As well as being polled as the happiest place to live in the UK, Leamington is riddled with enough cool coffee shops to fill the hearts of any caffeine fanatic. Since it’s World Coffee Day, I thought I’d round up all of my favourite places to get coffee in good ol’ Leamington Spa.
New York, New York. The city of dreams, the city that never sleeps; the city that’s written about and sung about by people from all over the world. It’s the home of the Harlem Renaissance, the Stonewall Riots, and, crucially to me, Taylor Swift.
Didn’t manage to hike to Macchu Picchu or watch the sunset over Sydney Harbour Bridge this summer? Construct your perfect last-minute #staycation with these Brit(ish) landmarks that are similar to famous locations around the world.
From the dark-green peaks of the Grampians in the west to the tram-encircled CBD to the rugged coastline in the east, Australia’s culture capital checks every item on a sunset-lover’s wish-list. Read on for the best places to catch the sunset in the city.
“Taxi? TAXI? Lady, you want taxi, taxi?!”
These were the first words I heard when I staggered out of Chennai airport, backpack bowing my back and jet lag hanging heavily over my head.
We would drive for miles without seeing anything aside from trees (and the odd kangaroo), and then suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a town would appear – a ‘blink-then-you-miss-it’ kind of town, with houses and playgrounds and a small corner shop, contrasting sharply to the wildness of the mountains we’d seen just seconds before; towns that would quickly be swallowed up again by the mountains moments after we’d passed through them.
Careering precariously around hairpin corners on roads that drop off sharply on one side to the ocean in a spray painted camper van driven by your friend who hasn’t driven since passing his test 6 months ago may sound terrifying to some. I, on the other hand, found the idea exhilarating, and so myself and four other friends decided to spend five days at the end of November exploring the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians.
Ahhh, mid-semester break. A week long period of the semester that most students use to visit their families or study, and those of us on exchange use to go on holiday. Monday 25th September saw us jetting off to Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
During my weekend in Sydney, we planned to do two trips out of the CBD, the first of which was to the Instagram haven, Bondi Beach. The tram journey was only about 20 minutes, and it quickly became clear that we were on the right tram after I was smacked in the face by a surfboard by a dude with sun-bleached blond hair.
Because we are #spontaneous, a group of friends and I decided to travel to Sydney for the last weekend in August.
If there’s one thing that Australia does exceptionally well, it’s beaches – and Melbourne is no exception. With the forecast saying it would be sunny all day, a group of friends and I hitched the tram to St Kilda.
Fitzroy is renowned for being a cool place; the home of the angel-headed hipster, and, most importantly to us, the place filled with vintage clothes stores and ‘op shops’ (the Australian equivalent of a charity shop).
In the two weeks that I have been in this surprisingly cold country (come to Australia, they said; it’ll be hot, they said), it will be no surprise to anyone that knows me that I have embarked on two animal-themed trips.
The first stage of my adventures in Australia was probably the least exciting: packing. How on earth are you meant to fit one year’s worth of clothing and miscellaneous bits and bobs into one 30kg suitcase (especially when an extra suitcase would set you back a hefty $2000 AUD)?
Georgie's Wanderlust 