This week, we’re in The New Forest, UK! I’ve teamed up with Emma from lifeofemmax to bring you the similarities and the differences between living in Alicante, Spain and The New Forest, England.
Don’t forget to read Emma’s Post to get all of the information about how Emma’s day went!
This week, it’s a little different. I start off in Alicante and arrive in Leicester, UK. It’s almost like a three-way comparison! Find out about my treacherous journey filled with surprises, my Fosse Full of your Favourites campaign and how my day went!
Saturday 24th November 2018:
The streets are deserted at this time of night, the waves seem to crash along the shoreline. The wind whispers between the apartment blocks. There’s not a soul around. a faint sound of music travels through the air, gently arriving like a whisper from Benidorm, a reminder that this is a contrast to what is happening in the centre.
“We’ve found this little fella. I don’t know what to do.”
Meanwhile, I arrive at Alicante airport and begin arranging my things. There isn’t a lot of time to hang about after waiting in the line for bag drop. The new Ryanair system is so much better. There’s no wandering around the airport with a suitcase. It was so easy just getting on the plane with my handbag. No having to get out my liquids. Plus, you can take full-size liquids in your case now! As long as it’s in the hold.
I head to Starbucks and have the Christmas hot chocolate. Today is a Christmas themed day, so I need to get into the spirit. A coffee in my local cafe is 1,60€, the small coffee in Starbucks was 5€. Incredible.
“I pressed all the buttons and his owner came down.”
“Are you from Leicester?”“Yeah, how did you know? Is it my accent?”“No, it’s on your passport. Which part?”
We get to Fosse after crazy traffic. Everywhere was bumper to bumper. Insane. The weather is cold, but nothing too bad. It was quite nice to feel the wintry air and see the grey sky, it was a change from the constant blue!
We get our hands on the Christmas Full of your Favourites advent calendars from Fosse and proceed to have some photos taken by Will, the photographer. It was so fun getting into full cheese mood! Well, I do a love a little cheese at Christmas…all the time…
I wander around Fosse doing some Christmas shopping, I’m feeling very lucky to be able to pick out lots of different bits and pieces for my family, and a few treats for myself! I have been wanting the Yankee Candle Christmas Calendar and some new socks so I was able to treat myself to those! Primark is so good for socks, £2.50 for packs of 5 Disney socks. Amazing!
The Yankee Candle advent calendar was such a great deal too. Down to £16 in Boots, yet advent hasn’t even started yet! I very nearly ordered Christmas Eve Yankee Candle, that was going to cost me £10 with delivery! But, I have Christmas Eve in my advent calendar and many more! The home is going to smell lovely!
We stop for a cake and coffee in Druckers in the Food court. It’s such a nice place to sit and relax. The Christmas decorations look stunning too. I can’t believe October was the first time I went in there! It’s 100% worth a visit!
I head over to Curry’s to pick up my shiny new camera. I am so excited! It’s a Panasonic Lumix, after the recommendation from Romi!
It was a huge saving for Black Friday, down from £179 to £129! I’m excited to have a camera that doesn’t weigh a lot, but takes high-quality photos and videos! The staff in Curry’s were really helpful and really friendly, which makes all the difference too. Especially me, who had no idea what kind of memory card I needed!
After a 6 hour shop, and an eyebrow waxing appointment finished. We head back home. The traffic has lifted now and the journey took a tenth of the time than it did getting there! Marley is stalking out of the window and his tail wags happily when he sees me.
I go through all of the packages that are piled high in my bedroom. Hot water bottles, toiletries, travel equipment, candles, gifts, chocolate. There is so much to go through and take photos of. I spend a good 5 hours videoing the unboxing and taking photos. The darkness has settled in so it’s getting harder and harder.
After dinner, we portion out the cake from bakerdays. It’s a letterbox cake that gets delivered to your door. It was a beautifully presented cake with different languages saying Merry Christmas, very fitting for a language lover like me!
We snack on some Popcorn Shed “Say Cheese” popcorn whilst watching a Christmas movie until I can’t stay awake any longer.
Similarities and Differences
Rich with cultural heritage lying on the outskirts of Southampton, The New Forest is filled with history, both factual and a little spooky. The land of William the Conqueror and his ‘Nova Foresta’, to the smuggling crimes along the coastline. The New Forest is an interesting spot to research and one that has me craving to visit.
The history of New Forest is intriguing even to those who aren’t passionate or massively interested in history. It’s one of those places that has you craving for more information when you start to research.
The long stretches of green and hilly fields are somewhat polar opposites to that of the long stretches of sandy white beaches that we find here on the Costa Blanca coastline.
Founded in 1079, The New Forest is certainly nothing new. Compared to our booming little fishing village that only started to grow in the 70s. I mean, we could always compare the New Town of Benidorm and the New Forest as a somewhat slight comparison.
Contrary to what I thought I knew, the New Forest is not actually all Forest. There are large open spaces of heath, bog, grassland and ancient woodland. It’s like something you’d read in a fairytale book. Living amongst the local people, you’ll find donkeys, cattle, pigs and sheep which graze freely in the New Forest. It’s unbelievable to compare the small farm that we have that lies on the edge of the city and up in the mountains. Although filled with similar animals, I can’t help but think they have a much better and rich lifestyle in the New Forest compared to the burning heat of summer here with little to no grassland to live on.
The New Forest has 42km of coastline, which is swamped by the 250km of coastline we have here. I can only assume that the summer coastline of the New Forest is a lot less empty than the summer coastline here.
The New Forest was an important location in the First World War, wounded soldiers were brought and treated in make-shift hospitals that were set up by the locals. Its location on the edge of Britain on the south coast meant it was a crucial location for British, Commonwealth, US and Canadian troops in World War 2 as well. Across The New Forest, there are still remnants and evidence of the WW2, which played a major role in the D-Day operations.
Although a million miles away from the action of the wars, Benidorm paid homage recently to the efforts made by soldiers in the WW2 by recreating the action on the Poniente beach. The dramatic beach landing was quite a contrast to the usually Ryanair plane landings, with around 50,000 visitors marvelling at it. The D-Day recreation was at the end of September and featured a musical show, costumes and lights. The reinactment show of World War 2 in Benidorm was a spectacular and colourful event that paid homage to the fights that took place on the Normandy coastline.
I can’t compare with England without comparing the weather, can I? What more do we love to talk about than a good weather update? The weather in The New Forest was a chilling, but dry 12 degrees, whilst the weather in Benidorm was a slightly more welcoming 18 degrees. It’s funny that I wore the same clothes in both places, yet didn’t feel colder being in England. That was until I landed in Spain on Sunday 25th and felt the heat meet me!
Next time, we’ll be comparing the similarities and differences between living in Alicante, Spain and Frankfurt, Germany.
Want to know all about life in Frankfurt? Well, stay tuned because next time, I’ll be teaming up with Molly from Miss Molly TV to bring you A Day in the Life in Frankfurt compared to Alicante, Spain.
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Hasta luego,
If you want to be a part of this exciting series then please feel free to fill in the contact form below. I look forward to hearing from you!
Lauren in Leicester 
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