How to Spend 24 Hours in Glasgow, Scotland

It's fair to say that Glasgow has a bit of a 'reputation'. What isn't fair is the connotations that reputation often brings up. Scotland's second city completely stole my heart on a recent visit, surprising me with its artsy vibe, incredibly friendly people, and delicious food. 2018 sees Glasgow celebrate the Year of Young People, from highlighting their musical talents at the Celtic Connections Festival (which starts this weekend!), to showing the whipper-snappers that there's loads for them to do throughout the city.

A Long Weekend in Aberdeenshire, Pt 2

When I envisaged a long weekend in Aberdeenshire I could never have imagined how utterly blown away I would be by the scenery. After our fishing fun on the Friday, we hit the local pub quiz and were feeling a little sore-headed the following day (celebrating coming third involves a lot of whisky), so we needed fresh air. We settled into our hire car with a decent stash of Mini Eggs and headed up, up, up into the mountains.

Learning How to Fly Fish in Scotland

Don't worry, this isn't spam and I haven't been hacked. The heading of this post isn't an SEO ruse to get traffic from fans of leisurely aquatic pursuits; I did in fact go fly fishing during my recent trip to Scotland.

A Long Weekend in Aberdeenshire, Pt 1

I've spoken before about how you don't have to go very far to see beautiful parts of the world. The stunning fjords of Norway are only a two hour flight away and my road trip around Ireland introduced me to the eye-popping greenery of the Emerald Isle. When it comes to Scotland, I've only ever been to Edinburgh and Glasgow, but never to the more rural areas. We flew into Aberdeen late on a Wednesday night, just as it started snowing and drove 40 minutes to the little village of Fettercairn in near pitch black.

Goodbye 2013 (and good riddance!)

Finally, 2013 has come to an end!

This year has been full of huge ups and downs, and frankly I cannot wait for it to be over. 

On the downside, I've had to deal with relatives and friends being seriously ill, resulting in me knowing the hospitals of London a lot better than I wish I did. On the plus side, I earned my first ever promotion! It's obviously come with a lot more work and pressure, but it's a big step in the right direction for my career.

On that note, let's keep it positive! Here are my top 10 moments from 2013:

1) Retreating to the idyllic silence of the Lake District twice, once in January and then again in December

2) Taking an epic road trip to Scotland with my wonderful housemate and being proper tourists

3) Learning to ski in Austria at the Snowbombing Festival

4) Buying my beautiful Mulberry Del Rey!

5) Camping out on the Sherlock set (twice) and meeting Mr Cumberbatch himself!

6) Revisiting my old uni town of York, remisicing about days gone by and catching up with distant friends

7) Spending a solid seven days on a beach in Spain with my boyfriend

8) Getting tickets to see Nine Inch Nails at their tiny sold out Scala gig (and then again at Reading Festival a week later!)

9) Exploring Cornwall and eating my weight in pasties and ice cream

10) Dancing like a crazy lady at Future Cinema's Dirty Dancing event

2014 so far promises more Nine Inch Nails gigs, a big house move and an amazing month long trip to Australia! It's looking great already.

Happy new year!

xxx