48 hours in: Brisbane

Last weekend we went to Brisbane for some girlie time together before I set off on my road trip. I wasn't really sure what to expect. But it turns out I kinda love Brisbane. A shiny, sunshine-fuelled city set on either side of a river with a wealth of markets on offer. You got me. 

We stayed with friends in New Farm, one of the top areas on my recommendations list so I was pretty stoked. I'm going to stay it was a pretty food-orientated weekend. Here's a quick run down...

Day #1

Sister of Soul, St Kilda

Sam and I went to Melbourne for five days, excited to see what the city had to offer (more on that later). Usually on trips I am all for trying as many different restaurants and bars as possible, picking up tips from locals and fellow travellers. However, on this trip we fell in love with a place just round the corner from our air bnb apartment (which was perfect by the way) and ended up eating there two days in a row.

Australia

So, I made it. Four years after promising my best friend I'd make it over to her country and here I am. And let's be honest, how happy am I right now? Sometimes you just have to go ahead and go with your gut, no matter how sad you might be at leaving all your other favourite people, places, and activities behind at home. I've been settling into Northern Beach life, but have plenty of travel plans being mapped out at the moment for the coming months.

This is just a quick post of some sparkly scenes I've encountered in my first two weeks here. You can be sure there'll be plenty more posts, likely starting off with our four day trip to Melbourne and some of the delicious food I've been dining out on. I've been enjoying my sunshine-fuelled active lifestyle so much with plenty of beach runs, ocean and ocean pool swims, hiking, and general outdoor adventures. I'm jumping out of bed in the morning. And loving a good activity or adventure, including new ones like skateboarding, paddle boarding, and bikram yoga. Vitamin D guys, it's good for the soul. So here's some of that shiny stuff to start you off with…

Amsterdam: A Hidden Gem & Eating Out

We started our last full day wandering in the direction of the Van Gogh Museum (definitely visit - no photos allowed, sorry!) and en route found a delicious deli-cum-bakery where we of course had to collect coffee (real good) and pastries (the perfect crispy-soft kind). You can find Stach here.

Day Two in Amsterdam

Our second day meant breakfast by the river as we made our way bright and early to the famous Rijksmuseum. We'd spent time debating which of the many museums on offer we'd make it too, and this one is not to be missed if you visit Amsterdam. It contains far too much do in one day, the range is just astounding and we enjoyed locating works by some of our favourite, or well-known, artists as well as stumbling across others we fell in love with but had previously never heard of. I decided not to share many of the photographs I took of the artwork - it's just so much better in person, so you'll just have to visit yourselves! 

Van Gogh - Self Portrait

A Day Out in Amsterdam

So many people have an incredibly one-sided view of Amsterdam as a city. Those people, in my opinion at least, can only be missing out on an incredible place with so much to offer culturally, gastronomically, historically - the list goes on. We spent four days exploring the place, staying on Amstel, and it was the area to the West of Singel which became my absolute favourite. The streets Herengracht and Keizersgracht, and those that link them (more specifically the Jordaan District and Nine Streets). This is where we found all sorts of incredible design stores (check out 360volt), independent clothing brands, perfect bakeries to pick up morning treats, and delicious restaurants to spend our evenings in. 

Wandering the West Coast: Portland

A seriously whirlwind tour of our trip to Portland...

Top tips include:
Brunch at JAM on Hawthorne and be prepared to be full all day
jamonhawthorne.com
Visit the Pearl District for some posh eats and cute shops
explorethepearl.com
The area around Powell's Bookstore on West Burnside has record shops, vintage clothing & the flagship Dr Martens store - as well as Sizzle Pie - before heading down to the infamous Voodoo Doughnuts
powells.com
voodoodoughtnut.com
Pop by Reed College campus if you want to see English boarding school style buildings planted firmly in the American landscape. You can even take a walk round its very own 'canyon'.
reed.edu
Eat at Old Town Pizza (mac&cheese and garlic knots are highly recommended) & soak up the surroundings

oldtownpizza.com

Infamous Voodoo Doughtnuts...

Voodoo Doughtnuts extensive menu and colourful store (there is a LOT of pink)

I went with the 'Old Dirty Bastard'...chocolate frosting, Oreo's and peanut butter !

Powell's Bookstore - you can pick up a map of this wonderful, and very large, independent book store inside. 

Grab a slice at Sizzle Pie across the road from Powell's - perfectly concocted pizza.

Coming soon...back to the city for restaurants, days out, exploring new areas and much more.
Plus adventures down Route 1 / the Pacific Coast Highway and visits to San Luis Obispo.

We also can't wait for Coachella in two weeks time, can you?!

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Wandering the West Coast: Seattle

A while back the girls and I headed North for a little adventure. We crossed state lines to visit Seattle (Washington) and Portland (Oregon). A lot of fun, wandering, and, of course, eating - here's a whirlwind tour of some of the spots we visited in Seattle via photographs...

We drank a lot of coffee and read our books (The first Starbucks was in Seattle don't cha know?) at some beautiful little independents, wandered the infamous Pike Place market, rode the Monorail, visited the space needle and more. 

First ever Starbucks

Seattle Fire Truck !


Infamous Pike Place Market


Fish inside Pike Place Market.
The guys on the 'Pike Place' specific stall draw people in by throwing fish to each other amongst the counters and crowd whilst yelling... We also tried 'Salmon Jerky' - seriously good.


Bubblegum Alley...two of the girls added to this beautiful? wall


Blue trees in the city centre...


Top of the Space Needle

Next stop was Portland, Oregon...
Where have you been visiting lately?
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Travel Essentials

This year has seen me move myself from England to San Francisco for a year. In this time I'll also be hopping around the West Coast and, although I had to pack for a year, I thought I'd share a few of my travel essentials with you... before I share my actual travels.

Lipbalm: I've been using PawPaw for over two years now ever since my Australian flat mate introduced us... I use it religiously on dry lips, but its also great on chapped skin and cuts etc.
Neutral Nail Colour: This is a new purchase and a great colour. It's good to have a shade that will go with almost anything when packing light.
Mini Hand cream: Crabtree and Evelyn is not too greasy, and this one smells delicious!

Moleskine planner - trying to organise interning, school, socialising and travelling can be tricky. This makes sure that (in the main) I don't forget anything.
Journal - I would never be able to keep up with a daily diary, but I love to fill this little book with photos, tickets, notes and so forth from my travels.

Book - I'm currently reading Patti Smith's Just Kids. I highly recommend you read it too. 

Travel guide - before I settled into the city this book was super helpful. A lovely little gift from my sister, Rough Guides provide some of the best travel books in my opinion.

Smartphone - while I am in love with my DSLR sometimes I just need a quick snapshot or something lighter. The camera on this little one is brilliant, and it has all the apps I could ever need without costing so much $$.

I've already visited Southern California once - and I'll shortly be sharing my adventures with you. Next up is the Christmas holidays where I'll be revisiting SoCal, heading to LA, and plans are in the works to head North to Portland and Seattle.

What are your travel essentials? Or if you've been to these places any hotspots I should visit?
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