Travel: 24 Hours in Paris
A couple of weekends ago I spent just over 24 hours in Paris with some of my favourite ladies and we had such an ace time. We booked the trip on a total whim (which is so not like us - we pride ourselves on our very advanced organisation and forward planning!), taking advantage of some super cheap Eurostar tickets and an absolute cracker of a hotel deal. We got on the first train out of St Pancras at an eye-wateringly early time, armed with coffee and croissants and green juice from Pret. Everyone else was snoozing away on the train but we were too excited and chatted the whole way (probably annoying the whole carriage in the process). I've only ever travelled on the Eurostar once but it is so much more convenient than flying - you only have to be there half an hour before the train is due to depart and you clear border control before you board, so there's no faffing about at the other side. Perfect for if like us, you don't have bags of time.
24 hours in paris
Our first stop when we arrived in the French capital was to drop our cases at our amazing hotel (more on that later!) and then we hopped straight on the metro to Disneyland. We decided that given all of the Brexit crap we really needed a bit of nostalgic childhood fun (plus is there anywhere more iconic to take a selfie than in front of the castle?!)
24 hours in paris
We had such a fun couple of hours exploring the parks and going on as many rides as we could. Our faves were Space Mountain (I bloody love rollercoasters!), Buzz's Lightyear Blast and the Toy Story Soldier Drop. We also massively enjoyed singing along to It's A Small World - it reminded me of when I used to go with my family when I was little and made me very nostalgic.
24 hours in paris
24 hours in paris
Once we had gotten our Disney magic fill we headed back into the city centre. Next up on our agenda was to visit the Eiffel Tower - one of my friends had never been to Paris before and we were determined that she needed to get a good gander at the iconic landmark. We visited in the midst of the Euros and so the whole area surrounding the tower was totally buzzing with fans in good spirits - it was such a nice atmosphere.
24 hours in paris
We spent a little while admiring it in all its beauty and taking many a photo, before deciding that it was definitely time for the first drink of the holiday. Aperol spritzes all round of course!
24 hours in paris
It was getting late in the day by this point and so we headed back to our hotel for an epic getting ready session (not before picking up a couple of bottles of champers from the supermarket of course - when in France and all that!). My friend Laura found the hotel online and realised that for just £45 each we could get the junior suite, complete with gigantic marshmallow beds, to die for bathroom and a balcony with views overlooking the city. Now, we're the kind of gals who usually book the cheapest possible Airbnb and save our money for cocktails, but we just couldn't resist this deal. And when we opened the door to our room, we were so so glad we did it!
24 hours in paris
While we knew that the suite had a balcony, what we didn't know was that said balcony had Eiffel Tower views - cue plenty of girly screaming when we discovered that one! We put some good music on and had the best getting ready sesh - it reminded me of when we were at uni and used to spend hours getting ready together for a night out. Those were the days!
Once we were ready we couldn't resist taking loads of photos on the balcony...
24 hours in paris
24 hours in paris
And then it was time to head out for a night in Pigalle! Thankfully I don't have any pictures from the night out, because let's just say, it got messy pretty quickly. I'm blaming the potent mix of champagne, tequila, Smirnoff Ice (classy as ever) and Jagermeister... We had sooooo much fun and ended up dancing with a load of Icelandic football fans until the wee hours!
We had a pretty early train to London to catch the next morning, but not before we pretty much bought a local bakery out of croissants and cheese bread to soothe the hangovers. There's something about buttery French pastry that is just so good for the soul... And then it was time to head home - we were definitely a lot quieter on the Eurostar home as we all tried to nap off our headaches!
24 hours in paris
It was very much a whistle stop trip to Paris but we had SUCH a good time. I haven't laughed so much in a long time and it was nice to really let our hair down - we've all been having a stressful time of it for various reasons recently and I think it was just what we all needed. It got me thinking about how sometimes all we need is a change of scenery and some time with our favourite people - depsite having far too little sleep, I came home feeling a happier, shinier version of myself. Not bad considering we were only away for 24 hours, right?!