Ever since I can remember, I have always wanted to travel. Growing up in a big family, it was quite expensive to go on holiday and so I spent my whole life only ever travelling around my homeland, South Africa. However, these past holidays I was lucky enough to be able to travel with my family to Réunion Island. It was such an amazing experience and I just want to travel to more places to experience other cultures. So here I have listed the top places I want to visit before I die:

1. London, United Kingdom.

In my first year of high school, I met a girl who came from England. I became fascinated with her accent and whenever she spoke of her home. It intrigued me to find out more and although most people will tell you that they have been there or want to go there too, my heart is completely set on going to London. There is something about it. All the stories of the London Eye and Big Ben are incredible and I know i'll love it to bits but that's not the true reason I want to go. No, I want to go to London to experience the little things of the city. The sidewalks and pathways, the London trains - no matter how dirty and grubby, the amount of people talking in a British accent, the parks, the events, walking in the streets and the rain. I picture myself walking around and just admiring everything and I can't wait.

2. Paris, France.

I did french as a subject in the beginning of high school and through my church I have always been surrounded by french people. Something about how genuine and kind they are just draws me too them so a french place couldn't be omitted from this list. What better place than Paris. It's perfect because I am a hopeless romantic. I love the emotion that Paris has. Everyone I have ever spoken to about Paris say that it is the city of love. For a hopeless romantic, what's better? Of course I can't wait to step foot on the area that has the Eiffel Tower. It's completely cliché. BUT I'm completely okay with that because I like cliché, especially when it comes to things like love.

3. New York, United States.

Those of you who know me well will know how much I love shopping. I'm a girl who loves the city. The lights, the people, the vibe. Everyone is out and about, on some mission for the day. To me that sounds incredible. When ever I go out into the city, I love watching people and trying to figure out what they were doing that day. When I was a child, I remember my dad driving me through Durban city at night. There was so many lights and my little mind was going crazy. I want to experience the rush of having so much to look at again. That is why New York is on my list.

4. Sydney, Australia.

In South Africa, there is a risk with crime. You aren't able to safely walk around the street during the day let alone the night. My dad went to Australia as he won the trip. He came back and brought presents for us and told us all about it. He told me how he watched kids run around in the park at
10 o'clock at night. This blew me away. As a child, I wanted to be able to just take adventures everywhere but it wasn't safe. I want to go to Australia to experience a freedom like that.

5. Dublin, Ireland.

The grass is greener on the other side and Ireland has enough green to spare. Whenever I google Ireland I just get images of amazingly greenery with buildings which look like castles and everything is like it's a fantasy book in reality. I want to see what it is like to live life with castles and big buildings surrounding me, not to mention the amazing accents.

Let me know where you want to travel to. Also how many of these places have you travelled to or live in these places. I really want to hear about what I can expect from these places :)

Recently there has been a huge uproar about the findings of Homonaledi. For those of you who still don't know about it, you can find out more here before reading further. It is something that now challenges very old theories which have been taught for ages now. regardless of wether you believed the theories or not, I have noticed something which can open your mind.

I know this isn't typical of a 'Kayleigh's Blog' post but I thought it was very interesting. This theory of evolution has been something I never believed in and now this is a challenge to the beliefs of it. If i strip my thoughts about the situation to a bare minimum it would be the question of what else is out there.

Everyday people are discovering new and interesting things and species. Years back would not have a clue about the species we have discovered today, people wouldn't have known that the IOS 9 would be released let alone the first cell phone.

I like to think that there is still so so much to be discovered and the only thing stopping us right now is our imaginations. Sure we may not have advanced equipment to discover more (yet) but we can let our imaginations go wild in taking a few guesses at what will be found next.

Possibly a new way of travel will be discovered or a place on earth, not yet discovered. You could really get creative for example, when the first evidence of aliens will appear. You never know what the future holds or what pieces of the past are trapped in the future, waiting to be found.

To round it all up, what I'm asking is simply for you to let your imagination go wild and let me know what you think could be next. Give me your theory on whatever you like. I want to know what you guys feel and think about the wonderful world we live in.

What else is out there?

Wonder by R.J Palacio is basically about a boy named August 'Auggie' Pullman. When he was born, something was wrong with his face. It's difficult to explain but basically the cells in his face were a lot different to any other child. His face appeared very disorientated and strange thus he was homeschooled. The book begins when he first goes to school.

Throughout the novel, I felt a strong connection to Auggie as I wasn't accepted by my peers because I was "weird." I was often rejected and shunned for acting so differently. However I did eventually make a few friends. Although there weren't many of us, we were close. Some I'm still best friends with today. (You know who you are.)  In Wonder, Auggie is treated horribly because of his appearance. No one can cope with how he looks and so they just mock him for it. That is until he meets a girl.

The girl becomes Auggie's friend and she doesn't care what everyone else thinks. I can really relate to this because the girl who hung out with me didn't care and still doesn't care what anyone thinks. This really is an inspiration because when people were looking at me funny, I learnt to just shrug it off and carry on having fun.

Of course, every story needs it's villain who are many throughout the book but the main one is Julian. He is a judgemental kid just like everyone else and this is easy to see right from the beginning of the story. To me, the Julian in my life was the kids at my school who made comments about me and made me feel bad about myself.

The book tackled themes of isolation and rejection as well as bullying which I think everyone goes through at some stage in their life, wether it's a job you lose, a loss of someone or something or like in my case with people at school. The book had many good things to live by which help during these types.

R.J. Palacio has a beautiful way of writing that I just couldn't put the book down. After reading it, I just wanted to read more of R.J. Palacio's work. I am really excited to read more because she has a way with words which just makes you laugh and cry as well as feel like you're so angry you could punch something. It was such a wonderful read. (see what I did there, no, okay.)

To anyone looking to read a book that is both pleasure filled and helpful, then I highly recommend reading it because I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would definitely rate this book a 4/5, only because there were a few things I felt didn't need to be in the story but all round an incredible book.

Let me know in the comments if you have read this book and if so whether you enjoyed it or not. Also if you like my book reviews then you can follow my blog for more. :)

Hey guys,
I know it is sometimes very easy to get discouraged at times and struggle to find motivation to carry on with something you're doing. This can be anything from homework to showing up at work that day. Even just finding motivation to have a healthy breakfast in comparison to just having a bowl of cereal. Whatever it is, you wouldn't be doing it in the first place without motivation or inspiration. For me, my inspiration changes from time to time depending on what it involves.


Currently these are a few things that are inspiring me:

1.  a   c u p   o f   t e a
You should know by now but I am an extreme tea enthusiast so when I have a pile of work to complete, the first thing I do is grab a warm cup of tea. It's always good to approach a task feeling good and a cup of tea is what makes me happy. It will also relax and dissolve any stress I may be feeling. If you don't like tea then you could try some other drink that you love. However if that drink is coffee or any energy drink then I recommend you don't drink that because it will only make you more agitated. If you love tea too then I know this will work for you as it definitely works for me :)

2.  a   g o o d   b o o k
I have become completely obsessed with books. Since my bookcase is growing and growing I couldn't not include a book in this list. If I am feeling stressed about anything then the first thing I will do is grab a book and a cup of tea. I use this method to just forget about the stress and focus on someone else's story (ie. the character in the book.) It can be a little risky at times as I tend to read for a little longer than expected and forget about the thing I had to do altogether. However I still use this method to relax a bit. It helps me to focus a bit more. Reading a few chapters (and not half the book) helps me a lot and enables me to approach the task prepared. If your a heavy reader then I suggest you use this method with caution as you may not end up getting the task done... However if you're not a huge reader then a little light reading might help but if you're not into reading at all then any although relaxing activity should help as long as you don't spend too much time on it ;)

3.  f i l m i n g  
For those of you who don't know, I do like to film videos for YouTube. (If you'd like to see some of my videos or subscribe you can click here) I love to film because I can voice my opinion and have some fun. Having fun is very important to do. If I'm having fun then I feel like I can do anything and this is when I can be most productive. On days that I film, I end up getting the most work done out of the whole week. Even if I'm not filming, I'll edit and that also makes me happy because it's something I love doing. I love to make the video come to life. I like to start my day off by filming or editing and after that I have the rest of the day to work and it makes me feel so good while doing it all.

4.  t a k i n g   p h o t o s
Linked to the filming point above, photography is also something I absolutely love. Wether its me taking the photos or even looking through photos on Tumblr or Instagram (Links below.) In the picture above my mug is sitting on a coaster with the picture of Ibiza, San Antonio. I have never been there, nor had I even heard of it before I saw a picture of it and yet it sits under my mug everyday. This is because the beach is one of my favourite places and therefore I want to see it everyday. How does this relate? Well it's a picture of course. The picture makes me feel happy and thus I feel inspired :)

5. q u o t e s
Although this isn't in the photo, quotes can make me feel and see differently about tasks. It motivates me to get to work or to complete the task at hand. To find quotes, you can literally search anywhere. Google, Pinterest, We Heart it, etc. Sometimes we don't quite see how a task can impact your life in the future and a quote can be kept in your mind to keep you going. I like to stick a/some quote(s) a like very much in a frame on my desk so that whatever I'm doing I can just look up and see the quote(s).

So that's what is inspiring me currently and I hope I gave you a few ideas for how to get motivated. Leave a comment down below on which is your favourite method to get inspired, and if it's none of these then let me know how you get inspired. I'd love to know some more ways to get inspired. :)

Links mentioned:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA_RazEnzi9fi3v_r5m7vUw
Tumblr: http://kayleighlock.tumblr.com/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/kayleighlock
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/kayleighlock/