10,000

That's right, I finally reached my 10,000th blog view yesterday!! I can't actually believe that so many of you are continuing to read my ramblings - thanks so much :)

I thought I'd do a quick post dedicated to all my trips since I started the blog. I suppose this could act as a bit of a catch up for any new readers, as well as a celebration of all the wonderful things I've experienced and incredible people I've met over the past two years.

East Coast USA

New York - Philadelphia - Washington DC - Knoxville - Nashville - Atlanta - Orlando - Miami. In three weeks. Possibly the most hardcore travelling I've done to date. These first two trips are the reason I started the blog, which is pretty crazy considering how much it's come along now!

Started off the trip with Rach and Ferris as well as Aimee to celebrate Rach's 18th birthday! We managed to pick the rainiest cloudiest day to visit the Statue of Liberty and to be honest were pretty underwhelmed by how big it was... Still, been there, done that, got the t-shirt and it was still a pretty good day.

WE MET ED SHEERAN. In Nashville after a Snow Patrol concert at which he was the support act. He smelled wonderful where as I was sweaty and horrible and hadn't washed my clothes for far too long. Sorry about that Ed.

Our first basketball game! Heat vs Pistons and Heat won it by a mile. We also got on the big screen by dancing like loons whilst people around us held up giant cardboard cut outs of H E A T.

Peru, Chile and Bolivia

Lima - Cusco - Arequipa - Arica - Iquique - San Pedro de Atacama - Uyuni - Potosi - Sucre - La Paz - Copacobana - Isla del Sol - Cusco - Huacachina - Lima. A beautiful continent full of beautiful people. I'd go back there in a heartbeat.

Peru: This was actually taken on our return to Peru at our last stop in a place called Huacachina. It was a great place to end the trip, with our good friend Sam from Aus, pretty much just partying all night and eating BBQ chicken wings all day. In this picture we'd decided to go on a midday booze cruise on the tiny lake with a surprisingly strong current in the middle of the oasis town. Such a great memory :)

Chile: Arica, the dryest city in the world, where in 10 years in rains only enough to fill one tea cup. 25 degrees everyday without fail. What an incredible place.

Bolivia: Sugar Daddy, The Cow (that's me...), G-meister General and Evester, setting out on three day 4x4 tour of the salares and salt flats. The trip consisted of the absolute coldest nights I've ever experienced, as well as the most breath-taking views.

Eurotrip 2012

Prague - Vienna - Budapest. A trip to reunite all the homies after a year away at university and travelling.

Prague: For some reason we decided to climb a really big hill just to see what was at the top. If I remember correctly, there really wasn't much up there, but the view was pretty special.

Vienna: This is from the night out where we went to the club 'Flex' and got invited on stage by the DJs simply because we were 'foreign'. Great night, from chucking shoes at Peter to the wall of sweets in the bathroom. Even though I wasn't wowed by the rest of the city I had a really good night.

Budapest: Since we're dead mature and all we decided to spend a day renting go carts and bikes and ride around the park. One of my absolute highlights of the trip as Pete and I rented a tandem and failed miserably at riding it. We also enjoyed ice creams and played in the musical fountain.

Abersoch- Girly Summer Holiday

A week holiday with all my favourite girls from high school. Unfortunately I didn't blog about this at the time but we had a lovely time chilling out at the beach and doing some serious charity shopping, whilst sleeping in a lovely cottage we rented.

The beautiful girlies. We decided we weren't too old to fit on this little train ride around the park and all six of us crammed into the back seat, making the ride rather squished.

This was pretty much our own private beach, about 15 minutes walk from the house and hidden away from the main busy one. This is also the beach that destroyed my apparently indestructible camera that had survived three months in the USA and South America... 

Five days in Amsterdam

Another one I didn't blog about - sorry fellas! - because I only really started blogging again in January where as this trip was in November. In short we stayed in a caravan, visited a lot of Van Gogh exhbitions, the Botanical Gardens, Anne Frank's House and a fair few coffee shops. You know, the usual Amsterdam thing.

Note to self: Going on a holiday with four boys and no girls to a place like Amsterdam is probably not the smartest thing you could have done.

Me and the guys chilling in a pretty cool coffee shop in the Red Light District. Going with four guys means you spend a little too much time in that area of town.

I met Desiree and Sophie from the Machu Picchu trek!! We went out for a lovely traditional Dutch meal and I tried Bitterballen which I am a BIG fan of. It was great to be reunited with some old travel friends :)

We LOVED the Botanical Gardens. I can't remember the exact price anymore but I know it was pretty reasonable (especially if you have a student card) and they also have a butterfly house!

Eurotrip 2013

Siegburg, Cologne and Bonn - Krakow - Vienna - Bratislava - Budapest - Belgrade - Sarajevo - Mostar - Novalja, Pag (Hideout Festival!) - Zagreb - Dubrovnik.

I spent the first four nights with my friend Mani who I met in Cusco, Peru. We had such a great time chilling in the sunshine, swimming, sharing a few beers and throwing popcorn at each other.

Highlights picture created by my wonderful friend Mitch. I joined the trip at picture number nine. I can't believe how much we did in such a short space of time!

Mitch and I chilling at the lake in Bratislava, one of my favourite pictures from the trip. This is the day we tried Bull's Testicle Goulash and Josie burnt her ass and stomach. Silly girly.

And last but not least... Hideout Festival and Zagreb!

On Novalja, Isle of Pag with 11 other members of the Preston crew. Probably the best festival I've ever been to.

Danny and Ki living it up on the first day. This was at a pool party with a live DJ set (goodness knows who it was) where we danced like crazy and drank tasty but pricey cocktails.

Sunrise at 6am. I saw four of these during the five day festival. Not bad for a girl who didn't even like house music before she went.

(Almost) Everyone together in Zagreb, which pretty much acted as a recovery session for the festival. Despite the criticisms it's had I actually really liked the city, which is much more chilled out than others so a welcome break on a busy trip.

And that just about sums up my last two years worth of travelling. Looking back at the post I really haven't done too badly have I? Especially considering I had to cancel two trips to Madrid and Dublin. I'm really excited for my cruise round the Canary Islands in August now :D Once again, thanks so much for reading (I wouldn't be a proper Brit if I wasn't excessively grateful now would I?), it really is quite flattering that so many of you want to read my thoughts, documentaries and rants. You're the best! :)

Hideout; LET'S JACK

Since my last post I've been partying continuously and sunning myself at Hideout Festival (a house music festival on the Isle of Pag) hence the lack of much to write about. Staying in the same place for six days should have been a nice break after moving so quickly but thanks to a week of podium dancing, boat parties, one too many cocktails and watching four sunrises back to back, I can safely say I haven't felt this tired in an incredibly long time.

(Instagram @gracelund1)

I didn't expect it to be so picturesque... I'm so sorry for the British Invasion, Pag.

(Instagram @taneli_uk)

Four tet at sunrise at our favourite club Kalypso. This is where Pete told me I 'dance like a black girl who grew up in Detroit'. I don't think I've ever been so flattered. *blushes*

I went with the Preston lot who are all very much into their house music and that whole scene, so I was a little apprehensive about what I was getting myself into, being a bit of a rocker myself. (Especially Danny i.e. Taneli who is a bit of an up and coming DJ himself - I'd highly recommend checking out his tunes: http://m.soundcloud.com/uktaneli)  ;)

However after a week of being fully immersed in 'the vibes' I can unashamedly admit that I am a house music convert. I never really understood it before - sounds a little cheesy I know but it really is something you have to experience to understand. And as someone who likes to boogey like crazy I fit in pretty easily.

(Instagram @gracelund1)

I wanted to do this SO BAD but unfortunately I had to be sensible/boring with funds. Maybe next time... SIGH.

(Instagram @ljcowgill)

Ste enjoying the Numbers 10 pool party with Jackmaster. Hannah 'God IS the beat'... 

The crowd were a rather colourful bunch; 90's get up and high heel trainers to teeny tiny bikinis and netted vests. I'm quite into my fashion quirks and creating my own style, so I'm not one to judge on other's outfit choices, but let's just say some were a little extreme even for me. Each to there own though, life would be boring of everyone was the same.

(Instagram @taneli_uk)

Boat party!! So much fun but it seriously takes in out of you.

(Instagram @taneli_uk)

Some of the crew soaking up the sun.

I'm now chilling in my hostel in Zagreb waiting for the others to recover at theirs so we can meet up and explore. Since they just crashed last night, I spent my evening with a group of guys from London who turned out to be super chill and lovely, which was a rather welcome atmosphere after the madness of the past week. 

Aaaaaaaaaand there's not much more to say really, just that this week has easily been the highlight of my year so far. Oh and I found out I passed my first year with a 2:1!! Who'd've thunk it eh? 

Summer Plans - FINALLY

This is it, my final plan for the summer. I've settled on travelling again, since my 21st Birthday is coming the parentals have been kind enough to pitch in a little and I'm starving for the next month or so to save every last penny I have. But it's all going to be worth it because I'm hoping to set out on another three month trip around Central and Eastern Europe, including Hideout festival along the way. Which means I've successfully combined two of original travel plans!! WHOOP WHOOP. The downside? I'll be completely skint when I get back. But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it ;)

Here's the map of where I intend to go...



You get the basic idea, though Google got a bit upset and wouldn't let me add anymore places so I couldn't add in Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina.

Quick summary by country (cities tbc):

Germany, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus (BIG MAYBE, the visa application form is a nightmare), Lithuania and Denmark.

From the 14th June - 14th July I will be travelling with four of my flatmates from Germany to Croatia, with Hideout festival with the Preston crew in the middle! Then I'm a lone ranger for the rest of the time (unless I meet some lovelies to travel with like in South America) and am working on an extremely flexible plan. I'm hoping to get through the whole trip however Mother dearest has offered to fly me home from wherever the money runs out; she knows me far too well ;) However I'm hoping Couchsurfing and the generally cheap cost of living in Eastern Europe will help.

If all goes to plan I'll land in Copenhagen a few days before my 21st Birthday and I intend to fly home either the day before or the day after, depending on homesickness levels. Though right now I'm finding it difficult to contain my excitement/concentrate on important things like revision.

Thanks to everyone who offered my advice on my final decision - I realise I'm being a little contradictory as I said that moving to Berlin and looking for a job was too scary in case I didn't find one and now I'm travelling alone through countries where I know nothing of the language or culture... but Carpe Diem, YOLO and all that. I'm also open to anyone joining me for part/all of my adventure. As always, the more the merrier :)

Decisions, decisions... HELP ME

I'm currently in a major dilemma about what I should do with my summer. I've been deliberating for a few months now and have changed my mind so many times that my head is starting to hurt. So I have decided to open it up to you guys, to see if you can cure me of my ridiculous indecisiveness.

What I really want to do is get a job and a flat somewhere in Germany with some of my course mates, so I can save a little and improve my German. I've applied for quite a few positions to no avail so far, though I'm not giving up just yet. However if that falls through I need another plan in place so that I'm not stuck with absolutely nothing to do.

I have a few different options to chose from...

1. Go home to Preston, smile sweetly at my old boss and try to get my old job back, work my ass off to pay off my student overdraft and start saving for trips to Philly and Newcastle, AUSTRALIA, to visit my besties who are studying abroad for a year. However the cons are that Preston isn't terribly exciting and most of my friends will be off galavanting around the world... Plus I haven't left England since November, so I'm getting a little twitchy.

2. Stay in London and keep my job here, maybe look for an internship. I wouldn't be able to save as much as in Preston due to paying rent but it would mean I wouldn't have to faff around with getting my job back in September. Plus I'd get to experience living in London in summer without the studenty aspect which would be interesting. However I'd have to try and get my housing sitch sorted which sounds terrifying... Though I suppose I can't avoid it forever anyway.

3. Travel Europe with my flatmates. This is the provisional plan:

(NB I know Budapest is in Hungary not Bulgaria, my friend is just a silly billy)

Unfortunately I'd be missing Scandinavia and joining around 12th June. Obviously the pros are I get to travel to new places and the itinerary looks AWESOME but then I'd be very poor by the end of summer and jobless. I also have a ticket to Hideout Festival in Croatia at the end of June (fits into the plan perfectly!) so it'd be a case of selling my ticket if I couldn't go. AND that's the last chance I'd get to hang out with some of my home friends before they go away for a year.

4. Another option is to just go to Hideout festival, whilst working in Preston/London, but this raises the issue of whether they'd give me the time off to go...

Basically the question is the degree of sensibleness I should take in making my decision. Being sensible has never really appealed to me if I'm honest, life is all about taking risks and doing what makes you happy. However in this scenario, I have to consider that I can't do what makes me happy if I'm broke. SIGH at being a grown up.

Please comment/message me/slap me round the head. ANY help or advice would be greatly appreciated. In the mean time, I'm off to enjoy the London sunshine :D

...and what's to come

The past few months have been an absolute BLAST for me. I'm currently at University in London studying German and Hispanic Studies (with a little French on the side too). It's incredible. I've also been mega fortunate with my flat, as somehow I've been placed in with all international students. Seriously it's like a dream come true, it's like I'm constantly in travel mode.

Just to emphasise just how multinational my uni friends are, here's a low down of my flatmates. (This probably isn't interesting to most people, but this is my blog, so you're just going to have to deal with it. Just skip a bit further down if you want to jump to the exciting up-and-coming travel plan bit... :) )

So this is my first term flat...

There's me and my fellow first year Josie (Switzerland), then exchange students Ellen (Aus), Adriana (Mexico) and Gustavo (Brazil). I MISS YOU GUYS ALREADY :'(

However, we're lucky that the Newbies are awesome too...

This is the gang boogying to Thift Shop in Winter Wonderland... (left to right) There's Brett (exchange from the USA), Caitlin (Spain), another first year who moved in just before Christmas, Josie (who's stayed, WHOOP) and Steve (exchange from Aus). The others are friends from Uni, Mexican and American if you must know. There's also Shaynah (USA) but I don't have a pic with her yet :(

Also if you don't know what Thift Shop is (and you should) here's the youtube link:



The plus side of having a completely international flat is that the exchange students want to constantly be travelling the UK and Europe and I get to tag along/invite myself because I just can't be in one place for too long. Plus despite being in travel mode, I still have a base camp in London where I can relax and feel at home.

Unfortunately it does mean that I'm still making amazing friends and then having to watch them leave again and again. Which, by the by, doesn't get easier, no matter what people tell you, especially for a particularly emotional girl like myself. However I have come to terms with the fact that no matter where I am in the world, I'm always going to be missing someone. Sounds kinda sad but if you flip it, I also know that no matter where I am in the world, I'm always going to be with someone I care about :) Which is pretty awesome.

And now for the exciting part, this years travel plans (so far!):

February reading week in Madrid and Salamanca with the Hispanic Society. This is, as well as an opportunity to get a little silly on alcohol with the course mates, mainly an opportunity to improve my rather terrible spoken Spanish. As it's my degree, it's probably important for me to learn to do it well :P

St. Patrick's Day weekend in Dublin with all the flatmates. I'm FINALLY getting to Ireland and I'm super excited.

Then finally a week or two in Croatia with friends from home travelling and attending Hideout Festival. Which is a festival. On a beach. With real sunshine and waves and sand and EVERYTHING. Here's the promo video if you're wanting to know more...



Best get working on that Bikini Bod if I don't want to do my usual in knee length board shorts and a men's XL t-shirt...