text: No… Not that city.
  
  Tag: travel
  
  I don’t know about you, but I feel like there is something so peaceful about being near bodies of water. I grew up with a view of the river, and the Bay of Fundy close by. But I think I kind of took it for granted, until I moved to a new city where I didn’t know where “my water” was. Since moving, I have made it my mission to travel the coast and find a spot that makes my heart feel full! When I look at the ocean, I can’t help but be thankful for the beautiful places God has created for us to see! I’m not an outdoorsy person, but the ocean is the type of outdoors I can handle.
  
  One of the most recent trips I took was to the little coastal towns of Mahone Bay and Lunenburg. Penny and I really enjoyed discovering all of the little shops, and I think I stopped at least 10 times at little beaches along the way home!
  
  Did you know that wherever you are in Nova Scotia, you’re never more than 67 kilometres from the sea? Now that’s a statistic that I like to see (sea?)!
  
  I hope you are all doing well! I imagine you are. I am home from my European adventure, and although I had the best intentions of updating you during the trip, hotel internet can be a bit sketchy sometimes. It did not work in my favour, so now here I am with what I’m sure will be a mammoth post. Without further adieu, here’s what we got up to!
  
  In my last post, I posted some pictures of the Niall Horan Charity Football Challenge in Leicester. So, I’ll start going through my pictures from that point on and just post some of my favourite ones with a little blurb where necessary. Get it? Got it? Good.
  
  So, one of the first things we had to do in London was, obviously, go to afternoon tea. We really enjoyed the Alice in Wonderland themed tea at the Sanderson hotel. Uber expensive, but SO worth it! The dress I’m wearing is from Forever 21, and Kim’s is from Bluenotes (I believe).
  
  After tea, we were already on Oxford Street so we decided to do a bit of shopping. We didn’t buy any cheesy items at all… #primark
  
  Harry looks slightly deformed there, but you get it. We then made a last minute decision to venture down to the London Eye, just as the sun went down.
  
  Here are a few pictures from the next few days of sightseeing. At the end of our first stint in London, we went to a Katy Perry concert at the O2 Arena. I didn’t take any pictures inside as I could only bring my phone and we were too far up. But the bottom right photo is myself all done up for the event!
  
  The morning after Katy Perry, we attempted to catch a train/ferry to Dublin for the next two days. Of course we missed the train. But, there was another shortly after, so we boarded that one with our wallets a bit lighter, through Wales and on to Dublin! These two pictures show where we passed through that town… with the really long name. A lady on the train taught us how to say it! Kind of…The second picture was a very excited one, as we found Tim Horton’s in Dublin!! For those of you non-Canadians, Tim Horton’s coffee shops are like a national symbol. Don’t ask why.
  
  On June 2nd, we ate some yummy burgers at Gourmet Burger Kitchen, and headed off to see McBusted at the O2!
  
  In the morning we treated ourselves to some waffles and gelato for breakfast 🙂
  
  Now. Here is something rather exciting. Not wanting to miss our flight back to London like we had done with the train, we showed up to the airport pretty early. We were in the process of moving some things around in our bags when a stranger approached me. It took me a second, but suddenly it dawned on me who this mystery man was. ‘Twas none other than Mr. James Bourne from Busted!!! He saw me wearing my McBusted shirt from the concert (it’s what happens when you squeeze your suitcase shut and realize you’re still wearing your pyjamas). He came over for a quick chat, and we got a little photo. So cool! I was almost shaking as I called my mom afterward. Please excuse my hideosity in this photo, I didn’t really know what to do with myself!
  
  Okay. This post is getting way too long for my liking. So this was the first week of our trip done, and I’ve decided I’ll cut it here for now. My next post may or may not be about week two, I may save it for later! All depends if I get any ideas in the meantime. Hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about the trip so far, and please leave some comments below letting me know if you like this style, if I’m rambling on too much or if there are too many pictures for your taste! I will take it with a grain of salt and try to make the next one even better 🙂
  
  My internet is rather slow and we are just in the hotel for a few minutes, but I wanted to slap on a couple photos of what we’ve done so far!
  
  So the first thing we did was a bus tour, during which my camera died about 1/3 of the way through but I got a few pictures!
  
  The next day (yesterday) we took the train to Leicester to watch the Niall Horan Charity Football Challenge. You can imagine I just about died when I heard about this event and bought tickets as soon as it was announced! It was raising funds for Irish Autism Action and Hearts and Minds UK, a Scottish arts-in-health organization. As an autism support worker studying to be a clinical therapist, this is a cause that is very near and dear to me! Present at the game were various celebrities and footballers, including Liam, Louis, Niall and Harry, as well as Piers Morgan, Ronan Keating, and Jack Whitehall. Harry wasn’t supposed to be there, so I almost fell over when he ran onto the pitch! It was an AMAZING day.
  
  All in all it has been an amazing trip so far! I will keep y’all posted as time goes on.
  
  I need to make a note to myself to never say I am going to write a post on a certain day or at a certain time, because I never do it (see previous post). But regardless, here we are once more.
  
  As I type this, my eyes are half closed and I should have ended laptop time about an hour ago. A mixture of homework and the sounds of my brother yelling at his video game have kept me awake thus far, so now is as good a time as any for a little chat.
  
  I don’t really have a theme for this post, but just wanted to throw some things out into the world and see where they land. If you have been reading for a while, you will remember that I was anxiously awaiting a once in a lifetime (well hopefully more than once) dream trip to London and Dublin. Well guess what. THAT TRIP IS THIS SATURDAY. AS IN TWO DAYS FROM NOW. At the moment I am a big ball of nerves and excitement and stress and smiles and tears and GLEE. I can’t even really comprehend it all. It still feels kind of like a dream that I’ll wake up from right before takeoff. However, the overflowing suitcase at the foot of my bed and my depleting bank account tell me otherwise. I can’t wait to get this trip started, and I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures every step of the way!
  
  I really wanted to write more, but I just yawned approximately seven times while writing that last paragraph. So rather than blabber on, I think I’ll leave it here. If I have time in the next couple of days I will write something, BUT NO PROMISES. See how I am setting myself up for success here?
  
  I know there are only a few of you that comment here, but I’m wondering, would you rather I do small posts as I have time while in London? Assuming I have any time at all. Or would it be better to do one big post when I get home? Let me know!
  
  Hey everyone,hope you’re well! I have just emerged from a frenzy of trip planning. I have never gone on a trip that my mother or a travel agent didn’t arrange, and I am now learning that is very stressful! However, today I wanted to drop a quick line to tell you about a gem I have found on the internet: Hotwire.com
  
  I am sure you’ve seen the commercials on TV, with the catchy jingle. But I am here to tell you, it really works! You simply put in your dates and the area you’d like to stay, and Hotwire whizzes up a list of “secret” hotel deals. Here’s the kicker: it doesn’t give you the name of the hotel until you’ve booked. Yes, you take the chance of getting something you didn’t want, but if you do a little bit of fiddling around on TripAdvisor you can usually determine what hotel it is before you book. Sometimes there aren’t any great deals, but sometimes you strike gold! So as I haven’t slept a full night in about a week due to the stress of this room-booking fiasco, I just thought I would share a bit of wisdom with you on this fine day.
  
  As you may have guessed from my previous posts, I am a bit of a travel addict. I have been very lucky to have been able to travel with my family to a few places in the States and the Bahamas so far. I have also had the opportunity to go on several mission trips with my church within Canada. However, last summer was my favourite and most life-changing mission trip as of yet: the Bowery Mission in New York City.
  
  While I had been to New York a few times before, I had never experienced it like this. Twenty-eight youth and leaders stayed in the ‘volunteer quarters’ of a homeless shelter/soup kitchen/men’s reform centre for a week, and were recruited to do many different tasks each day. This included cooking and serving meals, cleaning, giving out clothes, handing out food in the park, playing music for the daily chapel services, and more. We also really got a chance to chat and bond with the men in the program and hear their life stories. This was a really eye-opening experience not only for the kids, but for me as a leader as well.
  
  Though we had many responsibilities during the day, we also had the evenings and a Saturday to do some sightseeing. This meant that we would get to bed each night around midnight and had to be up by 6:30AM (5:45 if we were on breakfast duty). Needless to say that by the end of the week we were all exhausted and hated each other a little bit, but it was well worth it in the end. I am so glad I had this opportunity and am able to share it with you. Here are some photos from our time away at the Bowery Mission!
  
  The girls with one of the men we met from the reform program.
  
  A friend and I at Strawberry Fields (not sure why there is a strange haze over me, this is not so on my computer!)
  
  Our entire group on the roof (again, what is that haze?!)
  
  Men In Black headquarters from the movies.
  
  The chapel at the Bowery.
  
  Me with one of the men from the program, just before leaving.
  
  I have over 700 photos combined from my camera and phone, but I don’t want to be too overwhelming here… This is just a little snippet of my personal highlights from the week. Hope you enjoyed! If you would like more information on the Bowery Mission or are wondering how you can get involved, you can visit their website at www.bowery.org. It really is an amazing place. What was one of your most life-changing experiences? Let me know in the comments below!
  
  If you’ve been following my blog since the beginning, you might be familiar with my previous plans to move to London for a year. You may also know that this plan did not work out due to other commitments and responsibilities! However, an exciting development has emerged.
  
  From May 25th to June 8th, 2014, I will be flying with my bestest childhood friend, from Canada all the way to London! I can not even begin to describe how excited I am. This is something I have dreamed of doing for as long as I can remember (to be honest, probably since Winning London, the Mary Kate and Ashley movie was released). Not only that, but while in London I will be attending… drumroll please… a One Direction concert! If you read my old post about trying to win tickets this summer, then you will know that this makes my heart go all a-flutter just thinking about it.
  
  Have you ever wanted something so bad your heart ached, and you finally got the chance to have it? This is how I feel right about now. Although my plans to live in London fell through, even just a small taste of life there will be enough to get me by for a little while. I can’t wait! The eight months until then feels like about 150 years right about now.
  
  If you live in or have been to London before, what do you suggest we do? So far on the list are: the London Eye, the Harry Potter Studio Tour, and the other obvious tourist attractions such as Buckingham Palace, etc. What are some of the less known places to go? Let me know some things that Expedia might not tell us about.
  
  You may have noticed a bit of silence from me this weekend. Fear not, I haven’t forgotten my blog once more. I have just been taking advantage of this beautiful fall weather! I don’t know about you, but my favourite part of the fall season is when the season is just turning. It’s still gorgeous out, but not too hot, and you can just smell fall in the air. I love this time of year!
  
  This weekend, I travelled to the the Annapolis Valley and Halifax, both in Nova Scotia, Canada, to visit two friends from university, and one friend from home who is away at university. While I was in the Valley, I went to a really cute farm, which included an epic corn maze. So I decided to take a few pictures to share with you!
  
  Some pretty plants outside of the corn maze.
  
  Our map of the maze. I was in shock at how elaborate it was!
  
  I loved the view of the corn against the bright blue sky that day.
  
  A gross but neat-looking piece of corn.
  
  A view of the maze from a tall bridge we crossed.
  
  As you can see, I had a lovely time on this beautiful, sunny autumn weekend with friends. What is your favourite time of year? What do you like to do in the fall season? Let me know in the comments!Also, don’t forget to follow this blog on Blogger itself, as well as Bloglovin’!