My Winter Romance Gone Awry

At this point I have confirmed with my bosses that I will take a sabbatical from work for one year. Crazy??? yes but needed. Most people take sabbaticals because their in a rut or they hate their lives or jobs etc. For me its nothing like that, I have the perfect job and the perfect bosses who asked me not to resign but instead take the year off. I am taking a break from life to experience a new culture , pick a new language and to ensure life doesn't get too predictable.  So am pretty thrilled with the idea of living in South America and working from a dainty beach office.. " I cant seem to stop smiling as the thought is just so pleasant".

leaving my old office for a new experience 

what I think my life will be like hahaha

For this post I will need to take you back an year ago to Bangkok and the full story is here Sin City Bangkok Meets History. Well so Girl meets Boy, Girl travels with Boy, Boy likes Girl, Girl likes Boy, Girl goes home , Boy goes home. That is rather very common in the world of travel. This one time the story took a turn and a "relationship" was started. After 6 months well Girl like travel, Girl likes Boy so I packed my winter clothes and embarked for my winter romance in Germany.

The joy and expectations of not having seen each other in an year was so strong you could hear it. I arrived at Frankfurt with great emotions going through me, what  is it going to be like? its been an year, what if the connection was only in Thailand? But just like those movies you watched (or watch :)), as soon as we met at the arrival terminals the winter cold disappeared, the big city vanished and we were back on a street in Thailand having foot massages and drinking coconut drink. 

It was a fairy tale, we talked, we laughed, we strolled the Christmas markets, we took freezing walks in the park, smoked a joint and I knew at that point life couldn't get better than that.

See how happy I was lol

Well the director of the script of this movie that was my holiday took shrooms or LSD because the next thing during the fairy tale was definitely the worst phrase of my year "I am still in love with my Ex". This was said to me right after a pleasant night of the great Koln Christmas market.

On this dark cold night, my first reaction was what the hell? then what the HELL, then What THE HELL, after a couple of this I said "I wanna go home now" hahaha. It sounds funny now but then it wasn't. 

Girl is mad, Girl is sad, Girl hates Boy, Girl Sleeps, Boy seats in silence. its a new day and its the eve of Christmas. So we had our Christmas dinner all planned for 2 in a tiny beautiful city facing the mountain in the South of Germany. With this rather inconvenient short period of time I realized it was too late to change the Christmas plans. I can bet no one beats this Christmas dinner - 2 estranged souls, baked wild salmon, nice crackling fire, wine and Christmas movies. If it were 2 lovers this would be an ideal situation but I got to say I am one strong girl cause I did go through it and came out stronger (and by that I mean I  survived :))

We even had the sun try to lighten the mood

Atleast one great thing happened, I had my first tiny snow experience :)

Well I have 20 days to go and not sure what to do. Will be back when I figure what is next. 

What would you do if you were in situation, would you leave and go back home, move to a different city the following day or have a Christmas dinner without killing each other as I did? Keen to hear :)

Merry Christmas!!

~L~

LIFE is better at the beach !!!!

It was Wednesday evening last week when my fiend text and said "We are 6, Diani is a go" and at that point I knew my weekend would be awesome. I have always told my mum I was meant to be born on a hipster island where all I had to do was serve people amazing foods to cure hangovers and cocktails to give them hangovers J. Well I was born and raised miles away from the beach and hence my love for coastal getaways. This past weekend 5 of my friends and I did a 4 day weekend on Galu Beach, Diani. I can for sure say Diani is and always will be the most beautiful beach in Kenya. From my last trip in Lamu I know I was all about its serenity, I still agree it has its charm but for your good old “life’s a beach” getaway, Diani takes the crown J

Kenyaways, Galu Beach, Diani

The awesome weekend started with a quick flight thanks to Air Kenya’s good offer to me and Andrea. This time I opted for a very relaxed, small and intimate B&B right on the beach. Kenyaways Kite Village was 1^st recommended by a colleague a couple months ago and my sister was my guinea pig in mid October during her sky dive adventure. My sister who is rather a picky on her accommodation gave a thumbs up and so I knew I would love it J

Picture perfect :)

Yeap, there's a reason Diani is my fave:)

Well the bar man was not there and we started off our day with Malibu and orange juice. I love being on vacation since ordering a cocktail right after breakfast is just normal J. No wasting time we jump into our bikinis and start soaking in the well deserved sun. The day was not too hot about 25 – 31 degrees with humidity of 60%. The bar man arrived and we set off on Tequila Sunrise and Pina Colada's for the rest of the day.

"Keep Calm and Lets Go to the Beach"

YEAH!!!

The aim for the weekend was to perfect the art of doing nothing and just be on happy beach high J. My main travel partner Andrea was juts super cool.. we literally maintained our goals which included yoga, arm work outs, beach jog, getting smashed and being super happy J.

pool times:)

"Airplane Pose" (Dekasana)

Friday seafood BBQ

"Dancer Pose" (Natarajasana)

Beach Bliss!!

"Tree Pose" (Vrksasana) with Andrea

I won’t even talk about the Haloween party as we ended up being the few lame ones who had no costumes at a Halloween party J. Well one of the nights we opted to go to Forty Thieves bar as no Diani vacay is complete without a visit there. The place is much nicer now and we had a great sundowner and dinner. Being so tired after a long day of doing nothing we retied early and missed the party moments ..hahaha

The weekend gang

Sundowner at Forty Thieves

As you may notice I seem to talk about food at each post ..well am a foodie and I love good food. Madafoo Beach Bistro really outdid themselves when it came to food;  every meal each one of us had was amazing and we tried to change dishes at each meal time. They are definitely really good at salads and the stacked crab salad was not only delicious to the mouth but to the eye as well. The nacho grande, prawn and avocado salad, feta and cinnamon samosas, fajitas were all very divine.

Stacked crab salad

Dining on the beach :)

It was unfortunate of the 4 days one days was spend on the lounge as it poured for a straight 24 hours , we woke up to a storm and remained hopeful but by 2pm we gave up and decided savanna ciders, white wine, cocktails, shisha, social media would be our new beach.. it was actually a pleasant day in its own obscure way J

Relaxing with hookah at the lounge during a storm

So after great walks on the beach, yoga poses, goofy selfies, post work our pool dips, drinks bill shock and chit chats with the hosts and staff it was time to pack and get back home and work. So long farewell beach, till next time :)

Faces of Beauty, Joy and Happiness :)

 Happy Travels

~ Lea ~

In Riding a Horse, We Borrow Freedom

Helen Thompson was right we she came up with the quote “In Riding a Horse, We Borrow Freedom“, from the time when I started horseback riding I knew it was a journey I was going to remain on. This weekend on my staycation series I teamed up with Tess my horseback riding partner and some other friends for a day in the tea fields.

My normal timings is one hour ride for each sessions, however this time we opted for 2 hours of some good ol’ proper riding. We have been practicing our trotting and galloping and this session we added cantering.

 

 It is really hard to express the joy that comes with connecting with your horse at high speed without flying off the horse. My horses name is Tiger Love and I’ve been riding him for about 10 months now. He is 17 years old and has a mind of his own.. I still love him though. 

I choose to ride in the tea fields as it brings a lovely mix of nature and freedom. During the riding sessions we sometime stop and enjoy the view on raised view and for sure that view does it for me each time.

There is a Mexican proverb that says “It is not enough for a rider to know how to ride; she must know how to fall.” I really like as I like to tell myself once you fall then the next step is pro. Well I dint literally fall but I had a minor accident during the riding session.

 

For now I will be on land for a while until my leg heals. To be specific "I sprained it" it hurts to think of no high heels for a week but I think I can handle it. Until next time Happy people. 

Happy Staycations

- Lea - 

The Magic beghind Waterfalls

We all love staycations, it reminds you of the beauty that surrounds you at home. I do need to save up to be able to go on super cool vacays, so for now I am perfecting my love for staycations. I love it when you meet up with friends and do something different and exciting. 

I want to be away every weekend J

 

This past weekend we opted for a day at the waterfalls. I am one of those lucky people who live at the perfect place. The Tigoni Waterfalls are 15 minutes away from my home. These natural waterfalls were discovered in 1969 and have remained pretty hush hush.

We all met at my place and had brunch. Talking of brunch , I love love to entertain my friends with gourmet delicacies and amazing sangria. This time I discovered a strawberry farm next to me home and so this day was Strawberry filled. I am talking of strawberry daiquiris, strawberry tarts and strawberry parfaits etc.

We packed up all our brunch stuff and did the small drive to the waterfalls. The look on my friends faces upon the scenery at the parking lot was divine; rows and rows of tea with Nairobi far in the horizon. We did spend a few minutes just enjoying this view that most people who live in the city never get to see so much green J

 

 After a few minutes we started to descend to the falls. The landscape is beautiful; the leaves have fallen and are still crisp on the ground and the indigenous trees giving a good chill for a hot day and the green peeping in between it all.As we walked we finally had the crashing waters and knew the waterfalls were close. The waterfalls are small but extremely beautiful. J

We set up our chill out site with our colorful Maasai blankets, and pop the wine and the afternoon just became perfect. It was all chatter with the waterfall in the background.

 

All of this reminded me why I love living in Tigoni and having amazeball friends.

There something that just adds to my perfection. Yoga poses and Shisha must be high up in the list. Having my hookah and laced cookies in the nature was magical. J

 

 I look forward to more staycations.. Next will be horse back riding.. More on that soon.

Namaste 

Happy Staycations

- Lea-