At home with Lou

If you are looking for a pregnancy massage here’s your lady guys
Christie H-j x

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A beautiful review following a relaxing hot stones facial from last week 💗

It doesn’t happen very often but i have a 6pm slot become available this evening for either an hours hot stones massage or a Reiki healing treatment
❤️

Day 9 of 10
Saturday 16th May
Kathmandu

Today was our last full day in Kathmandu, and Tropic had arranged a wonderful day out for us.

After meeting in reception and doing our usual “team ready to go” drill, we set off for the day. It was incredibly hot, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying every moment. We visited a beautiful temple, took in some fabulous sights, and immersed ourselves in the rich culture that surrounds Kathmandu.

One experience I had been particularly apprehensive about was witnessing a live cremation. The thought of it had turned my stomach beforehand, especially on such a hot day, but what I experienced was something far more spiritual and beautiful than I had imagined.

In Nepal, the cremation takes place on the day of death. The fire is traditionally lit by the eldest son, and once the cremation is complete, the ashes are swept into the river, where it is believed the soul continues its journey. On the opposite bank, families and loved ones gather, throwing flowers into the river to celebrate the lives of those who have been cremated that day. It was a deeply moving, peaceful, and spiritual experience to witness.

Afterwards, we enjoyed the most amazing meal at a rooftop restaurant overlooking countless temples. The views were breathtaking and gave us another opportunity to soak up the beauty of this incredible city.

We returned to the hotel for a short rest before heading out for our farewell dinner at the most stunning hotel. As with everything Tropic has organised throughout this trip, every detail was thoughtful and carefully considered. It is all the little extras that make you feel so valued and cared for.

When we arrived, we removed our shoes in reception, as we would be dining seated on floor-level chairs. It was such a charming and authentic experience, full of culture and character. Waiting for us were personalised menus and a six-course meal. The food was delicious and the evening thoroughly enjoyable. However, after spending the past week eating much smaller portions than we are used to, many of us found our appetites had shrunk considerably. As a result, despite how lovely the food was, we simply couldn’t manage to finish much of it.

I was lucky enough to be seated next to Sarah from UWS. It was lovely to spend some time getting to know her properly before saying goodbye. She has looked after us so well throughout this adventure and has been a huge part of making the trip so special.

Eventually, I crawled into bed at 1am and set my alarm for 3am. Ahead of us were two flights and a seven-hour layover, but that was tomorrow’s challenge.

As I lay there trying to sleep, I found myself reflecting on the last nine days. It has been an absolute ball from start to finish. The people I have shared this journey with have made it truly unforgettable. The friendships, experiences, laughter, and memories are things I will treasure forever.

Nepal Adventure – Day 8/10 Friday 15th May) yes two more days to go if your following x

I woke up in the horror house still in exactly the same position I’d gone to sleep in. I genuinely cannot believe I managed to get any sleep at all. Thank goodness for my Amitriptyline tablets because otherwise I think I’d have spent the entire night with one eye open.

I was still lying there with my hands crossed on my chest and my pyjama top pulled up over my mouth, just in case something decided it fancied crawling in during the night!

Breakfast was, wait for it… a fried egg sandwich.

Oh my life.

Thankfully, it was actually okay.

We had a short drive to the airport to catch our Buddha Air flight back to Kathmandu. I thought we’d already said all our goodbyes, but I wasn’t quite prepared for the emotions waiting for us at the airport.

The incredible ladies we’d spent time with came to wave us off and gifted us beautiful handmade brooches that they had made especially for us. It was such a thoughtful gesture and something I will treasure forever.

A special mention has to go to Bandana and to Sarah who looked after us throughout the trip. They were absolutely wonderful and I cannot thank them enough for everything they did for us.

On the flight I sat with the lovely Georgia Bartholomew - Tropic One of the unexpected highlights of this trip has been getting to know the head office team so much better. I loved our 1.2.1 time Georgia, SJ Tropic HQ and Carlton Tropic have been absolutely amazing throughout the whole experience. They went above and beyond to make sure we were safe, happy and looked after every step of the way.

It was lovely to have those little moments to get to know them outside of activities. having Georgia beside me on the flight home was just another reminder of how lucky we’ve been with the people around us.

They are genuinely beautiful people, and I feel like I’ve known them for years.

We’ve even made a little pact…

What happens in Nepal, stays in Nepal.🤣🤣🤣🤣 some conversations you guys just don’t need to hear 🙈

As we flew back, we were treated to another stunning view of Mount Everest. This time the flight actually left on time and before long we were back on the coach.

One thing our HQ team and UWS team absolutely nailed was the head count system. We checked, double checked and checked again every time we moved anywhere. There was no chance of losing anybody!except my roomie Lisa Lockyer needed an elbow now and again for her shout out 🤣

I hope you’ve all enjoyed watching those head count videos as much as we enjoyed doing them.

Arriving back at the Hyatt felt like returning to luxury.

The thought of that bed waiting for me was almost too much to handle.

I’d also gone four whole days without a proper coffee, which frankly should qualify me for some sort of award.

There was absolutely no way I was going to waste energy arguing over who got the shower first. I just wanted coffee.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t time for either.

We literally dumped our bags and headed straight back out because we only had a couple of hours to explore the town. We knew that if we stopped for showers first, we’d never make it back out again.

So off we went, still looking slightly questionable and smelling like nature .

We found the most beautiful little tea room where we enjoyed tea and cake, bought a few gifts and souvenirs, and I treated myself to a beautiful singing bowl. I also bought a Christmas bauble so I can remember my time in Nepal every year when I decorate the tree.

One of my favourite memories from our little shopping trip was spending time with my beautiful roomy, Lisa. Throughout this trip we’ve shared so much of our lives, our stories, our laughs and even the occasional emotional moment, and I know without a doubt that she is a friend I will have forever.💗

Whilst we were shopping, Lisa bought the most beautiful Buddha statue. After I told her about a beautiful little girl called Hope, who never made it to our earth but will always be remembered and forever hold a special place in our hearts, Lisa decided to name her Buddha “Hope.”🥰

From that moment on, Hope became part of our journey.

Every morning and every night we’d speak to Hope, checking in on her and making sure she was doing okay. It might sound a little silly, but it became one of those special little traditions that made us smile every single day. In a strange way, Hope travelled Nepal with us too.

I know that when Hope finally arrives home in Bournemouth, she’ll be exactly where she belongs. I have no doubt she’ll be watching over Lisa’s home and protecting everyone in it. I honestly can’t wait to see a picture of Hope settled into her forever home.

As if I’d ever forget any of these memories.

Eventually we made our way back to the hotel and finally…

THE SHOWER.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I think I washed my hair three times.

I sat on the shower floor with a cup of coffee and honestly, it felt better than winning the lottery.

After days of dust, travel and questionable accommodation, I finally felt human again.

Fresh, clean and happy.

That evening we got dressed up and headed out for a special meal organised by Tropic.

The food was incredible.

We sat outside in the warm evening air while a singer entertained us. Before long we were eating, singing, dancing and laughing all at the same time.

The atmosphere was amazing.electric ❤️

In fact, the restaurant didn’t want us to leave. They actually paid the singer extra to stay on longer because everyone was having such a good time.

The locals must have wondered what on earth was happening as twenty western women sang their hearts out and danced the night away. Several people were filming us, so there’s every chance we’ve gone viral again somewhere!

It was the perfect ending to a wonderful day.

The so-called hotel from the previous nights could finally be left behind us. Calling it a hotel still feels generous. “Hostel” might be closer to the truth.

But despite the accommodation, I was surrounded by the most incredible people and together we got through it.

Now there are only two sleeps left.

And two flights.

The countdown home has officially begun.

As I climbed into bed that night, feeling grateful, emotional and completely content, I found myself wishing the evening could have gone on just a little bit longer.

But sleep was calling.

Tomorrow brings another adventure.

I’m so sorry it’s taken me a long time to do my Day 7 post. I should have written this on Sunday, but every time I go to type it, I get emotional. I really miss the girls I met, the laughs we had, and just being there… living completely in the moment.

But here goes…

So this was Day 7
Thursday 14th May
our final day in the community.

And honestly, the night before was an absolute scream.

We were getting ready for bed when we realised the toilet the girls had been using was, in simple terms, broken. Bikram Bhattarai had told us not to use it because the caretaker had tried fixing it and couldn’t.

Now the three of us were living in the school, and I made it very clear that we had all been really careful with the toilet situation. None of us had been flushing wipes or paper, but obviously at some point people had. And to be fair, it’s just instinct, isn’t it?

Anyway, I went to lie down but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I just thought, “We’ve come all this way to help open a school and there’s a major toilet problem.”

So I said to the girls, “I’m going to try and clean the toilet.”

They were instantly shouting, “No, no, no, Lou!”

But off I went.

Armed with determination, wet wipes and a toilet brush, I wrapped wipes around the brush and started plunging. And plunging. And plunging.

After a good 20 minutes there was this almighty noise and suddenly…

The toilet cleared.

Honestly, I felt like I’d performed a miracle.

I stood back proudly thinking, “YES! At least there’s now an accessible toilet for the school.”

I started tidying up in there and then suddenly I heard this rumbling noise…

Oh my goodness me.

It all came back.

And it came OVER.

That’s all I’m saying. 💩 💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩

The empty wet wipe packet became my emergency face mask. I literally stuck the sticky flap over my nose and mouth because the smell was something I have never experienced before in my life. Every time I breathed out, the packet inflated. Every time I breathed in, it flattened against my face.I wish i had my phone with me well perhaps not

Honestly, horrific.

But there was tissue and mess everywhere, so once again armed with my toilet brush wrapped in wipes, I somehow managed to get everything into the bin and wash the rest down using the little shower hose in the toilet.

This took absolutely ages.

The girls kept shouting, “Is everything okay, Lou?”

And I kept shouting back, “Yep! Fine!”

Eventually, after washing down the walls, the floor and the toilet itself, I stood back feeling ridiculously proud because the toilet actually looked cleaner and brighter than when we first arrived.

Then I went to put the toilet seat down…

Yep.

Covered again.💩

Out came the shower hose.

I must have been in there over an hour.

But I was honestly so pleased because not only could we properly use the toilet now, we’d actually left it in a far better condition than we found it.

I proudly walked back after sanitising every inch of myself and announced:

“It’s done.”

The girls’ faces absolutely killed me.

Then I started laughing and said, “There’s a clean toilet now, but I’ll probably die tonight from all the germs I’ve picked up.”

The girls were hysterical.

They were saying, “We need to get back to the five-star hotel! We cannot be dealing with a dead body, Lou!”

Honestly, they’d already started discussing which toiletries they were keeping from my bag and I wasn’t even cold yet.

I said, “If I die tonight, I want a giant gold poo above the toilet with a plaque saying: Rest in Peace, Mama Lou.”

We absolutely could not stop laughing.

Then they started discussing what they were going to do with my body as if I wasn’t even there. Apparently transporting me home would be “too much hassle,” so they’d just leave me at the school and burn me there.

I was like, “JEEZ, girls!”
Helen Barry Clare Adair

And apparently my family would simply be told I “died doing a good job.”

I said, “What about everything else I’ve conquered this week?!”

“Nope,” they said. “This tops it all.”

It took us ages to get to sleep because we were laughing so much.

The next morning I woke up to the girls whispering, “Is Lou okay?”

Honestly, if I could have held my breath long enough I’d have let them think I was dead for a bit longer… but I couldn’t help myself and just went:

“Morning!”

Me, Claire and Helen had some of the biggest belly laughs I’ve ever had in my life and I genuinely miss them so much.

Looking back at the photos now just makes me smile and cry all at once.

But it was hard.

We went up for breakfast and honestly I just wasn’t feeling it that morning. I just had an electrolyte drink and I genuinely think electrolytes are what kept me going all week. I really struggled with the food. I’m secretly hoping for a huge weight loss because I honestly just haven’t been hungry. I think because I knew there wasn’t much there. It really shows how strong your mind can be.

Saying goodbye was incredibly emotional.

The whole community seemed sad. The children were walking to school with little half smiles because they knew we were leaving.

These people have so little, but they gave us the most heartfelt farewell imaginable. Everybody waving us goodbye.

Then three little girls came up to me and each grabbed hold of one of my fingers.

Honestly, I thought I was never getting my fingers back.

When I looked down at their faces, they just looked so sad.

It completely broke my heart saying goodbye whilst also knowing how much good we had done there.

Leaving the school was so emotional, but the feeling of what we had achieved there was even greater.

The journey back was really difficult because it had rained overnight. The roads were awful and the trucks definitely were not on our side. We got stuck a few times and some of the drops at the side of the roads were terrifying.

But we had the most amazing driver and I honestly felt safe with him the whole time.

It was a five-hour drive back to Tumlingtar and to our “hotel.”

Hotel, I say…

Well, that’s another story entirely.

All I wanted was a lovely hot shower because we were apparently staying somewhere with “Resort” in the name. I’d packed a nice beach dress and my swimming costume thinking we’d finally relax around a pool.

Wow.

The pool did not exist.

There were two diving boards… but no water.

In fact, there wasn’t even a pool.

How it could call itself a resort I honestly do not know.

The doors had padlocks on the outside and huge locks on the inside that had to be pushed right up to the ceiling. Our room was full of lizards and cockroaches. One of the window panes was smashed and when I mentioned it, the man came in with sellotape to patch it up.🙈

Honestly, I thought Jeremy Beadle was going to jump out at any minute.

It was awful.

We could hear the other girls saying their beds were wet, so we pressed our hands onto ours and when we lifted them off there were literally handprints left behind.

Thank goodness we were all laughing because honestly it was unforgettable.

So Lisa and i my lovely roomie, who I’ll talk about properly at the end of this journey Lisa Lockyer decided there was absolutely no chance we were sleeping separately.

I just said, “I’m sleeping with you tonight whether you like it or not.”

Thankfully, she didn’t argue.

So there we were in our big fleece Christmas pyjamas, sleeping on top of the duvets with our clean towels underneath us because we hadn’t even used them in the community. Arms folded across our chests like vampires, not moving all night.

I just kept saying, “Get me back to the jungle!”

Honestly, the community stay was far better than this so-called hotel. I wouldn’t even give it one star.

But despite the accommodation, the evening itself was lovely. We all sat together sharing our stories from the week. There were tears, laughter and lots of emotion.

Of course emotional Lou went last because I absolutely hate speaking out loud when I’m emotional.

I completely waffled and never really managed to say everything I wanted to say.

I was asked to sum up the whole experience and in the end I just said one word:

Powerful.

And that word will stay with me for a very long time.

It was powerful in so many different ways.

I’m so glad I did it.
I’m so glad I experienced every single part of it.

But my oh my…

What a journey.

And I hope you enjoy the photos of our hotel / hostel / possible Jeremy Beadle prank set.

just a few days left of my journey to go
love lou x

Day 5 – Tuesday 12th May

I actually woke up still with my hand over my mouth, but I had managed a few hours’ sleep and it really wasn’t too bad. We were awake early because it was so light outside, but we could hear nothing except peace and stillness in the mountains. Standing there, looking out at where we were, was a real wow moment.

We started the day with a “trucker’s wash” using our beautiful bamboo flannel wipes and bottled water for our cleansing routine. It just proves that wherever you are, you can still do your cleanser, toner, serum, moisturiser and SPF. We got dressed, packed all our beds away because the room was going to be used as a classroom, and I’m definitely getting better at this packing and unpacking malarkey!

We then headed up to the community area, trekking uphill to meet the others for a morning walk. The views were absolutely stunning and the air was so clear. There were so many beautiful “in the moment” moments, and it was lovely not having internet on my phone. For once, my phone was simply for photographs, and I actually felt present.

I still cannot believe that the school only cost £70,000 to build. We raised £50,000 of that from just one Glambassadors event last September in Birmingham, which I attended with my beautiful team. That was also where I found out I’d be coming on this amazing trip. The money raised came from raffles, donations, team tables for the new products and other fundraising throughout the day. The remaining £20,000 came from Tropic and our loyal customers shopping with us. What an incredible company and what an incredible community of ambassadors we have.

Breakfast was served with so much love. Everyone here simply cannot do enough for us. I was very glad I’d packed ginger biscuits and hydration tablets because I didn’t eat much the night before and didn’t really fancy much this morning either. I’m just trying to be careful with my tummy, so if I eat lightly for the next few days and come home with a little weight loss, then so be it!

After breakfast, we headed back to the school for the grand opening. All the local families came and there was such a huge turnout, including the mayor and deputy mayor. We were welcomed with flowers, dancing and music. Carlton, our Tropic MD, gave the most heartfelt speech filled with love and passion. It was such an emotional day, but also incredibly rewarding.

The opening of the school is honestly so hard to put into words. It was just amazing. Being here and seeing firsthand what every Tropic purchase actually helps achieve has completely changed my perspective. Selling the cleanser now will feel so different because I truly understand the impact behind every single purchase. This whole experience has genuinely been life changing.

Tonight we have a new roomy joining us and I cannot wait. Last night ended in complete belly laughs with Claire and lisa We brushed our teeth with bottled water at the children’s handwashing area in the community, but honestly, I’m just grateful there’s a toilet! Lisa has gone to experience a homestay, but I genuinely don’t feel like I’ve missed out. I’ve seen how people live here and I’m very happy with my two little bears, clare and helen.

This evening the community got together with us singing and dancing they sure know how to party.

It took us ages to get to sleep because we couldn’t stop laughing. I honestly can’t remember the last time I laughed that much.

So it’s over and out for Day 5. Tomorrow we’ll be spending time with the children and I’m really looking forward to it. Yesterday they seemed very timid walking past us, but many of them have never seen Westerners before, except briefly when the UWS staff visit. I’m hoping that after tomorrow they’ll feel much more relaxed around us.

Here’s to another day