Well, mission accomplished. On August 14th, I hopped on a British Airways flight by myself to a destination I’d never heard of before in my life (not Spain obvs but Arenys de Mar – a Spanish fishing town with a name I embarrassingly still can’t pronounce properly). It was one of those Lastminute.com flight and hotel deals and I believed them when they said it was a family-friendly destination. In other words, I wouldn’t come across any lager louts on their stag do or naive uni grads committed to misdemeanors and poor life choices. Don’t they just love Spain!?

Anywho, second mission accomplished. I had a relaxing, enjoyable two-night stay for the most part at the beautiful, 4 star Sa Voga hotel. Sure, there was a lively, local village festival going on until like 1am  and I somehow managed to not get even a whiff of my beloved paella – but the beach delivered, the sangria flowed and I had a really happy birthday. That’s all I could ask for.

And here are a few lessons I learned from travelling solo:

• If you’re arriving late (like I did) to a foreign destination take the hit and pay for a proper taxi transfer from the airport. I organised this a day before, mind you, and while I hated how much I had to spend, it was better to be safe than sorry.
• Keep the friends and family aware of your movements via social media, at least. Trust me, I planned for my insta to be LIT this week.
• Pack light so you don’t have to check in your luggage and can breeze through the arrivals and get to where you need to be. It also makes it less obvious you’re travelling alone (no one – and by that I mean weird people who hang around airports – needs to know).

Check out pics from my trip below:

Have you been on holiday for your birthday? Or travelled solo? Let me know in the comments!

The post Birthdays abroad: a little city break to Arenys de Mar, Spain appeared first on The Cultural Exposé.

La Linea is nearly in London and every April,  the Latin music festival takes over various venues in central London to bring the best of contemporary Latin music to our city.

For those not hip to Latin music, the  festival presents the perfect opportunity to learn more about it. Brazilian singer-songwriter Ceu is definitely worth checking out, and as the biggest-selling Latin recording artist in the UK, her music combines dub, samba and electronic and she will soon be crossing over into more mainstream music so head to Koko to check her out.

Also the London Lucumi Choir sing songs from the living tradition of Santeria music (also known as Lucumi) brought to Cuba from West Africa. Playing at Rich Mix,  their performance also features a screening of “Matanzas: Growing into Music” exploring through music and dance the preservation and renovation of cultural traditions in Cuba today.

While London has a great selection of indie bands and urban nights, La Linea is a chance to inject some new music into your summer playlists. Visit www.comono.co.uk/la-linea for further info. (Words: Lucy Palmer)

The post Somewhere You Should Go… the London Latin Music Festival appeared first on The Cultural Exposé.