Skydiving at 14,000 feet over Byron Bay, Australia

Never in my life did I ever imagine myself to do a skydive. It’s always been one of those things that I always wished I would have the courage to do, but sort of just accepted that it wasn’t ever going to happen. I’m absolutely terrified of heights, for a start. So the thought of jumping 14,000 out of a plane was an insane idea to me. And one that would always be just that, an idea. However, when I arrived in Australia that idea soon began to grow into something more. After meeting so many people in Cairns who had done the Skydive somewhere along the east coast and talked about how absolutely incredible it was despite how terrified of heights they were, a seed was planted. It wasn’t long before I took the plunge and booked my skydive!

The first attempt to skydive was a disaster. The dates got mixed up with the booking agency and we woke up at 8am with a stonking hangover and having only gone to bed 2 hours before. We woke up to a text along the lines of “you’re going skydiving today girls! Pickup at 10am, enjoy!”. Absolutely distraught that we weren’t in any state to dive out of a plane, and also to the fact that we hadn’t had any time to mentally prepare for it, we had no choice but to get on that bus and head to Mission Beach to do what I always said I would never do… A 2 hour bus journey later, one free BBQ lunch, about 4 hours of waiting around at the skydive center, 2 extremely excited ladies, and of course it started raining. So that was it, they sent us back to Cairns. I was gutted. Maybe it was a sign that it just wasn’t meant to be.

But oh no, I wasn’t going to give up. Almost a month later on the 24th December 2013 at 6am, Michelle Harper woke up to the world to face her fears. On the bus journey to Byron Bay I put my headphones in and tried to listen to songs that would motivate me and get me going. You know, songs that would generate inspirational thoughts of you only live once, you should live in the moment, it’s now or never, you get the idea. This somewhat helped to ease the knots in my stomach, but it didn’t change the fact that I was extremely scared and about to dive 14,000 feet out of a aeroplane. Great.

We arrived at the Skydive center and everything seemed to go so fast. Before I knew it I was suited and booted and being ushered onto that plane by my tandem skydive instructor. I was the first of our group on the plane which meant that I was going to be the last to jump. The exact opposite of what I wanted. The plane soon took off and the feeling of nerves started to disappear. I couldn’t stop smiling. I was absolutely beaming from ear to ear and the views on the flight up were incredible! I could see the outline of Byron Bay and the lighthouse that sat on the most easterly point of the whole of Australia. Incredible. Strangely I wasn’t really scared at this point. The adrenaline that was flooding through my body seemed to overcloud the fear and instead make me want to jump. So jump I did!

The Skydive itself happened so fast. The instructors told us to put our goggles on, strapped our harnessess together and opened the door of the plane. Shit. One by one I counted down as people started flopping out of the plane before my eyes. The last person went and I was shuffled to the edge. I felt my legs wrap around the underside of the plane, my head went back, and out we went. Holy shit! In the first few seconds we span and my stomach sunk. Never in my life again do I think that I will experience the feelings I did then. Excitement, horror, adrenaline, drive, disorientation and extreme happiness. Although I was free falling it only really felt like I was floating. The wind was gushing through my ears, past my face and flushing through my mouth, and I could think to do was scream and take in the magnificent views. Out of this world.

After about a minute the free falling was over and the shoot was released. An absolute sigh of relief on my part and we now started our decent sailing to the ground. The instructor let me control the parachute for a while and I took swoops left and right allowing us to speed up and fall deeper south. The experience was going way too fast and almost flashing before my eyes, so I knew that I had to consciously soak up the views and take a mental picture of what was happening before me, before it was all over. The sun was shinning strong over the golden sandy strip of eastern Australian coastline and I’d never felt so content. It’s these experiences and feelings that make travelling worthwhile, and make me realise why I’m here, seeing the world from all kinds of angles.

We did it!

So there you go. I did it! Hands down one of the best parts of my trip and absolutely no regrets. If a girl who is terrified of heights and had absolutely no intention of ever skydiving, can do a skydive – then so can you! Oh not once did I meet a person who said they regretting jumping out of that plane either. I would encourage anyone to do it if you’re considering it because all of the worries and fears that I had about the skydive seemed completely silly and pointless after I’d jumped. Go for it! 😉

Backtrack, I’m back! Excuses and updates.

Oh hello there. Long time no see. OK, so it’s been a while since I’ve been here, and looking back at my old posts has left me feeling a little disappointed in myself that I failed to keep this blog going throughout my travels. Whilst I realise that there are no excuses for not finding a way to post along my journey, there are various reasons why my blogging ability dwindled down under, so I’m going to attempt to excuse myself anyway.

When packing for my trip last October, I naively thought that blogging on a Kindle Fire would be sufficient. Let me tell you, it is not. It’s a pain in the ass trying to type out an entire blog post without a keyboard. Not to mention inserting pictures, resizing things and generally trying to make it look appealing. Secondly, finding the time to blog was surprisingly difficult. Who’d have thought that travelling alone involved being around people constantly? I also suffer from FOMO – that is, Fear of Missing Out. And when you’re living in a hostel where there is always something going on somewhere, you’ll never allow yourself any time, well, to yourself. Thirdly, I had to pay for WiFi each time I landed at a new hostel – which is not cheap in Australia at all. And when I did manage to connect to the internet on a free public network, the connection was never strong enough to actually upload the bloody posts! What a nightmare, I know. Fourthly… OK, I’ll stop. Enough with the excuses now.

So as you all know (if you’ve read anything on my blog), last October I set out to embark on a working holiday in Australia. What an incredible adventure it has been. I swanned around the cities of Melbourne and Sydney sipping coffee and visiting the majestic Sydney oprah house and the iconic harbour bridge. I dropped all original plans and flew up to Cairns to adventure around Australia’s stunning rainforests and waterfalls. I cuddled with koala bears, I took selfies with kangaroos, I ate crocodile in a stir fry, and I dived 14,000 feet out of a plane on Christmas Eve. The best bit about it all? That doesn’t even begin to describe my unbelievably amazing journey. After spending 7 months in Australia, I felt content with leaving, and safe in the knowledge that I’d experienced everything I wanted to see. I then flew to New Zealand to embark upon a quick 3 week whistle stop tour of the north and south Islands, and I’m now back in my sweet home of England to visit my family and friends, and most importantly refresh my backpack!

The most amazing thing about travelling is that you never know where it’s going to take you and who you’re going to meet. Some people’s travels take them to new parts of the world they never thought they’d go, other people’s travels leave them missing home too much and realising their true love for their motherland, and some people’s travels result in finding their dream job and permanently emigrating. Mine, like many others, took various unexpected turns, gave me highs and lows, ups and downs, but eventually, ended up with love. Yes, how original I know. You meet someone from another country whilst you’re feeling ever so free and fancy, fall madly in love and chase each other across the world. Well, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the past few months, and it’s about to send me on a whole new and exciting adventure to Canada, and I’ve never been happier!

Stay tuned for more updates and posts on my previous adventures, and I’ll try not to let you down again.

Shell 🙂

Alone time for a solo traveller

I’m currently writing this post from Adria bar on Cockle Bay in Sydney. The weather is absolutely gorgeous, there are seagulls everywhere and its happy hour (a very special time of day for the budget traveller). It’s Halloween and summer time. An oxymoron for an English girl. This is my second day here in Sydney and so far so good. I’ve spent the day taking some time to myself exploring Darling Harbour and Pyrmont, two stunning areas of Sydney. A day to gather my thoughts.

As I was walking along the glistening waters of the bay, watching the world go by and staring profoundly out at the beautiful views, I realised that this was the first time in the 2 weeks I’ve been here that I was alone. Finally on my own. It just made me chuckle to myself as every time I told people I was travelling alone back home their reaction was of shit, shock horror won’t you be bored? Won’t you be lonely? What if you don’t make any friends? And the problem is the complete opposite. Most of the time when traveling alone it’s hard to find time to get some time to myself.

So this is how I’ve spent my time alone. I went to the fish market and found myself tucking into a delicious platter of seafood including scallops, octopus, squid and seafood sticks (I was too delicate from last night’s Halloween eve party to try oysters for the first time). After this I walked along the bay, through the Darling quarter, walked into the Maritime museum and then walked back out as it wasn’t free. I went and browsed the mega cheap and wonderful shops on George street and now I’m sat in an outside bar drinking yet again. But this time alone.

I feel refreshed. I’ve been reminded of how nice it is to talk to complete strangers and ask them to take photos of you, then return the favour, and I’ve also had time to watch the world go by for the first time in a long time. Time goes too quick when you’re travelling, and alone days help me to find my feet again.

Hostel Review – Base, St Kilda, Melbourne

My first feeling upon arrival at Base was pretty daunted. If it wasn’t for meeting another solo female traveller on the coach on the way to the hostel then I definitely would have felt seriously uncomfortable. People here didn’t really say hello and you don’t really get a great welcoming vibe. I soon came to realise that this was because most people in this hostel had been here for at least a month, so there were very cliquey groups who weren’t all that interested in talking to short stay travellers, which, from my experience, isn’t what the majority of hostels are about.

That aside, once I had settled in here I loved the place. I met some brilliant people, some lovely friends and some not so lovely. The drinks in the bar downstairs were reasonably priced compared to the rest of the city, and there was always food and drinks deals such as $5 pizza, burgers and tacos, and beer jugs for $10 during happy hour. There’s something going on in the hostel bar almost every night, including boozy bingo which was definitely my favourite night. Try not to get too caught up in hostel life though and make sure you venture out to the bars on Acland or Chapel street, or even in the centre of Melbourne as they’re very quirky and you certainly won’t get bored.

On my second day I was upgraded to the girls only ‘sanctuary’ dorm where I felt much more comfortable and also enjoyed free Champaign between 8-9pm every night, so this saved a lot of money on buying drinks in the bar. I also paid the extra $4 to stay in this room when I extended my stay as its definitely worth the added cost if you’re a female who enjoys a bevy or a few, or even if you just want to be able to walk around in your towel and not have to awkwardly get dressed under your duvet everyday.

The downsides to this hostel were that you had to pay for WiFi which was $12 for a week and it was seriously slow. The internet didn’t work in certain parts of the hostel and the computers that were advertised as ‘lightning speed’ we’re far from. The kitchen utensils were a little weathered too which made cooking quite awkward and slow at times, but nevertheless there was plenty of fridge space and labels provided to name your food. Sadly this didn’t stop people from stealing my mustard and eggs. Lowest of the low for any backpacker to stoop.

Another downside was that the shared dorms were tiny and too many bunk beds were crammed into such a tight space. So, as you can imagine, when sharing a room with 7 other girls there was very little room to swing a hair dryer let alone even walk around, use the shower or get to a mirror! From visiting other rooms they all seemed to be like this though so you just have to make do.

Base was brilliant for helping you to plan excursions, day trips and for general advice on things to do in the city and beyond. Tourist adviser Bundy helped me and another few travellers plan our trip along the Great Ocean Road, book our overnight coach to Sydney and arrange our hostels for the next destination (even though I asked not to stay in another Base!). He’s really friendly will go out of his way to help you so don’t hesitate to ask him if you have any worries!

In my last few words on this hostel I will revert back to the social atmosphere that I mentioned at the start of this post. When travelling here for the first time on your own it can be pretty intimidating compared to staying in smaller hostels with tighter knit communities. My advice is to stick it out, sleep through your jet lag and throw yourself into the established groups. If you get involved in all the day and evening activities, talk to as many people as you can at any opportunity (without being creepy) and generally just be social even if it means taking yourself out of your comfort zone then you will settle in in no time. Bite the bullet and remember that you’re here to travel and meet new people. You’ll have a blast!

Packing for your Australian Working Holiday, the mistakes I made.

One of the main challenges in preparing for a long-haul trip is deciding what to take with you. You don’t want to cram your backpack to the brim as you will pick up things along the way, but you also don’t want to scrimp on the things that you really can’t do without (trust me on that one). What you pack will all depend on where you’re going, what the weather will be like and the kind of life that you’ll be living.

Now, I’m not a travel packing expert, far from it in fact. But since I’ve embarked upon on long-haul trip to Australia I’ve soon come realize that packing the right things is important. The advice that was given to me before I set off was mostly “pack as absolutely little as possible” and “don’t be a ‘flashpacker’, you need to give up on the idea of the luxuries you get back home”. This is certainly great advice perhaps for someone backpacking around South East Asia, where the weather is very humid and what you wear in the day and evening doesn’t really matter, but in Australia, I don’t believe this is quite the best advice.

Below I’ve listed what I packed for my Australian Working Holiday, followed by some of the packing mistakes that I made. Hopefully this will help you to avoid them!

What I brought:

5 pairs of shorts, 12 tops, 5 pairs of shoes – running, converse, flip fops, flats and walking sandals, 2 bikini bottoms and 5 tops to match, 1 bag for both day and night, 2 pairs of leggings, 1 hoody, 1 cardigan, 1 pair of jeans, 1 black skirt, 1 beach dress, 2 bras, 1 travel towel, travel hair dryer, lots of medication including pain killers and plasters, hair bobbles and clips, jewellery, watch, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, body spray, razor, razor heads, soap, 2 x nail varnishes, small make-up bag, sun cream, 2x sunglasses, travel guide, books, headphones, ear plugs, face mask, mini hair brush and various other small items not worth mentioning.

What I wished I’d brought:

Gym clothes, nice flat sandals for the evening, 1 beach towel, another pair of jeans, more long sleeves, more pairs of underwear and socks, another bra, a long skirt, a hell of a lot more tops, another pair of shorts, a going out bag, an evening dress, pair of straighteners, a rain coat, perfume, heat protector spray, shower gel and not soap, face wash, clothes for job interviews including my black trousers, blazer and blouse.

What I shouldn’t have brought:

Crappy flip flops (ended up buying a better pair here), walking sandals (don’t need for Aus), 2 padlocks (one is enough), small travel face towel (just used my big one), travel fanny pack.

What I’m glad I brought:

Small sandwich box and plastic knife, fork and spoon – this has been really handy for making lunch for day trips and saving money.

I feel quite annoyed at myself with how little I packed for this trip, as I could have fit a lot more in my ruck sack and didn’t, and now I’m paying the price. I’ve already spend unnecessary money on new clothes since arriving here, which isn’t what I want to be spending money on. Below I have listed the main mistakes that I made, so hopefully you don’t too!

1. Pack more than 10 pairs of underwear

The one piece of advice given to me that I regret following was “only take 10 pairs of underwear”. Personally, I feel like this is bad advice. Underwear is lightweight, takes up little room and it’s an absolute necessity. Having to attempt to wash your pants in the sink once a week is a pain in the backside! Especially when most hostel sinks don’t have plugs, and they may not be all that clean. There’s also something about hand washing your undies that I feel just doesn’t feel as good as putting them in the washing machine. Then you have the issue of where do you hang them to dry? Hanging your knickers all over the hostel dorm when sharing with males is quite embarrassing. So, my advice would be to pack as many as you can as that you’ll have enough to last you until you will have to wash all of your clothes.

2. Pack ‘going out’ clothes as well as casual clothes

Not packing any nice dresses or nice going out clothes has been one of my main regrets since living in Australia. From my experience of traveling around Europe most backpackers generally dressed casually in the evening as well as the day, so I guess I assumed that this would apply to Australia too. Most backpackers here dress up, and it isn’t rare for girls to travel with high heels. Here, the advice “take as little as possible as you can always pick things up along the way” is also not the best, as spending your hard earned travel money on new dresses and other various items when you have a bunch back home that you could have bought with you isn’t very travel budget friendly. Don’t go over board with it, but I’d make sure you back a few pieces of clothing that you’d feel comfortable going to a nice restaurant or bar in.

3. Don’t attempt to cut out all your luxury items

Before embarking on my trip I read a lot of tips online about how to pack lighter. Whilst many of these tips were great, such as don’t take absolutely every lipstick or nail varnish you own, there were many that I felt weren’t very good, these included:

• Get a 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner to save on space. This doesn’t work for me, as my hair is bleached and I need a conditioner unless I want to loose all my hair when trying to brush it.
• Take a mini hair brush to save on space. This is SO annoying. Take a normal sized on.
• Leave the unnecessary items at home such as heat protector spray, body butter and face wash. Since being in the hot weather my hair has frazzled, my skin is peeling and dry and my face is spotty from wearing so much sun cream. As a result I have caved and brought these items since arriving, and thus spent more money when I could have just brought smaller and cheaper versions back home!

4. Do your research about where you’re going and what the weather will be like

I naively thought that Australia was always hot, mainly because many Australians told me that! Liars! This meant that I scrimped on warm clothing, left my rain mac at home and didn’t bring a pair of comfy pj bottoms. I flew to Melbourne on 15h October with a load of little beach shorts and vests and one long sleeve jumper. It turns out that it doesn’t get hot in Melbourne until around January, so I spent the first week feeling miserable as I was constantly cold and wearing the exact same outfit everyday. I also had to buy another cardigan to keep me going. Now if I had started in Cairns, this would have been the perfect type and amount of clothes to take, but I didn’t and now I’m paying the price for not doing my research.

Whilst I feel that you do need to cut back on the luxuries that you get back home whilst backpacking, at the same time when you’re in it for the long-haul you can’t comprise everything, especially when it affects your comfort, your health and overall your mood.

I hope this post has helped you ladies to decide what to pack for your Australian working holiday, and please don’t hesitate to comment with questions if you want even more specific advice or answers on what I took with me. 🙂

Penguins on the Pier – St Kilda, Melbourne

Now, call me crazy but I never thought that I’d find penguins in Australia, so when I was invited to go and watch the penguins at sunset I was pretty baffled. Still partly jet lagged and getting over the painful removal of a wisdom tooth, the idea of grabbing a hot pizza and sitting at the end of St Kilda Pier watching the sun go down sounded perfect. Myself and a few friends and new faces from my hostel headed down St Kilda beach just as the sun was setting. The view was amazing. This was the first point that I really felt like I was in Australia. It hit me, this is real, and this is going to be the best year of my life. An opportunity of a lifetime.

Sunset at St Kilda Beach

A good hour, 5 slices of Hawaiian pizza later and the penguins still had yet to make their appearance. I did not do my research properly when coming to Australia and was naive to believe that the entire country was hot all year. Man was I wrong. Melbourne in October is freeezing! Sadly, Melbourne is currently a similar temperature to dull and dreary England weather that I left behind and it is not rare to experience all four seasons of the year within the space of one afternoon. I clearly did not prepare well for this and so the group sat there huddled together to stay warm at the end of a windy pier.

Then popped up a penguin. Then another, and another. Then before we knew it there were at least 7 penguins peering up between the rocks on the pier. Some seemed to dance and pose, basking in the attention of the small crowd and flapping their wings around, while others nervously stumbled down the rocks to assess the situation first. The ‘penguin team’, a group of people in high vis jackets whose job it is to ensure the safety of the penguins in the evening, shone red lights on the penguins so we could take photos without using a bright flash to scare them. The penguins were absolutely adorable. They are called ‘fairy’ penguins as they are so tiny, and they spend their time during the day swimming around the bay catching fish, and then in the evening they return to their home between the rocks and entertain the crowd of watchers.

A moment like this might seem so small and trivial to many people, but for me this was a great feeling. There I was, only two days into my Australian adventure, sat on the end of St Kilda pier with a beautiful sunset behind me and the lights of Melbourne city sky scrappers in front of me, with a bunch of brilliant people. I felt so content. 🙂

Hurrah for a New King! Queens Day, Amsterdam April 2013

In Amsterdam, I pretty much did all of the typical things that, arguably, you’re supposed to do in Amsterdam. I hired a bike and cycled around the city like a lost tourist, I sat in a coffee shop and tasted the local ‘culture’, I sipped cold Heineken whilst perching alongside the beautiful canals in the sun, and I posed in front of various quirky looking buildings and tourist hotspots. I also did a bike tour, a bus tour and a boat tour, and got hilariously drunk in the streets.

Queens Day Celebrations!

Amsterdam reminded me somewhat of Brugge. A slightly seedier and grungier version mind, but still with the beautifully peaceful canals and pretty colourful buildings you could easily be fooled. I love how the roofs on the buildings look like stairs. I love how the front doors to the houses appear as if they are hovering over the canal water and you have to get a little dingy to enter and leave. I also love how everywhere is so flat and that push bikes are seriously dangerous forms of transport. Amsterdam fascinated me.

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I had never really thought all that much about visiting Amsterdam until I heard about Queens Day. The idea of a street carnival involving everyone dressing up in orange, selling their household junk on the street and basically partying outdoors all day and night in celebration of the Queen’s birthday really got me intrigued. What was particularly exciting about Queens Day festival this year was that the Queen was stepping down from the thrown and passing the role onto her son, soon to be King Willem-Alexander. This was definitely an opportunity not to be missed, I thought.

Queens Day Eve and Amsterdam was absolutely buzzing. The streets vibrated with locals, tourists and general on-lookers all getting ready for the big day. Shop and restaurant owners everywhere prepared by lining their buildings with orange decorations such as bunting, balloons, signs and lanterns, all in spirit for her majesty, Queen Betrix. Queens night left the streets piled with people and every bar was bursting with boozers, proud to be Dutch or simply proud to just be there.

Luckily, my hostel was conveniently central, which meant that I could roll out of bed and get to the main square fairly early in the morning just in time for the big hand over of the thrown. Now, as a 5-foot-without-the-fag-end kinda gal, no matter where I stand in a crowd I can’t see a thing. This is just something that I have come to accept, however, so I just aimed to enjoy the atmosphere as much I could, even if I was suffocated by people’s backs almost constantly.

Although I didn’t actually ‘see’ the ceremony due to height issues, I was there, and that’s all that matters. I just knew that it was fantastic by all the roaring applauses and cheers from the excited crowd! Orange smoke from party canisters filled Dam Square and left an orange hue about the city. It wasn’t long though, until the excitement dwindled and people dispersed (I’m guessing) to continue their celebrations in various areas of the city. So off I went, in search of other places to party like the Dutch.

Dam Square

After much wandering through a web of canals whilst drinking the cheap supermarket beers from my backpack, I soon ditched the map and made the decision that I would stop at the next place I saw with more than a handful of people and some good sounds. This turned out to be a small DJ set-up down a long, narrow alley, where there were already a fair few people congregating and moving to the music. I soon got talking to a group of Swiss girls all dressed up in orange who were carrying various inflatable items. These seem cool, I thought. If you enjoy a good comic inflatable then you must be pretty loose. I hung out with these girls for a while, shouting questions in their ears every now and then to get to know them, or perhaps just to try and justify my uninvited presence in their group.

A few hours later and the alley become uncomfortably over crowded. You could no longer dance and no matter where I stood I seemed to be directly in the line of the flow of people that were moving in and out of the crowd. This was cramping my style. Packed like sardines we all swayed from side to side, almost falling over. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was pretty mellow from certain local substances, claustrophobia definitely would have kicked in. Thankfully the general decision was to move on, so we all headed for Rembrandt square – the opening at the end of the street.

Whilst locked in the crowd one of the Swiss girls starting stroking my legs from the front and putting her hands in the back pockets of my jeans. Yep, this is happening, I was being hit on by a mixed-race butch lesbian from Switzerland. Not wanting to offend, and in the far-too-close-for-comfort crowd where not much could have been done for a swift escape, I gently moved her hands away and slipped further back between two strangers. Sadly, this was the abrupt end to my friendship with the Swiss girls. It was safe to say I moved on fairly quickly.

What happened after this part of the day was a bit of a blur, for aforementioned reasons. I basically strolled (or swayed) around the city soaking up the incredibly happy atmosphere, drinking, dancing and scanning the street markets for other people’s junk. My experience of Queens Day was absolutely incredible, and I will definitely be returning in the future for Kings Day, where I will also make it my mission to get involved in the canal boat parties that happen everywhere!

Other Amsterdam Experiences

I didn’t visit many museums during this trip as it was purely a visit-on-a-budget-and-just-wander-around-and-do-and-see-as-much-as-possible-without-having-to-pay-loads-of-money-to-enter-places kind of trip. I did go into the sex museum though, which was pretty surreal, and basically just a porn museum of all things old, new, cartoon, armature and down right messed up. In Amsterdam you soon become accustomed to the sex-obsessed nature of the city.

Speaking of such a sex tolerant city, the Red Light District is on another level. Although many people described the Red Light District to me before visiting Amsterdam, nothing could have prepared me for what I witnessed. I will attempt to describe it as best I can, but as it is forbidden to take pictures in this area of the city, you just have to go and see it for yourself.

Amsterdam’s Red Light District at Night

Go the the Red Light District at night. You walk along these long seedy alleys outlined by half-naked women posing and gesturing you to come towards them, kind of like you would see on a late night adult TV channel. But in person. The women stand in what look like small cubicles that are illuminated florescent red, with beds at the back and windows at the front. The windows are framed with bright red lights and have horrible velvet curtains installed across the top, so that when they’re drawn to, you know that the cubicle is occupied.

Some of the women tapped on the windows to get my attention, but as I was only window-shopping I quickly rushed past so as not to be rude and stare. I didn’t want to give off the impression that I was going to purchase, of course.

Lasting Thoughts

If I am to visit Amsterdam again, which I would certainly like to do, then I would go with a close friend and take a hell of a lot more money with me. In my opinion Amsterdam isn’t all that great for the budget traveller. Not only is the food and drink really expensive, but all the great historical museums come at a cost. Luckily the festival allowed me to save money as everyone ate and drink their own supermarket-brought items on the streets. But on the other days I was forced to eat nothing but chips from the ‘chipsy king’ as it was the only thing I could afford. Overall Amsterdam was brilliant. It was beautiful, crazy, sexy and quirky all at the same time, and I hope to see it again soon.

You win some you lose some – Budapest August 2013.

If I’m going to be completely honest in this blog, I really didn’t think much of Budapest. Yes, I know. How dare I?

There was just something about this place that made me feel quite uncomfortable and anxious. I’m not sure whether it was the buildings that looked like the insides of a chimney, or the streets that generally needed a good old scrub. It could have also been the overwhelming amount of beggars that congregated on curbs, that, literally, pleaded on their knees with their heads lowered to the ground, cupping their hands out in front of them whilst murmuring something in Hungarian. I know that there are homeless people in all places, but they just seemed to be so widely distributed and, well, obvious, in Budapest.

Getting off the train in my weak and hungover state, we first walked by a man on a bench in the train station violently throwing up all over the floor, and, over some poor people’s feet who were unfortunately sitting next to him. Seriously unpleasant. Confused, disorientated and unorganised, we were forced to get into a suspicious looking taxi to our hostel. With no idea about whether the price was a fair and genuine amount to pay, we had no choice but to agree and hesitantly get in anyway.

Now, the journey from the airport/train station to the hostel is almost always my favourite part of the whole trip. It’s that moment where you’ve landed in a new place, and you get to judge it for the first time. You look out of the window in the taxi (or other form of transport) and eagerly watch as the city reveals itself. Your eyes skim and scan everything in sight, racing to take it all in. It’s your first glimpse of somewhere new and exciting.

During the journey from the train station to the hostel in Budapest I felt slightly worried and shocked by what I saw. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting Budapest to be, but that wasn’t it. After arriving at the hostel, we soon discovered that we’d been massively mugged off by a cab run by the Mafia. You win some you lose some.

Struggling to walk with my foot injury in Budapest

The fact that prior to this trip in Prague, during a night out in a weird salsa club, I had been stamped on by a large man with large feet and conveniently very large shoes, made it seriously difficult to spend the days sightseeing. Although this often greatly dampened my mood as I hobbled around the city in pain, I soldiered on through (like the absolute trooper that I am), and also thanks to my wonderful travel companion, Harriet.

Personally I didn’t feel that there was much to see in Budapest. When I go to a new city I enjoy admiring the beautiful or distinctive looking buildings, climbing to the highest peak and absorbing the views, and visiting the quirky little shops and markets. In Budapest, for some reason, I just didn’t feel all that fulfilled. The very few main sights to see weren’t all that impressive in my opinion, and we didn’t really stumble across any markets. There was, however, a cute little carnival going on in a park in the northern quarter of the Pest side of the city, where we experienced a few odd men staring at us and shouting incomprehensible Hungarian words in our faces. That was strange.

Now, I know it sounds like I had an awful time in this city, and you’re now probably thinking that ‘Traveler shell’s’ blog is actually ‘Travelers’ hell’ – but to your surprise I’m not actually moaning. I had an incredible time here, met some amazing people, went on some fantastic nights out and stayed in a crazy hostel. I may have acquired a chronic foot injury, consumed way too many middle-of-the-night McDonalds, coughed up £70 at the airport for a fine for forgetting to print my boarding pass and went home with one less pair of pants that are now probably hanging on the ‘wall of lost pants’ at the hostel, but I had an absolutely amazing time here with great company and was happy with the memories that were made.

What I loved to learn: travelling isn’t all about loving, or pretending to love, absolutely everything and everywhere you see. If it wasn’t for the range of experiences and emotions that different places provoke, you wouldn’t have any stories to tell at the end of it all!

Hostel Review: The Mad House, Prague

My stay at ‘The Mad House’ in Prague was my first experience of a party hostel. Although I definitely did some partying at this hostel, the name wasn’t exactly fitting. The Mad House wasn’t actually all that mad. That aside, it was without a doubt the best hostel I’ve ever stayed at. Here’s why…

The Mad House Hostel, Prague

Seriously Secure

Tucked in just off a small cobbled side street on a main road, this hostel was seriously subtle (well apart from the sign outside that loudly and clearly said ‘hostel’). The main door was locked and secured with a code and there was a second large metal prison-like door at the top of the winding stairs which also required a different code to unlock it. Scary.

Whilst everything looked very solid and regimented at first view, as soon as we stepped through security the true nature of the hostel revealed itself. We were met by crazily bubbly and bouncy hostel staff who greeted us with two free beers, a comfy sofa, the itinerary for the night and a smile! Brilliant!

Bedrooms that felt like bedrooms and not prison cells/kids camp dorms

This was the only hostel that I’ve ever stayed in where I actually felt at home, and didn’t have that ‘I miss the comfort of my own home’ feeling. What I loved about the dorms here was that it didn’t at all feel like we were sleeping in a room with 10 other people. The beds were separated into the different winding corners of the room which felt like lots of smaller rooms rather than one massive room crammed with 12 people.

Luckily for us this meant that we got our own private little loft area, where we could get changed openly without having to struggle putting our knickers on under a quilt to avoid flashing other hostel guests :). As you can see in the pictures below the rooms were so homely, propped up with wooden beams and colourfully painted with jungle style graffiti and pandas smoking joints! Standard. They were warm yet airy, full yet peaceful, and sociable yet chilled.

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We actually took pride in taking afternoon naps in our little loft section of the room.

That Family Feeling

Downstairs there was a cute and cosy little ‘TV room’ which was jam packed with sofas, soft cushions and blankets where you could just sneak in and join other guests watching films in the evening before dinner. You could help yourself to beers in the fridge that was permanently stocked up so long as you popped 20 Czech crowns in the money jar on the top. Everything was so trusting and sharing, the staff even cooked a family dinner for all the guests one night for just a small price. I say ‘all’ the guests, the hostel was pretty small so this consisted of a few of us all packed around a table on make-shift chairs like family at Christmas time!

The Staff and The Crazy Nights Out

The staff were absolutely lovely. They escorted us around the different bars in Prague every night (at no cost!) and they encouraged everyone to be sociable, make friends and have a great time!

They were very organised and let us know the plan for the evening first thing in the morning by writing it on the notice board. They advised us where to go, what to drink, how to get home, and they were extremely laid back, approachable and hilarious. This made all the difference to our experience as it took the stress out of worrying where we were going and where the party was at! Although we did have a hard time finding our way back to the hostel each night in our drunken states!

Bar crawl in Prague!

The Free Stuff!!

Most importantly we loved the free stuff, and who doesn’t love free stuff?! This included:

• Cereal, rice, pasta
• Herbs and spices
• Tea and coffee
• Milk, other random bits and bobs from the fridge
• Maps
• Beers (not really but they were about 80p so practically free!)

All in all I would give this hostel 10 out of 10 and would definitely stay here again! It was very central, everything was in walking distance, the staff were great, the place was clean and the laughs were endless! Thumbs up 🙂

Let’s Sparty! Budapest’s Roman Baths, Hungary

What’s not to love about a good old sparty? (spa party).

Known as the ‘City of Baths’, I always pictured Budapest as a land of lusciously peaceful thermal springs where you can kick back, relax and and enjoy a tranquil spa session. My experience, on the other hand, was something slightly different.

I arrived in Budapest on a Saturday evening at the tail end of a horrific hangover, and was instantly whisked away by the hostel group to a ‘pool party’. This wasn’t any old pool party. This was
the Szechenyi Baths – one of Europe’s largest public baths. Based in the Pest side of town, every Saturday night in the summer the Szechenyi Baths host an epic pool party called Szecska.

Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures at this event as my camera wasn’t water proof #gutted. I did find some pictures online though that just about capture the night:

Szecska sparty in the Szechenyi Baths.

What happens at Szecska?

Szecska, in other words, is basically an open air pool party in 30°C thermal waters, live music blasting out of a DJ booth raised above the pool, florescent lighting shows, a bar around the edge and a shag load of people getting drunk and having a great time! This was, without a doubt, the best party I’ve ever been too! If you ever go to Budapest do not miss out on the Szecska experience!

Upon arrival you are given a card on a lanyard that you can top up with whatever balance you like and then you use this at the bar to pay for your drinks. When you leave you are then given back the (if any!) outstanding balance. Yes they have thought of everything! There is also a separate 38°C steam pool slightly away from the main party where you can go to relax and warm up. The whole pool is surrounded by majestic buildings and impressive statues, which I imagine is what living in Ancient Rome would have been like!

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The best bits!

• The whirling rapids and jaccuzi in the centre of the pool where people went crazy running around and swimming underwater and between everyone’s legs!
• The incredible and extremely diverse choice of music by the DJ
• I was also proud of my choice of bright orange bikini as I became fully illuminated in the pool (although pervy men starring at your pups is not ideal)

One down side, or some might say upside, of all the madness was that you had to drink your drink as fast as you could in order to avoid any pool water getting inside and making it go warm. And trust me, with people clearly weeing and having sex in the pool you do not want to be drinking that pool water.  Yes, people we’re having sex in the pool. We eventually became accustomed to floating by careless looking couples bobbing up and down in the water #classy

Other baths in Budapest

Around Budapest you can take your pick of various different bath spas to visit. Waking up completely dehydrated and brain dead in a hostel dorm of 10 people with no fans and a temperature of around 35 degrees, made a cooling and relaxing day at the baths sound like an absolute dream.

Aiming for the Rudas baths, after a long, slow and painful walk we eventually came to discover that they were closed for reconstruction. Thinking I may collapse at any moment, we trekked onto the next available spa (about 2 mins away!), the Gellert baths.

The Gellert baths, based on the Buda side of the city, were somewhat less impressive. They were more so just an outdoor swimming pool at a much more expensive price. I wasn’t complaining though (well actually that’s a lie), but I wasn’t going to turn it down. I refused to head back to the hostel un-relaxed and un-bathed!

The Gellert Baths, Budapest

The surroundings at this pool were more along the lines of concrete buildings and the sound of traffic rather than royalty style buildings. Not exactly what was expected after the standards had been set at the Szechenyi Baths. We also brought a chicken bap from the cafe there which was highly disappointing and horrendously dry. We weren’t moaning all the time though I promise – there was a fun little wave pool in the cold pool above that perked us up! And the rest of the day was spent napping in the sun #holidaybliss

So all in all. When in Budapest, sparty like the Roman’s do!

What I loved to learn: When traveling you will often meet the same people over and over again. Travelers tend to follow similar routes and so you tend to bump into familiar faces in random places! Which strangely makes me feel a little more at home.