48 hours in Cardiff

The first weekend in November saw the Australian Rugby Union team face off against the Welsh. We were lucky enough to secure tickets for the game so decided to make a bit of a weekend of it and headed for Cardiff early on Friday morning.

We took the cheap route of the National Express coach and ended up in Cardiff by half one. After a quick, refreshing nap, Cara and I decided to check out Cardiff Castle.

Cardiff Castle stands in the centre of the capital city and has been there since the 11th Century. The castle passed through many different families and during the early 20th century a lot of the surrounding areas had been sold off leaving little but the castle.

During World War II the castle was used as an air raid shelter which you can walk through on a self-paced tour.


We found a cute little pub near where we were staying. we met Hanna at Gassy Jacks for dinner and they also had £6 pitchers of cocktails! I was still recovering from my jet lag, but the girls managed to get through Round 8 jugs.

After a sleep in, we got ready for the game and met the rest of our group for lunch and pre's. (pre-drinking).

Once we had eaten and had our fill of cheap drinks (Cardiff is the place to go for cheap drink and eat!) we headed to the stadium and watched the Wallabies absolutely annihilate the Welsh.

spot the angry Welshman

all rugged up against the Cardiff weather

After an amazing win by the Australian team, we headed where every Aussie (and most of the Welsh) end up for a good night - The Walkabout!

I found a sheep! Must have wandered in from the countryside.

> National Express return cost us £15 return, however we did end up paying an extra £15 because we decided to go back to London earlier.

> Rugby tickets cost us £60.

> General entry tickets for Cardiff Castle are £12.

2 days in San Francisco

I just returned to London after a whirlwind 6 week trip in the states with 3 of my best friends.

The first part of our US holiday started with a stay in San Francisco. We stayed in the heart of the city – which also happened to be Crack Corner – at the Metropolis Hotel.

As we tried to save money anywhere we could, we quad shared. The 2 double bedded room did not give a lot of room for 4 suitcases, a carry-on case and 3 backpacks but we managed to not kill each other or trip over anything the 3 nights that we were there. This is probably because we didn’t spend much time inside.

Our first full day in San Francisco started with walking the scenic route to Fisherman's Wharf so we could catch our boat across to Alcatraz.

The tour of Alcatraz is self paced and has an audio guide within the main penitentiary building. The audio is presented by past prisoners of the island and is full of stories of their time there, including a daring escape!

After walking up and down and all over the island, we were hungry! Luckily we were able to find this gem of an American icon on the wharf.

I was quite excited when the waiter told me the ribs (including the sauce!) was gluten free.

Especially seeing as I didn't like seafood at this point. After trying Jess' 'shrimp on a stick' however I had to get my own!

Nicole and Jess

Me and Kyle

The afternoon was spent walking around the city and signing up to the great discounts that Safeway offer!

Our night was spent at AT&T Park where we watched the San Francisco Giants take on the St Louis Cardinals. Baseball is quite an interesting game to watch, goes a bit long though. We stayed warm with our new beanies and the best hot cocoa I've ever had.

The next day we had a bit of a sleep in, before making our way back to Fisherman's Wharf to do a cruise of the Bay (thanks to our Flight Centre travel agent for this freebie!)

Unfortunately it was a bit foggy so we couldn't get a clear photo of the Golden Gate Bridge, but this was one of my favourites.

A trip to San Francisco isn't complete without taking a ride on the historic cable car. We made our way back to Union Square and waited for around half an hour in line - entertained by the buskers and homeless dancers - before getting on.

The tram starts at the junction of Powell and Market Streets and makes it way through the streets to Fisherman's Wharf. Tickets are US$7 one way.

We also managed to find and begin our love affair with Ross in San Francisco.

For those not familiar with the store, it's a bit like TK Maxx. Nicole, Jess and I had fun trying on the discounted bargains and I picked up a pair of Sketchers for $35 (I love my Sketchers. Might be because I don't have a Prada backpack!)

Wanderlust Wishlist 2016 - January Travel Linkup

2015 saw me travelling far and wide, literally and emotionally. I spent the 14/15 New Year watching the fireworks over the Thames (and working on a party boat), spent a weekend in Brussels with my best friend, explored Cambridge, met new 'family' in Scotland, travelled to Portugal with work, saw where the Von Trapps lived in Salzburg, caught up with friends in Hanover, got lost in Berlin, made new friends in Vietnam and Cambodia and surprised family in Thailand! 

I also broke up with my boyfriend, quit my amazing job, packed up my life, moved back across a (couple of) oceans, made it back in time to be part of my best friend's wedding, saw my nieces for the first time and got to spend Christmas and New Years with family and friends for the first time in two years. 

goodbyes

If I have my way, 2016 will be just as big as it's predecessor.

 September will see me and a few friends soaking up the rays in LA, hunting alligators on the bayou and visiting a white house in Washington and a green lady in NY. Yup! We're going to America! And squeezing it all in by doing a 26 day Contiki tour. 

We'll be topping it off with a holiday from our holiday, relaxing on a beach in Hawaii. 

http://www.astonhotels.com/assets/slides/690x380-Hawaii-Sunset.jpg

Norway

Particularly, would LOVE to see the Northern Lights. And how could you not want to when you've spent to look on Instagram and come across photos like this?

photo from Christer Olsen https://www.instagram.com/christerolsen_

Moscow

photo credit to Anastasia Sviridova https://www.instagram.com/anastasia_svir

St Petersburg

Ever since reading The Bronze Horseman, I've been a bit obsessed with visiting Russia.

https://www.instagram.com/o_st.petersburg/

The biggest travel move I'm going to make this year (hopefully) is transporting myself back to my second home - LONDON! 

This is my first blog at the Travel Linkup, but I have been following Emma for a while now and thought it would be good to add another resolution to my ever growing list: blogging more (and with some sort of purpose!) 

How to link up your post

"Just pop your post up over the first week of the month (the 1st - 7th January 2016), add it to the link up widget found on Emma's, Angie's, or Jessi's blogs from the 1st.

As ever there are no real rules – basically all we ask is that you check out some of the other cool bloggers that are involved in that months travel link up; tweet a few of the posts out to your followers that you think they will love and make a few comments here and there. It really is a great way to meet some new travel bloggers and share some blogging joy!" - Emma 

Salzburg, Austria

The unfortunate occurrence of my visa ending has to have some kind of silver lining, right?

Of course there is! Something that pretty much all those my age do these days - TRAVEL!

I had a couple free weeks before the start of my Asia trip so where better to spend my time than in the relaxing city of Salzburg before the more happening cities of Hannover and Berlin.

I took the cheap option and flew into Linz to take the train to Salzburg. The trains were a bit of good luck, had a whole train compartment to myself! It was very Harry Potter-esque.

I checked in to my hostel, YoHo International Hostel and had a quick nap after arranging dinner with a fellow traveller I had connected with on Facebook.

We had a lovely Austrian dinner before buying a cheap bottle of wine each and making our way up to Hohensalzburg Fortress. We sat on the fortress wall, playing our drinking games, watching the sunset over Salzburg.

It was such a lovely view and then the rains came! Luckily, the rain only lasted as long as the wine did! 

Luckily, the next day saw the sun shining brightly and a short walk bring the sweat on!  Unfortunately I had not looked at the extended weather forecast, otherwise I would have made more of the sun on Wednesday instead of making use of my bed for a nap! 

Thursday I woke up early to go on a tour to the Eagle's Nest. 

The Eagle's Nest was built high up on a mountain in the 1930s as a present for Hitler's 50th birthday. It was purely for conferences and Hitler only visited around 10 times. 

Unfortunately, I thought the actual building wasn't worth the price, but the view is absolutely to die for (and 6 - 8 people did die during construction).

Even on the rainy, cloudy day I went the mountains are magnificent to view. And I even met a lovely couple from Adelaide up there!

Thursday night had me back at the same restaurant, Zum Eulenspiegel with a bloke from the hostel. They have their own gluten free menu so I had some Austrian cuisine options. Unfortunately the rain stopped us from exploring Salzburg Old Town at night so we made our way back to the hostel for the nightly viewing of Sound of Music. 

I had to have a refresher of the songs as on Friday morning I was on another tour, this time to the different locations of Salzburg that are featured in the film.

We drove past the Von Trapp villa, the lake in the boating scene, the gazebo and the church in Mondsee where the wedding took place as well as the different locations featured in the 'Do Re Mi' song.

Typically, the sun had to come out and stop the rain AFTER the tour had ended. I made the most of it and wandered into the Old Town where I stumbled across a fresh food market! Score! No more paying €3.50 for breakfast! And the size of the strawberries! I'm pretty sure they were bigger than my nephew's head when he was born! 

Luckily, the fresh fruit, cheese and ham have sustained me all today as I have been cooped up inside the hostel due to the miserable weather.

Hopefully Germany will bring out the sunshine for me on Monday. 

Capela Dos Ossos - Alcantarilha

As part of my job I was lucky enough to go to Portugal last month with one of my clients (I work as a live-in carer - not an escort!) and two of his friends. 

We stayed in a lovely apartment just on the outskirts of Lagos that was decked out with all the equipment that we could need. Hazel and Bryn, the owners of Funchal Ridge, recommended many places in the Algarve to visit. We decided to follow them up on the recommendation of Capela Dos Ossos in the small town of Alcantarilha. 

We skipped the new main motorway and stuck to the old highway (got to keep away from those tolls!) following directions from a road map!

We came of the highway and straight on to tight, cobblestoned roads.

As well as the map we had the use of phone GPS as we weren't entirely sure of the exact location of the Chapel. We came to a T-junction and followed the GPS and a very vague sign and ended up 5km away in a little village that seemed to be closed for siesta. Executing a quick u-turn, turns out the Chapel was where the T-junction was!

Looking up to the main church in Alcantarilha

The Chapel is situated behind the Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição and was constructed in the 16th Century and built on the site of the old church cemetery. 

The interior is lined with skulls and thigh bones of dead parishioners. 

                                    


The Chapel is about 4m x 4m and the doorway is barred so that the bones can not be stolen. 
 A crucifix of Jesus Christ is placed high on the back wall. 


                     

                              

                                        

I personally didn't find the Chapel eerie or scary, but that could have been due to the sunlight streaming through the doors behind me. 



We ended up having dinner with my client's family near Carvoeira and didn't arrive back to Lagos until after dark. 

Despite the cold night air that had come in, the darkness worked in our favour as we found this beauty in the middle of a roundabout coming through Lagos. 

Massive chairs!

Of course we had to take a few photos of them!

                                              

Cambridge

My London home is filled with many people (high teens we're talking about here) so there is always something and someone to do stuff with. 

Mid January saw a bunch of us head to Kings Cross for a train journey to Cambridge. 

One of the main attractions of the university town (besides the university) is punting on the River Cam. Punting is just a fancy word for some bloke pushing you up and down the river in a boat - like the gondolas in Venice. 

our boat driver and some housemates

Pro tip for punting: do NOT bring sandwiches on board. The ducks on the river are vicious and will try and eat out of your hand!

invasion of ducks

Many of the colleges of Cambridge back up on to the River Cam and have wonderful rich histories (they've been around long enough - 1209). 

And a few famous students, including Stephen Hawking and Alan Turing as well as comedians like John Cleese, Simon Bird and Stephen Fry. 

King's College Chapel

Cambridge is a lovely medieval town with amazing architecture and something for everyone, from markets to pubs. 







*Punting for 10 people cost us £10 per person. 

Warsaw - Capital of Poland

My roommate and I found flights from London to Warsaw for £19 (£35 inc luggage) and we thought 'why not?'  Booked. Hostel booked.

A couple weeks later we remembered we need to get home somehow.  We had already discussed going to Krakow but flights from there, while still cheap, were expensive. We had a look at Skyscanner and saw that there were cheap flights out of Gdansk. 

We looked at the map, saw the Poland was about the size of Victoria and decided it wouldn't be that hard to get from Krakow to Gdansk. Another flight booked. 

So in the last week of October we packed our bag full of heavy winter gear - the weather report said it would get down to zero! brr!

We arrived into Warsaw around 4pm, got on the local bus that took us to the train station and that took us to downtown Warsaw.

The hostel we stayed at (TripAdvisor reviews here) did give us amazing directions but it was dark and a bit creepy, deserted looking when we emerged from the station. We flagged down a taxi and arrived at our hostel 5 minutes later. 

After settling in our room, our receptionist gave us directions to the closest restaurant serving gluten free food. Before leaving I had printed out a 'Coeliac Restaurant card' in Polish (this website has cards in almost every langauge) which spelled out what I can and can't eat.

La Cantina is an amazing Mediterranean restaurant and almost every dish comes gluten free! You can tell the difference as the chefs stick in little Bez Glutenu flags in the GF dishes.

I opted for a creamed sauce pizza and Cara went for a delicious sounding pizza - she got GF so we could go halfsies.

 

The food was so filling! Although we were stuffed from our mains, there is ALWAYS room for Creme Brulee!

We only had 2 nights in Warsaw so we were determined to make the most of our one full day. We found a free walking tour company (here) and did the Old Town Walking Tour with Blaise. Our tour guide had a lot of information on both the history of Warsaw and local legends.

During World War II around 90% of Warsaw was bombed and destroyed. After the war and during the Communist regime a lot of the buildings were restored and today it looks almost as if the city was untouched. 

market square

   

Warsaw has a rich history and is the home of a few famous people - Pope John Paul II and Marie Curie both hail from here. 

Marie Curie Museum

Marie Curie is the only woman who has received a Nobel Prize in two different categories - chemistry and physics. 

 

Narrowest house in Warsaw

Many would have heard the story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, but during World War II (1944) there was another Warsaw Uprising that involved all Poles. The Polish Resistance Home Army attempted to drive Nazi Germany out of Warsaw. The Uprising lasted for 63 days, with little outside support. The uprising ultimately failed and resulted in a massive loss of life through injury and mass executions.

A memorial showing the Polish Home Army using the sewer system to escape the Nazi occupation of Warsaw. 

The Old Town walking tour went for approximately 2.5 hours. The same company also offered a Jewish Walking Tour so Cara and I went of to lunch to wait out the 2 hours in between.

Blaise was our guide once again for our second tour.

The raised bit in the middle shows the walls of the Jewish Ghetto in 1940. 

Over the war years and with subsequent executions, rampant diseases and mass transportations, the ghetto got smaller and smaller.

As the ghetto was completely destroyed by the Nazis after liquidation, the boundary is now marked by pavers.

Our tour took us through what was the ghetto, which is now residential buildings, and ended at the Umschlagplatz memorial. 

This memorial stands where the Jewish people were gathered to be deported to the Treblinka Extermination Camp. On some days as many as 10,000 Jews were deported.

Warsaw is a vibrant city with a rich history and delicious food!. The 2 nights we spent there were definitely not enough and I would love to go back at some stage and explore the rest of the city. 

The Great Contiki Challenge 2014 #TGCC14

Last Saturday myself and three friends participated in the Great Contiki Challenge.

For those of you who don't know, Contiki is a travel tour company aimed at the 18 - 35s. 

We started of in Russell Square and had 5 hours to complete our task. 

The Challenge consisted of a list of clues that we had to work out, go to that place and take a photo of us with it. 

The clues came in 3 parts: easy, medium and hard.
Easy clues were things like 'ride a Barclays bike' or 'mind the gap'. 
Medium clues were a little bit more cryptic, such as 'the Covent Gardens version of Diagon Alley'.
Hard clues included 'I tried to extinguish a burning boy with my inflammable dress'.

Running around London also gave the opportunity to take some amazing photos, here are a few I snapped:

Join in the Challenge in 2015!