We’re back from our final adventure abroad for this year. I feel incredibly lucky and blessed that I get to act on my impulse to fly off to beautiful places.
It’s probably a lot to do with the fact that while I was at my most symptomatic of bowel cancer, but wrongly being treated for IBS and piles, I went nowhere.
My passport lapsed and I spent 8 years grounded by bowels that were literally screaming out in agony. They were telling me something was wrong for a very long time, in turn I’d pass this information along to various GPs and they’d give me more pile cream and Fybogel…and I can attest to the fact, this is indeed not the cure for cancer.
I am so incredibly lucky that I had a slower growing, less aggressive cancer than is usual at the age I was back then. I’m so many ways I am an incredibly lucky person.
I was 36 at diagnosis, I suffered many many years before that.
So forgive me if I seem like I’m always going on holiday, home or abroad…I am, and I will until I can’t go anymore.
I sat life out for long enough during the misdiagnosed years, and since I was fortunate enough to survive I have made the most of every single opportunity possible. Failure to do so would be an insult to my friends and family who didn’t get the luck I did.
I live for now. This moment. No waiting, no hesitation.
Life passes in the blink of an eye, one minute you’re a teenager in nightclubs, high on life and anything else that you fancy…and then in what feels like a minute, you’re knees and back ache and checking your cholesterol and blood pressure.
So while I’m fit enough for fun and fabulous adventures, that’s what I’ll be doing.
Just to add, I’m not governed by adrenaline, I’m no white knuckle thrill seeker, no, I get my dopamine rush from being somewhere beautiful, eating good food and watching the world go by.
Top and Trousers from M&S.
I’m getting a lot of use out of this cardi, wears per pounds are actually pretty good for once.
I am making some changes to how I spend. Or at least I am trying. Quality over quantity. And just less of everything is my hope. 🤞🏼🙏🏼
T Shirt and Shoes from M&S, Trousers from Ralph Lauren, Cardigan from French Connection.
So a few weeks ago, Chris told me to leave last week free because he’d booked a surprise for my/our Christmas present.
I’m very much into the idea of experiences rather than things, although who exactly do I think I’m kidding - love things as much as experiences too.
So off we went to gay Paree…
I assumed we’d be going by the train, but as it was nearly £600 more expensive to travel by Eurostar, we flew.
I really enjoy the train to France, but I do not like it six hundred pounds more.
The reason he chose Paris is because I was saying that the Christmas decorations are delightful, especially the ones in the big department stores.
Ben kept teasing me that I was off to Paris to look round Debenhams 😂
I hadn’t ever been to Galeries Lafayette or Printemps before, so that was exciting in itself.
They are more akin with Harrods and Selfridges than Debenhams as it turns out. They are utterly delightful.
Plus there was an Art Deco exhibition that we really wanted to visit. We love Art Deco design and architecture.
I dressed for warmth and comfort. These jeans are super soft and leaks would be highly unlikely, not impossible of course, but not likely.
If I sat at home every time I had a fear or worry that my bag might leak I’d honestly never leave my house. It’s a concern, it does fret me.
But staying home, sitting life out isn’t an option.
Vest top from Intimissimi, Jeans from M&S, Shoes from Christian Dior
Jumper from Maje
Paris ready…
He absolutely cracks me up, we arrived at the hotel ~ after a significant delay at the airport in Paris.
It took one hour to fly to Paris, it then took one hour fifteen minutes to get through passport control. It was a joke, the queue was ridiculous, to the point they had staff handing out bottles of water to the waiting crowd.
Just a Little idea that might work, they could try putting more than 3 staff on at the passport desks - Just a thought.
Anyway, unbeknown to me, Chris had arranged flowers, petals and non alcoholic sparkling ‘champagne’ for our arrival.
It was adorable, and funny.
He had booked us into a fabulous little bistro near the hotel for dinner.
He apparently put all his requirements into ChatGPT and it found the hotel (which was amazing by the way, and brilliant value for money in the most perfect location), the restaurant and everything else he had thought would be nice.
I think ChatGPT is the future of do it yourself travel.
The restaurant was amazing!! It’s so so good, it’s very popular, so booking is advisable.
Chez Andre was so, well, so very French. 🇫🇷
It’s really tightly packed and cosy, it feels like you are dining with the other customers, mainly because you are, snug seems an understatement, some of the reviews said be prepared to make friends…and we did.
Top and Trousers from Me&Em
The food, oh it was so good. This weekend was going to be food centric.
We needed a long walk after dinner, and bloody hell, did we!!
We did over 15 thousand steps by bedtime and we’d only arrived in Paris that evening.
We walked down Avenue Montaigne, and the Champs-Elysees. And then decided that as we were so full, we might as well walk over to the Eiffel Tower.
My expectation was to just walk around the outside of it and take some nice photos, but somehow, and I don’t know how, we ended up in the queue for the elevator to the top.
Reader, I have been to Paris a number of times, but I have managed to stay on the ground each time, I don’t quite know what happened really. Maybe I simply forgot that I’m scared of heights, because we went right to the top.
Did I enjoy the fact I’d made it up there?
Kind of, I was more just in shock that I did it more than anything. Like I said, I’m not an adrenaline junkie. Of all the junkies I could be adrenaline will always be bottom of the list. 😂
Look at her, a million miles in the air…
It was so lovely, and absolutely worth the fear.
The next day we planned to just traipse around Paris, absorbing all the chic-ness and culture the city has to offer.
I handpicked my outfits with deliberate care. I wanted to be warm, but also like one of those effortlessly elegant Parisian women (I look like a short, round dowdy housewife in comparison, but as comparison is the thief of joy I just went for it anyway).
I gave chic a good go, and you know what, it must have worked a bit because 3 people complimented by style. I can’t tell you what a high that gave me!! Actual French Parisian women telling me I looked good. 🥰
Mission accomplished 🤩😂
Dress from Maje, Jumper from Ralph Lauren, Tights from Snag, Shoes from Hermes, Jacket from Ralph Lauren.
I love croissants and hot chocolate, it’s almost a compulsion.
I spent a lot of time like this…
Then it was more walking, although we did have to use the metro in the end (never done that before, look at us, adventurers!)
Chris had booked our hotel, well he booked everything, but one of his requirements was to be near Hermes, because he planned to buy me something from there as my Christmas present.
I didn’t have any prior knowledge of this or I would have been plotting my attack on the store.
I tried on these boots, I have coveted them for a very long time. I had no expectations of getting them. I just wanted to try them on as they had the shorter version in my size. I have stumpy little legs so I need the shorter length boot.
They fit like a glove, or shoe as in this case. And Chris said “we’ll have them” and I nearly passed out.
I was just window shopping, and enjoying myself doing so.
I think what helped Chris decide to buy them was the fact that they were cheaper in Paris than in London, and, and this is the good bit, with Tax Back shopping it takes a considerable amount of money off anything you buy.
(I do believe I have discovered the one and only benefit of Brexit - It’s only taken 9 years to find one).
If you are travelling to Europe, remember to claim your tax return at the airport. It’s so simple.
Take your passport shopping with you. The store will fill out all the paperwork, and all you have to do is scan the bar codes at the airport and the money goes straight back onto your card.
I’m not going to claim the boots were a bargain, because they just weren’t, but they were considerably cheaper in Paris, And that feels like a bargain.
Once I discovered tax back shopping I made the most of it.
I bought a Maje dress in Galeries Lafayette, it cost £170. The same dress, in the sale in London was £262, down from three hundred and something.
I appreciate £170 is still a lot for a dress, so I realise no one is going to be following me for financial advice, god, no, at best I’m chaotic with the stuff, but if you were going to Europe, it would be worth looking to see if the things you were after are cheaper there.
The Christmas decorations were absolutely fabulous! They lived up to my very high expectations. They are a spectacle.
And then we headed to the Deco exhibition. It’s really really good.
We did accidentally go round it the wrong way round. So we ended up seeing the grand finale first, but it wasn’t a massive problem as it’s all very beautiful, if you love deco I’d definitely recommend.
Also I’d recommend starting at room 1, not 3 🫣😂
We were exhausted by the end of the day, even with using the metro to get about we were still racking up over 20 thousand steps a day.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a nice walk, but 20 thousand steps is way more than I usually manage.
On the final day my leg went to sleep whilst we were out walking, which was a very peculiar feeling. 😂
So we stopped at a restaurant to refuel and rest, lots of rest.
I don’t know why but Paris has a reputation for having very grumpy people in it. But I can honestly say I’ve never found that to be true.
Everyone was super friendly and welcoming, and they weren’t even offended by my attempt to speak French.
One cab driver told Chris that he was lucky to have a wife who spoke French so well! 🫣🤩😂
All I said was “hello, how are you?” And when he asked me if I spoke French I replied “only a little” (all this in French of course). He was jolly impressed, which I think it adorable, because that was the extent of my language skills. 😂
Thankfully it wasn’t a long cab ride. ;)
Paris at any time of year is very special. I feel so lucky to have gone at Christmas, this was a memory made.
Top from Intimissimi, Trousers from Ralph Lauren, Shoes from Hermes.
A day of more walking and croissant eating. Could life get better than that? 🥰
We found a few hidden gems of photography points, by accident as it happens. I had seen this spot on a few Instagram posts, but we stumbled across it inadvertently.
It’s a great vantage point.
What a glorious time we had.
Then it was crashing back to reality back home where a cystoscopy awaited me.
I’ve been having trouble with my bladder again, so the consultant wanted to rule out any possible problems that might be lurking.
Thankfully there isn’t any, and I have a horrible feeling that I am simply destined to wake for a wee multiple times a night forever.
I never really know if my insomnia is caused by the bladder waking me up, or if I wake up because of the insomnia and I just assume I need a wee.
One of life’s mysteries I imagine, so ******* annoying though.
That said, it does beat the alternative, I’m lucky that I am fit and well. For that I feel incredibly grateful, I never take that for granted, because at one point I wasn’t and it was hell.
If you have any health niggles, anything that doesn’t feel right, please get it checked out, the sooner the better.
If you are being fobbed off by your doctor try try again. I really wish I had advocated for myself better. I wish I had insisted on being thoroughly checked. It would have saved me a whole heap of time stress and the inconvenience of illness.
Shirt from Gap, Trousers from Ralph Lauren.
I came home from the hospital ready and raring to go to do my final Christmas decorations push.
Our Christmas is this weekend, because that’s when all of us will be together.
For me, that is real Christmas. We’re not religious, so for us this weekend will be a celebration of love and family and joy and feasting, all together. Which is what Christmas is about for most of us.
Inside and out is complete.
Seven decorated Christmas trees later and I am done 🤩🎄🎅🏻
This one is so special, it’s a very retro looking tree of my childhood in the 70s and 80s. It makes be feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Nothing beats the warmth of a happy childhood Christmas.
I can still remember the feeling of opening some of my most memorable presents, it is so familiar and safe.
My mum handed over the baubles she had for her first married Christmas to my dad in 1969, they are so beautiful, and so special, and they still look good as new.
Finished off with vintage inspired wrapping paper…from Temu no less.
Then I have my collection of Christmas trinkets from all over the world, bought on our travels. And they bring back memories of our adventures together.
Then the final room, a room I decided to dedicate to Christmas through a child’s eye.
I love the Nutcracker ballet, we go most years, and this year is no exception.
But when I saw these decorations a few years ago, I just thought of how beautiful and special they would be to a child.
I feel that decorations should always make you feel something. That hard to explain feeling of Christmas past - the sheer excitement and joy.
I’m trying to capture future nostalgia for Zak.
I still remember visiting my nan and grandad’s house as a child at Christmas, they had this shiny little straggly tree ~ more wire than tinsel ~ my cousin Emma and I would make up dance routines and sing along to the latest album we’d got…and I’d give anything to go back and see it one more time.
I loved that feeling come the evening of putting my new pyjamas on that my aunt would buy me from Marks and Spencer (so bouji, I’d feel like a princess in them).
Then getting in the car to go home in said pjs with our coats over us as blankets, and waking up at home, just to go straight to bed.
God that brings back so many memories. And I want that for Zak too, so when he’s 52 he’ll think about all his childhood memories and know he was so loved.
Ps, I wish it was acceptable to put pjs on for car rides home to bed now.
I haven’t gone that far, but I do keep make up remover in the car now, so I can at least strip all that off before I get home. 10/10, would recommend.
Wishing you a very happy weekend and an early merry Christmas to you and yours. ♥️