Hayley Lately // August 2019

Welcome back to Hayley Lately. Each month, this is where I chat about my life and what I’ve been up to. Keep reading to discover the book I couldn’t put down, my new favourite show and the best things I ate this month.

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LIFE LATELY

I’m so proud of myself for actually getting this post published 😂. I may have worked on it at midnight in Changi Airport in Singapore, as well as on the bus from Stockholm to Gothenburg. But hey, writing certainly passes the time. Anyway, back to my life lately! August was a fun and interesting month. We left for Bali on the 31st July and I actually ended up spending exactly one month in Bali in the end. After a mini-crisis one night in Sanur (totally normal), I decided to change my flights, skip Hong Kong and stay in Bali for an extra six nights to write the guide for the travel app I’ve been working on for the past few months.

It was the best decision and I honestly could have stayed in Bali another month. Over four weeks I stayed in seven different hotels/homestays in Sanur, Amed, Legian, Kuta and Ubud. Out of all of those places, Sanur is actually my favourite (who would’ve thought). I had a bit of a hard time juggling work and play, but I managed to sort myself out in the end, as I always do. I toured temples on the way to Ubud, went snorkelling in Amed with my parents (and got majorly sunburnt), had a luxurious stay at Bali Mandira in Legian with my mum, strolled the stylish streets of Seminyak, spent time in Sanur with family friends and did a day trip to Nusa Penida.

I’ve got lots of Bali blog post ideas, so hopefully I get around to publishing them in the foreseeable future. If you have anything in particular you’d like me to blog about, let me know below in the comments!

So I left Bali on the 28th August and had a hell of a long travel day to get to Europe (25.5 hours to be exact). I flew from Bali to Singapore, where I had a six-hour layover. Then I flew to Stockholm via Doha with Qatar Airways (for the first time). It was long but I made it to Europe 🙌. I also stayed awake until nearly 8pm before I passed out after basically being awake for over 40 hours. I only had one day in Stockholm but I did pretty well not being jet-lagged and getting to see the main sights. First thoughts on Sweden (my 34th country!!!): it’s as expensive as people say, cinnamon buns are the breakfast of champions and everyone speaks English very well. I arrived in Gothenburg on the 31st and I already love the city’s vibe.

BLOGGING LATELY

Well, all of my scheduled posts went live in August and now I have nothing in my calendar ready to go 🤦‍♀️. But in case you missed them, this month I published my Melbourne accommodation guide, my solo travel guide to Prague and all the free things to do in Melbourne.

READING LATELY

I had to try and keep up with my dad in Bali, as he’s a reading machine on holiday. By the end of August I’d read six books, which were all advanced reader copies from NetGalley. A couple of romance novels I loved and highly recommend are The Best Friend Problem (I finished it in less than 24 hours 😳) and Probably The Best Kiss In The World.

EATING LATELY

I basically existed on a diet of nasi and mee goreng in Bali, and loved every second of it. I definitely need to update my Legian eats post and compile a similar post for Sanur. But foodie highlights for me include delicious fish and chips from Sails in Amed; nasi goreng with pork belly (🤤) at Crossroad Burger in Ubud; and all the food at The PaD in Kuta. I may have gone back four times…

WATCHING LATELY

I (naturally) haven’t had a lot of time for TV this month. But I did watch the latest season of Queer Eye and I’m working my way through the third season of Lucifer. Movie-wise, I had to watch Falling Inn Love on Netflix as soon as it was available, because there’s nothing I love more than a cheesy Hallmark-type chick flick. This one did not disappoint and it had the additional/unusual Kiwi factor. I also finally watched Ocean’s 8 on the plane (good but didn’t blow me away) and surprisingly, the Aussie movie Ladies in Black. It actually wasn’t bad for an Australian movie!

Well, this may be one of the longest Hayley Lately monthly updates ever! if you’re not following along on Instagram and Facebook yet, this is the month to fix that! I should be posting daily about my adventures in Europe. So far I’m going from Sweden – Denmark – Germany – ?.

See you next month 👋🏻.