What my weekends consist of...

I tried, and failed, to upload this last night, so please pretend that you are reading this yesterday...

I'm writing this on a long journey back from seeing my family and friends up north, and feeling a bit lonely and sorry for myself to be honest! But then I have always hated goodbyes and going back to my mundane life after weekend or holiday funs. I think the only time I haven't was at the end of my travels. I was completely ready to go home and see my family and friends, who I'd missed massively.

For some reason all of my favourite people seem to live so flippin far away from me! And it doesn't help that I live in an area of the country where the roads in and out are rubbish (barely even any dual carriageways, let alone motorways) and where the only trainline goes to London. So to go north (which is where my bro and sis and live), I first have to go south. Absolute nonsense. And, of course, I have to sell and arm and both legs in order to afford such a journey, unless I know what my plans are three months in advance. Where is the incentive in being green and using public transport?! It's at times like these when I really miss my little red ...

Anyway, enough of the ranting, I had a FABULOUS weekend. I got to see and snuggle with Sally Sausage (my 3 month old niece, who just so happens to be the most beautiful and perfect little girl who ever graced this earth) on Friday night and Saturday.

I had a good old mooch and a bit of a shop in Leeds and then chilled out with my bro and Boba on sat night & today at my brother's swanky place in Leeds. I've decided that Leeds is defo one of my favourite cities. I can't put my finger on exactly what it is that I love, but I just know that it is somewhere I could happily live. And if I did, I would defo live in Granary Wharf, which is where my brother's flat is. He lives in Candle House which is right near the train station and has a beaut rooftop terrace which overlooks the whole of Leeds. We spent a bit of time up there yesterday and I made myself comfy on a hammock. If I closed my eyes and pretended the temperature was about 20 degrees hotter I was transported back to SE Asia or Indonesia ... aaaah.

Apart from a few episodes of Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch - swoon - who'd have thought?!), church this morning and a delish steak dinner, that just about sums up my weekend. I feel as though I've blinked and I'm back on the long lonely journey home.

Back to work tomorrow and counting down to next weekend when I'll be making more train journeys (and probably more ranting blog posts :-/) to see some more of my faves (and going to an LDS UV party.) Heck. Yes. 4. More. Days. Can't come quick enough. I feel as though my life consists of weekends and counting down to the next weekend. How I miss my pre-travelling social life.

Anyway, gotta go and change trains. Actually, I have to get off this train and wait a whole 45 mins for the next one. The joy of living in farmer country. Ugh. Laters peeps, I'll try and make my next one more interesting and less self-pitying and whiny!

Rella xoxo

The view from my bro's rooftop terrace...

I've been a terrible blogger...

So, the blogging thing didn't really work out for me while I was travelling - I discovered that my time was very precious on my journey and so every spare minute I had was spent having adventures :-D

So, since I got back the following are the CLASSIC questions I get asked about my trip:
1) What was your favourite place?
2) What was the best/worst experience you had?
3) Did you meet any interesting people?
4) Did you have any romances?
5) Was it scary/did you get mugged/raped/murdered etc

I will answer these in order:
1) This is THE hardest question to answer and the answer depends on how I'm feeling or what it's in relation to. So, as is standard for me, I will answer in categories.
Favourite food: Vietnam - definitely. So much to choose from, but my favourite was fresh spring rolls. Went to a cooking class there which was one of the most fun things I did and really made me appreciate what goes into Vietnamese cooking. Just YUM. Yet to find a good Vietnamese restaurant since I got back, so if anyone has any suggestions, let me know!
Favourite people: Cambodians. So open, friendly and positive. Amazing when you consider what they went through.
Favourite landscapes: New Zealand - a postcard view literally around every corner. So much untouched and just beautiful.
Favourite lifestyle/weather: Indonesia - actually, more specifically Gili Meno off the coast of Lombok. I've never been to a more chilled out place in my life and so flipping gorgeous. I got to spend 3 luscious days there swimming, sunbathing, eating and snorkelling. And it helped that it was spent with some of my favourite people from my travels (ahem Katie and Lina ;-))

So, yeah, those are my faves! Unfortunately Australia and Canada don't get a mention. I did love it in both those places, especially Rottnest Island on the West coast of Aus, Melbourne and Vancouver (in particular Saturna Island) but today the places above are on my faves list!

2) The best experience I had was DEFO skydiving in New Zealand over Lake Taupo and in sight of Mount Doom. It was completely exhilarating. Words can't even describe. I would recommend doing it once to ANYONE. Seriously. The worst experience I had was being ill - which actually happened a lot. The only place I didn't get ill was Australia! I got very sick in Cambodia for 2 days (bleugh -but dropped a dress size!), got a chest infection which started in Vietnam and finally left at the end of my Indonesian trip, a horrible cold on the South Island in NZ, followed very shortly after by shingles. Ugh. Not ideal, but I managed to soldier on through, and picked up some nice strong drugs in Indonesia and Canada (including some Oxy - ooh yeah - all prescription, ofc!) Oh, and I got my iPod stolen on Christmas Day, when I was on Fraser Island :-( sad times.

3) Yes, of course I met interesting people! My bestest group was defo on my Cambodian leg - so many great people and we all got on really well. For anyone who's done that kind of trip before, you'll know how rare that is. And there were a couple of gems along the way (a couple have already been mentioned). I could spend hours talking about all the people, but since this is already an uber long post, I'll leave it there.

4) A lady does not kiss and tell...

5) Nope, no particularly scary experiences - a hairy experience with a huntsman spider at the breakfast table on Fraser Island. And that time when I thought I might actually die from the shingles pain. But nope, no muggings or attempted murders. Felt very safe all the time I was there.

So, that's my whole trip in one blog post. Sorry if its a bit disappointing, but if there are any particular places or experiences which you would like me to write about or post pictures of just pop a comment below and I'll be happy to oblige :-D

In other news, I'm going to start a blog (and possibly a vlog on YouTube, if people are interested) with reviews of beauty products I'm using, clothes I'm wearing, books I'm reading, music I'm listening to, films I'm watching, food I'm eating .... I could go on, but I think you get the idea! It will probably focus most on the beauty side as I realise that I have accumulated a LOT of beauty products and people might want to know what I think is and isn't worth the hype. I've also got a lot of beauty blogs which I subscribe to on here and YouTube, and I've always thought it would be fun to do something like that myself. The address is lotothejo.blogspot.co.uk, so please head over there in the next week or so (I haven't uploaded anything quite yet) and let me know what you think. I'm not suggesting that everyone else will like what I like, but I always like to get other people's opinions on things before I invest time or money into them.

Anyhow, for those of you have actually stuck this blog post out to the end, WELL DONE! And sorry. I'm going to try and upload at least one post on here every week now - just little updates on my life and thoughts I've been having. And probably plenty of mentions of my precious niece, Sally.

Right, off to take some piccies and swatches for my first review.

Sweet surfing and see you soon,

Rella xoxo