TRAVEL DIARY - ABU DHABI : Day 2

Hey yall. Today was our last full day here in Abu Dhabi and we had a fair bit planned.

It started with a city tour. Steph and I full thought it was gonna be like a big tour bus...we were wrong. We were literally driven around in a standard Lexus by the hotels private driver. It was so weird. 

First we visited the Grand Mosque. We had to go in and hire the correct dress wear as we were not covering every inch of our skin. I would like to point out that it was a solid 45 degrees Celsius today too. 

It's safe to say that we were sweating our arses off. The architecture of the mosque was simply amazing. It's just so massive and extravagant, it was really hard to process it and take it all in! 

Next we headed to a museum. It was super weird. We got a guided tour and then half way through the guide was trying to sell us half the stuff. It was interesting. The only reason we didn't leave is because of THE AIR CONDITIONING.

After, we headed to a little villagey thing. At this point we were extremely hot, extremely tired and possibly even had heat stroke. We went in and I bought a coke to get a good sugar hit and it worked for about an hour and then I crashed (obviously, biology 101). We wandered and found the beach front and it was absolutely breath taking. The water was extremely blue and clear. I literally wanted to jump straight in it but you weren't allowed to swim in it! 

Our driver then took us to a weird market where we stayed for a grand total of about five minutes then got him to take us back to our hotel. We were so tired and we really just wanted to chill in the aircon before our desert safari tour!

4pm rolls around and we get picked up in a big 4WD for our safari. We pick up 3 other people and head off. It took about an hour and a half to get where we needed to go. One thing I just can't seem to get over is how flat Abu Dhabi is! I'm not used to not seeing any mountains!

Anyhoo, steph and I were feeling quite sick beforehand but we tried not to pay attention to it. Once the desert safari begun, we instantly regretted it. The whole time it was a battle of trying not to throw up!!! It was absolutely horrible! I 100% thought I was going to throw up, but luckily neither of us did. 

A combination of heat, tiredness and dehydration just made us want to go straight back the hotel! We couldn't of course. We had to sit through a sit down meal in the middle of the desert with belly dancers and what not. We were just so ready to leave. 

Don't think for a second though that we didn't appreciate it, because we most certainly did. Not very often do these things happen. 

Tomorrow afternoon we leave for London which we are both so so so excited about! So stay tuned for those posts too X

TRAVEL DIARY - ABU DHABI : Day 1

Hey yall! My European adventure has officially begun! Ahhhh. It was most definitely a long day of domestic flights in Australia, then one big 15hr flight to Abu Dhabi (which is where we are now).

We landed at 6am, Abu Dhabi time, and got picked up and taken straight to our hotel. It was super daunting at first because everyone we had spoke to so far didn't speak a word of English. We got to where we are staying for the next 2 nights and checked in. The lovely guys who served us upgraded us to a premium suite so we could get settled sooner! The customer service has been amazing so far!

We got up to our room, chucked everything down and let out the biggest sigh of relief. We finally made it! And we're still alive! After a 15hr flight, you can probably imagine how gross we felt and probably were! We jumped straight in the shower (not together obviously) and freshened up. 

After our quick power nap, we decided to head off to Ferrari world for the day. That was also super stressful because our cab driver didn't speak English and he quite literally had no idea where he was going, which in the end only cost us more money for our cab fair. By the time we got to Ferrari world (at like 11:30), we were so exhausted and hot. It was a solid 43 degrees Celsius! We got straight in, took some photos and had the most delicious pizza at this quaint little Italian themed restaurant. 

After our pizza we felt ready to go and started to cry ally do stuff! We went on this roller coaster twice and boy oh boy, did I feel extremely dizzy after getting off! Steph (my friend who I'm traveling with) tried to convince me to go on another roller coaster which also happened to be the worlds fastest roller coaster. She managed to get me in line and then I saw how high and steep it was and I said noooo thank you! Being the great friend I am, I left and she went on it alone. Sorry steph! However, she said it was amazing, so it was fine!

We then just wandered around and took photos of the lush ferraris for the rest of the arvo. 

I am now currently sitting in my bed, typing this up on my phone and about to read my book. I cannot wait to be able to sleep in a bed and not in an uncomfortable plane seat!

SIDE NOTE:

Because I wore my most awesome trixin hat all day, I decided to take a photo and post it on Instagram tagging all the trixin crew. It most certainly made my night to see that not only did Bre & Derek Miller liked it, but Derek also decided to like some of my older photos that had nothing to do with him or trixin! That's right ladies and gents, Derek insta stalked me. Hehe

MY IN-FLIGHT ESSENTIALS

Hey y'all. Given that I leave for Europe on Thursday I thought it would be quite fitting to create a post like this. I was actually going to do this as video but then I just could not be bothered! I actually love flying so long as I have something to do i.e read a book, watch a movie, sleep. The longest flight that I've been on (that I was old enough to remember) was to China back in 2013 and I think it was about 9hrs, give or take. Our flight from Sydney to Abu Dhabi is 15hrs!
So, here is everything I'll be taking on the flight with me.


Neutrogena Hyrdogel - This is actually a product I haven't tried out before, so I thought what better place to try it out than a 15hr flight! I bought the night concentrate one just because I feel like it will give me that extra boost of hydration as my skin dries out so bad on planes.

Kindle/Books - I literally do not go anywhere without a book or my kindle in my bag. Reading material is an absolute must have for long flights! I don't know about anyone else, but I tend to read extremely fast when I'm travelling to and from places. Plus, who doesn't love a good book or two?

PawPaw Cream - Another essential that I don't leave the house without! We gotta keep our lips hydrated. In the past, I've also found it can be good for so many other things too.

Phone/iPod - Okay, you're absolutely INSANE if you don't bring any kid of device for you to listen to your favourite jams on! I find it so relaxing to just put on my favourite tracks and drift off to sleep.

Neck Pillow - Planes can be extremely uncomfortable to sleep on. I find it ten times easier if you have a neck pillow, particularly one that can transform into, not only a neck pillow, but a normal travel size pillow too.

Deck of Cards - You never know when you're going to want to whip out the cards and play a spontaneous game of blackjack!

Concealer/Powder/Bronzer/Mascara - Personally when it comes to in-flight makeup, I like to keep it as basic as possible. I only like to take the essentials so that just before we land I can make myself look less dead and bit more alive!

SNACKS - Snacks are an absolute must have! Especially given that food can be expensive on planes.

Panadol/Nurofen - Also a must have. Perfect for if you develop a headache, or worse, a migraine halfway through the flight!

Tissues - all I can say is you never know when you might need some tissues!

Camera - Personally, I just like to keep all my technology with me. Plus, there could be a really cool sunrise or something. This goes for chargers too. You never know when you'll need to charge something.

Jacket - Planes can get super cold sometimes, so it's always safe to keep a jacket on you in case you need to rug up!

Notebook & Pen - I think writing is really fun and a good way to spend your time if you're stuck up in the air for a while. I never write about anything in particular, but you can doodle or keep it like a journal.

Deodorant - Just so I don't absolutely smell when we get off at the other side.

Sunnies - Now, I am very aware that you won't need these on the plane, but depending on where you go, it could be very sunny so I find it good to keep them handy!

So there you have it folks, everything I will be stuffing in my backpack for my first flight to Europe! If I forgot anything, I will certainly add it in and if y'all think I forgot anything, feel free to let me know!

X

CAN WE TALK ABOUT PRETTY LITTLE LIARS? (Just A Little Update)

Hey y'all. I am super duper sorry for the lack of posts over the last couple weeks! Aside from stressing about my upcoming trip to Europe (I leave in 7 days AH!), I've just been dealing with some personal stuff and I didn't really feel like posting; I just was not motivated at all. Not only was I not motivated, I really had no content either…my life is actually super boring. And I'm sure y'all don't want to just read rants about work or life or boys or any of that!

So in my absence I haven't done too much. I've just been taking some much needed me time and just chilling and watching movies.

BUT HOLD UP

Can we talking about Pretty Little Liars for a sec? If you haven't seen the Season 6 Mid-Season Finale THEN DONT CONTINUE READING!

The whole episode I was kind of just thinking, like wow, this is really anticlimactic. Please tell me I'm not the only one? I totally understand how CeCe is actually Charles is totally triply and mind blowing, but at the same time, like why couldn't it have been someone that would've shocked us more? CeCe was always apart of the A team, so that's why I didn't find it too surprising if I'm honest. However, the way it was executed and the back story of how it came about was quite genius.
I applaud you, I. Marlene King.

I just wanted a bigger surprise is all! Someone that really would've left me saying "WTF?!" and completely just "…can't even". I just wanted someone that no one would've expected, like one of the mums or the girls…not someone that was already apart of the A team to begin with. But thats juts my opinion!


So 7 days until I leave for Europe for nearly 5 weeks. I will try to have another post up before then, but I'm not making any promises! I could potentially do some short posts while I'm over there as like journal entry things but I don't know…I could be having too much fun!

Anyways, sorry for the super boring post

X

WE GOT A PUPPY!

Hey y'all. Sorry that this is the first post in a while. I haven't really been myself this last week and a bit. There's no particular reason as to why (that I'm willing to share on here), but despite how I feel I thought it was time to just stop procrastinating and write a post!

WE GOT A PUPPY TODAY!

Today we brought home a new member of our family; a gorgeous little chihuahua puppy named Cab. We adopted this ball of fun from the RSPCA, so he already had a name and my brother didn't want to change it. Much to my disgust, this is predominantly my brothers dog, although he is 12 so I can safely say that my mum will pretty much do all the caring for it and I'll do all the playing (just like with his rabbit but we won't get into that).

On Saturday afternoon (2 days ago) we went down to our local RSPCA animal shelter specifically to look at Cab. My mum was absolutely taken with him. Whilst she was fussing over him, I wandered around and had a look at all the other pups and dogs that were there. All I wanted to do was adopt them all. Even though they are get top notch, around the clock care at the RSPCA, it's still very difficult to see any animal at a place like that when they could be with a loving family.

I was taken with a gorgeous Blue Heeler (Australia Cattle Dog for those who don't know) named Rosie who is about 4 years old and was born deaf. I spoke to one of the carers and she said Rosie has been specifically trained to sit at the front of her pen to have better chance of being chosen. This just broke my little, frozen heart and I wanted to take her. However, I knew that it would be extremely unfair due to the fact that I work a lot and am rarely home and that we simply do not have a decent sized yard for a pooch like that and as much as I hate to admit it, I really wouldn't be motivated to talk her on walks which is just no way to care for a dog.

Whilst I fancied Rosie the most, there were definitely some other cuties who I just wanted to cuddle until there eyes popped out!

I think when you're looking at buying a pet, not just a dog, you should definitely look at your local animal shelter or pet rescue first. You never know who you might fall in love with and you're getting the chance to give that animal a loving family and home. Not that you're not doing that if you're buying them from a pet shop or breeder or something, but even some of the older dogs that just get abandoned could really steal your heart.

Anyway, enough preaching from me! There will be another post up tomorrow containing for photos of our new addition.

Hopefully in the near future, I can be bothered to go on this adventure I tweeted about ;) Give some better content to y'all!

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