For my 24th birthday Jack surprised me for the best one yet..

Hotel- The Giraffe Manor, Kenya

Loungewear by The Wylde

When you travel most of the year and your job involves getting to do some of the most bucket list experiences on the daily, finding something extra special for your birthday can be challenging! Jack had been planning something fun for my birthday, a mystery trip- to Kenya! a place I visited over a year ago but wasn’t able to do the experiences I have longed for- visiting the Giraffe Manor and going on a Safari!

He kept this a surprise up until the day before, even through all my guesses and attempts to spoil the secret! Ive always been bad with surprises!

I truely am the luckiest girl in the world, not only for having the most incredible birthday surprise planned for me, but for getting to spend every day with my soul mate!

We went to two different safari lodges in Kenya, which were a small plane flight from Nairobi.
The first one we visited was Solio Lodge, which we seen sooo much wildlife, from Giraffes, Rhinos, lions, Cheetahs, Elephants
& lastly the 2nd lodge we stayed at was Sasaab in Samburu which we seen many elephants, Cheetahs & other animals, and had this amazing lodge above the river, the most amazing part was while we were staying we got to experience the first rains of the season & watched the dried up riverbed that we were quad biking the day before fill with a flowing stream of water, and you could see the wildlife’s change in mood & interaction from the rains coming, it was a really special experience!

Below images are from Samburu Village near Sasaab lodge.
Ive never really shared any of these images, and I think they are so special!

We book our flights with Qatar Airways
& Hotels with HotelsCombined

All images are edited with our own unique presets, check them out; doyoutravelxgypsealust

Comment below any Questions about my trip!

Ok I know Christmas was so long ago.. but here I am finally publishing there awaiting blog for our Christmas in New York!!
I’ve always dreamt of a white Christmas, or even just a cold Christmas, just like the movies we grew up watching, in Australia we spend Christmas by the beach or pool, filled with lots of food, cold drinks and festivities, it’s a really fun time of year, but it’s certainly so much different than a cold Christmas in the northern hemisphere, and I was so ready to experience this!
We unfortunately didn’t get to see any snow, but we did experience some of the coldest days ever! When we were up on Brooklyn bridge it was -12 Celsius which I believe is truely the coldest weather I’ve felt, and not like other cold climates, New York when it is cold, has a painful burning cold that makes it impossible to warm up.. but I still just looove it sooo much, its actually my 3rd visit to NY!
Here’s a quick guide of what we got up to, where we ate and stayed;
We stayed in the area of Soho, lower Manhattan, at 11 Howard, which was a really great location for us, we were walking distant from some of my favourite food location & a great shopping area.
We had 7 nights in New York over Christmas, we arrived a few days before Christmas & got into the festive season..
this is what we got up to over the pre-Christmas;
Windows at 5th Ave (Christmas decorated shop fronts)
Saks on 5th Lightshow
Union Square Market
Dyker Heights (a suburb just outside the city that all decorate their houses in Christmas lights)
Ice Skating at central park
Ice skating at the Rockefeller centre
Elf the musical
Central Park (walked through on Christmas morning)
Plus a lot of shopping!
After Christmas we;
Explored Brooklyn
Went up the Rockefeller observatory as early as possible (this morning was SO cold!)
Brooklyn Bridge
Dumbo Park
East Village vintage
Times Square
Now my recommendation is to remember soo many people have the same idea of spending Christmas in New York and it is an extremely busy time for tourism, so we were pretty shocked and frustrated at times with the crowds, especially at the main areas such as Rockefeller, Saks on 5th, Times Square (but its always busy), windows at 5th. So just be prepared to brace the crowds!
Ok now to some great tips WHERE TO EAT!! I’ll just list all the places we ate and put a little tip when necessary, there was SO many good places in NY we ate so well!!
Butchers daughter– vegetarian/vegan super quick with orders, SO YUM!
Matcha cha cha -get the turmeric matcha latte!!
By Chloe- fast food vegan, super cute, love this place!
Oficinia 1M -only got takeaway pasta
Avant Garden SOOOOO GOOOD, went here on the last night for dinner, make a booking its super tiny, But SO damn good, one of my fav vegan restaurants ever!
NIX- vegetarian restaurant, great food heaps of vegan options also, we made a reservation in advance for dinner as it gets really busy, highly recommend for a nice meal
Jajaja Mexican- vegan mexican restaurant, which is SO good, again another highly recommend!
Van Leewuens vegan ice cream- not all vegan but so many vegan option, such a yummy treat and never busy because its so cold outside no-one really wants to freeze and eat ice cream.. except us!
Dõ cookie- now I didn’t love this one.. was just like a cup of cookie do, and I found it really sickening, I mean the line went out the door so clearly everyone else loves it!
Blue Stone Lane- this is a Australian chain of cafes in New York, and we loved it here, Australian style coffee, Vegemite and Avo on toast! mmm SO GOOD
Lombardis– NY style pizza, very classic, but always a fav.
Jacks Wife Freda- I mean it was good, but not my fav, I guess if you ate a lot of meat or cheeses it would be better suited
Also the hotel 11 Howard did a great acai bowl and Avo toast!!
There was so many more places on my list, but I think we got to try a fair few great spots!
All images below were edited with doyoutravelxgypsealust presets
So that was basically our trip in a summary, I had so many DMs from followers with recommendations, so thank you guys! this below was my full list of to do and to eat, thought id include it, so that if you are planning your trip you can use it to help!
New York to do;
Eat:
Butchers daughter ✔️
Matcha cha cha ✔️
Citizens of Chelsea
By Chloe✔️
Magnolia bakery
Rolf’s (Christmas decorations)
Levian bakery(73rd Street)
Fine and raw chocolate
Shojin fine dining vegan
Morgensterns icecream
Oficina 1M✔️
Pietronolita (pink Italian )
Sant ambroeus hot choc
Avant garden ✔️
Nix ✔️
Sun in bloom
Zen6
Tayaki
Spot dessert
Jajaja Mexican  ✔️
Ellen’s stardust diner
Little choc apethory (vegan)
Two hands
Mother of pearl
Clinton Street pancakes
Eataly
Van leewuens vegan ice cream✔️
Dõ cookie ✔️
Peacefood cafe
Blue stone lane✔️
Lombardi’s ✔️
Abcv 
Photo/to do;
Dumbo park Brooklyn bridge early ✔️
Greenwich village
Belvedere castle
Rockerfeller ✔️
Jackie Kennedy reservoir
If it snows-6ave radio city music hall
Ice skating at Central Park✔️
Ice skating at rollerfella centre✔️
Windows at 5th ave✔️
Saks on 5th light show ✔️
Santa village Brooklyn
Meat packing area
Open door helicopter over the city flyNYon
Chelsea market
Refinery rooftop
Library at nomads hotel
Bryant park winter market ✔️
230 5th rooftop Igloos
Breakfast Tiffany
MET museum / rooftop
Mott Street (China town)
Rocketts
Union square market ✔️
East village vintage ✔️
Moma
Bush wick street art
Spyglass rooftop
Public library
Dyker heights ✔️
Times Square ✔️

Burgers from By Chloe
Butchers Daughter Avo Toast
Now I wanted to throw in a special little mention here for The Funky Loft, for having us come spend the day in her incredible airbnb loft for a photoshoot! it was SO cute & so picturesque! Next time in visiting the area I would looove to stay here and have our own space.
I’ve included pictures below from the space& a link here, you can book it to stay or even for a photoshoot Link Here

Dumbo (Brooklyn)
Brooklyn Bridge
Top of the Rock

During late October we were invited out to Namibia with Land Rover to try out one of their Experience driving tours, what an incredible opportunity and diverse itinerary!
Check out the trip details here, we did the south tour.
We flew in from Cape Town to Windhoek with Air Namibia which we booked with Skyscanner
The first night we spent out at Naan kuse lodge & sanctuary, around 30 minutes from the Int airport, we picked up our Land Rover Discoveries & met with the group we’d be spending the next week road tripping Namibia with! The first afternoon we went for a trip to feed the rescued wildlife and learn about each species and why they had been brought in to this sanctuary, this included baboons, lions, cheetahs, leopards, wild dogs, lynxs.. Feeding the lions was the most impressive!!
This sanctuary does an amazing job, and gives these animals the best life possible in such situations, I’ve linked here there website so you can learn more, but I highly recommend visiting this place!
Lodge & Conservation
The next morning we got up early to go on what they call the ‘Cheetah walk’ we took the two female cheetahs out and on a morning walk, they both get to roam free & its a totally relaxed and controlled experience, it was a really unique experience, they told us all the do’s and don’t’s before but I was just surprised how up close and personal you really get to be with them, obviously being around humans so much the cheetahs are really used to it and are super chill & respond pretty well to the keepers. One thing that we were told was no ‘Selfies’ with the cheetahs, I guess they don’t want that bad connotation of promoting animal selfies with wildlife and it doesn’t give the best message and reputation which I fully respected and only took photos of the cheetahs!

On route to our next destination was Spitzkoppen Lodge with this tented little chalets amongst the granite boulders. Such a picturesque spot, and we had such a beautiful sunset at the lodge!
We were also up for sunrise, we headed to a nearby popular spot & climbed up the rock for incredible views of the landscape

Similar Hat
We then hit the roads for a big day of driving, but not the usual driving, we first left on an off road drive across the oldest desert in the world, drove up rocks & really difficult terrain, of course jack did all of this while I sat & enjoyed! Lastly we ended the experience of off road driving with driving on the beach, I think this was certainly one of Jacks favourite moments of the trip, he’d never drove on sand before & it was really fun!
We then arrived in our next destination.. Swakopmund, this was more of a big town night, staying in a city style hotel to break up the trip! A surprise was planned for sunset, Quad biking in Swakopmund sand dunes, this was realllly fun, & probably my highlight, the dunes are sooo huge, and because our group was pretty big we broke off into two groups, one slower for the ladies & a faster one for the men, but I joined the men 😉
We ended the tour with sunset on top of the dune overlooking the ocean with some bites & champagne!

Next up on the trip was Sossusvlei Sand dunes in the Namib Desert, a really special place! We had two nights at the next lodge, and this lodge was my favourite one yet! – andBeyond Sossusvlei Desert Lodge.
The first afternoon we relaxed by the lodge, and enjoyed sunset from the infinity pool, Jack & I had a romantic dinner by ourselves, which was SO nice, best food I ate in Namibia!
The next morning we woke up early & headed to the sossusvlei dunes, pictured below, after we had climbed the dunes we came back for a picnic style breakfast, freshly cooked breakfast in the national park!
Back to the resort for a relaxing day & lunch, sunset we headed on a sunset safari drive through the park followed by sunset drinks!

Similar Hat


This resort pictured below was a highlight, the food & service was incredible, they went beyond to cater to my mainly plant based diet, even made morning tea, afternoon tea vegan snacks and treats/deserts which was super accomodating & special!

White Sneakers Here  &  Similar hat
Next drive was to a cute little homestead style accomodation not too far out of Windhoek, a stopover on our way back to Windhoek where we spent our last night for the trip!
All edited with presets from www.doyoutravelxgypsealust.com was loving using the Elsa9 from the new Foodie Collection on these edits.
 

We had a short break & wanted to explore somewhere totally new, we were feeling a lack of creativity & needed some fresh inspiration, I get most motivated and inspired when discovering a new destination that isn’t saturated all over the online world, So we choose to head to Egypt for 8 nights, a mix of relaxing and getting some fresh content!
I’m going to keep this blog pretty raw, I know a lot of people are curious about travelling Egypt, “is it safe” is a question I’ve been asked too many times. So I want to share my experience with you all, this trip wasn’t sponsored at all, and I believe in voicing honest travel experiences, I don’t like when I see bloggers that only have good things to share about every single destination they visit, unless you are truely just lucky enough to not come across any hurdles.. I doubt it.
We flew in from Athens directly to Cairo Egypt,
We were a bit exhausted from a full day of travel, and when arriving in Cairo airport we were pulled up by customs with our gimbal –
Camera stabiliser for video, we explained what it was several times, they eventually took us into another room, where several of the officers all stood around poking and prodding through all our camera gear, after almost an hour of sitting there asking what is the problem, they all pretty much ignored us and told us just to wait, while they all say around, smoking cigarettes & laughing, we felt like they were taking us as a joke, another foreigner stopped by us and said goodluck I’ve been here for hours.. they took off with Jacks passport, and after a few more attempts to get them to hurry up as we became extremely impatient and told them we would just like to get on a flight out of here if they can’t provide any answers on what the problem was, finally we came to the conclusion that they didn’t want us bringing our broken drone into the country so we agreed for them to keep it there until we leave, 2 hours had passed and I hadn’t eaten for several hours so I left jack to go get a sim and some food thinking that he would be coming through any minute now, another hour later no sign of Jack & he wasn’t where I had left, I began to feel concerned being the only tourist around and getting hassled by every passer by for a taxi, a lady even approached me and said you were on my flight why are you still here I’ve been out to my hotel and just came back as we forgot a bag, I explained what was happening and she urged me to get in contact with the British embassy as that’s not a usual process, I asked the same officers who were with us before where jack was and they all shrugged and said don’t know and wouldn’t bother to tell me anything, 3 hours since we arrived jack finally comes through, totally pissed off at the whole situation & process- we made it to our hotel in Cairo finally, exhausted and confused on the entire scenario, but decided to give Egypt another chance as we had been so excited to see this part of the world.
The Great Pyramids of Giza

First stop was the great Pyramids of Egypt in Giza, just out of Cairo. We drove out in the afternoon hoping to catch sunset by the Pyramids, although the site closes at 4pm so sunset inside isn’t possible, we found a rooftop cafe above a hotel for clear views of the sphinx and pyramid, it’s such a shame you can’t be inside the area for sunset, it would be so magical.
After this we left to try get a closer and different view of the pyramids & they were trying to encourage us to go by camel or horse, we were in the back area where all the horses and camels come back after the day & I became really distressed & concerned at the way these animals were being treated, we went by quad instead & the trip to the side of the pyramids was so traumatic for me, going passed so many horses with carts and camels that just appeared to be in the worst conditions I’ve seen, the way they were whipping the horses was horrific, I had to close my eyes I was soo upset, one horse we passed by was bleeding from the mouth, I’m not overreacting when I say this was fucked up and nothing I would want anyone else to see.
When we got to a sand dune with a lovely view of the pyramids we stopped as it was becoming too late for any nice light & a guy and his camel stopped by for some photos, of course this came at a price..
From there we left and headed back to our hotel, I was soo disappointed by what I seen, & extremely traumatised, I just felt so helpless for these poor animals, I can’t imagine the pain and torture these animals have been put through for the sake of animal tourism.
The following day we came back to the pyramids around 10am to enter the area, as soon as we were in everyone’s hassling us to ride camel, ride horse, I got so exhausted from saying no, the pyramids themselves are so incredible, it’s truely such a surreal feeling to be standing by them and just wondering how and when these were created. It’s a quiet time in Egypt at the moment, being the middle of summer it’s too hot for most tourists, and doesn’t help that most the world is too afraid to visit, bonus for us was walking around with little tourists around, which was kinda the whole reason we came, our friend had recently visited and said there’s like no tourists anywhere it’s so good!
I’m so happy I had the chance to visit the pyramids, its always been a dream of mine, I was a bit sensitive to what I seen, but it shouldn’t stop you from visiting, but hopefully this will encourage you to not ride the animals.
Whilst in Giza we stayed at the Le Meridien Giza, although I would not recommend this hotel, It was expensive and the service was terrible! It’s probably cheaper, easier and better value to stay in Cairo and get a transport to the pyramids.
Our next stop was Luxor, we took a flight from Cairo to Luxor & stayed at the Hilton, which was a really nice hotel, prices were cheap & it was so quiet!
The asian restaurant was real nice & also made a great margarita.
The next morning we had a guide take us around to the spots, first up was Karnak Temple, which was SO incredible, next was Valley of the Kings, to visit the tombs and see a mummy! We headed back to the hotel for lunch and some time by the pool as it was so hot, we later headed back to Karnak right before they closed to get some nicer photos in the sunset light, it was certainly worth it!
Karnak Temple, Luxor

Next and last stop; Aswan

We were recommended to visit Aswan by a few people, we only had time for one destination and it was between here and a beach town, we picked Aswan due to its unique spots! To get to Aswan was a 4 hour drive from Luxor, which went really quick!
We stayed at Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan, which is a historic and beautiful hotel! the rooms were soo big & spacious! When we arrived we quickly headed to the back of the Hotel to take a boat ride down the Nile river to the colourful Nubian Village, one of the most unique and surprising places I’ve visited along the way!
Filled with markets, hotels and colourful buildings amongst the sand dunes and along the Nile river, there was a real Crocodile thing going on here, which they liked to hang dead ones on their walls and bring tourists in to see their live crocs, I wasn’t too into this, kinda creeped me out..
Last day visit was to Abu Simbel, it is right on the border of Sudan & 300km from Aswan. We hired a private driver to take us out there, we were pretty much the ONLY tourists there, it was probably my highlight! This temple was buried under sand for many years, and a young boy named Abu Simbel discovered it around 1813, the young boy led explorers there and eventually it was named after him.
The temple was entirely relocated in 1968 by Unesco to save the temple from going underwater from the dam on the Nile.
They estimated that it began to be built in 1264 BC.. which is mind blowing, inside the temples was so beautiful, I loved this place! People were far more chill here & not really hassled at all, no animal tourism.. not really any tourism haha, which made it more enjoyable to basically have the place to yourself!


To end our trip we flew back from Aswan to Cairo & spent the last night there, we tried to head to the famous market in Cairo and ended up spending around 2 hours in a taxi getting lost which was a disappointing way to end the trip!
Most times I leave destinations I’m genuinely pretty sad to be leaving & already start to think about where and what I’d love to see next time, but we both agreed we wouldn’t rush back to Egypt.. But SO SO glad I got the experience to see the sites and learn about some of the history, it truly is such a unique place! I hope they can get through what they are going through, and work on some positive tourism, because they have a lot to offer the world!
All images were edited with presets from our Egypt Collection, now available on www.doyoutravelXgypsealust.com

Italy; Rome
Kicked off our 6 weeks in Europe with a 2 day stop in Rome, we were here a year ago and couldn't resist coming back,  for a couple of days of pizza and gelato
Shop Watch
SHOP WATCH

Travel tips;

If you want to get quiet pictures in the streets of Rome and around the monuments; simple way.. set that alarm!

We were wandering around the streets from 7am and it is literally empty.

Where to eat; best places to eat for good local food; Trastevere, very close to the city centre, just across the bridge!

Ecru; for your healthy veggie/vegan lovers!

Cambio vita; vegan options for Gelato

Taxis were more convenient/cheap than Uber in our experience!

Montenegro; Budva & Kotor

We were invited by the tourism of Montenegro to come check it out in the summer, neither jack or I had been to Montenegro so what better opportunity to check out a new country! We flew directly from Rome to Pogdorica & then had a 40 minute drive into the town of Budva

we stayed at Hotel Adria, which was above a shopping centre, we had the top storey 2 bedroom apartment, which was massive, it had a kitchen, huge balcony with a hot tub & endless living space, which was nice since we had 4 nights here.

After freshening up we headed for lunch at a resort called Dukley lifestyle, a new resort, beach club/lounge, restaurants/bars, boutiques and residences. We started the meal with some special cocktails to celebrate our first time here in Montenegro, the kitchen catered perfectly to our needs & we shared a few things between us, risotto, quesadilla & jack had fresh fish from the Adriatic Sea. The restaurant overlooked the beach club & the bay of Budva, you could see the old town from there also.
After lunch we took their speed boat across the bay to the old town, which is actually much quicker by boat than car.

We met with the tourism official who walked us through the old town and explained all the history, we stopped for a gelato & headed back to the hotel so we could relax for a bit before heading to a spot for sunset.
For sunset we had a driver take us above Budva for some views over the entire coastline and town, I would highly recommend heading up here for sunset, theres a few spots up there usually near churches that I think are the best spots for sunset, it was about a 15 – 20 minute drive from the hotel, I'm not sure of the names of the locations, but if you show our images, all the drivers should know how to get to these spots, I believe they are well known 🙂

The second day we took a drive along the coastline to see some beaches, we also visited Sveti Stefan, which has first mentioned in 1442 but now is a 5 star resort by Aman, we went for a swim, laid by the sea and bought some fresh fruit of some ladies walking down the beach, thats something I love about Europe is when they are selling fresh fruit on the beach, especially when its my favourite- raspberries! We continued further along the coast to a few different spots that overlooked beaches and the coastline, it was a beautiful day, later we headed back to old town to a little cafe that served fresh juices & vegan options for lentil salads etc that I found on happy cow (my go to).
In the afternoon we took a drive to a Kotor where we took a boat trip around the lake/bay to see the monastery and lake side towns.
That night we again headed to those sunset spots the same as last night as it was looking like a better sunset that we just couldn't miss! Dinner afterwards was at a Thai style restaurant not far from where we were staying.


SHOP SIMILAR SUNGLASSES (SAME BRAND)

Our final day in Montenegro we went for a trip to Kotor again, this time we were heading to do the hike above the bay which is above a church, its a nice hike, pretty easy and stairs the whole day, gets really hot so best to go earlier, but the view at the top makes it worth it! We had lunch at a lake side Mediterranean restaurant before making our way back to Budva, on the last evening we met with all the tourism team for a dinner at our favourite dining experience- Dukley, it was a great way to end our time in Montenegro.

Berlin

After leaving Montenegro we decided to head to Berlin for a few nights, we had heard it was the 'Vegan capital of the world' as we mainly eat plant based we headed there for a few days of eating 🙂
We didn't get up to too much whilst in Berlin, mainly just ate good food and a little bit of shopping, we found a couple of good vintage shops around!
Heres my suggestions;

Where to eat;

Daluma;We came here a few times, they did really nice coffee, smoothie bowls & salads, in a good area with great atmosphere, open breakfast, lunch & dinner!

Kopps Berlin; This is like a vegan 'fine dining' it was one of my favourite eating experiences I've had, we went for the degustation because there was too many options, and I was absolutely blown away by the food, I think its a place you could bring your non vegan friends for an
amazing experience! ill be back again when I visit Berlin again!

Soy;We came here for dinner one night, all asian food, done vegan. mmm my fav!

Superfoods & Organic Liquids Our first meal we came here; I was so excited I didn't know what to order, they have many ready to go meals, juices & smoothies! Smoothies were my fav here, and right across from Daluma, in a great area!

If I were to come again I would stay in this area, this was close to vintage stores and many other cafes and restaurants.

Sail Italy with The Yacht Week

We were invited to experience The Yacht Week, something I've always heard about but never experienced, I had a misconception on what yacht week was, and thought that it was just an events company, not realising it was actually the company that started the sailing Croatia that you often hear as of one of the best experiences of that Europe trip.
We wanted to experience one of the less known routes and decided to check out Sail of Italy, we flew into Catania which is in Sicily, the southern end of Italy close to Malta, we took a drive to the port- Portorosa where we would begin our sail, we spent the first night on the yacht in the port, and were welcomed with a delicious and healthy meal made by our hostess Malvina, she had done some planning & looked into Elsas blog before, and knew what kind of food we liked, what a gem! First meal was gnocchi and salad, it was so refreshing to have a home-cooked style meal after travelling and eating not the best for a few days.

The next day we had a pretty long sail to get to the first island, Salina, and we unfortunately were greeted with some unseasonal winds which made it not the most comfortable sail, but we all laid out on the decks and made the most of the first day of sunshine!
When we arrived we had a late lunch, before jumping off the boat to check out the town & head to the local winery, we had a quick walk around the winery, it was so beautiful up on the hillside of the island & after we all sat down for a wine tasting, accompanied with meal tasters.
Afterwards we headed straight to the dinner which was a seafood restaurant, plus other greek favs, els and I were craving pizza, which wasn't on the menu so we cheekily got a takeaway pizza from next door and brought it up and ordered grilled vegetables to put on our pizza 😉

The next day we had a late start, and in the morning els and I went for a run around some of the island, it was a beautiful way to see some of the island, with such a beautiful coastline road to run along, we then hired some old retro scooters that I actually thought were Vespas but after being corrected on my story I learnt they were actually not vespas but similar, we took the scooters for a ride along the coastline to a little seaside town to go for a swim, this was certainly worth it, there was so many insanely beautiful views along the road & the swim spot at the end was so refreshing from the hot Italian sun.
we also stopped at a basketball court along the side of the road for a fun little shoot, we headed back to the main town and boats, dropped our beautiful vintage bikes off and lunch awaited us!
We then only had a short sail to the next island, maybe 1 hour, time for some more European sun tanning..
When we arrived it was afternoon so we headed from the boat to the sunset bar -Bar Raya, there was a big yacht week party, so it was really busy and atmosphetic, we had cocktails and tapas for a few hours, it was a beautiful views over the sea & the entire town as the bar was situated at rooftop, this town reminded me of a greek town, I really liked this spot! after drinks we headed to dinner, we had earlier spotted a Japanese sushi bar, so we headed there, & it was SO good, we all got far too much sushi, and a few too many cocktails went around!

The following morning started with a refreshing swim in the sea, before sailing along to the final destination for us, Stromboli, the active volcano, and certainly a highlight for our trip, in the after we started the hike up the volcano, it was supposed to take around 2 hours to get to the top, but we kinda broke the rules and left the big group so we could get to the top quicker, I've never been keen on group hikes, its just too hard when everyone goes at their own pace, we got to the top in around 1 hour, they had estimated it to take at least 2 hours, at the top we stopped for around 20-30 minutes and watched the volcano erupt many times, none of us had ever been so up and close to an actively explosive volcano, around every 5 minutes it let off a huge explosion of rocks and debris, the sound was so loud, it really is SO worth seeing, and the hike was so much easier than I expected, on the way down you can literally almost ski down, we were down the bottom before some people were even at the top. although I'm sure it would have been incredible to stay up there for after sunset and seeing the colour that comes from the centre but we all had something else on our minds, pizza, which had been talked about all day long, so we were pretty eager to get there, and the pizza was as good as they say!

The next morning it was time to leave, an early breakfast and we headed to the dock to catch the ferry back to the mainland of Sicily, as it was far quicker on the fast ferries than to sail all that way, the actual sail goes for 7 days, but we had to travel to greece to catch the 2nd half of the Yacht Week Greece which you can read about next//

The Crew
SHOP WATCH

Little behind the scenes 😛

Sail Greece with The Yacht Week

We arrived in Greece to Athens and had to meet up with the yachts as the week had already began, it was a 3 hour drive to the port town of … we met with our skipper and hostess Connie who welcomed us with an incredible plant based meal, soo nutritious and tasty after a big travel day! The sun set as we arrived and it was something special. We checked out our rooms, this time jack and I scored the big ensuite room, which was far more spacious and comfortable than the previous!

That night the yacht week white party was on, but as I'm sure you may have gathered we aren't really the party people haha, next morning we left earlier than all the other yachts and made our way to the first stop- Hydra, with a few swim stops along the way we made it there around lunch time, I'd never explored any of this part of Greece, hydra was a beautiful island, we spent the afternoon exploring the town, jewellery shopping & eating gelato, and a little hike up the town, prior to sunset we wandered the streets for some photos, 1-2 hours before sunset is the best time to shoot around the streets when the light is soft but not too dark. Sunset we headed to this Greek restaurant called 'Sunset Restaurant' they brought out all different dishes for everyone to share, and brought us a few extra of the vegetarian/vegan options, sunset was so beautiful from this restaurant.

The next morning we hit the streets early and wandered about, there was some cute streets and doors for photos, and the town sleepy town was still quiet, just the locals starting their day. We spent the morning swimming near Sunset restaurant, theres a little cliff jump, while jack took a hike up to the top of the town with his mate, which now I wish I had of joined them.

Later in the morning we sailed around nearby to a quiet bay, we parked up and enjoyed chia fruit bowls inside watermelons! fun idea by Connie our Hostess! 🙂
We spent most the day here swimming, having lunch & creating some content, plus lazying on the front of the yacht.

In the afternoon we arrived to Poros, another nearby island, Connie made us our last meal 🙁 as we were leaving for Athens the next morning by Ferry, as we only had a few days to experience the Yacht Week Greece.
I really enjoyed our time with The Yacht Week, I think its a really fun experience and to share with friends, The Yacht Week has a more intimate and personalised experience which I think makes a more memorable trip!
You can check out their site here and what other yacht trips they do; next I'd love to try The Yacht Week British Virgin Islands!
Make sure you check out their site for the full itinerary and destinations, plus dates for bookings! There was so many spots on the full itinerary that I wish we could have checked out if we could have had more time, always next time though! 🙂
Website here

Hydra

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Athens for 2 days;

We had a stop in Athens for a couple of days before heading to more islands heres some suggestions;

Where to stay; well I cant really recommend here, we booked somewhere that wasn't that good, So ill leave this open..

Where to eat; now Athens actually had a few good places to eat

Avocado: This was recommended to us and we made it here once, it was so good, I would highly recommend for vegetarians, so many good options, large servings!

Vegan Nation: This is like fast food vegan, everything is in the fridge ready, not to say its not fresh, everything I had was SO yum, they do a vegan moussaka, spaghetti, salads, sushi, carbonara,  falafel wraps, fresh juices and smoothies, chia pots etc. I stopped by here a few times, its really conveniently positioned.

There was also a smoothie/juice shop in the middle of the main tourist area in Athens which did Acai bowls, we went back 3 time for Acai bowls 😛

Lithos: We found this place when wandering the streets the first night, and it was really good authentic greek food, catered well to vegans, and had amazing service!

Greece; Ios

We headed to Ios again to spend 3 nights with some of our friends that are spending the summer working in A bar on the party island!

I love the combination of party young atmosphere, modern restaurants with international influence & beautiful coastlines!

Usually known as a party island of Greece where many young travellers head to, also has so much more than that.

Tips;

Hire a quad or motor bike and go explore more of the island, our friends that own Lost Boys Bar have taken us to some incredible spots on the island

Where to eat;

Harmony, although this restaurant can be very hit and miss with the food and service, I did keep coming back as they had a selection of smoothie bowls on the breakfast menu; acai, dragon fruit etc, and they were always good! A little on the $$ side but well worth curing my craving! First day I got the mango salad, highly recommend not to get that!! My sister got the falafel salad, I'd pick that over what I got!

Sally's kitchen; this had some great options for veggie and plant based eating! They make a vegan moussaka (traditional Greek meal) and the veggie stack is reaaal good!

Thai me up; smoothies and Avo on toast for breakfast, power bowls for lunch and authentic Thai for dinner, tick tick tick ✔️✔️✔️

Where to drink; my kinda night out is a bar where you can still have a conversation, serves cocktails and fun atmosphere; always start the night at Lost Boys Bar, after we ended up at Alt Bar, they do really unique and interesting shots!

Where to stay; last year we stayed at Aguilia Luxury Suites, this year they were sadly booked out 🙁 it's really nice, but on the $$$ side!

This year I found a cute little find on booking.com

Yiolos hotel, right near the port, and 10-15 min walk to Ios town, 5 mins by bike/quad!

We had spacious rooms with little kitchens, brand new, clean, good pool area, close to beach and super friendly owners! I'd recommend this place confidently.

Greece; Santorini

Back in paradise! Charisma Suites in Oia, the most beautiful hotels in the world all lay amongst the hillside of Oia.

We came to visit our friends at Charisma, we spent some time here the summer before and feel in love, the hotel has such a boutique intimate feeling, with only maybe 8-10 rooms it's a real personalised stay.

This time we got to stay in two different suites, both unique gorgeous, extremely spacious cave suites, the first one had a private dip pool with the most perfect spot to watch the sunset from with a glass of wine in hand! And the second room had the unique cave pool/hot tub, this was certainly the highlight of our stay!

They cater so well to my dietary needs & are the perfect choice for a honey moon stay. 🌙

When taking pictures in Santorini, a question I get asked a lot "how do you get no-one in your photos" pick your times! Sunset in Oia is SO busy, there really only is the one sunset scenic picture easily achievable from the spot where everyone sits, in the middle of summer it is insanely crowded, but we usually always head back to our hotel for sunset in peace 🙂
During the morning, not even that early the streets are fairly quiet, we usually shoot between 8-10am, depending where and what.. by 10am it begins to get a little busy and you need to have some patience, in the afternoons we would head out around 2.5 hours before sunset to shoot the streets, much more quiet, any closer to sunset and the crowds all flock in & I can guarantee disappointment.

SHOP JUMPSUIT

On the last day we organised a sunset cruise with Santorini yachting club, began around 2pm and explored along the coast of the island, stopped for swims & finished by watching the famous Santorini sunset from the sea, after the cruise we headed to their restaurant on the beautiful harbour called
'Sunset Restaurant' I'd suggest making a booking here especially during peak season it's a popular seafood restaurant!

All images edited with our presets that are now for sale head to DoyoutravelXGypsealust

To end our Summer trip in Europe we were invited by Casa Cook for a stay at the brand new resort in Kos, Greece
We spent 4 nights here & had a truely relaxing visit.
the resort just opened this season and it was a island neither of us had been to.
We checked into the Junior suite & were most impressed with the incredible architecture and interior design. The modern desert, boho greek style is exactly what I look for in a hotel! I personally love this style of hotels, not as into the fancy high end up market 5 star style.
The first evening we had a big group dinner and a meet and greet with some other media & the Casa Cook team to chat about the story behind the resorts.
The bar manager made us some special Margaritas that were super delicious! I love a good spin on the original margarita.. The head chef came over and had a chat with me and was able to put together a little plant based menu, I love when a kitchen is willing to get experimental and mix it up for us fussy eaters!

The following day we had a bit of a sleep in as it was too comfy to get out of bed! A perfect day full of sunshine! we spent most the day by the main pool & enjoyed a fresh lunch poolside – my kinda day! especially after such a busy few weeks..
In the afternoon we headed to the Gym, I fell in love with the Gym there, so unique and different, I think its more suited for women or low intensity training, Jack needed heavier weights for what exercise routine he does, for me it was perfect! everything was new, clean and modern, with wood finishings, which gave me a fresh boost of inspiration & motivation!

We enjoyed a sunset cocktail from the Bar & joined everyone for a big spread of dinner! they brought out some special meals for me of course 😛 but all the food looked great, and so much fresh seafood that Jack loved!

This night we had some more cocktails following dinner, the bar manager put on a little show with the smoked ameretto sours, which I have pictured below! So many yummy and unique cocktails he's really nailed integrating local produce into the style and flavours of the cocktails, I was very impressed, who doesn't love a good cocktail!

We started our 3rd day by the pool with some fresh smoothies and juices from the juice bar, which is open all day and has an incredible menu of juices and smoothies, the juice bar is inside the little shop up near reception which sells many of the products and accessories in the rooms, it was so hard not to purchase everything as our bags are already SO heavy as in, I'm not a light packer, and not after being away for 6 weeks either! 😐
We then met at reception for a boat trip, it was a short drive to the mariner where we jumped on a small speed boat which got us to the spots as quick as you could, with perfect flat conditions it was a relaxing trip there, the first spot we pulled up to was a little cove for a swim, there was a few boats nearby all stopping for a swim in the perfect calm clear waters, you can see this spot pictured below with me on the front of the boat!
We then headed off to the next stop which was only a short 5 minute or so drive, again another calm spot between two islands, there was many little boats all there for the day, shallow waters & completely protected from any wind.
After a swim here we headed for the port town to stop in for Lunch, we had lunch at a little taverna that the tour took us too, they made a really nice Fava & greek salad!
after we were done with lunch we left to head back to the hotel, and went a different way to get dropped off out the front of the hotel instead of having to get the transfer back which made it easy!

Later in the afternoon we all met up again to hike up a mountain, it was a super easy and short hike up passed old ruins of churches, when we reached the top we enjoyed an evening drink, light snacks and watched the sunset.
Dinner tonight was at the restaurant and they brought us out many dishes to try, for me it was a bit limiting, but they brought out some plates especially for me, it was far too much food! but super accomodating, the Vegan risotto was my fav, Jacks fav this night was the squid ink risotto, didn't look very appealing to me, but everyone agreed about how good it tasted, maybe I missed out!

The final day, we kept it pretty chilled this day, as I had many flights coming up, Kos-Athens, Athens- Dubai, Dubai- Brisbane.. So I was rather happy to just sit by the pool and beach!
We had breakfast early, took some photos while the pool was still quiet and I headed for one last session at the gym I loved! lunch by the pool, & we then spent the afternoon by the beach before heading to the room to pack up & head to the airport.

Below are links to Casa Cook website and instagram

Website
Instagram

Mid December we were invited to Dubai by the Tourism board for a few days exploring the city, perfect time to visit this city build in the middle of the desert, with comfortable and I could say almost cool temperatures.
I don’t usually like cities, but there’s something so different and interesting about Dubai, it’s like they just want to be the biggest and the best, out-do the world.
I can’t wait to return again!
Below is a gallery of our short visit to Dubai;

Shop Watch^

An unforgettable 3 weeks in Morocco, a place which left me with a love-hate feeling..
We flew into Marrakech from Barcelona & started our trip staying at Le Riad Yasmine which is a stunning little riad just outside of the hustle and bustle of the main Souk.
First morning began perfectly- breakfast by the poolside.
We then went to explore the hot and humid streets of Marrakech, we were previously warned of some of the locals in the Souk, and we quickly understood what they meant, approached and hassled, and something I had never experienced in another culture was the aggressive sales approach, if we told them we weren’t interested in their restaurant they would follow us up the street and then say “Fuck you”. I never really felt unsafe or threaten, it was actually rather funny. We learnt quickly just to ignore them and carry on our way.
Although this cultural experience Marrakech was still so interesting and I would never encourage anyone not to visit, but its nice to go prepared!
The stalls are filled with beautiful rugs, lanterns & ancient treasures, I wanted to buy it all! But when you are living out of a backpack that already weighs far too much, its just impossible 🙁
Here’s a quick run down of our itinerary;
We spent 4 nights in Marrakech around the Souk area, we then hired a car and drove to Ait Ben Haddou an ancient town half way to the Sahara, we spent the night at a quiet B&B and had the BEST dinner on the rooftop, the owner was an older Moroccan man who was SO sweet. The b&b is called Riad Tamdakhte Guest House, we came and stayed again on our way back because we had such an enjoyable visit! Next stop was the Sahara desert, we went to merzouga region and spent 3 nights under the stars, the first camp we stayed at was called Sara & Ali’s desert camp, and the second was Kam Kam Dunes.
We drove back to Marrakech for a couple of nights but stayed out of town at Aman Jena, This was a little oasis just outside of the busy Marrakech, I really loved this resort, we had a huge villa & felt like you had the resort to yourself. Next we took a drive out to the coastal town of Essaouira, really we took the drive out there for the night to see the Goats in the tree, which we sadly didn’t get to see 🙁 next time maybe, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, google it, so funny!
We than took an overnight sleeper train to tangier- spent a night, & then caught a bus to Chefchouan – blue Pearl of Morocco..
We spent 3 nights in Chefchouan, which I believe was probably too long.. it is incredibly unique, but I admit by this stage I was a bit done with Morocco for now!
Lastly catching an overnight train back to Marrakech to fly out.
I left feeling like it was one of those incredible places I’ve been and done and don’t need to return. but a year later here i am finishing this blog off thinking to myself.. id love to go back soon.. 😉
Here’s a collection of out Morocco images, some unseen..

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