The One Where I Attended Friends Fest

The final episode of Friends may have aired on television over ten years ago now but that doesn’t stop people from loving the show as much as it did when it aired. Last year, Comedy Central launched the first ever Friends Fest in London except it sold out in seconds, well this year they’ve brought it back and it’s touring the UK! Of course, having missed out on the London tickets last year I instantly bought a ticket for when it came to Harewood House in Leeds.

Friends Fest is basically one large photo opportunity. You can the chance to visit some of the shows most iconic sets such as Monica’s apartment. I spent a good hour and a half at Friends Fest this weekend and for someone who is a big fan of the show they’ll love getting snaps in the sets. 

At £25.00 a ticket (compared to £5 in London last year) the tickets had gone up in price quite substantially and in my own opinion I felt it was a little expensive for what you actually got. You didn’t get any time at all in any of the sets, just one quick photo in various locations and you’re out. The time spent in Friends Fest pretty much consisted of queuing for photos in the sets and then being quickly ushered onto the next one. It was very interesting however to see the attention to detail in all of the sets, it’s just such a pity you weren’t given more time to look at things. However, the photos that are taken on the sets from the day are incredible and for any Friends fan its incredible to now watch the show and keep pointing out locations where you’ve actually been into! It was also nice that the event didn’t have official photographers so at no point where you being pressured into buying photos. 

The food and beverage outlets were all Friends themed which I thought was a nice touch. From New York Ice Cream to The Chick & The Duck Bar everything has some kind of connection to the show. However, if you’re attending at one of the future events make sure you take enough money as expected from events everything is rather experience – £7.50 for a cocktail and £3 for an ice cream for example.     

I love Friends and even queued for most of the day to get into a pop up Central Perk that had opened in celebration for the 10^th anniversary whilst I was on holiday in New York City a few years back. Personally, although New York was only the one set I felt it overall was done much better. For one it was free to get inside and when inside you were given a free coffee to drink in Central Perk. At Friends Fest, the entirety of Central Perk was just a photo opportunity and you were ushered out rather quickly. When you’re paying £25.00 admission, maybe if they had offered a free coffee for example if may have made the ticket price more worthwhile and it’s still very fitting with the Friends theme.

Although the event was a little steeply priced it certainly is a must for any fan of the show! Fans will love getting photos in Monica’s apartment, in Central Perk and other locations and they’ll certainly be showing everyone photos from the day! Personally, I’m glad that I went as I loved seeing the sets but I think for what you get it’s a onetime visit thing so probably wouldn’t go again if it tours again next year

Carrie's Book Club

It seems a little pointless to be writing this blog post as its based on a subscription box that is now sold out for this particular box and February’s box will be arriving shortly but I’m in the mood to write something so here goes!

Jumping on the subscription box hype is successful YouTuber, author and West End star, Carrie Hope Fletcher creating her very own book club called Carrie’s Book Club. As the name suggests Carrie’s Book Club is a book club except it doesn’t actually include a book just items that you could use whilst you’re reading a book. The ideas in the box each month are loosely themed around a book meaning that if you haven’t read the book or you already the book you can enjoy the items regardless.

I was very kindly gifted a 3 month subscription to Carrie’s Book Club as a Christmas present with the first box that I received being January 2016’s. I was pleasantly surprised to see that this box was themed around my favourite book series, Harry Potter.

January’s box contained a light up candle, a bath bomb, three butterscotch sweets, a lollipop, a bookmark and a letter from Carrie. According to the letter that was included, this box also contained a blackcurrant tea but I didn’t seem to have that in my box, but I don’t like blackcurrant flavoured things so no complaints from me! 

At £16 + postage for a one off box or £48.00 + postage for a three month subscription I personally think that Carrie’s Book Club is a little overpriced. I was incredibly surprised when I opened the box then it didn’t actually contain a book or at the very least a coupon to download an eBook, however it does clearly state on the website that it doesn’t contain a books it was completely my mistake for assuming it would have a book. I appreciate that today people read books in different ways so it would be quite difficult to do a book club containing a format that everyone who subscribes want but I feel that without a book it makes the box quite expensive for what you get. 

Carrie’s Book Club has existed for over a year now so it obviously must be a successful subscription box. Although I think I would’ve been disappointed if I had paid for the subscription myself, I did thoroughly enjoy using the items that were including in the box. It great to get mystery items through the post that you can enjoy using as soon as they arrive. I also like the fact that it’s themed around a book, hopefully younger subscribers may be more enticed to pick up the book and read it which can only be a good thing. Fans of Carrie Hope Fletcher will love this book, however if you want to get a book and feel like you’ve got value for money this certainly isn’t the subscription box for you.

VIP Carnivore Tour - Yorkshire Wildlife Park

If you’ve read my blog before you’ll know that I really enjoy visiting the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. I’ll put the links at the bottom of this post to my other two posts that I’ve done about the park in case you've missed them. Well this week, it was finally time for me to do the VIP tour with focus on carnivores that I’d had booked for a few months now. 

The VIP tour that I did focussed on the parks carnivores which included meerkats, painted hunting dogs, leopards, tigers and of course the parks famous lions. Like with the polar bear experience the day starts before the park opens making the experience feel more special than if it happened during park hours. 

My first stop of the day was to feed the meerkats, an animal which I didn’t associate with being a carnivore. Truthfully the meerkats are an animal that I don’t really look too much as I’m too busy looking at the lions and heading towards the polar bear enclosure. Getting to go into the enclosure and feed them breakfast whilst hearing about each meerkats personality was a surprise but a great addition to the tour.

Next on the tour was a trip to see the lions. The Yorkshire Wildlife Park’s lions were rescued back in 2010 from a zoo in Romania where they were kept in extremely small cages. It was a national campaign to raise money to rescue these lions to bring them over to the wildlife park where they have significantly more space to roam around in now. On my tour I got to get up close and personal and feed two of the lionesses, Julie and Carla. It is very surprising just how big these lions are, yet both were unbelievably gentle taking the food from the tongs. Being able to feed a lion is something I never thought I would be able to do so was the highlight of the tour for me.

Julie waiting for her food!

If you don’t know the Yorkshire Wildlife Park recently saw the birth of three Amur tiger cubs named Harley, Hope and Hector, who are ridiculously adorable. It was such a wonderful experience to get the opportunity to feed Hope and Hector. Unfortunately Harley and mum Tschuna were too full from yesterdays dinner so didn’t come over for our offerings of more food. Like the lions, the tiger cubs were so gentle in taking the food from us. I’d only seen the cubs from afar so it was incredible to have them right at the other side of the fence to me.

Feeding Hope - an Amur Tiger Cub

Personally, I preferred my polar bear experience; however that may be due to the fact that I just really love polar bears. I know for a fact that if you really love the big cats of the park you will absolutely love this experience. Its worth remembering that the animals are not trained so for example, Drake the leopard is extremely shy so he wasn’t having been coaxed over for food one bit so depending on what mood the animals are in you may not get to feed every carnivore in the park but you will get up close to them and get a glimpse at behind the scenes. Personally at £150.00 for two people (including park admission) I think it is worth every penny. It truly was an unforgettable experience. 

Click here for more information about all the VIP tours that the park offer

Click here to read by blog about the Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Click here to read by blog about my polar bear experience

Once Upon A Time

This week I’ve done absolutely nothing. I’ve not even started to read a new book, in fact apart from going to work I’ve barely even left the house at all. Why? Well I’ve become completely obsessed with the TV show, Once Upon A Time. I’ve been waking up purposely early in a morning, I’ve been going to bed late at night, all just to squeeze in watching another episode of Once Upon A Time. When I’m not watching the show I’ve started sitting staring at my colleagues trying to figure out what character they are (for the record I’m fairly convinced that I work with Rumpelstiltskin), the show is just that good that I just can’t get it out of my head.

Once Upon A Time is based upon the stories of your favourite storybook characters, but don’t judge it on that! I’m a huge fan of Disney and all things fairytale and I’ve actually put off watching it for the past 6 months or so solely for the fact I thought it would be just a live action interpretation of some of my favourite Disney movies but it’s not like that at all. The series begins on Emma Swan’s 28^th birthday when out the blue her 10 year old son, Henry, that she gave up for adoption turns up on her doorstop. Emma drives Henry back to his town of Storybrook only to discover that she’s not so happy with the woman that Henry has ended up calling his mother. Therefore Emma decides to stay in the town. Little does she know, she’s crucial to breaking a curse that was made by the Evil Queen, 28 years previous. The curse transported all your favourite fairytale characters to a parallel world where they can’t remember anything about their previous lives. They all are now living boring day to day lives without a clue of the past; they all just believe they’ve been there for as long as they can remember. Despite not remembering who they are in the parallel world the characters all have similar jobs/characteristics to the fairytale character that they are which I think makes it fun to try and guess who each character should be. 

The characters aren’t stereotypical. You learn more about each character through present day and also flashback to who they were and how they lived their life in the parallel world. You find out more about their motives and how and why the curse was cast. You find that the bad guys actually have motives to their actions which I find rare in the fantasy genre. The girls are also not the stereotypical characters that need saving either with all of them being able to stand up for themselves fine without Prince Charming coming along to save the day. 

The actors in Once Upon A Time are absolutely brilliant. Robert Carlyle, who plays Mr Gold and Rumpelstiltskin in particular is fantastic. In some scenes his portrayal of Rumplestiltskin is terrifying. I don’t often like young child actors either but Jared Gilmore playing Henry is also great. For his age he is terrific in Once Upon A Time, I’m very interested to see his role progress throughout the series. Truthfully I’ve never seen anything anyone in Once Upon A Time has been in before but they all are superb in this show.

I’m a few years late to the Once Upon A Time party with series one being first broadcast in 2011 but it really is good. When I watched episode one I wasn’t so sure about the show but somehow thanks to the overlapped plots and character stories you’re shown throughout and then the cliff hangers at the end of every episode you are sucked in then before you know it you’ve watched an entire 22 episode series in two days. I’m currently most of the way through series 2 and although I prefer series one I still can highly recommend you watch this show. If you love fairytale stories and want to see them in a new light and don’t mind getting completely addicted to a show then Once Upon A Time is the show for you.

Sun-Kissed Summer - Marta Brown

I'm very excited to be posting this blog post. Sun-Kissed by Marta Brown sounds like just my kind of book and today I get to share a excerpt from the book on my blog and offer the chance to win an ebook copy of the book too!

Synopsis  -

Summer can change everything.


For shy, bookish Katie Quinn, it just might after an accidental mix-up at the airport on the way to visit her grandparents for the summer leaves her stuck with the wrong suitcase. One full of short shorts, high heels, and absolutely nothing she would normally dare to wear. Until she realizes her newfound look has garnered the attention of Key West’s biggest hottie, Brad-freaking-Garrison, and might just give her the one thing she’s always dreamed of—an epic summer romance.
A romance her summertime best friend only wishes he could give her. But for Oliver, getting Katie to see him as more than just some dumb jock isn’t going to be easy after he agrees to compete against Brad in a kite-surfing competition. And if Brad has any say in it, the prize is Katie herself.
With more than just a contest on the line and a friendship at stake, will this be the summer Katie finds her footing, even if it is in someone else’s shoes?  Will Oliver finally get the courage to tell Katie how he really feels and get out of the friend-zone for good? Or, like a kite in a hurricane, will everything they’ve ever hoped for be lost in the storm?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25706601-sun-kissed-summer

Book trailer: https://youtu.be/sUy0Dq1V95A

Purchase:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sun-Kissed-Summer-Marta-Brown/dp/1514837358/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438005200&sr=1-1&keywords=+Sun-Kissed+Summer

Excerpt -

With a quick look at the clock on my nightstand, I let out a groan at the ridiculous hour, toss off the covers, and slip out of bed. Thankful for the pair of sleep shorts I found last night that actually manage to cover both cheeks, I stomp down the hall to the top of the stairs.

“So, when you said last night you’d pick me up at six…” I trail off with crossed arms, despite Oliver’s cheery morning smile and what looks to be two cups of coffee. 

“DP, baby.” He lifts the steaming cup in my direction, giving it a small shake back and forth, like a taunt.

“DP? As in, date practice?” I ask, arching a brow as I trudge down the stairs and snatch the hot coffee from his grip. “You know, six pm would probably be a more fitting time to practice for say, a date. Don’t you think?”

Oliver takes a long sip of his drink while holding back a laugh. “Under normal circumstances, I would say yes, but we have nearly seventeen years to make up for in just one day.”

My cheeks catch fire at the reminder of how inexperienced I am, leaving me to wonder how in the world some silly, fake date is going to help when I’m so obviously beyond help at this point anyway. 

“You know what? I change my mind. I’m going back to bed.” Turning, I manage to take a single step before Oliver’s large, muscular arms wrap around my waist and pull me back against his chest. 

“Oh no, you don’t,” he says, humor lacing every word as he loosens his hold just enough so I’m able to twist around and face him—the small cups of coffee providing the only space between our two bodies. “I have big plans for us today. But, first things first. We have dawn patrol.”

Oh. DP stands for dawn patrol. Wait. What the heck is that?

The look on my face must tip him off to the fact I have no idea what he’s talking about because before I can ask, he shakes his head and laughs. “Dawn patrol is what we call an early morning kite-surfing session. And if we want a chance at winning the contest next week, we need practice. And you know what they say, don’t you?” Oliver grins as he lets the arm that is wrapped around my waist fall to his side before taking a small step back.

“Uh…no. What do they say?” I ask, slightly out of breath and strangely disappointed by the sudden amount of space between us. 

“Easy.” He winks. “Practice makes perfect.” 

Biting my lip, I don’t know if he’s talking about dating, kite surfing, or both. But by the way my heart is beating double time,I’m starting to think Oliver might just be the perfect guy to practice with either way.

Competition -

If like me you are desperate to read the book after reading that snippet I'm offering the opportunity to win an ebook copy of Sun-Kissed Summer! All you had to do is fill in the contact form on my blog with your details stating if you'd like to win ePub (Nook/Kobo), Mobi (Kindle) or PDF version of the book. The competition is open internationally and closes the 26th August with the prize being sent out shortly after. 

London Film And Comic Con 2015

This is a little different from my usual blog post but I thought that for this weeks post I would write about my experience at this weekends London Film & Comic Con at Kensington Olympia which I am currently sat on the train home from. 

Having attended various conventions since 2010, I am by no means a newbie to the organisers, Showmasters conventions so by now I know exactly how things work and what to expect. This year however, was my first time at the UK's largest convention of its kind, London Film & Comic Con (LFCC). I've never really fancied attending before as it is much bigger than the other conventions that I have attended in the past. This year however, LFCC was focussed on the 30th anniversary of one of my favourite films, Back To The Future so like many others I couldn't resist attending this year. 

This year was especially different to other years due to the fact that entry tickets and many of the photoshoots were sold out plus it added into the equation the addition of diamond passes for some of the bigger named guests. Not unsurprising when you look at some of the incredible guests that were on this lineup. Unfortunately gold/diamond passes were out of my price range so this blog comes from somebody who did the weekend entirely with a standard ticket. Despite the entry queue snaking almost the entire way around Olympia, Showmasters staff quickly got the crowds inside and although it may have taken me almost an hour to get inside the queue never stopped moving once so it didn't feel like much time at all. Considering the large amounts of attendees I think it was extremely well managed, particularly compared with some experiences I've had at not Showmasters run conventions.

I had photoshoot sessions booked in advance of the day, with the stars of Back To The Future, Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd and from Harry Potter, David Bradley and Michael Gambon. Michael J Fox is someone who I never thought I would get the opportunity to meet so I consider myself extremely lucky to have managed to get a photoshoot ticket to meet him. Of course, many other attendees were there to meet Michael J Fox too and the photoshoot area was by far the busiest I attended all day. It was extremely warm waiting and I seemed to be surrounded by people complaining that it was poorly organised but truthfully I think it wasn't too bad. Yes a better system could probably be thought of now Showmasters are getting extremely high profile guests attending but photo batches were clearly shouted by the staff member and held up on whiteboard so everyone should see. Everyone waiting got what they paid for in the end, the opportunity to get a photo and spend a few seconds speaking to someone they've watched on television for years. My biggest surprise came with Michael J Fox as I found him surprisingly chatty in comparison to Michael Gambon towards the end of the day, whose photo session seemed extremely rushed. A nice addition now is that you get your photo almost instantly after it is taken, much improvement to a few years back when you had to wait hours for your photo to be printed. Credit goes completely to the gentleman who was manning the big guest photoshoot area as I really think he kept all the photoshoots running as smoothly as they possibly could. 

My only real gripe about the convention is accessibility and the lack of air con, though this is more a fault of the venue rather than Showmasters themselves. Access to the comic book and young adult book sections as well as a few of the signing areas on levels 2 and 3 was poor. The only way up was by lift or a very small staircase which was very time consuming whichever option you chose to use. Despite me wanting to go and meet some authors, the accessibility really put me off making multiple trips up to those zones.

I need to mention the young adult literacy convention (YALC) which was part of LFCC this year. Featuring signings and talks from popular authors such as Samantha Shannon (author of The Bone Season series), Malory Blackman (author of the Noughts and Crosses series) and author of Take Back The Skies, Lucy Saxon, who even came in cosplay! As someone who is very interested in reading books of the young adult genre it was great that it had its own dedicated section of the convention. I just wish it had easier access so I could've spent more time browsing the book stalls and getting more of my books signed.

All in all I thought LFCC was brilliant and would certainly consider going again in the future. Although I've read quite negative opinions on this year's convention, I found the organisation to be pretty good overall. The guests this year were real one in a lifetime opportunity guests and I am very thankful for Showmasters for giving me the opportunity to meet everyone I did. If you want to attend LFCC I would highly recommend attending one of Showmasters other conversations first to get the feel of how they work with ticketing (particularly if you want autographs) as I think that LFCC may be a little overwhelming if it's your first conversation. 

VIP Polar Bear Experience - Yorkshire Wildlife Park

It's no secret that I love the Yorkshire Wildlife Park (click here for the post I've done about the entire park) and even less of a secret that my favourite animals in the park are Victor and Pixel the polar bears. So when the opportunity arose to go on a VIP Polar Bear Experience I couldn't resist.

The day starts off early, an hour before the park opens to the general public which only enhances the experience. For the whole time you're doing the experience it feels as though you're doing something really special as you're the only non staff members in the park for the duration. 

You're taken behind the scenes to help prepare the food that would later be used to feed the polar bears. We were shown the chart which shows what each animal in the park has planned for dinner each day which I found extremely interesting to see. On the day of my experience the polar bears were to eat a selection of fruit included pears and melon (which we helped to chop), eggs, horse meat and then a scatter feed of fish in the enclosure. Whilst in the food preparation area we were lucky enough to see one of the park's lionesses, Julie, staring at us from the other side of the bars.

We were then led to Project Polar, home of Victor and Pixel the polar bears where I got the opportunity to feed both the polar bears. It was incredible to see Victor and Pixel up close, you can't even begin to explain the sheer size of them until you're right next to them, in particular the size of 16 year old Victor. It was such a wonderful experience to be able to feed them both. Considering how big and dangerous polar bear are known to be in the wild, Victor and Pixel were so gentle in taking the food off the tongs. It's impossible not to want to spend all day with them! 

Having visiting the park quite a lot even the experience of being let into the polar bear enclosure to hide food and place toys for them was fantastic. It was so strange to see the view that Victor and Pixel will see and when you're down there yourself you really do get the feel of how large the enclosure actually is. It was unbelievable to then be able to open the gates that led Pixel and Victor into the enclosure and then watch them sniffing out the food I'd just hidden for them. 

The whole experience is then finished off in the park's Safari Cafe where you're treated to a complimentary breakfast before you're free to explore the rest of the park. The cafe service was great and the breakfast is delicious. 

The polar bear experience is quite expensive at £300 for two people but I personally thought it was worth every penny. How many people can say they've had the opportunity to feed not one but two polar bears? Vicky, the staff member who did my tour was fantastic. She was so enthusiastic about all the animals in the park and was more than happy to answer all our questions. I really love Victor and Pixel and to get so up close to them really is a one in a lifetime experience. If you know someone who loves polar bears and wants a more hands on experience with them or just loves Victor and Pixel then this really is a must buy experience for say a birthday or even just a treat. The park also offers VIP tours with other animals if polar bears aren't your thing. Yes it's expensive but truthfully I haven't stopped talking about it since, it was one of the best things I've ever had the opportunity to do. 

For more information on all the animal experiences the Yorkshire Wildlife Park offers click here.

Cinderella The Exhibtion

London’s Leicester Square has been the home to some of the world’s largest movie premieres over the years. Now, coming straight from the set of the movie, the square is home to a free exhibition full of many of the sets and props from Disney’s brand new Cinderella movie until the 10^th April of this year. 

The exhibition itself requires a free timed ticket to attend which enables you to freely move around the exhibition without lots of people, allowing you to fully experience all that is to see without too much of a crowd around.

The first room of the exhibition is the heritage gallery which is full of never before seen artwork from the original cartoon Disney Cinderella film and various other Disney memorabilia. It’s truly a must see for any Disney fan. 

The next few rooms take on straight into the heart of the film with you being able to walk through, Cinderella’s home, the cellar, the garden, the palace forecourt and the royal ball. Unfortunately I am yet to see the new Cinderella film but that doesn’t devalue your enjoyment of the exhibition, however I’m sure it’ll only enhance your enjoyment of the film after you’ve seen the sets in person. Knowing the story of Cinderella so well it genuinely feels like you’re living the life of Cinderella herself as you’re walking through the set pieces. I personally enjoyed seeing the level of detailing in every single piece of the set, in particularly the costumes. 

The palace forecourt and the royal ball set rooms are my personal favourite. The golden carriage is simply stunning in real life, the level of detailing in it is wonderful. Then you walk into the royal ball and it takes your breath away. The outfits of Cinderella and the Prince are twirling around the centre of the room surrounded by the costumes of the various attendees of the ball. 

It comes no surprise that Cinderella’s dress has 10,000 Swarovski crystals all over it; sparkling away, it completely fits the fairytale ball gown image. Then as you think that nothing can top how beautiful the dress is, your attention to drawn to the glass slipper. 150 hours of design was undertaken to design the perfect glass slipper for the movie. Quite honestly, it doesn’t disappoint. I can’t stress how much photographs don’t capture just how wonderful it is in real life. It looks like something out of this world, which is very appropriate considering they were put on Cinderella’s feet by magic.

Just as you think it can’t get any better the exhibition gives you the opportunity to become a princess, something which I’m sure every female has dreamt about once upon a time. A free experience is available where through the magic of an iPad you are able to have a glass slipper put on your own foot. The photo is then emailed across to you for free. Males and females, young and old were queuing up to get this experience so it certainly isn’t just something for the little girls to get involved in.

Everyone who knows the story of Cinderella or is interested in film sets and seeing some fabulous costumes will enjoy the exhibition. It’s unbelievable that this exhibition is free and I would highly recommend trying to visit before it leaves London in April.  

You can book tickets to the exhibition online on Ticketmaster now or you can pick up a ticket in Leicester Square on the day that you wish you attend.   

For more information on the exhibition visit -

http://movies.disney.co.uk/cinderella/exhibition

Fruit Salad Smoothie - Boost Juice

When I received an email from Boost Juice UK telling me about their new Fruit Salad limited edition smoothie drink that promised the taste of one of my favourite sweets with the usual healthiness of a smoothie, I knew I had to go and try one. 

For regular visitors to Boost you may somewhat recognise the taste due to it being a combination of two of their most popular smoothies, Passion Mango and Strawberry Squeeze. Incredibly when they are mixed together to create the Fruit Salad smoothie it creates an even more delicious drink than the two individually. Although the taste isn't quite that of a fruit salad sweet that it promised, it is still very sweet and somehow gives you the feeling that you are having a bag of sweets or an ice cream whilst you're drinking it. With summer coming up and people wanting to be healthier who would chose to have a salad when you can have a delicious smoothie instead. I can't believe that something which tastes so much like sweets can be healthy. 

The prices for a regular start at £4.45 in the Peterborough and Leicester stores, £4.70 in the London branches and £4.50 in the rest of the UK stores. Boost is quite expensive but in comparison to shop bought smoothies I can honestly say that it is worth it. You get a lot of smoothie for your money and it really is delicious.

For those wanting to know the ins and out of the smoothie, it contains a combination of apple and tropical juice, milk, banana, strawberry, mango, strawberry and vanilla yoghurt and ice. I can assure you that they are a winning combination and if you have a sweet tooth you will love the Fruit Salad smoothie.

Boost are selling the Fruit Salad smoothie up until Wednesday 6th May so be sure to head down to your local Boost branch to pick one up before it's too late.

To find out more information on about Boost Juice UK or to simply keep up to date with the latest products check out their various links below

www.boostjuicebars.co.uk

www.facebook.com/boostjuiceuk

www.twitter.com/boostjuiceuk

www.Instagram.com/boostjuiceuk

Camp America

It’s just over 3 years to the day since I went to the London recruitment fair and was placed at a summer camp in New Hampshire. Recently I've been thinking a lot about how still to this day, doing Camp America was the best decision I’ve ever made so I thought other people may find it interesting to read about my experience. 

Whilst I was applying to do Camp America I read a lot of blogs about other people’s experiences. Personally as useful as those blogs were I found very few on the campower option which I wanted to do and did ultimately ending up doing. Many companies offer a similar summer camp experience to Camp America but as I knew someone who went with Camp America a few years prior to when I did and had nothing but good things to say about them it seemed the obvious choice for me. The whole application process was straight forward, they made getting the visa simple, I flew Virgin Atlantic both ways, and someone was waiting to meet me at the airport to take me to the hotel they’d booked for us arriving into the States before taking us to the Greyhound bus station the morning after. I’m sure the other companies do the same but from my experience Camp America was fantastic.

From reading blogs, I found that many people chose to be counsellors but I chose to do campower. Campower is basically the support staff of the camp; you could be doing anything from helping cook dinner, to waitressing to cleaning for example. My role on camp was waitressing and housekeeping. Personally, I was 19 at the time and I didn’t feel like I was responsible or experienced enough for a counsellor position and I didn’t want to spend my entire summer living with children so being a member of the support staff team was perfect for me.

I think the first thing I have to say about Camp America, as amazing experience as it is don’t be fooled into thinking it’s just going to be three months of you dossing around in America. It really is hard work. I worked 6 out of 7 days but the advantage of being support staff was that I did have hours in between meal times where I could just chill or do camp activities. I would imagine being a counsellor is even more intense as from what I could tell they didn't get as much free time as I did. My work was especially intense prior and after camp ended due to getting the cabins ready for the children's arrival and  then closing them down again ready for the next year. Camp is like any job, once camp begins you have the same routine day in day out. My day began very early setting up the dining room ready for breakfast then we served breakfast as my camp had family dining style meals . We did a quick clean up of the dining room and set up for the next meal then went to clean our designated area which varied from the dance room or the gym for example, which was the only bit of cleaning we had to do all day. From then we repeated the dining room routine again at lunch and dinner before finishing for the evening. You got time to yourself between meals and evenings but the time we worked was hectic to say the least. I’m not sure if all camps do this but the camp I worked at provided cars so we were able to go into the nearest town and go to Walmart or the cinema after we finished for the evening. 

I adore the east coast of America so I couldn’t have been asked to have been placed anywhere better. In hindsight the big advantage of being placed at a recruitment fair is that I was able to chose myself camps that I liked the look and location of rather than waiting for a camp to chose me. Camp was exactly how I imagined an American summer camp to look like, except for the fact it was lacking my long lost American twin but maybe that only happens in films. New Hampshire was somewhere that I probably wouldn’t have chosen to go on holiday but it was perfect to live there. It was full of the most breathtaking places where we were lucky enough to visit on our days off, it wasn't far away from dreamlike beaches and for those who prefer the city, my camp was situated only an hour away from Boston. I loved it so much that I am currently saving money to hopefully be able to move to New Hampshire one day soon, something that I wouldn’t have been inspired to do without attending camp. 

For anyone reading this whose thinking of doing of Camp America but isn’t so sure about it, I can highly recommend doing it. 3 years on I find myself still saying the sentence, “this one time when I was at camp...” to people far too often. It has provided me with lifelong memories and friends from around the world who I’m still in contact with today. Although it was very hard work and truthfully at times I did feel like coming home, I would do it again tomorrow if I could. What other summer job can you get that gives you the opportunity to spend three months in America and time to travel after? I’m sure depending on what type of camp you go to and where it is situated in America everyone has different experiences but I’m sure everyone who does Camp America takes away such incredible memories and would recommend doing it.    

For more information on Camp America visit the website by clicking here

VIP Concert Packages

To go and see your favourite band performing on their latest arena tour it has never been particularly cheap but somewhere along the lines I seem to have missed when it became the norm to charge £50 for tickets to the show and then charge fans even more for the privilege of sitting in the front rows or to meet the artist before the show?

VIP tickets have particularly grown in popularity over the years. Now you're hard pushed to find a concert that doesn't offer you some sort of VIP package. I know when I was younger the only opportunity I had to meet a band before the show was to win a meet and greet in a competition. Competitions now seem quite few and far between and the main way you can meet a band is to fork out extortionate amounts of money for a VIP package. I love meeting my favourite band as much at the next person but at the end of the day is it really worth forking out so much money to meet another human? For example, Demi Lovato is currently charging $6000 on a meet and greet package which doesn't even include a ticket to the show. It gets even more ridiculous when you realise a lot of these meet and greet packages are group photographs meaning that you may get complete strangers in your photo. If you've spent so much extra money surely the artist could spare a couple of extra seconds for just a photo of you and them?

Concert tickets are also starting to become part of VIP packages. I appreciate the fact that perhaps they're trying to stop touts buying and reselling front row seats by charging more than the resale price but I'm sure they're better ways to do it. It's sad that now to get close to the front at a concert you have to pay much more than the standard ticket price to enable you the privilege of a front row seat. Are the fans that can only afford a standard ticket any less of fan than one who can afford a VIP package? Probably not. In my eyes it doesn't seem fair.

I am particularly fortunate as when I was younger I was lucky enough to have had front row seats appear when buying tickets (not part of a VIP package) and managed to win multiple meet and greets with my favourite band. I am also at the age now where I have disposable income and can afford some of the VIP packages and I have to admit I have bought them. However, where does it stop? I feel as though VIP packages are out pricing fans. Why should a fan that has rich parents be able to get better concert tickets or able to meet the band over a family that have scraped together all year for tickets? Personally I think something needs to be done about them before it spirals even more out of control. 

2014

This is going to be a slightly longer and different blog post to what I would usually do. With 2014 coming to a close and 2015 beginning I felt it was appropriate to blog about some of the things that I really enjoyed in 2014 and would recommend that others would check out too. Some of the things may not have been released etc in 2014 but I just discovered them in this year or they have been a big part of my life in one way or another in 2014. I also figure that this blog will also be a good one for me to look back on in the future to see what I was enjoying this year.

For me one of my musical highlights of the year was McBusted. They joined forces at the end of 2013 but 2014 has brought a sell out arena tour and an album. I'm sure I've mentioned in posts before how much of a fan I am of both Busted and McFly so I was thrilled that they created a super group. The tour they did early in the year is up there in one of the best live concerts I've ever seen, it was so well thought through and I loved the set list. The newly released self titled, although I don’t feel any of the tracks are stand outs like Crashed The Wedding or 5 Colours In Her Hair, it is a very good album from beginning to end. 

It is hard to not feature Taylor Swift as part of this blog. I think you'll be hard pushed to find someone who wouldn't agree that 2014 has well and truly been the year of Taylor Swift. She undertook a sell out world tour at the beginning of the year including five dates at London’s 02 Arena and released her new album, 1989, towards the end.  Although her 1989 album isn't my personal favourite that she's released you can't deny that her new pop sound has taken the world by storm and she still remains to be one of my favourite musicians. For that reason alone I would have to recommend that you listen to Taylor Swift. I'm choosing 1989 for this blog post solely on the fact that it was released in 2014, however, I would strongly suggest listening to her back catalogue too.

I read a lot of books in 2014 – 46 to be precise. Some of them better than others. Looking at my goodreads ratings on the 46 books I only rated three that I read this year with a five star rating so I will recommend those. The three books that I rated five stars are

• The Time Of My Life – Cecelia Ahern
• Not Without You – Harriet Evans
• Not In The Script – Amy Finnegan

Me giving a five star rating on a book involves the book completely taking over my life. When I am enjoying the book so much my entire life tends to revolve around it, it’s all I think about and what’s happening in the book tends to affect my day to day mood. For example, I end up worrying about things the characters in the book are worrying about. I completely enjoyed these three so couldn’t recommend them more.

I managed to see a few musicals in 2014. However, all of them but one I have seen before. For that reason my favourite of 2014 is going to have to be Cinderella. It was such a magical performance of the tale and the songs are just so catchy. Although it isn’t in the UK yet and is shutting on Broadway very shortly if you find yourself in distance of the US tour of it and you love the story of Cinderella I’d say it’s definitely worth checking out.

My two stand out theatre performers of the year are Savannah Stevenson and Carrie Hope Fletcher. I can’t even begin to describe how wonderful performers I think they both are and they both have been a pleasure to meet at stage door after I saw their respective shows. Savannah Stevenson is currently performing as Glinda in Wicked London. I’ve said before in a blog post how impressed I am with her portrayal as Glinda and I’m so excited to hopefully get to see her in Wicked again, everyone in the cast is unbelievably good I really couldn’t suggest going to see it more. Carrie Hope Fletcher is currently playing Eponine in London’s Les Miserables and very recently played Beth in the final arena tour of War of the Worlds. Carrie Hope Fletcher is someone I’ve been aware of for a number of years but getting to see her in theatre just put emphasis on how ridiculously talented she is. She leaves the cast of Les Miserables in June and I definitely think she’ll be someone to watch out for in the future.   

 

I’m going to leave this blog post at this otherwise it’ll just be far too long. I think that covers some of the main things of 2014. I hope anyone reading this had a good 2014 and will have an even better 2015.

McBusted TourPlay

It's been over a year ago now since James Bourne and Matt Willis of Busted joined McFly on stage at their 10th year anniversary concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. Since then it has led to both bands forming the supergroup of McBusted and the collaboration has just gone from strength to strength from the minute it was officially announced last year. In the past year McBusted have sold out over 30 arena tour dates and Hyde Park in London. Now they're gearing up to release the first McBusted single, Air Guitar which is followed by a self entitled album on the 1st December and rumours are flying about another McBusted Tour. 

Yesterday I went to go and see McBusted's film TourPlay at a Vue Cinema. TourPlay documented the arena tour earlier in the year showing the tour from when the tickets were put on sale to seeing the live performances filmed from London's O2 Arena and Hyde Park. 

If you want to relieve the memories from the tour or if you weren't able to see it at the time this film is for you. Although seeing the concert in person was much better than on a screen it was worth seeing to see it again and to see the bonus behind the scenes clips slotted in between the songs. It was very interesting to see things such as how skeptical the band were about even selling out the original 11 tour dates, Danny revealing being starstruck that Tom knew Busted, then to see the tour actually be put together.

Although it was obvious when seeing the concert the film really emphases how close they are as a band. They've been friends for a lot of years and performing as a six piece seems a real natural thing for them to do. In the clips of them from backstage on then tour they seem genuinely good friends and it's so nice to see it documented. It is revealed constantly how the band are having such a good time it how the timing for McBusted is perfect. Right now all 6 members are having the time of their lives so for the time being it looks like we'll be seeing a lot more of McBusted.

I have loved Busted and McFly for over half of my life now so for me seeing my favourite bands on the large screen was fantastic. At times even a little emotional. Seeing clips of McFly from backstage of the Wonderland tour (the bands first ever arena tour back in 2005) flash up on the big screen for example really makes you realise how much they've grown up and you've grown up with them. At points I t is a real trip down memory lane. For a fan of McBusted this film, especially seeing it at the cinema, is everything you could want. I really enjoyed reliving the tour and seeing the backstage going on's. 

Unfortunately Tourplay was only shown for two nights at Vue Cinemas around the country so if you want to catch it the DVD is currently scheduled for release November 24th. 

Solo Travelling

Travelling alone has a certain stigma around it. When you tell people that you are going on holiday alone you get the same reaction. Shock that you're going on holiday alone and many a mention of how brave you are. The lady I was sat next to on the airplane even asked if I didn't have any friends! It really shouldn't be the case. I'm far from brave just because I'm ok with spending time with myself!

I'm writing this in the departure lounge of Newark Liberty International Airport waiting to go home after a very successful solo holiday to New York City. During this trip I did things many people say they would never do alone, I attended Broadway shows, I went to a concert, I even ate in restaurants alone. People don't even do these things alone at home let alone on holiday and honestly I don't get the problem. 

You call all the shots. If you decide to go visit an attraction such as an art gallery you have no one moaning that they don't want to go, you can spend as long or as little time as you wish looking at the exhibitions with no one rushing you on. Isn't that the dream holiday? I know on this holiday in particular I attended Broadway shows that I wanted to see, no compromises happened. I decided what I wanted to go and see and when I wanted to see it and I bought a ticket without any worries that my companion wouldn't want to attend. Not every holiday will require you to get tickets to an event but I found that an advantage of going alone is you will tend to find good individual seats are available at the front even if you book very last minute. 

I ended up attending a concert alone this trip too. For one I don't think anyone I travelled with would be keen to go to a concert whilst in New York and I don't know if I would've got a ticket in the first place if I was with someone else. I didn't feel alone at the concert, I was talking to people about our favourite bands and songs and once the band were on stage it was very easy to forget I was alone. Who talks to someone when the artist is on stage performing anyway? This isn't the first time that I have actually attended a concert by myself and I wouldn't hesitate in doing it again. The big advantage of a concert is that you have something very big in common with the other people at the venue, you're all there to see the same performer. If you want to stand at the back by yourself you can but I find if you want to talk to people you have the concert artist in common to talk about.

For me the big issue with solo travelling was food. I have actually only ever gone to New York alone so this may not apply to other places. As well as tourists, New York is full of single business travellers. Due to this many restaurants cater for people alone with many restaurants suggesting that you sit at the bar and have your food there. Eating alone isn't as bad as you picture it being, particularly when you're surrounded by other people eating alone. I know the first time I went to New York alone I ate pretty much all my food from fast food takeout restaurants. This time I decided I wasn't doing this. You quickly realise the only person missing out on eating nice food at good restaurants is yourself. Do you really want to come back and tell people you only ate at McDonalds because you didn't dare go into a restaurant to eat by yourself? Plus you end up missing out on all the delicious food that is on offer.

Personally when it came to New York sightseeing I really enjoyed going solo. I put my headphones in and just walked. No one bothers stopping you to ask if you want a bus tour or other tourist attractions. You can just walk to wherever you want to, you can stop and look in whatever shops you want to look at, you can stop for a drink at a coffee shop that you like the look of, who doesn't want to do that on holiday? 

People don't think that you're at all odd in going alone. No one would even know that you're alone. I believe that the only thing that holds you back from solo travelling is yourself. Once you get through that barrier you'll have up full of all the worries about travelling alone you'll realise it isn't half as bad as you imagined it to be. 

I'd be lying if I said it's better than travelling with a companion. I wouldn't chose to go on holiday alone unless I had to. New York is a city I feel very comfortable in having visited many times, however if I want to visit a place I'd never been and none of my friends wanted to go or could afford to go then I wouldn't hesitate considering going alone. If you aren't sure about going on holiday alone or even just attending a concert alone, just do it. I can one hundred percent guarantee that it won't be as you expect it to be. If you go in with the attitude that it's odd to be alone then you won't have a good time, but if you go in with an open mind I can assure you'll have just as good of a time as if you had a travel companion with you.

Ratatouille Ride - Disneyland Paris

I was lucky enough to experience the brand new Disneyland Paris Ratatouille ride, L'adventure totalement toquée de Rémy, during the soft opening last weekend. Based on the Disney Pixar film, Ratatouille, the ride itself is set inside a beautiful square complete with a cobbled pavement and a water fountain. To make the square more Ratatouille themed, beady eyed visitors will notice items such as customised rat manhole covers and rats decorating the fountain. As with everywhere in Disneyland Paris the square comes complete with a restaurant - Bistrot Chez Remy, and a gift shop. I had a quick peek into the restaurant as it is situated right by the rides exit and it looks magnificent. I am very eager to visit the restaurant on my next visit to Disneyland Paris. 

The ride itself is like nothing I've ever experienced before. The queue somewhat shrinks you down to the size of a rat before you've even sat down on the ride. You are made to feel like you're queuing on a roof top before being welcomed to the ride by Gusteau and being invited to collect a pair of 3D glasses. The immersive area to queue makes time pass quickly and before you know it you're being ushered onto the ride.

You ride the attraction in a rat shaped car which vaguely resemble the films lead rats Remy and Emile. The cars can fit in two rows of three people. From the moment you start to move the car glides effortless around the attraction. The ride shrinks you down to the size of a rat and you're being chased by Skinner and kitchen staff out of the restaurant. You fly under carts for example and genuinely feel like you're zooming around the kitchen. However, a sneaky look behind you will quickly reveal that you're not even moving at all despite feeling like you are. The 3D effects and the simulator that is in place on the ride are just superb. Just when you thought the ride couldn't get any better it throws some great 4D moments in. You are slightly sprayed by water and even roasted in an oven with fake (but very realistic looking) flames. 

I'm a frequent visitor to Disneyland Paris and it hasn't really had any amazing new rides or locations for a number of years. I should've ignored my skepticism that the ride/expansion wouldn't meet my high expectations as the ride was simply fantastic. Any review cannot capture just how wonderful the ride is and I just cannot recommend going to visit enough to experience it for yourself. It's truly a must visit attraction for the entire family. Well done Disneyland Paris!

If you want to visit Disneyland Paris and experience the attraction for yourself it opens to the general public on July 10th and is situated in the Walt Disney Studios park.