Category: Travels

Bratislava – Day 3

This one is obviously a little bit late but you know, life gets in the way / i’m lazy.

The final full day included a visit to Devín Castle which was used as a border for the iron curtain until 1989 and blown up by Napoleon’s army back when he was alive.

Playing dress up would be fun!

The last place to visit in Bratislava is the Slavin war memorial which is dedicated to the Red Army who fought and won control of the city during the final weeks of the Second World War. Nearly 7,000 soldiers are buried here and their names are commemorated as the heroes they truly are.

I never thought about going to Bratislava but i’m glad I did. 3 days is enough to see nearly everything that the city has to offer. If you like communist looking cities, cheap booze then this is the place for you. Also, there are loads of strip clubs so if you’re thinking of a stag weekend then you’re likely to be in for a treat. Thanks to my partner in crime Siobhan Allen for guiding me as I couldn’t be bothered to do that either. What? I’ve been travelling on my own and it’s nice for someone else to do all the planning/work haha. Till my next adventure!

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Bratislava – Day 1 (Oh yeah, I’m back)

I’ve flown a lot (that’s not a brag) and I’m still terrified of turbulence. I know I’ll be ok but it’s hard when you’re not in control. Anyway enough of that, you may notice that I’m finally updating this site and it’s not because I had a notice that my yearly renewal was up so figured I should use this site again as I’m finally leaving England for a few days to Bratislava, Slovakia. What’s there? I don’t actually know, I’ve done little to no research for it but I know that I’m going to eat some European food and look at some pretty buildings and views.

I’m quite good at packing now and fit everything I need for the next few days in one bag. Evidence:

I’ve got the essentials of multiple t-shirts, you know what..I’m not going to list it because it’s boring haha. Just think about what you’d take on holiday and I’ve probably got it (You can make your own jokes here). 

After a long arduous journey where my SatNav decided to drive through central London I made it to the airport as shown in evidence B:


Slovakia is one of those European countries that not a lot of people know about including one George W Bush who got the country confused with Slovenia. It’s also being called a Mini-Prague which the next few photos will attest to:

This was number 1 on the most instagram-able places in the city so of course your boy got a photo outside of it.

Rooftop bar with a definitely nice view. My drink was sort of fancy tea mixed with apple and honey.

First proper meal here and you bet I’m going to eat sushi.

What will tomorrow bring? 30+ degrees weather with a dash of the occasion rain. They have a McDonalds that serves a burger between two rice cakes, I’m in.

The End

Where do I even begin? That was the most fun and interesting three months of my life. It’s super cliche but I know why people do it. I’ve made so many new friends all around the world and can’t wait to visit them in the future although I think the English ones will be the easiest ones to see for the moment while I work my butt off to get myself out of debt…

Some reasons why I’m happy to be home at the moment.

  1. Not having to live out of a back pack
  2. Access to all my clothes
  3. My cat!

But you don’t want to read that! You want to see what some of my highlights were! Well my friends, you are in luck as below are some of my highlights while I was away.

  1. Getting stoned at Jimmy Eat World when a random guys passed me a joint. I’d never been so high in my life.
  2. Laying in a hammock on a Fiji beach, watching the world go by.
  3. Flying a small plane in New Zealand.
  4. Ross and Athena’s wedding in California.
  5. Climbing the Sydney bridge.
  6. Visiting the glow worm caves in NZ.
  7. HOBBITON!
  8. Singing “I Want It That Way” at open mic nights and at every karaoke opportunity.
  9. Riding 35km on a bike through some beautiful New Zealand scenery with mountains in the background.
  10. Hugging a koala bear.
  11. Japan…I just love that country so much
  12. And of course…everyone I met!

Like I said on the previous post, this page will go on a break until I decide what to do next with it. I’ll probably end up with more food posts as I love eating and of course, when I visit a new country!

Thanks for joining me on this journey 😘

Ocean Park

This was it, my last full day of being away before I head back home. It’s been a long journey filled with fun, laugher and all the other stuff you do when you’re travelling. There will be another summary post later on, probably at the weekend detailing my highlights etc and then this page will likely go on hiatus for a while until I decide what I want to do next.

So Ocean Park, somewhere I haven’t been to in for at least 25 years so I have no memory of the place except for the cable car. It was another hot day and wearing jeans was a terrible mistake.

The first ride we went on. Sophie screamed so much that at first I thought she was faking it but when I turned around she had her eyes closed so maybe not.

The rapids got me so wet and you had some bellends shooting water at you as you were going around the track, thanks guys!

At the park you get some lovely views! Like this one of construction taking place.

These water dogs were pretty cute!

As was this smiling sea urchin.

Holding on for dear life.

I was really in the mood for cheese and lo and behold we found a place that did a cheese fondue! Very traditional Chinese I know…

Flight is at 2:50pm (Hong Kong time) tomorrow…dreading it as it flights to Kuala Lumpur first and then I have to wait 4 hours before another flight to London. Bloody nightmare! You bet I upgraded my seat on the final flight and you can get I’ve downloaded a ton of films from Netflix as well.

Hong Kong from above

Going to write a quick update as it’s nearly 2am. I seem to make it a habit of staying up late and writing, maybe that’s when my best ideas/worst grammar mistakes come out.

Today was a scorching hot day so we thought it would be a good idea to walk around outside. The first stop was the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens. The best thing about this place apart from the animals of course was that it cost me $0HKD to get in.

Yeah that’s right, we helped in the war too!

Taking photos of people taking selfies.

She sure is good at blowing.

Once we completed our two hour hike around the zoo we headed to the Victoria Peak tram station where we proceeded to wait about 90 mins to ride the historic tram. People were shoving each other to get in and that as you can imagine was a lot of fun.

But the reward is this view! I think this is my new favourite photo that I’ve taken and edited.

Tomorrow is my last full day so I’m going to spend it in a theme park! Originally I was going to go to Disneyland but according to my family it’s more child orientated so heading to Ocean Park instead where pandas reside! I’ve never seen one in the flesh before so I’m very much looking forward to it! Expect photos of the cute little things shot with my phone from a faraway distance tomorrow.

Family time

Is there a better way to cross one island to another than a boat? Yeah I know the underground is faster but then you wouldn’t see the views below! I wanted to punish my feet again so we walked up a really long escalator, probably the longest in the world. It’s not continuous! Could you imagine? There are quite a few stops along the way as you will also see below.

Poor guy took about three attempts before the rope got attached to the hook, obviously he would have done better than me anyway.

View of Hong Kong from the IFC shopping centre full of brands like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Burberry etc etc. Brands that I’ve boycotted for a long time for being so expensive, that’ll teach them.

Yeah you can still ride Trams in HK! It’s on a list of top ten trams to travel on in the world.

So this long escalator links the city centre up to the residential area and takes about 20 mins to get to the top!

All the above pictures were stops on the way. There are plenty of food options and boutique shops to peruse and a London-esque section called Soho – very original name.

I wanted to buy some Xbox One games but the bloody console isn’t very popular over here. The place was so crowded with Asian virgins and it was hard to move!

Wish they didn’t leave the head on the plate…

It was my nephew’s fifth birthday so the timing of my trip worked out just right. It was so so good to see members of my family from my mum’s side after so long. Luckily my Chinese skills were up to snuff.

I had a good day!

Hongkers

I can’t believe I’m on the final part of my trip! What an intense and emotionally challenging 3 months it’s been. I have to say I’m looking forward to having access to all my clothes/stuff again (have I said that before? I feel like I have) and of course my little furry boy who will no doubt would have forgotten me. I’m going to grab and squeeze him so hard when I walk through the door.

Anyway Hong Kong! Bloody love the place, my second home. Home to flashy lights and neon signs. My aunt who I met up with for dinner has already asked me why I’m not married yet and when I’m moving to HK. I laughed off both questions awkwardly. One of my best pals Sophie has flown out to see me for the final leg and it’s been so good to see a familiar face.

One of my favourite views in the world!

Jackie Chan wrecked that clock in one of his films back in the 80s, obviously they rebuilt it especially for the tourists (some of this may be a lie)

Christmas has come early in HK…it should be December guys!!

Here she is! @sophiegold_ if you want to stalk on instagram.

BBQ Pork with rice…an absolute dream.

The hotel room and below the view from the breakfast bar!

So our first proper day involved getting on a cable car to visit the giant Buddha statue. There’s a little town/monastery at the top with all your favourite chains including Subway and Starbucks. The views are insane which you will be able to see below.

Cows roam free around here.

Once we were done we ventured into Causeway Bay for a bit of shopping. I saw my favourite store Uniqlo and got myself a lovely winter jacket to keep me warm. England is about 3 degrees at the moment, this will definitely be a shock to the system.

Dinner tonight with two of my mum’s friends who I have known since I was a little boy. It was amazing to see them both again and they are two of the nicest/genuine people that I know!

That’s it for now! Going to take a boat across to Hong Kong island for the views and do more shopping. Dinner with my family tomorrow as well! None of them speak English so I’m sure Sophie is going to have a lovely time…

Japan tour complete!

So that’s another tour done! I’ve always wanted to go to Japan and it definitely did not disappoint! After another early morning start we were off to the see Bamboo Forest! I’m holding my phone in the second photo as I was video calling my best pal at the time and wanted to include her in the shot haha.

My favourite dog 😍

Once we’d taken enough social media photos of the forest we trekked up a “mountain” to look at monkeys at the aptly named Monkey Mountain.

View of Kyoto from the top of the mountain.

After that we went on an elegant boat ride featuring the beauty of the seasons (their words not mine).

Our final train ride to Osaka (my balls). It was also at this point that I left my bag on a train but Japan being the lovely country that it is I managed to get it back with all my stuff in it. Phew.

Our last speech by our tour guide extraordinaire Jack as we embarked on a food tour which would end in surprise surprise Karaoke! What did I sing? You already know if you’ve been following this blog 😉.

Group shot outside the running man sign.

Octopus balls.

Assortment of deep fried meats.

I didn’t take many photos after this as I got very very drunk. Thanks to all the guys on the tour and to our guide Jack who made sure we all had an amazing time. Special shout out to Ben who did my washing twice on this trip for me.

So it’s nearly home time for me! One more country to go and it’s the homeland of Hong Kong. I’m looking forward to seeing some family who I haven’t seen in years and eating dim sum until I explode.

The red torii gates

After an early start we headed to one of the most important shrines in Kyoto, the Fushimi Imari Shrine. It’s famous for its thousands of tori gates and leads into a wooded forest trail.

A quick train ride led us to the next destination which was the Higashiyama District which is one of Kyoto’s best preserved historical district.

The five part act of me drinking from the love fortune which hopefully blesses me with eternal love…something along those lines anyway.

We had a free afternoon so headed to Nari Park which is famous for the deers who bow down to you when they offer you food. The below is the first thing I saw when I got there…

BOOP! Ok this is a short one was its 1am and I really wanted to write something down. I can’t believe I’ve only got one day left of the tour. It has gone really really fast and I’ve made some good friends on it. I was “gifted” tonight with a Japanese pornography magazine which i have promised to take home with me. Really hope I don’t get stopped at customs as it will be an awkward experience.