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5 best things to do in Germany for nature and relaxation seekers

As the New Year finally approached , I now feel closer than ever to travelling the world and I am slowly planning my future trips. It brings me so much joy and hope these days! My next desired destination is Germany, a country so close to where I come from ,that I’ve never had a chance to explore.

Frankly, after not planning trips for so long, I struggled where to start! Thankfully I found out about German information skill capsule on Alexa from the German National Tourist Board! It’s a great source of travel inspiration and information. 

When asking Alexa about Germany Travel tips, you’re being asked two questions : if you prefer nature or culture and action or relaxation. Based on your answers Alexa suggests the perfect travel programme for you. Normally when travelling, I like the mix of both – couple of days of pure relaxation in the nature followed by some exciting and fun outdoor activities. However after a stressful year, I go for relaxation this time. This travel guide is perfect for relaxation and nature fans. I hope it will make you put Germany on your 2021 bucket list!

For those who seek the total relaxation and the beauty of the nature, Alexa will offer many incredible walks and hiking trails such as a walk along the magical Wilhelmshöhe hillside park in Kassel. It’s located only two hours drive from Frankfurt. You can also get there by train using the Hanover–Würzburg high-speed railway. It’s the largest hillside park in Europe, famous for its cascading waters. During the walk you can admire the incredible water features : fountains, waterfalls and get to them top of the hill to see the Hercules- the most famous landmark. It looks absolutely stunning! Would absolutely love to visit!

Strolls in Wilhelmshöhe hillside park in Kassel
Copyright notice ©GNTB /Florian Trynkowski

Next recommendation I was given by Alexa is a visit to Tropical Islands Resort. Yes, you heard that right! There is a tropical paradise located only 50 kilometres away from Berlin! 100 000 square meters of rainforests, blue lagoons and lovely warm temperatures. Sounds like a dream? You can get there easily either by car or by train. You need to get off at Brand Tropical Islands train station. From there you will be collected by a free shuttle bus and taken directly to Tropical Islands. When arriving you’ll be blown away by how huge and amazing this place is! You can either head there for a day of relaxation in their incredible heated pools and spa or even book an overnight in the Tropical Islands dome, from tents in the rainforest camp to premium lodges. You can also choose to have your overnight-stay experience outside the dome in a gorgeous holiday apartment. Let’s add the
most awesome news ( at least for me, haha!) Apparently you can even find
flamingos inside! Say what? Count me in!

Fun in the tropical paradise- The Tropical Islands Resort
©Tropical Islands Artist Bernhard Ludewig

Another tailor-made tip was a Riverboat cruise on the Rhine– Germany’s Most Romantic River. Turns out the best way to see the castles in South-West Germany is by boat! Rüdesheim is one of the best departure ports for day-trip excursion riverboat cruises to see the Rhine Valley, castles and Loreley Rock. Imagine relaxing on the water with a glass of wine and admiring the most gorgeous views over astonishing castles, charming small towns and peaceful vineyards. A dream right now!

A romantic riverboat cruise on the Rhine
Copyright notice ©Rheintouristik Tal der Loreley, St.Goar/ Mahlow Media, Winningen

Next activity suggested for nature and relaxation lovers is a visit to The
Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park
, which is a part of the Wadden Sea UNESCO World Heritage Site. I’ve seen so many magical photos of this place and it’s been on my bucket list ever since! It will make you fall in love at first sight with its sand dunes, sandbanks, beaches and incredibly rich flora and fauna. Just visualise yourself stepping on the sand, feeling the breeze in your hair and connecting with nature. You can either walk around or admire the views on the bike ride. You can also visit the small inhabited Halligen islands in the middle of the mudflats by boat. With a bit of luck (and a great guide) you can spot starfish, snails, mussels and lugworms. How wonderful is that? I would absolutely love to stay there overnight and spent a day relaxing on a beach! 

Visiting The Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park
Copyright notice ©GNTB/ Francesco Carovillano


Alexa also told me about the famous Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz located in Saxony-Anhalt, between the city of Dessau and the town of Wörlitz in Central Germany. What makes this place so special? It is one of the first and largest English landscape garden in Germany and continental Europe, constructed between 1769 and 1773. It became a UNESCO world heritage site in 2000. It’s perfect for cycle tours, walks, horse-riding as well as boat trips. The main attractions to visit are : Georgium Palace, the Luisium Palace, Wörlitz park and many more. The space is huge- about 140km2.  You can spend days exploring yourself or book a special tour. Just looking at the photos of this place makes me feel so relaxed and inspired. I would love to visit it in spring when the garden is at its full bloom! That must be magical!

Tours around the Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz
Copyright notice ©Kulturstiftung Dessau-Wörlitz

I hope you enjoyed my Germany Travel Guide with a help of the new “Germany Travel Tips” Alexa Skill from the German National Tourist Board. I had a lot of fun planning my future trip and chatting about the ideas with Alexa! I am amazed how much Germany has to offer and I hope to make this bucket list trip happen as soon as possible! Have you been to Germany before?

Post in collaboration with German National Tourist Office 

Melrose Relais – a magical place to stay on the Sorrento Peninsula

Hi everyone!

As most of you probably seen on Instagram, after months in the UK, I have finally made it to my beloved country – Italy, where I am planning to stay for a while. Last week I had a chance to stay in an absolutely beautiful place that I decided to blog about straight away. I felt like I just had to let you know about this magical site. I know traveling is not possible right now, but we can always keep dreaming and planning our future escapes, right? I hope this post will inspire your future trips!

LOCATION

Melrose Relais is located a few steps from the sea, in the splendid scene of Massa Lubrense. It’s surrounded by the typical olive trees of the Sorrento peninsula and the Mediterranean Scrub, and it’s placed only 300 meters away from the famous beach Marina di Puolo. The view from this property is absolutely stunning. It’s overseeing Mount Vesuvius on one side and Island of Capri on the other.

HOW TO GET THERE

The nearest airport is Naples International, 57 km from MelRose Relais. There are few ways to get there : either by Circumvesuviana train from Naples station, by Curreri bus or by car – From the A3 Napoli – Salerno highway.

The property also offers a paid airport shuttle service. You can read more here. We got there by car from Naples and the views on our way were incredible! The trip took us less than an hour.

ACCOMMODATION

Melrose Relais offers few different room types : Classic, Deluxe, Superior 2+2 – perfect for families ,and Junior Suite. All rooms are bright, modern with a little Mediterranean touch. I stayed at Junior Suite and it was a perfect choice for us as a couple as we had our own private terrace with the most magical views over Bay of Naples and island of Capri. We enjoyed them every morning while having breakfast. It was a perfect way to start our day. What a dream! I already miss it. I also absolutely loved the typical Sorrento majolica tiles everywhere on the terrace and also in the bathroom- so beautiful! Could I please move in?

DINING

Our day would start with breakfast on our private terrace. It was perfect! Then we were having lunch by the pool – super chilled but chic at the same time- they serve everything so beautifully and the food was absolutely delicious! As the owner said- everything from her grandma’s recipes.

At night we would dine at their beautiful restaurant under olive trees, facing the sea and the most incredible sunsets. It was such a magical and romantic experience. I absolutely loved the laterns, candles, and flowers everywhere. It was honestly so special. Not even mentioning how incredible the food was. I felt like the chef was reading my mind. What I won’t ever forget is the tuna tartare I had there – one of the most delicious ones I ever tried! I will surely go back to Melrose for dinner!

Recently Melrose opened the most gorgeous Bistrot – I absolutely loved the design, colors and decor. The Bistrot is available for both- hotel and non-hotel guests. I highly recommend booking it!

THINGS TO DO

There’s a lot to do around. You should definitely explore the beautiful Massa Lubrense and head to the magical Cala di Puolo Beach which is only 13 minutes walk. You should also explore Sorrento- I promise you’ll fall in love at first sight! My love started from the moment I ate this huge croissaint, haha!

Apart from that, Melrose offers tours by boat (both private or in group) to Capri, Positano, Li Galli, Baia di Jeranto, Amalfi. We took a Capri tour and I absolutely loved it. It was such a beautiful day on the sea, with the loveliest crew, great music, stunning views ,and even homemade limoncello! During the tour we also stopped at Capri for a few hours so we could hang around the island. Ah, no place like Capri! I have seen it so many times and I can’t get enough! Just look at it!

To sum up, I had the best stay at Melrose Relais and I can recommend this place with all my heart due to its stunning location and incredible family who put all their hearts to create this place and it’s magic.

They kindly offer 10% off your stay when using the code blondeflamingo10 when booking. The code also gives you free parking. I really hope you’ll book it and fall in love with this magical property and the most wonderful hospitality. You can book your stay here.

Post in collaboration with Melrose Relays

5 beauty products I always travel with

Hello everyone!

Hope you’re weekend has started fabulous! Today I’d like to talk about the beauty products that always travel with me. As I do lots of short trips and often travel with only a cabin bag, the amount of beauty the products I can take with me is pretty limited.

These products are my absolute favourite right now :

1. Eve Lom Eye Cream

I have been kindly gifted this product few months ago and never stopped using it and taking it with me on my travels. You know these early mornings when your eyes feel so small and sort of swollen? That’s me every time I travel and wake up early to shoot! Or after a long-haul exhausting flight. Eve Lom eye cream is my little saviour! This eye cream and its triple-action formula helps to lock in moisture, diminish dark circles and reduce puffiness. It provides the long-lasting hydration and makes my face look more fresh. Also the cream contains Shea butter that I absolutely love. PS. It’s only 20ml so it takes only a little space in my travel toiletry pouch!

2. Bare Minerals Anti- imperfection serum + Smart Combination smoothing lightweight emulsion

You already know from my Instagram that I have been loving Bare Minerals products for long time. I constantly talk about them and keep recommending them to you. Well these two have been introduced to me last year and I have really enjoyed using both of the products. The serum works perfectly for me as I am still dealing with adult acne and this product contains salicylic acid that helps to treat acne prone skin, combat blemishes, calm skin, and smooth texture. My skin tends to reacts every time I am changing places and water so I always have this product on me when I travel. The other product is my favourite lightweight oil-free moisturiser that leaves my face soft and smooth. Can’t travel without the good moisturiser for sure!

3. Elizabeth Arden Retinol Ceramides Capsules

Ok, since I have discovered this product I am honestly obsessed. I have started to use this product as retinol can reduce the appearance of lines, wrinkles, pigmentation and acne. After using if for few months, I have noticed that actually my acne scars are looking better so I continued using the capsules. They’re really easy to use : you only need to to sooth one capsule over the face each night before your moisturiser. I love the capsule format as it makes this product super portable and convenient. I normally take the right amount of capsules with me when I travel rather than taking the whole box. It saves so much space!

4. Foreo Luna Mini 2

I must say when I firstly got this product I didn’t believe in it. I’ve seen it all over Instagram and to me it only looked like a pretty looking toy, haha. Well, until my best friend started to tell me how incredible it is and how much she loves her skin after she uses it. Today I’m so glad I’ve listened to her and gave this product a try. I honestly can’t live without it! This incredible brush keeps my skin clean wherever I go. It’s a small, fashionable device, that takes only a little bit of space in my suitcase. It removes all dirt, make up residue and dead skin cells. I felt the difference on my skin already after the first use. It makes the skin looks so clean and glowy. It’s a perfect beauty product for on-the-go lifestyle. It also comes in many colours! Of course I went for pink one, haha! You can get it here.

5. Batiste Dry Shampoo

I am sure you already seen this product on my Social Media, but honestly I can’t imagine travelling without this dry shampoo. It saves me on long-haul flights, road trips and also my daily life. Batiste Dry Shampoo revitalises hair, leaving it feeling clean, smelling fresh. I absolutely love their Fragrance range! They all smell and look so pretty ( yeah, they even have one with flamingos!) I adore the tropical one! You already know it’s my favourite smell on Earth.

Shop these beauty products :

All you need to know before visiting the Flamingo Beach in Aruba

Writting this post makes me the happiest ever! It’s about the place that has been the top of my bucket list! I have been dreaming of visiting Aruba since I have started my The Blonde Flamingo adventure. It was my dream to see flamingos in real life but also I knew this destination would be a perfect fit to my brand. As I have been getting so many questions and replies to my stories on Instagram about the flamingo beach I have decided to write a separate blog post for you with all information, prices and a lot of photographs I’ve taken during my stay! I seriously still cant believe I made it!

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First of all- flamingo beach is not located in Aruba, it’s a separate little island off Aruba which is a part of Renaissance resort. The guests who stay at the resort can get to the private island at not extra charge. If you’re not a hotel guest you’re also welcome to visit the island however you need to remember about few important things :

  1. There’s only 20 tickets per day sold for non-hotel guests
  2. Selling the tickets starts from 7am but there’s already a queue at the reception before that time, so make sure to be there earlier than 7am to get your tickets.
  3. The entrance fee is $125 per person. The price includes all the taxes, return transfers to the private island, lunch (you’re welcome to choose whatever you’d like from the menu and the choice is great ) and one drink. The transfer to the island takes 10-15 minutes on the speedy boat.
  4. If you’d like to feed flamingos bring some coins in order to buy their food from the machine ( it’s located right at the entrance to the beach). Also it’s essential to get there as early as possible. When we got there on the first speedy boat at 7am there was only few people around. Flamingos were happy strolling in the water and hungry haha so it was easy to approach them. Later on they were stressed, didn’t want to eat anymore and they were literally escaping from tourists.
  5. Flamingo Beach is an adult only beach. There’s another beach on the island for families with kids ( I also liked it a lot- so beautiful!) Children are allowed on Flamingo beach only between 9-10am and this is when the beach gets the most crowded. We used this time and went to get breakfast on another side of the island. They serve a delicious and really big breakfast at $20 per person. What you get is : a basket of fresh pastries, a fruit platter, a breakfast of the choice- we went for American and Caribbean and they were both great!) plus a coffee and a fresh juice. For the amount of food you get we found it a great value.
  6. If you’d like some privacy or a special treat you can rent a beautiful cabana which is a little beach hut with sunbeds and cute over-the-water hammocks. I have personally not done that as they needed to be booked in advance and we only made a decision to go to the island on the day. But I must admit they looked lovely! They offer different packages and the prices start from $200 per day.

Now let me show you around my flamingo paradise!

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Let me know if you have any questions!

XOXO,

The Blonde Flamingo

Highlights of 2017

As the year is coming to an end I thought it would be great to sum it up. First of all I would like to say how quick this year was! I can’t believe it’s almost over!

What a year it has been though…

Started with ticking Portugal off my bucket list. I had the most magical time in Lisbon and also made it to by dream palace in Sintra which was even more beautiful than I expected!

In February we travelled to another bucket list destination of mine- Zanzibar. It’s one of my top destinations I’ve visited this year. Apart from its endless blue oceans, stunning white sand beaches, delicious food and warm people it had also taught me a great lesson. It is truly a beautiful and luxury destination, but if you leave the resort everything changes and you see the real Africa. It’s so sad and overwhelming, however seeing the people so happy and grateful for what they have, seeing them loving the simple life with ‘hakuna matata’ problem free philosophy made me start being more grateful for things I haven’t appreciated before.

After this trip I was already getting ready for another adventure- my boyfriend treated me to the best birthday trip to beautiful Mykonos and Santorini! I’d love a gift like that every year, please!

While in Greece, I found out I am travelling to Morocco with my best friends 2 weeks after! Isn’t it crazy? It was the best birthday gift ever- travelling to my dream destination- Chefchaouen with people I love! This city will always have a special place in my heart.

After this trip I was selected a blogger of a month by SkinnyDip London. It was my first and very special interview that made me believe in my blogging career even more!

Few weeks later I was boarding to Italy- this year I have visited my dream Genova, Cinque Terre and Portofino and Napoli and Amalfi Coast after that. I had a chance to visit my favourite place in Europe- Positano for the third time and I fallen in love even more! 2018, could you please take me back there again?

In August this year was offered the Social Media job I was fighting for for months! What a big change that was! I am grateful to be growing and learning something new every single day and be surrounded by passionate, ambitious and creative people.

That month was also very special to me as my boyfriend and I treated each other to a magical weekend getaway to Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire to celebrate our 4th anniversary. We couldn’t have chosen a more unique place to celebrate!

Few weeks after that I treated my mum to the birthday escape to Mallorca. I have been planning our daughter and mother trip for months and couldn’t be happier we made it happen! She literally cried! Hopefully the New Year will bring us more trips like that! We had the best time ever.

At the end of September we flew to Barcelona to celebrate my boyfriend’s birthday) I will never forget his magical birthday dinner at Soho House Barcelona rooftop restaurant.

Month later we were already packing for our dream trip to Seychelles!

We have finished this crazy intensive year with a peaceful Christmas in London, just two of us, loads of Italian food and Christmas movies. We both needed to recharge the batteries!

You may think I am crazy, but I am blogging from the plane now! Will spent NYE with my bestie Siobhan from They Wanderlust in the Maldives. Can’t wait to see her! I am so so so so so excited!

Thank you 2017! You’ve been one of the most intensive and stressful but also the most incredible and progressive year of my life. In 2017 TheBlondeFlamingo officially became a business and a job. I am finishing the year with amazing audience of 50 000 of you around the world   Thank you for believing in me, thank you for your love, support and to the people who’re by my side everyday- a very special thank you for your patience and kicking my bum everyday- I know I’ve been such a pain this year with all my travels, lack of time, constant stress and ups and downs. But we made it together! I would never be where I am without you and your help! Thank you for still being by my side!  I love you.

Bye 2017. Thank you for all your lessons. Bring on 2018! Can’t wait to see what you hold!