Bookshops I'd Like to Visit| CarenzaOnBooks

I love a good bookshop. I often have to be dragged away from bookshops by friends and family because I could easily spend hours in them. This post is inspired by my bookshop trip to Oxford, which you can read about here. There are so many bookshops I want to visit so I have compiled a list of some of my top destinations!

A bookshop from my Oxford trip 

Daunt Books, Oxford

This was one of the places on my list when we went to Oxford, but unfortunately it was too far out of the city centre for us to visit. I know that this is a beloved bookshop to those based in Oxford and from the photos I've seen, it's very pretty. I really like how they organise their books by author nationality, so you can read outside of the usual UK-USA authors, which is something I'd like to do.

Daunt Books, London

Yes, another branch of Daunt Books is making an appearance on this list. This is the one I see on my Instagram feed frequently and it is stunning. By far, one of the prettiest bookshops I've ever seen. Do I partly want to go so I have an Instagram worthy photo? Yes. But like it's Oxford counterpart, I am excited to try and find some authors from outside my usual reading taste. 

Topping&Company Booksellers, Edinburgh

Again, this may be another one I want to visit because of its Instagram worthy status, but it also just looks like a stunning bookshop. The one in Edinburgh has sliding ladders! A bookworms dream. I know they also have a large selection of signed and first editions of books. My only experience of Edinburgh bookshops is Blackwell's, where I would get a book after every time I went to the Fringe Festival. Edinburgh is a place I adore and can't wait to go back. 

Shakespeare&Company, Paris

The fact that I have been to Paris twice and not visited this shop is just a tragedy. It's a well known spot for book lovers and writers. I believe when it first opened, writers would stay to work on their novels and help out at the bookshop. This is now known as being a "tumbleweed" and one day, it is a goal of mine to do this. They have a selection of English and French books too.

The Strand, New York

The Strand feels like one of those bookshops you have to go to as some rite of passage as a bookworm. The tall shelves filled with books. A selection of bookish themed merch. It just looks like you'd have a great time wandering around. If I ever get to New York, this is on the top of my list of things to do. 

Gay's The Word, London

This is the UKs only, exclusive gay and lesbian bookshop, so naturally I want to go there. I actually ordered some books from them during the Pandemic, so I know they have a great selection of LGBT books. I think it's great that there are bookshops like this, with a focus on a specific type of writer/subject. When I next go to London, whenever that is, it's on my to visit list. 

The Tree House Second-Hand Bookshop, Kenilworth

The final entry on this list and this one is the closest to me. The reason I want to go here? They do Christmas Book Advents. 24 books hand picked and wrapped for you to open throughout December. It is literally my dream advent calendar. I also love a good second-hand bookshop. This one is part bookshop, part local arts centre. Another cosy place to browse books.   

So those are some bookshops I'd like to visit. I'm sure I'll add more to my list, so at some point in the future, I may do a part two. What are some bookshops you'd like to visit?

My Bookish Trip to Oxford| Carenza Bramwell

I have lost count of the amount of times I have seen people I follow on Instagram talking about bookshops in Oxford. I had only been to Oxford once when I was younger and that was to explore the colleges. So seeing all of these incredible bookshops that were only an hour away from me, I knew I had to visit. As my birthday fell on the Bank Holiday and we're still being on the cautious side, we decided we would go to Oxford on the day after as a part of my birthday. Here is my Oxford Bookshop Crawl trip.

Blackwell's Art and Poster, Oxford

First stop on our list was the Art and Poster branch of Blackwell's. This houses an entire floor dedicated to graphic novels, manga and comics. They also had a pretty decent selection of posters and knick knacks. I didn't have a specific list for my trip, just whatever takes my fancy kinda deal. Though I did tell myself I was only allowed to get 5 books. Spoiler- I got 8, which I consider to be pretty decent. I bought myself Bloodlust&Bonnets by Emily McGovern, a graphic novel set in the Regency period about some queer vampire hunters. I really enjoyed it! A solid first stop. 

Blackwell's, Oxford

Next on our list was Blackwell's. There were three stores next to each other, but I think we went in the main one (it was the middle one). They had fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, YA, children's literature. You name it! They even had a whole section dedicated to Tolkien as he went to university in Oxford. I would have loved to have bought one of the fancy editions of The Lord of the Rings, but I'll make do with my little paperback boxset. Here I bought The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow. I loved The Once and Future Witches, which I read last year, so I decided to get this. I also bought a little postcard of a sketch of the outside of the shops. It was just too cute!

Bodleian Library Shop, Oxford

This isn't actually of the shop, I forgot to take one, so this is a pretty building opposite

The Bodleian Library is a part of the University of Oxford and is it's main research centre. According to a quick Google search, it is one of the oldest libraries and holds millions of print editions. A bookworm's heaven. We have plans to go back one day. I went here as I knew they had a selection of Tolkien themed items and they did not disappoint. My mum and I got a copy of Letters from Father Christmas by Tolkien, which I'm looking forward to reading this Christmas. We also got a book shaped Christmas decoration for our tree. I bought two cards with drawings inspired by Lord of the Rings and a postcard of the Bodleian Library promise. 

Arcadia, Oxford

This was one of two places I actually didn't end up buying anything. A mix of a gift shop and second hand bookshop, this small shop was quite delightful. As it was so small, it was quite hard to look at the books and the ones I saw didn't really make me want to get them. But if you are looking for some good quality, second hand books, then I would recommend this little shop. 

Bookstop, Oxford  

Do you like cheap, brand new books?? Then look no further than Bookstop. This is a sister shop to the Last Bookshop (which I'll talk about later) and they sell cheap, brand new books. They had a pretty decent selection. My mum found a copy of the last Witcher book to add to our joint collection. I bought a copy of A Discovery of Witches as it's set in Oxford and I've wanted to read it because of the TV show (which I have not seen). The only downside is that when I removed the sticker from my copy, part of the cover came with it. This was very sad. 

Eagle and Child Pub, Oxford

Sadly this has been closed since the start of the pandemic, so we only got to see it from the outside. This pub has a literary connection to J.R.R Tolkien and C.S Lewis to name a few as they were members of the Inklings, a writing group of students from the university. It's actually owned by the university. It would have been nice to go in and have a drink, but we got to look at it from the outside. 

Oxfam, Oxford

Oxfam is originally from Oxford, which was something I didn't know until I began researching for this trip. Oxfam is a charity and part of their charity are the specific branches they have dedicated to books. This branch was much bigger than the one in my town. I got one book, The Confessions of Frannie Langton, which I have wanted to read for a while and is a frequently found book in charity shops. I also bought a tiny copy of The Ballard of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde as it was 50p. My mum stumbled across a set of five Tolkien books that she had never heard of, so we went back after all our shopping and bought them. We got a lot of books between the three of us and we don't have any shelf space. 

Waterstones, Oxford

We ended up having a little bit of lunch in the cafe in Waterstones, which naturally led to us buying books. I had saved up on my points card so I have £20 to spend. I bought three books in Waterstones, which with my savings came to about £1.20 in total. I bought a copy of The Wolf Den for my mum and I to read. I then bought myself The Mercies and The Left-Handed Booksellers of London. I've heard good things about both of these books and they sounded like something I would be interested in. 

The Last Bookshop, Oxford

Coincidentally, this was also our last stop as it was a bit off the beaten track. As mentioned earlier, this is the sister shop to Bookstop. So it has the same premise. I was very sad when we got there that there was a sign saying "be back in 5 mins". We waited for 10 mins and nobody turned up, so like The Eagle and Child pub, we only got to look in from the outside. Probably for the best as I had already broken my "I'm only going to buy 5 books" rule. 

Oxford is such a beautiful city and one I can't wait to explore properly on a non-book shopping trip. I would like to go back and hit up some of the shops I missed, such as Daunt Books as it was too far out of the city for us to visit. I want to give credit to the What's Hot Blog which has a list of 12 bookshops in Oxford and was the list I based my own off. I'll link it here, so you can go and read it yourself. I actually made a reel out of my trip, if you'd like to see a little video about it. It's on my Instagram (@carenzaonbooks).    

2019- The Ups, The Downs and The Ordinary| Carenza Bramwell

As promised in my last post, today's post is going to be a more detailed overview of what I got up to in 2019. 2019 was an insane year for me, I still can't quite believe that it happened at and that it wasn't a dream. This post is going to be split up into sections- uni, travel/things I did, reading and writing, and personal elements of 2019.

University

At the moment, I am second year Creative and Professional Writing student in Bristol. In 2019, I finished my first year of university and then started my second year. It is going by so quickly, I really could do with time slowing down for a little bit. I don't feel that it would be appropriate for me to talk about the personal side of my university life as it isn't fair on those that know me, but I will mention that like any other part of my life, there were ups and downs. Academically, I definitely enjoyed the second half of 2019. I think for me it was because the first year of any degree is all about building the foundation and that was very similar to doing Creative Writing as an A-Level. So far this year, I feel I have been challenged way more and am getting stuck into it. It terrifies me that I am graduating next year. But for now, let's focus on the present. 

Travel Bug

I think the title of this section nicely sums up a fun part of my life in 2019. Although I didn't do any major travelling apart from visiting Bruges in August, I did so many amazing things in 2019. I posted a month by month thread on my Twitter account (@carenzaonbooks). I saw so many incredible stage plays in 2019 that I will never forget. I think there were only two months last year where I didn't see a single play. I also finally got to see my favourite band, Bastille, live in February in London. It was a life-changing experience and made me realise that I really love concerts and new music. I've touched on it, but travelling to Bruges was one of my highlights of 2019. I hadn't been on holiday in almost six years and finally going was amazing. I've 100% caught the travel bug and am already planning my next adventure. 

Reading & Writing

For me 2019, wasn't the best for reading and writing. I think I was so focused on other things that I forgot how much I loved them both. I only read 88 books, which is still a lot, but ended up being less than I read in 2018. Writing wise, I only started two projects and I did not finish them. I think my problem is due to the fact that I do a writing degree, so it can feel like my time is consumed with it. This is a bizarre way to think about my dream future job, but I am someone that gets very demotivated easily. I mentioned this in my previous post, but one of my goals for this year is to make time for a non-uni writing project. 

Personal

Without going into details, 2019 was one of the worst years for me mentally. I struggled way more than I have done in the past. It got to a point that was so bad I reached out for help for the first time. It's something I need to follow up on as I'm still not at a mentally stable place I want to be, but I am way better than I was last year. It won't be a surprise as my 2019 was crazy busy and I never really gave myself any time off. While that might sound like my 2019 was bad, it was also filled with some great moments in my personal life and many that I will treasure for the rest of my life. 

Like the title suggests, 2019, for me, was a year filled with ups, downs and straight up ordinary moments. Despite it being a roller-coaster-esque year, I wouldn't change a thing about it. 

All the best,

Carenza x 

Bruges 2019| CarenzaOnBooks

For the first time in years, I went on a proper holiday and left the country. I had been desperate to go away, so my family and I decided to go to Bruges. This was a very last-minute decision, but it ended up being one of the best holidays of my life. 

Day One

The first day was mostly filled with travelling. It took us most of the day to get to Bruges, but this was actually quite fun so I didn't mind. We caught the Eurostar from London to Brussels, then a train from Brussels to Bruges. It was lovely as soon as we arrived. We dumped our bags at our apartment and went into the city. We did some exploring and also picked up some things for tea. It was a quiet day for us, but we were tired from travelling and we wanted to get up early so we could go do more the next day. 

The famous Market Square featuring the Bellfort 

A bookshop I visited but didn't buy anything from

Day Two

Day two was filled with what I would call the tourist bucket list. We did the majority of the tourist tick-list on this day. First port of call was to go up the Bellfort. As tiring as it was going up all those stairs it was worth it for the view alone. We were actually very lucky as while we were up there, the bells started ringing and it was nice just to be able to listen to them while appreciating the view. We then went and did another tourist tick-list and went on a canal boat tour. I had wanted to do one of these before we came and was very happy to tick it off my list. We did some more exploring of the main tourist attractions, including the Minnewater aka the Lake of Love before stopping for a quick snack at a cafe. Belgium is famous for its waffles and when in Belgium, you have to have one. They were amazing. I could have died happy at that moment in time. After our pit stop, we continued walking and walked around the outside of the city. We saw some of the gatehouses and finally ended the first part of our day by going up inside a windmill. We then went back to our apartment, had tea before heading out to this nightclub type place run by Bruges only vampire. It's called the Lucifernum, it's like a museum and a bar all rolled into one. It was another bit of good fun and we walked home at night time, meaning we got to see the city all lit up. 

View from the Bellfort 

View from the Bellfort

Canal Boat Tour

Lake of Love

The best waffle I have ever eaten

One of the windmills in Bruges

View from the windmill

Inside the Lucifernum

Bruges by night

Day Three

We started day three with one of the walks from our book about walks (I'd recommend buying one of these books as you get to go around different parts of the city). We saw some of Bruges theatres amongst other things. This day was filled with visiting lots of Bruges churches. We went to a lot this day. The churches we visited included the Cathedral, the Basilica of the Holy Blood and Our Lady of the Pottery. We also went into one of Bruges bookshops and I got Harry Potter in Dutch/Flemish. I also saw a really cool cat by the Jan van Eyck square. This day was a lot less packed compared to the other day as we were exhausted from the previous day and the weather wasn't great, so we had a chilled day. 

One of Bruges theatres, sadly under reconstruction  

The cool cat I saw by the Jan van Eyck Square

The Basilica of the Holy Blood

A Harry Potter display in Brugse Boekhandel

Our Lady of the Pottery

The Cathedral 

Day Four

As the previous day had been filled with churches, this day was filled with museums. You could get a pass to a list of museums that was valid for three days and as we knew we were going to go to lots, we went and got it. The first museum we went to was called the Groening Museum, this had lots of paintings from Flemish artists. We then went to the Gruuthuse Museum, which had been a medieval mansion before becoming a museum. Finally, we went to Sint Jan's hospital and museum. This had a large collection of medieval doctors items and Memling paintings. We ended our day by visiting the fish market stalls before heading back to our apartment. 

The Groening Museum 

A dog outside the museum 

The Gruuthuse Museum 

The Sint-Jans Hospital and Museum 

The Fish Market

Day Five

This was our last full day in Bruges, so it was a day filled with all the things we hadn't done and wanted to do. First stop was Astrid Park, which was used in the film In Bruges. We had great fun pretending to act out the scene from the park while nobody was around. We then went to somewhere I had wanted to go which was Books and Brunch, a bookshop cafe place. We didn't actually eat anything, but it had a really nice ambience. After that, we bobbed into a couple of churches before heading to the Frites Museum. It was good fun learning about the history of potatoes and chips, we then had to have lunch there. We did another church and museum before heading back to our apartment to pack. We decided to eat out this night as it was our last night in Bruges. We went to a restaurant that our host recommended to us. The food was delicious, we then waddled back to bed. 

A cat I saw on route to Astrid Park

Astrid Park

Books and Brunch

A church we visited

Another church we visited

Lunch at the Frites Museum

Tea

The restaurant we ate tea in

Day Six

Our final day in Bruges. We had accidentally booked to be travelling back on a national holiday in Bruges, so we headed for the train station and spent several hours in said train station before boarding the train home.

The view from our apartment 

  

  

Best of Culture 2017| CarenzaOnBooks

Today's post is my final post in my Best Of series. Like last year, I am going to be discussing my cultural favourites for 2017. 2017 was an exceptionally good year for cultural favourites. I honestly have no idea how many plays I saw in 2017, but I saw a lot and I enjoyed the vast majority. I also saw a great selection of movies and tv shows. I got to visit some amazing new places, plus some old favourites and I listened to a lot of new music.

Theatre

Undoubtedly, my favourite play I saw in 2017 was Angles in America. I could rave about this until I turn blue in the face. It is the most epic (and I mean epic in the sense of it being an epic piece of theatre because it is about 8 hours long) piece of theatre I have seen to date. The actors were incredible and I went away feeling inspired to write. If I could, I would see it over and over again, but sadly the UK production has ended and they are currently performing it in the States. If you are a lover of theatre, then I highly recommend reading this. It's something I'm going to treasure for the rest of my life. 

Another favourite play I saw was Snow in Midsummer at the RSC. I saw this three times within the space of a week- I kid you not. In a similar way to Angels in America, Snow in Midsummer is an incredible piece of theatre. The whole production was amazing. I'm genuinely struggling to put into words how much I love these plays as they hold such a special place in my heart.

As a part of my birthday celebration this year, I got to see Hamlet with Andrew Scott. Hamlet has to be my favourite Shakespeare play. I think I've seen it five times (at least) now. But Andrew Scott 's (who plays Moriarty in Sherlock) was my favourite. Many of the productions I have seen depict Hamlet going mad, but this portrayed it as someone who was grieving. I adored this production and am so happy I got to see an incredible actor like Andrew Scott playing Hamlet.

While we are on the subject of Hamlet, I saw Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, which is about Hamlet's best friends. I saw this with Daniel Radcliffe and Joshua McGuire as the lead roles. This was a really funny piece of theatre and definitely added to my experience of seeing Hamlet.

I really got into political comedies this year, so when I saw Labour of Love, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was one of the funniest pieces of theatre I have ever seen. Martin Freeman and Tamsin Grieg were hilarious and if you are into political comedies, I highly recommend.

Another favourite was La Ronde. I will be honest and say that I went to see it because it had one of my favourite actors in, Alexander Vlahos. But, the play itself was amazing. They had all of these interlocking plays and I really enjoyed how it performed.

Finally, I finally saw Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (only part 1). I now understand why everyone sees this a million times. It is incredible. I'm so excited to go and see it again for my 18th birthday later this year. It fulfilled my Harry Potter heart and I'm so happy to see how it branched out into a new performance style.

Film and TV

I saw a lot of amazing films and Tv shows, so here is a list of my favourites from 2017:

• Game of Thrones
• Lucifer (series 3)
• Poldark (series 3)
• Sherlock (series 4)
• Stranger Things
• Beauty and the Beast
• La La Land
• Loving Vincent
• Death of Stalin
• Amazing Spider-Man films
• Breathe
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

Travel

2017 was a bit of a slow year for travel. Having moved house, I didn't really travel that much, but the places I did travel to were amazing.
I went to the Harry Potter Studios near London twice in 2017. Once with my college and once for my birthday. I love them so much. To have all the sets and props and be able to explore how one of my all-time favourite film series was made was a magical experience. I felt like a child exploring them and to this day, my friends all maintain that I cried at the studio tour- I didn't, I was just very emotional.

I went to the Edinburgh Fringe and Book Festival in 2017. I've been to the fringe religiously for a few years in a row now, but it was my first time attending the Book Festival. I went so I could meet Cassandra Clare and Holly Black. I was so excited to meet Cassie as I've been a huge fan of her books for years now.

Music

I listened to a lot of new music in 2017 and here are some of my favourites:

• Dear Evan Hansen
• Hamilton
• Movie Soundtracks (Harry Potter, Stranger Things and Amazing Spider-Man)

So that concludes my culture favourites for 2017. I really hope 2018 is as good of a year for culture!

Carenza x

Best of Culture 2016| It'sCarenzaB

Hey Guys!
How are you?

Welcome to the second in my "Best of" series. Last year I talked about books, beauty and Bits'n'Bobs, but this year I have decided that I am going to stop talking about beauty on my blog as I have no interest in it. I have decided that I am going to start talking about culture as culture is a huge part of my life.

I know that culture is a very vague word, but on here it means theater (plays and musicals), art exhibitions, films and tv, travel etc. I am now going to start featuring culture in my favourites every month.

Theater

I am very fortunate to be able to go so many plays and musicals with my parents. Most people I know would rather go on sunny beach holidays, but we would rather go to the theater. I get to see a lot of plays and musicals and it was very hard to narrow it down to my favourites. I will be honest I am only talking about plays and musicals from June onwards as I can't remember lots of what I saw before June because of exam stress.

First on my list is getting to see The Book of Mormon for the second time. I had already seen it in 2015 with my Dad and my Mum was desperate to see it. So the weekend before my birthday we went and saw it. It was even better the second time. I highly recommend you go and see it as it is hilarious. It is written by the people who created South Park. I will warn that it has lots of swear words and if you get easily offended, this musical isn't for you. I can safely say that The Book of Mormon is my favourite musical.

Next on my list was my trip to Edinburgh with my Dad to the Edinburgh Fringe for the 3rd year in a row. If you are ever planning to go to Edinburgh, then this is the time to go. There is so much to see, I can guarantee that you won't be bored. My Dad and I only went for a day and we managed to fit in 5-6 pieces of theater.  

In mid June, my parents and I went to Glyndebourne Opera House near Brighton as part of my Dad's present to my Mum for her birthday. I had never been to an opera, so I didn't know what to expect but I really enjoyed myself. I believe the opera we saw was called The Little Vixen. The costumes the singers wore were amazing, as was the set. I don't know if they do this at all Operas, but at Glyndebourne the interval was longer than the performance. In the interval, you have a picnic! The food was really nice and it felt very posh. I hope at some point in my life, I can go again as I really enjoyed it.

My final theater favourite is the Winter season at the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company). I've been going to the RSC since I was 6 years old and I have always enjoyed it, but this season was the best thing I saw. Obviously, I enjoyed everything else at the RSC, but these plays have stayed in my mind. I particularly enjoyed the plays in the Swan Theater. If you ever visit Stratford Upon Avon, you have to go to the RSC and see something.

Films and TV

There were a lot of amazing films that came out in 2016, as well as a lot of TV. I think I have narrowed it down to my ultimate favourites, otherwise the list would be endless. I will warn that I am rubbish at describing why I like films because I am not a film reviewer. 

Films

My first film favourite is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. You guys know that I love the Harry Potter series, so I was both excited and skeptic when they announced the Fantastic Beasts films. I do have a review on here for the film, you can read that here. My review goes into loads of detail about why I like the film.

My next favourite film was Moana. I have always been a fan of Disney, so every-time they release a new film I get really excited. Moana was very different from the other Disney films as it shows that you don't need a man by your side. I've noticed that Disney is branching away from the "a princess always needs a man/prince to save her" recently and I couldn't be happier. I loved the songs as they were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, so they were in a similar style to Hamilton. 

My final favourite film was Stark Trek Beyond. It is quite possibly my favourite of the 3 Star Trek Films. It was very funny, but it also had some more serious scenes. I loved the opening scene. I was really happy that the film paid tribute to Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin as both died before the films release.

TV

My favourite TV series of 2016 were:

• Lucifer
• Poldark (series 2)
• The Living and The Dead
• Game of Thrones (I know I'm really behind, I only just joined this fandom)     

I'm not going to go into as much detail as I did with films because I can't put into words why I like them, I just like them.

Travel

My favourite place I traveled to in 2016 was Brighton. I visited Brighton when I was very little, so I don't really remember much about it. It was nice being in a seaside town that felt a bit old-fashioned (it has the huge pier). The Lanes were really fun to visit and the weather was mostly good. I hope in the future I can go back to Brighton and spend more time exploring and take more photos.

So that is it for my Best of Culture for 2016. Next weeks  post will be Best of Bits'n'Bobs and I have a feeling that this is going to be a really long post.
Love,
Carenza x

How to: Travel in Style and be Sensible| It's Carenza B

Hello!
So recently I went to London for a day trip with my family, and I realised that I wasn't the most sensible of travellers. I would describe myself as the queen of overpacking. Seriously, my bag is the embodiment of the Tardis. So while on the train journey back home, I thought I'd write a blog post about travel tips. Now for a quick disclaimer, this tips might just be tips that work for me so please don't go crazy in the comments if you've never heard of these and if you disagree with me.
So lets get started!

Take a reasonable sized bag:

So when you've been travelling and on the move all day, the last thing you want is to be carrying a massive mountaineering sized backpack. I'd advise you to take either a medium sized handbag or backpack. The bag I took was the Zara Shopper Bag in black.

This is your average shopper bag and I would say is a solid staple for a traveller. It has one big compartment with two small pockets and on the outside has two pockets that shut with poppers. I like this bag as it fits all my stuff and is fairly secure but the outside pockets are useless as you can't really put much in and if you do they don't shut.

 (This is the bag filled with things I took with me to show you how much it can hold)

(Sorry for my body spray and deodorant making a cameo, I need something to hold the bag up!)

Secondly, the large strap is very thin and can hurt the shoulder. Personally, I would recommend taking some kind of backpack as then you can balance the weight on both shoulders. 

Take only what you need: 

Like I mentioned in the opening paragraph, this is something I fail at. When you are rushing to catch a train you don't want to be carrying the equivalent of a 10 tonne bolder in your bag. I would say my essentials are my phone and iPod with headphones. When I am sleeping the headphones I use are the my sleep phones which are brilliantly nicknamed pajamas for your ears

They are super comfy and fit really snugly, they also double up as a sleep mask. Another great thing up about them is that they roll up and take up barely any space but be careful as this sometimes makes the connection dodgey. The only bad thing about them is that everyone around you can hear your music but when your on a train or plane, no one really cares. 

Another thing I regarded as an essential is to have everything I need in a emergency or just-in-case in one place, so for this I have my trusty little black bag.

I don't know where this comes from but you could use any old spare makeup bag so long as it isn't too big. In my little black bag I keep...

So I'll do a small summary for each of the products so that this part isn't the equivalent of War and Peace!

Body Shop nail file- this is something I recently added as I bite my nails, safe to say this product is fairly safe explanatory. Just a quick heads up, the link for the nail file isn't the one I have as I got mine in their advent calendar for 2014 

Piriteze allergy tablets - these are the non-drowsy version and are a summer staple for me as I get bad hayfever and am allergic to grass. I carry them with me incase I forget to take them.

Strawberry Hand Cream- again, another product from the Body Shop advent calendar. I use this after using my hand sanitizer to stop them from being sticky.

Halls Soothers- a staple for me all year round as I talk a lot and am a singer, I need to take care of my throat so I always have some on me.

Kleenex Tissues- these are to go with the hayfever tablets and plus you never know when you're going to need a tissue.

Soap and Glory Hand Maid- this is for the times when you are rushing and don't have time to wash your hands. Also when you're rushing around, you're bound to pick up some germs. It's also good if you are eating on the go and don't want to get dirt on your food.

Baby Lips Peach Kiss- not only does this keep your lips nice and moisturised, it's a very pretty shimmery nude colour. Perfect for summer and smells edible.

Nasal Stick- this is for the days when I am feeling blocked up and this helps me feel unblocked.

Halo Fragrance Free Facial Wipes- these were in the June edition of Glossybox: which if you want me to write a review, I will. But back to the point, these are to take make-up and are in a handy travel size, I haven't used these yet so I will let you know what I think.

Lemsip Cold and Flu tablets- I only ever take this when I have a cold, self-explanatory. These are handy as with the sachet ones you can't make them on the go.

Wet Ones Antibacterial Wipes- I have these in case I don't want or have time to use the Hand Maid.

Hair Grips- I don't have to say much about this, these are just standard hair grips.

Tic Tacs- I have a mini pack of Tic Tacs to keep my breath minty fresh, plus it's super cute and handy.

Next, I have two wallets. This may seem weird but I was in London and I didn't want to get out my big purse with my cards in as London is famous for it's pickpockets. The smaller one has my oyster card in whereas the other just has the rest of my cards. The larger one is from Amazon.

   And finally, I have my phone case- which by the way, isn't it adorable? I definitely need to name, comment down below what I should call my little phone case. I recommend you get a case like this as it protects your tech and is padded which prevents them from getting scratched. It has a little pouch which I either keep my normal headphones in or my camera battery in.

Wear minimal or no makeup

When I am travelling, I usually never wear makeup but I usually carry some with me. I recommend you don't  wear any as travelling isn't something you need to look pretty about. Also you don't want to spend 30 minuets painstakingly applying it and then to rub your eyes and ruin it- trust me this has happened to me lots. I take with me ...

 Body Shop Mini Brush Kit- I take this for the mini concealer brush and also in case I have other makeup with me. It has four mini brushes which are Blusher brush, Eyeshadow brush, Slanted brush and Lip/concealer brush. It retails at £13.50, which is a bit pricey but because it's from the body shop  I don't care.

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair- although lots of beauty bloggers regard this as a holy grail, I don't rate it that highly but for all I know I could be using it wrong- I am in no way an expert in these things. I use this over my No7 concealer to brighten my eyes.

No7 Match Made Concealer in Calico- I prefer this to the other concealer as it does the job a lot better although this is the more pricey option it's worth the money. To apply it, I use the No7 Concealer Brush  as it gets right in the creases.

Sleek Full Fat Lash Mascara in Black- this mascara is one of my favourite mascaras of all time as it makes my eyelashes look large and opens them up so much, although I have never tried the Benefit Roller Lash I would say it was a cheaper dupe, but that's just me.

No7 Lip Crayon in Daydream- this is a shiny pink-nude and I took it because it is my favourite lip product. It's easy to apply and just gives you a nice coverage.

Be Organised  

This is probably the most important tip I have told you so far. But there are several steps to this tip.

Step One- Pack before you go:

The last thing you want to do on the night/morning before you leave is run round getting your bag together. So before you leave, get everything together and then in the morning you won't feel stressed.

Step Two- Plan your outfit the night or morning before:

Again, like the previous step you don't want to spend ages picking the perfect outfit. My advice is wear basic clothing. When I went to London I wore some plain black high-waisted skinny jeans, my converse, a black hoodie and a salmon pink t-shirt from the brand Mango.

Step Three- If you are going for more than a day, get a guide book and a filofax.

  This helped me so much as it had a map for the Tube (the underground train system in London) and is travel sized. My filofax is something I can't live without, I have become so much more organised and time efficient. It allows me to have everything I need in one place.

So those are my tips! Few, that was an almighty long post. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Carenza x

All photos are my own and are taken on a Canon Powershot SX500IS