Go travelling!

I have just returned back to England after backpacking across Europe and I can say hands down that it has been the best experience of my life. The next few paragraphs will show you why that is through my list of what I think were the best bits in my adventure (I would love to tell you about everything we got up to however I would need to write a whole book for that…).

1) The people you meet. We stayed in youth hostels throughout our travels (‘we’ being me and my university housemate Emily) and they are incredibly social. You stay in dorms of 6-12 people so you are instantly thrown into meeting people. But just by sitting in the common room you’re bound to meet tons of fellow travellers, for example when we were in Munich a Danish guy came and asked us if we wanted to play cards and by the end of that night there were 11 of us squished round a little table chatting and playing games. Furthermore, the people that you meet are all of different nationalities. We’ve met Americans, Australians, Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Argentinians, Germans, Canadians, Austrians…the list goes on. The great thing about this is that you learn so much, particularly from a sociological view, about other countries and their culture, for instance I have learnt about different countries’ politics and educational systems. Most importantly though I have made friends. Although a lot of the time you simply chat to people for one night and then won’t see them again the next day, you also meet people who you’ll see again and make others plans with. I have even made plans to meet up with some people when they come over to England.

2) Food. I mentioned in a previous blog that I am obsessed with food. Travelling is a great way of satisfying my need to try new things. I have had goulash, schnitzel, apple strudel, German sausages and Slovenian roasts…all sorts of food and all so good. My favourite restaurant has to be the one we went to in Munich. It is called Weisses Brauhaus and is sort of half beer hall half restaurant. Their roast pork knuckle is incredible with its thick layer of perfectly cooked crackling and tasty gravy (pictured below). And with a pint of wheat beer to wash it down it really is a lovely meal. In fact the beer was a highlight itself. I didn’t like beer before I went away but having now tried Belgian beer and German beer I have converted into a beer drinker (as is evident in the picture of me and my 1 litre beer…).

3) The natural beauty of Croatia and Austria. The best countries that I have visited are Croatia and Austria, purely for their natural beauty. In Croatia we started in Zagreb and whilst we were here we went on a day trip to Plitvice Lakes. This place was like paradise. Imagine lakes of perfect, light blue water, huge waterfalls and pretty trees and hills…

Yep, that’s it. I took that picture myself. I still can’t quite grasp the beauty of it. It’s probably the best place I have ever been to.

Then on the train ride to Rijeka (also in Croatia) we experienced a very stunning moment. Our train was pretty high up in the mountains and the view down over the sea with the mountains in the background was wonderful. Then to make it even more beautiful we were travelling whilst the sun was setting behind the mountains. Sadly I didn’t get a picture of this because I was too much in awe at the time, so to see it you’ll just have to experience it yourself!

Then the train ride through Austria was another beautiful one because of the magnificent view of the Alps. With blue sky and a few bubbly clouds it just looked like a perfect picture…

Salzburg was then a beauty in itself. Its pale coloured buildings and little cobbled streets make the city pretty unique. You can see hills and mountains all around so you don’t feel trapped in a concrete jungle. And the Mirabell gardens were lovely. Salzburg was my favourite city and I highly recommend visiting it. Here are 3 of the 82 photos I took of Salzburg…

4) Swimming in Lake Bled. Me and Emily said from the beginning that we wanted to go swimming in Lake Bled (in Slovenia) as we’d seen pictures like this one…

…and well how could you say no? You see that island in the middle…I swam all the way out to that. It was pretty tough because obviously once you go you can’t stop to stand up because it’s too deep, but it was totally worth it as once I got there and turned around the view was incredible. But despite the view I do have to say this…make sure you are a reasonably strong swimmer if you give it a go because there are no lifeguards to keep an eye on you, once you’re out there you’re out there alone.

These four things were just the highlights of the trip. We did so many fantastic things along the way and I can’t recommend inter-railing enough. If you have the time and money then go travelling. You see so many amazing things, meet lots of people, have such a laugh and you even discover things about yourself. If you want to know more about what I got up to or how we went about planning it then feel free to comment on this post or even email me at OW21@student.le.ac.uk.