Chiquitos: Gluten Free

As an Easter treat we went on a little day out, we headed to Intu Soar, beside Braehead Shopping centre, I still keep calling it it’s previous name of Xscape haha! They have made out with major renovation plans and it has changed quite a bit since we went last time. There is so much to do, including a bowling alley, several amusement arcades, bumper cars, laser quest, a fun trampoline park (I’m trying to coax Chris and Adam there for a review…), crazy golf,a skiing and snowboarding slope with real snow, ice climbing, a cinema and a sky assault course, all under one roof!! Rainy day city am I right?! All this and that doesn’t even include all the fun food places!

Copyright Peter Rabbit

We were here solely for two things, first on the list was a trip to the Odeon cinema, to see Peter Rabbit. I am and have been since I was a foot tall, been obsessed with Beatrix Potter. We name our first cat as children after Mrs Tiggywinkles. The Beatrix Potter fifty pence pieces, people were giving me them to collect! I one day hope to visit her actual cottage down in the Lake District, so please if anyone has been, message us and tell me all about it! For real! I was so excited for this movie, Chris was tentative, and to an extent I hoped it wasn’t disappointing, as James Corden can sometimes be very overbearing. He nailed it though. It was amazing, go see this movie right away, like now! Domnhall Gleeson was amazing (let’s be honest,when is our favourite  adorable Irish man not…heart eye emojis all round), and the touches from the original series were so good! Daisy Ridley was a favourite too! Cotton Tail was one of my favourite characters. I love these cinema layouts too because the seats are so comfy and you can see from anywhere. Which is good because despite being the first ones in the whole room, picked our seats, and wow apparently they were popular as we were boxed in, I know it’s a kids film and its Easter, but public service announcement, those flashy shoes are super fun, but not in the cinema, where its dark and they light up the room after you stamp your feet every five seconds. Please teach your kids that you’re sharing the room with other people who have paid money too, to enjoy the film, don’t ruin it, its like fifty phones lighting up the place, we moved to the other side of the room as the film was starting and out the corner of my eye I could still see 3 kids stamping their feet.

After the film we headed to second on your agenda and that was Chiquitos! I recently found out that they have a gluten free menu, which is accredited by Celiac Uk so I was majorly excited to try it out! We love Mexican food! I downloaded the app prior to our visit and I recommend you do too, for signing up we got £10 off, as a student we got 25% off our menu too, but there were other promotions one too so we could choose which one, a definite money saver and the app is free. Also on the app you can pay your bill so you don’t have to wait around which was really handy!

The drinks menu wasn’t clear what was Gluten Free or not so I stuck to good old Pepsi Max, while Chris splurged out on a Salted Caramel Popcorn milkshake, which looked amazing, more heart eye emojis, and from Chris’s reaction, it tasted even better than it looked! For starters I got the tasty Halloumi Skewers, I am a sucker for anything cheese, and these skewers were perfect, I refer to halloumi as the meat cheese, as it reminds me of chicken, salty, tasty, chicken! I got a few skewers paired with grilled peppers and onions with a little side salad served with a tasty salsa. Chris went for Torilla Chips and Dips, which in Chrises famous one word review was “Dynamite”. To be fair they did look pretty amazing, and a heads up one could probably serve two people. Tasty huge tortilla chips loaded with cheese, salsa, sour cream and guacamole and beef chilli, although he did say he wished there was more chilli. For mains, I went for a beef chilli naked burrito. I love making burrito salads at home so I was excited to see how this one would fair. You can choose from Halloumi and veg, or mild habanero chicken as alternative options for your salad. The naked Burrito was basically everything including guacamole, salsa, refried beans served with some salad, I would have liked some cheese too to be fair but it’s probably too difficult to avoid cross contamination in the kitchen gluten wise. It was so good though seriously recommend this! Chris went for a monstrous build your own enchilada, his filling of choice was chicken and pulled pork, and despite warnings that it was huge, he ordered a side of chips too! It was packed full of rice, jalapeno sauce, mozzarella, refried beans and salsa. He did struggle but he was suitably impressed, his only gripe was that there could have been more cheese on top. As a warning though this was huge, please don’t order side unless you are an actual head case who wants to lie in a food coma for a while! He needed a nap immediately! He was eyeing up the fun take on an Eton mess, the Mexican mess on the menu which is basically churros and ALL the desserts added in as one, but he had to throw in the hat.

I would one hundred percent recommend Chiquitos as a Gluten Free option, the menu was amazing, with plenty of choice as opposed to some restraint where you have literally two things on the whole menu. There are fajitas (I am unclear on whether they have GF wraps or their naked like my burrito), Chilli, chicken, ribs, steak, naked Burgers, which will be next choice for sure!, and theres also a few dessert options too! Not just ice cream! Can I get a hells yeahh!

Nat xx

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Universal Studios, Orlando

Following up from last week I had some interesting feedback and decided to do a series around Orlando, detailing what exactly is out there. This week I will be focusing mainly on Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and City Walk, next week I will do The Studios section and Volcano bay. Disney will be split up over the next few weeks and Then I’ll do Sea Worlds Parks, followed by non amusement park attractions. So keep checking back! Hopefully this will help if you’ve never been and are trying to decide whether its the holiday for you, as it is a lot of money for a family holiday, but I’m sure you’ll agree there is something for everyone!

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Starting at Universal Studios. So if your lucky enough to stay at one of the Universal Resorts, you will have a few perks right off the bat, first is early entry into some of the park areas, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (WWOHP), and the new water park, Volcano Bay, you need to actually have a ticket for entry however, but the photo opportunities alone with a near empty park would be worth it. You also get complimentary delivery of any merchandise you buy straight to your hotel so you don’t have to carry it about, which is fun, especially if you see some cool mugs or glasses and don’t fancy shoving them in lockers every half an hour. There is a complimentary shuttle that takes you to the actual theme park entrances at City Walk, and speaking of City Walk, some of the entertainment venues allow complimentary entry with your room key, so thats a bonus too! For the more expensive premier hotels, you also get a free skip the queue unlimited express pass (not valid at Volcano Bay) which is fun too!

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If you’re not staying at Universal Resorts, (We’ve never stayed, I would love to stay at Cabana Bay however, I love the fifties!!), then not to worry most hotels offer complimentary shuttles to Universal Studios, and if your staying at International Drive its about $20 in a taxi at most I would say. Once you arrive you’re greeted with Security and once you’re all through you can zip on down the moving walkways onto City Walk! City Walk is an amazing first step into the Universal experience, You have dozens of stores selling everything from clothes, merchandise, accessories, and gifts, and more restaurants than you could possible choose from, with many different price ranges and tastes. Our favourites are Menchie’s, frozen yoghurt which is amazing with multiple toppings, The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.™ Restaurant & Market, everything about this place is amazing from the food to the service, and we also can’t resist a stop at the Cinnabon. Voodoo Donuts opens soon to so we can’t wait to try that! The air conditioning is a relief at times so even if your not looking for anything, head in for a browse. At night the place comes alive with nightclubs and bars too!

 

 

 

 

Now as you head up to the river, you have the choice of visiting Islands of Adventure, or Universal Studios. We will head to Islands of Adventure first, it’s my favourite of the two. It’s easily recognisable from the huge lighthouse at the entrance and then you are transported into an Arabian market centuries ago, the building and music really take you back! Once you’ve weaved your way through, (and stopped taking a hundred photos, you will, trust me), you can either turn left towards Marvel Super hero Island or right into Suess Landing. Let’s go visit the cat in the hat. Suess Landing is like walking right into the set of any Dr Suess film, colourful and full of little details, although aimed at the younger kids, it is a blast from the past and takes you right back to the books as a kid, There are fun food themes here too, including some huge candy floss! Theres a bout 5 rides here, if youre a bit older you may want to miss these, however cat in the hat is fun and as mentioned before, air conditioning break!! Coming out of here you head into an area called The Lost Continent, which is a really cool themed area with a stunt show and a  tour which is indoors and tons of fun, also head to the back of the area to meet the Mystic Fountain, hours of fun sitting listening to this!

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From the fountain the unmistakable theme music will hit you, and you’ll look up to see the grand entrance to Hogsmeade, and every ounce of my Slytherin blood is bursting with excitement for this area! The thumbing is so immersive you have to look really hard to realise you aren’t actually in the fictional village itself! Grab a butter beer, I can’t have this anymore as its not Gluten Free, which believe me it’s so good, I’ve shed actual tears over this fact! It comes in a slushy frozen form, normal and you can buy a fun souvenir cup, however if you’re not into novelty value, you can save $10 and just buy a normal glass of it. Quick note here that it is cream soda based so if like Chris, you don’t actually like this, you’ll hate it. There are currently only two rides in this area, they shut the amazing dragon challenge rollercoaster last year and have now completely demolished it, I am very excited to see whats next, I’m hoping for a fantastic beasts themed ride, but we will have to wait and see! The two left are a fun “kids” roller coaster, flight of the Hippogriff, which goes by Hagrid’s Hut which is fun, and then the other is located inside the magnificent building that is Hogwarts its self!, The outside of this building is everything you hoped it would be and is the closets you can actually get to staying outside the school, one thing I will say is that from day one, the lockers to deposit your things in are always chaotic! They are free for the ride use, and you can’t take any bags or anything on with you so need to put all loose items away, but just be warned its crazy at times! Once you’re through and have winded through the queue past Professor Sprouts Garden area, you get to enter the glorious corridors of Hogwarts itself, I myself still after all this time (see what i did there…) get emotional, but the detail is phenomenal, you end up going through magical classrooms and the Gryffindor common room, which all could be a ride itself to be fair, and then eventually hear the snarky comments of the sorting hat in the distance and know the ride is round the corner. I won’t give anything away, but this ride is one of favourites in Orlando.

Coming out of Hogsmeade, out the back entrance a very different theme music, and equally exciting entrance stands a striking contrast. Welcome to Jurassic Park. You are immediately shrouded in forestry and no longer feel like you’re in a magical wizarding town, but could at any time be ambushed by some dinosaurs. Whether you’re of my generation with the original Jurassic Park films, or have just been introduced via Jurassic World, you will love it, I myself have always since I was a wee girl been obsessed with dinosaurs, and always wished that the theme park was real.This is as close to the actual experience as you can get, the refreshment stalls and game stands are right out of the film itself! The main water ride, Jurassic Park river adventure, although i’ll admit slightly dated, is super fun and feels like your in amongst the action. The discovery centre is really cool too! My favourite part however is raptor encounter, were you get to meet an actual, (okay, not actual, but its still really cool), raptor! The staff will take an official photo you have to pay for but if you hand them your phone they’ll take a photo too, my tip is to set it to video because that really captures the experience! There’s a few fun themed areas for the little one scattered about too, so make sure to visit those!

Coming out of Jurassic Park you’ll pass Kong, based on the latest Tom Hiddleston version, I will be honest here, we both hated this ride. The queue was fun to an extent (160 minutes for us) but the ride itself was a major disappointment. If theres maybe a ten minute queue maybe give it a bash, but I would avoid it. Moving swiftly on, you will find yourself in Toon Lagoon. Ideal in the super hot Florida weather are two amazing water rides. First one you’ll pass is Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges, which is one of Chris’s favourites, you will get very wet!! My top tip is take your shoes off and fire them straight into the circle thing in the middle with your bag and pull down the wee plastic things pronto! Then while your still suitable soggy, and refreshed, head to Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls, which again, you will get extremely wet. It’s at this point I would remind you of the tips from a blog a few weeks ago, put all your electronics and wallet, in a zip lock bag. Again There is a fun themed area at Popeye’s ship for the little ones. Grab a seat and a drink and dry off and rest your’e feet for around 15 minutes. Something that the parks offer which we love is the The Universal Coke Freestyle program, in which you buy a souvenir cup for $14.99 plus tax (prices may vary), which you can fill up at the freestyle machines every ten minutes which are dotted around the parks and in some restraints (you don’t have to grab a table you can just head in grab a drink and go), the next day take your cup back to the parks and reactivate it for $7.99 plus tax a day! It is well worth it! If you just want one refill you can take it to a kiosk and have a one time refill for $1.25 plus tax but it gets really hot and you need to stay hydrated! Water is an option at the machines too.

Once you head out of Toon Lagoon, suitably dryer, you will find yourself in Marvel Super Hero Island, full of everything Marvel, including comic book stores and some really cool merchandise. Before Deadpool became popular and his film came out this was one of the few stores, not including the internet that I could get some cool Deadpool shirts! If you’re lucky you might meet one of the heres too! One of our favourite rides is The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man a 3d ride all the family will enjoy! Doctor Doom’s Fearfall is a drop ride behind Spiderman but I feel its a bit of a let down. The Incredible Hulk Coaster is now re opened after being refurbished, Chris still loves it, but personally I miss the old one. It still has some good theming and there is no missing the roar as you shoot out of the lab. Heading out past the Hut, you will find yourself back where you started at the cross section in the Arabian shopping area.

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That’s where we leave you just now, but next week we will be back for more about Blue man group, Universal Studios Florida, and Volcano Bay! So please check back, and let us know what you think of our series and what you would like to see! We are also launching a Patreon page so please check that out too!

 

Nat xx

Instagram: Backpacksandburgers__

Youtube: Backpacks and Burgers Vlog

Patreon: BackpacksandBurgers

 

Copenhagen!

So we just had the most amazing time in Denmark’s stunning capital, Copenhagen. We’ve  heard so many amazing things about this city, and not one of them bad, and safe to say, we were not disappointed!

First off, we drove to Edinburgh airport, which isn’t our local airport, so we booked in to the car park, which came with free express airport security. We checked, and this is only around a fiver per person at most airports, and we would always recommend this experience after using it ourselves! Literally 3 minutes and we were through to duty-free, skipping a massive twenty-minute queue! The flight was super fast to, an hour and a half from Edinburgh, so in no time at all we were greeted with the delightful tones of Danish accents all around. Amazing!

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The transport links around the city are fantastic, from the airport, we hopped on a Metro, which for 36 Kr. each, which is just over £4 to take us through 3 travel zones, we were at our station in the centre of Copenhagen in 14 minutes flat. I’ve spent longer in the Disney shop looking at Moana toys! We didn’t use the bus or trains, however they were very frequent also, and inexpensive also. Our stop was Kongens Nytorv, which was around a ten minute walk across the square to were we were staying, the beautiful Nyhavn district. Those stunning colourful houses along a canal littered with bicycles and boats of various sizes.

Our hotel was 71 Nyhavn, which was stunning, it’s the very last warehouse on the street, which shares its previous residence with Hans Christian Anderson. The hotel itself, we actually won in a competition (along with flights), and to be honest is quite a bit more expensive than what we usually would pay, we would rather spend money on experiences than lodgings, but we appreciated it 100%! The rooms were decked out traditionally to suit the building, with wooden beams all round, a fun little Nespresso machine, lovely big windows, and a bathroom decked out in more mirrors than Ikea, which for me was perfect.

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Luckily we were there for their light festival, and some really cool installations were dotted around the city, our favourite being one called “The Wave”, which was this stunning set of huge, metal, triangles, spaced out with light pulsating through of various colours, accompanied by calming tones and wave sounds. This was beside the harbour so the backdrop of the sea really made this spectacular. We also had to go pay the little mermaid a visit of course, and my brother gave me the tip, just past, in some sort of financial district by the canal, there was a modern art mermaid who was rather lonely, no visitors but us! There were some other cool sculptures on the land too.

I found it quite hard to dodge the gluten, so we went to the local supermarkets, Netto, Seven Eleven, and Aldi, and bought food like cheese, and the Danish version of “Billy Bear”, which was “Bjorn Bear”. Chris delighted in everything else however, the pastries were out of this world, and the hot dogs were amazing! We popped into the local McDonald’s beside the metro station too and enjoyed cheese sauce, and Chris had a few different burgers.

This fantastic hotdog with all the trimmings!

I have more details of our two full days of fun too, on Day One, we visited Den Bla Planet, and Christianhavn and on Day Two we visited Tivoli Gardens and the round tower! Over all our trip was amazing and it’s definitely won our hearts over, we cannot wait to go back! It can work out a little expensive, so detailed planning is recommended so you can budget in time and money to do everything you want to do. Wrap up warm too it was freezing, even with two pairs of gloves on!

 

 

Nat xx

 

Instagram: Backpacksandburgers__

Youtube: Backpacks and Burgers Vlog

Day One: Copenhagen

Our first full day in Copenhagen, we hopped up after a very comfortable sleep, honestly those mattresses were first class, and headed down to see what our hotel’s breakfast buffet had to offer. We were suitably impressed. Well, we all know Chris is easily impressed with free food, but he was even taken a back. There was a selection of rolls, bread, even gluten-free options, several types of cheese and meats, fruit, whole and sliced, muesli and cereal and yoghurt, with little jars of pre made concoctions. There was also hot food available, along with the option for the chef to make you an omelette. So tasty. I had some yoghurt and a plate overflowing with fruit and cheese. I love cheese more than the average mouse. Chris had a thousand, well maybe not quite, but a lot, of pastries, and some pancakes with home-made Nutella.

After breakfast we headed out to check out a few of the sights before heading out of town, and we were so surprised by how quiet the streets were, even by 9am on a Saturday, almost empty. This was great for us, but it was so strange as just a few hours later, the same streets were so busy you couldn’t move for people. We hopped on the metro, (after much debacle to get change as the metro machines anywhere BUT the airport only take coins or cash, so we had to get change from McDonald’s), and headed to Kastrup, which is the stop just before the airport. We headed to “Den Blä Planet”, which is Denmark’s national aquarium. The building itself is stunning, built to represent a whirlpool, and entry was 175 Kr. which is just over £20. One thing I would say is be there for 10am when it opens, then turn to exhibit 3, on your left, and head there first, everyone else starts at exhibit 1, so you almost have the whole aquarium to yourself for about ten minutes, and it, in my opinion, is the best part, with hammer-head sharks and rays in a huge viewing area and a small tunnel. There was only us for a good ten minutes, and when we went to check it out before leaving this whole area had around 500 people in it over the place of an hour! There is a really cool rain forest section “outside” with trees and birds, which you can head “underground” to check out the piranhas and such, which was really cool. There are some gorgeous otters too, and a really fun interactive section which reminds me of the touch pool from Finding Dory, haha! Chris was disappointed in the attraction itself and wouldn’t recommend it, he did expect more for the size of it, however I personally loved it.

After an hour or so we left and got the metro back to town, and got off a stop early at Cristianhavn. This district seemed less touristy itself, and a bit more chilled out. We walked around looking at the churches and side streets, and ended up at Christiansborg Palace, which is basically the Danish parliament building and, Royal palace, and is huge. We didn’t actually do any of the paid entry visits, inside, however it was reasonably priced if your interested in visiting, and there were free tours available too. I loved seeing the royal horses.

We also found our way down to the world’s oldest and largest shopping street, “Strøget”, which is impressive and also so bizarre  a mix of shops from, designer brands to high street brands to random souvenir shops! It’s a maze of tiny streets that snake off with hidden gems. A highlight was listening to a street band play “Despacito” on an accordion. We browsed for an hour or so then headed back for more burgers and more cheese! A long soak in the shower to heat you up is also a must! over all I had the best time, and couldn’t be happier!

 

Nat xx

 

Instagram: Backpacksandburgers__

Youtube: Backpacks and Burgers Vlog

Day Two: Copenhagen

Day two, we were up bright and early, downstairs for another fantastic breakfast like yesterday, I opted for a gluten-free roll this morning, and enjoyed a tasty roll in bacon along with my usual fruit trimmings. I also had a SHOT, which was made of apple and carrot juice, which was really tasty! Chris has his usual ten plates of every food he could find!

Our first stop was to the Round Tower, or Rundetaarn. It’s 25 Kr. each which is just under £3 each, and opens at 10am. It was built in the 17th Century, and is Europe’s oldest functioning observatory. We weren’t interested in the star-gazing properties it offered, the views were fantastic. Literally postcard views in a 360 degree for miles from viewing platform, which took minimum effort to get to as only the last floor is stairs the rest was flat, however it did make me a bit dizzy! Well dizzier than usual! Well worth a visit, remember to bring your camera! Luckily for us, as it was a Sunday we were surrounded by a chorus of Church bells at the top also which really added a cool atmosphere that took you back in time! I honestly have never seen so many churches is such a small area, I counted 14, but I bet there were more!

Our next stop was somewhere I have been dying to go for years so I was an excited mess. Tivoli Gardens. This was one of the amusement parks that inspired Walt Disney himself for his own parks and he was a frequent visitor! It was built in 1843 and still has the traditional designs of that era in its facade. We were visiting amongst the “Winter Wonderland” festival too, which meant there was an extra layer of magic added with snowmen, snow, and other frosty features, it also meant that not everything was open, so we didn’t get to ride everything. Our first stop was the wooden rollercoaster, Rutschebanen, which was built in 1914, and is one of only seven rollercoasters in the world with an on board brake person! It was super fun and we rode it several times! I think this was Chris’s favourite ride! My favourite was Monsoon, or Monsunen, which you sat on and it spun you around like you were in a monsoon basically, doesn’t sound like much but, oh boy I loved it! There was a weird ride called Fatamorgana, which was two rides in one, a “spinner” and “animals”, I went for the animals option first because I thought it would be a relaxing alternative after stepping off the monsoon, I was wrong. So wrong. Basically you choose you’re wee car, I chose what I think was a ram, or a goat, or something, and shut my wee door. Now I had seen it got up high, 141ft I believe, but the car itself looks like one of those wee things you put 20p in and pop your kids in. It even just had like the weakest looking seatbelt I have ever seen, so there I am waving at Chris (I should point out he hates anything that goes round or high so I’m mainly on my own) and then I realised my mistake. This thing shook about like a carrier bag. I genuinely had white knuckles! This is not a kids ride! I went on the spinning section which basically spins you around at the same height, but was let down, this wasn’t a fast spin, I actually could have went for a nap, who would have thought the “kiddie” section was the scariest ride in the whole park! The overall theming of the park was spot on and really made me feel like I was in a Mary Poppins style amusement park back in the 1920s. Chris loved the coal burners dotted around so you could keep warm. All in all I recommend this park to anyone regardless if you enjoy rides or not. You can pay for just entry which for us was 100 Kr, and then we added an unlimited ride wristband for another 100 Kr, which is around £24 all in. You can buy ride tickets and pay as you go after you buy your entry ticket also.

We spent our last night wandering around enjoying the city and looked back on our stay. Our main tip to take away is get up as early as you can, and arrive at attractions for the opening to beat the crowds, this will help with your experience and photos! We are so excited for whats coming next and can’t wait to share our journey. We are working on editing the videos we took of our trip if visual is more you’re thing, and remember to give us a follow on Instagram, to keep u to date with our journey.  Is there anything you would like us to write about, or anything you recommend for us to do? Let us know!

 

Nat xx

 

Instagram: Backpacksandburgers__

Youtube: Backpacks and Burgers Vlog

 

 

Let’s get packing!

So, a few days to go before our next trip, and I thought I’d do a wee post on how we pack and get ourselves sorted for trips. When going for a week or less we manage to squeeze our lives into backpacks, of course if we’re away for longer we do have extra luggage but I’ll do a post on that when the time comes, we mainly do shorter ones, this is Backpacks and Burgers after all, haha! Also, the advantages to hand luggage travel are a plus, no waiting about when the plane lands, when traveling about its no awkward on public transport or in shops, and you can always have everything with you should you need it, which leads me onto my first point. So to start with, I like to take the advice of a certain angry lion, which is to, “Be Preparrrrreeeed“. Is it stuck in your head now? No? Well that’s beside the point, he may be trying to take over the animal kingdom but he’s right. Perhaps over-dramaticly so, which his army of hyenas and green glow, but drama is my middle name. I should also point out my way of preparation may not be best for you, I’m not saying I’m right, and you should do this, this is just was we do.

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First of all I’ll to check for the average weather of where we are heading off too, and research a list of things we want to do. This gives a good basis of what to pack, and start planning. Theres no point in packing a ton of winter clothes if you’re going to spend the whole time indoors at museums or bars, and the same goes there no point in packing fancy stuff if your going to be chilling at a beach or kick about a market. We, as it happens, will be spending the majority of our time outside, and its going to be colder than a dinner party at Mr Freeze’s house.  We picked up some thermals pretty cheap at our local Primark, and some skiing socks at Decathalon also an amazing place for budget lovers. They have some amazing jackets for all outdoor needs especially. We pack pretty light to be fair with only one change of clothes and a couple changes of underwear. It’s easier on your back and shoulders not to carry about pointless stuff, and carry some laundry soap instead.

I roll up my clothes tightly in ziplock bags, these are from Ikea, this helps make the best use of space, and also protects them from the outside weather if you get a leak in your backpack! I also wear a lot of make up, and when we go exploring, I don’t change this. I like the 100ml limit for airports because it helps me to sort out what to take along, which by the way would be everything, haha I have a hard time picking out which I’m going to take. Much to Chris’s dismay also, I have a slight addiction to travel miniatures! So we always have plenty of these on hand! I also stick to the afore mentioned Scars, be prepared, motto and pack a small first aid kit with some basics and medication. Safety first!

When it comes to our blogging and recording, we use a lot of battery, so these external battery packs are a life saver for when you can’t stop taking photographs, also we have a few extra batteries for the Gopro too, and plenty of wires, and adapter plugs to keep these juiced up along the way! A handy organiser, keeps all this together in a compact rig, just to throw in any bag. We also have these adorable little tripods, I probably shouldn’t use the word adorable, haha, but they are! They fit in your pocket, bag, or anywhere to be honest and are a life saver for some shots.

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Remember your currency! We made a rough plan of what activities we wanted to do, and looked at some restaurants prices to budget for food and snacks, this is really important as you don’t want to miss out on something you really wanted to do because you didn’t budget correctly! I always take a notepad with me too, it has notes about directions, times of transport and attraction operation times. You don’t have to do this step, I’m just super enthusiastic about organisation! I also print off everything, just in case, I know most things, such as hotel and place boarding passes are on your phone now, but what if you lose your phone, or you run out of charge, or like Chris on a recent Barcelona trip, have it stolen. Always have a back up!

Other extras that I usually would take are Tupperware boxes, plastic cutlery, and cups, these come in handy with the basic hotel rooms, packed lunches, and taking leftovers home, however I’m leaving this home as we got an upgrade on our hotel room, so we won’t really need them. Ponchos can come in handy too, if you don’t want to take a heavy waterproof with you, we are already taking heavy layers though, so again this isn’t needed.

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Were super excited to get going, and can’t wait to take you with us, so keep checking back over the next few weeks with blogs on, Den Bla Planet, Tivoli Gardens, Gluten Free Copenhagen, and our trip in general! As always keep an eye on our insta and you tube accounts too, there will be new stuff updated soon!!

 

Nat x

 

instagram: backpacksandburgers__

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Hogwarts In the Snow

Okay, so I know its February, and at that its closer to March than Christmas, but I just wanted to share with you our experience at the Warner Brothers Studio Tour in London. It’s fair to say, I’m pretty obsessed with all things Harry Potter. I was one of those people waiting in the store at midnight with my wand waiting on the books! I visited the studio tour with my Mum a few years ago, and ever since, had been working my Slytherin ambition to go back on our reluctant Gryffindor. We’ve been to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, (WWOHP) in Universal Studios, Orlando several times, and he was a bit like, ‘I’ve already seen everything”. I’m not really one for letting things go, haha, so when we were looking into a trip away for Christmas, I immediately was like ‘”Accio studio tour!”, (Sorry, not sorry, that probably won’t be the last spell…”) So we excitedly headed down, perhaps one of the party more than the other, on Christmas Eve, for the Hogwarts in the Snow exhibition.

Hogwarts in the snow is a celebration revolving around, spoiler alert, around the snow, Christmas, and of course, the Yule Ball. I already knew what to expect from visiting before, but since my last journey to Hogwarts, the forbidden forest had been opened so I was particularly excited to see this, Buckbeak in particular! So without further ado, this witch and wizard duo enthusiastically casted “Revelio!” (I told you..), and dove in head first.

I know i’m biased, you could give me a toilet roll tube with a harry potter sticker on it and id be happy, but honestly, this is one of the most magical places to exist! You are literally surrounded by real magic. Everything, sets, props, costumes, is from the actual film series and you really feel that you been transported! The Great Hall, even just to be standing in it again, my heart was i my mouth (I might have cried a little, don’t judge me), but to be surrounded by all sorts of wizards Christmas decorations, and all the Christmas dinner props laid everywhere I was in awe. After this we got to feel the different types of snow used in films and learn more about them which was pretty cool. The usual props and costumes wowed also, and the Forbidden Forest didn’t disappoint at all! I had to be dragged away from Buckbeak (please remember to bow, it’s only polite), also the Hogwarts Express and platform 9 3/4 is a fantastic experience. This trip we didn’t participate in the green screen section, Chris wasn’t interested, and I had the video and pictures from last time, but it’s something I highly recommend.

We took a trip to the backlot cafe, and had some butter beer ice-cream , which is one of the tastiest ice creams we have ever tasted! I’m going to be honest here, I don’t actually like the butter beer drink here, the one in Florida at Universal Studios is waaaaay better! Also the little bottles of it you can buy in the shops or in amazon taste substantially better also. But feel free to try it, you never know you might like it! Our favourite lion even enjoyed himself, and would 100% return. He agrees that although the WWOHP is immersive and has some details that are a bit more dramatic, Diagon Alley for example, the fact these are the actual film sets, in the sound stages where they were filmed, adds a different experience. The information everywhere about how things are filmed and film magic was really interesting for him too, especially how patronus are filmed (I’ll keep that a secret). All in all we were left happier than a pair of puppies hit with a cheering charm!

Nat x

 

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Birthday Blowout

As you get to know us, you will soon realise that Winnie the Pooh, Scooby and Shaggy and Joey Tribbiani, even combined, don’t have anything on Chris and his passion for food! He loves trying out new things all the time but of course has his favourites. This weekend marks our handsome waste disposal units 32nd birthday, so naturally our weekends sole focus was food. Saturday, his actual birthday, we visited his parents for some family catch ups over a local Chinese takeaway, one of his go to choices for a meal in. I can’t get anything from his favourite place so I happily rocked up with some Amy’s rice Mac and Cheese for myself, a new favourite of mine. For a starter the others tucked into chicken & sweetcorn soup, while I stuck to classic good old out of the tin, tomato soup. While the gluten free specific food in supermarkets is quite expensive, it does have it’s positives for a cheap family dinner night! Haha!

On Sunday we booked a table at Pizza Punks in Glasgow,  our favourite pizza joint! We love it here, the staff are really friendly, the place has a great atmosphere to it, and the pizza is amazing, with a huge choice of toppings to either make your own, or go with a ready made topping list. My favourite is the cheeseburger. Special thanks to my brother and sister in law, Craig & Lauren, who bought us a voucher for our Christmas, (we have them hooked too, it’s perfect for vegan’s, and a gluten free diet), we thought what better place to end a birthday weekend. Chris went for the cheeseburger pizza, but substituted the red sauce for BBQ sauce, and this is a definite recommendation of you go! 10/10! I myself went for the gluten free base along with Buffalo pizza, which is basically spicy chicken. First time I’ve had this one and would definitely recommend it too, if you like a bit of heat but not too much!

All in all it’s been a fantastic weekend and we cannot wait to share more with you soon! We will be uploading some youtube videos in the future so keep an eye on our channel or feel free to subscribe, also we have an instagram page now too so feel free to give us a follow. Let us know what you would like to see, and what your thoughts are too!

 

Nat x

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Embrace the Journey

Hello! Thanks for checking out our blog! For some time I have wanted to channel my passion for all things creative but I could never put my finger on what exactly I should be writing about. So here goes nothing, my plan is to combine Chris and I’s passion for food and travel, and for this I have created Backpacks & Burgers.

We love traveling whether it be local, or further a field. Based is Scotland beside the amazing views of Loch Lomond, we are forever taking day trips, weekends away or even a couple of weeks with just us and the camera. We’re planning to do a lot more and recently started documenting these with little fun videos for our instagrams, but I would like to develop these further. I have a background in media from college but have never utilised this properly and feel now is the time.

So welcome and bare with us while we get some plans organised, we have a few restaurants to check out locally soon, and in a couple of weeks we are off to Copenhagen for the first time. Stand By!

 

Nat x