Travel adventures are the only kind of surprises I like. When I have a day off, there's nothing I like to hear more than a friend coming up to me and having this conversation:

"Emma, how would you like to go on an adventure?!"
"I'd love to! Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise!"

Which is exactly what happened this Sunday. Sarah, one of my (many) flatmates, informed me I was invited on a day trip to a mystery location. My instructions were to dress fairly warmly, bring a packed lunch, and not to forget my camera. By 10:30 on Tuesday morning, Sarah, Ayumi, Jack, and I had hit the road.


Unfortunately for Sarah, her chosen destination wasn't particularly difficult to identify owing to the road we had to take to get there. The A91 from Stirling goes along the Ochils and doesn't really pass through any large settlements until you reach the coast. All the road signs were pointing in the direction of St Andrews... so we were fairly confident we knew where we were going.

After an hour's leisurely drive through the countryside (and a battle with the car's stereo system), we reached the coast. Although it's just a small town, I was impressed I remembered enough of St Andrews to navigate us towards the car park by the beach. We parked up and decided to take a walk on the sand and, as the tide was out, have a look in the rockpools and scramble on the rocks themselves.

Cool kids climb on geological formations while boring their friends with how they were made - thank you, GCSE Geography
It's almost coming up to a year since I first visited the town. You can probably tell from those photos that although it was May, we had much better weather this time around. The clouds came on and off but for the most part, we were treated to the warmth of the sun. I think this trip marked the first time in around 7 months that I've worn sunglasses and was certainly one of the few times I've worn them in Scotland!


We got a beautiful view of the West Sands. Although we didn't venture up there, I still managed to get a some shot of of the beach, golf course, forest, and the rolling hills on the other side of the River Eden beyond the peninsula.


We stopped climbing on the rocks just in time to avoid getting cut off from land by the incoming tide (whoops) and as it was lunch time, wandering into the town centre seemed like a good idea. We discovered a beautiful bookshop called Toppings & Company which demonstrated an overwhelming amount of care and attention for every book on its shelves that you don't really find with bigger booksellers like Waterstones or Foyles. They seem to have a strong community with lots of readings and clubs, and were even playing classical music and offering customers tea or coffee. If I was a local, I'm sure I'd be there 24/7.

We entered Tailend, one of the top 10 chippies in the UK, and the others purchased their fish and chips to eat back by the coast. I stuck with my pasta (I've been ovo-lacto vegetarian since the new year and loving it!) and we found a bench to sit on to enjoy the sea view... which, of course, also meant meeting the beady-eyed stares of greedy seagulls after our food. We had to get a little territorial a few times!


Next up was a visit to the St Andrews Aquarium! The aquarium is only small but still houses a lot of different animals. This was hugely exciting for me because I love any opportunity to practice my wildlife photography!


After purchasing our tickets, we started out in the tropical area which was a lovely temperature change from the slight chill I had got from sitting outside to eat lunch. We saw poisonous frogs, catfish, turtles and terrapins, piranhas, dwarf alligators...


and caiman...


...pipefish and skate pods...


and so many kinds of colourful fish.


They had all the old favourites too, like clown fish...


and seahorses.


Around another corner, we discovered this rock turtle. It was so well camouflaged from the other side of its tank, we practically jumped when we first spotted it. It looked entirely prehistoric and, by resting up against the wall, just like Godzilla's nemesis, Gamera.


Outdoors, we met the aquarium's three harbour seals.


And arrived just in time for their lunch!


We had timed our visit around several of the animal talks and learned that entire harbour seal enclosure is filled with natural seawater that is pumped directly into the aquarium. In recent years, harbour seal populations have declined as much as 90% as a result of human impact, pollution, and diseases that have swept through pods.


We also stopped to give a brief hello to the Humboldt penguins who were looking just as cute as the seals.


Back inside, we discovered more reptiles, like this very handsome iguana...


...and this Burmese python.


Truthfully, the more we saw of the aquarium, the more applicable it felt to actually call it a zoo. The tipping point came when we rounded a tank containing rays and dogfish and found an enclosure for meerkats. I don't know about you but the last time I checked meerkats lived in deserts - the least aquatic biome possible.

Nevertheless, a group of meerkats live at the aquarium (which Google informs me should be referred to as a mob or a gang).


While feeding them, a keeper told us that although it is unorthodox to keep meerkats at an aquarium, it was actually down to a matter of convenience. The aquarium was trying to open an African themed exhibit but as the building sits on natural rock face, they were unable to remove a huge hunk of rock that currently sits in the enclosure.

Meanwhile, a zoo in England had three meerkats that had been kicked out of their group and needed rehoming ASAP (meerkat politics apparently gets messy). The aquarium had the enclosure ready and agreed to take them on.


Meerkats have very quick pregnancies and a year later, there were a lot of babies. I'd say we saw upwards of 15 meerkats bounding around and foraging for insects and seeds in the sand.


Exiting via the gift shop, we took another walk into town past the infamous Patrick Hamilton initials. The initials in the cobbles are placed approximately where Hamilton was burned at the stake in 1528 for spreading Lutheran ideology.

Really rather morbid to walk over. Legend has it among the students of St Andrews that it's extraordinarily bad luck to dance on the initials and that doing so will make you fail your degree.


Feeling a little peckish, we stopped at Luvian's for some wonderfully delicious (and cheap!) ice cream before walking down to the end of the street to see the ruins of St Andrews Cathedral as the sun set. Unfortunately the gates had closed so we couldn't go exploring but it was lovely to see all the same (and with blue skies as well!).


With that, we turned to walk back up to the car and wend our way home. I was shattered by the time we arrived back in Stirling and in bed by half 10! Enormous thank you to Sarah for organising such a fun and impromptu surprise trip out to St Andrews! 

There's this fantastic concept called Mystery Shopping. In short, you get paid to review places by visiting locations and testing customer service, stock, and employee general knowledge. Normally they tend to be a little dry (go to this shop and ask about X, we'll reimburse you for whatever) but every now and then you're given a gem of an assignment: 'Go to Goodwood Racecourse with a plus one and using these extremely fancy badges, review the experience from the perspective of a horse owner and club member. Please visit all the fancy-pants places while you are there'... You can't really say no to that, can you?

The benefit of being asked to go to Goodwood was that we could also pop in to see an old family friend who moved to Worthing on the southern coast.


It was a great excuse for a nice day out at the seaside and some nice meals out before we were headed to the racecourse. You can just about make out Brighton on the far left hand side of the above photo. 




The next morning we were off bright and early on our way to Goodwood. We drove through Arundel on the way which gave us a fantastic view of the castle. Apparently I've been here before when I was younger but have no memory of it whatsoever. If we had had more time I would have loved to stopped and explored!


Finally arriving at Goodwood itself, we got parked up, donned our fascinators, and entered the grounds.


I should stress that although I was dressed the part, I certainly didn't feel like I belonged in the slightest. In the members area that we had been asked to review, everyone walked with an air of money and poshness that was bewildering.

The monied people obviously had the best seats in the house though. We could see all the way back to the coast.


They also got the best view of the entertainment!


As much as we were there to give an objective version of what the experience of Goodwood was like, I ended up doing an awful lot of people watching. By the end of the day I had invented a game called Old Money, New Money for categorising people...


When the races were due to begin, we went to... the paddock? The arena? I don't know what it's called but all the horses were paraded around for us!


And then they were off!


We were then forced to go to two bars and eat at the seafood restaurant. Such a chore!


The last part of our brief had us place the minimum bet on a horse, which involved me learning the difference between betting on a horse to win and betting 'each way'. Gambling is a world I'm not familiar with at all but I'm proud to say we won. Thank you, Big Orange!

Our base for this portion of the trip was Homestead. Originally we had planned to drive and explore the Everglades National Park but after a bit of research, we found had come in the wrong season for alligators and if we ventured into the glades, all we'd see would be swarms of mosquitoes that would eat us alive.
It is my great pleasure to inform you that Miami is exactly how you imagine it to be. 


I'm talking extremely attractive and tanned people sauntering about in bikinis and boardshorts. No one gets up before noon because there's no rush to do anything. Food whenever, drinks whenever, beach whenever. I've never been in such a relaxed city in my entire life. 

A photo posted by Emma C Simpson (@travellingquill) on

We were lucky enough to be staying on Ocean Drive, essentially right on the beach, and although it doesn't look like it, we had a fair few storms to deal with when evening rolled around too!


Despite the changeable weather, our time in Miami was certainly one of our hottest. Looking back at these pictures, my most vivid memories are not of the chilled out feeling everyone was enjoying but were instead of how much I just wished I could jump into a bucket of ice.

But we were braving the heat for a reason. Miami is known for its art deco architecture so we were slowly but surely heading through the eponymous district towards the Wolfsonian-FIU museum.


Along the way, we just happened to walk by Gianni Versace's Italian-styled house, Casa Casuarina. It now operates as a boutique hotel for the princely sum of well over £1,000 per night (breakfast not included). 

We unfortunately arrived before the museum was open (noon - I wasn't making it up!) which meant staying out in the sweltering heat for even longer, but we managed to duck into a nearby cafe/bakery and grab cold drinks, continuing my love affair with AriZona Iced Tea.

Once inside, the main hall housed this incredible... facade? Sculptural wall decor? I'm not sure what to call it, actually. It was sort of a fountain but the main feature was this expansive gold and green design going right to the ceiling and the sky light.


There were many floors to the museum but only one of them allowed photography! We saw loads of old, vintage designs from the 1920s and 30s on anything from mugs to vases to full scale paintings. 


The museum also doubles up as a library and research centre. We were able to peer into the archives from behind glass on one floor but got no further due to all the restrictions.


We had lunch at the famous News Cafe (where my dad was somehow given oatmeal instead of an omelette!) but that afternoon there was a thunderstorm so we hid inside and watched what we could from our hotel room. After dinner that evening, we went on a walk around the art deco district again, this time to enjoy the neon! And let me tell you, there was an awful lot of neon.

The chilled out atmosphere from during the day had disappeared. People were gearing up for a night of partying, reading to head to the bars and clubs. The heat hadn't let up at all so I'm not 100% certain where everyone was getting the energy from but I suspect alcohol was involved... (A moment of silence for the fact that in two months time I would have been 21 and therefore able to drink in the US...)


Our two days in Miami were a lovely look into what life is like in the Magic City!
Leaving Orlando and Universal Studios, we made our way to the coast in preparation for the number one reason we had come to Florida in the first place - NASA! But before I write what will inevitably be a post that takes a whole day to read, here's what else we got up to around that area.
The day following Edinburgh Zoo, we took the country lanes to get to Fife and St Andrews. 
With a packed day in Perthshire already under my belt, I woke up early the next morning but ready for another busy day. This time, we were heading to the Trossachs. 
What better way to spend my mid-semester break in Victoria... than to leave Victoria and fly down to California!
I seem to have the uncanny ability of being able to sniff out the universities with nature right on their doorstep. Stirling with it's rolling hills and loch, and now Victoria, with its private gardens (coming soon!), forest and trails to the beach!
Unpopular opinion time: I don't particularly enjoy my birthday. I dislike the attention, the fuss, and yes, even the gifts. Cake is welcome (because who doesn't like cake?) but in most cases, I want to hide under a blanket for the entirety of the day. 

There is, however, one exception to my allergy to presents, and that is in the case of experiential gifts. By that I mean instead of buying me something, take me somewhere. Let's go do something! Doing something fun on my birthday and making amazing memories is a much better celebration than any gift that could be given. 

That fact is the very reason why I chose to go whale watching for my birthday! 
What better way to recover from a week on the side of Mount Kilimanjaro than relax on the white sands of a tropical island? The post-Kili recovery week spent on Zanzibar was paradise!
Back in Singapore, I didn't have long to recover from food poisoning before we were back out exploring the island...