breeryan12

Hello All! Just touching base! I know most of you are plodding through winter at the moment, so sorry but I want to let you know it's been so nice here. It's currently Saturday afternoon, I've just been for a leisurely stroll around the streets of Islington (my new home!), in the sun - it's about 23ish degrees. Feeding my inner-hippy, just been to Planet Organic- an organic food and cafe supermarket, oh I could wander round and round in there for hours. I'm happy to be out of Tooting Broadway - it was a good start, but I never really felt comfortable there. It was ok but a bit rough around the edges and not a place where I could wander down the street and lunch at a cafe, not a 'relaxing' area. 2 months ... read more

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last update. To be honest I thought I’d wait until I had something to write about instead of talking about nothing. So much for dry July. I think it’s bound to fail when you work at a bar. Not that I was too serious about it, but was thinking it’d be nice to have a real break from the drink after the past 3 months. Working at the Grand Union has been pretty good so far. The crew are interesting characters – still getting to know everyone but they are fab. One of the supervisors Reno is serious but also a lot of fun, a couple of times a night he’ll be like ‘ok it’s time for a shot’ so we all line up and are on the ... read more

Hi All, Sometimes it’s hard being away from family and friends. Sadly it is today I learnt my Pa Ryan had passed away. He hadn’t been in good health for awhile and I send my love and thoughts back to Nana, Dad and the entire family. A dairy and later cattle farmer, Pa is the definition of hardworking. There are certain moments and experiences that continously help us put our lives in perspective. I think being away from home and having a family member pass away is one of those. It makes you think about why you are where you are and what you’re doing. Pa said, as I left his hospital room upon flying out of the country, ‘have good travels’. I have been, and will continue to. Thanks Pa. X I’d drafted the following ... read more

Hello from Lon-don! (imagine a cheesy English accent greeting you) I’m not sure how long I’ll keep blogging, I guess as long as people want to keep reading and it’s not totally boring you all to pieces. Then again, you can always choose not to read it! Will happily receive feedback ;) Following the past 2 months traveling around Europe I feel like I should perhaps do a reflection piece to wrap everything up. This entry isn’t that. It will require some thought. In the interim though, I’d like to make a couple of acknowledgements. Thanks must go to the people I’ve met, great companies I’ve travelled with, support from back home :), the fabulous countries and people of those countries for being so open and accommodating and patient with our poor foreign language skills! Also ... read more

Prague Getting into Prague was exciting, I had high expectations. The hostel we discover, has a great bar and funny bartenders so 3 of us (Teagan, Lee and I) decide to drink here the night instead of - shock.. horror- going out pubbing/clubbing with everyone else. There were a few others hanging around the bar from other tours and random travelers but we were the life of the party - if you could call it a party. Controlling the DJ station, we had a ball. The next day, us 3 amigos set out for some exploring and Prague doesn't disappoint, it's so beautiful, particularly on the St Charles bridge. It has so much character as well (the bridge) sketch artists & painters, musicians, jewellwry, craft, etc. Not to mention the view up and down the river. ... read more

Time to join the 'Eastern Wanderer - TopDeck Tour'! (just a heads up, this is a long entry ;) Rome I check out of the hostel and catch the metro and a hot and crammed bus to Camping Roma where I'm meeting up with a tour group the afternoon. I'm joining a group on day 13 of a larger Grand European Tour (by bus in case you were wondering). We stay in a range of accommodation - hotels, hostels and campsites. Let me explain that some of the campsites in Europe are quite well equipped facility-wise. For example, the sites we stay at have at least 1 pool, poolside bar, restaurant and a supermarket close by. And while there are campsites for campervans, we stay in cabins with self-equipped bathrooms. Not too shabby indeed. There are ... read more

Let me say straight away that the food tour of Rome was tasty and very filling. Well worth it. I'd seen the major sites of Rome back in 2009 so i decided to look for something a little different in the city this time. I went with a company called ' Eating Italy Food Tours' http://m.eatingitalyfoodtours.com/ The tour kicks off at 11am and I decide to walk to the starting point which takes me about 50 mins with the help of google maps. I stayed in a hostel near Termini station so could have quite easily jumped on the metro but I figure I should get in as much activity as I can given the potential amount and quality of food I could be consuming. This walk to the starting point casually takes me past the ... read more

Madrid The final night in Madrid was certainly cultural. Tara and I took 2 metro lines to what we thought was a matador parade. Turned out to be an actual bullfight in an old world stadium with winding concrete pews as seats. The show kicks off with 3 competitors on horses (a bio of each in the program - 1 is only aged 23) each taking individual turns with a bull for 10-15mins. They strike a bull with small spears about 6 times on horseback and trying to wear it out by enticing it to go at the horse they are riding. They are scored by officials sitting in the stadium for how well & fast they struck the bull and how fast it tired/surrendered. When it gets to this point the bull is killed and ... read more

We´ve passed the halfway point of the tour, time has seriously flown. Granada Granada has a Morrocon influence which is just so cool. They serve free tapas whenever you order a drink, so naturally after a guided walking tour we headed to a bar for sangria. Sangria cost 3.50 Euro a glass and included lunch. So much food. Fantastic. Love tapas. On a more serious note, on the tour of gothic-influenced cathedrals it was interesting to learn more about the prevalence of Catholicism and that Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II drove out other religions. So Mosques were converted into churches and for example jews had to convert, or leave or be killed. Gibraltor I think it´s just crazy that within Spain, the British Country of Gibraltor exists. Literally have to pay in pounds and ... read more

Ibiza. It is just what you think it is. A party island where the main attraction is clubs, the best DJs in the world and daytime beach partying. Driving along the highways there isn´t much to look at except the massive billboards advertising upcoming club nights and DJs. The flight from Barcelona was only 40mins - if that, where a beautiful coastline greeted us and it was hot. Walking down the street is like walking in a nice sauna, not too overpowering (for my liking anyway). The first priority was finding a beach, the nicest one close to us is a casual 20min stroll from our hotel (I posted a photo of it on facebook). Being a Sunday, there are lots of people and families, and naturally being Europe there are a few liberal beach goers ... read more