As I spent 7 months travelling through Europe on and off, I have stayed in my fair share of hostels. I know the idea of staying in a hostel is absolutely horrifying for many (say, most of my gal pals at home), but some hostels are truly awesome and they can be a great way to make your dollar spread further when travelling.
28.3.17
Hostel Hunting in Europe
austria, czech republic, europe, germany, greece, hungary, italy, morocco, northern ireland, portugal, spain, the netherlands, travel, travel tips, UK
Because of our extremely short time frame in Morocco, we had to make sacrifices when it came to our itinerary and unfortunately, Fes was the city that we had to compromise with the most. We were all so excited to see the blue city of Chefchaouen so decided to dedicate two days there and only a measly 12 hours in Fes, including a night's sleep.
Riding a camel through the Sahara Desert at sunset still goes down as the most memorable travel experience I've had thus far. It wasn't just the camel riding and sand dunes that were amazing though, the whole three days leading up to it, the actual journey that we took to the Sahara, was equally as incredible.
Ahh Marrakech... How do I even begin to describe this incredible city? It's not often that I get culture shock. I've visited 33 countries now and I've only experienced culture shock less than a handful of times. When I arrived in Marrakech, though, culture shock hit me like a speeding train. Never had I ever been thrown into such an unfamiliar environment and felt so totally out of my comfort zone before. It was thrilling, exhilarating and one huge sensory overload from the minute we stepped foot off the plane. I was instantly mesmerised and I knew that this was the beginning of a hard and fast love affair.
A thousand apologies for being so ridiculously slack with my blog over the past few months! I don't have a good excuse for my absence really. I've just felt uninspired, I have had absolutely no desire or motivation to write and it's a shame cause I feel like I'm beginning to forget all of my travel memories, and that's only making me want to blog less and less... I've also been ridiculously busy, especially since coming back from Southeast Asia. In between university, I've been doing applications and extracurriculars and a bunch of other stuff and basically just 'adulting' like crazy. Anyway enough about my mundane life, time to rewind to a better time and place for me, Copenhagen.
Plaza Mayor |
Madrid was the first city that I was visiting completely on my own. Well, almost completely alone. I had a friend, Yi Yi, who was on exchange in Madrid and my main reason for visiting the Spanish capital was so I could see her again because I only usually see her once a year anyway (She's now based in Abu Dhabi).
Although I was going to Madrid to visit Yi Yi, she had classes pretty much all day for most of the time that I was there so that left me to explore the city all on my lonesome during the long summer days. As Yi Yi was living with a host family, she wasn't able to host me and I was set to couch surf with some of her friends who I had never met but had been promised were super friendly. It's the closest that I have ever gotten to travelling alone and as a result, Madrid is a city that will always be close to my heart.
I was lucky enough to be greeted by Yi Yi at the airport and it was so nice being reunited with her after almost a year! Nothing tops the feeling of seeing friends overseas and this was no different. Madrid ended up being one of my favourite trips during my whole 7 months away from home.
Plaza Mayor |
Patatas Bravas |
Black Paella |
We spent our first afternoon wandering around the city centre but it quickly started raining so we sought shelter in a nearby bar, deciding to grab dinner while we waited out the downpour. I had been so excited about visiting Madrid not only because I got to see Yi Yi again, but also because I would be reunited with Spanish food! Paella is one of my favourite dishes but instead of getting a traditional seafood paella, Yi Yi suggested that we try out the black paella which is actually made with squid ink! I was really worried that my teeth would be stained black after our meal but if anything, my teeth were whiter than they were before. We also ordered patatas bravas, another favourite of mine, and tortilla which Yi Yi introduced to me as one of her favourites.
Europe, although (arguably) smaller in land mass compared to Australia, consists of so many different countries, cities and cultures that it would take years if you wanted to experience it all properly. As a result, planning a three week trip and trying to get the perfect itinerary can be very daunting. Three weeks isn't a particularly long time but you'd be surprised at how much you can see in just a few short weeks.
25.10.15
Solo Day Trip in Toledo | Photo blog
europe, madrid, photo blog, spain, toledo, travel, weekend tripToledo, UNESCO heritage site |
Toledo is one of those cities that you hear about long before having the chance to visit it for yourself. During my time in Madrid, I decided to venture out of the city and do a day trip to Spain’s old capital city, a nearby town called Toledo which is a UNESCO heritage site and famous for it’s gorgeous buildings. I’ll be writing about my time in Madrid in my next blog post but I thought I would post all of the photos from my time in Toledo first.