The Highs of Travelling in Low Season

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 …

Continue Reading

Exploring Hangzhou’s West Lake

Firstly – all credit to Mitch for these photos. He takes my iPhone and snaps away, sometimes for a long time and I impatiently look at my watch. I then look at said photos later and they are stunning, so, credit to him. One of the main tourist attractions in our new hometown of Hangzhou is the West Lake. A gorgeous natural lake which was made a UNESCO site in 2011. Being so beautiful means on the weekend it’s buzzing with tourists (national and international), plus locals coming to enjoy the scenery, market and restaurants.

Continue Reading

10 Things I Need To Get Use To In China

We’ve been here for two weeks and I’m slowly learning the new culture and things I need to adapt to whilst here. Here’s my top ten: Tea I’m British. Nothing beats a lovely tea (with milk!), in the morning and when coming home after a long day. Although you can buy lipton black tea here, milk isn’t so frequent and quite the same. What’s more, when someone offers you tea, it’s not what you think. Yesterday I had a cup of tea, which was basically hot water and flowers. Not bad though. Roads The roads are mental. Traffic is awful. On …

Continue Reading

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 …

Continue Reading

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.

Continue Reading

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 …

Continue Reading