored the Camden Lock which is my favorite place on earth. You can get everything from fancy teas to fur coats, vintage books, a giraffe burger, there's ice cream, riverboat rides, pubs, clubs, vintage shops, local designer shops.. If I ever moved to London THAT is where I'd live (not so shocking fact that's where Aaron lives, go figure.. Lucky bastard.)

As the day was coming to an end we met Rochelle's friend from Australia (that she met in Barcelona) Lauren at the hostel and went over to nandos for dinner. We had heard amazing things about this popular British/Australian chain and the critics were not wrong-- amazing food!

Then it was time for me to catch a coach home to Bournemouth, but it was definitely nice to sleep in a large comfortable bed and shower in a private bathroom.

I will miss every single person I spent this fantastic weekend with, but the way all of us enjoy traveling, I'm sure I will see you in some part of the world! One thing is for sure-- you are all welcome to come and stay at my place wherever I may be.

Till next time London. Xx

Viva la France!

Last Saturday I packed my bags and headed to heathrow airport to meet my lovely friend Rochelle in Paris for 4 days, I was not sure what to expect since I've heard from so many people that the French aren't particularly fond of Americans. My French is also VERY basic- I was basically limited to "Merci" "no pâle vous France" "bonjour/ bonsoir" and basic food knowledge (Poulet is chicken, poisson is fish, boisson is drink, and so on).

The plan was to meet Rochelle at Charles de Gaulle airport and if for some reason I couldn't find her by 10 am we would meet at the RER B. this would have been fine, barring the fact that my flight was delayed by 45 minutes and it took me just as long to figure out which carousel my luggage was coming out of. Lets just say CDG airport is not the most easily navigated place in the world.

When I was told the flight was delayed I was already on board the flight and did not have a wifi connection to Facebook message Rochelle and I knew that her viber account wasn't working. A moment of panic set in thinking she would eventually leave the airport and I would have to navigate the metro alone. So I took to my British viber account and messaged my friend Brandon to Facebook Rochelle to let her know the situation, after accusing me of being helpless he relayed the message and Rochelle and I found each other at arrivals. Hey world, can you work on creating an international phone plan that works and isn't a million $ € or £ thanks.

After that it was all champagne, wine, baguettes, fancy smelly cheeses, foie gras, dancing, site seeing, metro traveling, and all around FUN!

Cliche as it sounds the highlight of my trip was champagne at the top of the Eiffel Tower and exploring the shops in Montmartre -- there's something about Paris that feels so elegant, the beautiful all white architecture, the subway accordian music; even though the metro stations smell like urine and the homeless people are constantly begging for money... It almost felt as if that was part of the experience, like you entered into a production of Les Mis and just wanted to soak everything in, good and bad.

Throughout the week we had a champagne brunch at Maria's house, went to the designer shops, tried just about every flavor of macaron possible, went to a fancy dinner with the lovely Courtney who we met at our hostel in caulaincourt, explored the city- saw the Eiffel Tower, the louvre, found an american pub to get a cheeseburger, put a lock on the Lovers bridge, had a picnic at the Tuileries , bought amazing chocolate, & made more friends at the hostel bar (Mirjam, consuelo, and Carla! Xx)

With the exception of some delicious wine filled dinners and drinks with our fellow hostel guests we ended up being too tired to make it out very late 2 out of the 3 nights I had. The combination of decedent food, constant stair climbing just didnt warrant any late night partying, so The last night we decided to skip a big dinner and go see a show at Le pop in bar, the band that was playing was from London so we figured people there might speak English! Pop in is probably one of the weirdest and coolest bars I've ever been to, when you first walk in you think it's this tiny place until you realize that there's an upstairs with crazy looking vintage couches as well as a basement.

We missed the show but we instantly made friends with the boys of composition vi and convinced them to do an encore performance lol, this later turned into one crazy night filled with beer music, getting lost, wandering into random scary bars and ending up at oneills. Followed by a cab driver purposely taking us to not the nicest part of Montmartre when I wanted to go to my hostel. Wanker.

Welp, all's well that ends well!

Paris tu me manques!! Xx

Add caption