DIY: Travel

So I have recently endeavoured on a ten week trip around Europe, it has always been a huge dream of mine to travel and I worked very hard to achieve it. I have been receiving many emails/ comments etc, asking for advice on places to go, spending, how to get around etc. So I thought I would try and answer them on here. I am no expert, but I planned my trip completely on my own and it was pretty easy. The best part about planning your trip by yourself is that you are constantly reminded to save, so it really helps when pay day comes around. So anyway here is my advice...

1. Where to go?
Firstly, where do you want to go, be super unrealistic and make a list of all the places you want to go, order them from the most important and then work from there. If you're like me the list is ridiculous, but don't stress you have your entire life to see the world, of course you are not going to see it all in the first few years of your twenties, thirties or whatever. So obviously if you are doing a trip to Europe or Asia or wherever you can group things together and knock them out in the one trip.

2. Time.
Time is really not stressed enough when you read lonely planet books or look at pretty pictures of places you want to go. But it is one of the most important things about your trip. How long do you have? Three weeks and you wanna see 10 countries? Probably not going to happen.
Suss out what you want to do in each place and be realistic about how much time you have there. By being realistic I mean don't spend two days in Paris and expect to see so much. Take waiting in line into consideration(being Aussie, never having lines they are just ridiculous in Europe), hangovers, getting tired, adjusting to time zones, getting to your hotel, getting from place to place and getting lost. Even though cities are quite close in Europe they can take ages for example by train from berlin to prague its about 6 hours... So make sure you are not rushing through each city, I'd suggest for big cities a minimum of 3/4 nights. So you can enjoy the nightlife, have time to recover, see the sites and actually take in what you are seeing and process it.

3. Money
It's what makes the world go round and makes holidays happen. We all need it to travel and we need to keep track of it, unless you are rich, in that case go nuts and I secretly hate you! When preparing for my holiday I budgeted about $100 (Australian) per day just for sights/ food and going out. Then I gave myself a maximum on what I'm prepared to pay for accommodation. Which was about $40 a night. Of course you could do this much cheaper depending on where you go, what you do, and where you stay. I will do another post on how much I spent soon. Now is such a good time for us to see the world as the dollar is so strong, so what are you waiting for, get saving!

So that's a super quick summary of what's to come, I'm almost home, and will try to post here regularly. I really hope this helps and if you have any requests please send emails through to gurtonp@gmail.com

fffades. xo

Summer is Here!

Wearing: ASOS dress, vintage hat, sportsgirl wedges

 

The first day of summer has fast approached us after a long dreary winter which I thought would never end. Having to get up at 4.30am for work through the winter almost killed me, but it was all worth it for my ten week trip to Europe which is fast approaching also, in all my hopes I hope it comes a bit faster. I can't wait to document my travels on here. In the meantime I shall fill my blogs pages with banter and clothes.

This dress was so cheap on asos I really did question the quality of it, but to my surprise it was great fabric, and a perfect fit. The dress is so easy to wear in summer especially on those days at the beach with the warm summer breeze gushing past you, it's light and the pattern is so pretty, the long tail is also a winner! These shoes I bought from sportsgirl a few years ago now but they are super comfy and I couldn't tell you enough times how much I love them. This hat was a bit of an opshop find, and I see these things in ops hops all the time so I'm pretty sure you could get one at your local thrift store.

Life has blessed me with a beautiful day today, no work and friends, so I must soak up some of this sunshine! XO

 

Posted with Blogsy

Outlands

Dress: Op-Shop find, (can't really label it as 'vintage'), Shoes Op-shop (but I see these boots everywhere), socks- stolen from sister (cotton on).

This bad boy was found in the big lady section of the op-shop but works as a dress also! I love the big beautiful gold rose shaped buttons, and the beautiful colour. At only $4 it was a great find, if I don't say so myself. Yes I am aware my smile is super dorky- but the flowy-ness makes me feel happy and silly plus the fact I'm finished with uni, yippee! I'm off to see Deep Sea Arcade hence the blog post title.

Goodbye xo

 

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Youth

Wearing: Vintage altered dress, Necklaces from Op-Shop, Bowler Hat from Ebay, Bracelet from Ebay, Shoes from Myer and Socks by Cotton On.

When my sister asked me to do some photos for her, and take a study break I was overjoyed and not just because I was getting away from study. I love taking photos of people where you can never get a bad shot (not that I am experienced in that area), but with my Madeleine it is so easy as it is almost impossible to get a bad photograph of her. At 15 she knows what she likes and these are her first set of heels- gush! She requested I style the shoot and borrow pretty much all my clothes (as usual). But she really wanted to wear these colours with the bright lipstick and add in her frilly socks. I love this simple black dress that I have worn many occasions, originally I found it in the plus size section of the Op-Shop and by sewing up the sides it became the perfect black shift dress. Dressed up or down, worn by itself or under something else, it always does it's job.

All photos/ styling/ make-up by me.

 

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Madeleine: Headshots

 My best friend and my worst enemy, my sister photographs pretty god damn well.

Wearing: white lace dress by Wish and white flower headband from Sportsgirl.

All photos, make-up, styling by me.

floral

Wearing: $5 Second hand feather necklace, Sportsgirl bag, Cool paper bag from bookstore, Zara boots & pants and Supre black top.

Tearing myself away from my monotoned lecturer discussing the endless glories of muscle tissues, I thought I'd put together a super original blog post on an outfit I wore, that carries no originality what so ever. Fully aware the floral pants are overdone and spring has not even arrived, I am still loving them and have finally gotten around to buying myself a pair. Spending weeks on end raiding second hand stores and contemplating making them, but finding the time, what a challenge. I finally found a pair that I loved so much that I even ended up buying the matching blazer. 

These photos were shot in Surry Hills, Sydney by my dearest friend Grace.

Sydney

1) Grace's room 2)Sydney Trains 3/4/8/30)Power lines and Buildings 5)Lemon Cafe 6)Florist 7) Zara Pants/ Shoes 9)Sun 10)Grace getting into Banksy 11)Most photographed ally in Sydney 12)Endless Cupcakes 13)Markets Sign 14-18)Harbour 19-24/ 27) Contemporary Art Museum 25/26) Making our own art 28)Harbour Bridge 29/32) Street Art 31/33/36/37) Food 34)Glebe Markets 39)Clipper Cafe 

Finally I managed to drag myself over to Sydney, to visit my dearest friend Grace, who lives with Leah, and also visited Jade. All girls who have bravely left there homes for bigger city with big opportunities and to chase their dreams, I admire them all so much. When I think about it, Sydney would be incredibly easy to live in. I was only there for six days, but it felt like home after a few days especially being surrounded by friends. I was so lucky to have my own personal tour guides, which I know I won't be as lucky with in future travels, it truly is a privilege. The city is filled with culture, a million quirky cafes, side streets to get lost in, cute little streets with quaint little houses and bundles of markets and great shops. I loved every minute of this place and having only been in Perth for a number of hours, I already am ready to go back. Visiting Sydney really put traveling into perspective for me, and now my feet are even itchier. Fingers crossed this year and goes by super quickly. It's amazing that you can sometimes feel more at home in places you don't even know, having spent my whole childhood living in places no more than a year, I feel change is in my blood. Whenever we would arrive in a new town or city, I would jump for joy at the fact I got to explore a new place, weather it be the english country side, a bustling city or the sandy outback. I think that adventurous child within me will always be there.

All photos by me and Grace.