Travel – Page 2

I’M BACK

Published on August 8, 2024September 2, 2024 by simplycarinaxoLeave a comment

Well it really has been a while since I last took to WordPress and my blog. I’ve missed it and I’ve finally taken the plunge to get it up and running again. I’ve updated my site and plan to ease my way back in slowly. I’m hoping that starting my hobby again will encourage me to get out more, explore, make memories and give me a way to let my creative juices flow.

So brew yourself a coffee and let’s catch up!

A lot has happened since I first began this blog in 2017; here’s a whistle-stop tour. At the time I was crashing at a friends and working part time in a cafe in Durham as well as part time for my dad’s coffee house. I then moved into a house share round the corner and was lucky enough to find a great friend in Jess, the other girl who moved in.

After a couple of years I was able to join my dad full time at his cafe and we also began planning a new business venture together – roasting our very own coffee. Time ticked on, and as much as I loved Jess, I started feeling like I was ready for my own place and thus, after some searching, moved to a wonderful townhouse on the other side of Durham. The move also meant I was closer to work and my parents as although I had finally started driving lessons, I still hadn’t got my license yet and was relaying on dad to scoop me up to and from work.

Not long after I moved however, and just as dad and I were ready to launch our new coffee roasting venture, the dreaded C word took over the world. I went through a somewhat tumultuous time. In some ways I had a great furlough time setting into my new house and enjoying many a sunny afternoon in my lush big new garden, but at the same time I also fell into some extremely unhealthy habits and routines being suddenly all alone. It was a yo-yo of emotions of highs and lows.

Eventually though, things slowly began to open up again and the road to normality seemed unveiled. We opened the cafe on weekends for take-out coffees and cakes, whilst running our coffee roasting business Durham Coffee during the week, primarily launching as an online platform. As things continued to return to normal, we soon realised however that it was going to be too much to run the cafe and roastery at the same time and we came to the decision to sell the cafe and concentrate on roasting.

During this time I had also put myself back out there hoping to make new connections. And one day, when restaurants were open again and meeting up was allowed again a Hinge date with a wonderful guy named Luis forked a new path in my journey. What was supposed to just be lunch ran into a lovely evening out and was soon followed by date no.2 in my garden drinking wine, playing Banagrams and cooking dinner together. Although in many ways we were very different, we also just worked. He made me feel at ease, loved and accepted and was especially patient and understanding with my anxiety; it was no surprise that a few dates led to us already moving in together about nine months into our relationship.

Not long after our first anniversary we got the cutest addition to our wee family, a gorgeous little show cocker spaniel pup who we named Maya (you can check our her adventures on Instagram at @mayatheshowcocker). A year later we also unexpectedly (as it hadn’t been in our immediate plans) ended up buying our first house together which we are now in the process of slowly renovating as it was/is stuck in the 70’s.

And there you have it; a whistle-stop tour of my main life events between 2017 and 2024. Coming back to blogging now I don’t want to tie myself into a specific blogging category, but rather narrate, as my name Simply Carina xo aims to suggest, the simple everyday of my life. From renovation blogs to favourite recipes and travels with my family. Thank you for reading, it’s nice to have you along for the ride!

Carina xo

DESTINATION ALNMOUTH

Published on November 9, 2018September 2, 2024 by simplycarinaxo8 Comments

Good morning beautiful souls,

My travel blogs are coming at ya a little belated, for which I am sorry, but I’m finally getting back into mu blogging and I have a lot of belated content to share haha, plus it is nice to reminisce all the cute mini getaways I had this summer! A couple of months ago I had my last holiday of the summer which was a couple of days in Alnmouth with my family and I just wanted to share a few photos from my time there with you!

We had a lovely few days together just relaxing by the seaside and enjoying each others company. We went for walks along the beach…

Let our creative juices flow spending time painting together, exploring an art gallery and taking a trip to Potadoodledo to paint some pottery which was great fun!

I cooked everyone delicious vegan food every day from tofu scramble to pea risotto all the while enjoying some delish holiday G&T’s whilst doing my thang in the kitchen haha – anyone else love a drink whilst cooking dinner?!

My sister and I introduced our parents to Queer Eye (if you haven’t seen this program you’re missing out- it’s the cutest) and we chilled watching tv or reading our books in the evenings…

All too soon however it was time for me to go home and back to work, whilst my mum, dad and sister were allowed to enjoy another couple of days there (I totally was not jealous!)

I love Alnmouth! If you live in the north east and haven’t been yet I highly suggest you take a trip to this cute coastal village with a beautiful beach!!!

DAY TRIPPING – DESTINATION ALNMOUTH

Published on August 6, 2018September 5, 2019 by simplycarinaxo8 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

Last week I was lucky enough to have 3 days off, which for me is very rare and thus meant that I actually had time to do something nice for myself once all the housework and various other tasks were completed. The weather was so nice and I was craving a beach trip, but not being able to drive made this wish a bit problematic. Sadly there aren’t many easily accessible by public transport beaches around, well not unless you want to sit on a bus for over an hour which for me is a big no no as I get serious travel anxiety when it comes to bus journeys that are longer then 20mins! After some research however I discovered that Alnmouth station was pretty easy to get to only being a 30min walk away from the beach and so I had my day trip destination.

The walk to the beach is quite a pleasant and easy to follow as it’s just along the main road. From the station you firstly walk through a small housing estate and then it’s out in nature with wild fields on your left and glimpses of the sea on your right. After about 20 minutes you reach central Almnouth and walk through it’s floral hanging basket lined street until you reach the golf course and the beach.

On my way down to the beach I came across these beautiful roses and I had to stop and give them a sniff – does anyone else do this whenever they see roses?! They smelt divine and I’m not going to lie, I was very tempted to snap one off and take it with me!

The beach was relatively busy, the sun was out and there was a light breeze rippling through my hair as picked a little empty spot to put down my picnic blanket. Once settled I sat back with my feet in the sand just enjoying being in the present moment and watching the world around me; the grandparents sitting in their folding chair reading their papers, children hopping from stone to stone and family’s running around playing Frisbee and flying kites. It was a beautiful afternoon.

It wasn’t long until I unpacked my picnic full of healthy vegan goodies and read a bit of my book whilst savouring my lunch. I had grapes, blueberries, pretzels, veg, hummus and crackers as well as a little can of G&T. It was the perfect picnic! Afterwards I lay down with my headphones on listening to my audiobook (The Count of Monte Cristo) and relishing the feeling of the sun warming my skin.

Sadly the clouds came in not long after and they didn’t seem to want to budge meaning I got chilly quite quickly and ended up deciding to pack up and head on home again, but not before I took a stroll along the beach and dipped my toes in the chilly sea of course. Although I was only there for about 2 hours, it really was worth it and I enjoyed every minute of my mini excursion!

I hope you’ve all found the time recently to go out and do something nice for yourselves too! I know I need to make time for myself like this more often. I don’t do it enough and it did me the world of good!

DAY TRIPPING TO YORK

Published on April 11, 2018September 2, 2024 by simplycarinaxo13 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

Yesterday I spent a lovely day in York with one of my best friends from uni. I hadn’t seen Chloe since autumn last year and so it was lovely to catch up again.

I hopped on the train at around 9.55 and arrived in York at 10.40 ish. We started our day with our umbrellas pitched against the pouring rain and fighting a battle with the wind as they kept blowing inside out. Because it was so miserable we decided to do a spot of shopping and went into Primark where I tried some nice pieces on but didn’t buy as sadly non looked good on, but I did come out with some basics that needed stocking up, more socks and simple tank tops and the like.

After having a browse around Topshop and a couple of other stores we sat down in Pret for a bite of lunch and I enjoyed a yummy avocado, olive and sun-dried tomato baguette.

The rain had finally stopped by the time we finished lunch and so we did a bit more window shopping discovering some really beautiful stores (I love a good window display) including a fragrance shop where I had to really resist spending my money. We also crossed paths with a cute tea shop where I bought a loose leaf gingerbread rooibush tea which I am excited to try as it smells amazing.

We then visited the three Harry Potter shops that can now be found in the Shambles and although I didn’t buy anything it made me want to go to the Harry Potter studios even more!

As it started getting colder we went for a pint and a nice long chat before walking along the wall a bit and then going for a cocktail. I tried an Amaretto in da ghetto aha which was super tasty!

Towards the end of the day we treated ourselves to dinner at the Botanist which was really tasty. I had olives for starters and then a delicious aubergine stake with giant Moroccan couscous for mains. I was happy with the Vegan options available, a good selection and lots I wanted try; I shall have to go back another time.

At around 7.30pm we sadly has to say goodbye and I made my way to the station to catch my train home.

It was such a nice day despite the rain. I love York, it’s such a beautiful place and it’s always nice to catch up with friends you don’t see often.

LONDON BOUND

Published on January 24, 2018September 2, 2024 by simplycarinaxo7 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

Yesterday my dad and I were London bound to go on a coffee crawl. The aim of this trip was to do some research for dad’s coffeehouse which is currently closed for renovation.

The day didn’t start well as I left the house a little too late and then saw that as it was prime time, rush hour traffic was soo bad that I didn’t think I’d make it on time and would be faster walking. So off I set on my quickest power walk getting more and more panicky by the minute as time kept ticking on. I ran in bursts, my heart started pounding and the closer I got to the train station the more I felt like I was going to die aha. I can laugh now, but I felt terrible thinking I was going to ruin this fun day for dad and myself by not arriving on time. However I eventually did get to the station with about 6 minutes to spare; I was wheezing as I collected our tickets from the machine and when I sat down to try and catch my breath the sweat dripped down my face as the same time as relief washed over me – I had made it! I had made it! Phew!

So after that nightmare of a start to the day we settled down into our seats and I began our journey with a much needed nap. Once feeling more recovered I got out my kindle and began reading Holding Up The Universe by Jennifer Niven until we got closer to London and we went over the plan for the day. At 11.45 we finally pulled into Kings Cross and set off to find the first cafe on our list.

Disclaimer: In the end everyone’s tastebuds are different and everyone has their own preferences – this is just my opinion of these coffee shops.

Coffee Shop no.1 – Attendant

I liked the decor of this cafe, especially all the greenery, and the staff were friendly enough, however I was rather disappointed with the coffee. Dad’s flat white was ok I think, but the filter coffee I had ordered was the last dregs from a batch brew. When I inquired about it not being a fresh V60 (which is what I would expect it to be at £4 a tiny cup) the waitress just told me I could have a fresh cup if it wasn’t hot enough as she was about to brew a fresh batch, so obviously I wanted the freshest coffee not the last dregs and asked to please have a fresh cup, but she just told me to try it first. I was rather annoyed at this but couldn’t be bothered to complain so just drank the coffee which tasted ok but wasn’t hot and had coffee grind left in the bottom which a filter coffee shouldn’t have either, at least not the amount that was in my cup. Later on in the day I saw numerous other coffee shops have ‘batch brew’ on their menus but they were not disguising this by naming it filter coffee and they had a far more reasonable price margin for a cup, between £2.60-£3.

Coffee Shop no.2 – Ozone Coffee Roasters

This was my favourite coffee shop, it had a nice vibe with an open kitchen and brew bar in the centre of the cafe like an island and the scent of fresh coffee being roasted downstairs wafting across every so often. They had the biggest variety of coffees to try here from Filter and Aeropress to Siphon coffee. However when asking for more information on the coffee the waitress wasn’t overly friendly and didn’t seem to know much about the coffee they serve which was a disappointment, simply saying ‘Yeah it’s not too acidic I like this one’ isn’t very informative. In the end Dad and I chose the Aeropress coffee and the filter coffee. We preferred the flavour profile of the Areopress coffee which was a bean from Ethiopia and had flavour notes of strawberry and praline, it really did taste like strawberry chocolates! What we weren’t too keen on was the coffee being served in glass jugs with glasses to drink out of. Dad prefers a nice porcelain cup, it felt too much like we were on a coffee tasting course, which to be fair on this day I guess we kind of were.

Coffee Shop no.3 – Fix Coffee

We didn’t stay here long. My stomach needed a coffee rest so dad just had an espresso which he described as far to acidic to be used as an espresso bean. The place seemed nice at first but wasn’t the cleanest after further inspection and again not all the staff seemed to know their coffees, which when you are serving more than your average espresso based drinks, you should really know so that you can advise and answer customers queries. This was probably my least favourite place.

Coffee Shop no.4 – Catalyst

After a short tube ride and a bit of a detour we eventually found our next stopping point. I tried a long black/americano here which I tasted great. The flavour was good and smooth no bitterness and they also roasted they’re own coffee beans in this little corner coffee shop. The only vegan thing they had was some bread, but it did come with delicious homemade jam which I thoroughly enjoyed. This was probably my second favourite coffee shop after Ozone.

Coffee Shop no.5 – Curators Coffee

And last but not least coffee shop no.5 where I couldn’t drink anymore coffee. So dad ordered a filter coffee which was a fresh V60 but had a steep £5 price tag on it. We could see their brewing station here and it surprised us that they as so many others have a massive gap between the filter and the jug they are filtering into as this is quickest way for coffee to loose it’s temperature when using the drip filter method. Anyway, that coffee lacked lingering taste and dad thought they might have used too little coffee for the amount of water, unless that was the taste they were going for. but the ratio for us, I tried a little sip, was too weak, so sadly a disappointing last cup of coffee.

Leon’s @ Kings Cross

After walking half the way back to Kings Cross to avoid the ridiculously busy oxford circus tube station and getting on at Regents Park instead, we eventually collapsed in Leon for a bit of food whilst waiting for our train home. I had a yummy vegan kale and beetroot falafel salad whilst dad enjoyed some rice and meatball dish. As we ate our food it seemed like we had only arrived in London an hour ago let alone 6! Time had flown by so quickly we only got to about half of the coffee shops that were actually on our list! However it was a great and informative trip all the same. I realised that in general these supposedly more geeky coffee shops with various brewing methods on offer sadly didn’t actually seem to be that informed on coffee (at least the waitressing staff) and in general there just seemed to be a bit of coffee passion lacking which was a shame. We have some good ideas of what we want to add and alter I our own coffee menus for the reopening and are excited to share our passion for coffee with the public again very soon!

Platform 9 3/4

Anyway all in all I had a nice time coffee crawling through central London and checking out how other cafes do their thing. To top it all off Platform 9 3/4 wasn’t busy so I could finally get a photo hehe!

Any other coffee geeks and snobs out there?! Have you tried any of these coffee shops? I’d love to know!

BEST OF 2017

Published on January 5, 2018January 5, 2018 by simplycarinaxo9 Comments

Hey there beautiful souls,

I have seen a lot of these posts circulating and really wanted to write my own. This Christmas I wrote a letter to my friends and whilst updating them on what’s been going on in my life within the last year I realise how many wonderful events actually happened in 2017. I often allow the few bad spots to overshadow the good, but reminiscing has filled me with a happiness and positivity I now want carry into this new year. So anyway here are a few of my favourite events summed up through some photographs:

17799421_10212529640860481_5480807714145819332_n — A trip to the Peak District with my German bestie

18198771_10212801448815510_7413291190709253743_n — My best friend Emily’s Hen Do

20292931_10213687151477523_588975193652197366_n — Newcastle Pride with my work family

20994121_10213987839834544_3583880790755534946_n — Having my French friend Nadia and her fiance visit me!

24993467_10214883203738082_2673976222829125173_n — My best friends wedding ❤

21740111_10214153599538433_1203961689433127868_n — Lindisfarne Festival with Emily

Once Upon A Time themed Halloween Party at mine

24852303_10214833432373829_9023243599886223849_n — First Christmas in my own place

MINI GETAWAY – DESTINATION EDINBURGH

Published on December 8, 2017September 2, 2024 by simplycarinaxo8 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

I have been savouring my last two days off relaxing in gorgeous Edinburgh with my sister. For once I was lucky enough to find a really cheap first class ticket from Durham to Edinburgh and I enjoyed the finer things. Well, I tried to; I kinda messed up the first class thing never having been before and missed out on half of the breakfast I could have had. Oh well, I’ll know for next time. I still enjoyed my croissant and chamomile tea whilst gazing out at the ever-changing scenery and listening to the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

It was a peaceful journey up, and I arrived with plenty of time to have another cuppa in a cute cafe near Haymarket before going to find the German consulate to get myself a German passport. Once that was all sorted I got on the bus google maps told me would take me to my sisters, however here was me failing at my finest because I didn’t think to check in which direction I would have to get the bus and so of course I soon realised I was half way out of town going in the wrong direction. The bus driver made my day though when I told him what I’d done and he gave me a free day ticket before letting me off to catch a new bus in.the correct direction. So a good hour later I finally found my sister.

We spent the whole afternoon relaxing at hers, but it felt nice to just chill drink tea, eat good food and really catch up. We don’t get many chances to spend quality one on one time together so it’s always nice when we do.

Today after athe relaxed start to the day we wandered around Edinburgh almost freezing ourselves to death it was so icy. But it was lovely all the same as the sun was out. Once we got to the Christmas market we treated ourselves to some delicious mulled wine to warm us up. It was yummy, and I decided to keep the cute mugs too. I love walking through the Christmas markets, they always make you feel so festive. It’s good I didn’t have much cash on me either because there were so many cute stalls with beautiful goods, I’m always especially attracted to the handmade wooden things, from tree ornaments to bowls.

When we’d seen most of the market and with still over an hour to spare till my train home, we popped into costa so I could finish this blog post. I bought a large Americano and was thoroughly disappointed, it came in what looked like a soup bowl with two handles and did not taste grear either. I swear I am spoilt with coffee now aha, since getting used to good coffee, its difficult to not compare coffee to my dads nowadays. Anyway after a short but sweet stay, I am now on my way back to Durham, but sadly not in first class.

Here are just some photos from my brief time with my sister in Edinburgh, enjoy!

Hope you’ve all had a good week!

Love Carina xo

DURHAM LUMIERE

Published on November 22, 2017 by simplycarinaxo6 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

On Thursday the Durham Lumiere began. It is the UK’s biggest light festival and works with different artists to bring various light displays to the centre of Durham. The Lumiere is a four day event drawing in people from all over England to come and see the light festival. This is the Lumiere’s 4th year and it’s the first time I have been!! I was only at uni in Sunderland, so just up the road really, so I don’t know why I never bothered to come home to Durham to see the previous Lumieres I realise now I totally missed out!

So I was very excited to finally go and see all the light installations! I went with my housemate Jessica and we walked around for a good 2hs; I absolutely loved it! We only saw about half of the Lumiere and I’m gutted I didn’t go back another day to see the rest, but Sunday after work I was just far too tired to go out into the cold again.

Anyway, here are the things we went to see:

Did anyone else go and see the Lumiere? What were your thought’s on it?

Love Carina xo

HOLIDAY BLUES!

Published on August 11, 2017August 11, 2017 by simplycarinaxo3 Comments

Hello my beautiful readers,

I have been dreaming of a holiday for ages, the need to get away for a couple of days really gets to you esppecially when working 19 days in a row with no days off as I am at the moment! However I finally have something to look forward to now at the end of August! A mini getaway with my best friend Emily and perhaps a few others if they decide to join us. Just before she set of on her honeymoon interrailing Europe we booked our tickets for the Lindesfarne festival!

This will be our second time going to the Lindisfarne festival together; last year we wnt for the first time ad it was the first festival experience for the both of us. The Lindisfarne festival is a small new (this year is only it’s third year) local festival in one of my favourite places (a stunning coastal plot of farmland overlooking the beautiful Holy Island in Northumberland). Holy Island (see photos above) was were I had my first every job as a waitress in the holidays. I used to stay on the Island when working there so it was like a holiday for me even though I was working. I love the place; it it idylic, peaceful and just holds a speacial place in my heart. Thus it was without question a great descion for the Lindisfarne festival to be our first festival experience. As it is a small scale festival you can walk from your tent into the arena within minutes and there weren’t any overbearing crowds. It was a great first festival experience and I’m hyped to be going back again this year! Let me share some photos from last year:

The festival didn’t have any famouse artists playing, more local and smaller talents, but it was nice to discover new people; for us the highlight was Molotov Jukebox and meeting the artists afterwards including Natalia Tena (Tonks from Harry Potter/ Osha from Game of Thrones). Their music was bizar but upbeat and happy and got us all dancing with smiles plasterd on our faces! Loved it! Comedy was also offered there as well as the Sanctuary a wellness tent with holistic treatemants and the like. On our second morning we participated in meditation followed by partner yoga which was hilarious and great fun, even though my back killed afterwards from lying on the uneven ground aha. We treated ourselves to a massage afterwards and then continued to enjoy the music, views and general atmosphere of the festival. Not long now till this years festival and I can’t wait!

Love Carina xo

WEEKEND AWAY – HEN DO EDITION

Published on May 15, 2017September 2, 2024 by simplycarinaxoLeave a comment

Hello guys!!

Let me firstly apologise for not posting in like 10 days, oops! I have just been so caught up in moving (although I’m still not in the new house yet), working, having friends visit and otherwise just being so exhausted that I’ve really not had the energy to concentrate on my blog. I still feel very drained of energy, but as it is currently quiet at work I thought I’d start this blog post and hopefully get it finished and posted for you this weekend! So onto Emily’s hen do!

What a fabulous weekend! Everyone had a brilliant time! It was packed with activities but also very relaxed and full of fun and quality time with Emily’s best Ladies!

Friday:

Emily’s mum Debbie, Kim and myself arrived earlier at the house to set up. It was such a beautiful house – very lux! Set in Coldingham just across the border into Scotland with sea views and 5 mins away from the beach!

When we got there we sorted out rooms, made some cocktails and then waited for our online shopping to arrive before tidying it all away and setting up a yummy buffet and drinks reception.

At about 8pm the rest of the hens and Emily the bride to be arrived and we toasted with prosecco and enjoyed some scrumptious fajitas! After food we played a reveal game where Emily got to find out what was happening throughout the weekend and we reminisced over some of our memories of us with Emily through a slideshow (here some of my memories)

Those of us who weren’t too tired then also made use of the hot tube for a nice soak before heading to bed.

Saturday:

Rise and shine at 8.30am for a yoga session led by me and a yummy smoothie bowl breakfast made by me!

At 10.30am we left for Potadoodledo, a pottery painting studio where Emily and I have been before, so I knew it was an activity she’d enjoy. Everyone had a great time getting their crafty fingers out!

We painted for about 2hs and then headed back for lunch before relaxing a little and painting our nails. In the afternoon we went for a short walk along the coast to St.Abbs which was nice although short as we had to hurry back to get ready to go out. When we were ready we got a taxi to Berwick where we had booked a table at a Lebanese restaurant and enjoyed some food before heading out for some drinks and a bit of a dance. I was unlucky however (probably due to a salad overdose) and was super bloated meaning I ended up having a peppermint tea whilst everyone else was sipping on cocktails haha.

Of course when we got back a couple of us made use of the hot tub again – bliss – sitting in the pitch black at 1am in warm colour changing water with a pint in one hand!

Sunday:

We had planned another yoga session but it did not occur as some were hiding in bed aha and some of us tried to make breakfast (pancakes) but failed as the pans there were terrible and just stuck, so it ended up being muesli with fresh fruit!

So it was a relaxed morning and we were so happy as the sun came out, the weather couldn’t have panned out better as we had beach games planned for this morning. Our first game was to split into two teams and we had 10mins to gather things from the beach such as driftwood and shells to then create and decorate and Emily out of sand in 20 mins. I was a really funny task and everyone had such fun. Afterwards Emily had to complete some tasks to receive her award – a picnic on the beach. We had rhymed together some pirate style verse telling her what to do, it included running up a hill and declaring her Love to Andy to the sea, being buried in sand and lastly having to run fully into the sea, all of which she laughed at and did without any qualms aha, so she earned a glass of prosecco on the beach and a tasty picnic.

Although it was windy it was soo beautiful and we had a lovely time next to the sea! The next activity on the list was a spa afternoon, so we returned to the house and started off with Pimms and a dip in the hot tub! Next we put on some face masks painted more nails and then played a game, Codenames to be exact, a really fun game I’d urge you all to try! We’d made it even more special though by creating personalised cards related to Emily, although that did make the game so much more difficult!

In the evening Debbie cooked a three course vegan meal (the whole weekend was vegan) and we all got ready for our last night which was bod girl themed, so we dressed up in our fancy evening attire and had a blast. The meal was scrumptious, the cocktails tasty and and the laughter hilarious as we played more games late into the night!