Eating my way through Bologna

My second trip to Bologna this month was equally as lovely as the first. My initial thought had been to visit Florence, as it’s only just over 35 minutes on the high-speed train, however I decided not to venture there on my own and instead made it my mission to have spaghetti bolognese in Bologna!

The rest of the crew was eager to explore, since none of them had visited the city before, so we decided to head up the two towers again.

But first – pizza!

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I’d barely eaten anything on the flight in anticipation of all the delicious food I’d be having in Italy, so before we climbed up the almost 500 steps I grabbed a slice of pizza to fuel me up!

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Beach days in Mauritius

I was lucky enough to be rostered two flights to Mauritius this month, and since I’ve already spent a couple of holidays there and seen a lot of the beautiful sights that the country has to offer, I knew they would be the perfect chance to relax on the beach!

We arrived just as the sun was beginning to set, and unfortunately by the time we got to our beautiful resort it was already beginning to get dark. Most of the crew met for a cocktail at the bar, and then we enjoyed the huge buffet dinner spread, before calling it a night.

The next morning I set my alarm just in time to wake up for the sunrise – I was hoping for a beautiful pink sky, which I didn’t see, but it was nevertheless a great start to the day.

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I lay out on my terrace, listening to the sound of the birds chirping and gentle waves crashing.

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Exploring Belém

After our fantastic day out to Sintra, it was time to explore a little more of Lisbon. When doing research about Portugal before our holiday, I’d read so much about the famous egg tarts, and there was one place in particular that kept popping up – Pastéis de Belém.

The delicious custardy tarts were originally created by 18th century monks at the Jerónimos Monstery (which we also visited), as at the time large quantities of egg-whites were used for starching the clothes in the monastery. This led to a lot of leftover egg yolks, which were then made into cakes and pastries. The monks started to sell the “pastéis de nata” to secure a small income, and when the monastery was later closed, the recipe was sold to the nearby sugar refinery, whose owners opened the Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém in 1837.

So it was decided – a trip to Belém was in order. Luckily the Pastéis de Belém shop is not the only attraction there, we also set out to visit the incredible Jerónimos Monastery, as well as the Torre de Belém.

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After a quick ride on the tram, we (along with seemingly every other tourist in Lisbon) arrived in Belém. Our first stop was to visit the monastery, which with all of the incredible turrets and architecture, is very easy to spot.

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June Roster

So before I put up my last post with the final pictures of my holiday to Portugal, I thought I’d share my June roster with you.

It’s my “top bid”, which means I’m highest in the seniority rotation and should get at least a couple of things that I ask for. I’m pretty happy with my roster for next month, as I have no turnarounds and some nice flights, including two trips to a new destination that I haven’t visited before.

I’ll be heading to:

  • PER (Perth, Australia)
  • BLQ (Bologna, Italy – a new one for me!)
  • MRU (Mauritus)
  • BLQ
  • MRU
  • Leave!

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As you can see I got a couple of repeat destinations, but I’m very happy with that! Bologna is a relatively new destination for Emirates, I think we only started flying there a few months ago, and it should be beautiful and warm by mid-June.

Obviously I’ve been to Mauritus before (it’s also where my boyfriend is from and where we spent Christmas this year, which you may have seen if you’re following me on Instagram), but a trip or two to a tropical island can never hurt, right?!

Perhaps I’ll see if I can swap one of the BLQ or MRU flights for a different destination just to mix things up a bit, but either way I’m excited to visit them.

For my leave we’ll be heading home to the UK for around a week, for my mum’s birthday party & family get-together. Hopefully by the end of June the weather in England will have turned into summer and sunshine, fingers crossed!

UPDATE: Since publishing this, I got sent a swap for NBO – Nairobi, Kenya! Since it’s a destination I’ve never visited before, I happily swapped my Perth flight, which means that next week I’ll be heading off to Nairobi for the first time!

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P.s. Follow me on Instagram & Twitter for more day-to-day updates of where I am in the world! 🙂

Stunning Sintra, Portugal

One morning, after fuelling ourselves with a delicious buffet breakfast including fresh fruits, meats, cheeses and of course the infamous egg tarts, we made our way to Rossio Train Station in order to catch the train to Sintra.

Sintra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, just over half an hour by train from Lisbon centre. We arrived to a beautiful cloudy but sunny day, and armed with a coffee, set out to do some exploring.

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Nestled in the foothills of the Sintra Mountains, the town is full of beautiful parks, castles and palaces.

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