Halloween in London

Hello,

In 2010 I went with my sister, parents and family friend to London for Halloween. Because in Belgium we don't really celebrate it enough, we think, we wanted to go somewhere they did.
Here's our story.

We went with the Eurostar and left from Lille (France). Once at the checkpoint they see my identity card is expired and i can't get on the train. I call the taxi driver from my travel company and ask him to go back to my home and get my international passport, then I call my brother who is home that the driver will get my passport. The rest of the group took the train and I waited for the driver and could take the next one. Once also I arrived in London we first went to the hotel and dropped the bags of. We stayed at the Holiday Inn and I was really pleased with this hotel, really nice service.
Then we took a bus to Buckingham Palace and visited around. Then we went to the London Eye because my sister, my dad and Stéphanie had tickets to go on it. Me and my mom went for a cup of tea while waiting for them. After an hour I guess they where back, but they didn't get on the London Eye, they had tickets with the time on it but the waiting time was still 3 hours and they didn't felt like it anymore. So then we went shopping :)

The second day it was Halloween!! After an amazing breakfast we went on a 2 hours walk with the Harry Potter tour, we went to all the places where they filmed for the movie, daigon alley, the leaky cauldron,... It was so much fun, cause we all are great fans of the books and movies! At one point it started raining and I fell but apart of that it was amazing. After this tour we went eating at Burger King. Then we went to the London Dungeon, yes we did that on Halloween :) My sister was so scared, I think she even cried at one point, but she was only 12 at the time so she did good for her age. It was scary, I have to admit that.

The thirth and last day we went to Madame Tussauds after breakfast. It was so much fun and we laughed so much and at the end it even was scary. You had so many actors there :) They just had made a private section for Robbert Pattinson where you could let take your picture with him. But at that time it was closed and I really wanted a picture... So Stéphanie got ready with my camera and I jumped over the rope to get a picture with him. Just at that time the photographer arrived, he was friendly and asked if I wanted a picture he took from me, and yes I did it :)  In the afternoon we did a little shopping before we had to go home again.

This was an amazing Halloween trip! One day we will go to the U.S.A. to celebrate it, who knows... I always love traveling with my family! Let me know how you feel about traveling with family ;)

Love,
Sarah

Los Angeles 2010

Hello,

Today I wanted to share my second big travel, I think you will know by now I have a big love for L.A. I can't really explain why, maybe it's because everything I need is there, the sea, downtown,...
This trip I did with a friend of mine. We went around may, then the weather was perfect for me.

The first day we made the trip itself, we flew with Continental Airlines. I had a really nice flight with them, nice crew. We stopped at N.Y. to change flights and then continued. We stayed at the same hotel I did last time with my mom. This time I did the driving :)

The second day we went to Warner Bross, this was so amazing last time I had to go again. After that we went to Beverly Hills. We found some affordable clothes after all :) We had a nice lunch at L.A. Food and after that we went to the Beverly Hills mall to go shopping.

The third day was Hollywood time :) We did the walk of fame, the Hollywood museum, Madame Tussauds and the Chinese theatre. All of those things were so amazing, I would really recommend them. The hollywood museum is really good, I loved to see all of it. Of course we also went shopping and did a tour to see the homes of stars.

The fourth day we went to Santa Monica! Beach, hot guys and shopping, all a girl needs :)
This was a really relaxed day.

The fifth day we went to Disney land. I already did the one in Paris and didn't loved it, but my friend really wanted to go so we did it :) and it was better than the one in Paris and bigger. We were stuck in the Peter Pan ride for a while and at one point we thought we had to clime down with a ladder :( I was happy that wasn't the case. The parade was nice and funny and I loved the fireworks!
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a Burger King :)

The sixth day our GPS broke down :( By the time we found the rental place it was 7 P.M. But on our way their we stopped at a Walmart where we bought food and cookies to take back with us when we had to go back home.

The last day we did the things we loved the most again. Santa Monica and the Beverly Hills mall. We also found a mansion in the hills that you could visit with beautiful gardens.

And then it was time to go back home :( always a sad moment for me, especially after such a nice trip.

I hope you enjoyed the story about my second trip to L.A. If you have any questions, or you wanna go to some of those places, don't hesitate to ask me. I love talking about my travels and other peoples experiences.

Love,
Sarah

My first time traveling

Today I'm gonna talk about the first time I went traveling! 

I just graduated and my mom took me on a trip to L.A.  This was something I wanted to do for years!  I was 18 at the time and so excited!  This was in 2008. 

We went for 8 days and it was amazing, let me tell you all about it.

Day 1: That day we just made the actual trip. We flew with British Airways and this was amazing, I never went on a plane where you each had your own TV, most of the flight we watched movies and slept. We had rented a car and picked it up at arrival. Mom had to drive because I was to young at the time. We stayed at The Best Western in China Town and it was a really nice stay there. We had diner and went to bed to have an early start the next day.

Day 2: Rise and shine! We had breakfast at the hotel, actual American breakfast!! Pancakes with syrup, so good. My mom was't a fan so kept it at toast and fruit. Then we hit the road to go to Beverly Hills. We went shopping there, just kidding, we went window shopping there. My mom was happy to see the hotel from Pretty woman in real life. We spent the whole day in Beverly Hills and had lunch there also. The only thing I'll remember from that lunch is that ice tea in the USA really is iced tea :) just cold tea, keep that in mind. 

Day 3: Today we went to the beach. First we went to Malibu to see Baywatch kind of action, but that it was calm there. We had a nice walk at the beach.And then we went to Santa Monica. First we went to the beach and pier, so beautiful and sunny. For the first time in my life I had a sunburn, not fun at all. After that we went shopping at the boulevard, where you have a lot of shops and it's really nice out there. That day I ate a real american burger for the first time, so good, not healthy but good.

Day 4: My dream came true, we went to Warner Bross! I really love movies and TV shows, so this is the place to be. We did the tour and the guide was amazing, we could ask all the questions. I saw all the little places from TV shows like Friends, True Blood, Two and a half men, etc... We also saw a whole building full of clothes and supplies from movies, like Harry Potter, Batman,... There was also a building with all cars from movie, the bat mobile, the car from Ron's father in Harry Potter, the mystery machine, etc... Best part of the day was being in Central Perk, as a big Friends fan it was a must! 

Day 5: Hollywood! First we had lunch in a Mexican restaurant, again a first for me, but so good. The we did a tour in a little tour bus. We saw the Hollywood sign, some houses from celebrities like David Beckham, Paris Hilton, Tom Cruise, Playboy mansion, etc... After that we walked on the walk of fame and saw a lot of stars and ate a hot dog. Then we went to a mall there and had diner in a restaurant over there.

Day 6: Universal studios! It was huge, never been to something so big, you had at one side the studios and on the other side the park. We did both of course :) At the studios we did the tour, it was amazing, you could experience an earth quake and such. The best! The park was awesome, but I don't like to go on to much attractions, and my mom neither, but we did good. They have the best hot dogs in that park. We also had VIP passes so that we didn't had to wait in line to long, that was nice cause we only had 1 day there. 

Day 7: We went back to Santa Monica on our last day, because we both loved it so much there. I can't really explain why, the vibe there is just good i guess :)

We did some more shopping and also went back to the pier. In the afternoon we also went to a mall at Melrose Place. We also bought some souvenirs for everyone.

Day 8: Today we go back home :( Last time eating my American breakfast... We were to early at the airport, but I did saw the guys from Outkast :) I also ate at Burger King for the first time, so good. Then went on the plane back home! Thank mom for this amazing trip!

After this trip I knew that I needed to travel more and see the world. This is the first of a lot of travel stories. Hope you liked it. Sorry for the quality of the pictures, it's from a while back. 

Love, 

Sarah