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HEYDAY FRIDAY NEWSLETTER

My eye was caught by a report in the papers this week (and not just because it was one of the only ones that wasn't so miserable it made me want to slit my wrists).
It reported that, despite the cost of living challenges we're all facing, we Brits are clearly not prepared to give up our holidays in the sun. In fact, we're booking them in our droves.

Unsurprisingly Mediterranean beach holidays are proving especially popular. But the article also mentioned that one eco tour operator has reported a 21 percent increase in bookings compared to before the pandemic, whilst another adventure tour company says it had its best ever day of sales on the Friday after New Year.

It's with those two latter statistics in mind that I point you towards THIS WEEK'S BLOG. Because if you are even vaguely contemplating a holiday that offers either stunningly magnificent, carefully protected landscapes, plant, animal and especially bird life, or unforgettable adventures, or better still, a magical combination of both, then I urge (I would say 'demand' if it didn't sound just that bit too bossy) you to consider Costa Rica.

With any luck, once you've read THE BLOG, you'll understand why (if you don't then I haven't done it justice. Which I really hope I have) and be reaching your diary to find the first possible dates when you can experience it for yourself.

I know I've shown you some pics from my trip before, and there are lots more in THE BLOG, but I couldn't resist sharing just one more here. I'd just clambered out of that pool behind me in the most inelegant way imaginable. Hence the laughter! 

Ibn Battuta was a 14th century traveller, explorer and scholar who wrote famous travel logs about the people, places and cultures he encountered on his journeys which covered some 75,000 miles across and beyond the Islamic world. He also wrote these wonderful  

WORDS OF WISDOM

(And in case you were wondering, that's another speech-robbing Costa Rican vista in the pic) 

In another part of the holiday news piece, it reported that Amsterdam, Paris and Reykjavik were the most booked city break destinations. Having visited Iceland last year I can certainly see why Reykjavik makes the list - compact, colourful and welcoming with the most delicious food, it's an easy city to experience all of in an un-frenetic couple of days. But I would also say it would be a real waste to go there without taking enough time away to see more of the astonishing country it's the capital of.  THIS BLOG explains why.

SMART SAVE TIPS OF THE WEEK

Since we're on a travel theme this week, I've got a couple of packing tips that will help you travel in a more eco and budget friendly way.

This first one may seem obvious, but it's something that's easy to forget:

Travel with your own water bottle
Not only will you be cutting down on plastic waste but also the expense of buying often over-priced bottled water (this obviously only applies to countries where it's safe to drink the tap water). And if you have an insulated bottle like this one I have (below), you can keep any drink hot or cold for up to 12 hours. Ideal if you like having a cuppa available to sip throughout the day. 

Jumkeet Double Walled Vacuum Cup Flask £12.99


This next one might be something you'd never thought about before:

If you need specialist clothing or kit for a trip, consider hiring it.
Take Iceland for example, if you were going there, or to any potentially very cold and/or snowy country, but didn't have suitable warm clothing or footwear, did you know you can hire, rather than going to the expense of buying, it? HERE's one of the places where you can find what you might need.

THIS WEEK I'VE BEEN....

.... WATCHING

I know, I know! I'm SO late to the party with The White Lotus. Indeed, because I'm so behind the curve, I've actually watched the second series before the first one. Sacrilegious or what? (I was assured they could be viewed in isolation from each other without impacting the enjoyment or understanding and I can confirm that's true).
I should also admit, before I go any further, that I still haven't watched season one, so I can't compare the two. I can, however, heartily recommend the second series of this now heftily award-laden, satirical comedy drama series.
Like the first, it follows a group of idiosyncratic, wealthy holiday guests and the staff working at the luxurious hotel hotel where they're staying. This time in Sicily rather than Hawaii where series one was set. Like the first there's a death mystery to be uncovered over the course of the episodes. In this case, as presumably with the first series, the mystery being not just who has died (we know from the first episode that there's been a death, so I'm not giving away any spoilers here), but how and why.
Season one was all about the twin themes of loneliness and connection, this time the attention of creator Mike White focuses on the characters' relationships and particularly their sex lives. There is an awful lot of sex of every sort in White Lotus - carnal, loving, irresponsible, calculated, frustrating and frustrated. There's also plenty of intrigue, satire, humour and things and people being not quite what they seem.
To say none of the flawed, generally pretty badly-behaved, but, at times uncomfortably, relatable, characters is especially likeable, doesn't mean they're not eminently watchable, especially the deservedly garlanded Jennifer Coolidge - the only character to appear in both series. Nor does it mean that you don't at the very least want to know what happens for and to each one of them as the series unfolds. And plenty does. 

You can watch THE WHITE LOTUS on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV
And see the trailer for season two HERE 
 

.... READING

Complicated relationship dynamics and illicit sex are also themes of The Paper Palace, which I'm also late to reading (I sense a bit of a theme here, sigh), and which I enjoyed hugely having taken a while to get in to.
Set over 24 hours in the beloved, and beautifully depicted, New England holiday home on Cape Cod (the eponymous Paper Palace) where Elle Bishop has spent every summer of her childhood and now visits annually with her own family. And where something happens that means she will have to decide between the life she has made with her loving, and loved, husband, Peter, and the life she always imagined she would have had with her childhood love, Jonas, if a tragic and traumatic event hadn't changed the course of their futures forever.
The book weaves between the present and the past, slowly layering up the events that have shaped the increasingly vivid characters, who include Peter's battle-axe mother, and Elle's cutting, damaged, but not uncaring one.  
Tender, taught and emotional, The Paper Palace is a satisfying and memorable examination of the complexities of marriage and the nature of love. 

You can get THE PAPER PALACE from pretty much any bookshop including Waterstones  (there's an audio book version too)  

January 18th is apparently Winnie the Pooh Day and, as you know, I never need an excuse to feature some 

WORDS OF WISDOM

from my favourite honey-obsessed bear. I think these could easily be applied to travelling, don't you? Happy special day Pooh. 

Hope you make some fun memories in the coming week, whatever you're doing and wherever you're going. 

'Till next time. 

Diane x