In January this year, Mitch and I packed our bags and flew to Albania. Why would we do that? Low season: it’s cold, places aren’t open, cities lack atmosphere, and hostels are practically empty. All these things are true. We had days where it was bitterly cold we couldn’t stay outside long, days we were rained in, restaurants closed, places where buses didn’t go to at this time of year, so many hotel/hostel owners saying, “Come back in July! You can see this, this and this.” I would love to go back to all the places in the summer. You know …
Tag: travel
Rollercoaster Ride Starting Life In China
For those of you who don’t know, Mitch and I got ourselves teaching jobs in Hangzhou, China. It’s in the East, not far from Shanghai. We found jobs through a teaching agency who sorted us with school, accommodation, and a visa. So far, there have been highs and lows, but it’s all a new adventure in life and I remind myself I’m very lucky to be here. We felt nervous and excited. For me, it was three big changes all at once: moving in with Mitch, starting a new job AND moving to a new country/continent. Madness eh? Our flights over …
Explore, Discover, Dream: How It All Began.
This blog was primarily about keeping my friends back home up to date, so I never really wrote much about myself as a person and how I got here. However, I have readers who don’t know me, which I still find incredible, so here’s a bit about me.
Waving Goodbye To Warsaw And Europe
Warsaw. We spent a lot of time here in small chunks but I still feel like I didn’t really see it. It was the city we got picked up in for our numerous Angloville programmes. The day before the programme we had a complementary walking tour of the city, participating in three programmes meant three tours. “Why go on three?” I hear you cry, well, it’s nice to refresh your memory, but also, they gave us free lunch afterwards and as budget travellers, we would never say no to free lunch. It was a great opportunity to meet fellow volunteers before the programme …
Krakow: History, Food And Friends
We were drastically running out of money but had one week off inbetween our Angloville courses. There were so many places in Poland we wanted to visit, but knew with limited time and money there was one place which was top of the list: Krakow. We found a super cheap hostel in a great location and settled there for the week. It wasn’t the liveliest of hostels but that wasn’t a problem as we managed a mini Angloville reunion.
Farming & Family Life in Slovakia
It had always been our intention on our trip to do some work/volunteering as we travelled. It’s not only a great way to save money and elongate the trip, but also a wonderful way to meet people and immerse ourselves in the culture. Unfortunately, due to travelling in low season, the opportunities were far between. We had planned another week’s worth of English teaching in Poland due to start in April but before then we were crossing Slovakia from Hungary. We took this opportunity to try our luck on help exhange once more.