To talk you through my whole 15 days in Peru would leave both you and I overwhelmed. I'm still piecing together the whole experience myself and trying to find my way back into reality after a busy, wonderful and fulfilling holiday. I'd only been abroad, prior to Peru, twice in my life. Travelling has always appealed to me but when I lived in Gloucestershire our holidays took us down to Cornwall, and by the age of 7 we moved there to call Cornwall home. Our family couldn't afford the luxury of holidays abroad and we were ok with that. 

But now, I can afford my own holidays and without three children in tow, my parents can also afford their own.

So, Peru, my third big holiday abroad and my first opportunity to experience an adventurous and challenging guided tour across several cities and towns, the Amazon, the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca. 

But before I begin, I have to commend Exodus and our tour guide Bobby, on the incredible organisation of this tour. Bobby in particular had to respond quickly to numerous challenges along our trip, including teacher strikes, miner strikes and a forest fire, and he did so without sacrificing our experience. Admittedly we had to rush on occasions and leave places faster than we would have liked, but he worked tirelessly to ensure the little blips didn't spoil where we were headed next.

I can't thank him enough for the wonderful experience. 

So, first up...the Amazon!

On our first day in Peru we arrived in Lima and had very little time to explore the city, with jet lag dragging us into our hotel beds and an early wake up call the next day encouraging us to start our exploration of Peru. We took a bus to the airport and set off on our way to Puerto Maldonado.

We didn't see much of the city but passing through in our bus we saw some incredible statues on the roundabouts. In Lima and later in Cusco, it became clear to us that Peru are big on statues - and despite the glared picture we took, how awesome is this one?!

Upon arrival at the Puerto Maldonado airport we were immediately blown away by the sheer heat and humidity of the Amazon. This city was only a stopover, where we left our main suitcases behind in the offices of Cayman Lodge and headed by bus towards our next mode of transport. We took our now reduced baggage and boarded a very rickety boat, to speed down the river towards the Tambopata National Reserve.

We were given a lunch made by the lodge where we were headed to of rice and chicken wrapped in a banana leaf. The boat moved at a slow pace whilst we all munched down our delicious food and once we'd finished, the boat sped off. We barely even noticed the near two hours it took to arrive at our lodge. There was just so much to see. 

The surroundings of the river were what I imagined and more. We've all seen the Amazon on television but its sheer size when you see it in person is just overwhelming. The width of the river, the height of the trees, even the size of the wildlife. You can see capybara in most zoo's in the UK, but to see a family of them up close and in the wild is a completely different experience. There was a sense of peace I felt, seeing them in the wild rather than caged behind a fence, in an enclosure much too small. Along the journey we spotted plenty of capybara families, white caymans basking in the last hour of the sun light, birds of many varieties and a cow, which for some reason I didn't expect, but it was there nonetheless.  

A cute capybara family

Passing by other lodges - we were told many were for tourists but there were still families living in the area too

A white cayman taking a break

We arrived at our lodge close to sunset, and what an incredible place it was. We stayed at Cayman Lodge Amazonie - there were many lodges all along the river, but this had been selected and booked by our tour company Exodus. I can't say anything about the other lodges as we only saw them from afar, but this place was very peaceful and we all felt so at home. We were shown around the camp ever so briefly before being shown to our own lodge. As a group of nine we were shown to a big lodge with four separate rooms. Michael and I had our own room, then Kate and Natalie, two solo travellers, were in the next room and the family of five, Martin, Annette, Stanza, Mirren and Megan were spilt between the final two rooms. Whilst the rooms were separate we didn't actually have ceilings. The roof arched high above the walls and a mosquito net covered the rooms, meaning we could quite easily converse between rooms and we all heard the squeals of the individuals who braved the ice cold showers.

The walkway to our paradise

We missed the actual sunset, but we still had many beautiful views of the sun glistening on the river

The sun setting on our first night in the Amazon

This boat is very similar to ours - it doesn't look like it'd be rickety, but at the speed it went it certainly felt it!

The walkway to the Hammock Lodge

Our walkway from our lodge back to the dining hall and the bar

That evening, our tour guide for the Amazon, Frank, took us into the rainforest for a night walk. Our head torches were secured in place, we were wrapped up warm as the temperature drops quite noticeably at night (at least it did for me because I'm always cold!), and Frank had a machete, just in case. We felt very safe, as you would expect. The route we were taking was well maintained by the camp and a route that was no doubt specifically created to pass by many creatures and critters that had created themselves a nice habitat within the rainforest. Michael was more up for being let loose in the rainforest, but the lodge did give you a sense that the rainforest was much safer than you thought. Had we not had two guides who were armed not only with machetes but also with sensational knowledge of the area and the wildlife within it, we wouldn't have felt quite the same.  

Here's just a few of the creatures we saw:

In fact, there was so much to see we couldn't photograph it all and we all felt a bit intrusive with our flashes as it was so dark (plus it was very hard to use the focus properly on our camera!). We saw two tarantulas, one with her babies, a millipede, ants and spiders galore, moths and resting butterflies and so many little insects I've never seen in my life before. It was truly incredible. Frank brought us to a stop and asked that we all turn off our head torches, so we stood there in the pitch black of the Amazon Rainforest and he told us to look up and listen to the noises around us. There wasn't any light pollution and the stars illuminated the sky, and there was no man made noise, just the sound of the animals surrounding us. It was probably the most peaceful moment I've experienced.

After our journey through the rainforest, we made our way safely back to the main lodge for dinner and a drink at the bar should we so wish. I didn't polish off any cocktails until the second night, but hands down, they were the best cocktails I have ever tasted.

We headed back to our bedroom lodges for an early night, ready for an early wake up call to continue exploring. Come back next time to hear about pitch black boat rides, searching for a jaguar and birds that are more majestic and colourful than Austin Powers. 

Over the years, I've become a more active person. It would astound some of my old school friends to hear this, but I like to exercise; I like to go to the gym and lift weights, I like to go running in the week and cycle to work. Just two weeks ago I spent four days hiking in Peru to reach Machu Picchu. One thing is for sure, I've certainly changed over the years.

But one thing that hasn't changed is the style of earphones I use. I find I'm unfocused during a workout without earphones in and my music playing, though I have to say, the wires don't always want to play ball. Some of my workout clothes lack pockets, which seems frankly ridiculous (why did I ever buy them?), and the ones that have pockets sit along my back - depending on what exercise you're doing, this isn't always the most comfortable of locations. But when I have no awkwardly positioned pocket to even turn to, I have to commit to doing a workout that involves never having a reason to put my phone down or being able to have it within wire reach which is pretty restrictive and not always possible. Alas, more often than not I have to abandon my earphones throughout multiple segments of my workout and resign myself to listening to loud conversations, normally unintentionally, and/or whatever they're playing in the gym. 

I don't know about your gym, but mine has normal television programmes on the go on the main TV, which is connected to the main sound system that we cannot control, so it's Eastenders or Bargain Hunt...and no music...almost all of the time. I can't think why I would wear earphones there. 

So when I'm not having to abandon my earphones, everything should be A-OK right? Wrong. Two words: caught wires. Whenever I'm prancing about the house, cleaning and singing, I get caught on numerous objects. Again, it's a pocket related issue in most instances. I'm wearing leggings and a baggy t-shirt, I've not a pocket in sight, I put my phone down and then my earbud is suddenly being violently plucked out of my ear as I catch the wires on a door handle. 

So, maybe I need more pockets? 

Or maybe I need less wires?

These little babies have saved my workouts, saved my cleaning sprees and saved my ears. 

I honestly don't think I've appreciated a material possession more than I have these earphones. I was a fan of Sudio before, having tried out both their Klang and Vasa earphones, but now I just love them even more. The Tre earphones follow a similar design to the Klang and Vasa, with flat wires that rest easy along the back of your neck. The one thing I loved most about this flat wire design is the lack of tangling it equates to. I can fold them away easily into their leather case and know they won't come out in a mangled mess. Even if I'm in a rush and I have to wind them up and slot them in my pocket, again I know I won't regret it when I get them back out. However, the main benefit of these is the bluetooth feature which means...less wires!

I've wanted bluetooth earphones for some time now due to all the reasons aforementioned, but I'm fussy about brands and designs, so I've held it off. But when I was given the opportunity to review the newly launched earphones created by a brand I already believe in and trust, I was more than excited. 

As you can guess, I've not been disappointed. 

The sound quality is, as always with Sudio, clear and perfect. I use these everyday on my cycle or walk to work, and I can confidently go on my way knowing they won't be dangling out my ears with every movement I make. The design of the earbud is tipped so it follows the shape of your ear and sits comfortably. This also makes it incredibly easy to change earbuds - or 'wing tips' as Sudio refers to them on this model - they have simple notches that slide out rather than buds that stretch over the earphone and these aren't at all fiddly to get into place.

I can also confidently get into my workout routine knowing that Songs of Praise will not distract me. Tre earphones block out sound just right - I don't need to put the volume to max on my phone just to block everything out, I can happily have my volume below the 'dangerous' zone my iPhone indicates and still block out the noise around me.

The battery life has only thrown me on one occasion. Once connected on your phone via bluetooth, it shows both your battery and the battery left on the earphones - as you can see to the left. When I was walking home once my battery showed as 20% on the Sudio Tre earphones but then they went dead. I was a little disappointed but since then I've not had the same issue. I've been using them for three weeks for up to 1-3 hours a day and I have only had to charge them twice so far, so I'm personally pretty pleased! They only take 2 hours for a full charge and can last for up to 9 hours at a time (when active).

Overall, I'm really impressed with these earphones. They're definitely cut out for my lifestyle, however, I did give them one last test today and that was against some high intensity interval training. The wings stayed in my ear just about, but it was the left hand block built to match the right hand control that weighed me down a little. I found when I was jumping around doing high intensity, it weighed down the earphones a lot more than it had with previous exercises I had tested them out on. It's certainly manageable and aesthetically I can see why this is there, it was only a minor irritation to have to readjust on a few occasions to stop the buds falling out - mind you, it was no where close to the irritation caused by wired earphones during workouts!

It's pros definitely outweigh the very minor con that I have picked up on!

Now I'm no tech geek, but I know a good pair of earphones when I listen in for a good few weeks but  if you want to really understand the spec, click here.

You can also view the rest of the range here and using code MISSISGOODE15 you can receive 15% off your purchase.

I would highly recommend these earphones, as I have all of Sudio's products that I have tried and tested so far. The quality is by far the best I've experienced in both sound and design, and I've yet to be disappointed with a model they have made. If you're looking to experience bluetooth earphones, I'd definitely recommend Sudio Tre. 

It's less than a week now until we fly out of the UK and onto Peruvian soil to climb Machu Picchu and explore the Amazon Rainforest. In preparation for this trip, we've been fitting in walks where we can - not as many as we should have done might I add - but one of the first was Mount Snowdon. 

On a Friday evening we quite abruptly decided that we'd travel down to Wales the following day and climb Mount Snowdon. My Sister has completed this hike, and in winter too, so she wisely advised us to stick to the easier routes. I was confident I'd stand my ground knowing Michael would pick the toughest path, but of course when he suggested it I immediately agreed, always eager for a challenge. 

But boy, was I an idiot. 

In the centre of this photo you can see people dressed in black and red - that is more people climbing the very tiny route of the Watkins Path as we had just done! It doesn't look particularly steep, but we really were on our hands and knees!

More people continued to climb and descend The Watkins path.

Back in March Michael and I decided to pay York a visit. It's one of the places on my Day Zero Challenge and it's somewhere I've been looking to go for a good few years! 

Michael was in charge of picking the hotel and I have to say he selected a perfect place to stay, The Churchill. As we booked quite last minute we were a bit disappointed to find the only available room was one of the Twin Rooms. The rooms looked beautiful nonetheless, but we desperately wanted to stay in one of the Luxury Bedrooms which looked incredible. Initially I thought, lesson learned, we'd book further in advance next time...

...however, we were in absolute luck. When we checked into the hotel we were thanked for booking directly through their website rather than through a discount/price comparison site. It wasn't just a vocal 'thank you' though, and I assumed they must have had a cancellation because they upgraded us to a beautiful luxury room. The decor was perfect. It wasn't a huge room, but the high ceilings made it feel so open. I loved the four-poster bed and it was incredibly comfortable, it was a shame we were only staying for one night! The bath was a beautiful feature and it also had a en-suite which was equally as sleek as the rest of the room. 

I never initially intended to blog about this stunning place because at the time I wasn't writing much, so unfortunately the photos I took just do not do the place justice. 

The weather wasn't great whilst we stayed in York so I'm certainly keen to return when it's brighter and we can spend more time exploring the city. And I'd 100% stay at The Churchill Hotel again. The food was delicious, the staff were incredibly friendly and despite being so close to the City centre, it was so nice and peaceful. It was a shame we only had one night to enjoy the place, but it was certainly one very relaxing evening! 

MissIsGoode

Well, hasn't it been a while since I blogged? Months in fact. You may have noticed that I've spruced my blog up a little, and just in time to make a come back. Whilst I've been away from blogging I haven't missed it as much as I once did, but I'm bringing it back into my small list of hobbies as there's so much of my history on this blog it seems a shame to neglect it. 

So, what better way to rekindle my love with blogging than to reflect, on the up and coming two year anniversary of my Graduation, how my life has changed - and how yours, if it hasn't already, may change too...

Firstly, you'll use social media less. My sharing online of my social outings etc. didn't just immediately stop when I graduated. Initially, the move to Nottingham and the whole 'I have no friends thing' meant I really wasn't up to much. I went out with my boyfriend and spent many days and nights searching for jobs, but nothing was really worth sharing at the time. When I began work, that's when the posts really started to decline. Colleagues would add me on social media or follow me and I felt more conscious about what I was posting, as everyone should. I never post or have posted anything that would damage my reputation or people's perceptions of me, but work certainly made me think twice about sharing everything online. I spend 8 hours a day, five days a week with my colleagues, so I felt a little like having some private time. Which is also why my interest in blogging declined. Not to say I blame anyone but myself for this! 

I say I don't believe there's anything out there that would damage my reputation or people's perceptions of me, but there's many iconic photos from University that probably don't paint me in the best light...(saying that, this is one of my all time favourites)

You'll probably go out to bars and clubs much less. When it came to leaving university I felt ready to move on from the nightlife, but not to the extent of stopping it altogether. I've always enjoyed nights out and knocking a few back, but I'm very accustomed to doing this in Keele and Sheffield with my close group of friends. So, as antisocial as it sounds, doing it with people other than that group and also here in Nottingham, a city I'm not familiar with, doesn't always appeal to me. Perhaps I'm a little stuck in my ways!

You may even consider yourself 'boring' now. Refer to my last two points and I personally feel I sound somewhat like a hermit, but I always have been a bit of one anyway. University throws so many more social opportunities at you than graduate life does, and as you get older you find your circle of friends shrinks and that heading home after work, putting your jammies on and knocking back only the one cider whilst watching Netflix is much more your thing post-graduation.

You'll have a healthier lifestyle. For one thing, my liver has certainly been given the chance to recover. In my first year of university we'd spend weeks at a time going out 3 or 4 nights a week and not taking it easy either. And then there's freshers' and refreshers' which as you all know, are 7 plus nights of heavy drinking with barely a moment to really consider your life choices. If I did any of that now, for one thing I'd get fired, but I'd also be unable to function properly for a month or more. I also eat healthier and exercise more. I'm even one of those unusual beings who cycles to work now...what happened to me? 

You won't be able to handle hangovers. This links nicely to my previous point, and I really do mean it when I say my old lifestyle would wipe me out for a month if I tried it now. Going on one night out ruins me for the week. We're not all like this though, so if you're not the hermit type like I am, have no fear. Two of my close friends still have a wild nightlife and they have good jobs that they appear to execute functionally and excellently. So, it is manageable. 

Maybe you're a responsible adult. I mean, I pay all my own bills now so that allows me into the club surely? There's no squabbling over who owes what amount - though, at university we were one of the lucky ones who got all (bar electricity) bills included - and no more piling up the bin until it falls over and buries one of your housemates. It's all adult stuff now, like actually having a copy of the schedule for bin collection days and having house contents insurance. I only moved out of my boyfriend's parents house two months ago, but I feel in a much better place now I have my independence back. 

You'll be required to wake up between 5:30 and 6am every working day (unless you work night shifts you poor soul). Just to warn you, this also means you'll begin to wake up around the same ungodly time even when you want a lie in because your body clock thinks that's ok. Remember the days when waking up for a 9am lecture was the most difficult part of your life? 

All in all, my whole life has changed, as I expected it would, and I bet yours has or will too! I obviously work full time, stay late in the office and struggle to get out of bed on a Monday morning (I lie, I struggle every morning). I clean my house top to bottom every weekend rather than doing fun stuff, like watching a whole season of Gossip Girl (it's a very small house don't worry). I don't get much time to be lazy or to socialise, so I often choose to be lazy with my boyfriend instead. My weekends fly by and I can't remember what it feels like to not be busy,  but alas, it's part of life. 

Enjoy the freedom university brings whilst you can. I would never say it's all down hill post-graduation, but it's certainly not an easy ride!

MissIsGoode

After working in an office for just a few weeks I started to feel so lethargic and it quickly reminded me of my student days. The only difference: instead of having to be in a 1 hour lecture with my brain engaged, I'm sat at a desk for 37.5 hours of the week, where my brain really does need to be engaged 100% of the time.

Eat filling and satisfying meals 

As I said it's more likely for you to snack on things because they're there, not because you're hungry. If you're completely stuffed after a good solid lunch you won't be as tempted to dip into the biscuit tin or ask for a cupcake!

How:

Say no and yes in moderation

If you limit everything your body is craving you'll only want it more. But don't eat snacks all day long and claim you're doing so only in moderation. No one's going to judge you for it, but when it comes to feeling good you've got to decide what's best for you. 

How:

• Learn how to politely decline offers of food without having to explain to someone 'you're dieting' or 'watching your weight' - in my opinion these terms demonstrate how you're limiting yourself, when in reality, you're saying no to things that you don't need to make an excuse for
• Pay attention to what you eat - that way you'll be aware of how many 'treats' you've eaten in the week
• Don't feel like you have to eat something to be polite - if someone's baked cakes it's okay to not try one, don't feel obliged
• Don't deny yourself of every little thing - leave one meal or one day for some treats, but don't go over board!   

Move around

When you're in an office job or a student as lazy as I once was, it's pretty easy to remain in your desk chair for the entire day. You begin to feel tired so you top up the coffee, you're in that 'I can't be bothered to move' mood and yeah, we all have those days, but why make a habit of it? One thing that needs to be shouted from the rooftops is that you can change the way you feel. There are of course cases where it can't be helped, in illnesses for example, but if the only reason you feel so tired is because you sit in an office chair staring at a screen all day, you can honestly change that.

How:

• Stand up from your chair and just stroll around the office or your room
• Take a walk outside as often as possible - fresh air will really wake you up - even if it's damp and raining, just stand under cover and get some fresh air
• Make time to exercise outside of work - pay attention to the word 'make' - simply review your day and see if you can slip in even 30 minutes

You may well know that I've recently returned from my annual Christmas in Cornwall, which was absolutely lovely. Whilst on holiday I had the chance to catch up with one of my closest friends, Becky. I've always loved going for walks along the coastline and around the countryside of Cornwall and me and Beck have most definitely been on some adventurous, tiring and muddy treks in our time. Becky's always been that much more adventurous and is 100% a Cornish lass. She probably spends as much time in the sea as she does out of it, whereas I'm more likely to be the one sat on the sidelines enjoying a pasty. Having moved away to Cardiff for University, Becky's now back and has settled right into her home again, and this time, she's found a new ocean related hobby. 

Cornwall is, as many of you know I'm sure, a place of natural beauty - and if you didn't know, just take a look at the photo below - and Becky has taken that beauty and made it into elegant bespoke jewellery that is inspired and partially formed by the beautiful sea itself.

To Becky, making her Gemweyth - which means Jewellery in Cornish - is a means of recycling or even up-cycling the products that are formed by the seas' crashing waves. Each piece is uniquely shaped and comes from the heart of the Cornish coastline, and for Becky, the jewellery all came to be when she realised her own personal collection of sea glass had got a bit out of hand. To say she's a hoarder of items washed up on our shores is probably an understatement, but the fact that she's chosen to share the pieces she's found is a delight for the rest of us. After all, a beautiful collection like this deserves to be shown off, and what better way than this!  

MissIsGoode