Why you should stay in the West End in Glasgow

We went to Glasgow for a wedding and when I asked my friend for a recommendation on what part of the city to stay in, she suggested we choose the West End. What a great shout!

Known for it's imposing Victorian architecture, trendy food scene and leafy parks, it was right up our street. In fact, there's really no need to go into the city centre as in my opinion all the best places to eat and best places to see are right on your doorstep. Here you'll find Glasgow University, Kelvingrove park, Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow Botanic Gardens, Hunterian Museum and the Riverside museum is a 15 minute walk away. It's on my list for my next visit.

The high quality of restaurants will have you spoilt for choice. The majority of the restaurants in my guide are located in this part of town. From the only Vietnamese restaurant to Glasgow to an Indian will make you wish you lived closer, there are cuisines from all over the world.

Full of independent and vintage shops, you'll have a field day picking up some goodies to take home. Ruthvan and Downside lane have an abundance of different quirky shops selling everything from records to bric and brac. Just keep wandering and you never know what you might come across.

We opted to stay in an Air BnB for our week in Glasgow and it was incredible. The apartment was located just a 15 minute walk to the nearest subway station, Hillhead, Glasgow University and Kelvingrove Art Gallery, so we couldn't have been in a more perfect location. With two bedrooms, gorgeous high ceilings, enviable interiors and situated on the top floor of a stunning Victorian mansion block, it felt like a home away from home. I can't recommend it enough and the owners really helped to make us feel welcomed - the box of Turnocks teacakes were a wonderful surprise. Make sure you book it if you ever find yourself in the Scottish city!

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Exploring Europe: Vienna, Austria

Somehow when I wrote about my Eastern European adventures, Vienna fell off the blog post list. I have no idea why as I was bowled over by the city. We only had about 30 hours in the Austrian capital. It's never really been somewhere that I wanted to tick off so I didn't place it in an important place in our itinerary. Instead, it was just booked as a stopover to help break up Prague and Bratislava. But boy was I wrong to dismiss it. After having a little taste of the city, I'm dying to go back and truly discover the real Vienna.

As time was limited to about 30 hours, we set out to soak up as much of the city as we could. First off we took the guided tram tour to help us gain our bearings. It was great to marvel in the history and see key landmarks that make Vienna so special. Well worth the few euros and I wholly recommend it as the first thing you do when you step in the city.

Then we took to our feet and walked. And walked. Then walked some more. We took in the Parliament, museum quarter, opera house, Hofberg, Mozart memorial and Belvedere Palace. Sadly we didn't get to go in anything but instead looked in awe at the stunning, grand buildings. I've never quite seen architecture like it. At every corner I turned, I was blown away.

Vienna, you have well and truly stolen my heart!

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My goals for 2017

A little late but here are a few goals I've set myself to meet in 2017. I might meet them or I might not. Who knows? But it's always nice to have them written down.

1. Read more books
I have a nearly three hour commute to work every day and mostly I just spend it snoozing. But as much as I value those shut eye moments, I really could be doing something a bit more productive and I think this is probably why I'm not sleeping too well at night. My reading is definitely slacking which is ridiculous as there really is nothing more than I love doing than poking my nose in a book. I'm going to make it my mission to read at least 10 new books this year. Working out at less than one a month, there's not reason why I shouldn't achieve this!

2. See the world
Following on from last year, I once again want to continue the momentum. I have a few getaways already planned for this year and couldn't be happier to once again be focusing on Europe. My travel plans are kicking off this weekend in Paris.

3. Look after myself from the inside out
I'm notoriously bad at looking after myself. My diet is absolutely awful. I have too many late nights than I care to remember. Exercise is never at the forefront of my mind. I feel sluggish and tired all the time. So I'm going to start making little changes. Stop wiling away pointless hours on my phone or laptop at night. Grab those much needed early nights during the week. Start eating a proper dinner every night. I get home between 7.30 and 8 each night and slaving away in front of the oven is the last thing on my mind so I quite often just skip dinner and jump into bed. Introduce so much more fruit and veg into my diet. I'm never going to be a gym bunny but I can start talking the stars instead of a lift and go on regular walks to get my heart rate rising.

4. Pay off my credit card
As we count down to moving into our first house, I've suddenly realise that money for a while will be tight as we get used to being homeowners. Say whaaaat?! I'm pretty frivolous with money as you can probably tell by my ASOS addiction and tendency to always leave the country. My credit card bill isn't unmanageable and I'm not really that fussed about it. But it would be nice to be debt free as we move into our new home. If only so we can put a sofa on the credit card. I can't be sitting on fold up camping chairs for the rest of my life...

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