3 days in Milan

It's just over a year since our holiday in Italy, where we spent a few wonderful days across two locations: Genoa and Milan. We have already done a post on Genoa (last year!) and thought this was the perfect time to reminisce and advise you all the spots you must visit in Milan!

Duomo di Milano (Cathedral of Milan) 

This is one of the largest cathedrals in not just Italy but the world. A great example of stunning Italian architecture you MUST see when in Milan. 

The building is made of white marble and you cannot miss it once you come out of the Metro Duomo. There are so so many pigeons which is probably the only downfall but none more so than any open space in London.

before amy beat him up

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II 

This is the world's oldest shopping malls and is absolutely breath-taking. The architecture in Milan is stunning but the finite details in this building are just *sighs*

In the centre there is a mosaic image of a bull and it’s considered good luck to spin backwards on the bull’s balls. Don’t be alarmed if you see tourists randomly spinning whilst being videoed like we were haha 

Situated directly across from the Duomo so both can be visited on the same day which is perfect for a short break in Milan. Not only is the Galleria home to the topmost designers it also has outdoor cafes inside – absolutely perfect for people watching.

Naviglio Grande

The Naviglio Grande is a canal lined with authentic Italian restaurants offering SUCH good food and more importantly beaut wine and aperitvo. We’d recommend heading down afternoon/early evening and grab an outdoor seat facing the water so that you can watch the sunset. 

We had an early dinner about 6pm, then had cocktails at nearby bars; nothing new there! If you prefer a more chilled evening, drinking wine sitting outside a restaurant is bliss but if you fancy a bit more fun there are a few promoters around offering discounts on cocktails. They  of course love an English tourist but the deals were actually decent.

Temakinho (Milan Brera restaurant)

This is a Japanese and Brazilian restaurant in the heart of Milan which we could not recommend more if we tried. Menu consists of Japanese temakies & rolls using unique Brazilian flavours whereas the drinks menu is fully of lush South American cocktails. 

The restaurant is down a beautiful little street about a 10 minute walk from Metro Moscova. Décor is primarily focused on the Brazilian side of the business so think vibrant yellows and greens but presented in a super chic way. 

We went on a whim because we had a sushi craving but luckily (because we’re extra) we dressed up. 

We were quite shocked by how prestige entry seemed, there were hostess at the front to make sure you’d booked and lots of posers outside who were either waiting for tables or just sipping on cocktails – just a heads up, if you are considering going whilst in Milan!

5 Destinations We're Desperate To Visit Over The Next Year

1. Santorini 

Views look breathtaking no matter what time of day but especially sunset ma gawd – type it in on Google/Pinterest if you haven’t already. We’d love the chance to sit on a balcony, soak in the sunset, drink some wine and graze on some feta and olives nomm we are obsessed with mezze at the moment and it doesn’t really get much better than having a delicacy in the country of origin! 

2. Ibiza 

If you know either of us you will know that we are dyyying to go to this heaven of an island. There is nothing surer than the fact we will be attending in 2018. The only thing we can’t ensure is that we’ll be booking a return.

3. Dubai

I mean c’mon who hasn’t seen photos of Dubai and not been tempted to just book a flight? We’ve legit done it about 4 times this year often after a few cocktails but then we chicken out. Reasoning: Heat (yes we can handle it.. just about), name a more luxurious destination we dare you, quad bikes on sand dunes – Lorraine loves quads and has been dying to give this ago, never been UAE closest we’ve got is Qatar and that was a stopover

4. Copenhagen

Lorraine has been but only for a day and we really want to go together and explore it properly. Another reason for going is to experience a winter break for a change, as we normally only go warm destinations. Not only are the locals lovely but L still got some left over Danish Krona that needs spending...

5. Southeast Asia

For the past few years or so we’ve only been travelling to European destinations and we’ve decided it’s about time we packed up our big ass suitcases and jump on a long haul flight to Asia! Right now it’s a coin toss between Indonesia (we lived there as babies and want to go see our old house and the places we’ve heard stories about) and Japan. Japan more so because sushi will be consumed ALL DAY EVERYDAY whilst we’re out there.

Festival Guide: Social Festival 2017

Social Festival is located in The Kent County Showground, Maidstone, Kent. 
The festival took place on Friday 29th September - Saturday 30th September.

This was our first time at this festival but the music genre is House/Techno so even though we only knew a few names on the line-up we knew the sets would be right up our street. 

Travel

Lorraine drove and it took 1hr 30min from Basingstoke and it's roughly the same from Central London.

 Other modes of transport include: 

Green Coach – transport from various cities in the UK

Train: there are three train stations in Maidstone which can provide access; Maidstone East, Maidstone West, Maidstone Barracks.

Lil selfie before we set off (3 hours late lol)

Accommodation 

Oakwood House Hotel – very easy to find, literally 10 minute drive once you exit the M20. 

To get to the festival via an Uber – ranges between £15-£35. Really pretty hotel with a vintage English manor aesthetic. For this reason it is used for wedding quite a bit, which was probably why we got a lot of strange looks by other guests when we rolled in, in the early hours of the morning… 

Staff were lovely and room was perfect for a two night stay. We didn’t make it for breakfast so can’t review it but it will be included in the price when booking. 

Cost: £180 for 2 night stay. Only downfall is the walls are paper thin – we know this due to the fact the man in the room adjacent screamed at us to quieten down on Sunday morning because we were a little too loud for his liking *rolls eyes*

Italian, Brazilian BBQ and Cocktails

Carrying on from the land of the birds post we thought we'd tell you about afters! We took a little drive down the road and went to another completely random affair... a Brazilian BBQ at an Italian family run restaurant.

Yes odd, but equally brilliant! The restaurant is called Peppone's Restaurant for all you local foodies!

Food was amazingggggggg literally we tried two three different dishes, 2 different cocktail pitchers and 2 house bottles of wine and we are sold. God knows how amazing the lasgna tastes *drools*

Here's what we ate:

Drinks - Caipirinha cocktail pictured below with a raspberry twist

Overall atmosphere was something else, maybe it's because of the weather and bbq setting; everyone's always so much more chilled at these kind of functions. Regardless, we feel like the waiters/staff are always that friendly and attentive and got the impression the family vibe is the norm.

The owner 'Peppe' is a sweetheart. Proper cheeky Italian gent who makes a fuss of everyone, so much so he merged all the tables together once the sun began to set and got all of us remaining guests to sit together whilst he ordered another round of drinks and Prossecco on the house. UTTER DON

We had a fabulous time and almost missed our train to SWITCH in Southampton - but we'll be returning real soon!!

xxx

Bank Holiday Weekend: Birdworld

Right now we're currently just about over our hangovers and knee deep in the bank holiday blues; as many of you are we're sure. Sooo to make ourselves feel better we thought we'd give you lovely lot a run down of what we got up to on our extremely random 3 day bender!

BIRDWORLD

Now not many people know this but Amy adores birds and stores a ridicilous amount of facts in that pretty little head of hers regarding the species. Having known this our stepdad was an absolute babe and bought us tickets to go to the one and only Birdworld! Now if you find this extremely funny we totally get it, and we were apprehensive that it would be boring and odd but it was literally SO MUCH FUN! We stayed for like 3 hours and then went on to have 5 too many cocktails but we'll get on to that later...

Birdworld is literally just up the road from us in a town called Farnham. 

It is approximately 26 acres long so its fair to say you'll burn your daily calories wandering round the various exhibits and sanctuaries yaaas

We won't go into great details on the different species as we understand this isn't everyone (especially our subscribers) cup of tea buuut we have to give a mention to our favourite exhbitis/birdies:

There are also a lot of random areas such as a random hedge that leads to fake dinosaurs (Lorraine had all the time for this) in a forest of bamboo, wizard cardboard cut out and a little animal farm including ferrets, chickens and a reindeer haha but we LOVE super odd experiences and moments like this and howled the entire time! 

Overall we had such a fun day, Amy had a smile on her face the entire time and we 100% recommend it if you're bored on a sunny day and just want to do something random and make memories!

Now to our normal kind of blog post.. cocktails and fooood!

10 Reasons We Love London On A Weekday

1. It is acceptable to wear heels!! As well as whatever outfit you damn well want to.. we're talking furs, glitter, pink hair? Most Londoners wouldn't bat an eyelid whereas in Basingstoke, stating we'd be stared at would be an understatement.

2. HAPPY HOUR - enough said.

3. Sushi every couple of minutes, ranging from high end (shout out to Sushi Samba, we misss you and we're coming back for you real soon) all the way to itsu - yummy but affordable.

4. Spontaneous fun - with apps like DICE FM and Twitter knocking about you can literally just search for gigs, rooftop bar events, open air cinemas and BOOM there's your afternoon sorted

5. Acceptable to day drink - people either presume you're celebrating or a functioning alcoholic; both opinions we can live with

6. London is constantly alive, at any time of day. There is a permanent buzz about the whole city, not as unbearably busy as the weekend though

7. Most places are within walking distance - bar, specific cuisine restaurant, tube station - you name it! Walk a little further and it'll be there

8. Leading on from number 6. There is endless fun to discover, we reckon you could live in London your whole life and there will always be another kooky bar or lush coffee shop that you still haven't visited

9. Culture - I mean where else can you eat an Indonesian starter, french cocktails, Japanese/Brazilian main, american dessert (sorry but food is bae) followed by a phenomenal theatre show? We'll wait..

10. Skilled barmen! I'm talking strong but delicious cocktails not just you're average long island iced tea. PLUS someone who will make you smile whilst making it

Lorraine's Birthday Trip!! PART 2

Tuesday

Travelled to Liverpool via ze train and stayed at hands down the most gorgeous hotel we've had the pleasure of being in; The Shankly Hotel.

It is a luxury, bespoke hotel dedicated to the legendary football manager Bill Shankly. We're not going to lie, we had to google the reason why there was loads of football memorabilia related to this gentlemen! Location is absolutely perfect, literally a 5 minute walk from Liverpool Lime Street Station, 10 minute walk to the shops and 10 minute uber (yaaas they have it here!) to the docks; where the best restaurants and bars are located. 

The decor throughout the was absolutely beautiful, I mean the hallway to our room was lined with silver fur carpet for gods sake!! Here are a couple of photos of the room:

It was literally like a beautiful silver boutique princess room and each and every room/suite has a different lavish theme - check out their Instagram guys (especially the hen party bride floral suite INSANE!)

Video tour:

Evening

Aloha - Tiki themed bar music was dire (depressing indie tunes which totally killed the cool hawaiian vibe) BUT having said this cocktails were beaut and super cheap

Once the cocktails had been downed we moved onto a bar that lured us in with booming music outside called Heebie Jeebies