Wish List ~ European Cities

Living in the UK gives give me a great opportunity to see Europe as most destinations are only a short flight away, and a lot of the budget airlines fly to all the wonderful picturesque cities in Europe. While I have had the opportunity to see many of the wonderful cities that Europe has to offer there are still so many places I want to see and so I thought I'd share with you all what they are!

Florence, Italy

I've always loved Italy, the history, the food, the culture its a county that I'm sure ill never tire of visiting. I've been to Rome and Venice already and Florence has been on my wish list for quite sometime. The photos I've seen give me major travel envy and I really want to see the museums, the churches and the architecture. I would love to just wonder around the city looking at all the wonderful beautiful statues, monuments and piazzas, taking a stroll along the Ponte Vecchio looking at the shops that sit on top of this bridge. Eating and drinking my way around the city taking in all this wonderful place has to offer.

Carcassonne, France

I first became aware of this medieval city from reading the book Labyrinth by Kate Mosse and from there I decided to do a little more research. From this research this place sounded right up my alley medieval history almost perfectly preserved giving you a real glimpse into what life would have been like in medieval times. I'd love to lose myself walking around the tiny twisting and turning alleys taking in the picturesque historic fortress. The Cite itself was said to have inspired Sleeping Beauty's castle and the Disney girl in me just love this! There are jousting competitions held throughout the summer, something id love to experience and getting to do this in medieval surroundings will only add to the experience.

Prague, Czech Republic

Quite a few people I know have been here and I've never heard a bad thing said. My parents went to Prague for a cultural long weekend and one of my cousins went for a Hen Party weekend, so as you can see It's a real versatile city that has a lot to offer. I love a castle, and Prague Castle being the biggest ancient castle in the world makes me very excited to see it, the castles location as well is a big draw sitting above the city I imagine to views are to die for. The Old Town is also somewhere I'd love to explore taking in the old buildings and monuments and having a look at the Astronomical Clock. Not forgetting the New Town with museums, shops and restaurants to be discovered this is also the part of town where the trendy bars and clubs can be found.

Barcelona, Spain

My first experience of Spain was the town of Benidorm, now I'm not knocking those people that love to visit this resort its great the beach is lovely and the town has really embraced the British holiday makers making it almost a home from home, but for me I want to get away to see new cultures and experience things that I wouldn't be able to back home. I like to take in some history, museums etc. so this is why Barcelona is on my list, not only does it have a gorgeous beach to catch some sun but the city is chock full of culture from the Architecture in particular the buildings of Antoni Gaudi to Las Ramblas a walkway full of street performers, bars and restaurants, almost like Covent Gardens.

Budapest, Hungary

I've been following Aaron a traveller on both Snapchat and Instagram for a couple of months now and he is currently in this gorgeous city giving me major travel envy once again. The Parliament building and the Royal Palace are two of the main attractions that I'd like to visit but the city has an abundance of museums and galleries that attract many tourists so there is plenty to keep you busy. There are various view points that offer some great views of the city which I would most definitely like too take in.

Athens, Greece

Now I've heard good and bad things about Athens and I'm having mixed feelings about whether to go or not, but then I think sometimes you just have to see places for yourself to make up your own mind, so I'm keeping it on my wish list. I've always had a fascination with ancient cultures since a young age and Athens being the centre of the Ancient Greek world it seem like a no brainer that I should go and see this historically rich city for myself. At the top of the list of things I'd like to see is the Acropolis, the ancient town of Athens and on top of the hill the Parthenon a temple built for the goddess Athena the Goddess of War and patron of Athens. There are loads of other ancient sights to experience as well as museums parks and gardens to explore. I'm also a huge fan of Greek food so any chance to tuck in to some Gyros is fine by me so I'm sure there will be plenty of cute Taverna's to discover.

Of course there are tonnes more cities that I want to visit but for now these are the main ones and ones that I would like to make my priority and I absolutely cannot wait to discover everything that these gorgeous cities have to offer.

Solo Travelling ~ Why Now?

I've always loved visiting new countries and experiencing new cultures and I've always done this either with family or friends. I'm quite the shy introverted person and I can get anxious in unfamiliar situations and places and I've used this as an excuse to not get away more often. I like to have at least something a little familiar around me to help me feel safe and able to enjoy my experience.

I'm 27, single with no ties so you'd think, great yeah go out there do what you want see the world! But I have just never had the courage to do so, that was until recently something just clicked in my head like why am I always waiting for other people, people who have their own lives and there own things going on, it can be difficult getting things organised so if I want to go I should just go. Get over yourself Lisa you're not getting any younger and who knows what's around the corner. I still hope to go away on trips with friends and family but now I wont be waiting so long in between trips.

So I have decided to give Solo Travelling a go! I plan to start small with a 3 or 4 day trip some where in Europe, ease myself in to the experience slowly so I don't overwhelm myself and get put off. From the research I have done there are some good deals to be had with companies like Contiki and Busabout these companies specialise in organised bus tours all over the world. Using a travel company like those mentioned I think will be a good start as technically I will be travelling on my own  but ill get to meet some like minded people on the journey and this experience will force me out of my comfort zone.

I really hope that pushing myself to do things that aren't part of my usual  routine will really open my mind and inspire me to try more new experiences. It is my ultimate aim to say yes to more experiences in life no FOMO for me. I think the dipping my toe method will work well for me allowing myself to get used to this new experience on my own terms and building myself up to bigger and better things.

The Future of Little Miss Lines

I have recently tried getting back into writing content for my blog and I've written a few new posts mostly beauty and one, a more of a lifestyle piece. But I still don't feel that same passion I did when I first started, and it occurred to me that's because I don't have the same passions in life as I did when I started up Little Miss Lines. I still love to write and I especially love to write blog posts so in order to keep this up I had to think about the future of Little Miss Lines.

So I have decided that in order to keep me writing  I need to change the direction this blog is going in. I plan to move away from the beauty posts that I usually frequent and focus more on lifestyle and travel posts. As I have grown up a lot over that last few years its has become clear to me that although I do love my beauty products and luxuries its not something I enjoy writing about any more. I would rather spend my time and hard earned cash on a lush meal in a new found eatery or on a trip abroad feeding the travel bug that lives within me, so I would like to write more about these topics and exploring these interests and sharing my experience with you all. 

I always thought that working in full time employment meant that I was forever destined to the All Inclusive beach holidays that don't get me wrong I do love and will I'm sure still go on in the future, but I never thought I'd be able to see the world the way someone who is travelling in their gap year or someone who gave up their rat race to travel the world. It always seemed like an experience that would never happen for me, that was until very recently when I came across the travel blog 'A Dangerous Business' and reading some of her posts gave me the push I needed to just go for it and make travel fit around my life and not the other way around. Two particular articles that struck a chord with me were 'You Can Live a "Normal" Life and Travel, Too' and 'Why Travelling as a Female Rocks (And Why it Sucks)' and if you're like me worried about working and travelling and also about the safety of solo travelling then you should give these and the other very informative articles a read. I'm looking forward to reading her other posts about various destinations and ways and means of travelling around the world. 

I have also recently had a few changes happen recently in my personal life which has totally changed my outlook on life and this has also given me that push to want to see more of the world and not have to rely on anyone to come with me! I can do this on my own and I'm likely going to meet some amazing like minded people when I do, getting me out of my comfort zone and allowing me to grow more independent in the process. I also have a very strong idea of where I want my life to head career wise and that is full time employment so ridding myself of the misconceptions that I need to chuck that all away in order to see the world is very empowering for me right now, and doing a little research and some planning means that I can still pursue my career goals whilst also making sure that my personal ones don't get left by the way side. 

I have been very lucky in my life so far to have had the opportunity to travel to places such as America and Australia but these were part of family holidays and I'm very grateful to my parents for giving these opportunities to me and I think it is from these holidays that I caught the travel bug, but as I'm older now and I still hope to go on family holidays in the future, I'm going to take matters into my own hands and make my own memories and experiences making new friends along the way.

I know from reading up to now it seems like Little Miss Lines is to become a travel blog which I guess it will become travel heavy but I'm also a girl who loves to eat, so I'd also like to share more of the places I go out to eat and sharing foodie tips and any recipes that I think you guys may like. I've recently been trying out some of those Buzz Feed Tasty recipes that pop up on Facebook timelines regularly so I think it might be fun to share with you how I go with recreating them. I love when I'm out and about for a day finding a new restaurant to eat at so you can expect some restaurant reviews on here to.

I hope that you will stick with me during this change but I'm sure you will all agree you need to produce content that you are proud of and happy with or else it will just feel forced and that is not good for anyone really. Posts in this early stage wont be regular as I need to actually get out there and get some experiences under my belt but I have some exciting things planned for the near future so I'm really excited for what my future holds and excited that I can have the best of both worlds a Life Work Balance if you will.

Fat Hippo Underground ~ Shakespeare Street Newcastle

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So as you will all know by now I love my food and any opportunity I get to eat out, you bet ya bottom dollar I'm going to take it. If I could afford to id never eat in again but alas the Champagne Lifestyle will have to wait a few more years while I build my empire!!

So last weekend I had arranged to meet up with an old friend Jenny to talk travel plans and just have a general catch up, we have both wanted to try this place for sometime so we saw this as the perfect opportunity to give it a go. We had originally planned on visiting the Durham branch as this was closer for us but from watching the news during the week it was the weekend of the Miners Gala in the city centre so we thought it best to stay away as it can be very busy and we were not likely to get a table or navigate our way around the city as easily as we would have liked. So it was then decided that we should just make a day of it and go to Newcastle do a bit of shopping and then finish the day with some tasty burgers!

So after a very successful day hitting the shops and a little stop off at the Botanist for a little drink we made our way to the Fat Hippo, we had booked a table as were unsure of how busy it was likely to be, it was around 16:30 by this time and we needn't have worried because they seemed to have plenty of tables and a steady flow of customers. I imagine if you wanted to go later in the evening on a weekend it may well be worth booking as it did seem like a popular spot.

Once we had been seated we settled in and started to peruse the menu to make our food choices for the evening. I went for the Texas Burger, two 4oz beef burgers with streaky bacon, cheese onion rings and topped with BBQ sauce. I upgraded my fries to the Dirty Fries which were skinny fries topped with Fat Hippo Sauce (Think Cajun Mayo) and bacon bits, delicious. I also went for the Mac and Cheese Balls starter to come along as a side dish with the burger. The burger was so tasty a little pink in the middle and super juicy and the toppings were perfect. I only managed to eat half of it because it was quite big, my friend made me feel better about leaving half by saying that I technically ate one burger because of the two beef patties haha! Now the Mac and Cheese Balls were my fave, they are just the best invention ever it was Mac and Cheese rolled into balls dipped in bread crumbs and deep fried, they were served with a white BBQ sauce which I didn't think much of but I asked for extra Fat Hippo Sauce and this combination was just lush. Jenny went for the PB&J Burger, two 4oz beef burgers topped with chunky peanut butter cheese and homemade bacon jam. She stuck to plain skinny fries to come with her burger and then ordered the Deep Fried Gherkins as a side. From all the noises she was making it seemed like a messy burger but very tasty nonetheless and she did so well managing to eat pretty much all of it save a little bit of the burger bun, but all meat was demolished and she also enjoyed the Deep Fried Gherkins too.

As we had a little bit of time before our train home we gave it a little wait and then ordered some dessert. Nothing to heavy as I was still feeling very full even after half an hour so I just went for the Lemon Sorbet which after the heavy meal we had just devoured was refreshing and a great palette cleanse. Jenny went for the Sorbet and added a little of the Chocolate Ice Cream to go along with it. They did have other options such as a Belgian Waffle and Chocolate Brownie but I honestly don't know after those burgers how anyone could manage them!!

This place offers some pretty amazing burgers and is definitely up there with some of my favourite burger joints. It's somewhere I would like to come back to, I would like to try the Durham branch on a weekend that is not to busy as I can imagine that it will be just as good and from a snap I have seen on their Instagram the views look stunning so that's on the agenda!

Fat Hippo have branches in Newcastle, Jesmond, and Durham so if you in any of these areas you should go check it out!

*Photos supplied by Jenny Stabler @jennys._lens