Getting Ghettofied

London may have made me somewhat streetwise but my street cred is a little lacking.

Thankfully there are always my lovely London co-workers on hand to help.

Today I learnt;

Blapp.

&

Safe.

It's coz I'm a proper South Londoner 'init?

The Art of Travelling Alone

I am no expert in the subject of travelling alone. I have some experience of it (both planned and due to circumstance) but have predominantly been lucky to have friends who love to travel as much as I do and have joined me on my adventures. However, through my own experience and chatting to my fellow backpackers, I have been able to identify some important factors that will affect the success of a person’s trip by themselves.

• Where you go
• Where you stay
• When you visit

Deciding where to travel is a hard enough decision when you consider how many amazing places there are in the world. Personally, I find that the more I travel the more places I want to go to. The ultimate paradox! Anyway, when deciding where to travel alone it is a good idea to consider what type of place you will be visiting. Depending on the type of holiday you hope to have, it is a good idea to find out if it is going to be a party place or a family orientated one. Obviously, it is a lot easier to meet people in a place where there is a lively nightlife. A town that encourages partying behaviour will attract other young backpackers so you are more likely to meet others whom you could then hang around with. Of course, some people will avoid the typical ‘party place’ and can’t think of anything worse than heading somewhere that young travellers, who are likely to enjoy a drink, are drawn to. But, for myself, if I do head somewhere alone I like to think I will find like-minded people (perhaps, a contradiction like myself, where I love to be surrounded by cool people but loathe the ‘typical Brit/Aussie/whatever abroad stereotype’ people – how judgemental of me!). Being the typical English-speaking person who’s never bothered to learn another language it’s always nice to overhear people speaking English and know I’ll be able to communicate with them. This doesn’t always happen though. I have found myself in a foreign city, surrounded by tourists – who were all speaking German! Therefore when deciding where to go, if you think you would appreciate being able to find others who speak the same language as you, you need to know how to find them. Steven, who has travelled to Thailand and other parts of Asia extensively, did advise that it is a lot easier in Asia, as English-speaking people are easier to find as they stand out!

Of course where you stay will also affect your chances of meeting others. Most young backpackers stay at hostels as there is where it is most likely they will meet people whom they can hang out and possibly travel further with.  Once again, this has a lot to do with luck, I have stayed at a practically empty youth hostel (more on that later) and have also managed to make a lot of friends along the way, through the places I have stayed.  My first trip to Berlin I stayed in the perfect room for these kinds of situations. I wasn’t technically alone but this was the part of the trip where Kristen got ill (so the next 2 cities I was almost a lone traveller) so when I met my fellow room sharers I got very lucky! They were great fun, they were all travelling alone themselves so were pretty flexible with what they wanted to do. We all hung out together, doing typical touristy things and then heading out at night to celebrate the brilliance that is Berlin!

Of course, all of the above, where you go and where you stay will mean absolutely nothing if you don’t go at the right time. Most places have a peak season and an off season; they both have good and bad points. Things are a lot cheaper in the off season and some people prefer having fewer tourists around.  I have been to quite a few places during their off season, for example when I went to the Greek Islands with a couple of friends from Perth it was the end of their peak season, not quite the off season yet but still a lot quieter than the height of their tourist season. Although, in that circumstance I was doing Busabout’s Greek Island trip so meeting people was never going to be a problem.

Obviously deciding to travel alone is a personal choice and there are definitely pros and cons to doing it or not. It can be fantastic because you can do whatever you want and don’t have to answer to anybody. Spending 24/7 with the same people can get a bit much, when you are alone you feel a lot more independent and there truly is a sense of freedom. You can change your plans at any moment and the only person who will be affected by it is yourself. I also think that being forced to make friends can be a positive experience, what’s the harm in meeting new people? Who knows what impact they could have on your life?

On the other hand, personally, I don’t always love my own company that much. There have been times when I’ve been alone and have gotten bored of my own thoughts. Plus there is the ‘traveller conversation’; most people who have been anywhere and stayed in a hostel will know what I mean. It’s the conversation you have repeatedly with fellow travellers – Where are you from? Where have you been? Where are you going next? Plus any other questions else along those lines. I have also spent quite a lot of time at airports alone. This is annoying as you can’t leave anything unattended so there is the fun of taking all your bags with you when you go to the toilet! Definitely not the worst things in the world but they do help you to realise how great your friends are!

My trip to Zadar had a little bit of all of the above. Zadar turned out to be quite a family orientated place, there was a surprising lack of English, Australian etc. people. And trust me, I knew! Because I was eavesdropping on conversations the whole time I was there, as I was on the lookout to meet someone I could have a conversation with. For the first day or 2, I met people and collected their names like my life depended on it, so glad to have met people I could chat with. Although for the first couple of days I was enjoying doing whatever I wanted; wandering around the town checking out tourist sites, cocktails (made especially for me!) at sundown whilst on a beanbag overlooking the water, pizza and beer near the sea organ, breakfast with the girls from my room and a day trip to the Plitvice Lakes (where a snake ran over my foot and I was alone so couldn’t scream!). It was after I hitched a ride back to Zadar from the Plitvice Lakes with a car full of English people that I decided I would wash my hair, do some research and get an early night. This didn’t exactly go to plan. I headed down to the bar with the Lonely Planet the hostel had lent me (thanks to Steven packing mine in his bag the morning I left!), ordered a local beer and sat down to take notes. I soon met 2 English guys, one who had managed to get a ride from Split airport to Zadar with a coach full of 19 year-olds who descended on our hostel that night. They had both decided to get tickets to Outlook Festival (the next stop on my trip) the day before so we soon got chatting and ended up having more than one pint of beer. As I mentioned, the hostel had been overtaken by 19 year olds, my room that was empty (yep, just me) only a few hours earlier now had a constant stream of teenagers coming in and out. I actually didn’t mind their noise and conversations as they got up to outrageous 19 year old shenanigans; they made me feel old but were highly entertaining! The next day we all hung out and got the ferry together to Pula (as it appeared that everyone at our hostel was staying there just to head over to Outlook). When we arrived in Pula late at night after our 5 hour ferry ride I had no idea where I was staying, just that it was going to be in a holiday apartment. A couple of other girls were also staying in the holiday apartments (most people were camping at the festival) so I got in a taxi with them and assumed we’d all be staying in the same area. Oh how wrong I was! We dropped those girls at the place they were staying where they were reunited with their friends. As for myself, after many minutes, phone calls, my driver stopping to ask for directions and driving whilst holding a torch (they don’t really have street lights there) I managed to meet my friends. I then had an amazing time!

Here are some lame photos from ''my'' camera;

Tourist shot in Zadar.

Making plans.

The 'Sun Salutation' light show.

The Plitvice Lakes.

Me at the Plitvice Lakes!

Found my friends, now we can party!

Boat Party!

Drunkest DJ's ever!

Reunited with friends.

Love this. The girls in our apartment eating dinner.

Good times.

Pretty much sums it up.

A conversation I had last night with a new English guy at work, when he found out I'm Australian.

Him: Wow! What's Australia like?

Me: It's amazing! I love it!

Him: Why do you live in London then?

Me: It's amazing! I love it!

2012

May have to be the year I grow up...and travel less.

Eek!

Things that baffle me.

So this is so not worthy of a post but it has been on my mind lately and I need to vent.

Do people seriously not know how to change a toilet roll?

I swear, I spend a good portion of my day at the office changing the toilet rolls in the women's bathroom because I constantly walk in and see this;

I just don't get it. Quite often a new roll has been acquired and obviously started to be used, but it is still not on the holder! And we have two right next to each other, I could maybe understand if one had finished and no one bothered to change it because there's another one right next to it....but when both are finished, here's a crazy idea! Put new ones on the holder!
Apparently I am not alone in this, when I searched for the above picture I found a blog where the blogger thought maybe people had a fear of doing it!?! This is because if the toilet roll holder has a free-loading spring (unlike the above picture) it could pop off and land in the toilet...riiiiiiiight. This could happen. However, I think I could get over it and get on with my day.

On that note, it's not the end of the world that I do have to change the toilet roll, there are way worse issues in the world! It just baffles me. I work for an incredibly fast-growing, start-up company where everyone is young and highly intelligent, yet they don't seem to be able to do (what I consider to be) a simple task.

Strange.

Of course, this isn't specifically an issue limited to London. But there are certainly things about London that also baffle me. Two examples are;

- How excited London was in late 2009/early 2010 when their coffee shops launched....

The Flat White!

They even had a launch with Peter Andre! 

- How the tube ends around 12.00/12.30am

Even in Perth the trains run late on a Friday and Saturday night, they run until 2am (although the drivers usually wait around for the last straggle of drunken revelers) and start again at 5am (they are even currently trialing a 4am service). 

Maybe not the arse-end of the earth after all Mr Keating?

Don't worry London, I still love you!

Счастливого Рождества! (Or Merry Christmas in Russian)

Christmas 2011 was spent in the lovely and very cold, Russia. We went for a whirlwind 5 nights and, despite being incredibly unwell (there was a virus going around London towards the end of last year); we managed to pack a lot into our trip. Although still relatively new to tourism I do feel like we had a touristy experience of Russia. However, St Petersburg and Moscow were quite different to the other European cities I have visited; they were even quite different to each other. St Petersburg is the ‘Imperial Capital’ and touristier than the capital, Moscow, where there was hardly any English written or spoken.  There is a fairy tale element to the country with amazing architecture and beautiful scenery.  It also has remnants of its Soviet past and I don’t think we have ever been through so many metal detectors (to enter; cafés, shopping centres, hotels, airports and many other places!). All in all was an incredibly enjoyable holiday, as shown in the following selection of photos from the trip – all credit is to be given to my good friend, Jess, who actually owns a camera!

It was so cold!

Even dogs wear tracksuits...

But we all know that snow brings so much joy!

Some more snow shots...

 

And it meant Jessica got her first White Christmas!

It was not just the snow that amazed us...

 A church and shopping centre in Red Square

Lenin's Mausoleum 

 Two of the many brides we saw getting married in the snow!

 St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow

 The changing of the guards.

 The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in St Petersburg

We got involved in Russian activities...

Watching The Nutcracker Ballet on Christmas Night

Watching traditional Russian Cossack Dancing.

Drinking tea on the overnight train.

Jess at the Moscow Circus (with her lollipop!)

 Ice Skating in Red Square

 So proud that I didn't fall over!

Jessica showing off her cool moves in her white skates.

And, of course, some partying;

Christmas night we went out until 5am (after basically falling asleep in the ballet)

Starting the night with beer that containted vodka may have helped keep us out until 5am....

Or the traditional shots containing tabasco...

We were told if we could survive the toilets in their bars we could survive anything!

The night ended with vodka shots (of course!) and dancing on the bar at Coyote Ugly with our tour leaders whilst wearing Christmas decorations as jewellery. (Probably a good idea we went home not long after this).

The beginning of a night out in Moscow...

After a lot of walking, rejection by bouncers, shots with crazy Russian strangers...

We found a place where we actually got in and could drink vodka shots with friendly Russian strangers, dance the night away and...

I could test my DJ skills.

Before it obviously became time to leave...

Spasiba for the memories, Russia!