'Hungary' for adventure | My guide to the best 3 days in Budapest.

First of all lets address this blog post name, punny, right?

Anyhow, it's 2020 and I don't know about you but I definitely have the dreaded January blues and have already been thinking about my next holiday, which got me reminiscing about last year and all the amazing trips and countries I went to and experienced. So, today I thought I'd share one of them with you to hopefully help you plan your next trip!

My favourite break of 2019 was a 3 night city break in the buda-ful city Budapest (I'll stop now)

Me and my friend had been trying to plan a girly holiday together for ages now but we could never find the right time or right place. But, after a few suggestions and exploring the web we decided that 3 nights in Budapest would be perfect for us, a combination of partying, sight seeing and affordable pricing. So, before I even checked my bank account I crossed my fingers hoping I had enough to make the booking and thankfully I did, just.

16th of august eventually came around and before we knew it, it was 6:30am and we were jetting off to Budapest. After what felt like a 5 minute journey we arrived! Once we dropped our bags off at our apartment, which could have been better but you get what you pay for and we were hardly in it so no hard feelings towards that, we went exploring straight away, there was no time to waste!

We both didn't want to do too much walking about on the first day but we actually walked almost 30,000 steps that's more than I do in a week! We first walked alongside the Danube River which is also in relation to the memorial of the 'shoes on the Danube bank' in memory of Jews who were shot there. We then went on a hike, literally a hike, there was the option of getting a tram like cable car  up to the top of the Buda castle but the queue was enormous and instead of waiting we thought we would hike, hanging on to tree trunks to pull us up this very steep hill to get to the top which only took 5 minutes but, my god did this determine to me that I was definitely out of shape, despite how exhausting it was, it  was enjoyable and a fun thing to do! At the top we treated ourselves to some ice cream whilst we looked around the markets we were surprised to find surrounding the castle and it's gardens, we spent a good 2-3 hours here just chilling looking at the beautiful views.

As much as we wanted to continue exploring we needed to head back and rest up before we started getting ready for our night. We planned our nights in advance booking everything before we came to ensure we were able to do everything we wanted. So, on the Friday we decided to book onto a boat party called shipwrecked and we paid extra for unlimited drinks which was so worth it! Me and my friend both like making an effort for any situation and of course we were way to dressed up for this than the rest and what made it worse was it wasn't that busy but despite me being awkward and uncomfortable after 7 or 8 orange juice and proseccos we were dancing the night away singing Cascada at the top of our lungs whilst we cruised down the Danbue river, looking at the city at night was such a beautiful sight to see. This event was reasonably priced at £30 as we bought it online before we went, especially with unlimited drinks, but it mustn't be a well known event as for a big boat it wasn't packed but regardless its incredible to see the city in a different light.

After snoozing our alarm a good 5-6 times we finally woke up and were out the door by 1pm to try and catch a hop on hop off bus. I love this invention. I think it's great for lazy, hungover people like myself, you get to sit down but still experience everything the city has to offer. We did however got off at Gellert Hill where Liberty Statue monument is overlooking Danube, this is definitely a place you should stop off and take in all the beautiful views from 771 ft. We then thought we'd give our legs a walk and decided to walk down the steps to the waterfall at the bottom, a perfect opportunity for even more selfies. We then decided to walk back to our side of the river and get on the bus again for the last view stops but unfortunately we were too late to see the rest as this stops touring around 4 so we slowly walked back to out apartment only after we spotted a Ferris wheel and just couldn't say no. 

         

We were heading out a little earlier than the previous night on the Saturday as we were going to a party at the famous Thermal Baths, SPARTY, I absolutely love the name, thought it was very creative. If you didn't quite get it, it's a party in the spa, sparty, we had high hopes for this and thankfully they were met, the vibe was so good and it was packed with people from all over the world. One thing I found about Budapest is that the locals and holiday makers are all there to have a good time and are extremely friendly so we felt very safe and found it easy to make friends. If you are intending to go to Budapest definitely put the Sparty on your to-do list as you won't regret it, it's nothing like I've ever been to before honestly wish they had more of these! However, the drinks were quite pricey so just make sure you take enough cash if you’re intending to get tipsy.

Considering the event finished at 3am it was inevitable that we weren't going to wake up till late in the afternoon again but, we didn't have anything on our itnery for today so we weren't to bothered considering we had already done everything we wanted so we decided to take it easy and just wonder around eating quality food, at one restaurant in particular. Whilst on our bus journey yesterday we pulled up outside the famous New York Palace cafe, which is famous for being a major meeting point for Hungarian literacy and artistic titans. It had absolutely spectacular interior and atmosphere with it's very own piantist and vilolinist. If you intend to go here I'd recommend booking as we had to wait to be seated, thankfully not to long but, we saw the queue getting longer and longer once we were leaving and were glad we went ealier on. The food menu was quite limited (Especially for someone as fussy as me) but it was still just the novelty of being there that made the experience worthwhile. Both me and my friend ordered a burger, my 3rd one of the trip, quite embarrassing I know but it was a decent enough burger. We also opted to go for a pudding, now this was the highlight, I went for a rich chocolate pudding with cherry sauce inside, it was delicious. After we gave ourselves a good half an hour before we set off walking back to out apartment as we were stuffed.

For our final night in Budapest we didn't have anything planned as we knew we had to be up early to get our plane but regardless we weren't going to stay in when there was alcohol calling our name. After a bit of research we found a rooftop bar called '360' just round the corner from our hotel so we thought we'd give it ago. After paying 1000 Hungarian forint to get in we got the lift up to the very top and was amazed at the wonderful view you got from up their, we went later on at night so it was dark and the city was all lit up it was beautiful, we ordered 1 or 5 Gin and lemonades and then next minute we were on the strip dancing the night away, but we didn't even regret it in the morning we had such a good night to end our time here.

I would love to go back to Budapest and experience more of the party side the city has to offer as we didn't have time to even experience the popular ruin bars, despite this we were extremely happy and content with everything we did do and the memories we made.

If you are thinking of going to Budapest I'd definitely recommend all the places I have mentioned as I couldn't fault any of them. Guarantee you'll have the time of your life.

Look out for my next travel post where I'll be exploring my adventures from Krakow!

Katie x

thank u, next.

The release of Ariana Grande's smash hit 'thank u, next' which I've had on repeat ever since it's come out has recently got me thinking on a monday night at 10 to 12, standard.
First off all if you haven't heard the song then are you living under a rock? or if not you should definitely give it a listen as this song is so powerful, strong and meaningful as instead of slamming and shaming her ex boyfriends she sings about what they've taught her in life and what she can learn from that. Ariana references a new relationship with herself and how she's going to come out stronger and have some self love and be a strong independent woman.

This song couldn't have come at any better time than now for me as it's been a couple of months now I've been back at uni and just got out of a toxic relationship it's empowered me to be a better me and put all that negativity behind me and think about myself and the future.

Coming out of a long term relationship is hard but you always need to put yourself first and think about what is right for you despite how you might make the other person feel, this can be said for any circumstance, a family situation or a work related situation, put yourself first as selfish as it sounds.

Now, I especially know that it is a lot easier said that done having always gone through life putting people before myself and letting them walk all over me where I get to the point I am no longer happy and getting myself down because I'm adhering to everyone else but, if you never learn to say no then your life will always be that way.

I went through the majority of my school life not feeling like I belonged with a certain friendship group, now don't get me wrong I had a lovely group of friends but I never felt like I fitted in and that was no ones fault but I stuck with those friends being unhappy and feeling different because back then I didn't like to party or talk to boys that I'd feel odd but since growing up and having moved away to Uni which has changed my life in a completely different way I can honestly say you do truly find yourself when you move away from your hometown,  don't get me wrong I love my hometown, it's not the best town but the people there make it and I couldn't imagine havin' grown up anywhere else but it's like a breath of fresh air moving away and starting again meeting new people, being in a new environment it's great. I know it's not as easy to just pack your bags and move away but if you get the chance jump on it with full force as you never know what opportunities are out there for you.

I recently just came out of a long term relationship which started to get toxic on both ends I still tried my best for things to work even though it was clear nothing was going to but I was too busy thinking about the 'what ifs' and 'buts' to this relationship ending instead of thinking about what was best for me in the long run and since my breakup I've been so unbelievably happy not having constant worry and/or crying but instead spending more quality time with friends and family and just enjoying my life at 19 years old. I have learnt many things from past friendships and relationships and can say thank u, next in moving on to a happier and healthy lifestyle which I can say so far so good.

I've been having such a positive week despite the overload of uni deadlines and thought it was important for you all to remember to give yourself some self loving and realise your worth, that if you are down then believe that things do get better if you allow them too and moving on is a possibility even though at sometimes it might not feel like it.

Hope this little bit of motivation helped at least one of you today!

Thank you for reading
See you soon,

Katie x

Cute cafes & coffee stains

Living away from home and in a new town comes with a lot of new experiences one of them being finding cute and quirky cafes and restaurants that you wouldn't find anywhere else.

My friend, Abbie who is vegan found it online when searching for vegan cafes near us and was firstly intrigued by their name 'Om is where the heart is' this also had me intrigued as I was firstly thinking it's called this because when you eat you chew like 'om nom nom' but in fact I was wrong and it is called this because it is a vegan cafe with a yoga studio up stairs and apparently the word 'om' is associated with yoga when you are working out, very good 

marketing if you ask me!

We didn't actually get to see the yoga studio as we were too hungry to even think about taking a look and instead got seated and read through the very lengthy menu!
After we had all looked through the 181787 pages that were filled with scrumptious sounding vegan and non-vegan foods we took in the surroundings which were so niche and different! They had flowers hanging on the wall in milk jars and a feature wall which is very Instagramable hint hint, check out my Instagram to see more pictures.

The place was rather small with only a couple of seating available but this is usually typical of cafes and made the atmosphere very warm and homely.

After taking what we thought was enough pictures our food arrived and I was literally drooling when the waiter put it down on the table, it looked delicious.

We all got some form of avocado incorporated into our  meal but I got an avacado and bacon sandwich on sourdough bread with cheesy fries, which I know totally defeats the purpose of going to a vegan cafe but I did think the sandwich would be a little to plain for my liking so opted to get bacon with it.

Abbie, is in fact the only one out of the three of us who is vegan so went for a veggie wrap which was a wrap loaded with veggies (obviously) and hummus!

They cater to everyone's needs offering gluten free bread for anyone who needs/wants it.

After we had all filled our bellies until we couldn't fill them anymore and drank our lattes or in my case poured half of it on my self, typical Katie, we headed out into the little town of Slaithwaite to do some exploring and see what the town had to offer.

It was a rather chilly day and none of us dressed appropriately so we didn't go too deep into the streets and stuck to the main road and ended up going into a few charity shops for a bit of a gander but in my case ended up doing a photo shoot with the beautiful scenes we had the chance to admire.

After our little walk burning off all those calories we had just eaten we were shattered and decided it was time to head back home for a nap.

It was such a fun day spending time with friends and doing something different we wouldn't usually do!

Also, I believe it is really important to support local businesses such as this one and help people succeed in doing what they love. Local coffee shops are run by people in your community and care about it's people. The owners of the cafe were so kind and made us feel at home catering to our every need. I know it wasn't a lot but when my friend asked if it was possible to have cheese on her fries there was no questions about it she could have cheese on her fries, in other chain restaurants they'd have to double check with the chefs first and even then they could possibly say no! So help a friend and support independent companies you won't regret it.

Thank you for reading.
See you soon.

Katie x