My week at the Bay

The Alps from the Plane

My love for travelling has taken me to destinations like China, Turkey, Tunisia, Spain and Cyprus and my recent absence from the blogging world is because of my latest adventure to the less desirable holiday destination of Egypt.

Egypt has been getting a lot of stick in today's press but when it comes to November sun there aren't many locations to choose from. My mother was eager for a break from work and as a close knit family my sister and I just couldn't refuse the invite. After careful TripAdvisor research we choose Makadi Bay as a peaceful beach getaway paradise. 

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from Egypt, I know there are troubles all around the world and how can we live without taking risks so we booked a weeks stay at Fort Arabesque Hotel which I cannot fault, but more about that later.

Living down at the tip of the UK in Cornwall means a lot of travelling, just getting to the airport in London was a 6 hour drive. Don't get me wrong I love a good road trip but you can only take so much McDonald's and biscuits in the car. We stayed overnight at Holiday Inn to prepare for our early morning flight, I was already missing my other half who couldn't make it on this adventure, thank god for Facetime.    

Egypt isn't the shortest flight at 6 hours but I've had longer. I avoided coffee all morning to prevent my anxiety reaching a high but despite this suffered a wee anxiety attack on the plane. Dealing with my anxiety is do-able, however when you are enclosed in a small space, experiencing a lot of turbulence (thanks English weather) it becomes undo-able. 20 minutes later the embarrassment kicked in but we landed safely in Hurghada, Egypt at 4pm. The excitement of feeling the heat take over once the plane door opened was overwhelming and compared to the 6 degrees we left behind 26 was lush!

The pool bar at the hotel

The hotel was gorgeous and the Bay itself was a blue paradise in a midst of dusty dessert. My sister Hanna and I shared a room, we had our own front garden and huge walk in shower. 

Once we woke up feeling refreshed it was time to explore, I had a stack of pancakes smothered in chocolate sauce, which after all the insanity workouts I did in prep for the holiday I think I deserved. 

The hotel had many pools, one of which had its own bar peeking out of the water and seats under the surface. The private beach was our first stop and after hearing we were expecting 30 degrees later in the afternoon I couldn't wait to lounge about on the sunbed doing nothing. I bought the Divergent series of books to keep me occupied whilst lounging and I know I'm very late on the bandwagon but my pride and commitment to Hunger Games kept me away. However I could not tear my eyes away, there was always something going on and even though I had already watched the film it was really gripping!

One trip on the bucket list for us was to visit Luxor, home of Valley of the Kings. It was a long and bumpy 4 hour bus ride to the tombs with not much out the window but dessert and sand. One stop we made showed us the real Egypt and many children were homeless and begging the tourists for food, they rode on donkeys and carried goats, their only livelihood. It was upsetting to see but really makes you think about how much we really have and was a wake up call. 

Luxor itself was in the valleys of the blinding dessert heat, our guide was really knowledgeable and told us all about the kings and queens that were buried there. We ventured down the tombs which were carved meters into the rock through intricate passages, all done by hand with just a chisel and hammer. We weren't aloud to take photos as the heliographics may fade. We visited 3 king's tombs and they constantly amazed me, to think they did everything by hand made me think we have taken a step backwards and become lazy. The stories of the afterlife were carved in symbols reaching from the floor to the ceiling, the Egyptians believed if the King had been good they would pass judgement and their heart would be lighter than a feather meaning they could go to the afterlife. They traveled to the afterlife by a boat in the sky and had to fight many obstacles on the way, they certainly were creative! 

We also visited a temple created for a powerful Queen who ruled for 20 years with no war, longer than any man (hmm, has anything changed?) 

Boat Ride on the Nile

The crocodile at lunch

A beautiful boat ride up the river Nile opened my eyes to how tropical it looked, it was blue not murky and brown like I pictured it. We had lunch by the Nile but the restaurant had caged animals like wolves and foxes which was shocking to see. I asked our guide if Egyptians liked animals and cats, of course they were famed for worshiping cats and we definitely treat our cat at home like royalty. I wasn't all that surprised to hear that they don't respect them at all so my family and I fed the local cats our meat from lunch, call us soft but they needed it much more than us.

The huge Karnak temple

To finish off the day we drove to the Karnak Temple which was huge in scale and the Nile used to flow past the doors where the people would enter. The Egyptians go big or go home! There were statues of kings and their many wives and an offering table that the public would leave gifts on.

The days after were getting hotter and hotter, its hard to fathom that they have this heat all year round, it is a luxury to us but they struggle. One of the staff told us she was working at the hotel for a year but she is originally from Switzerland and missed the different seasons.

Our next trip to celebrate my mother's birthday was on a glass bottom boat, it was a small boat big enough for only 8 people, we went miles out to see all anticipating what we would see under the glass and after minutes of darkness the tropical red sea appeared below us, the water was so clear and coral caverns were what felt like centimeters below the glass. Lots of sting rays buried under the sand and tropical fish of multi colours swam around the boat without a care. The coral itself was very muted with the odd pop off pinks and purples.

We carried on out to sea stopping at the odd patch of coral until we reached a shallow area, my mother's partner is a keen diver and persuaded us to all go snorkeling to see the reefs but it only worked on me. I was very nervous as we were miles into the ocean but the water was so shallow and I was too curious. I put on my flippers and mask and not so gracefully fell into the water, my main worry was inhaling water through the mask so I bit down as hard a I could and started to swim.

So Graceful

The diver from the boat took me around the entire reef, we were instructed not to touch the fish or coral but he showed me plants that I could touch, they felt like rubber and sponges. Lots of fish were feeding off the coral not even noticing us, it was like a different planet with brain looking plants covering the seafloor. After getting very tired I swam back to the boat, my panicked mother and sister awaiting me.

It's amazing that we have explored outer-space more than our oceans and they are truly beautiful.

Though miles out at sea the water only reached my waist

Although I missed Nick tremendously my mother, sister and I have always stuck together like 3 musketeers, my adventures with them will always stick with me.  

So I'm back to reality, 5 degree weather and best of all CHRISTMAS!  

DIY: Holiday Outfit

Hello you! Something a bit different today, a DIY post! I know it's a bit late in the year to be doing a 'holiday outfit' however I'm off to Makadi Bay in November and am in need of something summery as obviously the shops aren't equipped for that in Autumn. 

The lovely people at endlessleather offered some inspiration and here are the creations my mind concocted. 

I obviously chose a piece in my favourite colour and this leather cuff bracelet was super easy to make and bang on trend. 

You will need;

A leather cord of your choice

Super glue

A fastening 

I chose this toggle clasp from endlessleather's selection. 

The first step is to cut a piece of leather to your wrist size, remember to leave a space for your fastening and decide how tight or loose you want it. I slotted the leather into the fastening to ensure the bracelet wouldn't fall off once secured as my chosen clasp was quite long I didn't need much leather. 

Once you've decided the length cut the leather using sharp scissors. (preferably fabric scissors) Be careful as they are super sharp! 

Double check your length again then secure by popping a drop or two of super glue into your clasp.

Next push your leather or cord into the clasp and hold for a few seconds to set, repeat on the other side. I glued my cord at opposite ends of the clasp (one to the left and one to the right) to create the crossover you will see at the end. 

Notice that I glued the cord to opposite ends of the clasp

You should result with something like this, as you can see the pink cord is set in the clasp nicely. The bracelet does look lovely already and you can stop here if you wish.

Next I repeated this by cutting another piece of leather the same length and securing with glue but this time crossing over the first piece and gluing in the gaps of the clasp. 

Perfect fit!

You should result with something like this, if you wanted two straight bands that also looks lovely but I crossed mine over for something different. There is something very ballerina like about this lovely bracelet.

Display as you wish when you aren't showing off your DIY bracelet. Mine takes pride of place on this jewellery dish from Urban Outfitters. 

For my next creation I made a toga dress, they always look very Grecian and elegant which is a look I want whilst abroad. I was shocked at how easy this was to make, so if you've got some old clothes lying around think twice before you write them off completely!

To make the toga I used a pair of old leggings and a skirt. Alternatively you can start from scratch with material. 

Begin by creating the bottom of your toga, I simply tried on the old skirt and cut to a length that I wanted. Use some sharp fabric scissors and leave a few centimetres extra to hem after cutting so the fabric doesn't fray.

After choosing the length take some pins and fold around 2cm of the bottom of the skirt into the inside to create the hem. (refer to pictures, this was difficult to explain) 

Repeat this all the way around the skirt in a straight line like below. 

Once pinned get ready to sew, I used a zig zag stitch to ensure the material didn't fray in the future.

I'm pretty sure I have the cutest sewing machine 

Remember to take the pins out as you go so you don't damage your machine! 

Once the skirt is completely hemmed try on again to check the length and size. 

Next use two pieces of long material or the legs from the leggings if you are like me! 

These will be the cross over top of the toga dress, sort of like dungaree straps holding up the bottom (who knew leggings could become a dress so easily!) 

Pin the bottom of the material to the inside of the skirt elastic and fold over your shoulder to ensure there is enough fabric to reach the back part of the skirt. 

Like so...

Then sew in place!

You should now have something that looks like this. (secured on the front but not the back yet)

Now fold the excess material over your shoulder and tuck into the back of the skirt to make the strap! Pin into place making sure the size is right for you so that the strap doesn't keep falling off your shoulder. 

Excuse the washed out photos, the black material didn't get along with my camera 

Sew into place and voila! One side is finished.

Repeat this on the other side with your second piece of material, or legging leg.

You should now have a gorgeous toga dress! I'm really pleased with mine but we aren't done yet! 

For some finishing touches I added some leather cords from endlessleather.

First of all using this beautiful plaited flat leather as a belt, I twisted it to carry through the toga theme.

Next I ruched the shoulders by scrunching and stitching in place.

To finish off I added some lovely round turquoise suede from endlessleather for a pop of colour and a Grecian feel, it also covers the stitches nicely. 

I hope you liked this post and are happy with your results if you gave it a go yourself. Thank you to endlessleather for their generosity and inspiration.

Be inspired at www.endlessleather.com!

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