Running your own business can leave you brain dead at times. Some weekends you need to get away from a computer and enjoy the fresh air.
Girl’s Holiday In Rome
In April I enjoyed a few days in Rome and Florence with my friends from Uist. Shawshank’s brother is a priest in Rome so he knew where to go and where to eat. It’s one of my favourite holidays I’ve been on, although I was still working. My business had its busiest week ever whilst I was in Rome!
Germany
Waking up at 5.30AM was kind of worth it.…
Driftwood House
As part of Ayden and Pete’s elopement we rented a house in Arisaig called Driftwood. It overlooked Camusdarach Beach and was in the middle of nowhere. I can’t think of a more perfect weekend!
California
This was the trip of a lifetime and it took me by surprise. I was not planning on visiting California this year.
In July I got a Twitter DM from Dann Petty asking if I wanted to speak at Epicurrence. A month later I was on a plane to San Francisco where I spent 24 hours before driving to Yosemite National Park. We hiked, mountain biked and share stories around a camp fire.
I didn’t get to see much of SF, but I made a point of visiting Mrs Doubtfire’s house! Yosemite was everything I wanted it to be and more. A month later and I can’t stop thinking about this trip.
48 Hours In Amsterdam
Last year I visited Geneva for a few days with just my camera. I enjoyed my trip and vowed to make solo photography adventures a regular occurrence. Fast forward to May, 2018 and I took a short flight to Amsterdam for a few days. Here’s what I got up to in my 48 hours there:
- Walked 33KM around the city
- Saw a lot of dogs on scooters and bikes
- Had lunch with Chris, who has been working in Amsterdam
- Spent €20 on a gin and tonic
- Ate a life-changing sandwich at Small World Catering
- Got sun burn
- Took a canal boat ride
Amsterdam won me over instantly. I can’t explain why exactly, but I haven’t loved a city as quickly as I did with Amsterdam. It was very easy to get to (1 hour and 15 minutes in the air, then a 15 minute train ride into the centre). The weather was perfect. Every person I encountered was friendly (aside from a bad experience on my way home). The food and drink was tasty. It was easy to get around.
I can’t stop thinking about Amsterdam and I’m already considering a second trip. There are so many food places and museums I still have to visit. Have you been to Amsterdam? What did you think of it?
Adventure Time
We visited Saturday’s wedding venue on Friday as the sun was setting. We wanted to scope the surrounding location. The sun was doing lovely things for us, so I couldn’t help but ask Rab—my friend and second shooter—to snap this photo.
Family Holiday in Lanzarote
It was lovely to start 2018 with a family holiday to Lanzarote. This was my nephew’s first time on a plane and he loved it—even through heavy turbulence on the flight home. It was special to experience everything with him for the first time.
It was all-inclusive and I was expecting to come back fat. Fortunately the hotel had an amazing salad bar (yes, I get excited about salad).
Highlights were:
- Visiting the volcanoes
- Holding lava rock in my hand. It’s scorching!
- Spending time with my nephew, Blake
- Getting some Vitamin D
- Reading Birdsong on my balcony with sparkling wine
Downsides were:
- 2 year old tantrums. Respect to all parents out there!
- Seeing the camels chained together, having to heave fat Brits up a volcano
- My sister getting ill. There was a bug going round and quite a few of us got it. Fortunately I didn’t, which is a miracle considering I was sat next to my sister for 5 hours on a plane
Lunar Landscapes
This time last week I was on a family holiday in Lanzarote. It was mostly about entertaining the kids, so there wasn’t a lot of photography action or culture. I did enjoy the express volcano tour, which is when I took these landscapes. (If I was doing this trip with other photographers, I would have hired a car instead of tagged along on an official tour. This experience would be better at sunrise or sunset.)
Lanzarote has a lunar landscape after a volcano erupted for 6 years, which produced 32 new volcanoes. The landscape feels so barren with layers of volcanic rock instead of the greenery I’m used to. Alongside that, there are very strict rules about architecture. Every building must be painted white and can not exceed 4 floors. The volcanic activity makes for some interesting pictures.
Friday Hike Up Conic Hill
Why haven’t I been to Conic Hill before?!
On Friday I finished work early and took Indie up Conic Hill. Correction; Indie pulled me up Conic Hill.
If you’ve been following along you may remember Indie had a cancerous tumour removed from her leg. There was a point this year I thought she may not be OK. I couldn’t have been more wrong. She still has a lot of pep!
Not bad for an 11 year old dog. We enjoyed the views together before spending the rest of the evening playing video games and eating takeaway. Perfect start to the weekend.