Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (and other lands)

Photos: Serbia

aliceritchie — Wed, 4 Sep 2013 00:09:00 GMT

Belgrade, really

Photos: Bosnia and Herzegovina

aliceritchie — Tue, 3 Sep 2013 23:12:00 GMT

Croatia - a very nice surprise!

aliceritchie — Sat, 31 Aug 2013 19:37:00 GMT

I don't really know what I expected Croatia to be like before I arrived. I knew that it was the 'new' Greek Islands in terms of partying for the late teens/early 20s, and that it was meant to have remarkably good food, but I didn't really know what kind of food I would find. As it turned out, it's pretty nice.

I caught the ferry from Venice to Pula, in the Istra region of northern Croatia. The ferry was OK, there was less legroom than on a Ryanair flight, but I did see some dolphins, so that made up for it! The ferry terminal is right in the heart of Pula, and as you come in, you have a fantastic view of the Roman amphitheatre which is still used as a concert space. Not a bad way to enter a new country! I grabbed my bags and went for a wander through the town to find my hostel, which was up on a hill overlooking the main town. My lovely hostel-owner host gave me some recommendations for cevapci restaurants, to have a typical Croatian dinner (cevapci is minced meat, pressed into either one large burger or lots of little rissoles, served with bread, sheep's cheese, and some salad on the side). After stuffing myself full of meat and bread, I headed back to the hostel, had a very necessary shower, and went to bed.

The next day, I went for a walk around town to get my bearings and to see the big sights. It turned out that a big electronic music festival had just started, which meant that the streets were packed with young festival goers, ready to party. The festival was using the amphitheatre as the venue for their opening party, so unfortunately I couldn't go inside to take pictures, but it was still pretty impressive! I continued to explore up the hill to the Austro-Hungarian fortress, which has commanding views over the whole city and harbour, as well as some slightly unusual museum displays (Croatian pharmacies throughout the ages, amongst other things).

After another good nights sleep, I decided that the best way for me to spend the day would be to go to the beach. Istrian beaches are what I think of as 'typical European' beaches, in that they are covered in pebbles and there is not a grain of sand in sight. The beaches are quite beautiful, but very different to what I'm used to: the beaches are in small rocky coves, some only 20 metres across, with steep banks of very large pebbles (ranging from the size of my fist to the size of a rockmelon). The water is crystal clear, and there is not a lot of weed, but there are tons and tons of beachgoers, most of whom prefer to bake themselves in the sun rather than go for a swim! There is no surf to speak of (not surprising) but there are lots of peddalo-style contraptions, and giant floating slides, and other beach-fun-things. It was a very strange experience - lying on pebbles reading a book is not comfortable - but it was a nice thing to do. The beachgoers were an interesting mix of Croatians, Italians and Germans, all prepared to expose as much skin as possible to get that perfect shade of walnut brown.

That evening I headed to the bus station with all my things to get on an overnight bus down to Split. It's only about 500km but the bus took 10 hours, as it stopped about thirty times. There were only a few official big stops, but at each one locals would board, and would request to be dropped off a few kilometres down the road - presumably there are no local buses to take them, so they have to use the big coach services. Needless to say, despite my massive headphones and my eyemask, I didn't sleep all that well! I arrived in Split at about 6am, and sat in the cafe connected to the coach station, drinking coffee (shock, horror!) until my hostel reception was due to open at 8am. I hobbled across to the hostel (on my beach adventures the previous day I developed some pretty nasty blisters on both feet), dumped my bags, and went for a bit more of a hobble/walk around the fresh fruit and vegetable markets and Diocletian's Palace at the centre of the old town until I was completely exhausted, when I went back to the hostel. Fortunately, even though it was still a few hours from the official check in time, the hostel had a couple of beds spare, so I was given somewhere to have a shower and a nap nice and early.

Split is an interesting town in that it has the impressive Roman history - Diocletian's Palace is amazing - as well as a thriving island-based tourist industry. A lot of sailing boats take mini-tours (up to a week, usually) from Split along the Dalmatian Coast, and so it's the start/end point for a lot of young people's booze cruise adventures. In my hostel I met a good bunch of people, all of whom (myself included) were going on some tour or other the next day. We all went out for dinner (pan-fried sea bass for me) and ice cream along the waterfront, and the headed back for an early night before the start of my tour across the Balkans the next day.

Photos: Split

aliceritchie — Sat, 31 Aug 2013 01:25:00 GMT

Photos: Pula

aliceritchie — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 06:07:00 GMT

Pula, in Istria, in Croatia

Venice, like a tourist

aliceritchie — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 16:22:00 GMT

The main difference between when I last visited Venice and this time, is the accommodation. Last time, in 2007, I was on a serious, serious budget, so ended up staying in a cabin at a campsite bordering Treviso airport. It was kind of great, we could watch the planes taking off and landing from the pool, but it was a good 45 minute drive on the shuttle bus to get to the islands, and because of the exorbitant cost, we didn't use any vaporettos (vaporetti?) so we saw most of Venice on foot. This time, however, I found a hostel that was easily the most expensive hostel I've ever stayed in, yet was still significantly cheaper than any of the hotels available. The hostel, run by the Generator group, was big and commercial, but it was in a fantastic location - right on the waterfront of Giudecca island, overlooking the Giudecca Canal across to the heart of Venice, Piazza San Marco. This time I decided to get a 48 hour vaporetto pass (best idea EVER), which for 30 euro enabled me to get as many trips as I wanted within the Venice network. Not bad when you consider a single trip costs 8 euro! This meant that I was able to see a lot more of the city than I did in 2007, and I saw it in a totally different way - apparently the vaporettos are the only form of public transport through Venice used by both tourists and locals, so I could see the city from a slightly more local perspective!

Arriving on Sunday, mid-afternoon, at the Venezia Santa Lucia train station, I jumped on a vaporetto across to Giudecca to check in to my hostel, and then quickly headed back out again to take advantage of the evening sunlight. Walking through Venice on a Sunday evening in late August was AMAZING - there was not a soul around! I could never have imagined that it could be so quiet. I walked through the laneways on a mission to find a couple of essential things - my earrings were irritating my ears really badly (I was wearing cheapies just in case I lost them), so I had to find some new ones with a slightly more decent backing, and I had got confused about which power adaptor to bring and had brought North American ones, so I had to find a European adaptor! This meant that I had to have a really good explore, as Venice only has tiny little boutiques and they're scattered all throughout the city. Eventually, after visiting Piazza San Marco and the Rialto bridge, I found what I was looking for and also found a decent restaurant to have dinner. Venice specialises in super-fresh seafood, so I sat in a restaurant garden and had a plate of salumi for antipasto and some 'fried mixed seafood' which ended up being whole baby sardines, whole decapitated prawns, some scampi meat and a lot of squid, with a few fingers of fried polenta to the side. I didn't quite know if you were meant to eat the prawns and sardines whole, so I gave it my best shot and just left the tails. As I was finishing up, some thunder and lightning began to appear, and so I quickly paid and headed off to the vaporetto terminal. By the time I got to the vaporetto stop, I was drenched. Venice was even more empty than it

GAH I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF A THUNDERSTORM AND THE PAGE JUST RESET! JUST LOST 1000 WORDS OF JOURNAL......

Ok, so Venice was even more empty than it had been - as soon as the storm broke, everyone dashed for cover. I waited in the terminal for the next vaporetto back to the hostel and watched the storm, Venice by lightning is really something. The storm at least meant that my first night in a hostel in several years went quite well - the rain put everyone to sleep quickly, and it was lovely to listen to.

I had intended to go to the Biennale on Monday, but it turned out that Monday was the one day of the week when everything was closed! Instead I visited the Rialto Mercato (the local fruit and veg market), had a stroll through the back streets of Venice, picked up some post cards, and popped into the only Biennale exhibition I could find open - the Prada Fondazione, which was showing 'When Attitudes Become Form', a show from Bern in 1969, which was reproduced exactly as it had been first shown. It was very strange - European art from the late 1960s can be very strange - but it was quite interesting, and there was a documentary made at the time about the artists which was also quite interesting. My favourite bit was an American artist who was chiselling the plaster off a wall in a perfect square, and when asked about it, said that 'it's just art, it's the idea, the idea is art'. Typical. On my way back across the island I visited the Gallerie Dell'Accademia, another art gallery, but this time of Medieval and Renaissance art, including several Bellinis and a beautiful piece by Titian. The building itself was magnificent - amazing ceilings, painted and artfully plastered and gold leafed. Unfortunately the museum closes for a couple of hours in the afternoon, so I headed off, back to Giudecca, where I spent a while wandering the back streets and having a sticky-beak at the local parks and gardens and houses. Giudecca is much more a 'local' island than the rest of Venice - there are some new-build apartments, there are playgrounds, and there are lots and lots of children. It's quite nice and very peaceful. As it began to get dark, I found my way to the hostel bar, where I lounged, drinking aperol spritz and eating olives ascolana (olives stuffed with pork mince, crumbed and then deep fried). Not a bad way to end the day!

Tuesday was my last day in Venice, as I was to get a ferry to Croatia in the afternoon. I thought that it might be nice to get a ferry across to Murano (famed for their glass) or Burano (famed for their lace) but it all turned out to be a bit hard, so I went to the Lido instead. The Lido is a long island (basically a big sand bar) across the south-eastern end of Venice, protecting the main islands from the Adriatic Sea. The 'inland' side has amazing views of Venice, while what I would call the 'back beach' is sandy and covered in resorts, with a few public beaches dotted around the place. The beach is very Italian 1960s - depressing grey sand, permanent beach umbrellas in perfect rows, and concrete everywhere. That said, I still managed to find a nice spot to sit in the sun and read my book for a bit, before grabbing some slightly dodgy pizza and getting the vaporetto back to Giudecca, to get my bags and then head on to San Basilio international ferry terminal to get my boat to Croatia.

Photos: Venice

aliceritchie — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 01:55:00 GMT

Roma: La bella vita!

aliceritchie — Sun, 25 Aug 2013 21:29:00 GMT

How lucky am I to have family living in Rome!? Not only that, but they are family who are extremely knowledgeable about the fascinating history of practically every building, every street, every church tower, and are also the sort of family who will very happily take one on a tour of all these amazing sights! Molte grazie to Uncle David, Jenelle and Isabel - I had a really fantastic time.

For those who didn't get to wander through the porticos and piazzas and palazzos of Rome with me, IT WAS AMAZING. I've been to Rome before, but with friends when I was 18, and my visit this time was completely different. A car had been organised to collect me from the airport (definitely recommend this to anyone visiting Rome - only costs an extra 2 euro to pre-book a car, and they will take you to precisely where you want to go), and so I was very quickly delivered through several narrow and winding laneways to the door of a beautiful old palazzo in the heart of the city. The house has recently been extensively renovated, but you are still surrounded by so much history. The domes and terracotta rooftops of the surrounding churches and ancient houses are really quite spectacular. The weather was beautiful - high 20s, moderate humidity and a clear blue sky, perfect for sitting on a terrazza and watching the sun go down!

Friday was spent exploring with the ladies (aunt Jenelle and my very grown up 11 year old cousin, Isabel), and we covered a LOT of ground. We visited so many places that I can't remember them all (and you would probably be bored half way through the list anyway), but the highlights were the Victor Emanuel monument, the Portico D'Ottavia, the Campo di Fiore market, the Jewish ghetto, some great gelati, lots of Roman ruins, and some simply amazing churches. Photos are up elsewhere on the blog, you should take a peek. We had proper Roman pizza for lunch (with a very thin, crispy base) - I had zucchini and gorgonzola on mine - and we went out to a lovely little restaurant in a quiet square with a big green tree at one end for dinner. I had carpaccio of sea bass to start, Roman-style veal as secondi and tiramisu for dessert - if I continue to eat like this I am going to be perfectly spherical by the end of my trip!

On Saturday we continued exploring, this time with Uncle David in the place of Jenelle, and we saw so many things AGAIN! Definite highlight was Bellini's elephant, which is apparently a family favourite. After more gelati for morning tea, we ended up at the Roman provincial government buildings, which happen to be built on top of some extremely well preserved Roman houses, the Domus Romane. We went on a tour of the ruins, all under the Palazzo Valentini above - and saw baths, tiled floors, plumbing systems, mosaics, and amazingly intact plates and bowls and even plates with food on them! It was really pretty wonderful, again, if you ever get a chance to go to Rome, check out the Domus Romane.

After our adventuring, we all were exhausted, so headed back to the house for a delicious cheese and olive picnic, and then for a bit of a siesta before aperitivi on the roof terrace. Uncle David introduced me to Aperol Spritz, the unofficial national drink of summer, and we snacked on peanuts and drank Spritz and played with their hilarious little Bolognese puppy (well, three-year old), while the sun went down. After a dinner of lasagne and stewed figs with mascarpone, I packed my bags, had a bath, and went to bed, ready to get my train to Venice the next morning.

Thanks again to my lovely hosts in Rome, who not only were welcoming and made me feel at home, but were also fantastic tour guides! I had a really wonderful time, and can definitely see why they love the city so much. Unfortunately I had to move on, but I suppose I can always come back!

Next stop: Venezia!

Photos: Rome

aliceritchie — Sun, 25 Aug 2013 01:44:00 GMT

A few days in sunny August

Photos: Cirencester in August

aliceritchie — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 23:59:00 GMT

What an adventure! Part 2: Cirencester

aliceritchie — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 23:57:00 GMT

After a pretty uneventful flight to London (I fell asleep straight away and woke up an hour before landing - good ol' flatbed seats!), I got off to the plane to discover the worst immigration queues I have ever seen. Even the girl checking our Fast Track tickets said that it was the worst she'd seen since the Olympics, so there you go! Apparently along with our flight, there were several other flights delayed so they all ended up arriving at the same time. It meant that it took an hour and a half to get through immigration, even in the express line. Fortunately, being a Ritchie, I'd allowed plenty of time between my flight arriving and my bus to Cirencester departing, but even so, the delay had me panicking a bit! Finally I got through, found my bags, picked up a UK sim card, and found my way to the central bus station, all with plenty of time to jump on my National Express bus, direct to Cirencester.

For those who don't know, Cirencester is a country town of about 20,000 people (19,000 in the holidays and 20,000 at term time - the uni makes a difference) in the heart of the Cotswolds, about 130km due west of London. During the Roman occupation of Britain, it was the largest Roman town outside of London, and it has the ruins, amphitheatre and museum to prove it! Since then, it was a bustling medieval market town (lots of very old buildings), and later on was a prosperous farming centre (we have a very impressive Wool Church, as well a nice range of architecture from across the ages!). Cirencester is now populated with a mix of traditional west country types, complete with 'arrrr ciderrrr' accents, through middle class middle English groups, and up to the local members of the aristocracy (I overheard a lady who sounded exactly like the queen, except possibly more posh). There are a lot of labradors (hooray!) being walked, as well as a lot of older Jaguars being driven. Also lots and lots of horse-related shops and services - a laundry specifically for horse rugs, a couple of saddlers, and Cirencester Park, which is open for walkers and riders and no-one else (not even bicycles). Cirencester is also host to the Royal Agricultural University (nee College), and the 'aggies', as the students are referred to, are known and, in some cases, feared, for their antics and adventures. I suppose I'll just have to wait and see what it holds for me!

My landlord met me at the bus stop and drove me to my new place, which was very kind of him. I had a good look around the house and surrounding area, and went for a stroll to the local mini-Tesco to collect some things for my lunch. The area is part of an older farm/estate that was developed into housing over a fairly long period of time. There are sections that clearly date back to the 1950s/60s, but I think my section is more likely to have been built in the 1980s. Every time I come to England it amazes me how green and lush everything is - the green borders of the roads are overgrown and covered in bright green foliage, the paddocks are green, people's lawns are green. The only things that aren't green, at least at this time of year, are the fields full of wheat, oats and barley, which, due to the hot summer, are becoming beautiful and gold.

The house is quite sweet in that it is tiny and part of a terrace, with a little backyard and a glass conservatory off the kitchen (which is amazingly warm). It was very dirty, but then it hadn't been lived in all summer, and the girl who did the vacate-clean clearly had not learned how to clean things properly. It was OK because I had plenty of time, but it reminded me of what student housing can be like! I noticed on the Monday morning (the day after I flew in) that my right calf was very sore and that I'd picked up some kind of cough, probably on the plane. I didn't think too much more of it, until that afternoon when I decided to research my leg cramp on the internet, at which point I discovered that, in conjunction with the cough, I might have DVT. I called the nurse-on-call line, she suggested that I call a local doctor, and then he suggested that I go straight to hospital, so off I went! The staff at the local Cirencester hospital (only a 10 minute walk from the house, fortunately) were absolutely lovely and were also very concerned, so they hooked me up to all sorts of machines and took blood samples and made me cups of tea and fed me freshly picked blackberries. Fortunately I'm still on the NHS system from the last time I lived in the UK, so they had all my previous records and things, and were more than happy to treat me. They had to send the blood sample to a different hospital for testing, so eventually they sent me home with instructions to wait for a phone call from them to announce whether I had DVT and would have to come back in to the hospital, or if I was OK. This meant that I ended up staying awake until nearly midnight - helping me recover from jetlag - when they called and said that while I was officially DVT-free, the results were still quite high and that I should have an ultrasound in my leg the next day just to make sure, and that they would call me in the morning to confirm a time for an appointment.

The next morning, sure enough, I got a call saying that I had to be in Cheltenham - about 25km away - in about an hour. Realising that there was not enough time to take a bus, I jumped into a taxi, which cost an absolute fortune, and got there just in time. They quickly checked me over and without much fuss or fanfare announced that I was 100% OK and good to go home. So I have now seen the insides of two local hospitals, and have had a good re-introduction to the NHS system. I caught the bus back to Cirencester (actually 10% of the price of a taxi), and enjoyed the stunning views of the rolling Cotswold hills. Honestly, if you ever get a chance to spend some time in the Cotswolds, do. It's worth it.

Anyway, after the health-scare adventure, I finished settling in, bought some essential kitchen items (saucepan, ladle, teapot, sharp knives etc), did some cooking (tom yum soup to try to get rid of my cough/cold), picked some blackberries, and went for an explore around town. The amphitheatre is now a park where people can walk their dogs and enjoy a picnic, but it is clearly an ancient Roman amphitheatre - very steep sides and a perfect circle. The town itself is beautiful, surrounding a market place and with lots of windy little laneways with interesting shops. The local big supermarket is a Waitrose, and the university is about a 15 minute walk from my house, and is surrounded my fantastic countryside.

I'll have a fair bit more to say when I head back to Cirencester in a few weeks' time, but the few days that I spent in town were lovely, and I'm quite excited to see how everything goes once term starts!

On Thursday I left Ciren for the mean time, jumped on a bus back to Heathrow, and then on a slightly decrepit BA flight over to Rome. More about Rome to come!

What an adventure! Part 1: Dubai

aliceritchie — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 20:06:00 GMT

Ok, so I haven't had much of chance to update this over the last few days, because I have been busy going to record-breaking buildings, taking lots of buses, flying business class, getting to know my new home town, visiting two hospitals (more about that later) and heading back to the airport again! Also might not have had good internet for a little while - makes it tricky to update when you're trying to type on your phone! Anyway, as I'm now in Heathrow with free internet, and am waiting for the bag drop to open because I got here too early (classic Ritchie move), here's a quick rundown of what I've been up to.

My second day in Dubai was very hot (not surprising) and very busy. Danielle had managed to get us a couple of complimentary tickets to the hop-on/hop-off bus around town, which was awesome. Not only did they have free, unlimited water (we probably made money on this trip, just by the amount of free stuff we consumed) but the buses also took us around the new buildings and malls as well as the historic areas of Dubai, all with quite interesting commentary through our (complimentary) ear-phones. We had been expecting it to take only a couple of hours, but ended up not getting back to the flat until about 5pm, after leaving at 9 - it was a looooong day. Major sights included the Burj Khalifa from the outside, several malls from the outside (including Dubai Mall, the largest mall in the world, Mall of the Emirates, with an indoor ski slope and snow park, and Wafi, which was Egyptian-themed and just plain weird), a number of huge parks, lots and lots of pictures of the Sheik, and some amazing historic buildings, markets and souks. We got off the bus a couple of times, but it was really too hot and we didn't have enough time to do a lot. Have a look through the photos (probably to be uploaded this afternoon, the internet is too slow here) to get a good idea.

After we got back to the apartment from our epic bus ride, I threw my clothes into my bags, had a shower and got changed (it was totally necessary - stinky sweaty grossness), and we caught a taxi back out to the Dubai Mall, which happens to be directly underneath the Burj Khalifa. We had a quick stroll around, past the biggest aquarium tank I've ever seen (possibly biggest in the world - they like breaking records in Dubai), picked up some souvenirs for Danielle to take to her family when she visits Canada this week, and grabbed some dinner from an upmarket McDonalds-style fast food place called Fatburger. At least they're not even trying to make it seem healthy! After quickly eating our dodgy dinner (it went straight to concrete in my belly), we joined the queue to get up the Burj Khalifa (again, we had discounted tickets - I love knowing tourism-industry people!). The tourist viewing deck is on the 124th floor, which, just in case you didn't know, is REALLY REALLY high. Lots of rude people elbowing you out of the way to take photos, and an amazing number of people pulling duck-face selfies (google it if you don't know what this means). It was quite funny, actually - some people had even brought tripods to take proper glamour shots. Weird but fun, and definitely amazing views. We eventually got bored of watching other people posing, so we went back down the lift (124 floors in about a minute - my ears popped five times) and wandered outside to watch a fountain show - lots of water spouts squirting to music with coloured lights, quite spectacular but a bit difficult to describe! We then jumped on the metro train service (very clean, very safe, quite slow) and headed back to the apartment, just to pick up my bags, put Danielle to bed (she had to work at 4am the next morning) and grab a taxi so I could head out to the airport again! So, all in all, a very busy day.

Got to the airport and discovered I had been upgraded to Business Class (very nice), so I picked up some duty free and headed into the business lounge, where I had intended to update this blog but the internet was so dodgy that I couldn't make it work! Also I was exhausted to the point of collapse, so I just sat, listened to music and tried not to fall asleep. Eventually, after a couple of delays (one in the airport and one, an hour and a half long, while sitting in the plane) we took off, and I headed off to London.

More to come!

Photos: Dubai is very hot and sandy!

aliceritchie — Sat, 17 Aug 2013 05:47:00 GMT

Beaches, buildings, desert, etc etc

Dubai first impressions

aliceritchie — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 13:43:00 GMT

Currently sitting on (and sticking to) a leather sofa in the staff digs for one of the many fancy hotels in Dubai, suffering from a minor case of jetlag. While everywhere inside is air-conditioned, you can still sense the constant, oppressive heat from outside - it was 35 degrees when I landed at 11:30 last night, and it's only become warmer. Dubai is summer is not for the faint-hearted!

Since the last post I've had 14ish hours of flying in relative comfort, thanks to a points-based upgrade to Premium Economy on Qantas. I was upstairs in the A380, which was nice because it's a little bit more private, quiet and the space is quite well thought-out. The only major problem was that the food refrigeration system failed just before we were meant to leave, and because there were so many connecting flights from Dubai, they couldn't delay the flight to fix it. The hosties had put a lot of the perishable meals on ice, but of course that only lasts for so long, and after the first hot meal service (beef ragout with polenta and beans for me, alternative was barra in green thai curry) all that was safe to eat was fresh fruit and pretzels. Not the best thing for a long flight! Fortunately mum had given me some vanilla crostoli as a 'just in case' snack, so at least I didn't starve. I'm actually eating some more of them now as a pre-breakfast breakfast, as it looks like my host Danielle won't be up and moving any time soon!

First impressions from the back of a taxi from the airport last night is that Dubai is clean and new and sparkly, and that the only way to get around is to drive or get an inexpensive taxi. I saw lots and lots of expensive cars - European and American, not as many Japanese - and lots and lots of new apartment buildings and hotels. They've also tried to bring some greenery into what is clearly a very dry city, which is nice, and everything has a slightly exotic feel to it, although that might just be because I've never stayed anywhere in the Middle East before. Danielle's staff accommodation is in a building that, oddly enough, reminds me a little bit of the Burton and Garran res buildings, except that there's a series of whole apartment to each floor, rather than lots of dorms. That said, they've managed to squeeze four girls into a two-bed apartment, so it does have a slight dorm feel! The hotel provides accommodation for all of its staff, either in apartments like this, mixed up with other privately-owned apartments, or in a hotel-staff-exclusive compound. The hotel provides pretty much everything - rent, bills, furniture, even visas for the staff - so it makes it easy to have staff from all around the world.

One very handy thing about having a host/friend who works in the tourism industry is that she knows the right people to get discounts and recommendations for touristy things! Danielle, my host and Canadian buddy, has the next couple of days off so that we can be proper tourists - we're going to the beach this morning, on a desert safari this evening (camel riding, dune bashing, traditional dinner, sunset over the desert etc), and then tomorrow we're going to go on a hop-on hop-off bus tour of the souks and main section of the city, spend the afternoon in a mall (one of the many) and then if we can fluke a booking, we're going to go up the Burj Khalifa for sunset on Saturday. Then I pack up my bags and head to the airport for a 2am flight to London!

I'll stick up pictures as soon as I can, and if I have time, I'll do another update, but until then, I'll do my best to avoid sunburn and heatstroke, and will try to enjoy Dubai as much as I can!

More later,

Melbourne airport, three minutes before boarding

aliceritchie — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 14:43:00 GMT

Title says it all, really!

Next stop Dubai, til Sunday, when it's on to the UK. I'll try to keep you updated!

Photos: On the go!

aliceritchie — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 14:39:00 GMT

bits and pieces, the most up to date stuff

Welcome and goodbye!

aliceritchie — Wed, 7 Aug 2013 12:19:00 GMT

I am slowly getting ready to leave Australia (again). Passport and visa is all organised, almost all the flights are booked, accommodation isn't sorted but at least I have a few shortlists, clothes are organised but packing has been hampered by kittens playing in suitcases, and now I just need to finish up at work and say 'seeya later!' to quite a few people. One week to go - and there's still waaay too much stuff to do!

For those not already in the know I am moving from Melbourne to the UK for a grad dip in Cirencester. I'm leaving in mid-August, but classes don't start until early October, so I have lots and lots of time to travel wherever I like and to visit friends and family! The current plan looks like this:

Leave Australia, stopover in Dubai for a couple of nights to visit my amazing multilingual Canadian buddy Danielle, also go shopping and on a desert safari and things.
Get to the UK, dump my winter clothes in my new house in Cirencester, try to sort out bank accounts, possibly meet one of my new housemates.
Go to Rome to visit Uncle David, Jenelle and cousin Isabel (it's been such a long time since I've seen them all!).
Somehow get to Split in Croatia (not sure how just yet) by the end of August.
Go on a Busabout tour through the Balkans. I'm expecting this to involve lots of drinking with fellow Aussies, seeing the major sights, and spending a lot of time on a bus. Never been on a package bus tour, so it will be an interesting experience (hopefully). Major stops are in Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria and then finishing in Turkey.
Meet up with Danielle (from Canada/Dubai) in Istanbul, go adventuring around the classic tourist route (Cappadocia, the Med coast, Ephesus, Troy and Gallipoli etc).
Get a train through Bulgaria, hang out in Romania for a bit, finish up in Budapest in Hungary.
Fly to Gothenburg in Sweden to meet up with school mates Aaron and Carla.
Fly back to the UK, buy a car, settle into the house, start uni!

I'll try to write a post for each segment of the trip, but no guarantees!

That's about it for now, have to sort out my travel insurance and pay the first bit of my UK rent (amongst other things). Will write more later on!

Alice