Coachella

I've always wanted to go to Coachella. Not just because the line up is always awesome, but I like heat. And the thought of not waking up in a tent, putting on wellies, thermals and rain mac and stepping out into three feet of mud is beyond appealing. A festival in the desert? SOLD. So when my mate text me saying 'Do you want to come to Coachella, a group of us are going, but we need to know tonight', the pressure and overwhelming fear of FOMO ('fear of missing out' if Mum is reading this) was too much so I instinctively said yes!

A couple of weeks later, I started to think about the camping. People started telling me stories of lying in a tent, sweating profusely due to the heat, having to wake at 7am to get out of it for fear of dehydrating to death. Plus I now had to get camping gear over to the states?! Thank god we weren't flying with Ryanair. Suddenly the mud seemed great fun. Initially I booked a hotel nearby, but with all my friends camping I felt a bit of a wimp. So I found a happy medium. And this was it.

Meet Tattoo...

I bloody loved her. My friend didn't quite share the enthusiasm as her description of it was 'like the steering wheel isn't attached to the wheels'. But she's so pretty!

The first thing about Coachella when you arrive is your surroundings. The backdrop of the mountains is pretty breathtaking. And that's before entering the festival. As it's an arts and music festival, everything is visually stunning. The most notorious of course being the giant ferris wheel. In one tent one morning I made a hand painted necklace. I mean, yes, it does look like something my 5 year old niece would make but the thought was there.

An American festival is very different to the UK. I'm not sure whether it's down to the heat, or because we're rather keen on a (binge) drink or two in the UK, but everyone seemed pretty chilled out. Which is lovely because you get no annoying louts or people throwing up outside your tent. But I have to admit...I missed the binge drinking Brits! Especially during Blur. Whilst I was momentarily fourteen again, going nuts, jumping around like some yoof, moshing, singing badly, everyone else just stood quietly and observed. I felt a little sorry for the boys. It was just a little too civilised. I suppose they never would have quite got the whole Britpop excitement...and possibly the nostalgia I felt watching them but nevertheless I still wanted to shout WAKE UP AND ENJOY YOURSELVES.

This area however, was a little different. When it's 30 plus degrees heat and you're dancing in the middle of a desert, what's the one thing you want? A GIANT JET WASH PLEASE. Awesome DJ's and relentless fun all.day.long. here.

The music was brilliant, favourite being local boy Jake Bugg. There's something very exciting about seeing someone from your region on the other side of the world. You feel like you know them. Sadly I don't. 

But I did make friends with this guy and his snazzy umbrella.

General fun...

 

Umm am I on acid or is that a giant snail?!
*at no point was I on acid*

Oh that's just me driving a giant bug.

So pretty by night...

After several magical days we moved onto our next destination. We were extremely excited by the prospect of fresh sheets, a proper shower but more importantly to see VIIIIVA LAS VEGAS! From the moment I arrived I loved it. We stayed at the Hard Rock hotel. This was my view. Decent. Spent hours walking round the biggest hotel I've ever seen with all it's Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain, Beatles memorabilia to name but a few. At one point, in the wee hours I got obscenely lost and was banging on a hotel room which wasn't mine. Better leave that story there...what goes in Vegas...

Vegas was everything I expected...and I loved it for that.

Everything in the states makes me feel like I'm permanently in a film. But the highlight of my trip was jumping into a convertible with a few mates and taking the 3 hour drive to the Grand Canyon. Partly because of the road trip. Incredible. Yes, we got lost and felt a small fear of death when our sat nav led us down this dusty road....

Nice wheels Grandpa!

Luckily we didn't perish and after a rather tense-4 hours longer than it should have been journey-we arrived at our destination, and it's fair to say it was well worth it...

I AM NOT POSING AT THE GRAND CANYON

If you have a list of places to travel to then I'd make sure this is firmly added! And if that didn't quite wet your appetite here's a little vid of our trip. Apologies for shoddy filming. And singing.

Hvar-ing A Good Time

Sooo I know I banged on about it while I was there...but I simply want to share one of the most delicious places I've ever been to. And bore you with a holiday slideshow...no-one seems to want to come round to listen to the running commentary?? So I'll put it on here instead.

So I chose to go to Hvar in Croatia. I'd wanted to visit Croatia for a few years after hearing amazing things from friends about how utterly beautiful it is and once I read that the island of Hvar was 'the new Ibiza meets St. Tropez' I was sold! And that's a fairly accurate description.

We flew into Split-nice short 2 hour flight. Having had a brief glance around Split, I wish we'd stayed there a couple of nights to see it properly as it looked great fun and very pretty. But we hopped on board a catamaran to take us to the island of Hvar, 2 hours away. At this point...that probably sounds like the catamaran was chartered just for us. Sadly not, it was basically a ferry...but a pretty cool one.

When we arrived at Hvar along the jetty, we were greeted by backpackers and glamour. Stylish restuarants, massive yachts and...well, backpackers. It was a good balance-cool and glamorous but not snobby or pretentious. So pretty and so clean! And those massive mounds of ice cream. It was evidently time to drop the 'no carbs before Croatia' regime...

The town centre was ruddy stunning...I may as well let the pictures do the talking....

We walked up to the castle for a pretty spectacular view...

First night-went out-the town was buzzing. Found a side street bar which was rammed. Made friends with backpackers. First off I couldnt resist temptation to hijack a boat. Sure...there were million pound yachts. But this was my choice of vessel.

After boat jacking, we saw some lights in the distance...wondered up to stumble upon a castle...which was actually a nightclub. Amazing.

Was tough waking up to this with a hangover...

So many gorgeous restaurants...http://giaxa.com/giaxa/about

Cutest, rustic wine bar i've ever been to...prsuta 3 wine bar.

Stumbled across a tiny shop to discover it was run by the Dad of the guy who ran the wine bar....his cheese, meat and wine were immense. He gave us a lot of tasters! Splendid.

We turned all Enid Blyton and went for a bike ride...my favourite day. Despite going down a forbidden road and being chased and almost mauled to death by rabid angry, evil alsatian. Pretty scenic though.

And then the best bit....the Full Moon Party. We had to get a boat to the forest....felt like the kind of party I imagine fairies have when you're not looking....have I gone mental?!

Yes that is the moon gleaming on the sea....

And an obligatory sunset shot of course to top it all off....at Hula Hula bar.

I love Hvar!

Six Go Glamping!

When my friend invited me Glamping I am almost ashamed to say I was more excited about the prospect than my summer holiday abroad!! If you're not up to speed with the Glamping phenomenon-it's basically camping made easy...almost glamorous-hence Glamping...of course. Some people say this is against the whole point of camping. I disagree. Lets be honest, camping can be miserable! If it's chucking it down (which inevitably it often is) who actually enjoys putting up a soggy tent, waking up to damp clothes, stumbling outside to use the loo in natures garden or grim cold toilet block, probably out of loo roll and sleeping on the floor. Thats never fun...

Glamping is perfect! I love 'the great outdoors' therefore always want to go camping but with this you get the best of both worlds. In our case we had a giant tent-reminiscent more of a log cabin, that slept six. Complete with a wood burning stove, large rustic wooden kitchen table, sink, toilet and even....a hot tub!! Well...more like a barrel with hot water but still pretty pimp. It was SO COSY. It was still pretty basic-but in a romantic rustic way. We were actually quite glad when it rained so we could all cosy up in blankets, toast marshmallows and play poker round the kitchen table, whilst boiling kettles of tea on the stove. Sound a bit like The Waltons? Yep-It really was! 

We even had to charge the battery powered electricity with a mounted bike on our veranda. Luckily this power lasted a long time-you don't have to continously power-otherwise someone would be drawing a short straw!

Oh, and being tucked away in the Lake District it was pretty remarkable to step outside onto your own jetty and private lake...with 1920's wooden boats....wow. Quite possibly one of my favourite ever weekends away!! 

Certainly not a bad view to wake up to....

Home Sweet Home....

Lets go boating....

The bike to power electricity...

BBQ. So cool...

Favourite bed I've ever slept in. The Rabbit Hutch! No wonder rabbits are so happy....

Tea o Clock

Marshmallow melting...

Natures hot tub....

Feasting!

http://www.countryhousehideout.co.uk/

NYE in NYC (part 2)

So NYC wasn't all about getting upgraded on the flight (well...it was for the first day or so...and after i'd texted all my family and friends...) but here are some highlights...and where you should go if you visit!

Our first day consisted of some serious WALKING. Blisters a plenty. But you get to see sooo much that way...Fifth Avenue for shopping-amazing. All the huge designer stores (to look at from outside...) Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton etc. Plus the very impressive Trump Towers!

Of course there's the Empire state...Rockerfellar Centre, Radio City Hall to gaze up at. The skyscrapers are incredible...ended up nose to nose with a few lamp posts as a result! This combined with some serious 3ft deep puddle dodging was tough-the snow was still very much present, and became fun spotting the cars buried in 5ft mounds of powder! We pressed on through the very cool SoHo...amazing little boutique shops and bars/cafes. Where the cool kids hang! We ended the day with an incredible view where we spotted a rather famous landmark at sunset...

WOW! Took approximately 6000 photos....

Our best night out was in the Lower East Side-found a gorgeous cosy, hidden restaurant called 'Freemans'. http://freemansrestaurant.com/ Felt a bit like someones lounge, complete with a bar and stuffed animals on the wall...delicious food!

We popped into a bar nearby to try and soak up some more night life. Noticed that all bars have a cpr kit available in the bar and this is advertised. I wonder who is trained to use that kit?! Scary! We asked where was good to go locally and the barman told us 70's rock legend Patti Smith was playing at the infamous and iconic 'Bowery Ballroom'. And we managed to get tickets!! Lucky...

She was amazing and we got right to the front!!

Incredible...ended up making friends who took us to a lesbian club, brilliant!! All in a nights work in New York...

The next day was tough with a hangover but breakfast in a snow filled Central Park helped!

I love swings!

Night before New Years Eve we walked through Times Square-breathtaking all lit up! The whole time walking round, with the NYPD cop cars and Diners feels like i'm on a film set...we then stumbled across American Idol host Ryan Seacrest rehearsing on stage for New Years Eve! *CELEB SPOT*

The Big One....

New Years Eve was upon us! We decided not to head to Times Square as we were told you had to hang around for 10 hours in the cold...thats not my idea of fun. So found a rooftop bar called 230 on Fifth which over looks the Empire State building-immense! http://www.230-fifth.com/

I made some more friends as well...(note the snow in pic! And the red robes were handed out to keep us warm on the roof!!)

Happy New Year!

Photo with obligatory 2011 United States glasses and NYPD cop car....



To top the trip off, we headed to Madison Square Gardens to watch the Knicks! Yeah the Knicks rule! Even if you're not a fan of Basketball (don't think i've ever watched a proper game apart from at school....) it is sooo entertaining. Mainly because they have Time outs every 3 minutes with live entertainment on the court!

To top the whole week off, we headed to what was by far the most impressive landmark of the week for me....a restaurant called....'avoce'. A restaurant named after me?! How lovely!! Maybe not...but was still very excited by it....(how tragic). If they were to use my name surely I had to sample the culinary delights of avoce? (and pinch a menu and several matchboxes....)

Happy New Year all!

Amy
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