Have you ever considered sleeping in a stranger’s house to save money while you travel? Well, that’s what I thought Couchsurfing was like until we tried it out in Taipei, Taiwan. Instead, thanks to our amazing host Jackie, we found out that Couchsurfing can be a great way to learn about a place from a local perspective, make new friends and exchange experiences.
16 September, 2014 /
For me, the best and the worst part of travel is moving on. On the one hand, the promise of a fresh adventure and the possibility that I might fall in love with a new corner of the world is what keeps me travelling. On the other, saying goodbye to the places I do love, the people in them and the experiences I’ve had there can be really tough. As we boarded a plane back to Asia after our summer visit to the UK I was wracked with homesickness and nostalgia but I also felt a glimmer of excitement and possibility at the thought of our new lives in Vietnam.
12 September, 2014 /
I had a sneaking suspicion that I would fall head-over-heels in love with Edinburgh – and I wasn’t wrong. With its cobbled lanes, pub-lined streets, castles and ancient buildings, Edinburgh has so much character and history. Since we were there while the Fringe Festival was on we were also totally sucked into the energy and colour that surrounded us; everywhere we went there were street performers, shows going on and crowds of happy sightseers.
04 September, 2014 /
I couldn’t conceive of going to Scotland without visiting Loch Ness, the largest and perhaps most famous lake in the UK. So we set out on a two-hour journey from our cottage in the Highlands to cruise the loch and investigate the myths that surround this atmospheric piece of Scotland.
27 August, 2014 /
As we made our first windy journey through the Scottish Highlands I peered out the window, taking in the acres of sparsely populated, ancient countryside. For most of the drive we saw little sign of human life save for the odd white house stranded in the middle of vast valleys of green scrub and purple-pink thistles; huge domed or knobbly mountains capped with low-lying cloud loomed from every angle, snaking white lines of icy waterfalls drawn down their sides.
23 August, 2014 /
The last stop on our whirlwind tour of  Burma was the famous Lake Inle, where we planned on doing some serious relaxing after a hectic and sometimes trying journey through the country. After paying over the odds for some pretty dodgy accommodation in Burma we splurged on a stay at the Princess Garden hotel at £21 per night, which was just what we needed. There was a pool to cool off in from the fierce Burmese heat, free breakfasts of eggs, fruit and pancakes, a lovely one-eyed brown dog to play with and refreshing afternoon shakes on offer.
03 August, 2014 /
After ten months in Asia we’d definitely seen our fair share of temples by the time we arrived in Burma. In fact, after our temple-hopping experience in Cambodia we thought we’d seen the absolute cream of the crop - how could anything top the mighty Angkor Wat? Despite all this we stepped off the bus into a sweltering, dusty Bagan afternoon with open minds, ready to explore the thousands of ancient pagodas which litter the countryside.
30 July, 2014 /
Back in 2013 I shed many tears when we said goodbye to our lives in London. Although we were leaving by choice to fulfil our dreams of travelling the world, it was still painful to dismantle the lives we had spent almost four years building in a city we absolutely loved. Back then I had no idea when we’d return to London and I was worried that travel would spoil the city for me; that my love for it would fade. Now we’re back after over 15 months of travel and I’m relieved to say that my fears dissolved the moment I stepped off the train at Waterloo station - I felt like I’d finally arrived home.
26 July, 2014 /