Srprs.Me Trip, Travelling into the Unknown

Disclaimer: This was not a sponsored trip.
 
A few weeks ago I took a trip into the unknown. Reason being, this is the charm of Srprs.me, you go where you are meant to go, as the tagline points out. If you have followed them on social media, you'll see that travellers are advised to not mention their locations on the official Srprs.me platforms, so for this post I won't actually say where we went, instead I'll just talk through the experience. However as a tl;dr, if you are thinking of taking one of these trips, DO IT! It is such an experience that is more than just browsing Air b&b and travel blogs for inspiration on where to go.

We had previously booked with Srprs.me in 2017 for a two week trip, however due to my Mum passing away we weren't able to go. The team at Srprs.me were so good and helped wherever they could. Unlike other agencies we have previously used, all emails and communications felt very personal. They even sent flowers and a lovely message when we told we had to cancel and the reason why, such a lovely gesture and one that I would not have expected any travel company to do. This personal communication continued when we were on our final countdown to our trip in the middle of February. They remembered us and seemed genuinely pleased that we were travelling again with them.

The actual process is also perfect for those of us with busy lives. Srprs.me specialises in European breaks so if you know what time you are able to book off. Instead of trying to decide where to go, and if you are anything like me starts getting overwhelmed, everything can be booked in ten minutes. Choose your dates, and there you go. Job done! There is another option now where you can choose North, East, West or South Europe - if you fancy something warmer you can then pick south or if eastern Europe has been sorely missed on your travels, then there is that option for you. You can pick three places you don't want to go too; so we picked Amsterdam, Paris and Lisbon as Amsterdam was our previous city break and the latter two we are not too fond of. The best thing is, if we go back to Srprs.me, they will never send you to the same place twice! So the sense of adventure continues!

I feel Srprs.me is a natural reaction to the review heavy, trip advisor style travel planning that is abundant these days. Often I have been put off places because I had read far too many reviews, or ended up over planning and not enjoying the experience. Again, I end up overwhelmed because I end up reviewing, then comparing, then thinking 'what if?'. Not having any of these worries was remarkably freeing. We only needed to turn up to the airport at 11am. Finally, the sense of adventure had returned and it was exciting to not know. We were sent an envelope with the tickets in and a code for the webpage. Sat in the airport waiting for the countdown to tick down added another exciting element to the experience. Everything was timed down to the tee and once we found out where we were going, we passed through security as normal and began our holiday sat in departures finding out all about the location. It was somewhere I would have never have thought of going, and I am now very happy to have been!
not_all_fun_and_gainz (Insta)
Doing a Sprs.me trip has reminded me, that sometimes the journey is as important as the destination. I know, it is a clichè, but the process of going into the unknown was refreshing in a life of always having to at least look in control and keep up with responsibilities. A sense of travel from another era. I can understand why some people may not like it, most of our friends were agasp with horror, except for fellow geographers who thought it was amazing. How could we go on holiday without knowing where we were going? What if we ended up in Skegness they questioned! Aside from the over dramatics, some people can't give up so much control, that is okay. However I would encourage anyone to at least give this style of holiday a go, especially if you live a busy, work filled life.

So would I do this again? Absolutely, I can't wait until the next little black envelope drops through the door.

Book your Srprs.me holiday here

2018 Cosplay Plans!

It is that time again when cosplay plans are set into motion for 2018! If you have read my 2017 plans you would have seen that I wasn't necessarily over ambitious, however like any cosplayer, my list of cosplays 'to-dos' grows after watching movies or playing another game. Will we every finish those lists? Probably not! So for 2018, I'm really stripping it back focusing on two new cosplays, so I can enjoy making them and save time for my research, travel and hopefully some gaming!

Cosplays 2018


In 2018, I really want to finish Aloy. So far I have her wig completed and some materials to make the necklaces and skirt embroidery. The aim is to have a post fight Aloy (of course, the 'post battle' style I think is my personal touch to most costumes!) so will have a little bit of dirt and a little bit of blood; but not to the extent of my Laras. I also want to have a complete set of weapons and hopefully a few trinkets from the world. Lots of work, but combines everything I have learnt with cosplay so far so is a real challenge to put everything together. To be honest, if I just get Aloy done in 2018 , I would be very happy.   


In addition to Aloy, a kind of bonus cosplay is Rachel from Bladerunner. If I don't get time to make her, that is totally fine. However I feel I want a good sewing challenge, and not one I can cover with blood! Rachel is my sewing project. Bladerunner is one of my favourite films, one I had to write about in my media studies A-level! So to do a cosplay from the film is a bit of a personal achievement. 

As for Lara, as yet, I am not planning on making any Laras in 2018 unless some details come out for Shadow. Depending on which cons I go to,  I may bring Rise Lara (Syria and Siberia) back out again and improve it. Hopefully maybe do a shoot with it.

Conventions 2018 
  
Here is the awkward thing, as of yet no conventions are planned for 2018. Liverpool MCM has been cancelled and I am watching the Harry Potter stage show over the weekend that Manchester MCM is on. Only Play Expo is a certain, and that is one day. Because of this, I am hoping I'll get to go London MCM in October. It has been a long time since I have done a London con! Anyway, we'll see and I'll update plans on my social media as and when.

So what are your cosplay and convention plans for 2018? Let me know below or tweet me @lady_scion! 

2017 in Review: Cosplay, Gaming, Life and more!

Well 2017, you passed quickly! And while overall, it was a pretty shitty year, there were times that were good and most importantly times where I overcame difficulties.  I am going to break this down into four sections: Cosplay, Gaming, Life and 2018 plans for this blog so you can read all of these of just skip to what you are interested in!

 Cosplay:


2017 wasn't the best year of cosplay for me, due to multiple life and career issues. However, what I did make and the cons that I went to were very enjoyable. The only cosplay I made was Ellie from The Last of Us: Part Two trailer. Overall, it is a pretty simple costume and is constructed from bought elements that I weathered; however it was such a comfy costume! 2017 was also the year of the tattoo! I finally worked out how to create realistic looking tattoos and let me tell you, I felt very badass with my Ellie half tattoo sleeve and the with my Chloe full sleeve! Chloe was my second cosplay of the year, and while the costume was on its second outing I improved it by sewing the patches onto the jeans, re-cutting the wig and creating the tattoo. I was also making Aloy from April, however the desire and time to make her fell away over the summer and into autumn. If everything goes okay, Aloy shall be debuted in 2018 :). There will be singular blogpost about 2018 cosplay plans coming soon and can be found HERE when it is posted. 

Gaming: 


While in one sense I feel as though I didn't get to do much gaming in 2017, and I know it is nowhere near as much as other people, I did complete some games and for most of the time I enjoyed what I played. Horizon: Zero Dawn was the stand out game for me in 2017, I have yet to finish it, but damn it is pretty with Aloy as a fantastic protagonist. I find it very easy to get lost into the world and have spent many hours just wandering, and then running away as I accidentally wandered into a thunderjaw location! I was so excited about this game and had it pre-ordered from 2015, so was very happy that it wasn't a let down. 

E3 2017 brought about Life is Strange: Before the Storm, returning to Arcadia Bay was a much needed sense of faux nostalgia and Daughter became one of my most played artists in 2017! While the first two episodes I thoroughly enjoyed; I felt the story unravelled in episode 3 and became less about building on normal, yet interesting events, and tried to go for shock factor that just didn't go dark enough if that was the angle Deck Nine were going for. I won't say anything else to avoid spoilers, but it is well worth the play for any LiS fans. 

Finally I played a little bit of Witcher 3, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and Rise of the Tomb Raider (pretty sure I maybe dipped my toe in others, but can't remember for now!). Gaming in 2017 was very much as and when I could and became a means of escapism in the summer. However, very often I couldn't play for long and episodic or games I could dip in and out of became the ones I gravitated towards. In 2018, I can see this trend continuing, I'm looking forward to Vampyre, Detroit and Shadow of the Tomb Raider (if that comes out in 2018); however I am not actively buying new games in 2018; instead just looking back at what I already have or ones I have missed over the past few years. In particular, I want to dig my 3DS out again because I bloody love that system and yet I have barely touched it since Pokèmon: Sun annoyed me far too much with all the hand holding! To be honest, I could probably do with going back to that!

Life: 


Yeah, 2017 was a bit shitty. From global events that made you concerned to Twitter on a morning to atrocities that became local news. The bombing at the Ariana Grande concert became far too close to home, especially as I had planned to go the concert. I fell behind on my PhD with March/April/May becoming a time where I did the bare minimum just to move on to the next stage. I felt awful with my only solace being going to bed and dreaming up an alternative life. I nearly quit my PhD because I thought I couldn't do it, it was only the encouraging words from my family and friends and a fantastic meeting with my supervisor that convinced me that I could do it. I planned out the remainder of May/June and did what I needed to do. The end of year meal I had with my co-hort friends was such a memorable night because I had done it, we had done it. It is kind of bittersweet that in July my mum passed away after she had tried to push me on the months previous; despite being disabled and needing full time care. Summer and autumn became strange months, again I fell a bit behind where I wanted to be with my PhD and days just merged into one another and I returned to gaming as a way to cope with how I was feeling. With everything that happened in 2017, I wanted to give something to my dad, he always wanted to go to NASA, and my mum became too ill to go. He thought he'd never go and I was waiting until I graduated, but I checked my savings and thought. Fuck it. I booked a small break to Cape Canaveral with the intention to go to NASA for both of us. I gave it to him on his birthday and I feel as though it was the best thing we could have done during this time. I wanted to show that despite the dark times, there is always something to look forward to even if you don't know it yet. This is what I am taking forward into 2018.

Biggest shout out goes to Joe, my partner of now over nine years. I'm not even sure if he reads my blog (hi if you are here!) but he has truly been such an unconditional source of support, laughter and joy in 2017 that I could never pay him back. Thank you :)

Also to my best friend of 17 years, she definitely doesn't read this blog! However she has too been the friend I needed in 2017. Along with the con crew, I am honestly lucky to have these people and during bad times, I need to remember that I am not alone.

Films: 
 
Fact

Films have been pretty great in 2017, highlights include Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Bladerunner: 2049, Wonder Woman, Thor: Ragnarok and Atomic Blond. Thoroughly enjoyed the quality of female protagonists alongside pretty good stories all bathed in ultra violet. Love it. I didn't like Star Wars: The Last Jedi though, sorry!

Not a film, but honorable mention to Star Trek Discovery!

Books and comics: 
 
GOHD Books

I didn't get to read much in 2017, my heart just wasn't in it and it was hard enough to read academic stuff that I needed to read. So unless you wanted my favourite journal article of 2017 (fyi, it was Drake, 2002  "This place gives me space: place and creativity in the creative industries" - I'm sure you are thrilled to know that!). In total I read 7 books, most were just fluffy ones. However, the book I enjoyed the most in 2017 was actually a classic one, Venus in furs. I have meant to read this for a while and thoroughly enjoyed it one rainy November afternoon. If you are open to books involving sexuality, it is well worth a read and is fairly accessible for a classic novella. 

YouTube: 
 
Inthefrow

In 2017, YouTube continued to be my little space of niche programming and enjoyment. At times though, I did binge too much and I'm trying to not let that happen in 2018. What I watched in 2017 includes Inthefrow's vlog series, Fleur de Force's vlogs, Zonzonzombi's channel, Geography Now, Travellight, Where's Poppy, the ever brilliant Caddicarous, Cinza dubois, Pop Culture Detective and Kiera Rose. Shout out to Mango Sirene (now Fawnina) who moved on from being a content creator. I sure do miss her content but glad she is in a better place now :). 

Pateron:
 
Emily McGovern

The way I work Pateron is I funnel some of my Etsy earnings into supporting other creators. This means that I don't always have continued support for some people, I like to swap and change. However there are a few that I have stuck with all year, these are Kiera Rose, Emily's Cartoons and Sneaky Zebra. I did have Mango Sirene every month until she cancelled her Pateron early last year. Currently I also have Axcelleration cosplay for January onward.  

Blogging for 2018:
 
Pexels

As you can see, 2017 had fewer posts than 2016. This year I'm not going to set goals of one per week like I wanted. I'm not a full time blogger and I have plenty of other hobbies! So for 2018 I am aiming for 1-2 posts a month, I know, not a lot. But hopefully this should be achievable, hey here is the first one already!  

So that is 2017, pretty shit, but also lots of good moments too. Here is to 2018. I wish you the best of new years and hope that you too have something to look forward to, even if you don't know what that is yet. 

 
 
 

Keeping Up with the Geeks

Beamly
This weekend I have been to the cinema with the con crew to watch Thor: Ragnarok; a usual trip that happens a few times a year to watch the latest Marvel or DC offering. I have joked to my Dad (who has bought pretty much all the MCU films, but has yet to watch one) that keeping up with these films is a full time job in itself. I want to put this on my CV, I have kept up to date with the MCU.

But then there are all the TV series.

And the comics.

And then there is the new Netflix series that has just come out, the entire series released at once of course.

Oh and that new game is coming out next week.

You have two cosplays over there that need finishing.

And your favourite streamer is just about to start a stream.

I surely can't be the only person who feels overwhelmed by the sheer amount of geeky opportunities available to us in the modern day. Not a week goes by without something new coming out, or there is a recommendation for something. The problem with liking 'geeky' things, and I am using this term very loosely to describe items of interest, is that they often cross mediums and they often lead on to similar items of interest. Like many people, the Marvel films made me want to check out the comics and while I am certainly not what many would consider an avid reader, I do pick and choose volumes that I either buy or rent from my local library. I would have never have found out about Saga or Fables if I hadn't already been drawn to comics via the Thor films and Tomb Raider games.

However, as you can see here, one thing leads on to the next. As I am also interested in cosplay, sometimes I play a game and decide I want to make a costume from it. Therefore, I then need to balance the time between making a costume, playing the game and then keeping up with everything else. Lately, I have noticed that it is just so overwhelming keeping up with everything geeky that I end up not enjoying what is out there. It is hard to draw a line on interests and hobbies when they bleed and overlap into so many things. Geeky conversations have become those 'water cooler' moments and you don't want to see spoilers. So it becomes a rat race of consumption at an alarming rate.

This weekend I also realised that I have neglected other interests because I have been trying to keep up. I love reading, but I barely read these days unless it is for my PhD; so on Saturday I sat and read a full novella and it was wonderful. It wasn't a tie in book to a series and it is classified as classic literature exploring sexuality. Yet, even here I feel pressure when I go on YouTube and see all the booktubers and their rate of reading completing their Goodreads lists.

22 words
Everything just seems so competitive now. How many costumes you have made, how many series you have watched, how many episodes you can binge watch etc. I am slowly stepping away from it all. Of course, I will still do all that I enjoy, but I am trying not to put pressure on myself because it looks as though I am not keeping up with the rest of the geeky community. Those booktubers get through so many books because that is their main hobby; I can't even say what my main hobby is because I tend to dip my toe into multiple pools! So that Aloy cosplay that isn't finished yet? That's okay! I haven't even finished the game yet. And you know what, that is also okay.

So if you have reached this point of the mind vomit, well done! Perhaps you feel the same way I do! If you do, the best advice I can say is step back and take a break. It did me wonders. Right now I am trying to ration 'geeky' things and intermingle them with other things that I enjoy. I am trying to be more picky with things such as TV series so I get to spend the time with activities that I enjoy more such as watching films, YouTube and making costumes. I also have all these grandiose ideas that I want to start making YouTube videos, take up photography and try out burlesque from a performing side. I hardly have enough time as it is, so something has to give.

When I have tried a few things out, I'll probably write a more coherent article; until then I just wanted to project my feeling of trying to keep up with this community, hell multiple communities and fandoms, when really what we all should probably do is take a step back and take a long hard look at what we are spending our precious time on.

So if you have any tips, please post them below or tweet me @Lady_Scion

Until next time, look after yourselves and enjoy your hobbies. If something becomes an effort, just change it up. It is okay, in the grand scheme of things you are probably not missing much. 






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