MissElaineous

The Art of Reinvention: Weston-super-Mare

The Art of Reinvention: Weston-super-Mare
MrElaineous and I have taken to playing what I suspect is a very common middle-aged game: when did we last visit such-and-such location? Of course, some of our confusion stems from the pandemic. Two years were excised from our mental timeline, making precise estimates even trickier. The seaside town of Weston-super-Mare is the latest place to enter the guessing cycle.… View Post

Cotswold Bound: Bourton and Bibury

Cotswold Bound: Bourton and Bibury
One of the best things about living in Chippenham is how easy it is to get out of it. It’s a joke I’ve made before and will likely make again because it’s one that has a kernel of truth at its heart.  The mainline train station can quickly deliver you to Bristol, Bath, and London (or Swindon or Reading if… View Post

Out of Practice: The Netherlands (Day 3)

Out of Practice: The Netherlands (Day 3)
I found myself completely out of practice when it came to my family’s recent trip to the Netherlands, booking things relatively last minute and researching activities on the fly. However, one tidbit I picked up was that the Bloemencorso Bollenstreek—the annual flower parade—would finish in the town of Haarlem. This was only a 20-minute train ride from Amsterdam, and it… View Post

Out of Practice: The Netherlands (Day 2, Part 2) 

Out of Practice: The Netherlands (Day 2, Part 2) 
Our first full day in the Netherlands turned into a day of two halves. The first half was a visit to the spectacular spring garden at Keukenhof. During the second, we took advantage of our iAmsterdam City Card to visit the flight experience at This is Holland. It’s sort of hard to describe because it comes across as quite dull… View Post

Out of Practice: The Netherlands (Day 2, Part 1)

Out of Practice: The Netherlands (Day 2, Part 1)
Our first full day in Amsterdam technically started earlier in the week. Business busy-ness and being completely out of practice when it came to travelling meant that holiday planning took a backseat, and I didn’t get around to checking what was available until Monday (we travelled on Friday). The weather on Saturday looked perfect: an ideal day for visiting the… View Post

Out of Practice: The Netherlands (Day 1)

Out of Practice: The Netherlands (Day 1)
Out of practice. This phrase describes how I feel both with regards to writing a blog post and travelling in general. My business of Academic Smartcuts is fully booked, and co-trainer Dan Allwood and I have been focusing on developing new training programmes and refining old ones. This has left very little time and the headspace necessary to write. Meanwhile,… View Post

Pootling around Paddington and Piccadilly

Pootling around Paddington and Piccadilly
Pootle. It’s a British word that should not be confused with a French canine, and it is a term I was introduced to via a German friend who picked it up during her decades of living in the UK. The definition is similar to the construction of the sentence above. It means to travel without any particular aim or hurry.… View Post

Going from A to D(urham)

Going from A to D(urham)
I’ve always found the term “travelling for work” to be a bit of an oxymoron, or at least a contradiction of sorts. Although there is literal travel involved, in regards to moving from one place to another, it’s not exactly the type of thing that one thinks about when saying “I love to travel!” After all, many people don’t love… View Post

Crocodiles in the Cotwolds

Crocodiles in the Cotwolds
If I asked someone to describe the Cotswolds, they might talk about thatched cottages and buildings constructed from the eponymous honey-coloured stone. Adjectives like “charming” and “quaint” would likely be used to refer to the villages and hamlets that dot the region, which is itself an official Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. They would perhaps mention that the Cotswolds has… View Post

Lions and Tigers and Dragons, Oh My!

Lions and Tigers and Dragons, Oh My!
Despite living in the UK for nearly 20 years, there are still large swathes of the country I haven’t seen. I’ve been up to the Orkney Islands at the tip of Scotland but have never properly visited Cornwall. I attended a wedding in Norwich once, but much of the east coast—Essex, Kent, Sussex—remains an absolute mystery. Trips to London must… View Post

In Review

In Review
The past few weeks have seen me revisit some of my favourite stomping grounds, so this blog post is less about exploring new sites and more about the enjoyment of reconnecting with places you know well. Magical. Enchanting. Quirky. These words were used by a friend to describe her first visit to the Cotswold Sculpture Park, and she is spot… View Post

Sacre Bleu!

Sacre Bleu!
This French expression of surprise or dismay seemed fitting when I realised it has been well over a year since I last shared a new blog post. It’s not due to a lack of travelling or a lack of desire: I have half-written articles and random paragraphs stashed all over my hard drive, as well as a mega-outline for last… View Post

How to Travel Safely in a Pandemic

How to Travel Safely in a Pandemic
I’m not going to lie to you—I miss travelling. Whether it’s a day spent exploring a National Trust property or a city break in London or a long weekend getting away from it all in the beautiful countryside, I miss experiencing new sights and sounds. Everything else that’s mentioned in my tagline? I’ve managed to find ways of catering to… View Post
Cotswold Sculpture Park

MissElaineous and the Very Proper Adventure

MissElaineous and the Very Proper Adventure
The M4 is a British motorway that snakes its way across the south of the country, starting in London and passing near a number of major towns and cities before petering out just past Swansea. Chippenham is one of those towns in the middle, located just a few miles south of this main artery that ferries people east and west… View Post

A Walk on the Wild Side (Plus Sheep)

A Walk on the Wild Side (Plus Sheep)
There are a few things you might expect to see when you go for a walk in the British countryside: Sheep? Most likely. Cows? Probable, especially in the area around Barbury Castle. Horses? Always a possibility. Intriguing architecture? Chances are good. Stunning landscapes? Guaranteed. But an elephant? Or a herd of zebra? These slightly more exotic creatures do not instantly… View Post

Down the Rabbit Hole

Down the Rabbit Hole
I found my first decorated rock in Beer, Devon a few years ago. Since then, I’ve enjoyed following the community of people who paint and hide stones for others to find, marvelling at the creativity and skill of many of the artists who give away their work. Other pieces are made by children, a way to keep them occupied on a… View Post

Marlborough Magic

Marlborough Magic
Travelling is often synonymous with getting away from it all or venturing to the other side of the planet to see the new, the unfamiliar, or the exotic. However, I would also argue that some of the most eye-opening travel experiences can happen practically in our own backyards when we are willing to look at the familiar in a new… View Post
Longleat, Wiltshire

MYTHS, LEGENDS, AND LONGLEAT

MYTHS, LEGENDS, AND LONGLEAT
St. Ignatius of Loyola said, “Give me the child for the first seven years and I will give you the man.” Career coaches use the question “What were your three favourite activities as a child?” to help people focus on finding a job that sparks the same joy as a child at play. The impact of these formative years before… View Post

A WINTER RETREAT

A WINTER RETREAT
“We are addicted to busy-ness,” Olivia said as I focused on contorting my body to match the yoga pose she demonstrated. She wasn’t wrong. Indeed, it was the very reason that MrElaineous and I found ourselves at a yoga and meditation retreat in the Welsh countryside. When I was in the grips of burnout several years ago, we made the… View Post
MissElaineous Travel Blog: Escape, Explore, Discover, Enjoy