A Staycation in St Ives.

The week before Easter we headed down south for a wedding in Plymouth. We thought since we were going all that way, we'd make the most out of it and drive to St Ives the day after. We booked an apartment with Aspects Holidays who have a wide range of properties all over Cornwall.

The apartment was perfect for the two of us (38 Carrack Widden if you're interested!) and was only a ten minute walk to the harbour and main stretch of restaurants. It did imvolve a steep uphill walk everytime we came back though, which I was cursing by the end of the week!

We had a gorgeous view of Portminster beach from the living room window but our go to beach while there was Porthmeor beach. The beach cafe there was amazing and even the takeaway options were great too.

Me being me, I'd obviously researched places to eat before we'd even finished paying for the holiday! Our favourites from the week were Beer & Bird, Harbour Fish & Chips, The Loft Restaurant & Terrace and Peppers Pasta & Pizzeria. 

We had an amazing week and some beautiful weather to go with it. Neither of us had been to St Ives before but we fell in love with it. We'll definitely be using Aspects Holidays again next year for another visit.

Have you visited St Ives before?

Danni

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Planning a Holiday to Los Angeles.

With only 43 days to go until Glenn and I board a plane headed for LAX, I thought it was time to talk about our planning process, who we booked with and all that jazz. Obviously the first thing to get sorted before heading to the US is your ESTA application. After that, you're good to get booking.

We booked our flights before anything else. We originally looked at Norwegian air as I'd heard that they did pretty cheap flights. The reviews for the airline were all over the place and it definitely put us off. We checked out Virgin Atlantic next and that was out of our budget. We ended up booking with British Airways which was more or less the same price as Norwegian. We also booked our car hire with our flights.

We looked into hotels, but the ones in our price range didn't suit us or weren't in a nice area and we all also had to factor in extra parking costs. A much better idea and the way we ended up doing it, was booking an AirBnB for the first 9 nights. The one we chose has off street parking and is in a residential area of Eagle Rock, about a twenty minute drive from Downtown LA.

For the last five nights, we'll be staying in one of Disneyland's Good Partner hotels in Anaheim. There's plenty of hotels within walking distance if you're planning on hitting the original Disney park on a SoCal trip. We filtered the choice by looking at which hotels offered free parking and weren't too pricey. We'll be staying in the Wyndham Gardens Anaheim which was recently refurbished from a Ramada Plaza Hotel. It's so close that you can see parts of Disney California Adventure from some rooms.

When it came to buying tickets for places we wanted to visit on our trip, we used Attraction Tickets Direct. I used the same company last year for PortAventura tickets and it was one of the cheapest places I found for those. This time we bought 5-day Disneyland park hopper tickets and 5 day Go Los Angeles cards. The Go Los Angeles are print at home tickets and the Disney tickets were posted to us quickly. The Go Los Angeles cards are a great money saving way to hitting up multiple attractions as there's about 40 to choose from. You can visit more than one attraction in the same day as long as you enter before 5:30pm. Some require making reservations beforehand, but I found ringing ahead easy and was sent email confirmations straight away. The passes are available in 1, 2, 3, 5 or 7 day options, with Universal Studios Hollywood only included on passes or 3 days or more. Aswell as Universal, we will be using our passes to go whale watching and visiting Warner Brothers studio, Sony Pictures studio, The Queen Mary, Long Beach Aquarium, San Diego Zoo and maybe some of the smaller attractions if we have time.

We've also applied for tickets to watch The Late Late show with James Corden being filmed but haven't heard if we've been successful yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

We've been changing some money every month instead of doing it in one go before we leave. I use MoneySavingExpert.com to find where has the best exchange rates on those days. I've found Tui to be the most convenient for us, as it's local and has one of the better rates. 

I'll definitely be doing some posts once our trip is over, probably a couple of hauls as the idea of shopping at Sephora and Ulta has me pretty excited already. 

Have you visited LA? Do you have any tips or recommendations?

Danni
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A Weekend in Norfolk.

Me and Glenn took our yearly trip to Norfolk recently. We spent a day on the Broads and stayed three nights in Great Yarmouth. If you think GY is just a tacky seaside resort, I'm here to tell you how wrong you are!

We always stay at the same B&B which is The White Lodge. This is our fourth year in a row staying here and it's easy to see why it's the number one rated B&B in GY on Tripadvisor. It's perfectly placed on the seafront away from the main hustle and bustle of the town but will only take a 15 minute walk to get to Britannia Pier. The White Lodge is in a residential area so it's nice and quiet and has plenty of street parking that doesn't require pay & display.

We stayed in the superior king room with seaview and this will be our go to room from now on. The bed was massive and I loved the art deco feel of the room. The owner Jean does an amazing job and makes you feel at home straightaway. You'll also be greeted by Diesel, the B&B's resident doggo, who is so adorable and probably Glenn's favourite part of our stay!

We ate at a couple of our favourite restaurants during our visit. The Courtyard is a fab hidden gem with only five tables so booking is essential. The food is more on the italian side with our favourite being the homemade lasagne but you'll also find seafood on the menu.

Fish & chips are a necessity at the seaside and while there are a plethora of places to get some, our reccommendation is HMS Hinchinbrook. While they do the usual battered cod, if that's not your style you can have it grilled with a garlic and cream sauce. They also do salmon fillet, lemon sole goujons and panko coated squid rings to you've got plenty of seafood to choose from. I usually go for the grilled tuna steak or the homemade battered smoked haddock fishcakes. Also on the menu are steaks, burgers, pies and chicken.

While we didn't get to go this visit, another favourite is Champagne Charlies. For a set price you get all you can eat tapas. You really need to work up an appetite before eating here to really make the most of it!

Walking back to the B&B in the evening after eating out was the perfect way to burn off the dessert calories. The north part of Yarmouth has a more relaxed vibe with the waterways and the boating lake, both of which are going through restoration work. It should be completed by Summer 2019 and I can't wait to see it.

Are you a fan of Great Yarmouth? Where have you been on a getaway recently?

Danni
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Are Groupon Holidays Worth It? A Trip To Disneyland Paris.

At the start of November, I had a short getaway to visit Disneyland Paris with one of my besties. We booked the trip through Groupon, something I'd never done before... But was it worth it?

The Groupon deal included a two night hotel stay, flights from the airport of your choice and a 1 day 2 park ticket. The deal cost £169 per person and we each paid a £40 supplement to change our flight times as they were originally at 5am!

The deal didn't include transfers but the Magical Shuttle runs from the airports to the resort. Unfortunately for us, our flight arrived in Paris too late to take advantage of this so we booked our own private transfer with T2 Transfer which cost €130 including the return journey.

We stayed at Kyraid Disneyland Paris which is one of the Disney sponsored hotels with shuttle buses running to and from the park every ten minutes. The room was pretty basic but we hardly spent any time in the room apart from the evening. With a lot of the Groupon deals, you won't get a choice in which hotel you stay in so before booking a deal, I'd suggest checking tripadvisor reviews for an honest look at the hotels included in a holiday deal.

Another supplement option in the deal was for breakfast at the hotel but we said no to this. Disney Village has plenty of places to eat and we had breakfast at Starbucks and Annette's Diner. The diner breakfast was incredible value and something I'd recommend. There's plenty of places to eat inside the parks too. We ate at Hakuna Matata Restaurant which is fast food but with massive portions! We visted Planet Hollywood in Disney Village after Park closing for a sit down meal.

The downside to having just one day to do both parks meant we didn't get to see everything, including the live shows and character meet and greets. We did manage to see Disney Magic On Parade and Disney Dreams though. The queues for the rides were very short as we visited between Halloween ending and Christmas starting, though some rides were closed for maintenance. Christmas preparations were well underway with decorations already appearing over the park.

The main thing with a Groupon holiday is flexibility. You will need to be flexible with your travel dates. When booking, you will need to pick a date band and check the terms and conditions for dates that aren't available in that date band. You then have to fill in a form with your Groupon voucher after booking and the agent will ring you to confirm at a time of your choosing. It took us a while to work out which dates we could do and when the agent rang us, the dates we wanted weren't doable. Another phonecall later, we'd decided on another date and our holiday was booked!

There was a lot of back and forth with booking but in my opinion, it was definitely worth it. It was my first time on a plane, Disneyland was magical and I had an amazing time with one of my favourite people.

Have you been on any Groupon Holidays? What did you think?
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STAY: Wooldown Holiday Cottages, Bude.

At the end of August, me and Glenn had a week long holiday in Cornwall, staying at Wooldown holiday cottages near Bude. I hadn't been to Bude since I was seventeen, so we're talking over a good ten years but it was just as beautiful as I remembered.

Wooldown is a family run business and sits just outside Bude in the small village of Marhamchurch with amazing views of Widemouth Bay. There are two larger cottages for families and then a further fourteen cottages that just sleep two, most of which reside in an adults only zone. No children ruining your romantic getaway here!

Let's talk about the bathroom facilities... That spa bath! I fell in love with it, and now my plain old boring bath at home just doesn't seem to cut it anymore. Another plus was the strawberries and clotted cream waiting for us in the fridge on our arrival.  We also got a goodie bag of treats for the journey home when we checked out. Such a nice touch that we've never got anywhere else.

After our week in Cornwall, Glenn decided it was his best holiday ever so it's obvious that Wooldown would be our first choice for staying in Bude again.

To find out more about Wooldown click here.

I'll be posting another blog in a few days of places to eat out in Bude because while, yes we did have a kitchen in the cottage, we did eat out for six nights out of seven!

Don't forget you can also follow me on bloglovin to keep up to date with new posts.
Bye for now lovelies!
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STAY: The White Lodge, Great Yarmouth

A few days getaway to Great Yarmouth has become a tradition for me and my boyfriend, it's something we do every year. Last year, we discovered the White Lodge so we had to stay there again this year!

The White Lodge is away from the main hustle and bustle of Great Yarmouth but is still situated on the seafront, making it a perfect choice! There's plenty of street parking too, so you don't need to worry about that either. Last year, we stayed in two rooms over three nights and they were both done up to a high standard, a king size room with a garden view & a ground floor double.

Ground floor en-suite.

This year we had a seaview double which lived up to our expectations and more. It might be my favourite out of all three rooms we've stayed in. Double doors open to a view overlooking the old boating lake, with the beach and sea beyond that.

I definitely have my eye on the superking seaview room for next year's trip!

Breakfast is ordered the night before and there's more choice than a full english here! Eggs on toast, smoked haddock and kippers are all available and you can help yourself to toast, fruit and yoghurts.

I can't write this post without mentioning the fab owners, Jean and Eddie, who clearly work very hard to make sure each stay is as perfect as can be. The star of the show is definitely George, you cannot help but fall in love with The White Lodge's resident staffy. The amount of tripadvisor reviews that mention him are testament to that!

The rooms range from £60 to £90 including breakfast.


Over the course of our stay, we stopped for lunch at Flutterbie's tea room. They serve homemade cakes, as well as cream tea and afternoon tea. Toasties, sandwiches and paninis are available too. we both went for bacon and brie paninis to go with our white hot chocolates.

Our usual stop on our first night every year, is HMS Hinchinbrook. A fish & chips restaurant with more choice than your usual takeaway! Tuna steaks, lemon sole, calamari as well as steaks and burgers. A definite must eat place in Yarmouth, especially if you're only visiting for the day.

A new place for us to try was OG Burger kitchen, which is where the old Olive garden used to be. It's still owned by the same people I believe, with the original Olive Garden relocating to Gorleston. I really like what they've done with the menu as you get to choose your bun, patty, preferred burger topping and a side. I don't know how they cook their fries but they were amazing!

Free rock with the bill! 

I know Great Yarmouth isn't everyone's cup of tea but where you choose to stay definitely makes a difference. If you're after a more relaxing time, The White Lodge is a perfect choice. It's in the north part of Yarmouth, about a fifteen to twenty minute walk to Britannia Pier, which is where it tends to get busier.

For more information on The White Lodge, click here.