Wednesday 26 December 2012

Quality snacking, quality time and Quality Street

I've forgotten how to do anything other than snack... I'm grazing like a lame horse with my feet up on the table about to watch Enchanted, even though I'm 28 and there are no children in the house...

This is what my Christmas Day looked like:


Just Mr and Mrs Baxter chilling out and enjoying each other's company seeing as I'm flying off to Kenya without him in two weeks time. Yep, two weeks. That is going to be one AWFUL goodbye. I'm so bad at goodbyes.

However, it's onlyfor a month and then he's flying out to Kenya and we're going to have an African adventure together. I'd like to rent some cottage right on the beach when he gets there and just CHILL OUT and enjoy spending QUALITY time with each other.

You can live with someone and not see them for the majority of the working day, then you get home and you're too tired to do anything other than SIT. That's not living, that's existing. No fun. There's an element of normality that is unavoidable, but who's writing the rules here?

I'm high on cheese and Cool Original Doritos anyway, ignore me. I'm going to go and listen to my new Queen CD.

More Kenya stories to follow... stay tuned!

Sunday 16 December 2012

Mexico: A photo blog mainly.

I met my lovely friend Claire (hello Claire!) the other night and enjoyed an evening of Wagamama and carol singing at a carol concert (fast turning into a yearly ritual) and she mentioned she is going to Mexico next year, so I thought I'd have a dig through my photo album from our Mexican honeymoon :) I like going back through photos. And putting them on my blog.


Clearly our budget did not stretch to First Class tickets...
Mexican sunset. Kind of similar to other sunsets.


Take a day trip to Isla Mujeres
 



Claire - have an amazing trip! Can I come too????

In conclusion: Mexico has amazing beaches. There are a lot of Americans there who like to keep hold of rafts that belong in the swimming pool when they're not even in the swimming pool but luckily that didn't bother me. Oh and there are stingrays in the sea. Oh and Mexican food is amazing.

Friday 14 December 2012

THINGS TO DEFINITELY DO IN ZANZIBAR

Capital letter alert! That must mean it's good!

So, following on from my last post about things not to bother doing in Zanzibar I thought I'd better bring the beat back with a positive post about things you really need to do while in Zanzibar.

Without further adooooooo:

Beach party at Kendwa Rocks
Nungwi is the most stunning place I've ever been to (sorry Mexico, I still love you!) and I fell head over heels with the laid back pace of life and stunning coastline there. I mean come on, if you don't love this, you must be made of STONE:



Arrghhh I want to be back there!

Anyway. It seemed the perfect end to our trip to wind up spending our last night at Kendwa Rocks. It's a huge thatched club which gets absolutely boiling, so don't do what I did and wear a dress that shows up sweat or you'll quickly have a REALLY SEXY sweat mark ALL down your back. Two tone dress perhaps? No, that's all sweat. Mine. Don't touch me.

I would LOVE to be there on New Years Eve one time. Or any night really. Get yourself there, I think you have to pay to get in if you're not a guest at the hotel but it's worth it.

Drink chai on a rooftop
Stone Town is fascinating. It's about 30 degrees hotter than I can tolerate, and I pretty much got through all my clothes in the few days we were there, but I appreciated it. I appreciated it the most when sat on a comfy seat on a rooftop in the shade with a sea breeze cooling me down. Our hotel (can't remember the name) had a cool little rooftop and I very much enjoyed drinking chai and chatting absolute rubbish until it was time to go and watch the sunset at...

Sunset at Africa House
If you go to Zanzibar and I find out that you didn't watch the sun go down while sipping a cold beer at Africa House Hotel, I WILL COME AND FIND YOU.


It kind of feels like being at the Cafe del Mar in Ibiza but only inasmuch as that's another place you can go and watch the sunset over the sea. Ha.

Street Food Market
Confession: I didn't go to the food market because I was really busy (READ: getting drunk) but you should. Others did and while I don't regret not going, I wish I had more time to go myself. But you go, go on, go now. HURRY!

Wander Stone Town
Now this is something I did do. I'm good at wandering. The streets in Stone Town are fascinating and while some do feel a bit touristy for my liking, they snake around for ever and it's quite easy to get your bearings again when you need them. Just keep an eye out for landmarks.


But some are even smaller and really narrow so it is LOVELY AND SHADY. Still hot though.

In conclusion: Zanzibar is hot and there is plenty to do. Enjoy yourself.