When you go on a nice holiday to a beautiful resort or a luxurious hotel you usually take other things with you than when you go backpaking. Ofcourse there are things you drag with you everywhere you go (like your phone, or a tablet or a camera). Yet during my travels through Europe I realised there are things I can’t go without when I go backpacking.
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All my travels
And it’s Thursday again which means time for another throwback Thursday! This time it’s me “rocking out” near Balmoral Castle in Ballater, Scotland. I’m enjoying the view of River Dee from a big rock on the river side. Such a beautiful place to be, sit and contemplate life.
One of the most beautiful waterfalls I have had the privilege to see so far is Gullfoss waterfall in the south of Iceland. It’s also one of the most beautiful waterfalls of Iceland and a very touristy spot. Not only because it’s such an amazing waterfall, but also because it’s very easy to get to and it’s part of the “Golden Circle” (along with Pingvellir national park and Geysir).
Before I went to Iceland I had already decided I wanted to at least see Gullfoss. Just the photos alone showed the beauty of Gullfoss and when I was got on route that specific Sunday I was like a kid on her way to the candy store; Gullfoss here I come!!!
It’s throwback thursday time again, and this time it’s a photo from New York City in 2010. I’m sitting at the fountain across from Radio City Music Hall (staring at all the pretty lights I think). Oh I’d love to go back!
Wow, it’s been over a week since I last blogged, that’s pretty bad! I really should start using my editorial calendar plugin a lot more and seriously whip myself into “posting discipline”!
Last week I flew to London to hang out with some friends and attend a concert from one of my favourite bands ever with them. In case you didn’t know, that favourite band is Hanson, and if the last 16 years have taught me anything it’s the response I get when I tell people; “Isn’t that the band with the long-haired girls singing MMMBop” or “Do they still exist?!”. I pretty much lost count on the amount of times I’ve hear this, but that’s OK. I understand they are no longer considered “main stream” musicians or they were mistaken for girls back in the day. So to answer those questions from the get-go; no they aren’t girls, but yes they did have long hair and sang MMMBop, and yes they still exist. In fact they’ve been a band for 21 years now! How amazing is that?!
Anyway, me and my friends have been attending their concerts together for 10 years now, so when I heard they were coming to London to play a show it was the perfect opportunity to fly in and hang out with my friends for a few days (as it had been too long since I last saw them) attend the show and of course enjoy my home away from home; London.
I couldn’t believe my luck that a few days after the London show, the band would also play a show only 25 minutes from my house. How could I not go to that one too? Tickets where purchased way before the summer (because believe it or not, they still sell out concerts) and plans were made with my friends for the few days I was able to come out to London.
Going to London and meeting up with my friends was awesome. I loved seeing them again and catch up on things. We walked around London away from the tourist spots, which -especially around the holiday season- are extremely busy. My honest opinion about London during holiday season is a) Holiday Decorations are extremely disappointing, it’s mostly commercial stuff and nothing spectacular. It was like that 14 years ago and I think is still the same now and b) Oxford Street and the like is to be avoided like the plague around this time of year, unless you like to be stuck in a huge crowd in a rush and only able to move in one direction, turning around is not an option (unless you cross the street, if you can..)
With that said though, London still has a lot of amazing areas to visit during the holiday season that are just as festive but less crowded. Cute markets and spots with awesome views of the city. So don’t let the hectic holiday crowds scare you away from visiting London around this time of year, you’ll still have plenty of things to see and do away from it all.
The concert itself was amazing. My friend did an awesome job getting tickets for us, she got us seats on the second row, centre stage on King’s Row in the O2! Perfect view, perfect sound and good company, what more could we want!
Unfortunately I only had about 48 hours to spend in London, which is way to short for my liking, but that just means I’ll have to go back..
The second concert close to my house was the day after arriving back from London. I was all excited to go, not only for the music, but because these concerts have become a reunion of some sort over the years. Many people I know have been attending shows since the early days and over the years we’ve met up lots of times at concerts and enjoyed the music together. On the day of the concert though, my back decided to act up. In the days before London I hurt my back and even though it wasn’t bothering me too much in London it acted up a lot more in the days after. Because of it, I had to cancel my plans to go to the show. This concert wasn’t seated and standing on my feet for a few hours didn’t seem like a very good idea, especially because work awaited the next day too. Thankfully a friend was kind enough to call me during the show a few times so I could still be part of it all somehow, so thank you for that, you know who you are!
I’m glad and thankful for the opportunity to seeing my friends in London and attending the show, but a little sad about the missed chance of hanging out with friends at the local concert. I guess that’s life, yet the glass is always half full, never half empty so looking on the bright side I had a wonderful time, there will be more shows to attend and other opportunities to meet up with concert friends. And not attending the concert was a good decision, my back is much better and that’s what counts.
What was the last concert you attended and did you have to travel far? Have you ever travelled far to attend a show of your favourite band/artist?