Jumping To The Beat Of West Yorkshire | MCard

Hey everyone!

How's your day going? How are you coping with the weather? Let me know down below!

Welcome to a brand new blog post! I thought that today, I would talk to you all about travelling to some of my favourite places within West Yorkshire, via the MCard.

Leeds has a plethora of amazing places, so it was hard to choose just one sort of place to focus on. Honestly, I could do a full week worth of blog posts on travelling across and through Leeds. Leeds has some amazing places such as the Hyde Park Picturehouse, Kirkstall Abbey, and, Royal Armouries, Tropical World, and, Carneige Stadium, just to name a few. I decided to travel to the centre of Leeds which contains amazing places such as Trinity Leeds which contains stores for all people and prices. Trinity Leeds is very well known for their stores including NYX Professional Makeup, Apple, Bubbleology, Charles Tyrwhitt and many more. It is also known for its amazing Trinity Kitchen which contains a plethora of different street food vendors in a open area. Trinity looks amazing and is noticeable straight away rom the Train Station, so it's easy to get to. Talking about stores, Leeds also has the amazing Victoria Leeds Shopping Centre's which include stores such as Harvey Nichols, which stocks high beauty brands including, Fenty Beauty and NARS. It also includes John Lewis and many well known designers for when you're wanting to shop for that someone special (which can always include yourself!)

There's even First Direct Arena for those who love to go to concerts and then for a meal after with friends, for those special occasions! For studying, there is Leeds Beckett University and University Of Leeds within moments of walking from the City Centre!

A restaurant within Victoria Quarter that I cant wait to try out and hopefully review when it comes to Leeds. 

Halifax is known for many things, but as I was travelling through, I thought that it would be best to stick to where I know, which is mainly the city centre, and, the train station. Halifax is known for having sort of vintage yet grand buildings. Halifax also has Victoria Theatre which is known for hosting great shows. This year, its even hosting Florence and The Machine for an intimate show.

Halifax has the old Halifax building as well. It also has Piece Hall, which is beautiful to look at. It's also beautiful to spend time and hang out with friends there. You can also grab some food and eat it outside whilst its nice. There are also a plethora of cute and niche stores within The Piece Hall for you to have a browse through. Whilst I was in Halifax, I decided to wander through the Yorkshire Soap Company, as they sell everything that is pampering and pleasing to the eye!

Bradford is on the up and rising, with places like Broadway and The Light Cinema popping up. Bradford also has some amazing places such as, City Hall, and, City Park to name a few. Bradford also haas a plethora of amazing restaurants and bars on North Parade. It also has an amazing Alhambra Theatre which is a stone throws away from other bars.

Bradford City Centre also has great educational establishments, such as Bradford College with their modern David Hockney Building, and, ties with the film industry, and University Of Bradford, which is known for being one of the best, when it comes to sciences within West Yorkshire.

I travelled to all three locations via Bus and Trains, but because it was all under one roof, I didnt have to worry about several tickets, remembering which ticket to pull out or to wait in those long queues at the train station for one ticket!

Do you travel a lot within West Yorkshire? Do you want to save yourself some money, and help the environment via not having so many bus/train tickets in your wallet? Then seriously consider the MCard as it will save you so much time, and, money!

Click here to find out more about the MCard.

Thanks for reading this trave based post! I hope that you come back next time for another post!

Thanks! 
Jamie x

This is a collaborative post with MCard. All views, opinions and ramblings are my own. 

Hopping On In Life | MCard

Hey everyone! 

Welcome to a brand new post. How are you? Doing fine? Relaxing? A bit stressed? (lLet me know down below). I thought that today, I would talk to you all about a brand new way to travel within West Yorkshire, via, the MCard.

MCard is the smart way to get about in West Yorkshire, getting you on the buses and trains you need.

The MCard is a smartcard that makes travelling on buses and trains across West Yorkshire really simple and great value too!. The Smartcard fits in your wallet.

All you need to do is load your MCard with the travel ticket that best suits your needs. That could be a bus only ticket, or perhaps a bus and rail ticket. Wherever you need to be, there'll be a travel product for you.

If you use buses and trains in West Yorkshire, a lot, within a week then it might be best for you to save more and invest in a MCard as it will help save you time at the train station/getting on buses and gives you. This ensures that you get one card that ensures that you pay the price for all in one go.

There are many different MCards, including the Under 16, 16-18, and, 19-25 Photocards. There is even an MCard for those who just use buses way more than trains. The Pink MCard is fully transferable too, so if you're staying in but your partner's heading out there's no need to buy more travel!

If you live and travel a lot within West Yorkshire then I think that the MCard would be perfect for you. If you do have one then why don't you tell me down below by including some photos of your favourite place within West Yorkshire?

Checl out the MCard here.

I hope that you ahve enjoyed this travel based post, and, I hope that you come back next time for another post!

Follow me on Social Media via thejamiesowden on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

Thanks for reading! 
Jamie x

Checking Time Ten Times | Travelling With Anxiety

Hey!

Welcome to another blog post! I thought that today I would talk to you guys about travelling whilst having anxiety. If you've read my blog for a good amount of time then you will know that I think that it's necessary to talk about mental health. My mental health hasn't been that great recently which is one of the reasons why I'm writing this post.

Anxiety can make the easiest things become difficult and complex. It can make going out of the house a struggle. It can make day to day activities difficult but most of all it can make meeting friends or going to different places very challenging.

A stock image of a rectangular long white train with a black rimmed window on black train tracks with grey gravel. All within a train station with a dome of glass with black beams going across it on a bright background.  

Making Plans: 

Before you even try to travel can be an absolute nightmare. Making plans can be troublesome and frankly very anxious. You have to ensure that it's somewhere you've been before so that you know where it is otherwise there's a good chance you might have an attack if you're like me who gets anxious if they don't know exactly where they are. There's also the fact that the meet up place might be packed which might trigger your sensory overload. Once you've sorted a place out then there is the whole thing of timing. You end up agreeing with whoever you're meeting which then you question if you're still meeting at that time ten times after confirming. If you're going to somewhere with a fixed time then you end up setting several alarms beforehand to ensure that you're up and ready way before that time.. The same normally goes for meeting someone.

Transport: 

I end up setting off an hour beforehand getting transport to travel because a billion things go through my mind like what if the bus is late? What if the train comes in early? What if there's really bad traffic? If I'm getting a train I double check that I'm on the right train and stop everything that I'm doing until the man has spoken via the tannoy to ensure that I know that I'm on the right train. I also sometimes count how many stops and when I'm meant to get in for. If I'm meeting someone at the station then I have an app on my phone to ensure that I know what train they're getting and when it's meant to come in so I know I don't have too long to awkwardly wait where we said that we would meet.

I know that all of this sounds stupid but it's just second knowledge for me to do this otherwise I know that at some point I'd probably have an attack and I'd feel embarrassed. I've had anxiety attacks in train stations before and it feels disastrous when train staff members have to try and calm me down.

I hope that this little rambly post has given you some insight on what goes down when I travel to places for things such as blogging events and meeting friends.

I hope that you have learnt something and hopefully enjoyed this blog post. I hope that you come back next time for another post!

Thanks for reading! 
Jamie x