Life: my holiday photo diary in sunny Spain

Holiday blues: the depression and boredom that follows when you arrive back from a holiday. 

It's been well over a week now and I'm still suffering greatly with the above definition. I'm currently in the state of mourning over my peeling skin and discolouring tan, moaning about the supposed British (Northern) summer, and making reference to what would have been happening if I was back on the Costa Blanca (y'know the whole 'this time two weeks ago' kinda dialect). After 17 days of nothing but bliss and relaxation in the glorious sunshine, reality really does hit once you're back boarding the plane like a typical grumpy tourist and it seems to have unintentionally affected my blog schedule. I feel like I need to apologise for being absent throughout the whole of July. My motivation seemed to have completely vanished along with the pre-holiday bikini bod I worked so hard on (here's back to having an extremely sweet tooth and telling myself there's absolutely no reason for me to continue with the strict diet). 

Taking away from the fact I'm admittedly a little grouchy (but also gradually finding my way back to normality), I did once again have the best time with the best people. Our trip to Torrevieja in the Orihuela Costa happens every year. We stay at the same location, visit the same places and do the same things and despite what some may think, it never ever gets boring. Family time is something I value the most; so along with waking up to bright blue skies, devouring delicious food in our favourite restaurants, getting a free Bailey's from our fraternal Italian bar owner every night, treasuring the peacefulness, and even sweating as soon as we've glammed and freshened up on an evening (hello extreme hair frizz encountered humidity), being with the people I love the most, meeting some new friendly faces along the way, and belly laughing to the point of tears is unbeatable. 

We stay in Playa Flamenca continuously and I'm a huge fan of the quietness and the familiar surroundings. It's not chaotic, over populated, nor materialistic. In fact it's the complete opposite and is more like a home from home. Some days we ate our body weight in all the carbs possible, some days we stayed in, watched the soaps and then sat out on the scorching patio chatting till gone midnight (it was still just below 30 degrees at that time!). We strolled along the beach, the central harbour (with an ice cream of course), and the dainty market stalls, burnt our feet on the red hot sand, attempted to play a good few rounds of pool without dehydrating, admired the beautiful Spanish architecture, dedicated an evening to spending and shopping till we drop in Spain's most recent (and most captivating) open rooftop boulevard and sat round the pool, everyday without fail, without a care in the world, head in a book and ears filled with freshly updated music. It's a different world when you're abroad and there's something about the sea air that tends to make me feel 100 times better, happier and healthier than back home. It's a shame holidays can't last forever. You seem to wait for that build up to the day for months down the line, yet the actual vacation flies by. Saying that, I do appreciate the opportunity of experiencing nothing but sunshine and exploration, and before I delve into sorrow, will now let the photos do the talking. Warning, very picture heavy post.

As you can see, finding photo opportunities is always easy. Although I've been reoccurring my holidays to the same location, it makes no difference to how snap happy I become. You think you know the place inside out but there's always something new and a discovery of the hidden gems. I also became more adventurous with the capturing of my outfits this year. Stopping at certain locations for a photo (or should I say more like a group of them which you turn out hating) drove my brother insane but with some gentle persuasion and returned favours, I managed to widen the spectrum so stay tuned for lots more fashion-based photos to come!

Hope you're all having a lovely week! I'm glad I've finally managed to prepare a post as I've missed the blogging community. It feels good to be back!

Bridie x