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