Holidays Past and Present: Part 1 IBIZIA!

A little background story...

'LOL'

Once upon a time I was 19. I'd hated my first year of Uni living with ten girls so had moved into the boys house next door after just a few weeks and found myself in a world of Fifa, ping pong and protein shakes. I'm quite a girly girl when I want to be so I should have been right at home with the girls but I just wasn't, they were always being vile to each other and getting over excited about everything and that was not my cup of tea, I was quiet and they thought my accent was really posh. I'd also come from a close group of girls who had never fallen out with each other all through school and college so I couldn't understand how they could hate each other one minute and not the next. I loved how chilled out and loyal the boys were and tried to stay clear of the girls as much as possible. 

By the end of that year though I'd made besties with the loudest, most intimidating party girl from my original house when we'd realised we shared a love of our sex and the city boxsets, had been dancers before coming to Uni and both hated going to lectures and seminars.

 So that was that. In a matter of weeks I'd pretty much stopped going to any classes and was out partying five days a week even though neither of us ever had any money. We'd simply sweet talk the bouncers at our favourite club into getting us in and drink tap water all night and be there from 9 at night till 4 in the morning. Kirsty had well and truly brought me out of my shell and I like to think I made her a tad classier! The mischief we made was to become legendary in the little town of Chester.

We decided to move in together for our second year despite the fact I'd gone from getting firsts to getting 2:2's and she'd completely failed first year. We also recruited a few of the other girls and some of the boys so we were a big mismatch from the beginning. Kirsty and I had got through an audition to be bar tenders and dancers at our favourite club so we were earning money and saving our tips and decided our hard graft had earnt us the right to go on holiday. I don't know why we decided on Ibiza, I guess it's the big one and we wanted the best.





Two of our friends Vicky and Wayne volunteered to come along which was just as well as they were the complete opposite to us, they did all the organising and researching places and finances and Kirsty and I just nodded in agreement and handed over the money. They found a week in San Antonia just off the main strip for something stupid like £130 including flights and transfers and as soon as we;d booked it I made a massive wall chart and ticked off the days and decorated our tip jars with pictures of Ibiza.

The night before I promised everyone I'd packed so Kirsty and I could go on a pre-Ibiza night out which was followed by furious phone calls when it emerged I hadn't done a single thing. So in the morning we ran like mad things to go change our money in town and throw random things in a case before getting the train to the airport.

Wayne and Vicky were like the sensible parents with everything we needed in a plastic wallet and their cases lined up neatly by the door, I distinctly remember sitting on the stairs flinging things out of my case to get it down to the right weight with five minutes before the taxi came and I made a casual joke to diffuse the tension when Wayne screamed at me 'This is not a talking zone, this is a packing zone!' Hilarious!

'The packing zone'

Sweet and innocent!

And so it begins...

I'm not going to pretend I know everything there is to know about Ibiza because I don't. I was there for one week and it was my first holiday without mum and dad with limited money in my pocket. We weren't a massively wild group either and we had Wayne and Vicky to keep us on the straight and narrow so it was all very innocent, lots of getting with boys and getting drunk and giddy on bright pink drinks. I never once saw drugs, heard about them or got offered them and I didn't see anyone getting naked or having sex in the street but I guess if you're someone who is that way inclined you're going to look for it and notice it more. I've always been massively naive and innocent when it comes to drugs simply because they don't interest me in the slightest so I've never had to sit up and take notice. I guess if there had been any around I wouldn't have noticed them anyway. 

Boys were my forte and at 19 I was pretty confident around them, in fact no, I was extremely confident! I remember on the first day we were stood on our balcony taking it all in when we spotted a guy who had all the laddish brovado of a silver backed gorrilla. You couldn't help noticing him, he was swaggering around like he owned the place, constantly dropping his shorts and whistling at the girls. We nicknamed him 'King Chav' and went on about how we'd never go near that. Fast forward to three pink drinks and a silent disco later and guess who I'd ended up with? It became a running joke that all I had to do was point my finger at someone and they'd come over and it wasn't that far from the truth. I knew what I was good at and I certainly wasn't ashamed about it! 

It became pretty clear as soon as we stepped off the plane that we didn't look anything like the 'cool' group in Ibiza. Ibiza is very much the 'cool' place to go and everyone was in tiny denim hot pants, converse high tops and vest tops. I'd been wearing converse since I was about 13 so I didn't regard them as in fashion at all, it was just my shoe of choice! Because I'd grown up dancing to R 'n' B my going out style was very simple but short and tight, in fact I'm always being told how I dress is very European and I think I'd have to agree with that. Kirsty had been a dancer too and loved the same kind of music so our dress sense was pretty similar and Vicky and Wayne weren't massively into fashion either, it was all River Island and New Look! 

I couldn't (and still don't) understand why everyone would want to look the same. I found the whole fashion part of Ibiza really pretentious although the workers who come and sell you tickets on the beach and get you into the clubs at night always looked amazing. I found it weird when they'd come sit next to you on the beach and pretend like they were really interested because they were obviously a hell of a lot cooler than we were and it was all a bit fake and obvious.

No one wore heels or much make up when they went out and I think in 2009 it was when the Boho trend was having a bit of a moment so we definitely didn't fit in with our little boob tube dresses and sparkly lilac eyeshadow. Kirsty and I had a pair of black shoe boot heels from New Look that we were absolutely in love with and used to them everywhere, I'd be mortified if one of my friends was wearing the same shoes as me now but back then we thought we looked amazing- and when I look back I'm so proud of us being the hot little oddballs we were! The funny thing is I can cringe at the outfits we wore then but when I go on holiday now I still pack exactly the same things, I just wear them differently these days. I remember one of the 'cool' girls asking if I'd do her make up in the toliets at Eden one night and I thought to myself 'girls are all the same!' 

I think we'd gone just as Ibiza was getting into the party season so for a few of the days it was pretty overcast and it rained every now and again. We didn't really mind though as I go brown as a nut in seconds and the other three don't tan at all.

We went self-catered and our kitchen consisted of a teeny tiny cooker and a kettle and sink so we ate out pretty much every night apart from once when we made pasta with Philadelphia cheese. I had a fried breakfast every single day and loved them! We also bought a bottle of bright green absinthe which was something like 90% alcohol and I remember walking back to the hotel with it thinking 'I'm carrying my death in this plastic carrier bag.' We attempted to play ring of fire but I'm hopeless at maths and couldn't get hold of it for the life of me so we gave up and played twister instead. I don't know who brought a twister mat with them but I was glad they did.

              

We didn't go to any of the superclubs because house music isn't my thing and it was a bit of a trek to get to them. I'd been told they were basically drug raves and so busy you can't get a drink all night and if you do it's 10 euros for a bottle of water. Added to the ridiculous price for getting in it didn't sound like my cup of tea but if I was to go back to Ibiza again I'd probably go to one just to see what they're like. If they weren't amazing they wouldn't get the reputation they have so they must be pretty good, personally I don't really like the big clubs even when I'm at home. 

We did go to Eden though when HedKandi were playing and I loved the place, just not the music. There were girls dressed up in cages suspended from the ceiling and they looked so glamorous I remember thinking 'How do I get that job?' Being a massive girl I loved all the pink glitter and sequins and feathers and I can imagine it looks amazing for different themed nights.

I thought the carousel was the best thing ever! On nights when there was an event going on it was packed but I actually preferred going when it was just a regular night especially as it was free to get in and there was room to dance. I noticed pretty fast that not many people dance in Ibiza which I found bizarre as to me it was the mecca of dancing! So many times it would just be me and Kirsty on the dance floor and everyone else sat down around the edges which we just didn't get.

We walked past the famous Ibiza Rocks hotel but it wasn't open and no one was playing at the time, I'm making this sound like the worst place ever but I think maybe we'd just picked a bad time to go? 

We couldn't find any gay clubs for poor Wayne so whenever the other two went off with someone I'd walk back with him across the beach. Some of the funniest times of that holiday were me and him just stumbling over the rocks trying not to get chased down the strip by a transvestite on stilts.


We also went on a 'Booze Cruise' which was pretty underwhelming. The reps came round to our rooms as soon as we got to the hotel and badgered us into paying 200 euros for a package of five events ranging from a silent disco to a rave paint night. Because we were new to it all and Ibiza seemed huge we wanted to do what everyone else was doing and duly handed over our money but in reality all you get for your money are a couple of discos you could get into for free yourself and a few drinks which wouldn't cost you much on a deal anyway. This booze cruise was pretty pants with the usual ritual humiliation of reps and holiday makers acting out sex positions with bananas, that kind of thing. I think we had a couple of glasses of sangria each and then all three of my group threw up. We didn't stop off anywhere as far as I recall and it was pretty cloudy all day but I loved the music and how rocky the water was just added to the beat as far as I was concerned. I love anything on water so I was happy as larry.

My favourite night was probably the silent disco where everyone gets a headset, I think we were the last ones to leave!

All in all I have massively fond memories of my time in Ibiza but I think it was mostly down to the fact it was my first holiday away and I was with my best friends. The company you take with you ultimately has an impact on how your holiday goes so think carefully before you take a big group where people don't get on or there's too many characters wanting to be the boss. Luckily for us there were no egos in our group and none of us cared about being seen as 'the fun one' or anything like that. When I look back we seem so young and innocent and found every day an adventure and loved getting all dressed up and dancing till we were exhausted. That's my main memory of this holiday, all the dancing and jumping around. I guess because our jobs weren't 9-5 office jobs we didn't have that need to go out and get drunk because we hadn't come on holiday to get away from stress or a boring job. Our whole week was based on going out and dancing so we just saw the holiday as our usual week but in a different country. We were one of a minority of that mind set though so we tended to stay away from the 'lager louts' at our hotel and sit on the beach.

I would go back to Ibiza one day but I think I'd explore the island more and probably take more money to get into the super clubs and the more luxurious bars. It's the leader of the 18-30 scene and it knows it so if you're four dorks looking for a good disco there probably are better suited places to go to. 

Bella

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Holidays Past and Present: Intro

Aloha!

I know everyone looks down on 18-30 holidays as being all about getting horribly drunk, taking too many drugs and having sex with anything semi-conscious and I'm not going to defend that reputation because for the most part that is actually true. Clearly it's this reputation that pulls in the crowds for the most part although I would never ever class myself as a 'typical' 18-30 goer. I like a cocktail as much as the next girl but to be honest I'm such a light weight one VK tropical has me on the floor and too much alcohol makes me fall asleep. I'm not into drugs at all and I'm usually oblivious to anyone flirting with me as I tend to think everyone is just really friendly! I'm happy with a good book and a nice apple juice in the sunshine so why do I love the carnage of an 18-30 holiday so much?

My answer to this is two fold. Firstly, I love to dance. I will dance to anything but my all time favourite genre is mid to late 90's R 'n' B i.e. Usher, Destiny's Child, Aaliyah, Brandy etc. I like how it's not cool to like those singers which makes them adorably unpretentious and yet everyone knows the lyrics, everyone can relate and who can stop themselves wanting to side step to Ushers 'Burn'? No one, that's who. Unfortunately big cities back in England don't tend to cater to just R 'n' B because their target market like variety and the latest hits so sometimes you can find yourself in a club at 11pm when it's just getting started, knee deep in Trey Songz early hits having the time of your life when all of a sudden the DJ decides it's time to 'get serious' and on comes Jessie J or Example or Little Mix and that's my night over. But if you're going to an island created soley for dancing then you're going to get songs that induce one of those dancing comas where all you can see around you are happy faces and flashing lights and all you can feel inside you  is a heavy beat and a need to move and you feel light and free but completely in control all at the same time. Dance floors are my happy place!

Secondly, they're unquestionably cheap! I don't care how desolate and tacky the hotel is because I figure I'll spend most of the time on the beach or in a club anyway, as long as there's a shower and somewhere to plug my hairdryer in I don't mind if I have to sleep on the floor or there's no air conditioning. I don't mind where we go either as long as the beach and clubs are pretty nearby because even if you go to a pretty naff place with not much to do you can just jump on a bus and find a better town nearby or go on an excursion every day. Because I'm so relaxed about everything I usually get demoted from any planning and I'm never allowed to hold the passports or find out what gate we're checking in at! Which is fine by me.

Sooo this serial post is about my love of 18-30 holidays and why even if you're not a girl who loves her straight vodka shots or wants to get high on helium balloons you can still come back having had the best week/ ten days/ fortnight/ season of your life.

Bella 

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The past weeks events...

This weeks travels included a trip to Wales to visit a few beaches for the day with some friends. It wasn't the sunniest day, in fact it was pretty much just clouds all day long but I still managed to come home with a face full of freckles and some seriously tanned legs so I wasn't complaining!

Talacre Beach

We had an amazing day just flipping through magazines, drinking Rekorderligs, eating our ham salad wraps and exploring for about six hours before the wind finally put a stop to our frolicks and sent us home.

Later in the week I went out for my best friends sisters 30th birthday who had booked out the VIP section of my favourite bar. 

I wore a black playsuit from 'Topshop' which was £48. I think that's a fair amount to spend on just the one item but I've been struggling to find things to wear to bars recently as it's so hot and my friend convinced me this looked damn good on me so I went with it.

 I've never worn a playsuit before but I was pretty impressed! There was no bum flash and my legs didn't look as naked as I thought, in fact I felt amazing in it, definitely a keeper.

I only had forty five minutes to get ready in between driving to pick friends up and finishing work and I got massively rained on running between the car and the front door so the hair situation was a quick ponytail.

Make up wise I went for a classic cat flick of eyeliner and some smudgy eyeliner on the bottom. I've been experimenting with lipsticks lately and noticed that bright pink/berry shades make my blue eyes stand out so after a quick dash to Superdrug with a friend before work I went for 'Pink Punch' by 'Maybelline' from their 'colour sensational' range. It was about £7 and stays on for hours without being over the top, it has that nice effect of making you look polished and made up as well as making your eyes pop and your teeth look whiter. The only minor downside is that it isn't very moisturising like 'Revlon's Lip Butters' but as my new daily goal is to drink as much water as physically possible I wouldn't want to be applying a new layer with every sip. I'm a working woman!

The above outfit was something I quite literally threw on before heading to catch a train. My room was basically a laundry room as I hadn't been at home long enough to sort through it so these two garments were just lying on the top of the pile. The top is my little sisters and I think it was from lame ass 'Peacocks' for about £2.

The skirt is from 'Topshop' and is also the little sisters and is from their petite range and a teeny size 4! How I've managed to fit into that I will never know. But I love it and wear it most days throughout summer as it's so breezy and can be worn for every single occasion you can think of apart from business meetings and funerals depending on how laid back the manager/deceased is. They have a darker version out this season for about £20-something.

And these are my faithful old 'H&M' ray-ban sunglasses of which I have about 1000 pairs. Having such a small head means I am limited to just two styles of sunglasses; the classic aviator style and the wayfarer style which is fine by me. This look was an all round winner as a man actually chased me down the street to tell me I looked 'cute', followed by a really one sided awkward conversation and then he asked for my number and I am now ignoring his texts and wondering why on earth I gave him my actual number. Lemon!

With my holiday just a mere four days away now I've been making some essential preperations. Gel nails are currently my super obsession, I really don't know what I did before they came along. There I was putting up with chips and flakes and bubbles and cotton ball fluff and now I have shiny, strong, long nails that stay that way for three weeks minimum in an endless range of colours. 

This is 'Terracotta' by 'Orly Gel FX' but you may be familiar with 'Shellac' or 'Geleration' if you're more of an OPI or Essie girl. This was after three weeks and I was really reluctant to take them off.

When I finally took the plunge I went for 'Into Blue' as I wanted an ocean blue colour that would look summery and stand out in the pool and make me smile everytime I looked at them. Sometimes they can look really turquoise but sometimes they're a bright bright blue, either way I'm in love with them. Usually I'm a classic red girl but for some reason I'd been pining after blue for quite some time. Summer can do strange things to a girl.

I've also been trying to get my fitness back up after meeting an ex-dancer who had trained in yogalates in Australia whose body inspired me to give it a go. As I work such late hours it's pretty impossible for me to get to the gym but hopefully when work settles down and I get weekends off on a permenant basis I can sign up. The only thing that puts me off the gym is that you have to sign up for a year and that level of commitment to staying in one place for such a long time is a bit too much responsibility right now. So I've signed me and a friend up for a four week yogalates introductory course instead and have started running when I get back from work. I just love it! 

Todays outfit was for an imprompto meal with friends at Pizza Express so I went for black 'Leigh' jeans by 'Topshop' and a flower print top from their boutique line that I could only find in Petite and the hem had come down. I ended up haggling the £40 price down and sewing the hem up in my lunch break. I love the way it hangs like a box shape and the print is just adorable. 

Make up was super light but it was one of those days where you just feel on top of the world so I never put much on when I'm having a day like that, plus it's only Pizza Express.

I spent approximately seven hours cleaning and sorting out my room today and found this 'Pandora' ring someone bought me years ago. Sometimes I think it's too girly and I'm not a fan of big rocks but it just seemed to go with the nail colour today so I went for it.

And I also dug out this bracelet which I had completely forgotten about. It was by a designer for 'Topshop' and I think the original price was over £20 which is nuts considering it's only semi-silver. However the stones are semi-precious and I love the colour of them so I guess that's that.

My make up staples for this summer and which have stayed permenantly in my bag throughout many roadtrips and one up and coming flight over the atlantic ocean are these:

• BadGal mascara by 'Benefit'
• Georgio Armarni foundation
• 'MAC' bronzer
• 'MAC' concealer
• 'Piz Buin' factor 15 suncream 
• Scandal Eyes 'Rimmel' eyeliner

I should also add my 'Benefit' eyebrow kit as even if I'm not wearing any other make up I can't go anywhere of any importance without my eyebrows being perfectly groomed. After I threw this question out to a focus group of some of my beauty obsessed friends they also agreed if eyebrows are a no show stepping outside is a no go. And I would have said I'm pretty low maintenance! 

Other beauty holiday buys have been this beach dress by 'Topshop', £28 which I have wanted since forever but never bought as I had no holiday plans at the time. Fast forward to the present day and they only had this online in a size large, thankfully when it arrived I didn't look like a whale so it's a keeper.

As previously stated I spent my entire day off doing laundry and sorting out my room and I have to say I was pretty impressed with myself. I wish I could say this is my entire collection of beauty supplies but it isn't. You haven't seen the shelves and drawers full either. How I always think I need something else is beyond me, I could set up my own shop with the amount of things I have and yet I can't bear to part with any of them just in case I get a sudden urge to wear pink glitter eye shadow or lime green nail polish. You just never know!

Bella

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OOTW

Now lets get back to a nice little outfit post shall we?

I genuinely haven't been out much and when I have it's always been straight from work (an advantage of working in the city is you can step straight into the night life) so it's been an LBD with heels and what's exciting about that?

This month however I've been giving into peer pressure and throwing on my glad rags. It's been so long since I've let myself buy clothes that I really had to give some serious thought to what I was going to conjure up.

This was the first night and I went for a classic black pencil skirt and polka dot crop top (Topshop, natch). My chest has somehow decided to balloon to nearly twice it's original size (I think it's the heat) so it was a struggle getting them into this top I don't mind telling you!

Then there was this number (also by Topshop), a hot pink skirt and black cami top. The night I decided I was going to be going out I was actually on my way back from work going to Tesco to pick up some Krispy Kreme doughnuts with my sister when a good song came on the radio and within seconds we'd got that 'let's go out!' bug and I ended up throwing this on and dive bombing into a taxi in minutes.

This dress never actually made it out but it deserves a good showcase. I bought it at 'Primark' months ago for less than a tenner and I don't know if that's one of the reasons why I just won't wear it but for some reason it never leaves my room. It's tight but just not the good tight and the material is too cheap for me but I know if this was from 'Urban Outfitters' I'd be all over it. 

This top is from 'Primark' that I bought maybe five years ago now and it's just amazing. It's backless with slight puff sleeves and I honestly don't wear it enough because with my faithful little black skirt it really is a head turner. I wore it to a place called 'Blue Bar' in the cool part of town and I felt amazing in it, y'know those nights where you just feel like you but at your best? But then it closed and we headed to TigerTiger (on a student night, what were we thinking!) and it couldn't compete with all the 18 year olds barely there outfits. Fluro orange cut out mini dress anyone? No thank you.

This was my favourite outfit of the week by far. An orange 'Topshop' top with a 'Vera Moda' flower print skirt and my 'Roxy' belt.

I wore hardly any make up (it's just too hot!) but I definitely felt at my best. I really don't think I follow fashion styles at all because most of my clothes I've had since I was in uni, I just try and think of ways of updating them. I also think if you find something that works for you you should just wear it regardless because the girls I always think look the best are the ones that know they look amazing and are completely comfortable in what they're wearing whether it's their boyfriends hoody or their favourite heels.

Bella

x

A few little trips here and there...

It was pretty typical that just as the sun came out I was down to work about ten days in a row so sunbathing has been limited shall we say. I have also spent about a million days driving up and down the country on roadtrips in my boyfriends car which I have named 'Rustbox' as you have to physically manhandle the door open and push the windows down, the aerial got left at a house party a while back and there is a cool box, sleeping bag and tent permanently thrown in the boot ready for adventures at a moments notice.

One such adventure was WIMBLEDON! He's something important in Welsh tennis so managed to get us two centre court tickets to see world number one tennis champion Novak. I know absolutely nada about tennis but I make up for that in knowledge about strawberries and cream. 

We packed a suitcase...

and filled a coolbox...

and bought a tent.

We pitched our tent on a farm in Henley which turned out to be a ridiculously pretentious boating village with tepid hot chocolates

so the next day we drove to Enfield in London and stayed in a 'luxury pod' which is really just a shed with two camp beds and a kettle in it. We debated going to see a West End musical but ended up buying cider and chocolate and playing snap.

And then Wimbledon day arrived. I preferred the women's matches on the outside courts because I felt like they were more enthusiastic because they had more to prove to the crowd plus I liked hearing the coaches shouting encouragement and seeing the beads of sweat close up. Centre court was very theatrical and I got very involved in the shouting when a point was questioned and I can't deny I got excited when they put the roof on. However, I also fell asleep FOUR times! And I only had one bowl of strawberries and cream as the queue was so big but they were the best I have ever eaten! I will definitely go back to Wimbledon but I may need to swot up on my tennis before I do, I still don't have a clue how anyone wins a point!

Then not long after we went to sunny Bodmin in Cornwall on literally the hottest day of the year for a wedding.

The wedding was held in a church and then the reception was at a rugby club with sumo wrestler suits, a bucking broncho, a big band, a sweet stall, a hog roast and a bouncy castle. Everyone camped on the pitch afterwards and then in the morning we drove to Falmouth beach.

It was packed! I fell asleep in the sun for a couple of hours and I am now a nice golden brown shade. I've got so much more aware of sun damage as I get older so I make sure I wear sun cream on my face everyday, even when it's cloudy to avoid the dreaded wrinkles, I'm determined to look 23 for the rest of my life!

Next stop is Angelsey beach- a classic!

Happy tripping :)

Bella

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