NEARBY TRAVELS

There are so many beautiful places in the world. From the spiralling staircases of castles and cathedrals that are scattered around the cities of Germany to the white blasted beaches of Australia. I want to visit all of the beautiful places I possibly can before my time is up. I have a serious urge for travel and I feel because of my young age I am somewhat restricted. As soon as the balance between age, money and commitments levels out in my life, I want to be able to start my travels.

I live in England which is an exquisite country but I feel like as of late, I haven't been appreciating the unique beauty of my local isle enough. I live in the North, the North East to be precise, and my closest city is Durham. I like Durham because of it's vintage feel and the architecture of our most famous landmark - Durham Cathedral. Durham Cathedral was built in the 11th century, which I find quite marvellous, it is the home to the tomb of St Cuthbert (shoutout to any religious history fans out there!) and three copies of the Magna Carta can be found deep within it's library.

I recently paid a visit to Durham with my friend Frances, and after a good explore and impromptu picture taking session within the Cathedral's gardens and courtyards; we had a well needed catchup over a cup of tea and a slice of cake in a lovely little cafe nestled between a charity shop and a gift shop. It was a lovely day and I really felt like this vist enriched my appreciation for my local city.

I can't wait to explore the world, but the first step is going to be exploring my home country. This weekend, I'm going to London which I am so excited about. London is one of my favourite cities! I love the vibe of the whole city and I'd love to live there. But first things first, I'm going to explore my local environment.

London, last year. You can tell I love phone boxes.

BIRKENSTOCK ARIZONAS : A DUPE

I've always been in two minds whether I like pool sliders. I remember when my dad had a brown pair and he had them for about 20 years so I've always associated Birkenstocks and 'pool sliders' with childhood holidays to Menorca. Pool sliders have become really popular recently and I really like how Alexa Chung combined her black pair with jeans. Whether you love or loathe pool sliders, it looks like they're here to stay. 

I was very happy when I saw an exact dupe for Birkenstock's White Arizona sandals in Primark and I was even happier when I noticed the price tag of £8. What a bargain. I would say these are a pretty good imitation of Birkenstock's Arizonas, however the actual Birkenstock sandals have a smooth matte leather covering but my pair from Primark do not. They really do look similar and I've found my pair are very comfy to walk in. So if you fancy saving about £40, check out Primark for a pair of pool sliders, Birkenstock style.

MY HOLIDAY READS

I'm going on holiday to the Maldives in about a week and a half, I am so damn excited and I can't wait to just relax and get lost in a few good books whilst totally chilling out. I have decided that I'm going to take four books with me, although I'm worried that I'm going to read them within the first couple of days and then I'll be stuck for reading material!

The first book I'm planning on taking is the wonderful Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. If you are a regular reader of my blog you'll probably know how much I love The Hunger Games. This is the last book in the trilogy and it is my favourite book of them all. A lot of people say that it's confusing but I think it is the perfect finish to the series.

Although I'm already a couple of chapters into this next book I'm going to talk about, I think it's going to be a very good read whilst I'm on holiday. I've wanted to read Wicked by Gregory Macguire for a while now and I finally ordered it a few weeks ago. You might of heard of the musical of the same name which has been running in London's West End for eight years. The musical is based on the book which retells the story of Elphaba who you may know from the Wizard of Oz. Elphaba is the Wicked Witch of the West and the book tells you a whole different side to the story of Oz and what happened before Dorothy.

I bought If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch purely as a spontaneous buy. I was in Waterstones with my mam and I was reading the blurb and noticed it featured someone with the same name as me so I decided to buy it. Don't get me wrong, the blurb drew me into buying the book swell. I'm excited to read this book because I don't know what the book is about so this will be a new experience for me as I've seen no reviews for it.

I am very excited about reading The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I don't know what it is that is making me excited to read this novel, I think it's the whole symbolism aspect, and it might also be the fact that it's based in Paris. I've heard this is a wonderful book and I can't wait to start it.

I am really excited to go on holiday now, even though I haven't even started to pack and I still need to buy a few things to put in my suitcase! I think I will get through a book just on the plane as I'll be travelling for a total of thirteen hours - but I'm sure the sun, sea and sand when I get to the Maldives will be worth the travel time.

What books are you taking on holiday this year?

THE FAULT, DEAR BRUTUS, IS NOT IN OUR STARS

Words can't actually describe how much I love this book. If you are an regular user of Twitter or Tumblr you will have probably heard of how amazing this book is by a lot of people, and let me just add - this book is not just for teenagers! As you have probably gathered by now, the book in question is The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. The Fault in our Stars (or TFIOS as it's known in an abbreviated form) comes under the genre of Young Adult fiction, which might just make a lot of older readers shudder at the thought, but I think this genre should be eliminated when people label this book because it is so versatile and I think that all ages would love it. This was proven when I found out that my RE teacher had even read it and she listed it as one of (emphasis on the one of) her favourite books!

The book centres around the story of Hazel - a sixteen year old girl who is fighting Thyroid cancer. Even though the book is based on a emotional and sensitive subject, the story shows that having cancer isn't just about the bad moments, it's about learning to appreciate the good parts of life and I admire the fact that John Green has put a lot of dedication into developing a understanding of the disease itself and how it impacts on so many people. I don't want to spoil any of the book for anyone who hasn't it read it but it is definitely a story based on relationships and friendship rather than a stereotypical sob story. Although, you probably will need to buy a packet of Kleenex.

I bought my copy of The Fault in Our Stars in December when I was coming home from Paris. I read it on the three hour train ride home from Kings Cross and it took me about twelve hours to read the whole thing, its the type of book that you just can't put down. My copy of the book has been well used as I've lent it to three of my friends to read, and they all loved it. The reason I am so enthusiastic about this book recently is because it has been made into a film and it's coming out in the UK on Thursday! I am literally so excited and I know I will probably cry my eyes out during the film because of how touching the story is and just because of how damn excited I am. I am literally counting down the days until I get to see this beautiful story come to life! I would thoroughly recommend this and I couldn't praise it enough.

Have you read this book or any other books by John Green?