A British Summer Holiday, Devon 2015

Last week I stayed in a small village near Ilfracombe in Devon with Josh and his family. I had a really amazing time and want to document the holiday as a blog post in the style of a diary as well as a vlog which I'm currently editing for my YouTube channel. I'll leave a link to the vlog once I've uploaded it.

Day 1 - The Trek Down South
Since me and Josh live pretty central, the journey to Devon was a fairly long one. We set off at midday, which wasn't too late but not exactly as early as we had planned to leave, and we eventually arrived at our caravan at around half past five that evening. Once we had unloaded the car we immediately went to Tesco to get our shopping for most of the week and then drove into Ilfracombe to find a Fish & Chip shop. It's been Josh's family's tradition to have Fish & Chips on the seafront the night they arrive on their British holiday, so we got our chips, headed back to the caravan and went down to the holiday park's beach.

Day 2 - Shopping Centre
The weather on the first whole day of our holiday looked fairly glum so we decided that this day should be one where we would visit something a bit more 'indoorsy' where, if the heavens did open, we wouldn't get soaked. The shopping centre itself did look rather nice inside, the shops it offered, apart from the Nike factory shop and Cadbury, weren't really much of my interest. Whilst we were there we stopped off at an American themed diner which did look pretty cool inside as they had Tom and Jerry playing on a TV in the background and even had their own bowling alley, however, their service was very slow, especially with the food, and I'm glad that I only ordered a coffee. We then went home, went to the holiday park's bar to use the wifi and play pool to then return to the caravan and have a pleasurable sunday roast cooked by Josh's dad.

Day 3 - Woolacombe Beach
Even though the weather still wasn't the best, we visited the world's 13th best beach; Woolacombe. Me and Josh's brother spent the whole time in the sea on our body boards enjoying ourselves, even though the water wasn't at it's warmest, whilst Josh and his Dad sat on the beach looking rather cold. Josh eventually dragged us out of the sea and me and his brother were left guarding the bags. Him and his dad went to get food and hot drinks which we enjoyed together back on the beach even though the strong winds whipped the sand around; feeling like pins and needles. If I remember rightly we finished the evening by going to the bar to use the wifi and to play a game of pool once again.

Day 4 - The Zoo
As we flicked through the many leaflets we had picked up from the site's reception, we stumbled upon Exmoor Zoo. I've been wanting to go to the zoo for ages and Josh knew this so there was no question on where or not we were going to visit it. We spent an overall of 3 hours traipsing around the exhibits, constantly taking photos and filming for our vlog as there were so many different animals to look at. Once again we stopped off at the zoo's restaurant to get food and a drink, as always I had a piping hot coffee. After we'd came back from the zoo we chilled in the caravan visited the beach for a while before we went out for dinner at Custom House, where I had a delicious salmon steak, veg and sweet potato fries.

Day 5 - Westward Ho! Beach
Finally the weather had began to improve by Wednesday, however, it felt even more cold than it did when we went to Woolacombe. The beach at Westward Ho! definitely wasn't as good as Woolacombe's since the beach was covered in rocks which were horrendous to walk on, however, once you went into the water the rocks disappeared and you could finally walk without wincing every time you took a step. Somehow Josh managed to slightly cut his leg, causing blood to leak down his leg and I couldn't help but cringe and freak out until he got a plaster to cover it. After spending time on the beach we went back to the car put on some more clothes and hunted for hot drinks and donuts to eat on the seafront. Once again we ended the night by going to the bar and playing pool.

Day 6 - Combe Martin & Pool Day
Combe Martin was the nearest coastal village, within walking distance, to the holiday park so me and Josh decided to walk down and check it out. The village had an alright beach in the bay of two headlands so it was pretty sheltered from the wind, however, there was tonnes of seaweed in the water's edge which was quite off putting. Instead of going in the sea we made the decision to walk further into the village to discover what it had to offer and stubbled upon a really pretty coffee shop where we both got toasted paninis, mochas and brownies to take out and eat on the beach. Just as we finished our food Josh's dad and brother came walking down the beach to join us and eat their food which they'd obviously bought from one of the takeaways in the village. To finish off the visit in Combe Martin Josh's brother decides to throw sand at my legs so I ended up going into the seaweed crowded sea to wash it off. After hiking our way back to the site, since I already had my bikini on, we decided to go in the pool which was, to my surprise, satisfyingly heated. After staying in the pool until we no longer could because it was closing time, we all went back to the caravan, showered and had dinner. For some reason we ended up going into Ilfracombe town that evening and I'm glad we did because it was really pretty, particularly because the streets and seafront were lit up by dainty string lights and the sunset was beautiful (I also got chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone which made everything perfect anyway).

Day 7 - Mackerel Fishing
When we visit Ilfracombe the night before we noticed that they offered fishing trips for a reasonable price so on Friday we drove back into the town to book a trip for that afternoon. We managed to book a trip for the four of us, however, it meant that we had to wait about 4 hours. In this time we found a small beach down one of the backstreets on the town and stayed there for a while, skimming stones and eating the sandwiches I had made for everyone. After we had spent some time on the beach we walked back into the town and bought icecreams for everyone; Josh went for one with three scoops which was gigantic. Finally it was time to get on the boat to go fishing and amazingly I caught fourteen mackerel fish in the one and a half hour that we had. Out of all of the fish that was caught on the boat we were allowed to take as many home as we liked so Josh's dad chose three which we cooked later on a BBQ on the beach a long with burgers and hot dogs. As well as the BBQ we had a small campfire in which we toasted marshmallows on and made s'mores with chocolate digestive biscuits.

Day 8 - Leaving For Home
Eventually we had to leave for our lengthy drive home. Silly me, I had left all my packing for that morning and remarkably I managed to pack all my clothes in time as well as have breakfast, do my beauty routine and get changed. I was sad to be leaving Devon because I had generally enjoyed myself that holiday and didn't want to leave the happiness that it brought me, however, I'm glad that I documented it so that I can look back on it whenever I want.

Devon Vlog #1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elWzsSajQrA

Devon Vlog #2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OHN5DE49FM&list=PL4wtioa0_at_8MPlLJ-HeEkWTKOiNkHrv&index=2

I hope you enjoyed this post; be sure to lookout for more in the future! :) 

Becky x

Travel Sickness: Things not to do

In contrast with my other travel sickness post, I thought it would be a good idea to share the top few things that I don't do whilst travelling to prevent feeling sick.

1) Don't get too hot.
Being hot and stuffy is one of the worst things for me to deal with when coping with travel sickness, so make sure you keep your car well ventilated by having the aircon on or opening a window. A breeze of fresh air from the window really helps. 

2) Don't eat a big meal, especially one that contains a lot of dairy, before hand. 
This is something I definitely try to avoid each time I travel, diary things have never been the best thing for me to have when I'm feeling sick as it makes it much worse.

3) Don't look down at a device or book. 
I know that traveling can be very boring and I can't help but want to go on my phone or any type of device, but because my mind is now focused on what I'm doing on my phone as well as travelling, this tends to make me feel even more sick. Instead of doing this I listen to music, enjoy the scenery I might be passing by and listen to some relaxing music. When traveling it's possibly one of my favourite times to sit back and relax and clear my mind as I don't feel guilty for being lazy and not doing anything.

4) Don't watch the windscreen wipers if it's raining. 
This one may seem weird but I think it's like looking at a device because your mind is now having to be focused on two moving things rather than one. So instead, try closing your eyes and sleep or look out at the side window instead. 

5) Don't block the outside view; sit in the front or in the middle at the back. 
I don't know why this helps, may be it has something to do with not being able to see where you're going but whenever I can't see an outside view, I begin to suffer with travel sickness quite seriously. This is particularly annoying when you're on a coach or bus and there are no window seats left.

6) Don't drink milky beverages.
Like eating dairy products, drinking a milky beverage seems to upset my unsettled stomach even more. Just the thought of it sloshing around inside my stomach whilst I'm on the road is very off putting, especially when I already feel unwell from traveling. 

7) Don't look down.
This always seems to cause my nausea to be worse and sometimes it also gives me a headache. Instead of doing this, I try to focus on the outside scenery.

8) Don't travel with bad smells (dogs). 
To avoid this air freshen your car before you set off and leave doors open for a while before traveling to air it out. Ever since I was little we often travelled with a dog in the car, which is probably why my motion sickness was very bad. However now that I know that bad smells made it worse, I do these techniques before travelling afar with a pet in the vehicle. 

I hoped this post helped you and be sure to lookout for more in the future! :) 

Becky x

Travel Sickness

If you're unlucky and suffer with travel sickness, here are 3 things that personally help me on long car journeys. 

The first thing I like to take with me is a bottle of water. Whenever I feel sick, I always like to sip on some cold and refreshing water which seems to subdue the feeling of sickness.

The next item I like to have is some form of mints. The mint flavour freshens my mouth and almost clears the nausea. I've even been near the point of vomiting but just by having a mint I was able to stop myself and eliminate the queasiness.

My last car journey essential is music. Music distracts me from the fact that I'm traveling, therefore the mind isn't set on the idea that you're moving. My favourite type of music to listen to would be by The 1975, Lorde, Passenger or Ed Sheeran as I find their music easy to chill to whilst in the car. I generally cannot go on a long journey without music and so this is my most important travel essential.

I hope this post helped you in some way and be sure to linger around for more coming up in the future! :) 

Becky x