All posts tagged: Travel

Cignale Enoteca, Tokyo

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You’d think that a self confessed raw fish obsessive who has booked a trip to Tokyo would want to spend each day – morning, noon and night – slurping up every silky seafood slither in sight. Right? Well, I thought so too, until I made my 10 year dream trip to Tokyo a reality. Why? Because on the flight there, my boyfriend told me that whatever the Japanese turn their hand to, kitchen based or otherwise, turns out to be the best in the world. So when I came across the 2016 Monocle Restaurant Awards list and saw that the number 1 spot had been awarded to a small rustic restaurant in Tokyo, run by Japanese chef, Toshiji Tomori, who spent 4 years learning his trade in Italy, there was no question I would be booking it. It may not have a Michelin star, but anyone who goes to Tokyo with bookings only at spots recommended solely by the foodie elite, are a bit stupid in my eyes. It’s not to say I wouldn’t go to …

How to Eat Well in Dublin and Belfast

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We have all experienced addiction at some point in our lives. If you’re reading this and you haven’t, I’m sorry but you’re not human. A few years ago I was completely and utterly infatuated. The lucky recipient of my affections? If you know me you might have guessed…  Salmon. But only the raw kind. Oh yes, it just HAD to be raw. And as much as I still adore salmon sashimi, my affections have now turned to another satisfying sea creature… the Oyster. So you can imagine the first thing that went though my head when I booked to go to Dublin and Belfast? No, it wasn’t the fact that I’d finally get to explore Temple Bar, or that I might even see Cillian Murphy roaming the streets (although of course I will forever live in hope of that). No, it was that I would get to eat my bodyweight in delicious oysters. And that I did.  But eating oysters wasn’t the only item on the to do list. Pippa and I were there for …

Festival Review – Electric Castle, Romania

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“What are you going to write about?” asked Alex. I thought about it for a second and when I responded, he looked surprised. “I don’t know, because it hasn’t happened yet”, I smiled as I melted into my seat. Lucy and I had just stopped the wrong bus in its tracks and bundled ourselves on, not so elegantly pulling our suitcase and bumping into poor unsuspecting passengers on the way to a couple of empty seats at the back. The boiling hot bus, which seemed to have rolled straight out of the 70’s, was full of subdued festival goers on the way to one of Romania’s biggest festivals, Electric Castle. And Alex? He was my new Romanian friend from Romania’s non-official second capital, Cluj-Napoca. It was the truth. I could have guessed and said that I was going to interview a few bands, or that I was there to review specific bands, but no. I was there to review the experience – and if my previous festival experiences are anything to go by, I knew …

Dancing in Transylvania: Electric Castle Festival, 12th-16th July

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It has taken me four years to realise that to have fun; the real kind, not the ‘how can I make myself look like I’m having fun when really I’m just an anxiety attack waiting to happen’ kind of fun, I need to do two things. Number 1 – Just Say No. The FOMO is real, people. But it doesn’t need to be. It took a 40 year old journalist I met recently to tell me that getting over FOMO was one of the best things he had ever done. “It takes time, but it will come”, he said to me as we departed a ski lift on the top of a mountain in Mayrhofen. We were at Snowbombing festival and he was there to cover the festival for an online music magazine. He was having fun, not drinking, skiing loads every day, and most importantly left the festival with an average of 40 hours’ sleep during the week. I, on the other hand, drank my body weight in Jägermeister and beer, danced until 5am …

Head Over Hills Luxury Retreat: stunning views and a £50,000 bed – Knysna, ZA

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What Head Over Hills is a 5* luxury retreat situated along the Garden Route of South Africa. Experience Despite spending 8 weeks working at a state hospital in Cape Town, it would be a lie to say that the last few months have been in any way stressful. Joe and I are absolutely in love with South Africa and have enjoyed treating ourselves to all of the delights that this incredibly beautiful country has to offer. These treats are largely focused around the themes of eating and drinking, relaxing and having a great time. So with these aims in mind, we decided to spend our final two weeks in South Africa travelling along the Garden Route with various stops along the way. The Garden Route is essentially the N2 highway which starts in Cape Town, in the Western Cape, and meanders 800km along the coast to Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. However, this is no motorway as we know it. Along its course the road travels past some of the most beautiful beaches in the …