OBLIGATORY PLANE POST

As everyone else does around this time of year, I'm doing a post on what's in my plane carry-on bag for my 9 hour (cry) flight next week. I love these posts, I love seeing what other people have in their handbags and carry-on bags, so for me this is a lot of fun.

Firstly, a little bit of 'admin', the basics before you even think about packing your carry-on: The Bag. My carry-on bag is my black classic Fjallraven Kanken bag, which I got for Christmas and have featured in an outfit of the day post on the blog before. Whilst we're on the topic, now seems a good enough time to talk about what I'll actually be wearing on the plane. Planes are cold so I'm going to be wearing my Topshop Jamie jeans (my favourite jeans, and also the only pair of trousers I'm bringing on holiday with me, it's going to be hot), and a thick jumper. I'm also wearing my bulkiest shoes, so that I don't have to pack them in my suitcase and take up too much room.

There are three main categories to the carry-on bag: 'listening material', 'reading material' and 'everything else'. I'm bringing all this stuff but, frankly, we all know I'm just going to spend the entire journey watching films.

Listening Material
There are two things I want to mention in particular for my listening material, so we'll start with the latest edition to my iPod. Hamilton. I haven't spoken about Hamilton on my blog yet but, like everyone else in the world, I am OBSESSED. It's one of the best, most clever things I've ever listened to and it's the only thing I'm listening to at the moment. My whole family is absolutely loving it and I know it's going to be basically the only thing we listen to over the next few months (we're already so excited for October 2017 when it's coming to the UK).

The other thing I wanted to mention is Audible, which is another one of mine and my mother's new obsessions. In the spirit of summer, the audiobook I've downloaded for the holiday is 'Since You've Been Gone' by Morgan Matson, which I've already started and am really enjoying. I've heard so many fabulous things about it and I know it's going to be the perfect summer read listen. I'm really enjoying Audible and I'd highly recommend it. (I'm on a one credit a month contract, in case you were wondering).

Also included in listening material is your own headphones, as the free ones they give you on the plane are really uncomfy.

Reading Material
As with the listening material, there are two main things in my reading material. We'll start with magazines, which I'm planning to stock up on at the airport. I haven't decided on which ones to get yet, but I know a copy of Heat magazine will definitely be featuring in there somewhere.

The other part of my reading material is, obviously, the book I'm currently reading. I'm bringing two books on holiday with me, as I don't tend to read that much when I'm away, and I'm so excited for both of them. The book I'm currently reading is 'A Court of Mist and Fury' by Sarah J. Maas (SO excited to have this one), and I'm also bringing 'The Unexpected Everything' by Morgan Matson, which I know is going to be the perfect summer read. Both of these are quite long and I know I'm going to just love both of them.

Everything Else
The everything else section of this post is a couple of random things in my bag that I think would be good to have on the plane with you; all of the 'wash bag' variety. Firstly, wipes, both hand and face. Wet wipes are just really useful to have and I more or less never leave the house without a packet in my bag (ditto tissues). Face wipes are also really useful to have on a plane, as it's more difficult to wash your face properly, but face wipes can help to keep it clean and reduce the chance of the plane doing anything bad to your skin. Along the same lines we have a toothbrush and a mini toothpaste, because oral hygiene is important; and lip balm and moisturiser, because planes are really drying.

Rosie

SPAIN #4- JUST A CASUAL DAY OUT

Following on from the last post of my train pictures, these are photos from the same day when we visited a ski resort in the Pyrenees. There are too many beautiful photos to share and I hope I have done the place justice.

SPAIN #1- A ROOM WITH A VIEW

I thought I'd share some of my Spain holiday photos, to open us up with have the views from my windows in the Spanish Pyrenees and in Barcelona.

The Spanish Pyrenees:
I apologise for these as I forgot to take pictures out of the window until the last day when it was foggy. The view was incredible and luckily the fog doesn't ruin it all too much.

Barcelona:

The most incredible view in the world here, we were directly across the road from the Sagrada Familia and the view was breathtaking. The zoom was not used once to get these pictures.

READING FESTIVITIES

As of tomorrow I head off on the scary and unknown journey of my first ever music festival, Reading 2014. As a very experienced camper I thought I'd give my tips on camping and also a mini 'What's in my Bag' post.

Tips:
-Read the reviews on your tent before you buy it; you want to know what you're letting yourself in for.
-Don't bring anything expensive or that you really like; especially to a festival, you will regret it.
-Don't forget your wellies.
-Bug bite cream is essential.
-Be prepared for a lack of proper sleep.
-If you're going to a festival, bring your own breakfast stuff and some form of healthy snack, you will be eating complete crap the whole time you're there unless you're prepared to cook your own food and you will end up craving some form of healthy stuff.
-Bring toner for your face as you will unlikely be spending large amounts of time washing your face with your normal fancy foaming face wash and toner at least stops drastic breakouts.
-Be prepared for the camping spot, it is inevitable, you will always get the one uber spot every time you go camping (bring spot cream, and also bring a mirror).
-Don't go all-out on makeup, everyone else will look awful and it's a nightmare to try and put on and take off loads in a tent.
-Dry shampoo is everything.
-French plaits are also everything.
-By the second day the ground will be gross, camping chairs are essential.

Potential new background? Makes the fanny pack look 'instagram cute' and arty...

What's in my Fanny Pack:
Yes, you heard me correctly, I am bringing a fanny pack, I own a fanny pack, no shame (a little bit of shame). (Fanny pack from Bag Base on Amazon, under £5).
-Rubbish Nokia brick phone; for contacting people around the site, plus will never, ever run out of battery.
-Antibacterial hand gel and wet wipes; festivals are dirty.
-Money; for food and merch.
-Disposable camera; safer than bringing your nice digital camera and super cool looking pictures at the end of it all.
-Vaseline; I don't normally use it much so it is disposable if need be.
-Snacks.

It's all very green...

PLANE JANE

For this post I tried out a new way of taking photos using bedding as I'm not keen on my old way, not sure how I feel about this way either so bare with for the next few posts :)

Back in February, I made a post about my plane hand luggage for my AS geography trip to Barcelona (worst trip of my life, but lettuce not focus on that). So it's coming up for the summer holidays, and I'm going to Barcelona- again. But this time with my holiday group (there are 22 of us and our parents all went to uni together and every year we go on holiday together, normally to the Lake District or France, so everyone is very overexcited about Spain); and super duper exciting is we're getting the same flight as my bestie (I pity all the other people on the plane who have to listen to me and him and our younger brothers kick each other for three hours).
I thought, since I've already done a carry-on bag post, I'd do a beauty plane essentials because no one wants to look gross and covered in plane gunk when they land.

We'll start with the essentials:
If you are carrying these in your carry-on bag, you must make sure that you get sizes to fit the airlines liquids policy, Boots, Superdrug and Body Shop do mini ranges of some popular brands/items. 
-Wet Wipes: for general cleanliness and for stopping yucky greasy face.
-Antibacterial Hand Gel: in case you touch something you don't want to (like sticky plane chairs).
-Moisturiser: planes dehydrate your skin and it is important to have healthy skin.
-Hand Cream: you could probably use your moisturiser for this, but it's just an added luxury.
-Body Butter: I heard that body butter and/or cocoa butter is really good for making your tan last longer and I fully intend to tan while in Spain (not going to happen) so I picked up one of Body Shop's mini versions of their body butters to make that happen.
-Deodorant: you don't want to smell on the plane, do you?
-Body Spray: so your clothes also smell nice.
If you can't tell I am a certified over-packer. 

The non-essentials:
-Concealer: because planes dehydrate your skin, I don't tend to wear foundation on the flight until maybe the very end, concealer just covers your blemishes without being too heavy.
-Eyeliner: so I don't look weird and dead and makeup less.
-Mascara: so your eyelashes don't look overpowered by waterline eyeliner.
-Lip Balm No.1: purely for self-indulgence (don't worry, there's another two in my suitcase).
-Lip Balm No.2: one with SPF for sunbathing, because sunburnt lips are the worst thing in the world.

BARCELONA LOOKBOOK

This summer I am going to Spain (Barcelona and also somewhere slightly north of Barca that I can't remember the name of) so I enlisted the help of my long-suffering brother (and my cat, who decided he wanted to join in at one point) to show some of the outfits I plan to wear while I'm there (I'm pretty impressed by brother's photography actually). The one thing I don't have for summer that I really wanted is a massive, oversized sunhat. Boo.

I'd like to make a note that this was very difficult to photograph, we started on the most beautiful day but got halfway through before it began to pour with rain and we had to make do with the change in natural lighting. It also had to be photographed on two separate days between holidays (note my change in tan in some pictures). I am sorry for the lack of continuity in the pictures, it pains me. 

Dress- Boohoo

Dress- Boohoo

Choker- River Island

Dress- Boohoo

Choker- River Island

Belt- H&M (as part of another dress)

Cami Top- Boohoo

Shorts- Marks and Spencers (believe it or not)

Cami Top- Boohoo

Shorts- Marks and Spencers

Cardigan- Boohoo

Cropped Top- Topshop

Trousers- Homemade by my mother

Cropped Top- Topshop

Skirt- Miss Selfridge

Jumper- H&M

Jeans- Topshop Jamie Jeans

Cropped Top- Topshop

Trousers- Homemade by my mother and myself

Cami Top- Next

Jeans- Topshop Jamie Jeans

Dress- Primark

NURSING IN NOTTINGHAM

So I mentioned in my 'July Goals' that I'd like to jazz up my blog content a bit and post more photo-based posts of my days out or weekends and trips etc, so I thought I'd start with the few photos I took on my two day (Sunday and Monday) trip to Nottingham University for a nursing degree taster course/workshop.

This is the university accommodation where I was staying- Sherwood Hall- it was very pretty though the colour scheme makes it look very dark from the outside.

I was expecting the stereotypical university cupboard bedroom but the room I was in was actually really big with a double bed and a massive desk and lots of floor space.

We did mostly lectures but also a few practical sessions. Here is my first attempt of suturing (basically stitching) on a piece of foam; we were also given stethoscopes which was exciting.

COME FLY WITH ME

So I just got back from a weekend in Barcelona with my AS-Level geography class and I thought as I travelled by plane and there's February half-term coming up (yes, okay, I was meant to post this earlier, I am sorry) where some people might be going away, that I better do a 'what's in my airplane carry-on bag'...


Before we can even begin to think about packing the bag we first need to find a suitable one- with bags the bigger is always better. When it comes to rucksacks I don't tend to go for the prettiest ones as what you really need is something that can carry everything but it also comfy at the same time.

 

1. Passport- this is pretty essential, you can't actually get on the plane without it.
2. Glasses- pretty self explanatory, so you can see really.

Yes these are my glasses and yes I really do where glasses

3. Boiled sweets- these work amazingly at stopping your ears from popping if you suck one whilst taking off and landing.
4. Hand sanitizer/ wipes- planes are yucky, also planes are not the best for your skin and having wet wipes on hand means you can keep your skin fresh at all times.

5. Best friend- they don't seem to mind if you hold their hand the entire journey because you're scared of flying.
6. Book/ trashy magazines- short flights like the one to Spain don't have TVs and planes are immensely boring, trashy magazines are fun for the whole family to laugh at. 
7. iPod (and headphone splitter)- So you can spend the whole 3 hour plane journey listening to Disney's Greatest Hits with your friend and sing along very loudly.
8. Big puzzle book (and pen)- literally hours of entertainment if got out of these, can't forget the pen or they suddenly become a lot less fun.
9. Jumper- planes are freezing and you will freeze without a big jumper.

Yours truly in Sitges, Spain- you can't see my jumper but it is rose print (obviously), £5.99 (fantastic price) from H&M

10. Lip balm- I have two in my bag, the Body Shop lip butter in Shea for night time and the Body Shop Born Lippy stick in plum for the day.

11. Sunglasses- because even though it (was) January and Barcelona is just a cold as England, I was going to Spain and I wanted to give an impression of a holiday. My sunglasses are from Topshop last year (around £15 I think) but everywhere sells the same style and I just really like this style plus it suits me and a lot of sunglasses don't.

 

12. My bobble hat!- in case your head gets cold (Accessorize £18)


13. Nail varnish- so technically I didn't pack this but I was wearing Barry M Berry Cosmo, packed a nail file though, don't want horrible nails

14. Camera- *whispers* plane selfie, airport selfie, I-woke-you-up-at-three-this-morning selfie, getting-told-off-for-taking-a-selfie-with-the-flight-attendant selfie (not recommended)