Well surprise surprise, i’ve again been rather slack on the only blog front. its been six months now since i last updated my travel blog and i never finished off the rest of my summer trip.
From Cesky Krumlov I headed to Ollomouc which was an amazing town and i had a pretty amazing experience there. given that six months have passed and the details have blurred, i can still remember most of it. my time there started at the local ice hockey game. it was the first of the season and was in a massive communist era stadium which was a sight to behold. the whole town was very beautiful, almost so to rival prague, but was almost empty of tourists.
but wouldnt you know it, as i was walking into a restaurant, trying to find some people from the hostel, i hear someone calling out my name, and it turns out to be natasha, amy’s friend who i had met during my weekend in paris for amy’s birthday a few months prior. so we ended catching up for a drink or 2 and sampled a few of the local bars.
much of my time there was spent on bikes. the hostel rented out bikes and the area was perfect for cycling. i headed off for a trip to the lhom (lake) a few kms away with two other aussie girls and a vauge map and directions (which i didnt understand). we followed trusty bike path number 5 out of the city with only getting lost a few times, and were soon out into absolutley stunning scenery amongst the farms. we stopped for an ice cream and water, but headed off in the wrong direction without realising it. after a few hours of cycling, we realised we were lost and with our non existant czech and an old lady working in her garden knowing no english, we soon realised we had gone way past the turn off and headed back. after getting back to the place we stopped at earlier, we met a local who gave us very detailed instructions and a map, incuding the “serpentine”, meaning corners we think.
eventually with the help of a old man drawing very definate directions on the ground with a rock, we made it to the lhom, located in an old quarry. and we were on the wrong side - on the top of a cliff. so by the time we made it down to the water, we only had time for a quick dip, before making the long and luckily mostly downhill trip back home in time for a concert in the town square that night.
other highlights include the rockclimbing bar - climbing a wall with a bottle of vino in hand, and heading out to the much much closer lake for an afternoon dip amongst the water weeds.
eventually i did leave, and i arrived in krakow to find aleks and lukasz waiting for me on the platform, having just spent the entire afternoon raiding zara and lukasz was weighed down with all the shopping.
that night we went out and painted the town red. i don’t remember much except being dared to lick a statue for 10 zloty, eating a kebab and being told not to speak in the taxi so the driver wouldn’t know we were tourists…
the next few days were spent catching up while watching the wedding TV channel - i hope aleks didnt get any ideas from the trashy weddings we witnessed on it - in her aunt’s flat, wandering round the old town laughing at people, eating, drinking, more eating, more drinking and generally doing very little. we made a day trip to zacopane and clambered up the mountain which nearly killed us. so we had a beer to celebrate.
by now it was time to head home. after many costly calls to the uk i realised that the tax office hadnt processed my return in the 8 weeks they promised it would take, and i was now out of money. so i returned to the uk on the 8th of august.
staying with morgan in her pub in east grinstead, while watching the opening ceremony of the beijing olympics, i plotted my next move. i decided to head to to edinburgh and check out what was happening. so i headed up on a megabus. longest day of my life!
i rented a room for a few weeks while i checked out the festival and hunted for a job and home. dani came up for a few days and we hung out and i caught up briefly with amy a few times between shows when she was free. eventually i found a job as a receptionist in a hostel, which was ideal as it incuded accom, something i couldnt afford to find otherwise.
so, life began at the globetrotter inn. it was a bit of a novelty at first, living in a hostel, but it soon started to wear thin. after only 3 months i had had enough and ready to move on. but by then i had met the wonderful gary.
and now back to the present. im now living with gary in edinburgh and couldnt be happier. over xmas i worked at the winter wonderland ice skating rink. the job was meant to be in the box office, however it soon turned into carney work. the job was shit, but the people were a blast so it was bearable.
i also worked as a walking tour guide which has been a rather unique experience! i made some great money over new year, however now numbers have dwindled and it’s no longer feasable to continue doing it, so again the job hunt begins! but now its only a few months until i leave ol blighty for good! 3rd of may is lift off date. i fly to mumbai to meet mum and dad, and then begin 4 1/2 month journey through india, nepal, bangladesh, thailand and hopefully malaysia, and sngapore, finnaly arriving home mid september!
its going to be a big and eventfull year, and hopefully this time i can keep up with myself on the blog!
lets see how it goes......
