STARTING 2015 IN SPAIN & FRANCE

After having spent Christmas 2014 in Porto, I continued on to Granada, Spain. My friends, Fytra, Reena, and Flo met me there from London. Ricardo, whose family are from Granada, played host and tour guide to us. We went snowboarding at Sierra Nevada,  visited the Alhambra, watched flamenco, went to a choir show, and had a seafood paella cooked and eaten outdoors at a rustic old country house courtesy of Ricardo’s parents.

We counted down the to 2015 whilst stuffing ourselves with 12 grapes – 1 per second during the last 12 seconds of 2014 – as per the Spanish tradition. This was HARD! AND you’re meant to make one wish with every grape you consumed. I could barely fit them in my mouth once I reached #4, what more think about what I wanted in life. By the time the clock struck midnight I had grape juice dripping down to my neck.

On January 2, I jetted off to Paris to spend a few days with another close friend of mine, Melissa. We had the best time goofing around at Mama Shelter Paris, where we stayed, and spent most of our time wandering around the city and lounging at some pretty cool spots. She introduced me to Bella, who was at acting school in Paris. The three of us laughed SO MUCH! The year was certainly getting off to a good start.

A LITTLE ACCIDENT & A BIT OF ROMANCE…

On impulse, only a couple of weeks after returning from Paris, I decided to go to Chamonix for some awesome snowboarding. Or what I thought would be awesome. In the end, I broke three of my ribs..

I don’t regret going, however!

Bottom left: atop Arrabida Bridge in Porto / Bottom right: in Aveiro, Portugal

Feeling rather poorly from the pain meds I was prescribed for my cracked ribs, I caught a flight to Porto – as you know, a city close to my heart. I got to spend more time with a friend of mine, Ricardo, whom I’d met the year before while on an extended summer holiday there, and kind of fell in love with him in the process. Well not kinda, I did fall in love with him – I even missed my flight back to London on purpose! But that’s a story for another post 🙂

LONDON LIFE

Eventually, I had to return to London, where I caught up with work.. and finally went to see the annual pillow fight that takes place at Trafalgar Square!

Ricardo also paid me a short and sweet visit, during which time I fell for him even more, but I didn’t have too much time to miss him before starting my next big trip.

ROUND THE WORLD IN 3 WEEKS

I had a lot of flights to catch. First – to Singapore and Malaysia to visit family, then onto Los Angeles, to New York City, and then back to London. Not forgetting stopovers in Tokyo and Iceland.

Malaysia was a food haven as usual. It was great to see my family again after so long. It’s always great to see them. This was also the last time I got to see my sister together with my family, as she left for the states in August to start at university.

The pic of the trees on the right was taken from my front garden. My mom loves plants and so our house is filled with all sorts of greenery.
Left is a pic of our national dish, ‘nasi lemak’, which my mom prepared. She cooks this pretty much every time I’m home.

After a food-filled week, it was time to visit LA for the first time and I was excited.

I spent the first couple of days at an Airbnb in Los Feliz, wandering around by myself. I did a hiking tour of Griffith Park which I loved. My beautiful friend Pamela took me to Universal Studios and to what she told me was the original chicken & waffles restaurant – this was amazing.

I got to live my childhood dream of walking along Venice Beach on the boardwalk, watching people at the skate park, and I even got a little surf session in. I also discovered Hawaiian poke salad – SO GOOD. You must look this up if you don’t know it!

Best of all, I got to hang out with some of my favourite people from the travel world – Calan (who came from Dubai), Lola (who came from Boston), MaryAnneBeen, and Arnette. Memorable moment – ogling at slinky gogo dancers at The Abbey.

NYC HERE I COME!

Some people were surprised to hear this, but it was my first time to NYC and naturally.. I was so. so. excited. I was especially looking forward to meeting Anna for the first time. She’d managed to hook me up with an apartment in Hell’s Kitchen – an amazing location.

Anna was an absolute joy to be with. She made such a big effort showing me around. We did loads – the Staten Island ferry, Times Square on superhero day (we dressed up), dollar pizza (had to be tried), the Highline, partying at a rooftop bar, the lobster boat tour, a Sofarsounds gig in Brooklyn, boozy Sunday brunch, and a sunny picnic at Washington Square Park. I can safely say that Anna is the best person I’ve met in 2015 – what an inspiration and such good energy.

I also met Cha Nel, a fellow travel blogger. We spent a day at Smorgasburg Market in Brooklyn trying out a few things including the very hyped ramen burger (it was ooookay). The races were going on so we went to a bar to have mint juleps (apparently it is the thing to do), followed by ice cream, and a chilly walk across Brooklyn Bridge. What a beautiful day it was – thanks Cha Nel!

LONDON AGAIN…

By this time, it was already May and I started to miss Ricardo, so he came over and we spent a blissful ten days together. My favourite moment was a dreamy afternoon laid on the grass amongst hundreds of daisies at Regents Park, bathed in the springtime glow created by sunshine filtered through wisps of cloud in the sky. Well, there were many favourite moments.

The weather was starting to warm and London was a lot of fun with my friends after he left, which helped a lot!

SUMMER IN PORTO

Not long after, I found myself back in Porto. It was Ricardo’s birthday. We went to Primavera Sound Festival on the day, and we had a picnic with friends.

There were a few visits to the beach too, of course. Being in Porto is always easy – life slows down and there’s more time to enjoy the little things. Also, I don’t get FOMO like in London (haha) since there’s just a lot less happening!

Before I knew it, it was time to pack for yet another big trip across the Atlantic..

VEGAS FOR ELECTRIC DAISY CARNIVAL!

Joyce flew in from Malaysia and we were off to Vegas – both our first times. The flight there felt like we were on a bus; it was full of noisy, drunk people. What you see in the movies is true! At one point people got so drunk that they had to stop serving alcohol for a while.

We were meeting a few friends there for Electric Daisy Carnival, a huge, crazy, electronic dance festival held in the Nevada desert. I’m not a big fan of rave music, but I wanted to see all those lights after watching a promo video of the festival last year. And it was amazing. We partied hard. I ended up in hospital for dehydration – thank you Dani Blanchette for rescuing me.

Joyce and I then got a Camaro and went on a road trip, covering Zion and Bryce National Parks, Page, Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and The Grand Canyon.

Top: Horseshoe Bend / Bottom: The Grand Canyon

We climbed up Angel’s Landing (one of the most fun hikes I’ve ever done – so hot though) and hiked The Narrows. We watched the stars and listened to wild coyotes in our isolated Airbnb at the Grand Canyon National Park. We drove into a what seemed like an eternally purple sunset as we headed back towards Las Vegas.

Best moment: Arriving at the Grand Canyon at dusk.

Worst moment: Not knowing where we parked our car after a sweltering descent from Angel’s Landing, at 45 degrees Celcius. I’d never felt such heat before.

Notable moment: Missing our flight back to London because we spent too much time at a sex shop. To our credit, it was an ‘award-winning sex shop’.

SUMMER IN PORTO PART 2

Lots of people decided to visit Porto in 2015 because of me (ahem), and Joyce was one of them. Of course, knowing that she would be in the pretty city meant that *I* wanted to be there at the same time. And so we continued our big summer adventure relaxing with good seafood and wine and a customary trip to the beach.

THE ANNUAL VISIT TO ITALY

I’ve been going to Italy at least once a year since 2008, and 2015 was to be no different. Fortunately, I was invited by the guys at Visit Tuscany to spend one week in Tuscany, attending a few summer events and festivals. I made great new friends and the experience was so enriching.

We bathed in hot springs, watched actors and dancers perform on a hill lit by the moon as part of a street theatre festival in Certaldo, visited decades-old family-run businesses in little Lucca, frolicked in sunflower fields, and of course indulged in a lot of pici (traditional Tuscan pasta).

THE BIG DECISION!

By this time, it was the end of July and I was tired of all the travelling back and forth. I wanted to be able to spend more time with Ricardo, but how? I’d never been in a long-distance situation before. Yet I knew that most of the time we were apart it was because I travelled so often, rather than the fact that we lived in two different cities.

I decided that I would leave my flat in central London and with the money I’d save, I’d be able to commute between London and Porto more often. This was more difficult than it sounded at first! I had to declutter – A LOT. It took me forever.  But was thankful for my job, which allowed me to work from wherever I was. All my stuff eventually went into a storage facility near Maida Vale, and so it was done. Since that point, I’ve been spending more time in Porto, returning to London about once a month to check in at work and with friends.

BEING IN PORTO ‘LONG TERM’

I was a bit nervous in the beginning – what if I didn’t like it? what if I’m not as into Ricardo as I thought I was? I wasn’t one to uproot for love but somehow this felt completely right..

Thankfully, it’s been going a million times better than I expected and I hope it continues this way *fingers crossed*.

August and September were super:

I got to attend my first big medieval festival in Portugal with my close friend Dani. It’s amazing! So much effort goes into it. If you’re in Portugal over the late summer, definitely check it out.

There were many beach days with beautiful sunsets and dips into the cold water.

And more balloons!

There was a road trip to Lisbon and Sintra.

And beautiful yellow walls, which I love (this is obvious if you follow me on Instagram).

MISSING LONDON…

I did of course miss my bustling London life. The shopping! The food! My friends! It was tough sometimes, being in a much smaller city. I was happy for each time I made a trip back to London.

The pic above was taken at the infamous balloons installation at Covent Garden. Oh it was so pretty!

ITALY YET AGAIN..

Soon I was packing my bags again. I was to meet Kym there, who designs adventures all over the world for small groups of special people. I helped design the Italy trip and I was to learn the trade from her. Such an enriching experience and I met some very inspiring women. And of course, it was Italy. It was my 9th time to the country, yet there was still so much more to see and learn.

I couldn’t believe that I was in Cinque Terre for a third time! What a charmed life I was leading.

We went horse-riding through the Tuscan countryside, attended a cooking class in a rustic farmhouse far away somewhere, strolled along the cobblestoned streets of Siena, and bathed in natural hot springs we had to hike down a hot river to (see bottom right pic above!). There was also a no-music dance parties on a deserted train platform, live music at my friend’s bar in Manarola, and beautiful sunsets.

My favourite moment was us five girls singing ‘Part of Your World’ from ‘The Little Mermaid’, whilst enjoying the warm waters of a hot spring balcony that was formed on the hardened silica wall. Such joy!

ICELAND FOR A THIRD TIME

I had one month to rest, spending three weeks in Porto and one in London, before it was time to go again. This time, I was to meet Kym in Iceland for our second adventure together, where in one week we circled the whole of Iceland in a campervan with 8 wonderful people and collected some pretty rad photos:

The bottom pic of the Northern Lights features Kym and I shaping our arms into a circle. In the few seconds after we joined hands, the lights formed a ring much like ours. Kym has a much more profound explanation for this, including the universe and the soul and whatnot, but I like to think of it as simply a magical coincidence. Thank you Mike Malz for the great capture (edited by me) !

I learnt a painful lesson after this trip, and that is to value myself and be more confident in my own abilities and skills. I also hope that I can and will avoid being taken advantage of in the future. For now, I focus on all that I have gained from the adventure.

By this time, I had seen the northern lights a total of seven times!

Soon, I had to swap those waterproof hiking boots for flip flops..

MALAYSIA, THAILAND, & SINGAPORE

I had never travelled with Ricardo before, and this had to be fixed. So, a three-week trip to South-East Asia was planned and he was to meet my parents. The latter went extremely well, except for the moment he told my mom how he felt about marriage (“I don’t believe in marriage”) while my brother and I nearly spat our drinks out.

We had a little romantic getaway to Koh Lipe, and island paradise in Thailand. It didn’t disappoint:

Even recollecting the memories from this trip feels as though we were caught in a dream. The sunrises and sunsets were surreal, the food was all deliciously spicy (papaya salad come to me!), and the waters always comfortingly warm. We had a great time snorkelling. I tried to hold his hand in the water when snorkelling but I was pushed away; apparently I caused too much drag.

We went island-hopping and played with monkeys.. in Monkey Island. They loved watermelons!

The following pics from top to bottom: 
– The Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
– Chicken rice balls for lunch in Malacca. Often people travel to Malacca just to eat this!
– The Singapore skyline as seen from the impressive Marina Bay Sands Skydeck.

And in a flash, three weeks went by just like that! Ricardo loved his first time in Asia. He loved all the food – no matter how weird – and my mom enjoyed watching him eat.

I got to catch up with a couple of close friends including Joyce, who fed us super tasty ‘wan tan mee’ (a type of local noodle dish) on the streets at 2am after too much drinking.

We road-tripped with my parents from KL down to Singapore, with a one-night stop in Malacca. My parents were excited to show him the Portuguese Settlement, which turned out to be just a few streets but which retained Portuguese names (albeit with slightly different spellings).

The only bad thing that happened was… our  live-in house maid at home decided to leg it – she stole a lot of cash (including from me), my dad’s iPad, and various other things. Worst of all, she stole my New Balance sneakers that I’d only bought recently. I WAS SO MAD…

OK MOVING ON..

ENDING THE YEAR IN PORTO

I decided that after leaving my family (which is alway a slightly tearful affair – it’s difficult when you only get to see your family once or twice a year), I would rather be here in Porto than in London. At least I’d have lots of cuddles from Ricardo!

And thus I spent December at a very relaxed pace. We spent many nights in, and lesser nights out. I even managed to cook a few meals (I normally almost never cook). Ricardo enjoys cooking more, and he’s pretty good at it. There was a weekend away up north in Barcelos (the town in which the famous legend of the Portuguese cock originated). I caught up with (just a bit of) work. We watched a few weird movies at home including A Serbian Film (so sick that it was almost laughable) and a Japanese one about a sex-crazed couple which eventually ended in the woman cutting off her dead partner’s penis because she was obsessed with it. Anyway!

Top: At Ponte De Lima, north of Porto
Bottom: Christmas lunch at Ricardo’s parents’ – lamb roast with rice soaked in a delicious wine sauce.

I spent Christmas in Porto for the second time. The eve was spent at my friend Dani’s house, just like last year, as I’d promised her and her parents after the previous year’s festivities. We were up opening presents from midnight until 3am. There were SO MANY!

And this time, instead of jetting off somewhere else, I stayed to celebrate the coming of 2016. We did the typical thing – join in the crowds at the main square to watch the fireworks and then make the best of the cheesy live music that followed until verrrry late. But hey it was novel to me! All in all it was lots of fun, with all my favourite Portuguese people :p

ONTO MORE TRAVELS..

I’m starting 2016 with a trip in ten days’ time, to a new continent for me – South America! And I’ll be making a stop in NYC to see Anna to discuss our upcoming adventure to South Africa that we’re both designing. So I’m very excited 🙂

If you’ve written any posts about your 2015 please share them with me as I would love to know what you did and also what you’re looking forward to this year!

I have no New Year’s resolutions. Just a huge to-do list.

In the meantime, HAPPY NEW YEAR! It is of course January 2.. as if I’d be on time and post this on the 1st. Haha!

PS – Catch me on Instagram or follow me on Snapchat (SMLCRZY) 🙂

The post 2015 – A Fantastic Year! appeared first on SMALLCRAZY.

I mean, look what happens when I have a picnic:

^Rainbow vomit

Anyway, here are my five photos – one for each colour category. I tried not to pick photos that would appear on like, a postcard (you know like pictures of.. a building) or National Geographic, but rather photos that are a lot more personal – after all, this is a BLOG! And I like to tell stories..

RED

This captures one of my proudest travel moments – climbing up Mount Stromboli in Italy to watch the it erupt. A more obscure travel destination in itself, I’d heard of this place the previous summer from an Argentinian girl who was backpacking solo for several months around Europe, and I PROMISED her that I would go.

I was also particularly proud of this moment because I nearly died (via MELTING) getting up there. But it was so worth it. At dusk, I got to sit with my best friend and witness the earth spit out its red hot fire.. I called it nature’s fireworks.

RED – a symbol of power, strength, energy, DANGER. I felt that this photo truly reflected the meaning of the colour red!

YELLOW

This was taken atop Mt Ruapehu in New Zealand. I was there with my whole family during the antipodean summer to celebrate my dad turning 60 (we all skydived and bungee-jumped together too).

One afternoon, there was a spontaneous visit to this mountain and we were going to take a chairlift up, and hike the rest of the way. I figured it would be so much fun to wear my bright yellow lion costume.. for the simple fact that I wanted my photos to feature something bright and colourful – you know to add something exciting to the typical alpine landscape of white, blue, and black/dark brown.

Yellow to me symbolises JOY and happiness – and so here I am, jumping happily in pop-out yellow; the star of my own travel photo.

BLUE

I know this isn’t a great photo in terms of quality. BUT let me explain. I chose this one because it’s a bunch of kids in Portugal doing tarp surfing. You can see that they’ve chosen a large, BLUE (a symbol of water of course) tarp to emulate a wave/tube.. and skateboards to replace surfboards. I love that they’ve taken the ocean to land.. and I feel that they’ve captured the colour of the water by using this big blue tarp!

And let me tell you – tarp surfing is not as easy as it looks.. I watched these kids for ages before I could get this shot (in an excited hurry, hence the low quality) 🙂

GREEN

Can you believe this was taken in Florence? If you’ve been before, you’ll know that Florence isn’t particularly a very ‘green’ city. So when I was walking along the Amo River and saw this BRIGHT GREEN THING on the bank, I was completely struck by its vibrance.

Ok it’s not just a THING.. I suppose it’s a man-made park set up by the river for people to relax or get some sun. It’s only a tiny area, but isn’t it amazing how GREEN the space is?

Well done beautiful Florence for capturing so much restful, natural green in an unusual area. I loved it so much!

WHITE

This photo was taken in Iceland during winter when my friends and I drove the entire the Ring Road and came across the frozen waterfall, Godafoss, part way through. We got out of the car to take a quick walk to erm.. inspect the waterfall. But as we traipsed around the thick snow.. a blizzard started to set in.

Soon, we could very barely see where the snow banks were and we were falling and stumbling over everywhere. It was a sea of WHITE. Or it was what I imagined having cataracts would feel like (admittedly I found it really really exciting – though I’m glad no one fell through into the actual waterfall).

I caught my friend Jason standing in the distance and took a quick snap.

You can see how bad the visibility was.. and how much white we were surrounded by! It’s one of my favourite photos from the trip as I feel it also represents how tiny we are in the world.

I’m meant to tag five people to enter this contest, but seeing as I’m the Last-Minute Queen and the closing date is.. today… I guess there’s no real point in tagging anyone. Sorry guys!

To end this post, I’d like to share with you one of my favourite photos of COLOUR:

It’s a fisherman and his little fishing boat in Nice, France! Look at how colourful his boat is.. isn’t it AMAZING? It’s such a happy-looking boat. I imagine that all the guy does sit there smiling and all these fish/jellyfish/dolphins/etc would pop their heads out of the water, dancing and singing about how wonderful life is.

The post Capture the Colour 2013 appeared first on SMALLCRAZY.

It was my first time visiting Canada. Took this pic as the the plane was getting ready for landing. How GREEN, right? It’s like.. a garden of little broccoli tops.
^This was taken a bit earlier. I love it because it captures pretty much the full gradient of the sky from top to bottom.

I was so excited to be crossing the Atlantic again. I’d only been once before – in 2007 when I spent three weeks in wonderful San Francisco. Really I was just so RELIEVED that I was actually ON that flight at all, having received my visa only 12 hours prior… so much drama.

A big THANK YOU to WeHostels again for the opportunity. And also thank you my lucky stars that this all ended up happening..

You see, the reason I even knew about the comp was because of a bouncy, happy, pink-loving, jetsetting girl called LOLA. We’d been internet-friends (is that a term) since earlier in the year – drawn together by our similar personalities: positive, optimistic, and FUN-LOVING. She encouraged me to enter the comp so we might have a chance to meet in Toronto.

“I’m gonna enter it, win it, and see you there!”

And I did! I couldn’t wait to meet her!

  

One of the first things I did upon arriving in Toronto was get a cheap eat from a hot dog stand.. I love that shit. ‘Street meat’, they call it.. hmm. Totally unglam. But for $1.50, fine. Haha! (Thank you Karla)

As soon as Lola heard I was coming, she arranged a place for me to stay: a room in an awesome four-storey townhouse on Bleecker Street (somewhere north-east of downtown Toronto). With a bunch of other travel bloggers. We nicknamed it the ‘Real World TBEX’ house, complete with our own hashtag (#RWTBEX). Social media geeks….. …

  
^Left: Outside of the house / Right: Bleecker Street

^Bay window in the top floor room, where I slept. It was a massive room that took up the whole floor. It had two queen beds and its own toilet.

The house was organised and provided by Flipkey, a holiday rental service not unlike Airbnb (the one I use most). I’ve been discovering more and more of such websites lately.. I should make a list soon as it’s such a fantastic alternative to hotels! And then there are higher-end options as well, such as renting luxury villas, amongst others.. these I’ll save for when I make more money 🙂

^Crossroads and tram tracks at the south end of Bleecker Street.

I sent Lola a link to the Build A Dream ‘Snack Shack’ a couple of weeks before the trip. Of course, that crazy mofo (I mean that in the most lovable, endearing sense) only went and BOUGHT IT. I think it was the knowledge of this fact that fuelled my determination in getting that visa and making sure I got my ass over there..

I mean.. A CARDBOARD PLAYHOUSE WHAT MORE COULD I WANT REALLY?? 
This woman KNEW ME before she even MET ME!

It wasn’t long before it was set up.. do you see all the bottles on the countertop? That’s how sturdy that thing was. Build A Dream Playhouses – not just for kids for sure! We turned ours into a bar, pretty much. And named it The Confessional (it wasn’t me – I just provided the toys and props, obviously).

Above pic is of Chris of Captain and Clark, and me in clearly the best hat ever.

The following pics are an accumulation of about three occasions of mucking around the house/’snack shack’:

  
^Left: Chris and Gerard / Right: Craig, Tawny, & Erin

  
^Sharpies! Needless to say, I did the majority of the doodling..

^Love my little drawing of Chris? Hahaha

  
^Right: Ted on the guitar. I decided to give him a kind of mohawk..

Ted was so drunk when he brought his guitar out and attempted to serenade us. I don’t even know WHAT he played.. or if it was even anything that was really music at all. Poor him, he kept saying that he didn’t normally sound like that. The next morning when he was sober, he sported the guitar again to show us that he REALLY COULD play and sing. Awh, it’s not like we didn’t believe you the first time! Haha 😉

^With Lola! She came bursting through the front door fashionably late. As you can see, I’d already changed into my sleeping t-shirt..

^I brought face paint, too!

  
^Lola of course brought moustaches.. or should I say ‘mustaches’.. / Erin appreciating the floor.

^Lola, Erin, & Ted. Ted can play guitar, don’t forget!

Now THAT is a moustache.. I have a particular friend in London *ahem* who keeps pointing out the tiny little baby hairs on my upper lip and making me conscious about it. So conscious that I actually looked up and considered laser hair removal (see, I even found a clinic near me!) for a while.

These stick-on moustaches were rather reassuring.

  
^Craig.. (whose hat was that?!), and Erin pouting probably cos she was craving poutine. Pouting for Poutine! 

^Moustaches are not limited to silly humans!

Lola brought a bunch of merit badges for us to assign to each other. We had a ballot box and everything! I can’t remember which one I got.. but I know I swapped it for one that depicted a shoe with a piece of gum stuck to it. It just looked funny and I felt it represented me rather well.. haha.

  

As you can see, The Confessional never stopped evolving! More and more dumb doodles started to adorn its exterior… (by yours truly..), and it even boasted a bed sheet roof. It was a bar. It was a glowstick-shop. It also smelt of Chris after a while cos he just WOULD NOT GET OUT OF IT.

^Tawny, Me, & Kieu

^With the most beautiful (not just on the outside!) Alex, who bunked with me on the top floor.

 
^Left: CALAN and one of my new toys! / Ted: Supposedly, he’s playing guitar.. you just can’t see it, ok?

Here’s a video I put together – it’s basically just all the Vines I took at the house..

From the video, you’ll notice a couple of things:

1. Flat Deej
I was confused about what ‘Flat Deej’ was at first. Let me explain to you my non-American readers.. First of all, Deej is actually a blogger. He was meant to come to TBEX but for some reason couldn’t, and was really bummed about it. So Lola created Flat Deej to make him feel like he was there. It’s based on the award-winning Flat Stanley Project, in which school children are encouraged to write letters to their friends documenting the whereabouts/activities of a cut-out paper character called Stanley (from a storybook called Flat Stanley).

2. Banana
Actually I just wanted to explain Flat Deej and nothing else.

^Our one group photo! Thanks Alex for this 🙂

I admit I hardly attended any sessions at the conference due to late nights etc – because this bunch were so much FUN to hang out with. It was the first time meeting each other for most of us. In fact I hadn’t even heard of half these people before I got there. But it was the best thing ever..

There’s something so amazing about meeting people who also LOVE to travel! I’d never met so many people who were entirely immersed and so passionate about exploring the world before. It was like MAGIC! Kinda like a special, natural connection. Everyone was so POSITIVE, receptive, EXPRESSIVE, encouraging, and socially adventurous. It was super awesome that I didn’t need to explain (unlike when I meet erm, ‘normal’ people.. for lack of a better word, please, it’s 2am..) my desire to travel and and make it my life’s priority – cos everyone shared that same desire. AUTOMATIC FRIENDS.

SO, at the house, there was:

Craig of StayAdventurous
Craig loves being on the road and his favourite country appears to be Mexico! He’s full of shit and will encourage you to step out of your comfort zone. See the world! STAY ADVENTUROUS! And maybe you’ll end up in his imaginary (but one day hopefully real) Hall of Fame..

Erin of The World Wanderer
Erin is a sweetie who has an immense love for the Vine app, and poutine. She’s a teacher and travels as much as she can during the school holidays. Really she’s just so lovely that I can’t even call her a ***** for having so many days off in a year.

Chris & Tawny of Captain and Clark
Erm, only the most awesome couple ever! ‘Met on Kilimanjaro; Engaged at the Taj Mahal’. They’re both hilarious and witty and make fab videos. Why can’t I speak as naturally and smoothly as them on camera? Ugh anyway. Adventurous, energetic, and fun.. if we lived in the same country they’d be my best friends for sure!

Alex of CrazySexyFunTraveler
I truly admire Alex for her dedication and commitment to her cause. She’s been travelling full time for a few years now and she looks like she should be on a magazine cover! She’s so down-to-earth, helpful, and I love her honesty. She’s outgoing and adventurous.. and of course, a little crazy. My kinda friend!

Gerard & Kieu of GQTrippin 
Why are some couples just so cute? WHY? Recently (or not so recently) back from a year-long round-the-world trip, G & Q are now settling back to life in California.. or trying to I suppose. Haha. They are both SO NICE I wish I could shrink and squash them into a little ball, which I then toss to the ground, releasing them into full-sized human existence….. yes like Pokemon..

Ted of Traveling Ted
Ted’s passion is everything outdoors and adventure travel. He’s a camping expert (who packed some sort of miniature/foldable SHOVEL in his backpack.. haha) and of course, he plays the guitar. I would LOVE to go on a trip with him and do some crazy stuff! TED let’s go sea kayaking! Caving! Skiing! Snowboarding! Canyoning! Everything!

Carolyn of The Lazy Travelers
There’s only ONE pic of this girl in this post.. and it’s of the back of her head. Other times she was probably passed out somewhere whilst the rest of us smiled for the camera! She’s one-half of The Lazy Travelers.. ‘The Wino’
Then of course there’s Lola.. I love her. That is all.

THANKS FLIPKEY for housing us!

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OK let’s start from the beginning. Three weeks ago, I left work early and boarded a flight to Rotterdam to attend TBU Europe, a relatively new travel blogging conference that takes place twice a year (the last one was in Porto. PORTO!!! I love that place. Can’t believe I missed THAT, but anyway..). I was really excited! It was to be my first conference. Of any kind. EVER. I booked myself a really nice place just across the conference venue, that I found on Airbnb.

^In my backpack: conference schedule, spare cardigan, iPhone charger (we all know just how shit the iPhone battery life is), Goliath the mouse, and Panda.

^I tried to get some ‘work’ done while waiting at Heathrow Airport. Was editing some more pics from Iceland <– this just NEVER ends.

^It was BEAUTIFUL in London as I left it. Clear blue skies.

^A Vine video that I made whilst on the plane.  Click to play.
(Follow me on Vine! the name is SMALLCRAZY).

  

And then.. I arrived in Rotterdam. GREY AND RAINY.

“Some holiday…”

But look at their luggage reclaim area! I found it so amusingly cute. It was so woody that it even smelt it.

A bus from Rotterdam Airport to Centraal cost me €3 (and the ticket is valid on public transport for one hour). By the time I arrived at the apartment late that night, I was looking rather like a wet and tired rat. My host, Jan, was super.. and so was my little top floor studio.

^Planted myself on the bed and began painting my nails in between blogging.. totally havin a party.

It was so much fun unpacking and placing all my stuff around the room the next day!

I missed the morning opening remarks and keynote talks at the conference. I was just SO TIRED.

TBU ROTTERDAM & THE MAINPORT HOTEL

TBU Rotterdam took place at The Mainport Hotel, a brand new (literally it opened ONE DAY before the conference began) five-star design hotel located in Leuvehaven, near the water. A lot of the attendees stayed there out of convenience.. but sadly it was out of my price range.

I WISHED I could’ve stayed there though, because it looked super cool and I heard that some rooms contained your own little jacuzzi and SAUNA.

^Awesome chandelier lights hanging off what seems to be a giant upside-down compass. Without arrows.

^The long white reception desk looked like something out of a sci-fi movie.

^I hung out here a lot.. mostly to use the free wifi. And to pretend that I was really busy.

When in fact, I was doing this… >>

Just capturing the mood!

ANYWAY

All delegates/attendees were greeted with a  goodie bag including lots of information about Rotterdam and a three-day public transport card. I was (just a little) embarrassed to have turned up so late.. but I really didn’t wanna be shuffling around like a zombie all day. I had to turn up looking GOOD.

So eventually, I made it to the main room for the ‘Creating Content for Travellers’ presentation by Gary Bembridge and subsequent panel discussion. I was particularly excited about the panel discussion as one of the speakers on it was Gemma of Retrochick. True to form, she turned up with the most amazing vintage style hairdo and she was great when she spoke.

^This photo was taken by Anja of The Curly Traveller, who was attracted to me because of all the colours and toys and stickers I had with me. Anja turned out to be a kindred spirit and a gem – you’ll see why in a later post.

My jumper is from Topshop.

  

I took the above pics during the couple of short breaks in between. My toys are balanced on my pink business-card holder…. my rather LAME card holder I should say, cos it barely holds ten cards at once.

  

^I sat next to Clare of Need Another Holiday, and we had lunch together too – this was provided downstairs. The drink on the right is actually a cold soup starter.. can’t remember what it was called but it was something with tomato.

Clare was super sweet and lovely and funny.. She lives up north and hopefully I’ll see her again too. She writes about how to make the most out of travel while keeping a full time job.

^I have to admit that the food served at the hotel was not exactly mouth-watering. But y’know what it was there and available.. so I simply reminded myself that at least I didn’t have to walk out in the rain to find my own lunch!

HOTEL BAZAR, ROTOWN, & NRC ROTTERDAM

Clare and I went to a huge middle eastern restaurant (part of a hotel) on Witte de Withstraat (one of the main streets in Rotterdam where all the bars and restaurants are) called Bazar, following recommendations from other people who had been.

The place was huge and full of LIGHTS! I was completely enticed.

We shared a bottle of wine.

Ordered a couple of main dishes to share, too. The food was amazing! I loved it all. Everything was tasty and juicy and satisfying.

The TBU Networking Event for the first night was at a bar/live music venue called Rotown.

^Goliath came along too, but he found it a little boring since he couldn’t drink.

I managed to stop by a coffee-shop on the way. Got some goodies and proceeded to befriend the naughty people of the conference who would indulge with me. Sometimes I think this is the best way to make friends.. (as I’ve said before.. this is an honest blog!)

^Buzzing Witte de Withstraat on a Friday night.

Upon leaving Rotown, Clare and I stumbled upon an EVEN COOLER scene at a place called NRC.

  

The music was fab, the ceilings were HIGH and they had a giant disco ball! And cherry blossoms inside.

We spotted a group of Dutch girls wearing bodycon dresses and all made up.. but on their feet, all were wearing sneakers or Converse shoes. Super awesome! I love girls who dress to DANCE.

I had a fantastic first day both in terms of the conference and Rotterdam city. While it provided lots of useful content and an opportunity to learn lots of new things, I thought the best part was all the amazing travel-minded people I got to meet and play with. And Rotterdam was pretty cool.. I loved seeing all the tall buildings and modern architecture – being in Europe, this was rare.

More later! X

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People always ask me, ‘WHY? HOW?’ What did you DO?’ with immense curiosity. Here’s how.

When I arrived at the rather rural Castelnaudary train station, Blanche, the woman who owned the farm, came to pick me up with her car. From the moment we met, I knew she took a certain disliking to me. I could tell by the way she looked at me and by her body language. You know when you just KNOW?

She clearly wasn’t interested in me or in getting to know me. I endured a super awkward car ride that lasted 20 minutes. Nevertheless, I filled my mind with only positive thoughts and convinced myself that she simply wasn’t the talkative type.

When the car pulled up in the driveway, she got out and.. left me there. Again, no matter.

“I have arms and legs.. it’s fine I’ll carry all my bags up myself!”

I was then distracted and struck by how eccentric and pretty the whole place was (click here for more). I met Bernard, her French/Moroccan husband. He had been a chef for over 30 years and was quite the quirky man. He was friendly and funny and warm, unlike Blanche the iron woman.

I felt slightly disappointed that there were no other volunteers like myself at the farm. BUT, after unloading my things in the bedroom upstairs I sauntered down to get familiar with the house and surroundings; and Bernard introduced me to a German guy called Axel.

Axel was sort of a long-term volunteer who helped out at the farm in exchange for food, water, and electricity. He was a nomad. He lived in a caravan happily planted on a plot of land next to the farmhouse with…… his donkey, with whom he had travelled over 10,000km through Europe on foot!!

He also had quite a bushy beard and so I couldn’t help thinking of him as ‘Jesus’ in my mind…

Anyway, Axel was so friendly and accommodating, you would think that HE was the host. He showed me around the whole area and pointed out important things I should know. I met the two resident cats, the dog, and the old horse who lived close by.

After my ‘orientation’ was over, I got changed into some bathers (it was a sizzling 35 degrees celcius) and went along with Axel to take his donkey for a walk up and over a nearby hill. It was fun! I’d never walked a donkey before..

Eventually we reached a medium-sized lake. It wasn’t the most picturesque lake, but good enough for a quick swim while the donkey grazed on.. dried up shrubbery nearby. In that heat, getting into the water was like heaven!

On the way back, Axel told me more about his donkey (whose name I’ve clearly forgotten..so I’ll just call him Donkey) and the places they had been together. We had a nice chat about some serious things (like his decision to live nomadically) and some nonsense things (donkey poop). According to him, all he needs is himself and Donkey. He later showed me the little enclosed area he had built for Donkey near his caravan, and how Donkey would sometimes be cheeky and try to break through the fence… which was not even a real fence unless you consider two horizontal strings a fence, haha.

DAY 2

The next morning, as instructed by Blanche, I woke up and got ready very early. Had a rather awkward breakfast in the kitchen where she expected me to know where everything was. Luckily, I was saved by a cheerful Bernard who joined in soon.

I spent my first day working on one of the vegetable patches with everyone.. and boy was it hard work.  Hard, sweaty work. And who knew there were such a thing as gardening gear? Special rubbery shoes, gloves, hats, etc.

By the end of the afternoon, I was freaking knackered. I felt totally beaten down by the blazing sunshine. Like the sun had taken the form of a giant HOT shoe and stamped on me. ME, the sun-lover..

Anyway, sensing that I must’ve been a bit lonely without other young people around, Axel suggested that we walk to town to grab a drink, with Bernard. By ‘town’, it literally means one street, with an all-in-one cafe/bar/restaurant, one shop, and some essential amenities. It was the kind of place where everyone knew each other.. and their families. The cafe owner was really friendly and quite the entertaining clown 😉

We ate and drank and talked and stared into the night sky. As Blanche was rather cold and Bernard spoke little English, I spoke mostly with Axel. He liked to read a lot. He enjoyed the sound of thunder. He liked cold showers. He told me a bit more about his caravan and his nomadic life. He didn’t know where he was going next – I loved this fact about him. I was slightly envious. The four of us also shared a joint (this is an honest blog!), and so I have to say: it was a very nice night.

DAY 3 – KICKED-OUT DAY

On this morning, the men had gone away with the car to do some shopping. It was about 10am and I was working on the same vegetable patch, when Blanche comes up to me and abruptly tells me that she wanted me to leave.

In shock, I asked her why. She said some rather odd things, like ‘I don’t think you’re enjoying it’, and ‘You’re not doing it right’. I figured that they were all excuses for the simple fact that she didn’t like me, so I agreed that I would go by the afternoon (her terms). But who knows, maybe she was right – maybe I WAS really terrible at farm work! When the men returned, I could hear them having an argument with Blanche, questioning her actions. It was a little dramatic, and traumatic.

I admit I did cry a little in my room. I felt dejected, confused, and I didn’t know the answer to the most important question: WHERE TO GO/WHAT TO DO NOW?? 

My return flight was two weeks away and I had never really travelled solo before.

I logged into the one house computer with an internet connection and started researching. I emailed my close friends and looked at nearby farms I might be able to move to, but without much luck.

I later found comfort in Axel’s caravan. He’d invited me there so we could discuss the situation privately. He said he was sorry that this happened and that he was also as puzzled as I was.

Sensing that I was deflated, he started pulling out various maps and spread them all out on the table. I noticed that he kept a LOT of maps with him (well of course). We considered a number of options: I could travel farther inland up to Toulouse and then Bordeaux. Or I could go the coast, to Narbonne, down through Perpignan into Spain. He shared with me places he had been before where you could stay for free – such as a yoga/meditation retreat somewhere.. or a monastery. He knew heaps of things and lots of names of places I hadn’t even heard of! He was so kind, calm, and encouraging.

As I listened to him talk about my options, I realised something. I realised that.. THIS WAS AN OPPORTUNITY.

Suddenly, it became exciting. It was still a bit sh*t, but exciting. I saw the bright side.

I was free. I didn’t have to spend every day doing farm work. 
I could go off an EXPLORE!

^It was just you and I from here on, Goliath!

That afternoon, I packed my bags and said goodbye. Bernard gave me a long hug and whispered, ‘i’m really so sorry’. I told him I wouldn’t forget all those nifty cooking tips he’d given me. I thanked Axel being such a wonderful presence in my short-lived farm experience and wished him lots of luck on his next journey, wherever it might lead to.

At Castelnaudary train station, I politely hugged Blanche goodbye and thanked her for having me.

THE NEXT TWO WEEKS

I spent the first night in nearby Carcassonne.

^I went on a canal cruise and stopped to take pictures at a vineyard.

^I stopped in Marseilles for a while.

^I ended up in beautiful Nice, where I was fortunate enough to stay at the most fantastic hostel, Villa St Exupéry Gardens (thank you Ulf for having me).

^I learnt how to bake macarons (now a forgotten skill).

^I went canyoning in the Verdon Gorge (amazing).

^I went swimming by the Promenade des Anglais

^I made a day trip to Eze Village, one of the prettiest little towns in Europe.

^I went scuba diving at St Jean Cap Ferrat.

^I made friends and partied with three Australian girls.

^I sunbathed and swam in Cap D’Ail, a cute little beach just west of Monaco.

^I visited Monaco for the second time in my life.

^I finally got to see the leaning tower of Pisa.

^I fell in love with Florence (can you believe this is part of the riverbank there?).

^I met Tania and Ana, two South Americans whom I asked to please share a 1kg Bistecca Fiorentina (Florentine steak) with me.

^I went to Siena and watched the town prepare for Il Palio

^I climbed up a hill in San Gimignano, which was also home to ‘the best gelato in the world‘

Thank You Axel

The post The Summer I Found Myself appeared first on SMALLCRAZY.

Basically, I had to pick seven pairs of shoes from Next and and style them with clothes that are also from Next. I sometimes use my Wacom tablet as a mouse so I thought it would be fun to play around with it and do some handwriting and super amateur drawing.

Err.. I haven’t learnt yet to use Polyvore.. so these images were created using Sketchbook Express. 

All clothing featured in this post can be found on the Next online store – just type in the item name into the search box!

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“Out of Print celebrates the world’s great stories through fashion. Our shirts feature iconic and often out of print book covers. Some are classics, some are just curious enough to make great t-shirts, but all are striking works of art.”

Last week I was sent a sample of my choice
I picked ‘Tales of the Jazz Age’
Which was a book published in 1922 by F. Scott Fitzgerald containing a number of short stories which included – now made popular by a movie of the same name – ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’

I took the tee to Copenhagen with me
Managed a very casual outfit

Shorts H&M
Cashmere cardi Next
Shoes vintage
Striped scarf Gina Tricot
I love how the background looks like a painting in this pic (above)Gotta say the tee is really soft and comfy!
Definitely will be wearing it more often over the summer, if summer ever arrives.. >.<

Good for swinging too!
Unfortunately occluded by my scarf in the photo..

+++++++++++

The good news is I got sent not one, but TWO 

Even the tags are neat – modelled after old library cards 😀

To win this tee you just have to leave a comment with your email address
And I’ll pick someone randomly when I’m back next week(Speaking of which, I’m off on a Spanish cruise tomorrow!)Closing date end of Tuesday 4 May GMT

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