Rhodes: In Pictures

I took most of my holiday snaps with the camera on my phone as I nearly always have that with me. I did that my Canon with me as well and took it out with us a few days (my family would have soon got fed up with me if I took out with us all the time). Although, the island was very quiet, I am unsure whether this is due to the time of year or the economic climate, or both, but I also found it quite beautiful. The different towns and sides of the island varied considerably, I loved the contrast.

Here are a few of my favourite photos from our holiday, some have been taken with my phone and others the Canon.

I would love to hear your thoughts, have you ever been to Rhodes or a Greek Island?

Please do not copy any of my photos without asking first

Holiday Preparation

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How do you get ready for a holiday?

 

Are you someone that counts down the days or sleeps about a month before you leave? Or someone that leaves things to the last minute?

 

I am usually someone who likes to be planned and organised. However when it comes to preparing for a holiday I often leave a lot until the last minute. I fly to Rhodes next week and it's only this weekend that I have started to feel excited about it. Work has been crazy busy, not unusual, although the short week due to the Easter bank holiday hasn't helped me get on top of things before I go on leave. I spent the day with my Mum a few weeks ago as I had some annual leave to use before April and we did end up doing a little holiday shopping, picking up a few items; a new pair of black denim shorts, a few tops and pairs of sandals. I was fully aware that my Sister will have at least two outfits for each day so felt I too had to make a bit of an effort.

 

We are going away as a family to celebrate my Sister's 21st birthday. When I go away I enjoy spending time relaxing, reading a book by the pool and wandering around traditional towns and quaint coves and stretches of beach with turquoise coloured sea and actual sand underfoot instead of stones. Some people may not like the idea of going on holiday with their family but I'm quite looking forward to it, we usually have a good time when we're together. We have agreed that we can go and do our own thing at times so there isn't the pressure of spending all our time together which might help keep the peace.

 

Things I've already done:

• bought new clothes & sandals
• stocked up on sun lotion and after sun
• downloaded books for the Kindle
• started to clean the house
• bought my Sister's gift
• done a few loads of washing
• ordered my European health card

Things left to do:

• pack!
• get holiday insurance
• finish cleaning the house
• paint my toe nails so they are sandal and beach ready
• stock up on cat food as my lovely friend will be looking after my boys
• make sure my cameras memory card is empty and the battery is charged





Amsterdam

About an hour ago I slotted the key into my front door and hauled my suitcase in behind me for the last time this weekend. Arriving home after three days in Amsterdam. A friend suggested going away a few months ago and we got around the booking the trip about a month ago which is all very last minute for me. A few words to describe me would definitely include planned and organised but I would love to be more spontaneous. Feeling unprepared for something causes me to feel anxious and this trip was very unplanned. Due to the stresses of starting and learning a new job I didn't make time to research the trip at all, my research was limited to asking people who I knew had been before. I do think it's helpful to ask friends who have been to places previously because they can sometimes give you a more realistic view than the guidebooks. Although this may not be very helpful if you are interested in different things.

For me the benefits of my trip began as soon as I left work Thursday evening. I was able to place all my work stress into a box and leave it there for the weekend. Usually, I find I am not able to do this as well over the weekends when I am at home, I spend the time off thinking about what I didn't manage to get done and what I need to do the following week. Knowing I was going away felt like I had permission to leave everything behind and just enjoy the present. And I got the Friday feeling a few hours early!

My trip officially began at 3.30 am Friday morning when my friend arrived at my house and we made our way to the airport. I haven't flown for a few years and only remembered just in time about liquids in the hand luggage needing to be a certain size and in a clear plastic bag, I didn't realise I was only allowed to fill 1 bag, so things had to be re-jigged before we left. I did remember, however, that I could only take 1 bag onto the plane so I made sure my handbag could also fit into my hand luggage case. When we arrived at the airport we went through security, as my friend had already checked us in online, and through the other side to get bottled water and a coffee for the flight. Thinking we a lot of time we took our time until we realised it was 6.30, the same time our gate was due to close! After a mad dash to our gate and cramming our handbags into our main suitcase we were informed that there was no room left for hand luggage on the aircraft so it would have to go in the hold and we were asked to take out anything we needed for the flight (everything we had just crammed in from our handbags). After this start to the trip we enjoyed an easy, short flight to our destination.

Our flight was at 7 am, it was only an hour long and the time difference in Amsterdam is an hour ahead to we landed around 9 am but it felt more like lunchtime. We were warned about the cost of getting a taxi from the airport to our hotel but decided we would rather be taken to our hotel to begin with and then we would figure out how to get around from there. Luckily, we met a taxi driver who guaranteed us a price of 45 Euros for the 30 minute journey, when we arrived the metre said it should have cost closer to 80. We entered the hotel to ask whether we could leave our luggage somewhere safe as check in was not until 3 pm, pleasantly we were told that our room would be ready in 20 minutes so we ordered a coffee and made a plan for the day.

Image from Google

I really liked the building, it was an old orphanage, so although it was quite dark, which has been continued through the current decoration, it had character and was different to more modern hotels. I also love old buildings that are decorated in a modern way inside which this hotel did. A few things that weren't quite so great were the steep steps in the room to get up to the bed, the broken fridge door that came off in my friends hand when she went to open it to store and cool our bottled water and the small fire we were notified about by a member of staff and a letter apologizing for any inconvenience caused when the hotel had to be evacuated earlier in the day (this was when we returned Friday evening).

Traffic is also crazy over there, not only was the traffic coming in different directions (on different sides of the road) but there are cyclists and trams to watch out for! I was quite surprised how busy Amsterdam was, I think I had a mental image of the city being quite laid back and less busy. Even where we were staying, which was a 15-20 minute tram ride from the centre, there was quite a bit of traffic and people, seemingly in a hurry, on bikes. My favourite mode of transport was the hop on and off canal tour boats. Cruising along the canals was laid back, peaceful and relaxing and we found it was a great way to get our bearings and get around the city, although not a great way to travel if you have to be anywhere at a certain time or if you need to get anywhere quickly.

I found the city very picturesque and as I mentioned above I loved how it brings old and new together. The tree lined canals that are home to a number of houseboats and bordered by traditional slim, tall learning houses. The variety of bridges, often filled with bicycles lent against the railings. Very much the way I imagined it to be. Then you head towards the docks and there are the more modern buildings, different use of shapes, of colour and concrete.

I think Amsterdam is a great city and has something for everyone. It is steeped in history and culture and is very diverse. Gay Pride celebrations were concluding this weekend with a parade on Saturday along the canals (seemed very much like a carnival on water), the positive energy it created felt great to be around and be part of. Our trip ended on a positive note as we successfully made our way back to the airport after navigating the trams and catching a train when neither one of us is any good at using public transport.

Road Trip: Holiday and Personal Challenge

I had the idea to go on a road trip in the UK at the beginning of the year. I wanted to have a holiday and to get away for a while after finishing university. I decided to stay in the UK because I thought about going alone and am not brave enough to go abroad, especially for the first time. I also started thinking that we live in an amazing country and I have not seen very much of it, usually choosing to go abroad for holidays because there is often more guarantee of nice, hot weather. I cannot say whether my trip in the UK was more expensive than going abroad because 1, I went away for two weeks, usually abroad I would go for one and 2, I decided not to calculate the total of my recent trip because I think too much about spending money so I would have constantly been watching what I spend and therefore, holding back. The decision to go alone arose from friends having other plans and the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea of challenging myself. I swayed between feelings of excitement and nervousness. My nervousness was displayed through avoidance. The day before I left instead of finalising my itinerary (I'm a bit of a planner) and packing I went to the cinema. When I did get around to packing, before going to bed that night, I packed almost everything (prepared for all types of British weather). This was ok because I had the space in my car, what I didn't consider though, was carrying my full size suitcase and other bags up the many stairs to each of my rooms and back down again on the day of my departure. I had big plans to do some crazy things, things that I haven't done before, like kayaking and surfing (feel like you should if you visit Cornwall).

This didn't quite happen. I felt a little deflated towards the end of my trip because I felt I hadn't achieved what I wanted to. However, throughout the trip I weighed up my own feelings, what I wanted to do and what I thought I should be doing. In the end I decided that I should be enjoying myself and doing what I wanted to do rather than constantly trying to challenge myself and stress myself out. So I did a lot of wandering around exploring, quite often accompanied by my camera and book and broke up my days with coffee and food breaks. I experienced euphoric feelings of freedom at periods while I was away, it felt so nice to be away from daily stresses and responsibilities. Although, on the other hand, at times I was not sure how I felt. I think this is because I am currently in limbo, one chapter is closing and I am waiting for another to begin. As I have already written about, I have submitted my final university assignments and am awaiting the results and am due to start a new job in around two weeks. I also felt a great sense of space, whether I was by the beach in Bournemouth and Cornwall or out on the Moors in Dartmoor National Park or by the rivers in Bristol and Bath.



                                       
















Hopefully more photos will follow but my laptop is running really slowly and I fear it may not handle ones from my DSLR and there are no more phone camera pictures because on my third day away it broke!