Hello, and a huge warm welcome to my blog! My name’s Charlotte Jayne Jackson and I’m currently based in Shropshire, England. The main focus of my blog is fashion, food and adventures so if that sounds great to you stick around, take a look, and enjoy! ~ x
How is everyone?? ❤ I currently have a stinking cold and the only thing I want to do is lie on the sofa and sleep. But alas… I have work to do, money to earn, and photos from Cyprus to share with you 🙂
I’ve been back a week now (can’t believe how quickly that’s gone) and I’m already ready to go someplace new and exciting…Does anyone else just get the urge to keep on travelling whenever they go somewhere new? I always do…
Anyways ~ we stayed in this gorgeous four bedroom villa named ‘Villa Halima Alexandros’ with our own pool (it was ice cold sadly!) and private balcony. We ate lunch outside by the pool most days and I loved just being around the villa, relaxing in a bikini, eating feta salads!
We were also only a 2 min walk from the beach, so me and Harrison would walk into town along the beach nearly everyday ❤
This was my go-to drink like everyday haha ~ couldn’t get enough!
…On the second day of our trip we went out on a boat trip to some lovely clear blue waters ~
The water was surprisingly…warm? Much warmer than the pool anyway! I couldn’t wait to swim in the ocean, it’s felt like forever since I had been in the ocean since Covid…
So blue
Boat time means lots of jumping 🙂 (my favourite thing!)
This cutie also pretty much moved in with us for the week. We’re quite sure she was feral so gave her a lot of food and attention. She was so friendly and loved keeping us company x
Even went for a little hike in the woods and up the hills ~
This lunch was incredible 😍. Homemade tomato pasta and garlic bread with lots of salads and sides ~ I could eat this forever…I was so full after this I don’t think I even ate again for the rest of the day haha.
I’ve been away for the past week in Cyprus enjoying some warmer weather and some epic food 🥰
Sadly, I missed the build up to Halloween 🎃 (which I absolutely LOVE) this year, but it was so nice to finally get on a plane and go somewhere different…is the return to pre-Covid travel on the horizon?? I hope so!
October is the off-season for tourists, which means some very quiet restaurants and bars!
I spent the week with my Boyfriend and his family in a lovely villa in Latchi (Northwest of the island) and spent most days relaxing around the pool and exploring the bars and restaurants along the beach ~
The first night we went to a fish restaurant and had a lot of great food, and I got to dress up!
Seriously obsessed with this dress – look at the low back!! Sooo nice
We ordered so much food that night (Lobster, lamb, platters etc.) but I actually only had an omelette 🤦🏼♀️…vegetarian life!
Because we ordered so much, they gave us a free platter of fresh fruit and some pitta and honey which was YUM. Seriously, it doesn’t look much but it’s delicious!!
Could eat honey pitta all day everyday
We ended the evening drinking wine by the pool until about 4am and proceeded to do that many nights after…the best way to holiday I think 😉
Last week I spent a week in Aberdeenshire in Eastern Scotland 🏴 for a little summer break as going abroad with Covid is still not a viable option right now 😦 (soon hopefully though!!) ~
I thought I’d share some of the photos I took while exploring below:
Look at the SIZE of this mushroom I found :O
We did a lot of things including some lovely woodland walks as the forests around Aberdeenshire are honestly stunning!
They are so dense and vast you could get lost in them – if you’ve ever seen the film ‘Dog Soldiers’ the woods would make you think werewolves are about to pop out and eat you haha.
Not normally something I would eat but WOW they were tasty! (Pleasantly surprised)
We also ate a lot of delicious food (maybe too many nice things…oops) such as these lovely apple danishes that me and my boyfriend ate in the car in the mountains ~
Dunnattor Castle
We also explored some old castles (it’s Scotland you have to!) such as the ruined Dunnattor Castle on the coast.
I find it really fascinating to take a little look into how people used to live and how lucky we are to live the way we do today 🙂
Looking for crabs in the rock pools below the castle ~
The view was brilliant
One of the harder walks we did was up ‘Scotly Hill’.
Very steep hill that has a tower at the top that you have to walk through forest to get to! Such a great walk with lots of wonderful scenery ❤
Sadly in Aberdeenshire there aren’t many Lochs like in the highlands but we did find this small loch that was rather pretty with a castle on it in the distance 🙂
In terms of traveling, 2020 has been one of the worst years imaginable. Having to quarantine for two weeks when you return from many destinations; being scared of cancellations and losing money on flights and hotels; and only wanting to book last minute are all but a handful of deterrents that have made us stay put this year.
I completely adore travel and getting to experience new places and escape the everyday routine is really important to me, so I’ve found it strange not being able to venture out of the UK this year 😦 . One of my favourite places to travel is the Caribbean. I love the warm humid air, the laid-back atmosphere and pretty turquoise waters. Cuba in particular is one of my favourite places in the Caribbean, and one of the safest Caribbean Islands you can visit!
I stayed there for two weeks back in August 2018, after I graduated from university, and it was so very beautiful…
This beach at Guadalavaca is supposed to be one of the best in all of Cuba if I remember correctly.
As you can see, I spent my days on the golden sands reading my book under the shade of the palm trees drinking fresh lemonade from the beach bar. Me and my family would often buy the locals drinks and talk with them about their lives on the island. Cuba has two currencies, one which it uses on the island (peso) for those who live there and one that is given to tourists etc when they visit the island (the convertible peso). The reason for this is that the peso is practically unconvertible and has practically no monetary value outside of the island. This makes it hard for the Cuban people to ever earn enough money to leave Cuba, as they are on average paid the equivalent of less than $US100 a month.
Cuba is therefore a really fascinating place, as it is like the island is stuck in time! The cars on the island are mainly old American cars from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and its really surreal to visit a place where these types of cars are the main mode of transport.
The gardeners at my hotel would collect coconuts from the grounds and give them to the guests. They were so divine…the water inside was sweet and cool (shame about the plastic straw mind).
In terms of transport, traveling through Cuba is actually very difficult. The roads remain mainly unsigned and are not well maintained, making long journeys very confusing and uncomfortable! Not only this, but the train the goes from the East of the island to the West is (apparently) very slow and has no air-conditioning…therefore if you wish to visit opposite ends of the island, getting a small plane is recommended.
I really enjoyed my time in Cuba, and stayed in the East of the island in a place called Guardalavaca. In Spanish, this literally translates to ‘guard the cows’ as years ago pirates used to often come to shore here.
When I staying here I stayed on the edge of a small nature reserve where I got to see lizards, giant caterpillars, large spiders, butterflies, red crabs and hermit crabs (very cute!).
The red crabs where EVERYWHERE and would often find their way into your shoes on the beach :). Many times I noticed them wonder into the hotel to which I would gently lift them into my hands and take them outside. If you are gentle with them they will sit calmly in the palm of your hands and left you take them outside. Some of these red crabs were absolutely massive and would actually crawl up the hotel walls at night haha…
There was also someone who showed me a picture of a bird-eating spider in the female toilets which made me quite paranoid for many days, as I have a huge phobia of them!
Look how gorgeous the colour of that ocean is…
You could travel for miles along this road out side my hotel before you came to anything!
On one of the days we were in Cuba we also visited a local farm which had some of the biggest avocados I have ever seen! They also had a variety of fruit that I had never seen before such as the ‘sugar apple’ which you can see above to the left. Even though it looks quite bizarre it’s actually ridiculously delicious.
I would certainly love to visit Cuba again but there are also so many other island in the Caribbean and elsewhere that I would love to see. Visiting St. Lucia would be amazing and other places out side of the Caribbean such as Tulum.
I hope you have a great day and enjoyed this post about Cuba ~
Charlotte Jayne 