Travel | footstepping..

Hogmanay and back to London with a weekend trip to Europe in the mix..

I returned to London just before New Year’s 2011 and headed straight up to Edinburgh to bring in the New Year with the Hogmanay Festival.

I was with a group of friends and we hired an apartment in Grassmarket Square which is pretty central and not far from Princes Street Gardens. We had a few cook ups and roasts and joined in the festivities of the Hogmanay Festival which included artists such as Mark Ronson, The Vaccines and Bombay Bicycle Club etc.

Fireworks over Edinburgh's Castle for New Year's — Fireworks over Edinburgh’s Castle for New Year’s

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Croissants, chocolate and cheese..

It was December and so I boarded the Eurostar from St Pancras bound for Paris . It was so simple, a simple show of the passport, sit down in your seat and you were off to another country, via train, underwater.

As my mate had been to Paris before, I went off and did the free-walking tour while I waited for her to arrive (she was coming by plane from Edinburgh). The Sandeman’s free walking tour was great and went past a few of the major sites, Notre Dame, down Champs-Elysees with the Arc De Triomphe in the distance, past the various museums and through the arch at the Louvre. This was a perfect way to get my bearings around the city and learn some history all for free (funding based on tip at the end).

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My first few months in the United Kingdom..

I arrived in London with no plans. However, I was lucky enough that my cousin, Tarlia, had also just arrived and had kindly booked me into a hostel with her for a couple of nights.

For about a week I hostel-hopped whilst checking out some housing options and setting up my bank account. I was having no luck with the house search (via houseshare.co.uk and gumtree.co.uk) until one of the girls (Aussie) I met on the tour (through Portugal and Spain) got in contact with me and said I could crash at her place until I found somewhere. This proved perfect as Chloe was actually leaving London and moving back to Australia, so after a week dossing on her couch she told me I could take over her room and it was only £380 a month including bills!!! I had somewhere to live!

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First stop, Europe and a little Africa..!!

Goodbyes are never easy and I had my family there to bid me farewell, I had a two-year visa but no real idea of when I would be back.

After a mammoth flight, I landed in Lisbon, Portugal (Adelaide-Melbourne-Hong Kong-Istanbul-Lisbon). It was a solid 25 hours on a plane.

I was doing a ‘Top Deck’ through Spain and Portugal for two weeks as a ‘welcome to Europe’ for myself.

What I saw of Portugal was beautiful. We went from Lisbon to Porto which was stunning. A boat ride down the Douro River was ideal and a great way to see the sights.

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A day of wandering in Singapore..

I had a full day in Singapore on my way home from India and wow could you notice the difference. Coming from India to one of the world’s most ‘cleanest’ cities was a bit of a shock for me, I missed the chaos of India already.

Singapore was nice for a day – I walked around, a lot, and noticed pretty much all the shops were the same just in different shopping complexes. I did go on the Singapore Flyer which gave me a good view of the city and ate some yummy food. Continue reading “A day of wandering in Singapore..”

My first trip alone, but I was never alone..

For my 21^st birthday I decided to go to India but I could not tell you why India. I don’t know myself but it proved life changing and I still hold India close to my heart.

As it was my first overseas trip going ‘solo’, I booked a ‘basix’ tour with Intrepid Travel. Because it was ‘basix’ it meant all our means of transport was by the local transport, no air conditioned buses. Amazing. This was a highlight and made for some of my favourite memories. We travelled by cycle rickshaw, motor rickshaw, local buses, trains, overnight trains and a few taxis.

I flew into Delhi and had a couple of days before my tour started. I was alone and in India. I finally got the courage to leave my hotel room on the first day to change some money and head to Connaught Place. Continue reading “My first trip alone, but I was never alone..”

A trip away with friends ..

We were 20 years old so it seemed about right to book a trip overseas. I went back to Bali with my (then) boyfriend and a few friends. It’s such an easy place to go overseas from Australia.

Again, the smell and humidity hit me as soon as I stepped out of the airport – I knew I was back.

We stayed at The Losari Hotel & Villas in Kuta which is off of Jl. Padma. The Losari was a good distance away from the hustle and bustle but still walking distance as it was on the border of the, much quieter, Legian. This hotel suited us just fine, it had a small pool, which we didn’t really spend much time in as we were out at the beaches most of the time, and a yummy breakfast.

As is standard in Bali, we hired scooters. Doing this opened up a whole range of possibilities and each day we zoomed around from surf beach to surf beach. Each scooter carried two of us with the surfboards strapped to the side of the scooter.

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A family affair in Indonesia..

As majority of Australians do, we went to Bali. It was me, my parents and my younger brother and sister (8 and 6 years old at the time). I was about 12 years old and for our first trip ‘overseas’ as a family. It was 2002, the year of the Bali Bombings.

The first impressions of a foreign country still sit with me – the smell as soon as you stepped outside of the airport hit you straight in the face. I can still smell the mixture of stale sweat and hot air.

We stayed at The Jayakarta Hotel which (as kids, we made note of this) had about five different pools – paradise! The hotel was opposite Legian beach where as soon as you step out of the hotel you get the calls from the local Balinese selling their goods from the beach.

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Where have I actually been??

Hello hello!

Just a teaser of the continents and the incredible countries that I have visited and will be writing about – hopefully have the first couple of countries (from 2010 and the start of 2011) ready to post soon..

Africa

Botswana

Egypt

Ethiopia

Kenya

Malawi

Morocco

Namibia

South Africa

Tanzania

Uganda

Zambia

Zimbabwe Continue reading “Where have I actually been??”