Rachel's Next Adventure

On Monday we had a very early start - our alarms were set for around 2am! and our taxi came at 3:45. We ended up getting to the airport a little earlier than we'd planned to, but it gave us a bit of time to relax before our flight. I saw this Santa hat wearing Chupa Chup in one of the duty free shops, but my fiancé wouldn't cave in and buy it. But it's wearing a hat! We ended up missing our bus to the hotel as passport control was really busy, which is really unusual for Paris at that time of the morning, but i'm guessing it probably has something to do with the extra checks and security being taken out now. We made it to the hotel for 11am, and our room was ready for once! We quickly put on our thermals and then headed out to the parks. Our plan was to rush straight over to Casey's Corner for lunch, but as we approached Main Street the Christmas parade was just starting, so we watched and enjoyed the snowfall before rushing off to eat,...

It's the Christmas season and quite often people find it hard to figure out what to buy each other so i've compiled this short list of the ideal five things a frequent and adventurous traveller would love to receive this holiday season. GoPro Hero 4 This is the ideal gift and camera for an adventurous traveller, back when I climbed Mt Fuji i'd been considering getting one just so I could record the entire climb but I decided against it because I really wasn't sure what else i'd use it for as my trip really wasn't all that adventurous, but for people who like to surf, bungee, zipline or anything else extreme on their travels this is the ideal gift. New Bag or suitcase Suitcases and bags can be pretty expensive and they really don't last that long, my current suitcase has been with me through Florida, Paris, London, Japan, Barcelona, New York and Paris again, but that was it's last journey as on the return from New York I noticed it was gett...

I'm not really a big movie watcher but here are the few I find myself watching at least once every Christmas season. The Grinch I love the Grinch, although every year when I watch it I just get somewhat upset that I lost my copy of the Grinch game for PS1 and then scour the internet for a copy that will cost less than £30, because lets face it, at most i'll play it once a year. It really was a good game though. Alvin & The Chipmunks Now this one is my favourite. Although its not really an entirely Christmas movie, it starts off at Christmas and the Christmas song just brings the holiday cheer in my eyes. "Christmas, Christmas time is near, Time for toys and time for cheer. We've been good but we can't last, Hurry Christmas hurry fast. Want a plane that loops the loop, Me, I want a hula-hoop. We can hardly stand the wait, Please Christmas don't be late." Home Alone I think the first time I ever saw...

It's that time again! This month's monthly meow is showing how mischievous Tim is. Here she is sat on the top of my chair, giving it a little scratch when i'm not looking, she knows she's not allowed to do that now that its a new chair (I had to get a new one because of her clawing the old one! I had to electrician tape up the wholes where all the foam was coming out!). But just look at those "it wasn't me" eyes. She's also been over grooming a bit, i'm trying to distract her whenever she starts cleaning now but i'm obviously not doing the best job considering she fell asleep like this! This one isn't Tim related but I thought it deserved a mention in the Monthly Meow. As my fiancé and I were walking down to the beach earlier this month we bumped into this ginger little cat, who instantly became my friend and even followed us for a while. I really wanted to take it home, it obviously loves me. Follow this bl...

Like the Whats in my bag? - Travel edition i've gone back to rewrite the camera bag version. I've taken the photograph from the Whats in my hand luggage post as it's been really dark and gloomy recently so this is the best photograph I have. The only thing in the photograph that isn't in the bag anymore is the travel organiser. Nikon D7000 Nikkor Lens 18-55mm Zoom-Nikkor Lens 55-200mm Lowepro Media Case & SDHC cards Panasonic HX-DC-2 Video Camera Spare Video Camera Batteries Incase Battery Pack Olloclip iPhone 6 lenses Note/sketch book Disney lens cloth clip If i'm heading out for the entire day then I tend to put in the Incase battery pack so my iPhone doesn't run out of battery. The Lowepro Event Messenger 100 Bag that I use is the ideal size for all of those things, and could hold another lens if the video camera was removed. Follow this blog on BlogLovin' Like us on Facebook

Since people are always asking what adults who love Disney want for Christmas I thought I put together a list of 5 things from the UK website and 5 things from the US website to show you all the adult side of Disney. This gift guide is sure to help you out if you're buying for a Disney fan. UK website Mega Tsum Tsum The new Mega Mickey and Minnie Tsum Tsum are absolutely huge! I saw them back in New York and my Mam suggested they'd be ideal as a foot stool in a living room, and I loved that idea - I didn't even want one of the Mega Tsums before that! So thats why these huge cuddlys have made it into the list. Stitch Plush My absolute favourite Disney character is, of course, Stitch! so any new Stitch plush automatically adds itself to my Christmas list, so here's 626 ready and waiting to be loved. Tsum Tsum Plates Ideal for adults, and even children as these melamine plates are shaped into a Mickey head and come in four designs - one of Mickey and Fr...

It's been years since I baked cookies, but I used to do it every week or so back when I was a student, but since I got a job I just haven't had the free time to bake or an empty house so I can leave all the washing up for a while after baking (hey, baking is hard work!). I used my basic recipe which I was given back in school - I did my entire Food Tech GCSE in a year and based the entire project around biscuits so I altered the recipe every week back then but for my first time baking in years, I decided to keep it simple. The ingredients list is: 200g self raising flour 100g margarine 100g caster sugar 1 egg And its not really an ingredient but you'll need a range of cookie cutters and stamps or you could always roll balls of dough and flatten them with the palm of your hand once you put them onto your baking tray. Its a very simple, quick and easy recipe to follow. Step 0: Preheat oven to 180ºC and grease or line baking trays. Step 1: ...

As I really do the majority of my gift shopping online I thought i'd share some of the best places to buy and the best tips i've found throughout the years of buying online. America Usually, if something is out of stock on a UK website, they'll be available somewhere on an American one, if its something you really need to get and you're willing to pay the extra postage costs and tax (I think thats on anything over £30 at the moment) then make sure you get your order placed early, no later than the second week in November just to make sure it gets here in time and if there are any problems you can sort out a replacement before it's too late. Black Friday Deals Black Friday has only really gotten big here in the UK over the last three years or so, but it's been going on in America and online much longer than that - in fact the iMac I bought back in 2009 was bought with a Black Friday discount, mixed in with Student discount it gave me quite a few hundr...

Its that time again! Tomorrow i'm off on my travels once again, this time i'll be revisiting Disneyland Paris. It's my second time to Disneyland Paris this year and my 9th trip there ever, it'll only be my fiancé's third time visiting Disneyland Paris and every time he's been there with me. It'll be our second time visiting during the Christmas season. Although this trip was originally supposed to be budget, with minimal shopping, all I bought in Barcelona was two jumpers. four vinylmation and a few stationary bits so we have a couple of hundred Euros extra to spend at DLP now. And it turns out, Shellie May has just made it to DLP! I did just buy one in Tokyo in August, but, I know I at least have to get the Duffy and Shellie May Tsum Tsums from DLP this trip. As always, you can keep up to date on  Instagram Follow this blog on BlogLovin' Like us on Facebook

On Thursday I picked up a new catnip toy for my cat to keep her entertained while i'm away for a few days, she spends most of her life near me so she really notices when i'm not around, to the point where she was angry with me when I came back from Japan in August. I picked her up an American Catnip toy from Wilkinsons by a company called BAM! Catnip, and the catnip in it is so strong that she could smell it through my backpack and wouldn't settle down until she got it - even clawing at me and chewing my hand while I was cutting the tags off so she could have it! She spent around 10min playing with this non-stop, and not long after settled down with it for a nap. Heres the first three minutes of her playing with her new toy. Follow this blog on BlogLovin' Like us on Facebook

With Black Friday coming up fast on the 27th November i've put together a list of 10 places that will be offering Black Friday deals. Amazon Argos Apple John Lewis Currys  / PC World Marks & Spencer (In Store & Online) Tesco (In Store & Online) Boots (In Store & Online) Sainsburys (In Store) And don't forget to check out my Online Christmas Shopping tips and check out through Topcashback ! Follow this blog on BlogLovin' Like us on Facebook

As i'm off away again in a few days time I thought i'd write a Whats in my bag? - travel hand luggage edition for all you budding travellers and holiday goers out there who just aren't sure what to pack. This list is pretty much the same as when I wrote about my hand luggage just before my trip to Japan in August, in fact, I am using the same photograph in this post, but thats only because I still haven't packed my hand luggage yet! I'm just not as organised when it comes to short haul flights and holidays.  I've decided just to write about the main piece of hand luggage today and i'll write about my camera bag at some point in the future as my camera bag doesn't really change a lot when it comes to travelling. So here is the list of things I tend to pack hand luggage wise for both flights and train journeys: iPad Mini* Word search Book Simpsons/Futurama Comics Snacks & Drinks~ Cherry drops ( to stop ears popping !) Incase Batt...

On top of all of your usual Disney trip items (clothing, cameras, toiletries, etc) these are the winter weather specific items you need to bring along on your trip to Disneyland Paris. Snacks Ok, so technically you might bring these any other time of the year too, but in winter the park tends to close around 7pm which means you might head back to the hotel rather early after visiting the Disney Village area of the resort, and it's a lot nicer and more appealing to eat snacks you brought with you rather than walk out in the cold to the hotel shop whenever you want something. Hot Chocolate An absolute must pack for your winter trip is a pack of hot chocolate cups, they're ideal as they're a hot drink that comes all ready in its own cup, you just need to add hot water and stir. You can probably find other pre-cupped hot drinks but Cadbury hot chocolate seems to be the most easily found hot cupped drink on the market and from the tea cups i've seen y...

Back in January 2014 my fiancé and I set up a new blog and wrote a list of 50 things together that we would do throughout 2014. After a few months our blog site got hacked and taken down and we stopped doing the list but we still managed to get a huge chunk of it done. I've started thinking about the list again as i'd like to do something similar for 2015 but perhaps a be a little bit more vague to make sure I can get everything done as I need to fit everything around work and everything else. Here are the 50 things from 2014. 1) Decide where to go on holiday! 2) Go on a trip 3) Day trip(s) 4) Plan our wedding 5) Book our wedding 6) Get the house fixed up (plastered etc) 7) Decorate the house 8) Spend time at the rock pools in summer (we missed it last year) 9) Start up a new website(s)  10) Spend more time together 11) He wants us to see The Hobbit. 12) Go to at least one Zoo (London, Edinburgh, South Lakes Animal Park)...

I know we recently posted here that we are going to delay China for a year and go around Europe next Summer instead, but now we're considering changing back to visiting China next September. If i'm honest, Europe just doesn't sound as exciting as China. We've also got an amazing quote for another two week trip to Tokyo in March, just in time for the Sakura/Cherry blossom season, but then I realised that Easter and a bank holiday are in the end of March so I can't take that time off work, i'd also miss my brothers 16th birthday! So we're going to price that up again for Spring 2017, because our only other option would be to go to Tokyo two weeks earlier, miss the cherry blossom season and have to tackle the cold. Heres the list of ideas we came up with for a trip to China. Beijing Great Wall Lama Temple Beihai Park Tiananmen Square Forbidden City Ancient Hutong Alleyways Summer Palace Shanghai Disneyland Yu Garden Jade Buddha Temp...

On Thursday night my fiancé and I headed to Durham for around 5:30pm, it was raining when we got there but stopped pretty quickly. Great, I thought, that must have been what the forecast was talking about - but oh, was I wrong! We didn't get to see everything after the torrential rain started and we made our way back to the train station for around 8pm, our programme is soaked and I missed the main thing I wanted to see, but maybe we'll be able to go back on Sunday without a ticket. Here are are some photographs of what was there I did take a few photographs on my DSLR but because of the rain I had to put the camera away and just use my iPhone. The rain did ruin the night a bit, but on the bright side, my socks were perfectly themed for the weather Follow this blog on BlogLovin' Like us on Facebook

I always mean to do a 'what I bought' post after I come back from a holiday but I always pack everything away before I get to take a photograph, so this time I decided to take a photo of most of the stuff I bought before we packed it into the suitcases. Heres a list of what I bought and where Christmas in New York Freestanding Gingerbread Man Personalised Decoration Other Decorations Disney Tradition Statue of Liberty Toys R Us Pick & Mix Laffy Taffy Giant box of Nerds Empire State Building Keyring Empire State Building Bear Disney Store - Times Square Tsum Tsum Tray Tsum Tsum Bowl Christmas Decorations Tsum Tsum Socks Dylan's Candy Bar Pick & Mix Chewy Lemonhead Icee Popping Candy x2 Japanese - Every Burger Pick & Mix Container Hersheys Christmas Decorations x2 Hershey's Boxershorts M&Ms World Gift box CVS & 7 Eleven Trolli Brite Crawlers Candy Corn 65 piece Wonka mix Funyuns Lindt...

On Wednesday night my Mam and I headed to Sunderland's Empire Theatre to watch the opening night's performance of Shrek the Musical. We couldn't get central seats so we were in B14 and B15 in the dress circle, giving us a slightly angled view. Neither of us were really expecting much from this musical but it was actually really good, I think i'd probably rate it higher than Wicked as I didn't really find Wicked that interesting if i'm honest. Lord Farquaad (sorry I didn't pick up a programme on the way in and didn't have time to stop by the merchandise stall on the way out sadly - we got stuck in the car park for about 40minutes last time so we ran!) basically stole the show, I don't want to give too much away for anyone who is going to be seeing this show soon, but obviously, with Lord Farquaad being a very short character they needed to portray this within the show and they way they did it was hilarious - they had an average heigh...

This is a very photoheavy post, be warned! I've managed to cut down my photographs from New York that I shot on my DSLR to share here with you, but remember there will be even more over at my photography blog coming over the next month or two. So here are a few of my favourites, i'm posting them not only to share with you, but to help me get over the holiday blues! 1-6 - Central Park 7 & 8 - Statue of Liberty 9 - View from 9/11 Memorial Site 10 & 12 - View from Empire State Building 11 - Times Square Follow this blog on BlogLovin' Like us on Facebook