HEADING WEST || USA TRAVELS

DAY 5
Today is the day we head off to the West Coast for 2 weeks. Cali Cali California we're coming for you!!



We started this morning off by eating our delicious cheesecakes we got the previous evening which filled us up for a good few hours.

Before going to the airport, Penny took us to the Green Mile, a.k.a the mile of weed stores. It was actually incredible how many there were, nearly every other store were weed stores!





And so the journey begins venturing off to California. The day started off with warm and decent weather which soon turned to be the worst storm I have ever witnessed. Full on hail stones, the size of small rocks which sounded like they were denting the car, and thunder and lightning every few seconds. Cars would be stopping under the bridges, something you would not see in England. We made it to the airport with an hour spare hoping we would make the flight. No surprise, ALL flights were delayed so the airport was heaving. We had a few hours to kill so we contacted our parents to update them and got a few snacks. After many announcements clashing, I had a bad feeling what had happened...yes...WE MISSED OUR FLIGHT!! Considering we were a few meters away from the gate door, we were so annoyed. They didn't call our names, do repeated announcements..nothing! We found out we would not make our connecting flight, what a surprise! However, what was not expected was that the next flight was at 6am the next day, ahhh a nice night spent at the airport. Even though we were so frustrated,  and our bags would get to San Francisco before us, we couldn't help but laugh away over this...we were waiting for the bad luck to come at some point during our travels.

Anyway, we have landed safely in Los Angeles with the beautifully lit up city view as we were arriving at the airport. The picture above is obviously very bad quality but it just shows how lit up the city was, although it definitely doesn't do it justice! Just a long wait until our next flight now. We have literally spent the last hour exploring LA airport to find food and as we can't check in yet, it is proving to be very difficult. But we managed to find a Starbucks which has saved our lives!!

 

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PADDLE BOATING & HIKING || USA TRAVELS

DAY 2
Today is the day Lia arrives!! Before heading to the airport, I had to be introduced to the main part of Penny and Joshes life; their dogs. Sally, Ollie and Lew arrived in the morning after spending the night at Grandma's, I had plenty of warning beforehand but I was unprepared for what was ahead of me. I heard them come in and immediately they could sense a different person in the house and they managed to follow my sense into my bedroom. I was bombarded by two of the most excitable dogs I've ever met. Stupidly, I had worn white jeans that morning and Ollie had just been in the lake so of course she jumped up at me and made marks all down my white jeans (it was my fault, I should have been more aware of what was going to happen haha!) They are so cute but it took them a good while to settle down.

After a few minutes of mayhem, we headed off to the airport to pick up Lia. We got to her baggage claim, found her bag but not Lia; it took a while to finally find her (we probably crossed paths at some point in the airport). Arriving back at the house, we gave Lia a tour of the house and, fair to say, she was just as overwhelmed as I was. It still seems too good to be true! 

After a long day, we ended the night with a BBQ with the whole family and a dip in the nice and warm hot tub :)



DAY 3
Still jet lag and waking up at the crack of dawn. Deciding to stay at the house today, we managed to do every possible activity there was around the house. Tennis, Basketball, Canoeing, Paddle Boarding, Badminton; the WHOLE lot! Fair to say, at the end of the day we were exhausted and I ended up looking like a tomato from really bad sunburn (I guess it was my fault I didn't put sun cream on...).

In the evening, we went out for a beautiful Italian in downtown Denver and explored around the city a bit. Denver is such a clean and peaceful city, I'd love to live here.

DAY 4
Setting off at 10am this morning, we drove an hour and a half to Vail, up into the Rocky Mountains. On the way our ears kept popping as we were getting higher and higher (I'm still ill so it was agony but totally worth the pain). After the most scenic journey I've ever done, we arrived in Vail and ventured around the village and had lunch by the river. At this point, the altitude wasn't affecting us too much. We found a few trails to walk down after lunch, me and Lia would get out of breath after climbing about 10 stairs, that's how bad the altitude was!! I wasn't too bad overall; Lia felt her hands tingling so she got a bit altitude sickness but not too much. We did quite well considering we went from 5000ft to 9000ft!

Vail is a small, french looking, ski village which is set in the heart of the Rocky Mountains and is just beautiful. If you go to Colorado at some point in your lives, you HAVE to go to Vail!

After a small hike across Vail, we decided to head to the Red Rocks on the way back as we had half of the afternoon left. The Amphitheatre is where some of the most famous bands have played; the Beatles, Sting, U2, and SOOO many more! It was an incredible experience.

We hiked up another trail which took us up the top of the hills to an amazing view of Denver. It was so hot which made the walk 10 times harder with the altitude being so thin as well. We walked for about 40 minutes and then had to head back as we were heading downtown for dinner.

Tonight, we went going for dinner at... THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY! I completely forgot they had them all around America so I couldn't let this opportunity pass by. The food was amazing, and the portions were beyond ridiculous! We couldn't manage dessert there and then but we all took away cheesecakes to enjoy the next day. But now... I can say that I've been to the Cheesecake Factory! Apparently in San Francisco they have a Cheesecake Factory overlooking the whole city so we may have to make another visit to that one.

I'm indecisive about bringing my laptop to California, so I'll either see you on the other side or in 2 weeks time, back in Colorado!

 

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I'M MOVING TO ICELAND || USA TRAVELS

PART 1 

After 6 long months of waiting, the time has finally come for my America travels. The excitement has been building every hour of every day.

It's my first time flying completely alone which is terrifying but I'm currently in Iceland and nothing has gone wrong so far (although I nearly got flushed down the toilet in Iceland, DAMN YOU AUTOMATIC FLUSHES). 

I've arrived to Iceland and absolutely fallen in love with the scenery. Although Reykjavik isn't near any of the glaciers, flying into the airport you could see the glaciers in the distance (although I was sat on the wrong side of the plane, annoyingly). Also, the majority of the airport passengers are American, I guess I'll have to get used to the accent anyway. All in all, I'm happy my layover was in Iceland, even though I'm only here for 2 hours, I've been lucky enough to see its beautiful surroundings and I'm definitely going to have a trip back up here in the next few years! 

The pictures are using my iPhone camera so they are not great quality.

PART 2

First stop is Denver to see my family and be reunited with my best friend after 5 months. They have the nicest house and I'm honestly so lucky to have them let me stay for 2 and a half weeks! I arrived around 7:00pm with my family awaiting my arrival at the airport. I was so happy to see their two thrilled faces as I walked out to see them. 

Being overwhelmed by the views of the rocky mountains right ahead of us in the car was one thing, but the family house is on a whole other level... it is insanity! Not only is it massive, but they actually have everything you could want; a swimming pool, a lake, tennis court, speed boat... you name it and they will most likely have it. I also got two bedroom options, both of which were ridiculously huge with en suites and walk in wardrobes; so there won't be any arguments between me and Lia (I got here first anyway, first come first serve right?) 

I'm finally reunited with Lia tomorrow morning so I am mega excited to pick her up from the airport. It's just going to be a relaxing day tomorrow paddle boating in the lake and then hiking and more adventurous exploring on the other days.

I will put up photographs of the house tomorrow as it was dark when I arrived so couldn't get a clear image. 

I will be posting as much as possible on this trip, when I have wifi, (most likely late at night as I'll be busy doing lots of amazing things in the day). AHHH I still can't believe I'm actually here now!! 

 

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2 WEEKS TRAVELLING THROUGH CHINA

Soooo... during Easter my friend and I were privileged enough to travel around China for two weeks! This opportunity allowed us to visit some of the major cities and the most beautiful views in China. The trip started in Shanghai, then to Xi'An, Chengdu, Jiuzhai Gou and finished back in Shanghai. I can't put into words how incredible the whole trip was, and the photographs definitely don't justify how stunning the views we were surrounded by were.
Even though I feel the photographs don't give people the real insight to how beautiful China's urban and rural areas are, here are a few photographs from each city:

 Botanical Gardens, Shanghai                                                                                    Bell Tower, Xi'An                                                                                  Wenshu Temple, Chengdu                                                                           

Jiuzhai Gou had to be my favourite, without a doubt. The mountainous views and flowing rivers, the hundreds of yaks and the friendly locals; the place was unimaginable. Even though it took us ten hours to get there from Chengdu, it was 100% worth it. I would do it all over again just to see those views!

We stayed at a local traditional homestay owned by a Tibetan family. They were the most welcoming bunch of people I have ever met, I would definitely go back and stay again.
We were taken to visit Zhou Ma's brother's house where he also offers a homestay (slightly grander than Zhou Ma's, but more modern). He showed us around and guided us through the history of their family, with photographs of all the people who had previously visited (some who were famous journalists and writers).

The other highlight, for both of us, was visiting the Terracotta Warriors museum. This emotional experience will be unforgettable.

A few photographs I have been playing around with in photoshop.
   Leshan Giant Buddha

 Prayer flags which were all around the Jiuzhai Gou                         

 national park and town.                                                                                                                                         Dried fruits at a local market in the national park.

 

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GETTING TO KNOW A NEW PHOTOSHOP

So recently I signed up for Photoshop and Lightroom to be installed on my Macbook as it was originally on my families Mac so I didn't have access to it. It has been updated since then, it was a long time ago, so I am new to the layout but making my way around it fast enough. I pay for both applications monthly so if you're thinking about doing the same click here for the link. I think it is definitely worth it, especially considering you get Lightroom and Photoshop.

I have used Photoshop since day one of starting my photography and it has been so easy to get around. Youtube tutorials have been my saviour for the newly updated Photoshop as I haven't been able to figure out the most simplest of things, one being dragging one image onto another, just terrible! You're probably thinking, how can you sit there and just watch tutorials trying to figure out how it works... trust me, i don't enjoy it, I just want to be able to do it straight away but sometimes it just isn't that simple, it sucks but that is how it is.
Lightroom is completely new to me so it may take a few weeks to recognise the easiest parts of editing photographs. I'm one to be very impatient, so I will either delay learning how to use it for as long as possible or just try different ways to tackle it until I eventually achieve it.

The other night I was just doodling around and created the photographs shown below. I really enjoy combining multiple images and experimenting with different tools on Photoshop. These are just experiments so they aren't great, I must admit.

This image of the bird is not one of my best, but I thought it showed a clear way of how I layer the same image on top to emphasise the movement and speed of the object in the image. To allow it to flow a little smoother, I would have smoothened out the edges of the birds wings, possibly using the tool motion blur, so the movement would be more obvious. 

I have created a series of photographs similar to the above photograph, and the main tool used which helps create this effect is called replace colour. This allows you to change the colour of the background the same as the other image you are using so it blends in well using a blending mode effect. 

Since being back home I have been out plenty of times so I will be incorporating them into my next group of edits. Here is a sneaky peak at what the scenery is like around my home area, not great quality as it was taken on my iPhone. 

Click here to head over to my website, I will be adding a few more photographs on it in the next week or so hopefully. Right now it's time to go back to the real world and get sleep before work tomorrow at 6:30am, help me!

 

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