Five new places challenge

This year I set myself the challenge of travelling to five new places either in or outside the UK. I wanted to do this as a way of trying to explore new places and making the most of my free time away from my studies. I love making bucket lists and my travelling one seems to be never ending, therefore this seemed to be a good way to tick pff some of the places on my list.

1. Bristol
I knew I was going to be visiting Bristol sometime this year after being invited by my boyfriend to visit his family and hometown. My first visit was back in April which I blogged about here.

2. Exeter
My boyfriend is a bit of a foodie so we took a day trip one Saturday to the Exeter food festival, which was a great experience. I didn't blog about it as we didn't get to see much of the city itself outside of the food festival, except for a brief sitdown by the Cathedral and 15 minute wander round the museum before it shut. As Exeter isn't far from uni I'm sure we'll be making another day trip there at some point.

3. Dublin
What a trip. I think this trip meant so much to me as it was the first time I went on a plane and travelled outside the UK without the aid of a responsible adult, (well my friend is responsible of course but you know what I mean). My friend and I met up in Bristol and travelled over from there. It was mainly a sightseeing and walking kind of trip, and was a break I think we both needed. You can read about our trip here.

4. St. Ives
Where do I even begin describing St. Ives?! It is such an incredible place that my attempts of describing it won't do it enough justice. Since publishing this post I have blogged about my trip to St. Ives which you are welcome to read here.

5. Mediterranean Cruise
In recent years my Dad and I have started these 'Dad and Daughter holidays' where we take a week out each year and go travelling somewhere together. Last year it took me on my first cruise round the Mediterranean and this year we signed up for the next leg of the cruise. You can read about last year's antics here.

Wandering around Dublin

To celebrate the end of exams and deadlines, a friend and I decided to meet up for a trip to Dublin to kick off the summer holiday. For me it was a big deal as it was my first trip away without the planning or supervision of adults; school trips and family holidays. It's fair to say that the trip had an eventful start involving and airport repack at the airport. Just goes to prove that two girls can live out of a back pack and small suitcase for a four day holiday. It was the start of many hilarious moments of the trip, from accidentally walking in one someone's panorama photo to dropping ice cubes into a woman's bag.

Our trip to Dublin can be described as a sightseeing holiday filled with walking and museums. Not the usual student summer holiday you'd expect with late nights and plenty of drinking - though our trip had to include a visit to the Guinness Storehouse. Just by walking around the city we were able to stumble across small cafes, shops and museums which helped us to get a general feel for the city. By walking we were able to save money on buses and time we'd spend keeping track of bus timetables, though this method of sightseeing inevitably leads to an early night in. On my next trip to Dublin I want to experience more of the nightlife, particularly since hearing about the well known Temple Bar which is a must see for tourists.

If you want to make the most of your trip on a limited budget it's well worth taking our approach of researching places that are free to visit as a way of saving money from bigger expenditures such as travel and accommodation. My friend suggested hosteling which is something I had not previously thought about. After my experiences of hosteling in Berlin and Dublin I can say it is worth doing as it provides you with the opportunity to meet people on their own travels and proves a moe relaxed atmosphere as you can cook and make yourself a drink in a communal kitchen and have multiple lounge areas. However with regard to sharing a room with other people my friend and I agreed we may not do it again. We didn't have a problem with the people we shared with, but felt we felt we couldn't entirely relax in the room as you didn't have total privacy. That's more for a long stay trip, but if it was an overnight stay I'd room share again.

Some of the daftest stories are the most memorable

We all have those stories that stick with us fora number of reasons. I would like to take a moment to appreciate the moments that aren't meant to be a big deal but are the ones that stick with you. The moments you think about and just smile at. It can be anything from ongoing inside jokes, to a classic moment that is often retold at meetups, or even a moment you keep to yourself.  These are the stories you look back on, the 'remember the time....' moments. The ones that will stay with you for years to come. I've found that a lot of these moments have occurred during my time at uni, with friends both at university and from back at home. Moments like this may seem daft at the time but looking back they're the ones that go down in history for you to remember from time to time.

For me I'm not ashamed to admit that when I think about these kind of moments I immediately think about nearly crying with happiness over a toothbrush, being surprised at the train station with Kit Kat chocolate bars and learning not to drink Jaeger bombs ever again after experiencing my first and only hangover (to date!).