And now for something completely different...

So. My best friend from Canada just left after staying with us for 6 days and I'm back to being sick lol what a month it's been! I can't film just yet because I can't talk, but I wanted to share our trip together in blog-format! 

When I was a kid I wanted to be "a blogger" so now I'm living my dream! Woooo!

Tyler and I met when I was 7 years old - she's a year older so we were never in the same class at school, but we lived in the same neighbourhood and have been best friends ever since. 

Which is saying something because I was a pretty bossy kid.

(there's a very low-quality photos of us at the end lol we were probably 7/8 there)

Some highlights of our time together:

We had a beautiful day so we went for a hike! Thank god. I was worried we might get rained out every day. The weather wasn't perfect but it's also April so I'm pretty grateful. After our big hike we stopped at a pub, read our books, played some cards and had this charcuterie board! Tasty.

Each day around 4pm we'd visit a different pub. I strongly believe not all pubs are created equal so I wanted to visit as many as possible so she could get a good picture of what pub-culture is like. We even had a few sunny spots for pub garden visits. Hurray!

I also took her out for afternoon tea! A few months ago I met up with YouTuber Sharla (she's probably the nicest person I've ever met) and we went to this tea house together. I liked it so much that I took Tyler there! I got a chai tea (delicious) and we got the high tea selection - finger sandwiches, 4 scones and each a slice of cake (I went for lemon drizzle). It was so nice! It's kind of wild that such a iconic British culture activity is part of my regular life now...

Next - escape room! We didn't do any "touristy" things because I wanted to show her what my real life is like, but I love a good escape room. Canterbury has a few set inside the original walls of the city! This one is set in the original jail from the 1800s. Very cool. Our game-master said the average time to escape is about 57 minutes - we did it in 37 minutes! It was super fun and I'd definitely recommend it if you're in town.

We have to talk about food! Tyler is a head chef back home, so food is very important to her. And thank god, cause food is important to me, too! One thing she really wanted to do was try the oysters in Whitstable. I'll be honest.. I tried one but I couldn't swallow it lol had to spit it out. But I tried!! Just not for me.

Our "big fancy meal" of this trip was at the Michelin-star pub The Sportsman! I'd never eaten at a Michelin place before but it was very cool. At this particular place, you get 5 courses of their tasting menu, plus a whole bunch of snacks/starter bits like these "cracker" things pictured. So good! The stand-out for me was the sea bass with a chorizo sauce-thing. I also loved this pork terrine with homemade bread and mustard. It was so nice having so many small plates so you can try loads of stuff. If you're really into food and want to try something different, I'd definitely recommend it! We had to book about 2 months in advance.

Overall I had such a nice time! We played lots of boardgames and cards (like we did when we were kids) had lots of great food and pints and loads of time to catch-up. Usually when I go home I try to see Tyler a few times but it doesn't always happen - last time I was in Canada, I got so ill I couldn't see her at all.

At the end of her stay, I took her to the train station and she went up to Wales to stay with another friend! I hope they have good weather. It's always a bit depressing after someone visiting leaves and you have to get back to "real life" but I'm so grateful she could visit. I'll see her next when I visit Canada this July - hopefully without getting sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, thank you so much for reading! I'm so sorry I don't have a video today. I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to film for Youtube this week either, so frustrating. But we'll see how I am in a few days.

Hope you're staying safe and healthy and had a good April!!