A Little Escape to Lisbon

Myself and Kevin spent a weekend in Lisbon in October and we absolutely loved it.

How to Get There?

We went on the inaugural Aer Lingus flight from Cork to Lisbon. The flight left on a Friday evening and returned late on Monday so it was perfect for the bank holiday weekend and we didn't need to take any time off work for it. 

Where to Stay?

Lisbon had a few surrounding towns/suburbs that are accessible by tram. We tried to stay as close to the Avenida da Liberdade as possible as everything seemed to be in walking distance from there. We stayed in an Air BnB called the Lisbon Gloria Apartment and it was perfect. It was in an ideal location, lovely inside, reasonably priced and the hosts were great with information on Lisbon.

What to Do?

Ponte 25 de Abril

Visiting this bridge is a must!!!! It's similar to the Golden Gate bridge and it's incredible to see. The views are fab and we really enjoyed sitting down next to the water looking at it.

Torre de Belem

The Belem Tower is a must see! We got a tram to it and it was lovely! We didn't go inside but admired it from the outside :P It looked lovely with the water behind it.

Padrão dos Descobrimentos

The Monument to the Discoveries is a fab sculpture that is definitely worth seeing if you're visiting the Belem Tower as they're very near each other. We also viewed it from the top of the museum across the road which was definitely worth it - there was literally no one else there so we had all the view to ourselves!

Bairro Alto

We loved the graffiti walls of Bairro Alto and it was so close to our apartment. It had loads of insta worthy backdrops which was ideal :P the whole area has some gorgeous graffiti that I'd definitely recommend you go and see.

See the Trams

Lisbon is famous for it's little trams (especially Tram 28 which still runs). There's loads around the area as Lisbon is very hilly so it's a great way to get around though they are incredibly crowded as they're so small!

I'd definitely go back to Lisbon and maybe visit Sintra next time (I've heard it's fab). It's been great having new routes added to Cork airport!

Torremolinos - The Perfect Spanish Getaway

Over the summer, myself and Kevin spent two days in the beautiful town of Torremolinos in Spain's Costa del Sol for a little weekend break. I had previously been here with my family when I was younger but it was Kevin's first time.

How to Get There?
We flew direct from Cork to Malaga with Aer Lingus. Ryanair also fly there on a different schedule so it's worth looking at both. They can be expensive flights so if you're flexible, I'd definitely play around with dates.

Where to Stay?
We stayed in the Sol Principe which was gorgeous. We went full board so had breakfast, lunch and dinner included. They also do all inclusive for longer stays which we definitely would have done if we were there longer. The hotel was fab; perfect for both families and couples. The food was a buffet style which changed each day and had lots of variety.

The pool was large and there were lots of sunbeds. Get there early though as they get snapped up very quickly!

We also had a gorgeous view of the sea from our balcony.

The location wasn't the best if you wanted to spend most of your time in Torremolinos centre. The hotel is at the opposite end to the centre so it was about half an hour's walk. We didn't mind this as it was a short trip and the walk along the beach was gorgeous but it's something to consider if you're staying for longer and wanted to spend most of your evenings in the centre.

We loved Torremolinos centre. It had lots of narrow, winding streets and lots of shops with local crafts and gifts. There were also a variety of high street shops which I wasn't expecting! The area itself had a gorgeous Spanish vibe to it and I'd definitely spend more time there if we go back.

It was a short trip but a relaxing one! We wanted a bit of sun before our summer holidays so it was the perfect weekend. I'll definitely be looking into it again for this year!

48 Hours in Edinburgh

Last month myself and Kevin spent a weekend in Edinburgh. It was our first time visiting Scotland and Edinburgh has always been on our travel bucket list.

How to Get There

We flew with Aer Lingus Regional (yes the propeller fellas!) from Cork to Edinburgh. I was a little anxious when we first sat in the plane as it's tiny but once we were settled I was fine so don't let that put you off! The flight left at about 7pm on Friday and took about an hour and a half. We got a late flight home on Sunday at around 9.30pm.

When we arrived in the airport we got the Airlink Bus to Princes St which was really cheap.

Where to Stay

After staying in an apartment in New York we decided to do the same in Edinburgh. We stayed in Fountain Court Braid on Thistle St which was a great location. It worked out around the same price as hotels for the 2 nights and it was lovely.

What to Do

We decided to do the Hop on Hop off Bus Tour to see most of the city which you can prebook online here. This was great as Edinburgh is a small enough city so we were able to see lots of sights and get off wherever we wanted.

We visited Edinburgh Zoo and loved it! Although I have to say I've never seen so many hills in my life!!!! But the views are worth it once you reach the top. The highlight for us was seeing the Pandas. They were the CUTEST! Apparently they sleep most of the day so we were SO lucky to see them playing outside and eating their bamboo. The zoo also had Koalas which were adorable and the usual animals like tigers, zebras and monkeys. It's definitely worth a trip if you're in Edinburgh.

We visited Edinburgh Castle although we didn't go into it. We climbed up the hill to it and the views are fab. I have to say though we were a little underwhelmed when we reached the top but I think that's because we had seen the views gradually as we walked up. 

We also visited The Elephant House cafe where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone. We also went to Tom Riddle's grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard which is where JK Rowling got the inspiration for Voldemort's character.

We did a bit of shopping on Princes St but to be honest they had most of the same shops that we had here. I did go to Superdrug and got some make up and got a few bits in Primark.

Since the weather was gorgeous while we were there, we went and got ice creams and sat in Princes St Gardens which was lovely to just chill out in whilst still being really close to the city centre.

We visited the Old Town of Edinburgh which was gorgeous. Lots of people playing the bagpipes and there was a great atmosphere around the place. We also popped into St Giles' Cathedral which was gorgeous inside.

We found the 2 days plenty in Edinburgh. We saw loads but weren't ran off our feet either. Hope you enjoyed reading this! Now it's time to start planning our next trip!

New York State of Mind

Hey guys!

It has been FOREVER since I last posted a blog post on here! I've been so busy lately and kinda lost my blogging mojo so hoping to get back into posting more regularly over the summer.

As some of you may know if you've been following my social media, myself and Kevin headed to New York back in March to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. It was our first time there and we absolutely LOVED it! I would absolutely 100% recommend it to anyone and we will most definitely go back there again. I decided to write a blog post giving you all the info on our trip - who we flew with, where we stayed, what we did etc.

How to Get There

We've been to America the past 5 years and have always flown from Dublin to clear immigration before arriving in the U.S. For this trip, we decided to fly from Cork via London Heathrow which meant we wouldn't clear immigration until we landed in JFK. Honestly, it was so much easier than travelling to Dublin. Last year in Dublin we spent almost 3 hours queueing in immigration and it was so bad that security were calling people for certain flights to skip the queue as their flight was about to leave. Doing immigration in New York was a breeeeeze! I expected long delays but we were through it and had our bags collected within half an hour. We flew with Aer Lingus to LHR and Virgin to JFK. This was our first time flying with Virgin and so far they're the best airline we've flown with - comfortable seats, friendly staff and really good food.

Where to Stay

We decided to get an apartment since we were going for a week. I wanted a serviced apartment to play it safe. These are basically apartments but with the same facilities as hotels e.g. housekeeping, reception etc. We stayed in Stay AKA Times Square and loved it. It was more expensive that other hotels but we wanted the extra space to chill out in the evenings and also since it was a special occasion we didn't mind spending a bit more. If we were to go back to New York, I would absolutely stay here again. The apartments were SO nice and just around the corner from Times Square. You can see our apartment tour vlog here. 

What to Do

We did the obvious tourist things to do while we were here since it was our first trip. We did the 9/11 and Ground Zero Tour which you can book here. We really enjoyed this tour and I'd definitely recommend taking a trip here - it's so surreal. 

The Occulus is also nearby which is definitely worth seeing - the architecture is amazing!

We also walked around the different avenues and streets of New York and visited the Rockefeller Center. We didn't do Top of the Rock but we did spend a bit of time in the area. 

We took a few trips to Central Park and managed to even get one day of snow there which was unbelievable. Central Park is huge but it's so gorgeous. We loved just strolling around there.

We decided in advance not to do Ellis Island but we did take the Staten Island ferry which is free and passes the Statue of Liberty. It takes about 25 minutes each way but is a nice way to see the Statue of Liberty without having to go to Ellis Island.

We also walked along Brooklyn Bridge which I highly recommend doing. We got the subway from Manhattan to Brooklyn and then walked along the Brooklyn Bridge back towards Manhattan. The views of the skyscrapers are unreal and the bridge itself is gorgeous. 

We did lots of shopping which we hadn't exactly planned on doing! We went to Jersey Gardens shopping mall which was about half an hour on the bus from Manhattan. The mall itself was only ok but I did get a great deal on bags in Michael Kors so it was worth it for that! We went to Macys on 34th St (where Miracle on 34th St was filmed), Century 21 (similar to TK Maxx), Apple (surprise surprise) and then the usual shops we have here like Zara and H&M. 

So that's it for this post! I absolutely LOVED New York and hopefully you enjoyed reading this post! Would love to know what other type of posts you'd like to read so I can start writing some more!

Travelling to Orlando - Restaurants

Hey everyone! Following on from my previous Orlando posts, I'd thought I'd share a few restaurant ideas for when you're in Orlando.

Antojitos - Citywalk
Of course this is going to be my number one recommendation! If you've been following us on social media you'll know that we LOVED this place and we ate there so often that the staff began to recognise us (oops!). It's a Mexican restaurant in Universal's Citywalk that does the most DELICIOUS food ever! If you're into Mexican food, this place is a must! The fajitas are my fav and Kevin also loves the burritos. The salsa there is literally LIFE (I've contemplated just asking for tortilla crisps and dozens of bowls of salsa it's that good!!!).

 

Red Oven - Citywalk
Red Oven is a gorgeous pizza restaurant also in Citywalk. They have gorgeous pizzas and I'd highly recommend it. The Big Eye Pepperoni pizza is DELISH!

Aashirwad - International Drive
We found this Indian restaurant on our most recent trip to Orlando and LOVED it. It was the most delicious Indian food ever and the staff are lovely. The restaurant was recently renovated so it's very modern inside.

Shake Shack - Florida Mall / Eye of Orlando
We ate here for lunch when we were at the Florida Mall and it was actually lovely. The restaurants are really nice inside but the food is definitely more of a lunch option than a dinner option. It's not the nicest food ever but it wasn't terrible either! We both had burgers and chips and really liked them. The one at Eye of Orlando looks gorgeous inside so I'd definitely recommend that one.

Uncle Julio's - Eye of Orlando

We ate here once and I'll admit we had very high expectations that it didn't quite live up to. It's another Mexican restaurant but we personally preferred Antojitos. It's a gorgeous restaurant inside and the food wasn't bad but we just preferred Antojitos.

These are just a few restaurant recommendations in Orlando. There's obviously lots of fast food restaurants and hot dog / burger places too so I tried to give a few other places that might be nice to try out.