halabaloo

Roughin' it up with Hotel Ronda, a tent & beaches In late May Amber, Brittany and I decided to rent a car (AKA Hotel Ronda) in Granada and drive and around Portugal - a country we had all longed to explore. We agreed to spend our money on the car rental (and other associated costs) and therefore not spend any money on accom, since we were all travelling on tight budgets. That's where the tent and beaches come in ... and a bit of couchsurfing (first time for the three of us!). We also decided to open up our trip to others who may have wanted to share the car costs. The night before leaving Granada we had a special offer from a young (21yr old) Polish guy (hippy). This wonderful young soul, who had hitch-hiked ... read more

another new connection and another place I can call “home” =) GRANADA will forever be one of my fave cities in the world. When I first arrived I was feeling so overwhelmed by everything. For some reason I wasn’t feeling strong or that courageous. I kept wondering why I like to challenge myself so much! Trying to live in a new city, in a new country, where I knew no one, didn’t speak the language and had to teach English to get by. I had to find a place to live and some good connections to keep me sane. In some ways it started well, meeting Tommy and Kate through Rachel and Ananth and finding a place to live on the second day after my arrival! I also managed to make my own friends by going ... read more

El Maghreb This trip was so cool for so many reasons! - It gave me the opportunity to land on the continent of Africa, thus covering all continents in my travels (apart from Antartica); - It was the first time I organise to meet up with someone that I had met while travelling - I planned this trip with Yau who I had met in 2010 while travelling in Turkey and whom I had stayed in touch with; - I finally got to see Morocco, a country I had always been intrigued about and a country which joined my list of 3 places that really exceeded my expectations in terms of natural beauty, kindness of the people, good food and general great place for travel :) I booked a flight with Qatar Airways from Beirut to ... read more

PRAHA When I went to France in July of 2010 to meet up with friends from Melbourne who happened to be travelling & living in Europe, I made a rough plan with Kerry & Marty to visit them in Praha (where they would live for six months). As time went by and I ended up in Lebanon, thanks to the facilitated conversations via Hotmail, it was decided that Angela (living in London at the time) and I would meet the couple in Praha, stay with them for a few days and then head back to London together :) and there you have it! a bit of planning, booking of some flights and off I went from Beirut to Prague*via London* - a convenient flight offered by Czech Airlines and with some help from Easyjet for the ... read more

WARNING: I SPENT 5MTHS IN LEBANON... SO THIS IS GOING TO BE A LOOOOOOONG ENTRY! reflections from the airplane ride - Istanbul to Beirut - 3 Sept '10 I'm on a flight to Beirut, 7mths after leaving Australia and for the first time in my life I don't feel at all "Lebanese" I've never really been sure about my identity - as most people know - but I'm definitely Australian enough and I've always felt somewhat certain about my 'Lebanese-ness'. Going to Lebanon has always felt like a return 'home' ... until now. Sitting on the plane, I realised that I dont look Lebanese, don't dress like one who lives in Lebanon, dont sound like one - in fact, most of the Lebanese citizens on my plane were annoying me with their fancy, extended accents - ... read more

Its kinda funny that straight from Greece I went to Turkey.. :p but what an experience!!!! Turkey has been one of my fave countries so far (along w Japan and now - in hindsight - Morocco, in terms of surprising me with how much I like them, how friendly the people are, how good the food is and how beautiful they are as countries). They are definitely all places I would go back to and strongly recommend to everyone!! Turkey is the hub of world history (or at least one of them) … Any Greek reading this may resent such a statement, since Greek history is so influential on the modern Western World... this Greek history, along with other histories (most fascinating of which is the Persian Empire) can be found in modern-day Turkey... or as ... read more

... so after taking the flight from Toulouse to Athens and arriving at some ungodly hour, I still had to take a bus to the Central Bus Station and then catch another bus to Thessaloniki!! uffaaa!!!! I arrived at the Central bus station in Athens at around 3am and the first bus to Thess wasnt until around 7am! it was hot, it was stinky & so was I and my mood! but nevertheless, I made it and was met around 2pm by Ange, her uncle and Ola on the side of a freeway where they picked me up =) 1 month in ellada!! It’s been 10yrs since I was in Greece… and boy has it and my experience of it changed! Actually, I don’t think Greece has changed much at all in the last 1000yrs apart ... read more

My bus ride from Barcelona to Toulouse was not bad considering it went from 1am til 7am! I met a really cool French chic on the bus who was from Bordeaux and had been visiting her Spanish boyfriend in Barcelona. We talked almost the whole way in French! Felt good to kinda speak a language again! After mumbling in Spanish & Serbian for so long! ..... I arrived in Toulouse at 7am on a Sunday morning. There was absolutely no one around, no shops were open except a couple of cafes & the only people in the streets or cafes were drunk men… mostly northern African sleezy men who insisted on shouting me a drink (among other things) :/ urgh! I started to hate Toulouse, feel disappointed about being there & wonder what on Earth I ... read more

Dubrovnik It never ceased to amaze me that I can travel "alone" & yet never really be alone!! mostly I see this as a blessing... though, there were times that I truly cherished my 'alone time'--- Dubrovnik gave me that after a loooong time of travelling with others.... well at least for one day it did.. haha!! Ola, Ange and I split up in Barcelona... Ola headed for the only corner of Spain she hadn't seen yet - the north-west part; Ange flew to Belgrade to meet up with Effie & Dragan who were travelling in Montenegro from Australia; and I flew to Dubrovnik to mee Ange & co 2 days later... If taking a cheap flight from Spain, its common to fly Vueling Airlines - despite their many strikes & known delays :p I found ... read more