Travel Blog Posts
What would you leave behind, when you're no longer there....
Published: November 29th 2009Europe » Germany
November 18th 2009
Yes, I am incredibly lazy. Its been a while I know, and while I would like to say that I haven't really been anywhere or had time to write but the truth of the matter is, I am simply lazy! There is an art to packing lightly. An art that I believe I have mastered. After travelling through Ireland with my HUGE backpack I decided that I would no longer travel with that pack unless completely necessary and since then I have been taking less and less each time I boarded a plane for a trip away. When I went to Norway, all I took was my zip off day pack and a sleeping bag, on my recent trip to the Czech Republic and Germany I left the sleeping bag in England. Travelling like this makes ... read more
September 30th 2009
Not a lot of thought went into the planning of my last trip and when I punched in to Skyskanner my dates with the search criteria of London to ANYWHERE the computer responded with six quid tickets to Norway. You would think that with prices like that I would automatically want to book them but I was hesitant and I am not really that sure why. Possibly because I had given absolutely no thought into going to anywhere in Scandinavia and to be honest, had no real desire to. But after a couple of days of thinking and a short consultation to my trusty Lonely Planet I booked them. I didn't have long to learn about the country but found out two things that caught my attention. The first was that Norway is the home of ... read more
September 7th 2009
What is it about a massive food fight that is so appealing to Australians? Thinking about this question I try and think of why I wanted to go to La Tomatina and my mind draws blanks. Cause I was going to be in Spain about the same time, cause it sounded like a bit of a laugh, cause the thought of smashing other people with tomato sounded like fun? I am not sure why I went and am even more clueless as to why the accent that clearly outnumbered others was Australian but there I found myself, shoulder to shoulder with 15,000 other people waiting for the first sign of that red fruit. In my mind I pictured a large area where everyone stood around and waited for the trucks to drive around the outside of ... read more
August 24th 2009
I arrived in Pisa airport at 10:30 at night. The unexpected heat slapped me in the face the moment I left the airport. I was exhausted. Working with Andy the last seven weeks have tested me beyond anything I could have imagined. I have been pushed to point where I was forced to come face to face with my ugliest insecurities, seriously contemplated coming home but ultimately preserved. Italy is one place that I had to see and I hoped with all my heart that it was not going to disappoint. Sitting on the bus to Florence, I stared out into the black night, desperately searching for something as beautiful as the language that was being quietly spoken around me. A language that I didn't understand. Florence is a city drenched in culture. From the moment ... read more
July 3rd 2009
I purchased my ticket for Glastonbury last year when they were first available with no bands announced. That was over nine months ago… For the last month I have been working in a small town in England called Andover. As I mentioned previously the guy I am working for has locked in syndrome caused by a major stroke four years ago. For four years Andy has not been able to speak. For four years Andy has not been able to walk. For four years Andy has not been able to move. It has been the most challenging thing I have done in my life ever and living with someone who is difficult to communicate with can be quite isolating… It is hard to understand how isolating it must be for Andy and I try not to ... read more
The sun is in the sky, oh why, oh why would I want to be anywhere else...
Published: May 27th 2009Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London
May 27th 2009
If there was a city created just to delight me, it would be London. I have spent a fair bit of time there (and by a fair bit of time I am talking in relation to other cities I have visited) and I have to say that the amount of things to do there is unbelievable. Theatre, Art, Pubs, Music, Architecture. Its EVERYWHERE!!! My first few days I jumped on the big red double decker bus and headed into the area where everything is but is not called the city..... I have been told once or twice about that. The city is the central business area with skyscrapers and is no way associated to the area that has iconic landmarks such as Big Ben and the London Eye. Sorry!! Bloody hell. This area is really cool ... read more
May 9th 2009
For me, Vodka is a creepy drink. You know what I am talking about, everyone has one. You will have one or two and think, 'Oh yeah, this is alright'. So you have another couple and you still feel ok. So you keep going and before you know it, it hits you and...bang!....you are slurring your words and have a great old time. If Ireland was a drink, it would be vodka. The only difference being, after a week there I didn't spend an entire day in bed trying not to throw up! There are so many things that I now love about Ireland. I love the people. I love the stone streets. I love the colour of the cities. I love the way the flowers falling from the trees dance in the wind. I love ... read more
May 3rd 2009
Leprechauns? Whatever! I had high expectations of Ireland. Its reputation of beautiful green rolling hills that looked like a patchwork quilt and friendly outgoing people that talked really fast and danced like leprechauns had me excited. That, and the fact that I would be going to a land that I had a history with, somewhere where I came from, of course it was going to be grand! Perhaps it was these expectations, because it took less than 48 hours for me to wish I had never come. I had four hours to get from Heathrow to Stansted airport in London, surely more than enough time to catch my flight to Dublin! What I hadn’t accounted for when I booked my flights was my stupid visa. A visa that, as Mark pointed out, has given me ... read more
April 30th 2009
I didn’t want to go to Kenya. I had such an awesome time in Uganda and Rwanda and would have loved to stay there for longer. People told me that Kenya wasn’t as beautiful as Uganda or Rwanda and that the people there weren’t as nice. Driving past the border crossing I understood straight away what they were talking about. Unlike Uganda, Kenya was dry. Almost as soon as we drove in it was like the earth changed. Sweeping dusty plains replaced the lush hills and valleys that occupied the Ugandan landscape. The vibrant greens had been replaced with khaki and brown. The peoples faces were harsher somehow. They looked aggressive and displeased with the world. I definitely understood why people would think that about Kenya but I couldn’t agree with their analysis. The ground, though ... read more
April 27th 2009
If it is possible to fall in love with a country, I have fallen head over heels for Uganda. The scenery seduced me the moment I flew into Lake Victoria and my visit to Lake Bunyoni did nothing to help the cause. It was a clear day and we jumped aboard a huge wooden boat to make our way across the lake to visit a Pygmie village. The ride took about an hour and I kicked back, basking in the bright sunlight that had eluded me so far this trip. It was the most relaxed I had been so far and even learning about the island for the lepers, the last of which died in 2006, and the island for the banished unwed pregnant women didn’t deter me. We were told that the walk to the ... read more
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