As you may have discovered from some of my recent posts about my trips to Paris and Santorini I consider myself quite the avid traveller. You may also have realised from some other posts (SS17 Fashion and The Yellow Coat of Dreams) I’m also a little bit addicted to purchasing clothes! These two hobbies of mine don’t always mesh well together – especially when it comes to packing! I honestly struggle to pack light – anyone else? The words ‘carry-on only’ leave me quaking in my boots and a cold sweat creeps onto my brow just thinking about how I’m going to fit all of my outfit options into one tiny suitcase! Just thinking about all of the accessories and travel must-haves that I need to include in my luggage too…argh it’s definitely one of my weaknesses!
Once the packing is done and holiday time begins there’s nothing I enjoy more than relaxing with a good book. I love that a well written story allows me to completely de-stress and forget about real life. Getting lost in another world, meeting new characters and forgetting all about your every-day worries is part of the joy of taking a well-earned break, even if only for a weekend! Sadly, adding a couple of chunky novels into my already busting at the seams suitcase can often be impossible! This is where the traveller’s best friend BookBeat is a saviour for me!
Launched in the UK this March, BookBeat is a digital streaming service that allows you to find and listen to audiobooks through an app on your phone or tablet. It’s the ideal travel companion because not only can you stream books via your data or wifi, you can also download audiobooks and save them to your library – a huge selling point for me! I tend to try and avoid large phone bills when returning home from a holiday and switch my data off when travelling abroad. Having the ability to choose a variety of titles beforehand and have them easily available on my mobile was super convenient. It allowed me to find time to relax and relish in a little ‘me-time’ at any opportune moment.
It was ideal that I was able to download and stream a choice of titles as I found I often had more than one audiobook on the go! During our four hour flight to Santorini I got stuck into ‘My Week with Marilyn’ (I had loved the film and anything relating to the blonde screen icon is a shoo-in for me), and when taking in the scenic vistas of Santorini the American drawl of the characters from ‘Hidden Figures’ was my company (again the film was amazing and I wanted to hear the true story behind these inspirational women). The light-hearted ‘Revenge Wears Prada’ suited the cheerful mood waiting for sunset in Oia and on the flight home ‘A Song of Fire and Ice’ eased me back into real life by building my anticipation for the return of the new series of Game of Thrones this summer. Much easier than trying to squeeze a total of 6,432 pages into my little hand luggage case!
There are so many titles to peruse on BookBeat that you really are spoilt for choice! I love that the audiobooks are placed into handy categories including a ‘Bestsellers’, ‘Featured’ and ‘Editor’s Picks’ selection. The app itself is so easy to navigate and you can also search by title or author if you have something specific in mind. With thousands of audiobooks available from the classics to new releases and children’s books there really are stories for everyone.
BookBeat is the perfect choice if you read on the daily commute, are a business traveller or like me simply enjoy sinking your teeth into a great story on a quick getaway or long holiday. For £14.90 a month you have access to as many audiobooks as you like! You’re free to listen whenever and wherever you want and there’s no limit on how many titles you can download. There’s also no commitment with BookBeat – you can cancel your subscription at any time and from one avid reader to another it’s definitely worth a try – you wont be disappointed!
BookBeat have offered readers of The Blonde Blog a free one month trial (usually only 2 weeks!) so head on over to www.bookbeat.com/uk/blogteam now to take advantage of this fabulous offer!
You can find BookBeat on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and join with the hashtag #bookbeat across social media.
When do you think you would use BookBeat to indulge in a little ‘me time’? Let me know in the comments!
The Blonde x
*I was given a subscription by the lovely folk at BookBeat as part of this post. All opinions are my own and I only feature products that are fitting and in keeping with the tone and content of my blog or Instagram page.