Home Sweet Sweden

Gothenburg, Sweden

Honestly I don't have much to share on my blog this time regardless of the massive undescribable experiences I have had the last 2 weeks.

All I can say is that I feel very much alive and never as alive as I am now in my entire life.

5 countries in 2 weeks

Venice - Nice - Amsterdam - Guthenburg

We were planning to only stay in Venice for 1 night but ended up staying for almost a week.. We were both really looking forward to Venice and really excited about it. But once we got there the place was full of tourists and most of the boats on the canal were motorised. The gondolas were only used for tourists.

It was a bit dissapointing at first until we were lead to a place called Padova, which is about 10 minutes by train away from Venice. We discovered that this is where Venice has gone to. Padova was definitely a characteristic place and that was definitely where 'city of love' was.

At the camp we were staying at, we met a couple of Indonesian girls, beautiful and down to earth Putri and gorgeous and brilliant Siska. We didn't spend much time with them as they were staying only for one night, but it was really nice and Mats got to practice his bahasa indonesian a bit.

Venice and Padova pictures (photos taken by Mats)

After spending our last day visiting Leonardo Da Vinci museum, we started heading off to Nice where we planned to stay with our beloved extremely generous, wise and knowledgable brother, Greg. We had a really nice time spending our days and nights with Greg, beautiful Candice and extremely adorable Stellan. (Hearing a two year old speaking French is the cutest thing ever)

During our stay, we had the chance to visit Monaco for a day. Monaco is definitely something else.

After saying our farewells to Candice and Stellan, Greg took us to the train station for us to start heading off to Amsterdam.  Thank you so very much Greg for everything. <3

Nice and Monaco (photos taken by Mats)

2,5 hours of train ride and 23 hours of bus ride from Nice to Amsterdam. Mats' comment on that was "I've never lied for such an extended amount of time in the fetal position since I came out of the womb"

Amsterdam o Amsterdam, home we were to meet again with our beautiful sister Silvana and the cutest dog ever, Bodi. We only stayed for a couple of nights, but it was another great stay. Thank you again o so very much Silvana, we love you.. <3

After 2 nights, we took the night train heading to Copenhagen, Denmark that took 16 hours in total and we had 3 hours time to spend there so we headed off to a place called Christiania which is a hippy town in Copenhagen. It was the best place to hang out after a long train ride.

Then we got on the bus to head for Guthenburg, Sweden where we were picked up Mats' beautiful and loving mom, Helena, Mats' modest yet intellegent brother, Patrick at the station. Welcome home my love

Teaching English in Italy

Lapedona - Florence - Venice

Mats and I have been staying at Lapedona for the past two weeks where I have been teaching English to Italian children. It was an extraordinary experience where regardless of the communication problem, the children and I were able to bond. It was beautiful. There were 4 other teachers who were teaching as well, they were from the US. From the two weeks of spending time with the teachers, I have found my sisters from the US, Carrie (an absolutely gorgeous, beautiful hearted, fun and crazy girl) and Alex (a beautiful hearted, lovely, hillarious and gorgeous girl) who I had so much fun with during teaching.

Mats and I stayed at Gina and Tim's place with their beautiful triplets, Hamish, George and Stedely. They were absolutely wonderful.

From left to right : Me teaching my beautiful kiddies (they are absolutely gorgeous children); Winning the sandman making with Hamish and the kids. Hamish, one of the triplets, is my helper; Making sandcastle; Me and the kids having lunch together; Building the great barrier reef sand with the kids; Alex, me and Carrie; Another picture of us infront of our rhino sandman; Playing with the sand.
The pictures were taken by Gina Wills.

From left to right : Alex and George at the sunflower field; Dom and Tom; Me and kids singing the Kookaburra song for our performance; Me and Tim doing the Wombat Stew for the performance (Tim's the dingo by the way); Me and all the kids singing Kookaburra; Me at the sunflower field; Me and one of the kids, Beatrice doing the Miss Universe play for the performance; Treated at one of the local restaurants after our hard work performing, it's a battered pasta, it's super delicious; Me and Carrie playing red rover with the kids on the beach.
The pictures were taken by Gina Wills.

We left Lapedona yesterday (Sunday) and stopped by Florence to see Richard and Sandra again which was really nice. We left for Venice in the afternoon having gone through a slight problem with the bus not leaving from the bus station, instead it was leaving from the highway, which is absolutely ridiculous. So we ended up missing our bus but then we get to go on the fast train which I've always wanted to do, so that's good. Basically though, I am now SOOOOO over Italy!!!! Time to move on!!!!!

Poco Loco Italiano

Italy: Naples - Rome - Florence - Lapedona

The past two weeks has been a crazy, overwhelming and exciting days. After our trip through old town Bari, we went through the beautiful Amalfi Coast and settled ourselves down for a couple of days in Naples, where we enjoyed the ruins in Pompeii and the amazing vast Vesuvius.

We had a magical experience in Pompeii, where we entered an area that was somehow blocked, and parked infront of the Order of Malta building. We were able to park there for free and was welcomed to have our lunch at their dining area where we were given water and also asked to sign in their guest book where we also saw the Pope sign in their book previous days. After lunch, one of the guards gave us a little tour to the top of the tower where we could see beautiful view of Pompeii and Vesuvius. We were definitely overwhelmed by the generousity. It was a pretty amazing experience.

As we hit Rome, we parked at the public parking area to do some errands and came back with the car window broken in to and all of our bags missing. It was rather devastating having the feeling of losing our one and only home, but immediately the night the incident happened, we experienced one of the most magical nights of our lives. The universe was kind and generous enough to give us the luxury of having the perfect camp fire, eating fantastic food, spectacular view, nice calm night, amazing stones and entertained by the dance of fire flies. We were absolutely blessed.

After fixing what needed to be fixed, we headed towards Florence and met the wonderful Richard and Sandra. It's always been great to see them especially after what had happened, it was really comforting to see them.

After Florence, we headed to Lapedona, where we are now. We're volunteering at a house for 3 weeks, where I am also teaching English at a children's camp which so far has been fun and interesting.

Pompeii (the first picture was with one of the guards of Order of the Malta who gave us a little tour to the tope of the bell tower to see Pompeii view.

Vesuvius and a little bit of Florence (unfortunately I couldn't take plenty of pictures of Florence because my camera charger was one of the stolen items. So I can't take lots of pictures yet. :-(

This photo was taken by Richard and Sandra in Florence. Thank you guys. Love you both so much.

Lapedona (view of the place we are staying at the moment)

Road Trippin Italy

Amsterdam - London - Sicily - Reggio Calabria - Heel of Italy - Amalfi Coast - Naples

From left to right: Barbecue at Sil's place; On the moped with Sil and Bodi; Flight from London to Sicily; Mats under water in Mascali, north of Catania; Me and Mats on Santa Ana beach, Sicily; On the way to Mascali train station; Valley of Temples, Agrigento; One of the ruins at the Valley of Temples; Me, posing away; Mats on one of the ruins; Mats in front of the temples; Falling Angel; Ruins of temples; temple ruins, Agrigento; Leaving Sicily towards main land

From left to right: Mats posing away in Pizzo; Pizzo beach where we stayed for 2 nights; Pizzo, where it's famous for its gelato; Pizzo; I found a huge blow plant thing that I don't know the name of which I tried to blow the first time as seen on picture and failed; We rented a car in Lamezea Terme and started our road trip and this is our first home for the night; Watchin the sunset on our first night road trip; Then we headed to the end of the heel of the boot and this is far south; Italy town; Coast drive on the east coast Italy; This is the end of the heel; One of a villa on the east coast of Italy; Drive on the east coast of Italy; Our next home on one of the cliffs on the east coast; Our home for the night; Our beautiful view; Watchin the sunrise from home

From left to right: Us in our home driving away in Italy; The church at Alberobello; Trulli style building in Alberobello; Beautiful Trulli style houses in Alberobello; Our next home for the night on the beach on the east coast; Amazing super old looking olive trees on the east coast; One of the olive tree growing in to the retaining wall; Church in old town Bari where the old houses are still occupied by the locals, it's really a nice walk there with clothes hanging and smell of tomato paste in every part of town that makes your stomach rumble; San Nicola church in Bari; Same; Mats and I infront of one of the houses in old town Bari; Me posing away infront of the Roman ruins; Ghost town Candela where we tried to find food but everything was shut and no one was there to ask; Old town Bari; Almafi coast drive

Amsterdam oh Amsterdam

London - Amsterdam

After our short stay in London, we hopped on the bus that took 12 hours altogether to get us to Amsterdam.  We got to Amsterdam early in the morning and went straight to our beautiful and lovely friend, Silvana who lives at the North side of Amsterdam. Silvana lives in an apartment block that has the best views of Amsterdam where you can see the sunset each evening and sunrise each morning.

We stayed for 2 weeks with Silvana and Bodi, her super smart, full of character Amercian Bulldog. The first few days, Amsterdam was covered in rain then after that the weather has been really nice and sunny. As it has now been the third time I visited Amsterdam, we didn't do much cruising around.

It has been the most relaxing time this last couple of weeks, as Silvana has made us feel so much at home and feel so comfortable. Thank you our beautiful, charismatic, and sweet Silvana for sharing your beautiful home with us.

Thanks also to my awesome mate, Manuela for the great company and delicious lunches we've been having. Good luck on your travels and I'm so so so so happy for you.

From Left to Right: Last day in London; On the bus to Amsterdam; At the park having lunch with pigeons; Amsterdam!! One of the bridges that we walked through when Manuela took us for a walk; Having a little walk with Sylvana and Bodi; Bodi, the super cute snazzy dog

From left to right: Sylvana and Bodi; Me, Syl, Mats and Bodi (love this pic); A DJ live concert we saw from Syl's balcony, the stage was awesome with fireworks and everything; Night view to city centre from the apartment; Day view to the city centre; Some random pavement art I happen to saw at the red light district.

Addendum Heather

My travel lately has been really intense and I have managed to fit in some time to write my blog yesterday but realiseed that I should've taken more time to write it as I realised that I haven't written about the most important person of my UK trip.

Heather, this blog is especially for you.

From the first day I arrived in England, through you, I was saved by your mom from getting stuck in a town I was not familiar about at all in the middle of the night.

As I finally saw you for the first time after a few years, I couldn't help my tears running down my cheek. You radiate so much energy of love that  it just made my heart melt.

You took me in as part of your family for Christmas and I experienced one of the best Christmas celebration in my life. The love your family have given me made it so perfect and it was very special.

We went to Edinburgh together and had the best and craziest time celebrating Hogmanay with our friends and people we met there and especially with our cheeky monkey, Vince. Our New Years Celebration was definitely my best New Years ever, especially when we braved ourselves and made the effort to do the Looney Dook together. It made everything become even more perfect and the best.

Bristol has been my home for times and I want to really thank you for giving me and Mats shelter and such comfortable bed and for sharing your food with us.

Heather, my beautiful sister, one of the purest soul I've ever met, a strong minded and big hearted young woman with beautiful dreams that will change the world and the most fun, loving and caring person I have come accross with. Thank you so much for being you and for being there for me. I wish I could express my love and appreciation more, but I know you feel it.

I hope I'll see you again soon. I love you so so so very much.

Kicked out of Stonehenge

Cirencester - Glastonbury - Bristol - Salisbury - London

After working with Sue on her garden at Cirencester, we decided that it's time for a break from working. So, we headed off to Glastonbury to go up to the Tor and feel the energy from one of the earth's chakra.

Glastonbury is such an interesting town. It's like a constant festival, where people can just dress how every they like. Everyone were individuals and depending how they perceive your energy, they would smile at you or try to avoid you.

We walked up to the Tor, but not to forget to stop for some water from Chalice Well, then climbed up the steps towards Tor. On the way, we met Rick O'Shea, who is a native Irishman and have travelled the world following his heart where he has been adopted by his ancesters in South America. He was a very interesting man. We continued on walking up to the Tor and heard some drummings and followed the sound.

As we got there, we saw a few people drumming and chanting, so we looked for a spot where we could meditate and Mats lead our meditation synchronized with the music playing. It was beautiful and the energy was really strong.

On the way back, we met Rick O'Shea again and talked to him for a longer time before we said goodbye.

From left to right : Mats working on the garden; The chicken house we built; Sue's beautiful garden view from our bedroom; Mats watering the garden; Glastonbury Tor; Steps to Glastonbury Tor; The viw from the Tor; White Dove in front of a house; Chalice Well; A monument in front of our hostel; The Tor; Mats on top of the wall to the Abbey

Glastonbury felt like home. My visit there was too short, but I as I followed my heart, I found the answers and things that I needed to find there. But I will definitely come back one day.

We then continued on travelling to Bristol to say goodbye to Heather, as we won't be around the area for a while now once we hit London. We had a really nice time in Bristol and luckily it was Heather's day off the next day so we stayed up almost all night.

The next day, we left for Salisbury where I have booked a place to stay which is a Midieval town house. This is probably the oldest house I've stayed in my life. It was built around the 1400s.

At Salisbury, we met Mark and his family.  Mats met Mark a few months ago on his first visit to Salisbury. Mark, Kate and Harry picked us up and we went off to Stonehenge together. Stonehenge was full of regulations where people were herded like sheep everywhere. 'You must go here, you can't go there, Walk in a line, Bla bla bla' I found it really ridiculous, especially that this world heritage belongs to everyone in this world built by our ancestors.

Anyway, as we walked closer and closer to the stones, the energy became stronger and stronger. Everyone had to walk around the stone and could not pass the line to walk to the stones. The lines were only open during winter and summer solstice, only 2 days in a year that the 'government' allows people to touch the stone.

I thought that I won't be here during the summer solstice nor the winter solstice and I had a great urge to feel the stone. I had to give some of my energy to the stone and I needed to accept some as well. So without thinking twice, I jumped over, actually, more like tripping over, the line and ran to the stone and felt it. It was one of the most overwhelming feeling I ever had, it was definitely a mix of adrenaline rush and the energy from the stone.

One of the guards then came after me and we had a chat. I expressed my feelings and thoughts and he still told me off and we had to leave the premises. That's when Mats said "Yes, the cattle must be herded" and that really shut the guard up. Becausae he knows for sure that it's true and it is ridiculous as he claims to be pagan but treats humanity as sheep.

Anyway, so, we left and went back to Mark's place where we spend the whole day chatting and playing with the kids.

I felt really proud of myself for having done what I did. I would have regreted it if I didn't touch the stone.

From left to right: The midieval town house we stayed at; Perdy the cute friendly dog from the house; Inside our room; Mats in the room; The house from the backyard; The massive church at Salisbury; Same church; same church; The oldest clock located in the church; Me touching the stone; The guard chasing after me

The next day, we headed off to London where I booked a place in Roehampton. From a luxurious classic midieval town house, came to a dodgy mangky apartment. But it turns out we were brought to Roehampton for a reason where we met a really interesting guy in the morning on our way to the city.

We went to the Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and also saw the Eye. Then I thought that would be enough touristy things for me. So we headed off to China Town to get some dinner.

Our next trip after London is Amsterdam!!!!! Yaaaaaaaay!!!!

From left to Right: Princess Diana's memorial; Big Ben; Buckingham Palace; Squirrel's everywhere; A tower alongside a river; A church; Fountain infront of the Buckingham; Crossing the river; Us under the Big Ben; An interesting church as we were cruising around the city.

Cornwall.. It sure ain't England..

Totnes - The Lizard - Cirencester

It was Tuesday morning, the sun was shining, our bags were packed. We were ready to head off. Leaving Manuel, our crazy beloved adopted Spanish brother was quite sad, but as travelling goes, we needed to move on.

It was sad to leave the lovely wise Olivia and Chris who's such a sweetheart too. Chris dropped us off at the train station to start our journey heading to Cornwall where apparently things are different there and the streets are much narrower. I was amazed when Chris said that, the streets in England are narrow already, how else narrow can it get???

After travelling for 4 hours, we finally got to Cornwall, sure enough the roads were a lot more narrower than other parts of England. As we hopped off the bus, a lady spoke to the bus driver asking for a schedule and the bus driver said "we don't have a schedule, it's Cornwall!" Hahaha.. That's funny!

We walked around the supermarket and spoke to the guy at the store and in the middle of the conversation, he said "well, it's Cornwall!" I love that! Secoond time in a day hearing that, just confirms how Cornish are relaxed people.

From left to right: The night before we left Totnes, celebrating Manuel's birthday with Rowan, Rafi, Manuel, Mats and me; Mats walking through the forest heading towards Porthallow Beach; A nice little garden at Porthallow Beach (random, just found it interesting really, with the colour coordination and stuff); Auuuuw, how cute, found a carved out heart shape on a pipe; The rest of the photos are Porthallow beach

We finally got picked up by our host Jonathan. His place is located in St Keverne, where he builit a BnB consisting of a few interesting buildings, such as the tree house and gypsy caravan. Beside his place is a massive Cattle farm. A nice place to stay but after been working there for a while and hearing from his own lips saying "I'm a control freak, I like things my way", Mats and I immediately felt uncomfortable helping out there. Jonathan is definitely not Cornish.

So, after staying there for a week, we headed off to Cirencester where Sue, our new host was expecting us to help out with her garden.  It was nice to experience a bit of Cornwall though, they are different to England, they speak differently and have a rather strong Celtic culture. Since we arrived at Sue's place, we've been working throughout Easter and it has been really fun and nice hanging out with her. Two days off tomorrow!! Yes!! Sleep in!!

From left to right: The tree house; The garden; The pond; The Hobit Hole; The Gypsy Caravban; Helston; Narrow road in Helston; Cheltenham Spa, waiting for our bus to Cirencester

My new home in Totnes, England

Totnes, South Devon, England

The last two weeks, Mats and I have made ourselves comfortable in our new home in Totnes. Our stay here is a very short yet most comforting with our hosts, lovely wise Olivia and remarkably witty and cool Chris as well as their children, Sole, Rafi and Rowan.

We had our own little summer house to live in which we share with our awesome and hillarious Spanish mate who is our brother now, Manuel. The summer house faces an incredible view of south Devon.

From left to right: On our day off, Mats and I went for a walk along the river and steam train track where we went for our cold little dip. We found a couple of beautiful ducks; Dew on the plants in front of our room; Me, posing on a log; Our cute little summer house with a huge rose plants that is ready to bloom in May, shame we won't be here to see it; Our view from our room, the typical Brittish weather with mist all day long; The walk along the river; Me, climbing up a tree on our walk; The beautiful river

On the weekend, Olivia and Chris took us to town to check out the markets where we had really good curry and where we discovered the uniqueness of Totnes. I love Totnes, it's a very cute alternative little town.

It was a nice sunny day on Sunday, so Chris took us and Sole to the beaches in South of Devon. It was a really nice day where we managed to get a bit of tan after all the rain we've been getting lately.

From left to right: One of the beaches Chris took us to in South Devon; Same beach; This is one of the rural beaches close to Dartmouth with incredible views; Mats, posing on the beach; Me, after dipping in the water preparing to sun bathe; Manuel found a hammock where he had his little siesta after lunch, not too bad at all; Sole, Chris, Manuel, Mats and me having a picnic on the top of the hill facing the beach; Our view while munching our delicious soup and sandwiches; Mats and Chris chatting away; The boys walking along the beach.

It's our last day of stay in Totnes and it was Manuel's birthday today where I cooked him a mix of my recipe and Olivia's recipe. I also baked him a nice big guiness cake. It was really touching how much he appreciated my gift to him. It was a very emotional birthday. I'm sad that we will have to depart tomorrow, but that's travelling for ya. I'm definitely coming back one day.

St Paddy's to the fullest in Ireland

(Ireland) Kilkenny - Bray, Dublin - Cork - (England) Birmingham - Bristol - Torquay - Totnes

After 10 days of house cleaning and baby sitting, I went off to Bray, Dublin and visited my lovely Lithuanian mate Ed who was living with Dan, who's local and amazing and Kumiko, who's from Japan and such a sweetheart. We spent the whole night watching Mighty Boosh and talking, then decided to get up really early the next day to go to Ireland's tallest waterfall which is located in Powerscourt.

We were running late to catch our bus to Powerscourt, so we had to run all the way to the bus station. I was running behind the boys with a peanut butter toast in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. The girl's gotta have her breakfast!

We got to the bus a bit early and met some interesting characters on the bus, including a drunk man (this is 9am in the morning by the way) and Bray's Elvis who was singing all the way.

We got to Powerscourt and had to walk 6 kms to the waterfall. So as we walked, we stuck our thumbs out and got a ride. Yes! My first hitch hike in Ireland. We got to the waterfall, and it's a beautiful place. We also took the time to be children again and played on the playground until a bus of school kids came and took over the place. 

That night, we went to Harbour Bar where I met local Bray people who are awesomely fantastic people. The band was amazing, they were songs they were singing were humorous Christian songs. They were hillarious and I love how the main vocalist was wearing a night gown and a lamp on his head with a bushy red beard. Really felt the St Paddy's vibe.

The next day, we went to Dublin and cruised around the city where we met beautiful Tayo, Dan's friend. We all then went back to Bray and went to Harbour Bar again that night. Different people came and it was a different band, but still singing hillarious Christian songs. I absolutely love Bray.

After another late night, the next day the 3 of us went to the beach and jumped in to the ocean. Ireland's the coldest place I've been to so far, but I had to jump in to the sea in Bray because I felt like it was my home. After being all fresh, Ed and I hitch hiked down to Cork. We had 3 rides altogether and waited beside the road no longer than 1 hour. 

From left to right: Foggy day in Kilkenny; The band playing at Harbour Bar, Bray; Foggy Bray; Bray pebbly beach; Dan and Ed being little boys playing in the playground; Me beside the river of the waterfall; The three of us walking to the waterfall before hitching a ride; Ed, me and Dan posing away; Me and Ed in front of the waterfall; Ed and Dan; Dan in his cubby hole; Dublin with its green buildings

When we got to Cork, met up with super lovely Simona and her housemates, Fladdy who's such a sweetheart and the charming, extremely intellegent and hillarious Daryn. Ed and I stayed at Simona's place. The three of them were such great hosts. We were extremely spoilt with food and drinks.

The first night in Cork, we went out to a pub. The live music that was happening there was a jam session, so it was nice a spontaneous. Then we ended up dancing our heads off at another pub with DJ playing some tunes. When we got back to Simona's place, Daryn and I jammed all night long, which was really nice.

The next day, St Paddy's day!! The day that I was suppose to get absolutely pissed since the afternoon. So I planned to start early. To complete the maximum St Paddy's experience, lovely Daryn cooked us an Irish breakfast in the morning. Then after that it was just liquid diet. I dressed up in a very non St Paddy's costume, which is a Japanese Manga style dominated by the colour pink but needed a little token of green, or something to do with St Patrick's day, but didn't have much luck when going in to shops on the way to the pub. But as I walked out of the first pub, a girl who was fixing her bike on to a pole, saw me and gave me a tiara that says 'Irish Princess'. Perfect! It completed my St Paddy's costume.

It was 15 of us that  night and we were pub crawling. I had my guiness, beamish and murphys. I must say that Irish guiness does taste different from you have it somewhere else and it's so much better. I actually really like it. 

Having drunk so much, I managed to get myself sick all over the city of Cork. I was feeling really terrible for doing that at that time, but it was really comforting when as I was feeling sick, people around me were talking about their st paddy's and throwing up all over the city experiences. 

The next day, it was another day for everyone. People went back to their day to day activities. Accompanied by Daryn, I walked to the bus station to go to the airport. 

Goodbye for now Ireland. I definitely shall return one day.

From left to right: Simona with her Beamish and Fladdy; The beautiful church in Cork (something about this church); Me in my St Paddy's outfit; Having Irish breakfast with Simona, Ed and Daryn; My Irish Princess tiara; Me and Ed hitching down to Cork; Me and Daryn on the way to the bus stop; Birmingham; Another picture of the church in Cork; One of Banksy's graffitti in Cork; Birmingham.

After not meeting for 2 weeks, I finally met Mats in Birmingham where we spent a couple of nights there. Then we head to Bristol and spent the night with Heather and Libby.

The next day, spontaneously, we decided to head to Torquay before starting to help out at a place in Totnes. We spent a couple of nights in Torquay and saw amazing things such as Sandy Man's art work on the beach, a couple of swans on the beach who came really close to us and of course the amazing views of Torquay, the English Riviera.

On Sunday, we headed to Totnes and met Richard and Sandra to have a nice picnic with them. We had our picnic in Dartington estate, where the trees were starting to flower. It was a beautiful place.

From left to right; Beautiful beach of Torquay; The magnificent swans; Torquay beach; Sandy Man's art work on the beach; Geoff, the Sandy Man; Mats blessing the water in Torquay for the World's Water day; Torquay; St Matthias Church in Torquay; View on the way to Totnes; The flowering trees in Dartington; Richard, Sandra, me and Mats; Richard and Sandra

After an amazing week of catching up with friends, we finally got to our home for the next 2.5 weeks in Totnes. 

Farewell Ilfracombe, England. Lookout Ireland, here I come!

Lee Bay (England) - Ilfracombe (England) - Totnes (England) - Bristol (England) - Dublin (Ireland) - Gowran (Ireland) - Kilkenny (Ireland)

Leaving the Grampus Inn at Lee Bay was one of the sadest thing I've done so far in my trip, especially separating from Lucy the dog. But life goes on and it's a risk I have to take as a nomad.

The last week I spent at the Grampus had been a spectacular week. While working for the day or night shift, I have managed to fit in some time to say goodbye to the coast, Ilfracombe and some of the locals I have grown to love.

The walk along the coast was amazing. The weather varied from a nice warm sunny day, grey cloud, windy, rain then rainbow, and not just a normal rainbow, but a double rainbow. To top that off, Lucy managed to roll around on fox shit that she successfully able to cover her whole body with.

The next day, I had another surprise visit from Phil Prophet aka Papa Bear. Phil was the member of the big family from Shangrilagos, Lagos Portugal. It was a really nice surprise, unfortunately it turned out to be a very short one. Phil only hung out with us in the afternoon til night, but it was really good to see him.

The following day, accompanied by Mats, I walked along the coast to Ilfracombe. It was a really nice walk where we passed some friendly sheep who were very keen on our snacks. In Ilfracombe, we visited Sara, as well as Mat and Arthur to say hello and goodbye in case I don't see them at the Grampus Inn on Friday night.

From left to right: The first 5 pictures are the view of the coastal walk from Lee Bay to Ilfracombe; Sara's awesome retro record player, absolutely love it!; Sara and adorable Dudley; Mats making friends with one of the sheep; Lucy in front of the double rainbow, a bit hard to see the second one; The next 3 photos are the coastal view from our walk along the coast from Lee Bay to Mortepoint; Me and Lucy at the edge of the cliff posing away; Mats gets daring with the waves.

The last Friday night at the Grampus was not too busy but it was nice. I was really happy to see the lovely, beautiful and bubbly Sara, the naturally funny Danny, gorgeous Holy (Sara's daughter) and the lovable Arthur, with the most beautiful eyes anyone can have, come in to Grampus. It was a sad night saying goodbye to them, as well as wonderful lovely Sandy, and Neil, the hillarious and cheeky chef who loves to pull your leg constantly.

For the first time at Grampus, I managed to get Sara, who is an amazing pianist to play the piano. It was the best farewell gift I could ever ask for. Thank you Sara, you really touched my heart deeply.

From left to right: Danny and Sara chatting away with Phil aka Papa Bear; Last Friday night at the Grampus with the highly talented boys jamming away together, Cristobal on his sax, Danny on his Base and Arthur on his guitar (you guys are amazing!); Me between Holy and Sara; Sara dressed up playing on the piano (such modesty of a great talent which I really admire Sara for, you're truly amazing, Sara, love you heaps); Me and Bill, the man who made it all happen; Me and Mats on our last shift working in the kitchen with Neil (I can't believe I didn't take a picture of Neil); Beautiful Sandy and her masterpiece coffee; Me and Ronan, who's an awesome chef and such a sweetheart; The unforgettable Lucy who will always be my soulmate; Me and fantasticly highly talented musician Cristobal; Me and Laurin who instantly became my bestfriend from day 1, love ya girl!

Saturday morning, I had my bag all packed and ready. I woke up with Lucy snuggling on my feet and cuddled her for as long as I can before leaving her. I went downstairs and joined the others for our last morning porridge. It was 10am and time to go. I said my farewell to Cristobal, Ronan and Laurin. Walked to Bill's car with Lucy following me whereever I went. I finally got her to catch a ball so that I can close the gate behind her, I hopped on the car and there she was, behind the gate wondering where I was going. I couldn't help the tears running on my cheek seeing her as the car drove away from the Grampus. Goodbye Grampus, my England home. I will be back one day.

Totnes was the next destination where Richard and Sandra is house sitting at the moment. When I got to Totnes, we met infront of the Seven Star pub. It was really good to see them after our meeting in Edinburgh. We then headed to their place which had an amazing view and luxurious rooms. It was a B&B and I was absolutely spoilt with the room I was staying in for a couple of nights. Their friends, Chris and Lisa were staying there as well for the night. It was really nice to spend time with them as well. Richard and Sandra made sure that we were well fed and comfortable. Thanks so much guys, you are the best. I'm so happy we keep meeting on our travels. I love you guys so much! You're truly amazing.

From left to right: Crossing the river on the way from Totnes to the house; View from the house; Another view from the house; Richard chillaxing on the balcony; Vending machine for umbrellas, only in England!; Harry the dog Richard and Sandra are taking care of with his funny sleeping position; Our last day together, At the pub; Our first night together

After spending two nights in Totnes, the journey continues on to Bristol where I spent the night at Heather and Libby's place before flying off to Dublin the next day. Thanks for always letting me stop over, Heather. You're the best!

The next day I flew to Dublin and caught the next bus to Gowran where my host that I will be staying for a couple of weeks is. So far, Ireland has been the coldest I've been with very moist air. The landscape around me reminds me alot like England.

The second day, I went to Kilkenny where most of the buildings are grey because of the local material in the area which is lime stone. As my main purpose of visiting Ireland besides experience the local culture is for St Patrick's, I was walking down the road of Patrick Street and met a man who then walked with me around town passing Patrick's Graveyard and introduced himself as Patrick. How bizzarre!

From left to right: A river I took a photo of on my walk in the area; The barn of my host's farm; View from the house; The house I'm staying at; Along side the river in Kilkenny; Church in Kilkenny; Patrick's Graveyard where I met Patrick; Hmm.. Something's not right with the map; Church on top of the hill in Kilkenny; Me around the castle; The entrance of the castle; The castle in Kilkenny; Kilkenny; Kilkenny.

My next blog will be about St Patrick's Day. Yaaaaaaaaay!

Last month in Lee, Ilfracombe, England

Lee, Ilfracombe, England

The first week of my last 3 weeks staying in the Grampus was highlighted by new volunteers from Spain and the US. Meeting Laurin from the US felt like I have known her forever. Immediately when I met her, she reminded me of one of my bestfriend, Nuni. Having Laurin around has been a big tease with the fact that she's a really good baker and have been volunteering to make the most delicious devilish carrot cakes that are hard to resist.

As for Cristobal, who is an absolute sweetheart from Spain. Friday accoustic night opened up his tremendous skills on playing the saxophone, spanish guitar, flute and singing, not to mention his cooking skills in making Spanish food.

As for Mats, from Sweden, who has been volunteering here for almost 3 weeks now. Our conversations about life and the universe increasingly becomes more and more interesting each day as he is a great and deep thinker.

My time spent in the Grampus has been occupied by the company of these extraordinary travellers, not to mention Bill and of course Lucy, who has been my loyal companion as far as I have been living here.

From left to right: Daily morning porridge with Bill, Mats and Laurin; A muddy and adventurous walk to Ilfracombe with Laurin where she walked in to deep mud; Our beautiful view of the coast walk to Ilfracombe where we were chased by instant weather change of gail and hail storm; Beautiful view of our Ilfracombe walk; Another beautiful view of the coast walk; Laurin; Farm we passed by on our Ilfracombe walk; Laurin again admiring the view; Another beautiful view of the coast walk; Ilfracombe; Stopping by at Mark's place, who is one of the local musicians in Ilfracombe where Laurin was trying out his didgeridoo; Cute little Lucy during my daily walk with her; Cristobal and his Tortillas de patatas; Me, Mats and Cristobal at the dinner table dining on Cristobal's delicious spanish food; Bill and Laurin munching up Cristobal's cooking.

The second week of my last 3 weeks in Lee was highlighted with another dance that I performed on Friday night (sorry, the video was too heavy so I can't upload it in the internet). The next day, Heather and Azure came to visit me at the Grampus. We went for a coast walk with Lucy, continuing with delicious dinner at the Grampus, spiritual talk with Mats and ending with a nice jam that I did with Danny. It was a nice day.

From left to right: Had a day visit to Ilfracombe with Mats and Cristobal, this is Mats with the beautiful landscape of Ilfracombe; Beautiful Ilfracombe coast; Me and Mats on the harbour; View from the church on top of the hill; Cristobal below the church on top of the hill; Beach in Ilfracombe; Power plant in Ilfracombe that's been converted in to a theatre; Ilfracombe coast view; Mats posing infront of the church on top of the hill; Me, posing on the harbour; Rock wall in Ilfracombe that has been destroyed by the recent storm; Lovely Heather taking a picture on our coastal walk; Heather and Azure on the beach in Lee.

Lovin livin in Lee & Brendo surprise visit

Lee, Ilfracombe and Lynton

As I was having a ciggarette with one of my workmate, Mats outside the kitchen just behind the pub entrance in my mouse onesie, a bloke walked towards us. I thought he was lost and confused where the bar entrance was, so I pointed out to him where the bar entrance is "The bar entrance is just there" I said. He didn't stop to turn around though, instead he called out my name "NIA!". I thought it was one of the locals from Ilfracombe that I've met, so I tried to look closer to figure out who it was. 

It looked like Brendo, but I tried to look again because I thought there's no way it's Brendo. He came closer and it was Brendo!! I shouted "NO WAY!!!!!" and without thinking twice, I ran and jumped on him and basically latched on him like a leech. I was in tears and couldn't believe that he was there!!!

It was one of the best surprise I've had in my life. Brendo, you are a bloody legend!!! Brendo discovered where I was from my blog and drove from Cardiff to spend the night in Lee. The next day we had a walk up the coast and he had to leave to catch a plane back to home down under. 

Thanks Brendo, that was an awesome surprise!!

From left to right : Been having crazy weather lately in England, this photo was taken when the tide was going up to 10 metres high; More photos of the high tide; Walking through the forest with Mats and Lucy; Me in my husky hat hiding behind a tree; Lucy posing under a fallen tree; BRENDO!! Bloody legend!; Me and Brendo infront of a Vanilla Ice cloud that I couldn't manage to catch with my selfy; There it is, the vanilla ice cloud; Me and Brendo on our coast walk in the morning; Brendo with Lee background; Me and Brendo in Lee village

The excitement of the week was followed by another crazily fun Friday night at the Grampus where the accoustic open mic night happens. The night continued on at Danny and Sara's place, one of the awesome locals from Ilfracombe. It got a bit messy, but everyone survived.

The next day Danny and Sara took me to Lynton for a nice walk with Dudley, their cute dog in their super awesome gypsie van. 

From left to right: My crazy mates who comes regularly to Grampus on Friday nights, Lou, Max, Arthur, Danny and Sara; Friday night at Grampus; Bill in his joker hat; Open mic; Night continues on at Danny and Sara's place where neightbours are starting to complain about then noise.. Oops..; Me, dressed up and jingling away; As the night ends, Danny and Arthur passes out; Also as the night ends; Getting a lift with Sara back to the Grampus with her awesome 1965 Morris, absolutely love this car; Our walk at Lynton; Sara in her Morris; Sara and Danny in their van; Danny and Dudley in the van, poor Dudley, he gets scared in cars; Our walk along the coast; Sara posing on thhe bridge; The famous vertical railway track powered by water; Random photo of Ilfracombe; Danny having a sip of his pint of Guiness after saying that he won't drink anymore..haha

Another 3 weeks of stay in Lee. I hope more amazing things will happen here. :)

Livin the life in Lee, Ilfracombe

Lee, Ilfracombe

As you might have noticed from the map that I have not been travelling much lately. It appeared that I have glued myself to this place I currently call home. Grampus Inn, a pub located in Lee, Ilfracombe on the north coast of Devon is another place that I am volunteering at until end of February. 

Bill, the owner, who is also an incredibly talented fiddler has made me feel comfortable to live in the pub for 2 months. Other guys who are part of the Grampus Inn 'gang' are Alice from Australia, Owen from New Zealand, Kara and Jacob from Canada, Giulia from Italy, Mishale from Germany, Phil and Sandy who are locals. 

Most thing I love about this place is the music culture and the musicians I meet here. Bill provides musical instruments scattered at the corner of the bar for people to play freely. Every Friday the pub hosts an accoustic open mic, it also hosts jam sessions every third Sunday of each month and hosts other occasions such as Burns night that we had last Saturday night.

This is a dance I did during the acoustic open Mic night
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hrat2dkq53zsyfm/VID-20140124-00033.3GP

O dear, I forgot to mention Lucy, the three legged dog, who loves to think she's vicious when the first few people walk in to the bar. She's best at hipnotising people to either give her a tummy rub, food or jump on your bed. It definitely worked on me (shamefully to say)..

From left to right: Burns night (Scottish tradition where they comemerate the birth of Burns, the famous Scottish poet; Me in a kilt; Giulia and Lucy enjoying the fire; Me and Sandy at the bar; Mishale and Phil; Owen and Alice; Me and Lucy; Me and the awesomely hillarious Mat; M'Larkey playing at the pub (Bill's playing on his fiddle); Jacob and Kara; Lucy keeping me company on my bed.

One blue sky day (which happens so rarely in Lee), I took the chance to have a walk along the north coast from Lee to Ballpoint. Along the way, I passed people and most of them were wearing rain coats. I was wondering to myself, it's such a clear day, why do you need your rain coat? As it turns out, just after passing Ball point and walking up the hill towards Morthoe, a dramatic thick grey cloud was rushing towards Lee. There you go, one lesson I learnt living in England, Don't trust what you see!

My walk along the coast 

Loony Mouse Hogmanaying Scotland

Edinburgh - Aberdeen - Glasgow - Highlands - Bristol - Ilfracombe

When the plane landed in Edinburgh, I was welcomed by a cold, windy and wet morning.  I settled in to my hostel and at night met Heather for the Torch Procession. Seven thousand people including us walked through town with our burning torches from the city centre up to Calton Hill where the procession ended with beautiful fireworks.  After the ceremony, we went to the pub to meet the rest of the gang, Vince (my cheeky monkey lovely Parisian mate), Vlasta (my beautiful beloved Czech mate) and Vlasta's friend, Honza.  It was a nice get together after not seeing each other for a while.

On New Years Eve, Heather, Vince and I dressed up in our onesies.  Vince was a monkey (of course, being the cheeky monkey that he is),  Heather was a parrot with a kilt (annoyingly to be occasionally mistaken as a cockatoo) and me as a super Scottish mouse with a kilt and a cape.  We filled our plastic bottles with as much alcohol as possible and went off going nuts and danced around in the city and at the street party.  We managed to get everyone all ages to either start dancing or take pictures of us (felt like celebrities that night).

After going crazy at the street party, we went in to the Ceilidh concert and learnt traditional Scottish dances.  It was so much fun, as well as frisky and full of spinning around.  Luckily none of us felt too sick to throw up, but a couple of hours was definitely enough.  We went back to the street party just before midnight and met up with Vlasta and Honza.  We all celebrated the welcoming of 2014 together.  As 2014 entered, the moment became absolutely magical and unforgettable, especially when the fireworks took off where I was feeling like I was in another world enjoying every second to the great beginning of 2014.  I knew at that time being with the people I really love and having the most magical experience that it will be a grand year.

From left to right:  Me and my sword; Me and Heather getting ready to light up our torches; The opening ceremony of the torch procession; Me and Heather with our lit torches; The nice view of people behind us with their torches; Fireworks at the end of the procession; More fireworks; Beautiful Edinburgh; Vince in his monkey onesie going bananas (Thanks for celebrating new years with me Vince.  You really made it unforgettable); Vince, me, Honza and Vlasta taking pictures of Edinburgh before new years eve; Me and Vlasta having lunch; New Years Eve in Edinburgh; Ceilidh Concert; Church in Edinburgh; Me and Heather in our onesies; Me, Heather and Vince in our onesies rockin the city; Edinburgh on new years eve; Vince, Emilie and me at the Ceilidh concert; Me, Heather and Vince resting on a bench at 7am after partying hard all night. (Most of the photos were taken by Heather.  Thanks lovely!)

We continued partying up through til morning and ended up sleeping for an hour, having to wake up for our (me and Heather) Loony Dook plunge in Queensferry.  I was late and not being very prepared, I wore my bikini, mouse onesie and reef shoes to loony dook and did not take spare clothes nor shoes.  It was a cold morning but Heather and I were so ready to do it!  There were about 1,000 of us.  Everyone was dressed up and we all paraded together towards the water followed by drums to make us dance all the way.  Heather and I then got in our bikinis, prepared my camera, ran to the river then dived in.  It was SUPER BLOODY FRESH!  The video camera only lasted for 10 seconds which was such a bummer.  We then headed back to Edinburgh and being not well prepared for after the event, it was definitely the coldest journey back to the hostel.

We changed to warmer clothes then headed in to town to meet Richard and Sandra (my beloved Aussie mates) who were staying in Glasgow at that time.  We walked around town and caught up for a couple of hours until they had to head back to Glasgow.  Meeting Richard and Sandra made my new years celebration even better, it was perfect!

After spending the last day with Vlasta, Vince, Honza, Aron and Emilie, we said our goodbyes hoping to meet again in the near future.  It was a sad farewell.
Heather and I chose to walk up to Arthur Seat for our last day in Edinburgh.  We chose the worst day to do it but it was crazily fun to walk up  the hill.  The ground was slippery at times, the wind tried to blow us away, and hail aiming to our faces, but it was an adventure and we really experienced the real Scotland walk (well, apparently that's what the locals said).  It was an absolutely wet and cold adventure, as our rain coats were soaked and water got in to our clothes.  We then headed back to the hostel where it was warm, we were given towels to dry up and changed to dry clothes and we were given cakes and tea in front of the heater.  They were really sweet and lovely.

From left to right: Preparing mentally for Loony Dook (worried!!! Do I look worried?); Heather looking worried and cold as well; The nice looking bridge in Queensferry where loony dook takes place; The Loony Dook parade; Time for everyone to dive in!!!!; I did it!!!! Yaaaaaaaaay!!!; We did it!!!; Heather did it!!!; Freezing cold at the bus stop on the way back to Edinburgh; View of Edinburgh from the castle; Live music after new years eve in Edinburgh with Richard, Sandra and Heather; Me and my beautiful Sandra; Me and gorgeous Heather and lovely Richard (thanks for making my new years experience even more magical guys, you're the best!); A cute purply building on our last night in Edinburgh; The Castle; Calton Hill; Me and Heather playing dress ups in the museum; Me and Vlasta on our last day (thanks for being there Vlasta, you really created a magical new years experience for me); Me and Heather fooling around at the museum again; Heather walking towards Arthur's seat; Me and Heather walking towards Arthur's Seat in the windy hail storm (Without you I won't have had a crazy awesome new years celebration Heather). Again, most of the pictures were taken by Heather.

Heather and I then parted. I wanted to experience more of Scotland then spontaneously headed up to Aberdeen hosted by my mate Andrew.  It's a very grey city because most of the buildings were built from granite plus Scotland sky at that time was really grey.  It was nice, but one night was definitely enough there.

The next day, I followed my heart to Glasgow.  It was raining alot and the hostel I was staying in was really quiet.  So I went for a walk in the centre and came across a Scottish band called Clanadonia playing so I stuck around.  At the end of their play, I hung out with the band and chat for a bit.  One of the drummers, Gavin, who I hung out most of the time kindly hosted me in Glasgow.  Maggie and Gavin made me feel so comfortable in their home and treated me like I was part of the family.  Gavin taught me how kilt works, which starts of a 4 metre fabric then folded nice and exact to act as a sleeping mat then becomes a blanket.  It then wraps around to become a kilt also trousers, coat and it works best when it's wet because it makes you warmer.  Wow!  I was impressed!  The Scots sure know what they're doing.

From left to right: The only picture I took in Aberdeen; Glasgow, the city of creativity; Glasgow city centre; George Square in Glasgow; Cathedral in Glasgow; Clanadonia in action; Clanadonia shirt; Me playing the didgeridoo taught by a Glasgowegien, hmmm; My lovely hosts, Gavin, Maggie and Buster; Gavin folding the kilt precisely by couting the squares; Me in the kilt.

Gavin also took me on a road trip to the highlands.  To make it more interesting, I wore my mouse onesie throughout the whole trip.  The landscape  was absolutely mind blowing.  Snow was covering the top of the mountains, Waterfall every where, hee-land coos (highland cows) and I managed to do a take two loony dook video where it was even colder as it is further north than Edinburgh.  It was, again, or more so, SUPER BLOODY FRESH!  I haven't managed to upload the video online, having some technical problem.  But just to give you a bit of a vision, I was screeching like a mouse.  It was soooooo much colder than Edinburgh!!

After a few days in Scotland, I headed back to England heading riding a very comfortable 10 hour night bus to Bristol where the seats were converted to beds, then continuing another bus ride in the afternoon to Ilfracombe.

From left to right: The road trip begins! YEAH!!; Loch Lommond; The highlandsl; Waterfall; On the road through the highlands; The beautiful highlands; Lunch time, peanut butter sandwich without cutleries; Waterfalls again; More of the highlands; On the road again through the highlands; Highland views; More highlands view; Oldest pub in Scotland; Have you ever  seen a mouse attack a bear before? Well, here you go!; More waterfall in the highlands; More highland views; And more views; More breathtaking views; A mouse in the highlands; And towards the end, more highland views.  It's definitely a must go place.  Absolutely breathtaking!