Amsterdam 2014

One evening we was having gourmet hot dogs and champagne when the idea came to us and we decided to pencil a date in and a few months later we booked the hotel and flights and off we went… 14 years of friendship and this was our first holiday away together.

Love 'em

Friday 25^th July 2014

At 7.30am, I left my house and into the cab. The cab picked all of us up and we headed towards Gatwick North Terminal. Our flight was at 10.50am and we arrived in good time. Despite being extremely tired, I was rather excited. We checked in, went through security, spent some time in duty free and made our way to the gate. When we was boarding the plane, there was a familiar face that I passed but I couldn’t quite work out who he was. Afterwards, we worked it out and we were boarding the same flight as Robin Van Persie. What a coincident! We decided to play a game were we would make up a name and an occupation. We had Scout the infector, the environmentalist; Liz the undecided, the diving instructor; Sky the crackhead, the voice over actor; Brooke the grump, the journalist for glam magazine. 

After some snacks on the plane, we had arrived in Amsterdam. The plane journey was very quick and took about 45-50minutes. When we arrived in Amsterdam we went out and took some pictures. There was some rain but only drizzle. We managed to find ourselves a cab driver that was around at the time and we asked him to take us to our hotel.

We stayed at The Golden Tulip West (Molenwerf 1, 1014 AG). It was about 20minutes from the airport. The hotel looked good from the outside and inside. It felt clean, spacious and the staffs were friendly. We arrived at 14.00pm and checked into our quadruple room. It was a lovely room. They had electronic doorbells, which I have never seen before. We unloaded our suitcases and all chose our beds. There was one double bed and two singles next to each other. We decided to get planning on what our days. We had taken some discount tickets and leaflets on the way up to the hotel too, to help us out with things to do. We checked the weather and also times and we marked things on the map. We had a rough plan of what we wanted to do, when we wanted to do them and where it was. It was a packed weekend but seemed very exciting. As we have been all friends for a long time and we trust each other, we thought it would be a good idea to have a ‘kitty’. This was one purse that we all put X amount of money in it every day and whenever we did activities or ate, we just used money from there. It was just a much simpler idea. Everyone agreed it was a good idea.

Trying to find our way 

Shortly after we decided to head into town by foot and grab some food. We wasn’t really listening to the directions and ended up talking to locals who directed us in the right direction. It was raining and we was hungry but it didn’t dampen our spirits. We got lost a little but stumbled across a restaurant that had nice décor and was reasonably priced. We sat down and had some late lunch. After a nice meal and refuelling our tanks, we walked into town, which, by now it wasn’t that far. We did intend on going to the Anne Frank House, however the queue looked ridiculously long and we wasn’t feeling a long wait so we decided to go take a boat ride along the canal. It was a nice boat trip, which lasted about an hour and 15 minutes. It had started raining hard during our boat ride and luckily it wasn’t as heavy when the boat trip ended. We did plan to go to the zoo but we decided that the weather conditions were not appropriate for going to the zoo. 

Boat Trip

We decided to go back to the hotel and to find a supermarket. The cab driver was nice enough to drop us off by a supermarket and then take us back to the hotel with no extra charge. Once we got back to the hotel, we messed around, drank and snacked, in between trying to get ready to go out. We all got dressed up and off we went to the red light district. It was busy and very strange to see these women in the windows dancing seductively. We then stopped at chip shop and had some famous chips and then a coffee shop and had some brownies. To me, it tasted really good. I couldn’t taste anything else but chocolate brownies. After the brownies, we asked around for a club that played RnB/Urban music. We were given the name Smokey’s. So the hunt had begun. We asked around and was told this way, that way, over there and after a long walk from place to place and asking around, we found the club.

It was a nice cosy club playing some good songs; one friend became a bit paranoid and was acting strange. One, felt dizzy and we needed to sit by the outside and I didn’t feel any effects. I was fine, maybe a bit dazed but I was aware of everything and no symptoms of any substance taking. Along the way to the hotel, I had a small moment of relaxed feeling but that feeling didn’t last long and it could have been because I was relaxed. I had no worries, no work and just enjoying myself in a different country with friends.

At about 2am, we decided to leave the club. We were peckish and somehow we made our way to a Burger King and got some food. We ate and then waved a taxi down and got back to the hotel. I was shattered and did not have any will power to stay awake. I completely K.O’d.

Saturday 26^th July 2014

I felt ok, I got up around 8-9am, and we got ready, as we had booked Room of Riddles for 11am. We didn’t have time for breakfast so we decided to eat after. We called the hotel to get us a cab for about 10.15am, which they did. We all were ready and arrived outside the Room Of Riddles a little earlier. We decided to take some pictures and then we called and got in.

The Room of Riddles was a very fun. The idea is that you are locked in a room and the key is in a locked safe with a code. The code is then hidden in the clues within the room, which you had to find and use logic to work out. It was very exciting and we worked well as a team and were told we found the first clue very fast. We definitely recommend it but I cant say more otherwise it ruins the fun.

Room Of Riddles

Hot dogs

Waffels

After the room of riddles, we got a Tram into Rembrandt Square, we saw hot dogs and we had to have that for lunch as that is how the idea of going to Amsterdam came about. The weather was good today and it was quite sunny and warm but rain was expected later. We got some hot dogs and we decided to get some waffles too. As we finished our lunch, it started to rain. It was quite heavy and so we stayed under shelter for a little while. We then looked at the map and Heineken experience wasn’t too far, so we decided to walk with our umbrella’s to the Heineken Experience.

Heineken

We arrived and there wasn’t much of a queue, which was good. It was better than we expected. There was a variety of things to do and learnt a few things about Heineken. It was great fun, it was a shame that none of us were big beer drinkers as you get two drinks free with the admission fee.

As we came out the queue had grown, thankfully we came earlier. The weather had brightened up and it was warm. We decided to hit up the zoo. We got a taxi to the zoo. We all was tired so we decided to go into the planetarium first. It was dark and a show was about to start. The man told us it would be in Dutch but we was welcome to stay to watch the visual effects. We decided to stay. The dim lights made us restless, where my friend actually fell asleep and started to snore. I couldn’t help but laugh. Shortly she woke up and we decided to leave the show. We left via the back door and we stopped for a toilet break and to refresh ourselves before seeing the zoo animals. We walked around the zoo and took pictures. It was lovely. I enjoyed it.

We headed back to the hotel and chilled after the zoo and we decided to just have a break. We made use of the coffee machine and we just sat about and spoke about life. It was really nice to do that, as we don’t get many opportunities to get to know each other as much now that we are all grown up with different jobs and busier lives.

Silly hotel moments

We got ready to go out and were an hour later than planned as we was too busy talking. We ended up eating at 11pm at a really nice steakhouse.  I ordered lamb chops and it was one, if not the best lamb chops I have ever had. It was really good. We wanted to head to the ice bar for some drinks before hitting up a club but when we arrived at Ice Bar, all bookings for the night were full. We decided to go straight to the club. We ended up going to a club called Abe, which was nice. It played some old school RnB and some urban music. We didn’t leave until about 3am and we had ordered a few drinks and I was definitely feeling it. I didn’t feel sick but was feeling rather tipsy. I again KO’d when we got back to the hotel. I tried to pack before I went to sleep which I managed it a little.

Sunday 27^th July 2014

I woke up around 8.30am and felt extremely hung over. My head was still spinning and I was still a little disoriented with a small headache lingering. I made a coffee hoping I would wake up a little, which sort of helped. We all finished packing and checked out of the hotel. We left our luggage with the hotel and decided to go to the Anne Frank House. The queue was probably worse then the first day we arrived but we waited, as it was something we wanted to see. We queue for 2 hours but had taken turns to leave the queue for a bit of browsing. We played some games to kill some time. Two hours later, we were at the front of the queue. The house was much bigger than I imagined.

After Anne Frank House we went to a well-known Pancake house, we had some Dutch pancakes. It was yummy! We had a bit of time to kill so we decided to walk back towards the red light district and go into a sex shop. We found a sex shop and went in for a nose. It was rather strange, not awkward though. It was rather funny. We then stumbled across a temple. We went in and learnt a little bit about the Buddhism and lit an incense stick each. We also stopped by a market place and did some shopping and had a look. We still had time to kill but we decided we would go back to the hotel lounge and chill on the chairs. We got a taxi back to the hotel and had about 30-40minutes to kill. We was just using the Wi-Fi and just talking. We then called a taxi to the airport, collected our luggage’s and off we went. We had some food at the airport and before we knew it, it was time to fly. Our plane left on time, 20:55pm. We got back to London but had to wait for a cab that took about 50minutes to come. We finally got home around midnight.

The trip to Amsterdam was jam packed and full of fun. It was definitely a memorable one! I had a lot of fun despite being extremely tired. Great trip and at a reasonable cost.

Total cost of trip for 4 of us -  £792.32 (Including flights and hotel, a quadruple room, for 2 nights) that is £198.08 each. Deal found on lastminute.com

I Amsterdam

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smbMOOW-eWc

The National Lottery Anniversary Run 2014

So in previous years I have completed 5km runs, in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 I participated in the Women's Adidas Run but never did I train for it. This year, I decided that I wanted to participate in a run again. The atmosphere is amazing. I love the buzz and the support front the crowd and it is a really nice feeling. 

My sister and I saw a run that was taking part at the Olympic Park and she encouraged me to run with her. I took this opportunity. I didn't quite realise it was a 5mile run and when I applied to run I believed it was a 5km. 

Since April 2014, I trained for my run - this involved running on a regular basis roughly once to twice a week. I did an occasional 5 mile and it was exhausting. Gradually, I changed my diet to a more healthier one and also one with more proteins to repair my muscles, but this was hard to stick to but I tried my best. 

When race day was approaching, it was exciting. I was really looking forward to it and was  aiming to get a personal best. On the race day, the weather conditions remained dry and warm with about 23 degrees celsius +. It was advised that these conditions wasn't best for personal best, however I still wanted to do my best. I wasn't killing myself over it, but I did push hard still. The week before my run, I did my last 5mile which I completed in 48minutes. This was disappointing to me as I had ran 5 miles in 45 minutes before. My best time for a 5 mile run was 00:44:22minutes.  

So, the day of the run. I wanted to run faster than 45 minutes. It was rather difficult as it was very humid and there was very little breeze. There was a lot of hills and the route was more of a struggle then I initially predicted. I ran and had to stop a few times but only briefly. The support around the park was great. Around 3 miles there was a run in shower for a bit, this was nice and refreshing and it cooled me down a bit. I continued running and kept going. Around 4 miles, I saw some banners which I thought was the finishing line so I sprinted a little. What a mistake! I was suffering for a few hundred meters. At last, I saw the 300meters to go and I knew I had to keep my pace and not stop. The crowd cheered and that kept me focused on the finishing line. 100 meters to go came about and I continued to keep my pace. As soon as the finishing line was in sight I sprinted as much as I could. Finally it was over. Even though I was as dead as a dodo, I am definitely looking forward to taking part again next year. 

Results: 
00:44:58 mintues. 1079th Place. Age Group (0-34) 449th Place, Females 222th Place. (Chip Times)
Splits (According to Run keeper): 
1Mile : 07:57min/mi
2Miles: 08:41min/mi
3Miles: 09:33min/mi 
4Miles: 09:28min/mi 
5Miles: 08:55min/mi

Even though it was not a personal best, considering the conditions and that I finished under 45minutes I am very pleased with the result. I couldn't have pushed anymore without actually dying! Next year I hope to be much more fitter and to complete at a faster time than this year. See you next year!

I definitely would recommend anyone to take part for beating personal bests, fitness, new experiences or just having a bit of fun. A big thumbs up! 

The National Lottery Anniversary Run

Robert Downey Jr

I had a dream that I was working for Robert Downey Jr, I was doing dodgy jobs like planting tracking devices. I was exploring his house and he had a restaurant on the top floor of his house. He didn't appreciate the work I did for him.

Brighton 2014

Our second trip of the year and third trip away together in 2014. We decided to go for somewhere closer to home and we hoped for good weather, however the weather wasn't the best and could have been warmer. Either way, regardless of the weather I love spending time with my boyfriend.

            Brighton 2014 with my one and only

Tuesday 24th June 2014
We arrived in Brighton and the hotel wasn't far from the train station at all. We decided to spend our first evening just exploring the area and walking along the pier. After checking in, we made our way down to the beach and onto the pier. The weather was good. We craved for some fish and chips so we walked about on the pier and found a nice looking restaurant 'Palm Court'. We sat in and enjoyed a nice jug of Pimms and some fish and chips. It was lovely and very satisfying. After dinner we strolled back towards the hotel and stopped at Tesco's to get some snacks for our night in together. The rest of the night was spent watching TV, chilling and munching on snacks! 

Fish and Chips

View from Brighton pier

Wednesday 25th June 2014
We woke up and decided to have breakfast at the hotel. It was a buffet breakfast but it was standard. Filled me up and off we went to sit by the sea. We decided to head towards the marine and we just strolled along the pebbled beach. My feet were hurting by the end of the walk. It was breezy but the was bursts of sunshine which were nice. There wasn't much around the Marine but there was a cluster of restaurants. We decided to go eat at Nando's (mainly because I had a craving for it). It was again a satisfying meal. I was very content. We saw an Asda superstore, so we decided to go in for a browse. We bought our breakfast for tomorrow which consisted of pancakes. There wasn't else much to do so we decided to call it a day and go back to the hotel and watch the World Cup. After the match, we looked up close by restaurants for dinner as we started to feel hungry about 10.30pm! We ended up going to an Italian place up the road called Aldo. We ordered some take out and ate it like pigs back at the hotel. It was great fun.

Rock writing

Marine

Thursday 26th June 2014
Today's breakfast was the pancakes we bought from the supermarket along with a cup of tea. We soon got ready and decided to head towards the other side of the beach which headed towards Hove. Along the stroll to Hove, we stopped and watched the sea. It was a lovely walk and saw many dogs along the way. As we approached the end and reaching Hove, we spotted a nice looking restaurant in which we decided to go for some lunch. It was a Persian Restaurant. We ordered lunch and just enjoyed each others company with a nice view. 


After a delicious lunch, we strolled back towards Brighton and as we had 2 for 1 tickets we wanted to check out The Pavilion. It was one of the recommended places to visit in Brighton so we decided to see what it was all about. We stopped off at a restaurant by the beach just for some refreshments. We both had a fruit cider which was lovely in the sun.
When we arrived at the Pavilion, we was given some audio device that helped explained the tour. We followed the numbers to each room and took a look around. It was a lovely building and had striking inner decor. It was a pleasant experience and definitely one to check out if you're around Brighton.

We decided to walk around and we stumbled at the Churchill Centre which was filled with high street stores. We didn't buy anything but just had a browse. We got back to the hotel and decided to just relax and watch some World Cup. We couldn't quite decide what we felt like for dinner and in the end, we went across the road and had some dirty junk food.

Lunch

The Pavilion

Friday 27th June 2014
It was our last day in Brighton and was sad to know that it would be a while until our next adventure. We checked out of the hotel and left our luggage at the hotel as our train wasn't until the evening. We had some lunch at a restaurant by the beach called Seagull and we tried whitebait for the first time, which I really enjoyed! I also tried Huss which was an interesting choice but was tasty.

After lunch we strolled around and sat around the beach and also sat around the Pavilion. I bought some rocks on the pier and we had one last walk around the pier. We then headed to choccywoccydoodah and just killed some time before our train back to London. Our last stop before collecting our luggage and heading back was Starbucks. We ordered a hot drink and then once it was time, we headed back tot he hotel and left for the train. The train ride was a smooth one, with no delays. We headed back in London and the short break away to Brighton was over. It was a break needed from work and was a nice spot to explore. I'll be counting down to the next adventure! 

Brighton 2014

The Folly

Location: The Folly, London

Meal: Steak 8oz and Fries (£15.45) Blue Cheese Sauce (£2.95), Ice Cream Parfait with pistachio, raspberry and a mini doughnut (£4.95)

Price: £23.35

The folly is a lovely restaurant hidden near Monument Station. Friendly staff and excellent customer service. The atmosphere and design of this restaurant makes it rather unique, giving it a very relaxed yet quirky feel. The food was good. There was a lot that I didn't expect, i.e.. a tomato and onion rings came with the steak. This is a wonderful place to go to for a relaxed, clean environment. The atmosphere beats the quality of the food in my opinion. However, the dessert was on point and that alone would have been a 10. 

An overall rating 8/10.

Steak and Fries

Ice Cream Parfait