October Faves 2016

October has been completely lame on the travel front for me. My big Australia adventure (3 weeks to go!) sucked up a lot of my annual leave so I’ve had to hold back on October fun a little. But don’t worry I’ve been real busy planning 2017’s adventures and already have 2 trips locked down. YAASSSS. But more on that another time.

Here’s the things that have kept me going in October, from travel-planning essentials to Halloween fun, obvs.

Marco Polo Australia Guides

So the other day I whipped out my old Australia travel guide from when I did my working holiday there back in 2011/12, but it seems a year of Aus travel, 5 years of age and 6 house moves have taken it’s toll. Yes I’ve actually moved house that many times in 5 years, no judgement.

But yeah, anyway. My old guide now has pages missing, pages stuck together and food stains, so I figured it was time for a new guide.

Enter my new Marco Polo Australia guide! I mean sure, I lived in Aus so I have some prior knowledge of the country but I really wanted to research the new destinations I’ll be visiting. So far my new guide has helped me plan my budget visit to the Blue Mountains, my tour of the Barossa Valley and given me a few ideas of what to do in Adelaide. Winner.

I’ve also been planning my route along the Great Ocean Road with a Marco Polo map. It has stickers and everything, guys.

Bobbi Brown Travel Exclusive

Yep, another travel exclusive beauty set ftw. This time, Bobbi Brown goodness. I’d never actually tried Bobbi Brown before so was really excited to open the pretty black packaging and immaculate tissue paper. I feel so fancy. This is actually the Smokey In Seconds set complete with eye shadow pen, kohl eyeliner pencil, mascara, pencil sharpener and mini bottle of make-up remover.

First can I say, I’m in love with the eye shadow pen. I don’t always wear eyeshadow but when I do, it takes me ages to layers different shades up to look smokey and then it inevitable gets built up in the creases of my eyelids and I look ridiculous. But this pen is SO good. It’s one colour but they grey shade looks cool and sultry without needing to add other shades. It’s really long-lasting and I wore it for a whole day without it get into those creases or coming off at all. I really like it.

I also thought it was cool to have a mini make-up remover in there. I’m a liquid make-up remover girl but when I go on a trip with hand luggage only, I normally switch to wipes. Just becuase it’s effort to decant it into a travel-sized bottle and you neverr use it all and have to pour it back when you get home. What can I say, I’m lazy AF. So a decent make-up remover in a miniture bottle is 485902% better in my book.

The other items in the Bobbi Brown Smokey In Seconds set are cool too, but these two are really top notch.

Halloween Treats

If you follow me on Twitter or Insta Stories, you’ll have seen my play by play of preparing for my big Halloween party last weekend. Including making and baking a whole bunch of spooky party food treats! A few of you asked me for recipes so here the are, folks.

Tombstone Brownies

These bad boys are always a total Halloween winner. My basic brownie recipe is off of BBC Good Food, then I add a thin layer of melted chocolate to the top, add crumbled up Oreos for the gravel, Nice biscuits for the tombstone with RIP written in melted chocolate, and a little candy decoration from the baking aisle in Morrisons. Job done, son.

Cheesy Breadstick Bones

These were surprisingly popular at my party and completely flew out. Cheesy nibbles really are the dream aren’t they? I followed this recipe from Just A Taste and served with this 10 minute marinara sauce. Score. I’m totally making these again.

Mummy Dogs

These are real easy, they’re just frankfurters covered in strips of shop-bought puff pastry and mustard eyes. But yum. I followed this recipe here by All Recipes UK.

I also made Monster Cupcakes that did not at all live up to the photos on Pinterest and Spider Pizza that was just frozen pizza with olives. You really don’t need those recipes in your life.

Autumnal Accessories

October = Autumn Accessories! Yay! That’s got to be the best part about Autumn right? Having an excuse to purchase a few solid items to get you through the season.

So this month I did just that and invested in a couple of pairs of flats from Primark that are season-appropriate and super cute. I love the black on black embroidery bad boys! I also got a snug scarf from Primark that I can wear with my leather jacket until it gets to be properly winter. Plus a gorge faux-suede bucket bag from New Look.

Autumn is officially my bitch.

TripIt App

I actually don’t think I’ve ever mentioned the TripIt app on here but I use it a lot when I plan DIY holidays. You know the kinds of trips where you pack in a lot of activities and hostels into a small amount of time? Then it’s essential to keep up with your itinerary. And the TripIt app helps you keep it all in one place.

When you get email confirmations for your flights / accommodation / tours / transfers / etc, you just forward it onto a TripIt email address and it automatically gets added to your itinerary! Super easy. It’s been a dream for me this month as I plan my Australia adventures! Did I mention it’s 3 weeks away??

Cheap Airport Parking

Okay the last of my travel-planning beauts I discovered this month is my airport parking. Yes I know it’s not the most glamorous of topics, but stay with me.

So I always book my parking through Holiday Extras, I just find it easy to compare all the options and when I’m travelling a lot every penny counts you know? Well hello, who knew you could save even more by going through vouchercloud? I didn’t and saved a BUNCH, so I figured I’d share the love.

Go crazy and book your airport parking, playa.

There you have it. The things I’ve been gushing about in October! Now roll on November’s Australia fun already (did I tell you it’s only 3 weeks to go?)

Are you a fan of any of these beauties? Let me know what you think in the comments below or tweet me @HeelsInBackpack!

Total Blogger Transparency: This post contains some complimentary press samples as well as some affiliate links, but I only ever feature products or services I believe in. I wouldn’t play you like that, shorty.