First holiday abroad!

What an exciting start of May I have had! 

On the 8th September 2017 me and my boyfriend decided to book a Holiday abroad to Tenerife. Last year, that sounded like an amazing idea at the time. Until the realisation kicked in that I have never been on holiday without my parents (unless it was a school trip. Don't really call them a holiday!) let alone abroad before! So once the whole getting the passport sorted was over, the real nerves kicked in. Although I was excited, the nerves didn't go until the second day of holiday. 

On the 1st May, we flew out to Tenerife. Turns out, I'm not scared of flying! I mean, would be a bit screwed as it is a 4 hour flight! (I didn't realise this until we booked the holiday) Although. I did cry. When people tell you to suck a sweet, or chew something when taking off/landing, LISTEN TO THEM. Because I got no pain in my ears when we took off, but the landing. oh.my.god. I genially had to ask my boyfriend if my ear was bleeding. It was such a horrible and strong pain, it did make me cry. Thankfully after 10 mins, it was gone. But my golly that was an experience in itself. (the over-dramatic side of my brain was saying "well this is it, you're not going on the plane again, time to make a new life in Tenerife") 

The Apartments we were staying at were thankfully only about a 20 min drive away. I really don't think we could have booked a better place to stay for my first ever "proper" holiday. We stayed at a place called Granda Park. It is build up of all different apartments, so it was like having a little holiday flat. It was lovely, because you couldn't hear your neighbours. ( I mean it probably helped that it was an elderly couple next to us) So once you were done for the day, you could go back and just chill in your own flat away from people! 

I mean LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL this place is. Normally there is 2 adult pools and one kids, but because its still "off season" or just started the season, they were doing work to improve one of the pools. This was no problem, because the place was pretty quite, I would say there was only about 100 people staying. It was a varied age from kids to the elderly, so it was a nice chilled environment to be in.

We went for all inclusive so we didn't need to worry about food, but turns out the apartments actually had kitchens in them anyway! The food there was really good for all inclusive. It was such a variety of different foods you could have, with a few changes every day. lots of different types of rice, pasta, different ways they cooked meet e.g. pork steaks, lamb stew etc. There was never a day where you would go hungry, because there wasn't something you liked.

What grabbed me about Tenerife was Siam Park and Loro Parque. Both have won awards for no.1 water park and zoo in the world.  They defiently live up to that. 

Siam Park  and Loro Parque

It's 37€ for one ticket or 64€ for both Siam and Loro Parque. For what you get, this is a very decent price.
I am a very anxious person. I was fully expecting myself to get anxious and stressed with the amount of people in both parks. Thankfully the time of year we went, it was pretty quiet. This is great, not only because it wasn't as stressful, but it meant that at the water park, you didn't have to wait more that 5 mins for a slide and at the zoo, there wasn't a wait to get in and take a picture of the animals. I mean you still had to barge your way in cause there is always that one person who hogs all the room, but it wasn't a crushed up situation. 

Both parks are huge and very well laid out, with plenty of maps/ signs showing what was where. 

Although I had to best time at loro parque, I will admit I was worried about going to Siam Park. I am not a big water person, so was very worried about the rides. I done one called " the dragon" it wasn't until afterwards, we saw that Siam park rate their rides "easy, medium, hard" the dragon was hard. It was safe to say after that ride, I stuck with the lazy river and the man made beach they have. 

Both have such a beautiful Thailand theme. So even if you do go to the water park, don't like the slides there are plenty of statues, plants and scenery to take pictures off. 

Loro Parque is the first place I have ever seen a Orca and a Dolphin in real life, let alone watching them perform. It is an experience I will never forget. 

Aqualand 

On the last day we thought we would go to another water park called Aqualand. We read some really mixed reviews on this place, but had euros left over so thought for 28€ each, we would give it ago. 

I was VERY anxious that day. I don't know if it was because I hadn't been taken my meds, the fear from The Dragon at Siam Park, home sickness or just a mixture of it all. Firstly, I didn't find the lifeguards as friendly. Siam and Loro staff did speak a bit of english, which made it easier. But it seemed some of the staff at Aqua didn't. It wasn't very well laid out either. There were 2 different type of dingys, but one stairway up to 4 different slides. It was hard to work out what dingy for what slide, and because it seemed their English wasn't great, it was hard to work out what they were trying to say to us. I mean, we're in a Spanish speaking country, so I don't see this as a big issue really. 

The first slide we went on, I hit my butt on the bottom of the slide. On the their lazy river, my boyfriend moved to the left to get out, my dyspraxia kicked in and instead of going opposite way, I followed him and ended up falling out. Turns out the bottom of their river is made from gravel. That hurts when you smack your knees on it with some force. 

After this, and how I already felt with my anxiety I didn't want to do anymore. So my boyfriend did the rest of the rides. One of them he had to go front first, and because it was almost a sudden stop slide, he did hurt his stomach and explained it as being punched in the gut. Another slide he hurt his back on, and was very red after. (maybe not enough water?) 

So the day wasn't too good. Apart from their Jacuzzi/spa. We spent 90% of the day in that. One of the best parts is when you enter, they take your photo with couple of parrots, and its only 8€ for the picture. This is really the only place we saw that you could have your photo taken for free with animals, then decide to pay. I don't remember being asked if I wanted my photo taken with animals at Loro or Siam .

My favourite part of the holiday though was the cats and lizards. To begin with, I didn't think I would see any lizards. But turns out I just wasn't looking close enough. By the end of the week, you could spot them so easily. Its safe to say, I did try and be friends, to encourage one to come onto my hand. One look at my hand and then almost gave me a look that said "pft, yeah you've got to be kidding me" and ran into whole in the wall. 

But I did get to see 3 cats. One was so bloody friendly that I don't think it was a stray. It walked up to us and went straight onto its back exposing its belly for belly rubs! The second cat I saw, let me pet him on the head, but from an arms length and only one finger. The first cat stayed in the bush and watched me from a distance looking like a muppet trying to get its attention! 

Overall I am so glad I plucked the courage up and decided to go holiday. Although I don't think I would do it again in a hurry, it has defiently got me in the mood to travel and I am looking forward to the possibility to more exploring in the future! 

Until  next time 

x

My laptop broke. Again.

Hey guys!
So I've been a bit MIA due to not having a laptop for a few weeks.
If you know me personally, then you know that my luck with laptops, really isn't that great! I mean a well known PC store and IT support company actually lost my laptop when I was in school! So it took them 30 days to realise the laptop was "missing" as well as then a fight to get replacement. You can imagine the struggle I had in school/college "sorry, I can't hand in my essay. Why? Oh because I started it, my laptop broke, then it got lost and is now probably used on the black market or somethin" Yes, I remember having a good few mental breakdowns having to re-do essays.

For some reason last year, I decided I wanted a new laptop. I have no idea why, the laptop I had was fine, but I had money and I wanted something new. I had £200 and went for an Acer Aspire notebook style laptop. Later on I realised that the 2GB RAM and 32GB Storage, really wasn't enough for what I wanted. I mean, in the end there wasn't even enough room to update Windows. So using a Windows laptop, without Windows running properly did cause a few issues! Thankfully I solved that issue by getting an external hardrive. 

Apart from that "issues" there wasn't really anything wrong with the laptop. It ran fine. That was until I decided to reset the laptop. Because I was running out of space, I thought if I reset the laptop back to the beginning, removing all my junk, then start fresh and move everything to my external hardrive, the laptop would run smoother.
I started the process of resetting it, and an "error" came up. I followed the instructions and the laptop ended up being stuck in a loop. THANKFULLY I insured my laptop with Argos when I bought it. So I called them up, which they then advised me that it is still under the 1 year manufacturers guarantee, so I need to call Acer. So they gave me their number and I called them up. After explaining what happened, they booked the laptop in for repair. This meant I had to send it off, but knowing it had tracking numbers, I didn't worry too much.
Couple of days later, laptop was fixed and back with me. FANTASTIC. I thought yes, this is great! Looking at the paperwork they gave me, it said a "main board" broke, Means nothing to me, but cheers anyway!
I loaded it up,  started to use it to find that it was stuck in an admin mode. I was confused and wasn't sure how to get out of it. Once again, I phoned Acer up and they said "just reset it, and it'll start from scratch" Which is when I explained what happened last time, so they said to send it back and they'll have a look. (thank goodness its free shipping) I got the laptop back once again only a few days later and they got it off admin mode, and put to "normal reset" in the paperwork, it also showed the "main board" failed.

So all this was last year. Now we're getting to this year. About a month ago, I decided I didn't really use the laptop, and I asked if my other half would like it for his photography. So I went to reset it and joked saying "you can have it if it doesn't break again" moral of the story. Don't make jokes.
Once again "error" but this time, I thought "no. I'm going to fix this. I'm a strong, independent woman, I don't need no IT Support" I got the ipad up and got googling! I was able to get the laptop out of its loop, and got to a troubleshoot section. I stared to think to myself "yeah boii, I've done it" It was troubleshooting and came up with "preparing windows" I was 99% confidence I've done this! That was until 2 hours later it was still "preparing windows" That's when I stuck my middle finger up to the laptop and called Acer. Explained, again, and sent it off, again
Because it was Easter and Bank Holiday, it took longer to get back, but only by a week or so. I got it back read the paperwork "faulty main board" tbh I thought it might have a few main boards, so I just assumed it was a different one gone again.
So I told my boyfriend, it's back from repair, you can have it JUST DON'T RESET IT". I plugged the laptop in to charge it and this awful noise came from it. The fans were going CRAZY. And I don't mean "I've been sat on a same surface and got too hot" fan noise, it sounded more like the PS4 when that fan gets going. I'll attach a video so you can see what I mean.

The laptop wasn't on! So I turned it on, and the fan shut off. So then I turned the laptop off, and the fans went crazy again! So within an hour of receiving the laptop back, I was back on the phone to Acet (I mean we were practically on first name terms by then" It stopped and the lady said just leave it for couple of hours, see how it goes. So I left it, turned off, unplugged and unattended. An hour later my dad came in saying "your laptop is making a weird noise" So I said, I doubt it's mine, it's probably mums on. So then my dad brought my laptop in, holding it from arms distance from him, and the fan was going crazy. The fact there was no power going into it, starting to really worry me. 

This was when my anxiety was kicking in, and I had to get my dad to take over. I phoned up Acer, asked them if my dad could take over (they were nice enough and understood) They explained to my dad what to do, to drain the battery enough so it will stop and is safe to put in a box to send back. 

So once again, it was sent off. 

The next day I got a call from Acer, saying that because this is the 3rd, possibly 4th time the laptop has broken, that depending on what the engineer says, it could be written off. So now I was getting stressed. Because last time I heard them words, my parents had to fight to get a new laptop from another company.
Couple of days past, but I didn't hear anything. So I phoned up, and got told that it was in the process for being put for replacement, and that I'll get a call back. I didn't get a call back, but I phoned the next day and got told that the mainboard did blow again, so they're going to write the laptop off. 

Another few days passed, and I got another call, this was giving me two laptop ID'S to look up. They said to go away, have a look at both models, then if I don't like the idea of any of them, they'll give me a voucher. 

I booted up the spare laptop I was using, and put in the first model. I thought "yeah this one will do, its got more ram and space" but thought i'd look at the second one too. and that's when I thought "lol no. I'm having this one" 

First of all, I had to phone Acer back up, to make sure I didn't have to pay any extra for this replacement. (The poor guy was like "umm .. no?") I told him the laptop, and he typed it in and said it'll be with you soon. 

So the laptop I had, was £200. 2GB Ram 32GB hardrive. The replacement laptop (that I'm using now) was a £380 4GB Ram, 1TB hardrive  WHAT. I was so shocked. I honestly thought they were going to say "ok, but you need to pay the excess price" But no. I just got given, this BEAST of a laptop as a replacement. 

I honestly cannot fault the Acer customer service team at all. I never had to wait too long for someone to answer the phone. There was never any problems sending or receiving the laptop. Although I had to keep phoning back about the replacement laptop (mainly because i'm a worrier) there was no issues. The staff were lovely and never made me feel "stupid" like some IT support can. 

After this experience with Acer, I wouldn't mind buying other Acer products, because I know their support team are good and efficient. 

Now I have a laptop back and a good one at that, I can start to make my PDF cross stitch patterns again! I am hoping, in a couple of months time, I might be able to start selling my cross stitch patterns, especially now I have a working laptop. Fingers crossed! 

until next time 

x 

Living with Non-Allergic Rhinitis

Last year I was diagnosed with a Non-Allergic Rhinitis issue.
Now you're probably thinking "a what?!" Non-Allergic Rhinitis is basically the irritation of the nostrils which makes your nose run, block up, sneeze etc.
You can get Allergic Rhinitis which is when you get hay fever or if you're allergic to something. Hay fever is the most common when it comes to irritating the nose.
Obviously with hay fever symptoms, you get all the blocked nose, runny nose, sneezing etc, but you also can get itchy eyes etc. With non-allergic rhinitis, you get a lot of the same nose symptoms, but no itchy eyes (well in my case I don't anyway)
The difference between the both of them is that, most non-allergic versions you don't really know what "sets you off" plus unlike having hay fever, I get this all year round.

This isn't something I just "diagnosed" myself. Because I constantly had issues with my nose, some days worse than others, sometimes anti histamines worked, sometimes it didn't. I just assumed I have become allergic to something. I did start to panic that maybe I became allergic to my cats etc. Because I would get set of at different times. After going to my GP and getting a referral to the allergy clinic up our local hospital, I then got all the "normal" tests done. This is the allergy tests for pollen, pets, dust etc. And nothing was showing up. My skin wasn't getting irritated to any of the "normal" allergies. I got tested again with a few different more "uncommon" allergies of different tree pollen and other possible allergies. Yet again, nothing showed up. Me and the nurse both thought something would have shown up because of the symptoms I gave the GP etc.
Once I had all my tests done, I got to see the Allergy Doctor. This is when he explained to me that I didn't have an allergy and that I had "non-allergic rhinitis" my first reaction was "a what" This is when he explained that basically my nostrils are easily irritated by particles in the air. He this continued to tell me that it is more common in the elderly. (cheers body)

So I went home and done some of my own research. Turns out this can last for anything from a few weeks/months to a good few years/ hey maybe forever! There isn't much I can do, apart from avoid the things that you know can trigger it. For example, even though there is no "main trigger" an high smelling perfume, might cause the start of irritation, so if you know perfume starts it off, then to try and avoid it etc. This is great, but currently I still have no idea what my triggers are!

With any "illnesses" there are good and bad days. Thankfully I'm getting more good than bad days lately. Some days I can go through with an occasional sneeze, a bit of an itchy nose, but nothing that really bothers me. Other days can be really bad. Sometimes it can get to the stage that I have to go to bed, and nap or sleep to stop it. On them bad days my nose will either not stop running or will be blocked up and scabbed, I'll have either random sneezes, or I'll have continuous sneezing for a good few mins. (did you know, that continuous sneezing can be bloody exhausting! Because I didn't until I got all this!) on them bad days, it's also like my sinuses are on fire. Everything feels blocked and throbbing. This can last from an hour to a whole afternoon. It has got so bad that I have had to sleep to try and get some relief from the symptoms.
There is also no regular time of the day that I get this. I can get up and go to the loo at 2am, and by the time i get up, go to the loo and go back to my room, my nose can start running. So something in that few mins was enough to trigger it. I can wake up with it, or be fine all day and get it in the afternoon. I don't have to be in my house either. I've had it staying at my boyfriends, I've been fine all day and then gone outside and it started. It is really very random when I get this.

I can take anti histamines, this can help reduce the symptoms, and it will probably help a lot more when pollen season starts etc. but sometimes the histamines don't touch it. I know there are also nose sprays you can use to help clear the nose, so if you can start to feel it start, you can wash the particles out of the nose before it gets too much.

Thankfully at the moment I don't work, so when I do get a "bad day" it's not so bad if I take a quick nap in the afternoon to stop it. Failing that, I need a box of tissues with me at all times!

So if you or you know anyone who has this, just keep some tissues near by, if we start sneezing, or getting a blocked nose, giving us a tissues makes you an angel!

That's about it for this blog post. I am currently making my way though Detective Pikachu on 3DS so I'll hopefully have a review for that coming out soon!

Until next time x