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Help! I'm having a mid (20's) life crisis!

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Hello everyone,

I’m writing this post because I feel a bit lost at the moment, I’ve sort of come to a bit of a crossroads in my life and I’m not sure how to feel about it. I’m writing in the hope that I might see some sort of light at the end of the tunnel before I get to the end of the post, or in the hope that there might be someone else out there feeling the same way as me! I’m kind of going to use some of my Instagram feed for some inspiration and to remind myself of the good times I’ve had in the last 12 months! So here goes, I’m just going to write from the heart and see what happens…

This week I’ve been feeling very low, quite upset, and I’ve been bursting into tears almost every day. I got upset yesterday at work and just broke down completely in front of my manager.  I think the reason I’m upset is because I simply don’t know what to do with my life. I’ve never had this feeling before, I’ve always been quite content and grateful for a good job, nice car, fantastic family and friends and a good social life. However over the past few months I’ve realized that we are coming to the end of another year and I’m reflecting on what I’ve done/achieved in my life.  I’ve just found myself thinking that I’m not truly happy, and I think that stems from my desire and ambition to do something new.

I’m just itching to get away and explore the world, make incredible memories and meet new people, but I have no idea where to start. I’m torn between staying at home and just looking for a move to a new job in the travel industry, moving abroad to work, or just upping sticks and leaving to travel as much as I can. I’d much rather leave my life as I know it now to do something completely different, then come back  and try to kick start my career, but what if it goes wrong? What if I run out of money? What if I can’t handle not having a routine as I have done my whole life? There’s so many ifs and buts, yet I don’t know a single person who hasn’t enjoyed their experience of travelling.

I think I just need to stand tall, hold my head up high and take the plunge. If I don’t do it now, I never will. I’m in the perfect position, I don’t have kids, a boyfriend, no real financial commitments, and I have some substantial savings behind me – so why not just do it?! I’m dying to walk on beautiful beaches with the sea breeze in my hair, or to explore intimate cities and embrace their vibrant history and culture. I think I’m leaning more towards just travelling! Help! HOW DO I MAKE THIS DREAM A REALITY?!

 

I’d adore waking up to stunning sea views like the above, but I’d be equally happy with wandering the streets of ancient cities and releasing my inner explorer! Do I go long-haul on a once in a lifetime trip to the US or Australia, or do I have fun interailing round Europe’s  cities seeing their most famous landmarks? HELP!

On the other end of the scale, I’ve also thought about what skills I possess and whether I could make a living by working abroad rather than just travelling for a few months. I aced my GCSEs and A Levels and taught English to kids at school, I’ve been in employment since I was 16 and have good working/ customer service/computer skills that I’ve built on over time. I’m also getting more and more experience with my writing and I’m now freelancing and getting PAID for articles that I write. I suppose that in itself is an absolute dream come true! Who would have thought I could get paid to do the thing I adore?!

I still want more though, it’s not enough to just write a couple of articles a week – I need to earn a living from it in order to be successful, quit my day job and travel full time. I feel there are so many options I’m just not sure how to go about it!

Most of my friends have partners and are at different stages in their lives, and I can’t travel on my own as I have ongoing health issues which require me to go to the doctors and the hospital every couple of months. That in itself is a major issue – HOW LONG AM I SUPPOSED TO TRAVEL FOR?! I get check ups at the docs/hosp every three months – it’s so annoying! I’m sort of tied with that for the rest of my life which sucks.. and I get seriously lonely at the best of times so to go on my own just isn’t really an option at the moment.

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At my lowest point, when I was taken to hospital.

Ahhh I’m just going round and round in circles, I think I just need to really take my time and make the best possible decision for me, and only me. Have you ever got to your mid 20’s (OK, I know I’m only 22) and wondered what the hell it is you want to do with your life? Please share any comments/advice/wanderlust/inspo in the box below and I would LOVE to hear your thoughts!

Yours,

A very unsettled Jess x

 

 

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Oxford Christmas Market

 

Hi everyone,

I’m starting to feel really Christmassy now after my recent visit to Disneyland Paris – blog post to follow!! – I had such a fantastic time; everything was sooo magical and sparkly I just didn’t want to leave! To continue with my festivities now that I’m back home I decided to head over to Oxford this weekend to discover their beautiful Christmas markets…

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Located on historic Broad Street in the heart of the city, the Oxford Christmas Market has welcomed thousands of visitors to their eye-catching stalls for the past three years running. This year, the event promised to be bigger than ever with a record 50 stalls selling festive gifts, foodie treats and Christmas decorations.

I attended yesterday with my mum and sister and we wandered around the markets looking for lots of goodies to snap up! I usually find the prices of Christmas Markets extortionate, and I expected them to be high as we were in Oxford, but I was pleasantly surprised that they weren’t as expensive as I had thought! Hotdogs and burgers were around the £5 mark and handmade Christmas tree decorations started from just £2 each – bargain!

Our buy of the day was a box of the fantastic Schoko Kuss, a traditional German delicacy of fluffy creamy marshmallow on a waffle base smothered in heaps of chocolate. There were over 10 flavours to choose from including After Eight, Baileys, Coconut and Caramel… are you drooling yet?! I know we were! So much so that we bought a WHOLE BOX of them and devoured them later on that evening! A box of 12 cost a reasonable ten pounds and they were worth EVERY penny.

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The markets run until 20th December from 10am-8pm Thursday-Saturday and until 7pm Sunday-Wednesday so make sure you visit before they close! With musical performances throughout the day, from jazz singers to school choirs, you’ll love everything about the beautiful Christmas Market and will come away feeling ever so festive.. I dare you not to embrace the Christmas spirit!

Love Jess x

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Preparing for Beautiful Budapest!

Hey everyone,

So my second city break of the year is almost here and I AM SO EXCITED to be heading to Budapest on Saturday!! Me and my sister visited Prague back in February (we had a whale of a time!) so we thought we’d plan adventure number two and chose the beautiful Hungarian city as our next go-to destination! First of all I just want to say a massive THANK YOU to my lovely fellow travel bloggers Vicky from Eat Sleep Love Travel  and Rebecca from The World As Bec Sees It for providing me with the stunning images to enable me to write this post! They’re both amazing – go check out their blogs and, if you’re after some more Budapest-esque info, they’ve both compiled posts and handy guides to the city…

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Budapest looks to be absolutely AMAZING and I can’t wait to experience the local history and culture that the European capital has to offer. We’ll be staying in the 4* Hotel President on the Pest side of the river Danube and location wise it looks perfect for us. Its described as a luxury boutique hotel and we’re particularly excited about trying out the spa facilities and marvelling at the city views from the panoramic roof terrace – who said anything about high expectations?!

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As we’re only staying for three nights we are trying to cram in as much as we can so that our city break is as adventurous and fun filled as can be. So far we’ve pin pointed Chain Bridge, St Stephen’s Basilica & the stunning Hungarian Parliament Building as main attractions that we are just dying to see! We’re also planning to head to the Thermae Spa’s both in the evening and during the day and are super excited to be spending some relaxation time in one of the world’s prettiest spots of natural beauty.

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We’re catching our Easyjet flight from London Gatwick on Saturday morning and anticipate arriving in the capital during the early part of the afternoon ready for a few hours of exploring whilst daylight is still present! We’ll then be staying until Tuesday 29th September before flying home around dinner time and arriving back in the sunny UK close to midnight (booo).

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I’ll obviously be too busy having fun to be blogging whilst on my travels but you can keep up to date with my Budapest antics over on my Instagram page– I’ll be posting wanderlust inducing photos whenever I get a spare minute… and usage of some free wifi!

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Have you ever been to Budapest before? If so, what are the main sights I should see without fail, and do you have any local tips and hints I should know about before I travel?! If you haven’t been, is Budapest on your wanderlust list at all? If you have any advice for me please leave a comment below and I’ll catch up with you all when I’m home…

Bon Voyage!

Love Jess x

 

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British Summertime Festival: London

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Hi everyone,

This week we are set for a heatwave here in Britain with temperatures in some parts of the country reaching as high as 33 degrees! I love a good old British summer, with the sun shining gloriously one day and then the skies pouring with rain the next! It looks as though we are in for a good few months of warm weather though so fingers crossed it stays that way. Luckily my family are one of the thousands that have booked a stay-cation and we will be holidaying in the UK this year. We are off to sunny Cornwall at the end of this week so I’ll be posting about that on my return, in the meantime you can check my Instagram account while I’m away to see all my seaside snaps!

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Anyway, back to this post and in line with the GB theme that’s present throughout many of my articles I thought I’d bring you a review of a summers day out I recently had in London. I headed to Hyde Park in the capital on for the annual British Summertime Festival that returned for its second year running. This year the line up was huge, with headline acts including Kylie Minogue, Blur, Taylor Swift & The Who. Spread across two different weekends, the concerts provide a fun filled day out for all the family with plenty of food stalls, bars, kids activity dens and fairground rides. I attended with one of my close friends on Sunday 21st June and our headline act was global superstar Kylie Minogue featuring disco band Chic & Nile Rodgers, pop star Mika, icon Grace Jones and the up and coming Years & Years and Foxes. There was a real festival vibe throughout the venue and it was very chilled, the weather was great and we had a fantastic time!

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General admission was at 1pm so we caught a late morning Oxford Tube from Thornhill Park & Ride direct to Marble Arch – this is a brilliant way of travelling from Oxford to London and our adult return fares were just £14 each! After we were allowed in we checked out the attractions around the park, got our faces painted for free by the Palmolive promo team & had a ride on the fairground. Just be aware that once you’re into the park and your tickets have been scanned you aren’t allowed out again so there’s no chance of popping back to Oxford Street for some last minute shopping!

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We were worried that we’d have so much time to waste before the concert that we wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves, but by the time we checked out the surroundings and had something to eat the music was nearly starting and the concert was in full swing! Food-wise I opted for meatballs, chips and garlic bread (£10 with a drink) and my friend had a BBQ pulled pork sandwich with chips and a drink (£13). The food is a little on the pricey side but the portions were a very good size, larger than we expected, and included a drink which was a bonus. There is so much choice with cuisine from all around the world as well as plenty of sweet treat stalls including Spanish churros and Belgian waffles – they were to die for!!

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On to the music which started just before 4pm, with newbies to the pop scene Years and Years performing first on the Great Oak Stage. They were followed shortly by Mika who really got the crowd on their feet with his famous pop tunes. After an interval dance legends Chic and Nile Rodgers took to the stage and added to the party atmosphere getting everyone to sing along to their greatest hits. Over on the Barclaycard stage we watched young Louisa  , also known as Foxes, perform some of her well known songs. Shortly afterwards the iconic Grace Jones performed some of her wacky songs back over on the Great Oak Stage in a choice of rather revealing outfits until it was time for the main event to take place. We had all been waiting for Kylie and Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills provided an entertaining countdown to her set whilst the crowds flocked towards the front of the stage. There was a Barclaycard VIP arena for celebs and people with priority tickets but we were stood in the general admission area with good views of the stage and there were plenty of big screens around aswell.

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Kylie’s set was fantastic and she was certainly the star of the show! unfortunately we had to miss the end as the Oxford Tube’s from Marble Arch finished early but we were actualyl glad to be able to get back and beat the crowds so it all worked out well in the end. We had a fantastic day out at British Summertime Festival and can’t wait to return next year! I’ll certainly be keeping my eyes peeled for the 2016 dates and line ups once they’ve been revealed!

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Love Jess x

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A Royal Day out: Ascot Races

Hi everyone,

I’ve recently returned from my very first Royal Ascot experience and I’m delighted to be sharing this with you all; I had a truly fantastic time and the atmosphere was incredible. Unfortunately my bets didn’t pay off so I didn’t win any mega bucks, but the day was brilliant none the less! So without further ado here is my Amazing Ascot round up…

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We travelled to Ascot as part of a coach trip group leaving from a local Burford pub, The Mermaid, located on the busy high street. I went with my mum, sisters, cousin and aunty and my cousin’s fiancé’s family actually own The Mermaid and they all came with us as well. There was a large group going from the pub and the coach was full so there was a brilliant party atmosphere on board!

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The journey took around an hour and a half and we stopped at a lovely village pub (The George on the Green, nr Maidenhead) on the way for a quick drink before heading towards Ascot. Our ticket price of £45pp included transport there and back, a champagne breakfast and access to The Silver Ring Enclosure at Ascot.

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Upon arrival at The Silver Ring Enclosure we split up in to our separate groups and enjoyed the day with our families. The enclosure is huge and the dress code is much more relaxed than the Grandstand and Royal Enclosures which require you to look very formal and to wear a certain attire. I chose to wear a coral coloured shift dress with matching clutch bag and comfy tan wedged heels. My dress was a bargain from Quiz clothing and I didn’t want to take it off I loved it that much! I would have liked to have worn a fascinator if we weren’t in the Silver Ring, but it wasn’t compulsory and not many other people wore one so I went without!

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The day doesn’t officially start until Her Royal Highness the Queen arrives in the Royal Procession which takes place each day at 2pm. We got a great spot on the sidelines so we could watch the carriages ride past and I got some lovely photos of the Royal family. I’d never seen the Queen before so it was super exciting!

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We placed our bets for the first race and watched the horses gallop past, they were so close we could feel the ground move and it was such a great experience. We moved around the enclosure for the other races that took part throughout the day so we could see the track from different areas. There were tonnes of betting stands dotted around so you could get the best odds on offer. Many race goers took picnics and drinks with them but, if you’re like us and hate carrying things, there’s plenty of food stalls and bars offering a range of products.. just be prepared to pay a bit more than average as it is Ascot after all!

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There are six races in total on each day of Ascot and famous jockeys from all over the world take part and compete for first place. We witnessed horse racing history as we saw the legendary Frankie Dettori win his 50th Ascot race with his horse Osalia. He was congratulated by the Royal family and cheered loudly by the enormous crowds. The racecourse was packed full of around 40,000 people on the day that we went and the atmosphere was electric!

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With a 300 year history, Ascot is a five day long world famous extravaganza best known for its sporting, social and fashion highlights. We had a truly amazing experience and I’d urge everyone to go at least once in their lives as its definitely something to tick off the bucket list! As their strapline says.. Ascot really is Like Nowhere Else..

image Image courtesy of www.essexlifemag.co.uk

Have you ever been to Ascot or are you wanting to go next year? If you’ve been to the races before please comment and show me your best outfits I’d love to see them!

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Love Jess x

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