Travel Diary- Days at Sea

It's been a couple of months since I came back from this holiday but, since I enjoyed writing about my holiday so much last time, I thought I'd do another. It's a nice way to relive the memories. However, because it was a pretty long holiday, and also because I'm lazy, I'm basically just going to outline the highlights and include some pretty pictures. Because I write to much that didn't quite happen, so while I'd intended to shove it all in one post said post got too long and I've had to split it up.

This year's holiday was, once again, a cruise. However, it was a blissful seventeen days around Southern Europe- much needed after a gruelling four week summer job. We sailed with P and O cruises again, though this time we chose their ship 'Aurora.' A considerably smaller ship it was cosy with a more classical interior design. I particularly liked the Art Deco influences, though I slightly missed the fresh contemporary air of Britannia. 

The days at sea were roughly the same, so I thought I'd sum up what we typically did in this post. I'd usually wake up and read for around an hour with a coffee before hitting the gym for another hour. I'd shower once I got back and get ready for the day. This would then be followed by a combination of reading/exploring the ship/listening to music/napping/doing the daily crossword and sudoku (we're too cheap to pay for onboard internet... plus I kind of like brainteasers. I'm a bit weird like that).

The lift area, which I was just *slightly* fascinated with- lovely interior design!

The atrium. Smaller than previous ships but it still had character. Plus there was no risk of getting lost haha!

This is a general view of the ocean from our cabin on a sunny day.  This is honestly such an amazing view to have, mostly because it's not everyday that your view is the damn ocean!!

Then lunch, obviously. Usually eaten at the buffet, sometimes at the poolside grill. The period after lunch was usually spend similarly to the period before, with reading and music. If we were living dangerously we'd spend a bit of time on the promenade deck watching the ocean. There were a fair few times we saw dolphins- one of the biggest highlights of the trip.

We'd then get ready for dinner, pretty much always with a nice drink or two. Alcoholic, obviously, because who doesn't like being a bit tipsy for dinner??? We generally dined at the on board restaurant, which is pretty damn posh. Being the architectural enthusiast that I am I was particularly fascinated by the twinkling lights in the ceiling. Dinner's a three course meal with, usually, a fairly decent selection of food.

This is a little snippet of one of the dresses I wore on a formal night. Sadly it's mostly cut out in this photo. It's so lovely (and, more importantly, a bargain at £25! It's from H&M, though I bought it a while back so I doubt they're selling anymore)

Ok, I managed to get a proper photo of the dress I'm wearing in the picture above. Not that there's that much point because it's about two years old so I'm fairly certain it's no longer available for purchase.

One of the many sunsets we got to enjoy on our trip. Probably taken on the promenade deck just before dinner 

If you have a little flick through my blog you can probably gather that I adore food, so it should come as no surprise that I'm going to describe my favourite meal onboard. This meal is so worthy of description. It should actually have its own blog post, if I'm honest. Anyway, it was a roast dinner. To be more specific, a prime forerib of beef, plus some fancy potatoes that I forget the name of, a Yorkshire pud and some veg. And gravy, I think. The beef. That beef. It was the softest thing. It tasted beautiful, so beautiful, in fact, that with each bite I practically saw angels descend with their harps, singing the Hallelujah Chorus. I still have dreams about that meal. Then I wake up covered in drool and thoroughly disappointed. (I should also mention that the started was octopus and the dessert mango creme brûlée- an around A+ meal!)

Sorry I couldn't get a picture of this fantastic meal, I was too busy enjoying it. Instead enjoy a photo of me enjoying a glass of wine in the restaurant, taken on a completely different day to the one I had the meal on.

The top deck of the ship, it looks so pretty all lit up! 

Post dinner usually involved chilling in bed with a shot of whiskey before passing out (from sleep, not intoxication, I swear I only had a few drinks!!). It's been so nice reliving all of this, in the middle of autumn and a new uni term and with a whole bunch of deadlines rapidly approaching I'm wishing I was back relaxing on holiday! I guess I'm just going to have to dream about my next one for the moment...

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