Frosty England Christmas

Devon - Cornwall - Somerset - Bristol

Another week on the farm, from left to right: Herding the horses in to the paddocks with my bestmate, fatboy Moby the fat golden labrador; Kate cleaning the horse stables; Church we went to for the Christmas Carols; Leading the ponies into their paddock for the day; Me and Moby doing selfies; View of the farm; The caravan which is my own little private space; Cat on the right, me and the other helpers Kate from Canada, Valentino from Italy and Kate from Russia; Me, Valentino, Cat's mom Copper and Kate at the Church service.

After 2 weeks of regularly feeding animals, cleaning stables, pig pens, bird pens, plucking turkies, ducks, geese, chickens and dressing them, making sausages and burgers as well as selling them at the markets, I left the farm for the time being and spent christmas with Heather's family, from left to right: Christmas night Heather and Kegs slow dancing with a full stomach; Me in my christmas pressie mouse onesy and Dave, Heather's brother; The onesies!!!; Veriti statue on our north coast trip; Kegs being totally shitfaced!; Frosty morning; North coast beach; Same; Me, Heather and Livvie, Heather's sister being silly onn boxing day in Topsham; More of the north coast; Same; Wild ponies on the road on our way back home; Heather in Porlock posing on a cool shaped rock; North coast town; North coast town at night; Bridge across the river; Typical old phone booth; View of north coast.

After the biggest days of feasting and getting totally wasted, Heather and I drove up to Bristol to leave for Edinburgh and celebrate new years eve.  Coming soon is new years video of us jumping in to the river in Edinburgh. Brrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

Portugal, Spain, Netherlands and UK

Lagos - west coast and inland Portugal - Lagos - Malaga - Amsterdam - UK

The week started with a roadtrip up to the west coast of Portugal for 4 days.  The nights were cold and waking up with frost was becoming a daily routine.  It got cold as we headed further north but still warm enough to sun bath and swim in the ocean.  After 4 days, we finally head back to Lagos where I then spent my last night in Portugal.  I left early in the morning heading to Malaga, Spain where I have booked a flight to head to Amsterdam.  The bus trip took all day and I definitely felt very sad to leave Lagos, my new home, but it was time to go.

In Malaga, I caught up with my good friend Vince who hosted me in Paris and who is now travelling as well.  My flight to Amsterdam was on a Sunday and there was a fiesta then, the roads were closed off and my bus was late and had to go around to finally get to where I needed go.  I got to the airport late and panicked.  Luckily I've checked in online but couldn't check in my backpack, which I was really worried about because I had my swiss army knife, pointy pegs, large sizes of lotion which I was sure I was going to lose going through the security check.  I went through the security scanner feeling so nervous and my backpack passed through the scanner while the ladies in front of the monitor were too busy chatting away, probably whinging about having to work while there is a fiesta happening.  I quickly grabbed my backpack and left towards my gate with a huge smile of relief on my face.

After 3 hours flight, the plane landed in Amsterdam and I met my friend Manuela at the airport who had just landed from Italy.  She invited me to her apartment where I was h hosted generously.  Close to sunset, we went to her band practice and watched them play.  Manuela made my Amsterdam experience really really unforgettable.  At night, I headed to my friend, Lili and Michael's place, welcomed by a big plate of delicious lasagna and spent the night there.

From left to right: Lagos; First night camp inland west coast; west coast cliffs; west coast beaches, same for all 3 photos; our roadtrip car; west coast beach; inland Portugal; inland Portugal; west coast beach; Manuela playing in her band; photo of me beside my wall message in Lagos; Yarran, feeling on top of the world in the mountains of inland Portugal; me and Manuela

I then set off to the airport in the morning to fly to London.  When I got to London, I  immediately took the bus heading to Tiverton, Devon where I was then picked up by my Heather's (my pommy friend who turned out to be living near by)'s mom who took me straight to the farm I am currently volunteering at.

It's been a week on the farm now and it's been hard work but a really new experience and challenge which makes it fun.  It's an animal farm consisting horses, sheep, cows, birds, dogs, cats and ponies.  There were also 3 other helpers beside me from the US, Spain and Australia.

From left to right: me and beautiful Heather; Azure's (Heather's mom) house; same; Farm I'm working at; Beautiful Devon view; The farm

New home Lagos

Spain - Portugal

From left to right: Portimao, Portugal; Camped in National forest, South Portugal; Campsite in Sevilla, Spain; Campsite in Spain on the way to Portugal amongst horses; Portimao; Castle in Portugal; The frost I woke up to hitching in Portimao after waiting for 7 hours then finally got a ride after waiting another 4 hours (we need more hitch hikers in Portugal!!!); Really yummyy and interesting fruit found in the local market; Portimao

Kate, Gabriela, Laura and I rented out a car to go on a roadtrip to Monchique (high moutain seeing north and south portugal view), Sagres (End of the Western world) and beaches along south west.  From left to right: Monchique during sunset; Beach in Sagres; Beach in Sagres; Beach south of Aljezur; On one of the cliffs in Sagres; Same; Beach in Sagres; Same

Spent a week in Lagos making myself at home.  Had a really cute welcome in Lagos, was greeted by a black labrador with a winter scarf around its neck.  From left to right: Cool grafitti in town; Lagos cliffs; View of Lagos from cliff; More cliffs with Yarran; More cliffs; High tide; The rocks are eroting and this is a pedestrian walk and driveway infront of a hotel; More rocks; My gorilla shoes I wore everyday around town that Ben lent me; Flying kite on the beach with Fredrik; More rocks.

After welcomed by the labrador, Ben (one of ShangriLagos hostel owner) greeted me at the door just as I arrive.  Then I immediately felt home and been living in a house with my Lagos family.  From left to right: Cooking and washing dishes together; Snuggled together watching Death Proof; My first night at home; Thanksgiving dinner we did for Kate; Jamming after dinner; Fredrik, Alva and me after walking Phil (papa bear) to the train station; Crazy dress up night where we all then did a piib crawl around town while dancing and singing each way, until everyone was totally drunk of course (luckily most costumes survived the wild night); Cute picture of Gabriela, Kate, me and Laura on a giant chair (like tiny kids sharing a chair); Our beloved rooftop where we love to hangout during the day, sunbathe, yoga, learning the flute, playing the guitar; Fredrik, Maulice and me after walking Jack to the bus station; So, introducing my Lagos family, Maulice; Laura; Jack; Alva; Ryan; Fredrik; Kate; Yarran; Me on top of the world (exactly how I'm feeling); Ben; Alva with Tiago; Paula. Missing out on John's picture.  Sorry John.