When in portugal

I have to say that after spending 10 nights in portugal, and a week in zante before that, england has never seemed so dull. After going on a 3 week tour of the west coast of america last year (you can read about it all in my 'Jenni goes stateside' blogpost series), I decided that I wouldn't be going on any more family holidays. But then I figured that 10 nights somewhere hot with all inclusive cocktails that I didn't need to pay for was hard to turn down. And me and my family all get on really well so we've had a really nice time. Since this is primarily a fashion blog, I'll do my holiday lookbook first and then get on to the exciting stuff. I won't ramble on like usual though - I'll let the photos speak for themselves and simply add the outfit details underneath. Starting with day outfits (all of which were taken with my selfie stick)...

Playsuit - River island

Mesh t-shirt - Missguided

Shorts - Missguided

Top - Missguided

Skirt - Missguided

Playsuit - New look

Top - Topshop

Shorts - Missguided

Top - Bershka

Shorts - Bershka

Top - Topshop

Shorts - Missguided

Playsuit - Missguided

Top - Missguided

Shorts - Primark

Top - River island

Shorts - Missguided

Kimono - New look

I also thought I'd include a selection of my favourite bikinis. In my own typical style, I obviously had to wear a different bikini every day (because I own so many that it'd be a shame to wear any twice) but I only photographed like half of them to show you.

From left to right, top to bottom; missguided, primark, matalan, river island, river island, new look.

The night outfits were my favourites to put together because I often think that on holiday you can wear things that you maybe wouldn't wear at home because they're too bright or just wouldn't look right worn in england. My absolute favourite outfit was the playsuit I wore on my last night.

Playsuit - Missguided

Sandals - New look

Bag - Matalan

Top - Missguided

Skirt - Missguided

Sandals - Public desire

Necklace - Accessorize

Playsuit - Forever 21

Sandals - New look

Playsuit - Missguided

Sandals - Public desire

Bag - New look

Top - Topshop

Skirt - New look

Sandals - New look

Jumpsuit - River island

Necklace - New look

Sandals - New look

Playsuit - Missguided

Sandals - New look

Bag - Matalan

Dress - New look

Sandals - New look

Necklace - New look

Top - River island

Shorts - Missguided

Sandals - Public Desire

Bag - New look

Playsuit (of dreams) - Missguided

Sandals - New look

Even though we were all inclusive, in typical middle-class fashion, we also ate out 5 times. I just think it's a shame to not go out and see the town you're staying in and try out some of the restaurants (which were all cheap), plus the hotel food can get boring if you eat there 3 meals a day. We had some seriously amazing food including the best almond tart I've ever had, ice cream cones bigger than my head (which is pretty difficult because I have a pretty big head) and steak that you cook on your own hot stone. We also sampled the local Portuguese drink, madronia (I think that's how you spell it), which is somewhere between schnapps and brandy and is honestly the foulest thing ever. When me and my dad downed our shots in one and my mum and brother refused to even order one, I reluctantly had to admit that I'm more like him than my mum. 

Even though my starsign (gemini) is an air sign, I've always been a water baby. Swimming is basically the only sport I enjoy, I've jumped off quite a few boats now and I've always loved any water sport I've tried such as parasailing or riding an inflatable sofa pulled by a speed boat. My dad and brother are the same; my mum is definitely not so we have to drag her on these things against her will. When your midway through doing an high-adrenaline water sport and you've got the wind in your hair and water spraying in your face, it makes me think of the paper towns quote; 'I can feel my heart beating in my chest' 'that's the way you should feel your whole life'. This holiday we did a banana boat, rented jet skis and then attempted fly boarding which is honestly the hardest thing I've ever done (especially for someone clumsy and not-very-well-balanced like me). I also didn't pick my swimwear for that very well because being propelled out of the ocean by water jets attached to your feet needs a sturdy swimsuit, which I didn't have, so I almost lost my bikini countless times in the 20 minutes I was fly boarding for and so anyone in a mile radius of alvor beach has now seen much more of me than I would've liked.

As well as the more adrenaline-junkie water sports, we also spent plenty of time playing on surf lilos, which are great for body boarding on waves. They're also great for keeping you out of the water because despite the fact that it was nearly 35 degrees on a lot of the days, it was crazy windy so the pool never got very warm and because Portugal is surrounded by the Atlantic ocean, the sea was even colder. I've had a really nice holiday though and even though my family can drive me insane, it was nice to spend some time together (and getting tanned and drinking cocktails is not a bad way to spend 10 days).