Introducing; the Trtl Napscarf

Everyone at my work is used to me having all sorts delivered to the office, not a week goes by there isn't something unusual looking arriving at my desk that invites lots of questions from my colleagues. Nothing has ever piqued as much interest however as my latest purchase, the TRTL ( pronounced Turtle) travel pillow. The team at TRTL have actually been on my radar for some time as they have appeared on a BBC documentary on the amazing entrepreneurship centre Espark located right here in Glasgow and not only that but they have appeared on one of my fave programmes- Dragon's Den!

napping in extreme comfort

Why all this attention you are wondering?? well the clever cookies have only gone and completely redesigned the travel pillow and my god have they done a good job. I have so many memories of sharing around the silly little blow up pillow with my brothers when we were going on long distance journeys when we were younger, and even when I did get a shot it never failed to be super uncomfortable anyway or just slowly start to deflate!!

As a grown up I never even thought to try and use one- the idea of actually blowing one up
 seemed too embarrassing and the filled cushion style ones just took up too much space to cart about. Without one the next obvious option was....Ally, and essentially using the poor boy as a travel pillow who gets the pleasure of me clambering all over him to try and get comfy in the hope of catching a few zzzz's when we are going adventuring. With so many cheaper airlines now charging to even get to sit next to each other I had been once again scuppered however as utilising a stranger for a pillow just seemed a  step too far. Funnily enough the night before my TRTL actually arrived, Ally returned from a short flight for work and he laughed as he got in the door as not just one but both of the strangers he was sat between had promptly fallen asleep on his shoulder. NIGHTMARE.

You can imagine his excitement then when I produced the ultimate in travel luxury, the Trtl nap scarf. Designed with a love of travelling and a sense of adventure in mind, the scarf has been designed by a duo of mechanical engineers who wanted to make a more comfortable experience and boy have they got that right. This little beauty just wraps around your neck and provides a perfect little napping 'ledge' for you to rest your head on. The strengthened ribs provide the head and neck support while the super soft fleece provide serious comfort. Being able  to have the scarf element over your mouth while napping is handy addition and the perfect for any droolers ( sorry!) or wide mouth snoozers out there! What a joy for all the poor strangers that have had to witness my sleeping face in the past....

 Ally ripped it out my hands and promptly fell asleep which was a massive thumbs up from him. My colleagues all gave it the once over too and it was a resounding success for them with 4 orders going in right away for Christmas presents for people. It has been pure TRTL madness since it arrived!
I coincidentally booked flights to NY for my birthday next year just a couple of days after finding the  pillow ( I blame this spontaneous expense on them!) and I can tragically admit I am looking forward to such a long flight just so I can put this little beauty to good use.

only £20?? WHAT A BARGAIN!

You can order the pillow direct from the website ( with free delivery) or they are also available on Amazon priced a super reasonable £19.95. Join the TRTL revolution today and travel in comfort for evermore. It is available in black, grey, red and a super cute coral version too.

Sleep well and Dream Big indeed.

Introducing: Bear & Bear

So I am off on my travels next month- two weeks of hitting Budapest, Vienna, Bratislava and Prague- and I could not be more excited. I need to actually get my ass in gear however and sort out all the little details like insurance, travel money etc but where is the fun in that?? So instead I have distracted myself for shopping for things I need for the trip and while on the hunt for the ideal day rucksack for taking with me I stumbled across an amazing website I wanted to share. Bear & Bear is an incredibly curated shop covering homewares, tech and travel and I was really taken with the unique mix of items they stock and thought they are actually perfect for not only meeting my travel needs but actually also a fab place to find the ideal wedding present.  I love looking for the perfect present for a couple but sometimes it is not easy with so many items just being too ‘weddingy’, but Bear and Bear had loads of stuff that I know if it was me getting married I would be over the moon with. Something from here would really celebrate a couple’s interests and be a cool and practical item that they could get proper use out of which is a much more appealing idea to me that some of the usual things that get given a lot.

Clockwise from top: Herb Stand/ Enamel Bake Set/ Camera Strap/ Hammock/
Cashmere Blanket/ Pocket sized Picnic Blanket/ Lomography camera/ Dropp Bowl/ Herschel bag

From beautiful Merino Cashmere blankets to super funky Lomography cameras and accessories- there was something for every couple that would really stand out from other gifts. You can pretty much guarantee a smile on anyone’s face if you present them with a packable rainbow hammock! The home wares section is really dreamy and I was super impressed with the prices (never mind the amazing sale that is on).

In the end I found the perfect rucksack I was after- Herschel bags are everywhere right now but Bear & Bear were the only place selling some amazing print versions that I was totally sold on. I ended up going for the gorgeous Settlement Rucksack in remix print and I am in love! They are only £27.50 in the sale currently which is a bargain in comparison to what I have seen them stocked elsewhere. Delivery was quick and reasonable so all in all a great shopping experience; I would definitely recommend checking them out.

Croatia and Venice

Team Adventure

 After booking it what seems like years ago, it was finally time for Ally and I to head off on a summer trip and what a trip it was! We had a jam packed time exploring Croatia and Venice and I just had to share a few instagram snaps with you. I have yet to go through the 6 million photos I took on my good camera, but these sum up parts of our trip fairly well!

Playing ANTM in the amazing ampitheatre

We flew into Pula on the Croatian coast to spend 3 days exploring this city and the Brijuni Island before moving on to spending a day in Porec on to Rovinj and then finally an extremely pleasant and smooth bus journey across Croatia and into Venice. Our return flights with Jet 2 were only just over £100 each which was a huge bargain and I am so glad we did both at the same time. I have always wanted to go to both places, but with Venice being touted as a very expensive place to visit I have always been hesitant so tagging it on to another trip seemed a sensible move and it worked brilliantly.

enjoying a blissful day on the Island of Brijuni

We were venturing along the Croatian coast and for anyone considering visiting here I highly recommend it. Pula is packed full of some amazing Roman history which suited Ally down to the ground, from here you can pay around £30 for an 8 hour day trip over to the stunning Brijuni national park island which I highly recommend. Steeped in history it is a wonderful way to spend a day, your £30 includes a beautiful hour boat journey over, an hour on a land train with tour taking you right around the island including a small zoo, a walking tour of some of the historical highlights and then free time to explore before taking the boat back. It was so well organised, we absolutely loved it! We were also incredibly lucky to arrive in Pula at the start of their first ever 2 day digital festival which saw them project specially made displays onto historical buildings and the whole town was invited to the gardens of the city hall to enjoy a huge party. Needless to say we took full advantage dancing the night away with the locals until 3 in the morning, it was amazing!

An adorable office for a shop owner in Porec

Beautiful Rovinj

After exhausting the whole of Pula we headed off to spend a day in the very picturesque harbour town of Porec which is adorable. We were exhausted from a large amount of enjoying Pula so spent the day eyeing up the glamorous people on yachts, stuffing our faces with local delicacies ( the Croatians love a pastry!) and actually found ourselves a little nook on the far side of the harbour and just went to sleep- it was heaven! We then moved on to the stunning Rovinj, probably my favourite place on the trip. I have spoken of my love for Airbnb before (let me know if you want a sign up email with money off!)and it is where we always book our accommodation and in Rovinj we were not disappointed. Our very adorable host Mladen picked us up from the bus station and trecked our bags up to our amazing little apartment for the next 4 days, it had everything we could need plus his local knowledge, some fresh fruit picked from his garden and a bottle of red wine, hurrah! 

Exploring the Rovinj rocks

 Rovinj is an absolutely stunning fishing town that just has to be seen. Friendly people, beautiful coastline and just a relaxing atmosphere was just what we needed. We were lucky again to be stumbling in just on the opening day of their biggest celebratory festival which was just amazing, each night was a huge party of bands, music, local food, local booze and ahuge fireworks display to boot. We had such a good time here I can't wait to come back, you can easily fly into Pula and get a connecting but to here direct from the airport and it is well worth doing. We spent our days exploring the amazing old town completed with winding cobbled streets, lying reading kindles on the waterfront or enjoying some amazing local food.  We were so sad to leave but Venice was calling so we stumped up the £20 it costs to get a 5 hour bus ( at 5am!) into Italy.

Exploring Venice

I am so glad we did Venice, but I feel like it is done and ticked now and wouldn't rush back right away. It is incredibly touristy but still beautiful and if you head off the beaten track you can find yourself in blissful peace and quiet and we loved exploring as much as possible. We stayed on a stunning yacht while we were there,of course I did not take into account how sea sick I get which was a bit of an issue, but after a night of feeling incredibly sorry for myself and taking all the travel medication I could get my hands on we were good to go. I highly recommend always remembering to look at the free apps available for download before heading anywhere, I packed my iPhone full of language translators and offline maps to use, and we spent a lot of time in Venice following offline walking tours which were a godsend in helping us navigate Venice's tricky street layout! It is very expensive here as we were told but as we were expecting it we had already decided to treat ourselves in Croatia and keep it fairly basic here which I actually preferred. We stuffed ourselves with the gorgeous buffet breakfast laid on daily on our boat which saw us ( with the help of some amazing Gelato and the odd beer) through to dinner. we sussed out the location of 4 supermarkets on the mainland, which meant we could just go and pick up an amazing picnic or antipasti, cold meat and cheese and drinks load up our rucksack and just enjoy a picnic at the edge of the canal while watching the world go by, just how I like it. Working it this way meant including the £70 is cost for 2, 3 day boat passes, it only cost us £200 for 3 days! And that is mainly because there is just so much pleasure to be taken in just wandering and taking in the sights for free, we were so lucky to be visiting during the Biennale as well which meant we were constantly going in and out of the pavilions for each visiting country and admiring their exhibition. If you are ever thinking of going to Venice, I really recommend checking going at Biennale time as it adds some really fantastic free opportunities on to your trip.

We managed to fit so much into our ten days it felt like a real adventure! Back to reality now though and lots of exciting things coming up on the blog so lots to look forward too!

Hope everyone has had a fab summer,