Yup. We have moved back with the dogs and all. I’m pleased to announce we are thriving. Thankfully having relocated internationally before we’re becoming PRO’s at this now. Honestly found it a lot less stressful this time around. Don’t get me wrong the last three months have been *busy* but not terrifying.
The hardest and most stressful part was definitely sending the dogs. Popping your precious babies on a 9 hours flight without you is very scary. Tears were shed. They managed absolutely fine and have settled in brilliantly. The company we used really exceeded expectations which was absolutely lovely.
We managed to sort a house out fairly easily on our last visit here and now just setting up a new business to run along side our current one. Fun fun fun.
If you had told me I would go scooting around Paris on an electric scooter I would have laughed at you. Me? Being a girl that often wears heels, skirts, dresses and carries large handbags. Ha. No.
But I did, and I loved it. Even in a dress and heels.
It’s super easy, you just download the app, find a scooter, scan the code and off you go. Linked to your bank (I used apple pay so even easier) and crazy cheap I cannot recommend trying them out more. They are in lots of locations across Europe and the USA.
We stayed mostly along the river and quiet areas, this was super safe and a good way to see Paris. It really made our trip.
If you want a free first go then use my referral code: RQUBEXD
I just got back from one of the best city breaks of my life and thought it only fair to share my itinerary so someone else could have an amazing trip also!
Day 1
Fly to Paris and check into Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg. This hotel was just completely perfect for us, the location and decor was wonderful, a perfect home away from home. We then walked through Paris to this wonderful italian restaurant that served the largest portions of delicious food.
Day 2
Disney – you always need ears!
Disneyland! Do I need to say more? We got up and ate breakfast at Laduree (Just around the corner from the hotel) then walked to the main train station to catch the train to Disney. This is wonderfully easy – just ask for tickets at the desk and follow the Mickey Mouse. Once there we had pre-booked tickets and as it was a tuesday we just walked straight in.
No lie this was a day of pure magic, we went on rides, met Darth Vader and then watched Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, which is not to be missed if you love horses. After the fireworks we just hopped on a train home and then got a taxi back to the hotel where we quickly fell asleep on our perfect pillows.
Day 3
Paris in a day!
This really was a tour of Paris in a day, in the morning we went to the Louvre. This was insanely busy, some of the art was amazing but by 11am we had to get out of there! We then had lunch at Cafe Maly which is a place to be seen at – the food is pretty great too.
We then got a scooter (Lime – I will pop a referal code at the bottom) to the Eiffel Tower where we went to the top on its 130th Birthday :). The views are super pretty and it was 25 Euros per person. We then scooted along the Seine back to our hotel.
For the evening we went and watch the Birthday light show at the Eiffel Tower and then came back and ordered room service, I would recommend going for dinner at Kong though if you wanted to go for a lovely meal.
Day 4
Hotels beautiful flower displays
We had breakfast at our favourite (Laduree) then scooted down to Ile-de-France where we saw the Notre Dame and visited the beautiful flower market. We then went to Le Girafe Paris for lunch (reservation required) and finished by having dinner at Monsieur Bleu which is a lovely ‘fancy’ french restaurant – another place ‘to be seen’.
Day 5
Fly Home
I will do another blog about Lime Scooters by if you need a code for a free ride use my referral code: RQUBEXD
As always please follow by instagram for more @harrietkristina
I’m an adventure seeking explorer at heart. I love new. New hobbies, new sights and new experiences. I love to explore the world either physically or even mentally through a good book or movie. Due to this regular exploring and also living in different countries I’ve got a few good travel tips:
The trips below are mostly aimed for a city break type of trip but can be applied elsewhere.
Book (EVERYTHING) in advance
Seems obvious but really do book in advance as much as you can – airport parking, restaurants, hotels, taxis, tours etc. This saves as much last second panic and gives your trip some structure. It often works out cheaper to book in advance.
Book a suitcase
I know it’s cheaper not to and to just travel with hand luggage, but it’s stressful. To me trips are supposed to be enjoyable and fun, having the wrong shoes or coat is always the worst and having to buy a new coat /shoes/toiletries is more the £40 checked bag fee. If you can then sharing a suitcase and maxing hand luggage is the most money saving way in my option.
Edinburgh – Royal Mile
Have a plan
Similar to the first point, but have a list of things you want to do and even a flexible schedule to ensure you make the most of your time. Also this can stop cities from feeling daunting and overwhelming.
Get a map/your data sorted
No-one wants to get lost, no-one wants a £500 phone bill to come home to – enough said. Most phone companies do a good bolt on package now 🙂
Be aware of scams
Different cities have different things – black ubers in New York, ‘lost’ jewellery in Paris and shop traps in Jamaica. Read the horror stories of your destination and be wary.
Prague
Overall, be prepared and keep safe. Check your travel insurance for any requirement to have injections etc if you are travelling somewhere ‘excotic’. Most of all – have fun!
I’m getting super excited for my next city break – Paris. I will be heading off in a week and I really can’t wait. If you want to see what I get up to and follow along then please follow me on Instagram (@harrietkristina).
So April started with my Mother visiting which may have slightly affected my fitness regime, but that’s okay, that’s life, it gets twisted and changed around. From this month I’ve very much learnt just to make it work where and when you have time.
What is my fitness goal – please see my first Fitness post for more information on this.
What went well:
Beach rides
Riding lessons have probably saved the day this month, as a ‘new’ hobby I can tell it’s worked some parts of my body that haven’t been challenged in a while. This definitely includes my hip flexors and core, plus as its a sport I can see myself improve every week which is super enjoyable. An increase in swimming – both in the ocean and pool, mostly thanks to my Mum visiting and this being a novitality for her.
Getting my boyfriend back into the gym has also helped as we all know training with a friend is much more fun!
What could have gone better?
I struggled with getting into the gym or doing any ‘hard’ physical exercise at the start of the month, which was a little frustrating. I really do miss running but the climate here is just too hot for me!
Stats:
Get me to the gym!
Riding lessons: 7
Gym sessions: 6
Yoga sessions: 3
Swims: 5
Mays Goals:
In May I’m going to Paris and back to the UK for a few weeks. My fitness is probably going to be more walking around shops and cities. I have seven riding sessions booked in and hopefully I’ll be able to get to the gym a little!
As always if you want to follow along with my life day-to-day please follow my instagram (@harrietkristina)
Visiting Barbados? Love a beach holiday but don’t want to spend your entire time on the beach? Perfect, I have an activity for you!
The Animal Flower Caves are on the North Point if Barbados, originally a blow hole used by smugglers. This blow hole has now been dug out to form stairs to allow tourists access to the caves.
View of the Atlantic Ocean
The tour around the caves is well worth the $25 (Bajan), if you wear swim stuffs and bring a towel then there is a point you can go for a dip in the cave. The water is crystal clear but surprisingly deep. It’s not a particularly long tour (around 20 min) but you can get some fantastic photos and the tour guides are always happy to help take some silhouette photos if you ask nicely. It’s also so different to what you expect from travelling to Barbados. The ‘Animal Flowers’ themselves are sea anemones, you will only get to see a couple, the tour is mostly for the caves.
Top tip: I’d recommend wearing trainers if you don’t have fantastic balance or some kind of secure sandal if you’re swimming. Flip flops are only okay if you have good balance and agility! If you’re going to swim it’s easiest to wear a beach cover up or dress in my option (boys are so lucky with the whole shorts and T-shirt thing)!
View of the waves crashing in
Even if you don’t go in the caves it’s amazing to see the Atlantic Ocean crashing into the island, the contrast to the West Coast is really something. The restaurant is so so, I wouldn’t overly recommend the food, but the homemade lemonade is pretty fab. It is a lovely spot to enjoy a drink.
Overall it’s a great afternoon out, and the tour is something you won’t have done a million times before.
I turned up to the stables on a Monday morning to have my usual private lesson, it went really well, practised my rising trot and even a little sitting trot (I’m like five lessons in). When washing off my beautiful horse my riding instructor asked if I’d like to help collect the horses after a trail ride that had gone out that morning, I’m a yes girl, so I said yes.
Trail views over Atlantic Ocean
We drove down and collected the family who had just had a wonderful stroll through the countryside to the beach on horseback. They were as happy as could be and couldn’t stop saying thank you. Then they were in awe as they watched two of the horses be let free and gallop back to the stables. They then got in there air conditioned taxi and headed back to their hotel.
At this point I was mounted and luckily in control of my horse so he didn’t follow those galloping into the distance. We set off walking back up hill with the odd trot, which I was super happy about (getting in that practise), then my riding instructor asked how I would feel cantering a little up the hills (darn me being a yes person). So off we went….
So beautiful
Bloody hell this is fast
My sunglasses are definitely going to fall
My bones might shake apart
I’m not falling off though
THIS IS AMAZING
It was scary but so amazing, I trusted my horse and as my instructor loves to say ‘went with the horse’. The hack back was insane, beautiful and incredible fun, we walked on long reins, trotted and cantered up hills. We made it back in about 45 min (it was a two hour walk down). It made my Monday!
The more time I spend around horses and in the saddle the more I want to be, its turning into quite an addiction. Anyone tried a trail ride while on holiday? What did you think?
As always please go follow @harrietkristina on Instagram for more 🙂
When did you last set an achievable goal? When did you last actually achieve one of these?
Because I JUST DID and I’m so happy.
I normally fear setting goals as when I don’t manage to hit them it makes goals become so uninfluential and easy to ignore. I am most definitely guilty of setting goals that are too big and too hard. Having recently started riding I decided that all I really wanted to be able to do was to be confidently walking, turning and trotting. Well in my riding lesson yesterday there I was trotting in a circle :D.
I am fully anticipating being awful at my next lesson, but for now I’m super happy!
My next ‘baby goal’ is to be confident with rising trot on three different horses.
More general update is that I’ve got a block of ten lessons booked in and a hack when I’m in the UK in May. My stables are already hinting at leasing me a beautiful Palomino #i’vegotthebugsobad called Candance.
As always please do follow or check out my instagram (@harrietkristina)
Recently at the stables I got roped into playing ‘3 things about you’ with the Easter Pony Camp. This in theory should be the easiest game ever because who knows more about you than you? Yet its strangely difficult to come up with a quick three things repeatedly that others maybe want to know about you.
So here goes –Â
I’m 25 and from Dorset, England, which is where I grew up. I am often am told I look to be 17-20. I was lucky enough to go to private school which I enjoyed immensely. I am the middle child, with a genius older brother and a beautiful little sister. My favourite things are animals, food, travel, fitness, a touch of fashion and mostly my wonderful boyfriend. I currently spend most of my time in Barbados, where I’m trying to get to grips with driving a huge truck but I have also lived in London and Edinburgh. I have the most gorgeous German Spitz (think big Pomeranian) called Bear at home.
This blog is mostly going to be reviews and a little window to my world. If you want to see more please follow my Instagram (@harrietkristina), and this blog! 🙂
Side note: Those under 13 years old preformed much better than I did at this game.
Blonde Traveller 