A Guide To Paris

Ah Paris. Famous for it's beautiful monuments, gothic churches and fascinating museums, if you have a couple of days in the city, lucky you! You're in for a treat. There's an abundance of things to do, sights to see and places to visit. Depending on how long you're there for, you may not see everything you would like, so categorise what you want to do into Must-See's, If We Have Time's and Don't Really Care's. We like to wander a lot and aren't history buffs, so don't really have that many Must-See places, but fortunately, we always happen to stumble upon them anyway.

Nile and I went during Christmas 2013 for 4 nights and it was so magical. The streets were filled with festive lights and there were loads of Christmas Markets to visit (think Winter Wonderland but better, minus the rides). If you do go at Christmas time, be sure to visit the market near Place de la Concorde at the end of Champs-Élysées (basically Paris' Oxford Street) and the market, complete with Ice Rink, at Trocodéro opposite the Eiffel Tower. 

I would say the best way to see Paris, especially if you're only there for a couple of days, is to have a few Must-See's a day in the same area. For example, if you get up early, you can see (and go up) the Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Élysées, Place de la Concorde, Jardins des Tulieres and the Lourve all in one day, because they're all on one straight road. On the other hand, you can see the Panthéon, Notre-Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, Love Lock bridges and Centre Pompidou in one day too, because they're all within walking distance. If you want to go to the Grande Arche out in La Defense, the business district of Paris, you might want to think about spending the early morning or evening there. It's out of the city centre and not really near any other places of interest apart from two very nice shopping centres.

All in all we spent £1,100, which if you think about it, is a lot for a 5-day trip but it's the city of love, and love costs money. 

Here's my Top 10 things to do in Paris:

• Visit the Sacré Coeur at night- Not only beautiful during Christmas but at all times of the year. You can take a short shuttle up the steeper part of the hill, but we decided it would be fun to walk (wrong decision). BUT when you get to the top, you'll realise the struggle wasn't in vain. The view is AMAZING and it's the highest point in Paris so you can see pretty much everything. I say to go at night so you can see the city in all it's glory but I'm sure during the day it is just as beautiful. (Top tip: if you do take the stairs, don't look behind you until you get to the top. The view will literally make you catch your breath).

• Take a picture at Trocodéro- One of the most famous pictures you will see of the Eiffel Tower is taken standing in Trocodéro. You will see it time and time again, but aside from that, Trocodéro is in a beautiful setting. 

• Go to the Circus!- One of the highlights of our trip. We went to the Cirque d'Hiver and paid €50 each for seats close to the ring. It was absolutely mind-blowing so if you get the chance, go! For everyone with long legs, beware, the seats are tiny, so even though he enjoyed it, Nile was extremely uncomfortable.

• Go to a Cabaret- Doesn't really matter which one you go to because they're all different and plus it's all part of the experience. We went to the Lido for a 2 hour performance. I would have loved to go to the Moulin Rouge but it was waaay too expensive.

• Mum, Dad, under 18s, skip to the next post. Go to a strip club- Paris' red light district is near the Moulin Rouge at Blanche Métro station. It comes alive at night and it's an experience to say the least. It cost €40 for both of us to go into a club and includes a drink BUT don't go into the first place you see, that's a mistake we made. 

• Show your everlasting love- One of the most iconic things for couples or best friends to do to show their everlasting love, is place locks on the Ponts des L'Archevêché and Arts and throw the key into the River Seine. Be careful which bridge you put it on though: Des Arts is for your committed love whilst L'Archevêché is for your lover. Just to be on the safe side, we put locks on both.

• Get a Caricature- Nearly everywhere along the Seine there are cute little stalls selling antique books and photos. Every now and again you'll come across a painter or a caricaturist. We decided to get one done to remember our time in Paris. It was €30 and many of our friends and family have had a lot of fun laughing at it, as have we.

• Cruise the Seine- As mentioned, Nile and I aren't history people so the thought of spending an hour listening to someone talking about the history of buildings and monuments may have sounded boring, but it was a great was to see the city and learn a little bit about why the buildings were actually there. Plus it was only €12 each!

• Go up the Arc de Triomphe- It's a long walk up a spiral staircase but when you get to the top you'll find yourself with a smile on your face. You can see a total 360° view of Paris from here, including all the way to the Grande Arche. Plus it was freeee! (see my next blog on How to Save Money in Paris)

  

  A View down Les Champs-Elysees from the Arc de Triomphe
  
  
  
  
  
  

  See the Mona Lisa- Both times I've been to Paris, I've missed out on this because I've always gotten there too late BUT if you're a historian, artist or just want to see it, I would definitely put this on the Must-See list. 

A Guide To Malia

Malia is one of the top party destinations for your first girl's or lad's holiday, and is it any wonder? Long sandy beaches, cheap booze and clubs open until 6am EVERY DAY. Not to mention everyone's practically walking around half naked (it wasn't THAT hot). I'm sure if you've seen that episode of Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents, you would have seen the famous Malia strip and all that goes on during a night out. BUT parents, it's not as bad as it looks, I promise!

I went in July 2013 with my 5 best friends and we had such an amazing time, although it has to be said, that's probably my first and last party holiday. In total I spent just under £600 for 8 day's worth of partying and sunbathing.

So here's my guide to how to survive Malia and save money:

• Book with a less known travel company- booking with travel agencies like Thomas Cook's Club 18-30 comes at a premium. If you look around for other travel sites like Sunmaster and HolidayGenie you will find similar hotels and cheap flight packages for a VERY low cost. Our hotel, Malia Mare, was right on the strip and considering we only paid £350 for flight, accommodation and transfers, it was a bargain. Plus, those sites are ATOL protected, so you can sleep easy.

• Forget the multi-activity offers you see- They may CLAIM to save you money but they don't. Here's an example, we got offered entry to a UV party, Paint party and Safari's White party for €30 because they're "exclusive" events. Sounds good right? Until you find out that entrance to the clubs is actually free, and all you paid for was a lousy t-shirt (Wait...we didn't even get a t-shirt. What. The. F***!). On some nights when there is a special guest performing, you will need to pay, but otherwise, skip the offers and go with the flow (unless you really want the t-shirt).

• Skip the fish bowl offers- NO they don't get you drunk. YES they are watered down and YES they are a waste of money. Buy your own bowl and alcohol and make it yourself during pre-drinks at the hotel, which brings me onto...

• Do as much pre-drinking as you can- This was how I saved A LOT of my money. I didn't bring any cash out with me at night because we'd already pre-drank and were as merry as we wanted to be. This meant I couldn't buy more drinks so I couldn't waste my money! As mentioned, our hotel was on the strip so we didn't need any money for transportation to get back anyway. (FYI, I only spent £227 for the whole 8 days, including souvenirs, food, drinks, everything!)

• Quad bikes? Nuh uh- They were just flat out too expensive. Don't get me wrong, if you want a quad bike, get one but make sure you are aware of all of the consequences should it get damaged. I've heard many stories (unpleasant ones at that) so we decided we didn't want to take the risk. Besides, I was the only one who had a full license so actually knew how to drive- just because you have a provisional doesn't mean you can drive! 

• Go on a Booze Cruise- Notorious for being filled with alcohol and sex, not all booze cruises are THAT bad. We went on the official Malia Booze Cruise and it was AMAZING. A coach picked us up from the strip and took us about 30/45 minutes away to where we boarded the boat. It cost around about €30- that included a return coach, as much alcohol as you wanted and lunch (which to be fair was just a hotdog and crisps).

• Go to the old town- I know that this type of holiday generally isn't about exploring (well, exploring the area anyway) BUT you will be extremely surprised with what you find. We took an afternoon stroll through the old town just off the top of the strip and found an AMAZING restaurant. I mean this restaurant was the MOST SPECIAL thing I had ever seen in my LIFE! And I sincerely mean that. The tables had glass tops and were filled with fairy lights, sand and seashells and the trees around the restaurant were lit up with lights and candles. It looked like it came straight out of a fairy-tale. The food was delicious and because we were nice to the waiter, he gave us free drinks, free starters and free desserts! All we had to pay for was the main meal!

• Get a thai massage on the beach- If you head down to the main beach at the other end of the strip, you'll find loads of bars and sun loungers along the beach. Each bar has a cluster of sun loungers (distinguished by colour) and usually charge around €2.50/€3 per person (this includes free wifi though!). Every now and again someone will come along the beach trying to sell you something like hair braids (€12 each), personalised bracelets (€8 each) and da da da daaaa massages! I paid €10 for 15 minutes of total bliss. A massage, on a beach, in the summer- what more could you want from a holiday? 

• Last but not least, Make sure you go to Star Beach- All 6 of us agreed that this was the highlight of our trip. There was everything there you could ever need- games, music, food, watersports, massages, tattoo studios, the lot. If you're a daredevil, you can go paragliding (around €25 for one person, €72 for 3 people). If you just prefer to watch the waves roll in, you can head to the sand and make up base. There was a bus that took us straight from the tip of the strip to the complex in around 20 minutes and wasn't that expensive (a few euros each). BEWARE of the extra costs though. The beach is free to enter but again you have to pay for sun loungers should you want them. Another option was to have a photoshoot on the beach, which would have been €30 each- we opted out of this and just decided to have our own photoshoot!

A tip for the guys- Malia isn't the safest of places- even though there's a medical centre, the nearest hospital is miles away and there are very rarely any police around- so when groups of drunk guys get together it can either end in two ways: you get along, or you don't. Unfortunately when I was out there, two huge fights kicked off, one ending in a fatality. So lads please, if you're going on a lad's holiday, go to have fun, chill and get girls, not to fight.

My last tip, even though isn't a money saving tip, will help you when you're out there. Be nice to the locals. Trust me, it will serve you well.

If you have any more tips for holidaying in Malia, please feel free to comment below!