Barcelona is a city which changes with every path that you tread, it's beautiful architecture combined with it's brash bustling walkways creates a city which contradicts itself at every turn, I want to share with you my Spanish adventure to the biggest city I've ever visited.

Our journey started in the Aspire Plus lounge at Newcastle Airport, for £37.49 you can relax in the adults only swish exclusive lounge which offers complimentary food as well as many famous spirits and 3 types of sparkling wine, I'm only ever interested in the Prosecco and knowing how much we would have payed for one single glass out in the departure lounge £37.49 didn't seem too much to pay to get the trip off to the most relaxed start.  The platters of cheese and olives and breads mean you step onto the plane having spent nothing extra on food and it means you don't have to worry about a plane sandwich, some of which are not for the feint of heart.  Harriet and I both agreed we would be quite happy to pay to start our holidays and long haul business trips off in such relaxing surroundings, airports can be such busy places, overwhelming at times and that's the beauty of Aspire Lounges, of course if you have a family then you can access the Aspire Lounge for just £22.99 with kids being catered for at £16.99 but the Aspire Plus lounge is a luxury for only adults and as a mum of teenagers, I can't even begin to tell you how lovely it is to get away to a cacophony free environment just for a while, no shouting or slamming doors, just bliss and sometimes the sound of silence.

After a journey of around 2.5 hours and a comedy transfer which took forever and could only be described as Faulty Towers does Spanish transfers we finally checked into the 4 star Derby hotel in the business district not far from the Avenue Diagonal which gets it's name from being the only diagonal route and one which runs through the entire length of the city of Barcelona cutting from east to west and at 11k in length it's one of the most important avenues in Barcelona.

The thing about arriving at your destination when it's dark is you can't really get a good feel of your surroundings so after a quick (cheap) dinner at a local Swiss (yes, Swiss!!) restaurant we collapsed into our beds.

We awoke to beautiful, glorious sunshine and stepping out of from the air conditioned hotel was like walking into a wall of heat, not to mention humidity, Barcelona weather hates my hair, remember Monica in Friends when she goes to the Bahamas?  Yep, that's me, old frizzy head, no amount of hair straightening made the slightest bit of difference, I'd go out swooshy and come back looking like one of Sister Sledge. I'd also like to mention that all of the images from my trip to Barcelona were shot with the Fuji X70, a staggeringly good compact camera, I first fell in love with the creamy, dreamy image quality of the X-Pro1 and to just take a compact which is at it's heart capable of producing professional quality images even my New York agency are happy with is beyond brilliant.  It is of course a compact, it's not a DSLR and that was noticeable to me in some conditions but honestly if you are wondering about which camera you should purchase for travel, the Fuji X70 is definitely my recommendation.

Our first stop on our journey of adventure was picking up a 2 day ticket for the bus turistic (around €40 but if you book online you can get 10% off), I always get the tourist buses in any cities I've not visited because it gives you a great overview of the place you're travelling to and I love that you can get on and off, beware though, tourist buses take time, there are faster routes available!  

We got off at Monjuic one of the two mountains Barcelona is nestled amongst, the other being Tibidabo, and we took a ride on the Telerific de Monjuic which takes you right up to the top of the mountain affording you glorious views of the whole of Barcelona, and even from that great height you can still spot the Sagrada de Familia.  Climbing back upon board after a wander around the castle we made our way to the famous Ramblas, I have to say that to me Ramblas felt unsafe, maybe because of all of the stories you hear but I found it to be too crowded, tacky and full of tourists, most sites advise that you go once in the day and once in the evening but honestly, of all of the things we did in Barcelona, Ramblas was the place I was least enamoured with.  It is what it is though and we made our way up the crowded street popping into the market for just a few moments, again we didn't stay too long as it was overcrowded, perhaps choosing to go out of season would provide time and space to amble throughout the alleys of the Mercat de la Boqueria, a market which is at it's heart a food market for the locals and tourists alike, the wealth of fresh fruits and sweets and spices create a heady aroma which is at times overpowering, like a lot of Barcelona, it's gaudy, it's in your face but if you don't like it, it makes no apologies.

At the bottom of La Ramblas is the Columbus monument, take a trip to the top in a lift (why haven't we thought of this in England I said, I have walked up far too many monuments, wanting to collapse after 300 step ascents, usually much to the amusement of my children) but again you should be aware that if you are not the biggest fan of enclosed spaces then the Columbus monument is not for you.  I however love the views from above, I always have, as I've mentioned before, cities are at their most magical when you look at them from above, as the bustling city becomes a colourful landscape of patchwork buildings and tiny trees it's great to take a moment away to just be, to stand at the highest points in cities is to truly live and breathe them.

I feel I could go on, I've so much to tell you, so many wonderful experiences from sunset at Mount Tibidabo to lunch at Pacha on the beach and to the absurdity of the Jamon museum and my new found wonder for the most tasty cones of Iberico Jamon but I'll leave this blog for now and you'll just have to join me on my continuing adventures through a city which at times is it's own antithesis, an oxymoron, a contradiction,  for there is nowhere else in the world that's quite like Barcelona.

Essential things for travelling in the UK

I'm just about to embark on the travel adventure that will be the remaining 58/69 cities of the UK for the UK Cityscapes project.

There are things I cannot live without when I am travelling for work, obviously if you are travelling overseas your list is going to differ significantly but here's my roundup of things I can't live without.

1. A great backpack, once upon a time I used to travel with cases but it's just so much easier to have a backpack so you can enjoy the cities as much as possible, I like to arrive in a city in the morning and may not check into a hotel until later in the day and who wants to lug about a case when you're trying to climb tall buildings.
2. Comfortable clothing, just get me to the Rohan website and lets adore all the practical but lovely things from this great british brand, I particularly love these Tunis trousers, they're linen but unlike regular linen you don't get unslightly creases in them, someone buy me a Rohan gift card quickly!
3. Shoes, now then, long time readers of this blog will know of my love for great shoes, especially Irregular Choice but large heels just won't cut it when you are walking over vale and hill unfortunately, I love these Merrell womens "Allout Rush"  from the Cotswold Clothing company and they''ll keep your toes comfy all day long.  If you want cute feet though then I recommend a pair of Mabel Shoes from comfy shoe company Hotter, I had a pair of Hotter last year and they were so comfy, even after shooting a wedding for 8 hours.
4. A Mophie pack is essential for me, it extends your iPhone battery by at least 8 hours, I have the space pack for my iPhone 5 and it gives me an extra 32gb of space as well as the spare battery power, because I social media on the go all of the time as well as speaking to business contacts I really need something to extend my battery power, finding Mophie really changed my life as with it being a case I no longer had to worry about plugging bits and pieces into the phone and then trying to cram it all in my tiny or non existent pockets.
5. A great light laptop or tablet now here's the thing, at the moment my current laptop is a Macbook Pro, I love being Mac, I've never been anything else since 2008 but it's quite a heavy machine and when you're carrying your worldly possessions around on your back it's going to be a bit of a killer although your chiropractor is going to love you!  So, my next purchase will be the iPad Mini with retina display, it was that or a Macbook Air but at this moment in time I can't justify that, I will in the future.  I'm sure there are other great lightweight laptops and tablets, if you have suggestions or you're a company who'd like me to review one for you do get in touch via email
6. A lightweight camera, well this one for me is a total no brainer, you just can't beat the lightweight Fuji X System, I have the X-Pro1 which is amazing but my next camera purchase will be the Fuji X-T1 and both cameras will sit really well next to each other, in addition I am also seeking to invest in the Fujifilm 18mm f2.0 lens, something a little wider than my current 35mm f1.4, I have a camera bag full of Canon gear which I must think about selling to fund it all.
7. A waterproof Parka, I got mine from Blacks, who also have a great selection of fashionable travel clothes which won't make you look old aged, I have to say that I still can't quite bring myself to buy a fleece but we'll see if that's still the case when I am travelling over autumn and winter.

So that's my essential travel items for travelling in the UK, I'd love to hear yours, do leave a comment either here or on my social media and if you are one of the companies mentioned here please do direct your media and pr requests to my email address mandy@mandycharltonphotography.com

Galsgow, City 7 of 69 (host city of the 2014 Commonwealth Games), UK Cityscapes Project by Mandy Charlton

First of all I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has shared the campaign page, read my blog post about why I'm doing this or made a contribution and claimed a perk!  This morning I've raised 21% of the total and campaigns who manage to get the first 20% are statistically more likely to reach their target, there's still 37 days to go and 79% to go though so keep sharing, helping, whatever you can, I'm determined I can do this now!

So lets get back to city number 7 of 69, the 2014 Commonwealth Games host Glasgow...

largest city in Scotland and 4th largest city in the UK with a population of over half a million people.  It's home to some of the most splendid museums and it's a place to go if you have kids because with the exception of the science museum they're all free!  Don't leave out the Science museum though as it's quite fantastic, we go every time we're in Glasgow because Abigail and Looby love it so much.

1 thing I've never managed to do in Glasgow is go up the Glasgow Tower which is unsurprising because since it was built in 2003 it's only worked for 20% of it's whole life, I suspect if I ever get up there I'll be rewarded with the most spectacular views of Glasgow ever though!

Glasgow of course has long been associated with Rennie Mackintosh, the designer, architect and artist was one of the most influential figures of Scotlands history.

Shall we get on to the photos?

The cityscapes aren't always the most picturesque things you've ever seen but they all make up the amazing city that is Glasgow

It's been lovely having my daughters along while they've been on their school holidays, I shall really miss them next week when I start doing the cities on my own.

sorry about the dodgy photograph of me, you can't really pack hair straighteners when you're carrying everything in a backpack, my neck is in enough pain without packing unnecessary products!

Cityscapes are everywhere in Glasgow because of the multiple hills it's built on, I would have liked to get higher up but I'm happy to wait until the Glasgow Tower re-opens this summer, I reckon it'll be a view worth waiting for.

The next city I'll be visiting is York, I know exactly where I'm going to capture the cityscape and there'll be lots of photos of the beauty of York too, I had intended to go today but the weather is appauling all over the UK today so I'm having another admin and planning day.

If you're a photographer popping your head in to read this post you may like to know that all of the images were taken with the Fuji X-Pro1 and the 35mm f1.4, it's the most amazing combination and the dynamic range alone is quite a special thing.  You may also like to know that all of these images were shot in Jpeg, the X-Pro1 makes it possible to never have to shoot in RAW again, how much editing?  Well all of the images have been through Lightroom, then Photoshop and then Lightroom again, it's quite a specific look and feel I have gone for and there's more information about why I've chosen to do that on the campaign page.

If you would like to contribute to the campaign in anyway possible the page is here and to email me about any of the images or anything about the project at all my email address is as ever mandy@mandycharltonphotography.com

Carlisle, City 4 of 69, The Uk Cityscape Project by Mandy Charlton

So far on this quest we've covered Newcastle, Durham and Liverpool and if you want to help or just find out more about the project you can view my crowd funding page HERE

On Wednesday my daughter Abigail and I climbed aboard a Northern Rail train for an amble through the pretty cumbrian countryside to one of my favourite smaller cities Carlisle

Carlisle has been a city since the middle ages and currently it's population is around 110, 000, it's the only city in Cumbria and being on the border of England and Scotland it's steeped in the history of the Border Reivers, something we Charltons are interested in as we were one of the main clans (even though my parentage is Scottish and I actually see myself as far more Scots than I do Border Reiver being that I came to be a Charlton by marriage.

Anyway, I digress, there are lots of things to do in Carlisle if you like history and between the Castle, the Cathedral and the Tullie House museum and art gallery there's bound to be something to keep the little people interested.

So of course my main quest was the all important cityscapes and here they are -

This is Bitts Park in Carlisle, I love that it's so green and full of trees and I'm sure many a happy afternoon could be spent with the kids, it even has it's own ice-rink.

This is probably the Cityscape which identifies Carlisle as Carlisle, because it's not a massively densely populated city, it's not quite so layered as other cities but the Cathedral is certainly a beautiful building.  

and so that was Carlisle, the beautiful Cumbrian town which takes around 45-60 minutes to reach by car or around an hour and a half on the train, a train leaves for Carlisle from Newcastle approximately once every hour and the trains are mostly run by Northern Rail, with a  family and friends rail card for myself and my daughter it cost just under £15.

All of the images on this blog were taken with the Fuji X-pro1 and the 35mm f1.4 lens, a truly fabulous combination

So onwards to city number 5, I spent all day in my office trying to fund raise and sending out corporate sponsorship requests and press releases and if you would like to help me in any way, you could even sponsor your own city!  You can either visit my crowd funding page or you can simply drop me an email, I would love to hear from you.