Lily's Blog

Hi, I'm Lily. I enjoy going on adventures, saving the planet, eating good food and cuddling cute dogs.

[lilyalmeida]

Our Planet | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix

Share the wonder of the extraordinary place we call home. Utilizing the latest technology Our Planet was filmed entirely in Ultra High Definition in over 50 ...

I am so excited for this to come out. It’s going to be so fantastic...plus it’ll be on Netflix in 4K!

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Nutshell News

I think my Nutshell News will be a bit more environmental now! Tonnes of cool things I get to hear about everyday at work. Here’s just a few. Enjoy!

First photos of rare African black leopard captured

More lab-grown meat to fight climate change

Toxic black snow in Siberia

The end of the world

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My pledge to the planet

I’ve recently started a job at WWF and I’m absolutely loving it! It’s been my dream place to work since I was about 15 so I can’t believe I’m actually here! I’ve always been passionate about our planet but working here has definitely made me think more about my carbon footprint and how I can adjust my lifestyle to be more green.

In the last year, my meat intake has significantly reduced to roughly one meat meal every two weeks. I’ve increased my fish intake as a result of this though and I’m trying to find a solution. On the whole, fish is more sustainable than meat. Fish require less water (believe it or not) and they produce less greenhouse gases than cows, sheep and pigs. However, I’m still not happy with the fish I’m buying.

At the moment, I’m buying fish from Aldi/Lidl/Sainsbury’s and even though it’s been MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) certified, I’m still not entirely sure where it’s coming from. On top of this, most of my supermarket shopping comes in layers of plastic which I absolutely hate.

I’ve decided to make a pledge to the planet. I’m going to take on the project of changing my food lifestyle. I want to reduce my plastic use when it comes to food shopping and eat fish that I know is sustainably sourced.

I thought sharing all my findings, photos and recipes on my blog would be a nice way for me to track my progress. I’m currently looking at Odd Box as a place to source my vegetables – it’s a company that sells wonky fruit and vegetables that supermarkets won’t buy. It’s all organic and plastic-free! I’ve also been looking at Abel & Cole who supply tonnes of sustainable fish and veg that I can actually trace back to the source. It’s also much cheaper than I thought. I mean – it’s not the same price as Aldi but it’s not £6 for a slice of bread like I thought it would be!

WWF have also teamed up with Knorr to create “The Future 50 Foods” report. It’s a collection of diverse plant-based foods from around the world that are nutritious and will help save the planet. I read the whole report and felt inspired to track down some fresh seaweed and pumpkin flowers!

Watch this space – I’m off to save the planet 🌍💚

[lilyalmeida]

World Whale Day

Happy #WorldWhaleDay! I did a lot of coverage on this day at work and highlighted what WWF are doing with Sky Ocean Rescue to help protect whales in the Pelagos Sanctuary.

Take a look here - I built this website and wrote the content!

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2018 Review

What a year it has been. When I look back at 2018, most of it feels like a dream. It feels like my six months of travelling didn’t even happen. It was so incredible yet I still can’t believe that Shane and I actually did it! I think one of the words I would use to describe 2018 would be hindsight. It’s quite a funny word to use to describe a year. Hindsight - an understanding of a situation or event only after it has happened or developed.

Six months of travelling meant having a huge range of emotions. When I look back on it, I feel homesick. Homesick for places I didn’t really live. I can’t even look back at photos of Japan without feeling a physical pain inside me that makes me want to go back so bad. We lived in New Zealand for four months so I guess that makes sense that I can call it a home. But it’s such a strange feeling. To feel homesick for a place I never really felt part of.

I have a very funny story that probably best describes why I would sum up this year with the word hindsight. When I was in New Zealand, there were times when I was terribly homesick. I really wanted to go home and be with my family. I felt so faraway from London. I used to close my eyes really tight when I was doing normal things like brushing my teeth or eating breakfast and try to picture myself doing those things at home. Instead of eating breakfast in our apartment in Auckland, I would imagine myself sitting at my breakfast table at home. I would do it a lot but I’m not sure if it made me feel better.

Then after I returned home after six incredible months of adventures, I started to feel the same way but in reverse. I would sit at the breakfast table in my house that I so longed to be at when I was in Auckland and I would close my eyes tightly and imagine myself in our New Zealand apartment! It made no sense to me and it felt like I didn’t belong anywhere. It felt like I was always longing to be somewhere else and was never quite happy with where I was. That’s when I thought about hindsight and how it completely describes my situation.

It’s definitely given me a better perspective on life. When I’m having a tough time doing something, I know that in a few months when I’m no longer doing that thing, I’ll probably wish I was back in that situation! I look back at my six months travelling and still feel homesick, but I’m aware that it wasn’t all happy and exciting. I know I had hard times there and I don’t want to pretend that those times didn’t exist. It’s just a very strange feeling to feel homesick for somewhere you never really lived.

I didn’t think the next six months of the year would be eventful. I’d just been on an incredible adventure so nothing could be as exciting - especially as I would just be in London with no holidays planned. Well, I was very mistaken! Football nearly came home, we had a crazy heatwave, two of my cousins are now engaged and one has a baby on the way, I started a job at Cancer Research UK and had the most incredible time, I moved out and have a lovely flat with two wonderful people and I am about to start my dream job at WWF! That’s definitely 100 times more eventful than I thought July to December would be.

I think every year comes with lots of tears and lots of laughs - it just depends how much you do of each! For example, I think my 2018 was filled with both but I think I had more happiness than sadness which is good. But I don’t want to go into 2019 saying “I’ll try and have less sadness this year” because without the sadness, you wouldn’t have the happiness! Am I making any sense? I think the saying goes: Everybody wants happiness, nobody wants pain, but you can’t have a rainbow without a little rain.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2019 will be another wonderful adventure.

[lilyalmeida]

Nutshell News

A bit of delayed one this week. It might be best for me to post every Friday instead of Tuesday. I found some cool stuff this week. Enjoy!

Check your breasts with Alexa: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/new-technology-rapidly-improving-cancer-care-alexa-vanguard/

Sunscreen ban to protect coral reefs: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46046064

Baby penguin with two dads: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/newsbeat-45989813/baby-penguin-with-two-gay-dads-hatched-in-sydney

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Information is Beautiful

I’ve found an incredible website that displays the most beautiful data through visualizations, infographics, interactives &  information art. Here are some of my favourites - enjoy!

Women & Pockets

The Journey of Plastic

A Guide to Every Marvel Character

Good Dogs

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My first ever blog post on the Cancer Research UK website. I’m super excited to be working for such an incredible charity. I hope to be writing a lot more - watch this space!

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Nutshell News

Here are some articles that I thought were pretty cool over the last couple of weeks. I’m hoping to post weekly but it’s up to whether I remember or not. Enjoy!

Facebook unveils Portal video, a video chat that follows you around the room: https://portal.facebook.com/

A photographer has been travelling around the world and documenting what kids eat: https://www.buzzfeed.com/davirocha/what-kids-eat-around-the-world?bftw&utm_term=4ldqpfp#4ldqpfp 

Lab-grown human hearts are making drugs safer: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/organoid-chambers-novoheart

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🍝 - @lilyindiaeats

See Instagram ‘🍝’ highlights from Lily Almeida (@lilyindiaeats)

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🌍 - @lilyindia

See Instagram ‘🌍’ highlights from Lily Almeida (@lilyindia)

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A few snaps from San Diego

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Nutshell News

I’ve recently started a new job as a Social Media Intern and one of my daily tasks is to check the news. I know that sounds silly but working in social media means always being on top of the latest trends and finding out what’s going on in the big wide world. Reading the news everyday means I find out about some pretty cool stuff. I thought it might be nice to blog about what I’ve found.

My first Nutshell News post will be ecology/environment themed as ecology is my favourite topic! See below all the cool stuff I’ve found over the past few weeks. Enjoy!

Is this the future of meat? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45865403

Bacteria found 600 metres below Earth's surface: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06911-2?utm_source=twt_na&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=NGMTreshigh

The end of bananas as we know it: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/cavendish-banana-extinction-gene-editing

Same-sex mice have babies: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-45801043

[lilyalmeida]

Japan - Four Months Later

I’ve just been scrolling through my travel blog, reminiscing about all the adventures I’ve taken, when I realised that my cut off point was New Zealand. I didn’t even think to write about Japan! How could I forget to talk about my favourite place in the whole entire world? The place I still think about at least once a day. The place that makes me feel homesick even though I’ve never lived there. It’s crazy that I didn’t think to share my Japan experience, so I thought I would do it now. So here’s Japan – four months later…

Shane and I handed our passports over to the lady behind the check-in desk at the airport. She smiled sweetly and typed away at her keyboard. She looked up puzzled and said “Oh, I thought because you have British passports, you would be flying back to the UK?”. Shane and I looked at each other sadly. I responded to the lady with “I wish we were!”. She looked puzzled again but continued with her typing and we loaded our baggage onto the scale.

Having just finished our extensive five-month New Zealand trip, we were both very much ready to go home. New Zealand was amazing but after many bad hostels, annoying people and bed bug bites (yes really!) we just wanted to get on a direct flight home.

If only I knew my life was about to change forever…

Okay, I know that’s super cheesy and over-dramatic. But Japan did change me. We landed at Osaka airport and the first thing I saw was this:

Seeing this means nothing to most, but to me it was an excitement I couldn’t contain. Having spent my childhood playing Nintendo games and always having the latest Nintendo console (thanks Max) this really was a dream. Mario and friends greeting me at the airport?! Incredible.

We arrived at our hostel in the late afternoon. To us though, it didn’t seem like a hostel at all. It was the cleanest place I have ever seen. Lovely bathrooms that felt brand new and a comfy, spacious bed with a little window and blind. A pod hostel was something I wanted to do in Japan but something I was equally worried about because I’m slightly claustrophobic. I was surprised to find that our bed had lots of room and I didn’t once feel like the walls were closing in on me!

We spent the rest of the day exploring and never really stopped. As we were only in Japan for a short time, we packed our days full of bamboo forests, deer parks, temples, shrines, arcade games, eating, bullet trains and so much more!

I don’t know if I can pinpoint why I loved Japan so much. It could be because of the contrast between city life and peace. You can step off the busy road filled with rush hour traffic and businessmen into a sanctuary of calm known as temples and shrines. A wave of calm washes over you as you here the faint sound of bells and the strong smell of incense. It’s almost as if you’ve been transported to another world. But before you know it, you are back in the hustle and bustle of the city like it never happened. (Note: recurring metaphor that Japan was like a dream…because it really did feel like a dream!)

Another reason I instantly fell in love with Japan is because of my love for Studio Ghibli. For those of you who don’t know, Studio Ghibli is a production company who make animated Japanese films such as Spirited Away. The reason I enjoy these films is because, to me, it feels like I am in the film with the characters. I’m transported into the film with the characters and it feels so magical.

Now, think of your favourite film of all time. Then imagine you actually get to live in it. You get to see all the scenery, eat all the food and live alongside the characters. This is what Japan was like for me! It felt like I was living in every Studio Ghibli film ever made. I cannot describe how beautiful everything was and I could finally see where Studio Ghibli got all their inspiration from.

When people ask me what was my favourite part of the trip, I say in a heartbeat that it was Japan. Trying to describe it is almost impossible! So instead I just sum it up in one word – magical.

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✏️ - @lilydoodles

See Instagram ‘✏️’ highlights from Lily (@lilydoodles)

Check out my Instagram dedicated to my doodles! 

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Making friends in Nara Park.

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New Zealand in a Nut Shell

Auckland – Our favourite place in New Zealand which is quite an unpopular destination to many. Most travellers spend a few nights on Queen Street which isn’t a great place to be and then they embark on their adventures across NZ. Other New Zealanders tend to hate it because it’s the equivalent of London in England. If you’re not from there, you’re not too keen as it’s loud, stressful and unfriendly.

For Shane and I though, it was what we called home for four months. When coming back here after our trip around NZ was over, it was like coming home. Everything was so familiar to us there. After travelling for a month and constantly moving around, it was nice to be back somewhere where we had a routine and a life.

It’s a city we grew to love. We saw so much in the four months we lived here – always venturing out on weekends and finding the best places to eat. Our favourite was the short ferry ride to Waiheke Island which is home to some amazing vineyards. So amazing that we visited twice. Waiheke Island introduced me to red wine which I never would have touched before!

Paihia – The Bay of Islands is a lovely little place. We were lucky with the weather and the place we stayed had an incredible view that looked out onto the water. We booked onto a kayaking tour and it turned out to be just Shane and I with the tour guide so we had a great time. The town above Paihia is called Waitangi where The Treaty of Waitangi was signed. An interesting place to visit for some incredible NZ history. Shane and I really enjoyed following the history around NZ.

Cape Reinga – The Northernmost part of New Zealand. Again, we had a great day for it. You can look right out into the sea. It’s where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet and you can actually see where they join together! Both the currents are different so when they meet you can see lots of little waves forming – very cool.

Hot Water Beach – A great place for a quick stop but we stayed here for one night which we didn’t think was needed. This is where part of the beach has a very thin layer of the Earth’s crust beneath it so magma is close to the surface. If you dig in this area the water that emerges is hot! But it’s actually pretty dangerous because some places can have boiling water and they aren’t too fun to splash about in.

Waitomo – Home to some beautiful caves. We did a one hour cave tour here which was good fun but probably not somewhere you would go out of your way to see.

Rotorua – Maybe our second favourite place in New Zealand. There is so much sulphur in this area that it smells like rotten eggs most of the time! You do get used to it though – some areas are worse than others. Definitely not somewhere I would like to permanently live! We visited the natural hot springs here which were very relaxing as well as exploring the Redwood Forest which is home to hundreds of Californian Redwood trees. We also went to Rainbow Springs where we got to see some Kiwis and other New Zealand birds.

Taupo – Where Shane did his bungee jump. A lot cheaper to bungee here than Queenstown and also a very beautiful place. Not so beautiful that I would attach myself to some rope and jump off a cliff though…! Home to Lake Taupo which is the largest lake in New Zealand.

River Valley – A tiny place off the beaten track with no internet connection. We stayed in a cute lodge where we had just ourselves as company and of course lots of alcohol. Log fires and saunas; it was a nice break from the outside world!

Wellington – This is where Kiwi Experience slightly messed up our trip plan so we decided to stay a lot longer than we planned. We chose to stay ten days as it’s the capital city of New Zealand and we were excited to be in a city again!

Wellington is lovely. Filled with coffee shops and beer brewing bars, it really is a nice place to hang out. However, it reminded me more of Brighton than it did of London. It’s a pretty tiny place with not a lot to do. It’s also VERY windy and is nicknamed Windy Wellington. I was quite surprised that this is the capital city because it’s nothing like Auckland! I felt Auckland was more of the capital than here.

Ten days is definitely too much, especially because it rained most of the time we were here so there wasn’t too many things for us to do. The Te Papa Museum here is incredible though and definitely a must do.

Queenstown – Queenstown comes alongside Rotorua in our top favourites. We got a flight from Wellington to here which was incredible because you can see all the mountains as you are landing. When you step off the plane the mountains that surround you are so beautiful I don’t think my eyes fully adjusted to them. I definitely thought they looked fake. Pictures don’t do them justice.

It’s a cute ski town and I loved it. There’s a lovely park you can roam around in and the pretty lake which overlooks the mountains. We decided to walk up to the top instead of getting the gondola for $40. Shane thoroughly enjoyed it and a thoroughly hated it. Climbing up a hill with no path in the cold is definitely not my thing!

Invercargill – We arrived here late evening and left early morning so we didn’t really see much of this place. We headed to the cinema in the evening and had a little walk around the town though which looked pretty cute.

Milford Sound – An absolutely incredible trip. The views here are indescribable and again, the pictures don’t do it justice! Milford Sound is within the grounds of Fiordland National Park which is an amazing place to spend the day.

Dunedin – Similar to Invercargill, we arrived in the evening and left in the morning. This place is a student town as the university is here. It’s a beautiful place with old buildings. We would have liked to have stayed here an extra day.

Lake Tekapo – Apparently this place is in a rain shadow so they very rarely get rain here. However, this wasn’t the case for us because it poured for the whole time we were here! That didn’t stop us though. We headed straight to the hot water springs and relaxed in the hot pools whilst the rain poured down on us. We were only here for one night and didn’t really get to see any great views because of the rain and cloud cover.

Christchurch – We only really drove through here as we headed straight for the airport to catch our flight back to Auckland. It would have been nice to stay here for a couple of days but I think we were quite fed up with the cold weather and rain by this point! The airport was really nice though. The best one we’ve been to in New Zealand if you’re interested!

New Zealand has been fantastic. I cannot believe we have been here for so long. We will miss it very much – especially Auckland because we called it our home. Everyone has been so friendly. We have met some wonderful people and I will definitely miss my friends from work.

Onto the next adventure now! This is exhausting stuff. See you in Japan!