Welcome! Have a seat? Like a drink? Water? Whisky? Whatever you fancy, get comfy and have a browse around the inner workings of my 30 year old, Aquarian, vagabonding brain. Hope to see you often and looking as dashing as you do now ;)
The sneaky success of Palacio Principe Real is that somehow it’s managed to gloriously trap two vagabonders into its web, making it so lovely to stay in it’s little oasis that you barely want to leave and end up…actually slowing down and relaxing. And with central Lisbon right on your doorstep, literally, it’s the perfect definition of a city-stay sanctuary.
It’s sunrise in a rural floating village in Cambodia and there is a chill to the air that is beginning to wear off with as the sun gets higher in the sky. I’m perched on a low resting chair on the deck watching the village begin to stir. I’ve never been to a place like this before, where the whole village is built and morphed around the rising and falling tides. I am in Kompong Khleang, 50 km from Siem Reap and almost 300km from Phnom Penh. Every house is built on stilts, metres high, and a portion of the community live full time on houseboats tied to one another to move in unison as the river rises and falls. Downriver about 4 kilometres is a giant golden statue of Buddha standing tall against the skyline. The town messages boom over the speakers and music plays to wake the village soon. But for now, it’s quiet except for the hum of boat motors on the waters below. I could sit like this morning after morning.
I’m sitting on a Park bench somewhere between Bologna and Milan.
Today I am supposed to visiting a friend from up North to go outlet shopping but, like a lot of other days recently, I’ve woken up with tears in my eyes.
I’ve been living in Italy for a few months now and my boyfriend back in Australia has recently informed me that he can no longer “do this”.
This being long distance.
This being me living halfway around the world.
In hindsight, it was the catapult into the making of myself. At the time, though – absolute heartbreak.
Iceland is right at the tip of the world, the part that the golden handle usually pierces through on your spinning globe. This Nordic Island country is considered to be the last place on earth settled by humans – and when you travel its expanses, you can kind of feel that.
Seeing as we were living in Dublin, the shortest flight distance to Reykjavik, it was definitely a trip we knew we wanted to take. Hopping on board the 2-hour flight with W.O.W. Airlines and with all the warm clothes we could fit, we had planned to hire a car and drive (as always) away from the crowds and see what we could find.
And what we found was breathtaking.
It’s coming on nightfall in the south of France and we’re in the car driving South.
Having just finished an omelette dinner and a glass of rouge under deep red French awnings, we have decided to spend the night in the countryside. It’s the kind of decisions you make only when your entire life at that point fits into a car. From the coast to the countryside it is!
