Voy a Espana

Happy New Year!  Happy almost Spring!  Happy month of February!

I've been having a great time over the past few months, spending my time in England, Ireland and Wales.  Despite what every website has said about going to Ireland in January, we had gorgeous weather, and agreeing with what everyone says about Ireland, we had a great time.

Looks Celtic, eh?

We couchsurfed with some amazing people in Limerick, also known as Stab City.  We listened to some great traditional Irish music, drank loads of Guiness, and hung out with my cooler than cool little brother in Galway.

Most delicious steak sandwiches ever at the Skeff in Galway.

Cool as a clam.

We even stayed for a week on Inishboffin, a small island off the coast of Connemara.  I LOVE IRELAND!  It's great craic.  Go there, now!

"Island of the White Cow", or as I like to call it, el Bofino.

Inishboffin!

Early morning beach walk, beautiful.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Spain with my loverboy.  Yay!  We'll taking the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander, which at the moment has a weather forecast that looks all too much like the forecast for my current location, Littlehampton, but hopefully it will change soon.  I'll be heading down to Barcelona to hang with my brother for a few days while he plays hookey, and then we'll see where the road takes us.

Goodbye English breakfast, hellooo tapas and wine.

A few days ago we joined an organization called Helper Exchange.  In exchange for you working on someones land doing various tasks, you have a place to stay and food to eat.  It's an awesome way to learn new skills, meet people, and get to know an area while spending virtually no money.  I've worked on 3 farms/plots now, and I've had all really good experiences.  Also, I've eaten lots of delicious food. It's a program similar to WWOOF, except that instead of purchasing a 1 year membership to each individual country for $20-30, I now have a 2 year membership to the entire world for $30(ish)!  It's fuh-reakin awesome.  So hopefully after Barcelona my time will be spent on a few different plots of land, doing things like picking oranges, mulching, and playing with goats and puppies.

Wish me luck and no sunburns!
Lizard

Hey you!

It's me, I'm back.  Life has pretty much been happening over here and over there, and let me tell you that it is all spectacular.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am blessed. 

All my new friends!

 The past few months I've been mostly hanging around Wales, in the capitol of Cardiff and in West Wales.  I've been on a few more farms and have been learning tons of stuff, like the difference between straw and hay!  I've also learned that it's easy to not spend spend money and be on the road, unless you're with your brother in Ireland.

The beauty that is Wales

I've totally stopped learning my three things, which I'm alright with for now.  Maybe I'll pick it back up one day.  I'm missing home, as well as the South, which is strange because I haven't spent too much time down thar.  I'm also pining for California, but I think that's because I keep getting Joni Mitchell songs stuck in my head.  Even though I am having constant cravings for my moms lentil soup and Mr. Macs biscuits, I'm still planning on hanging out for a few months.  But, you know, who the heck knows.

See you later dudes and dudettes!

Hello there to you!

Once you stop doing something for so long it can be a bit difficult to catch up; i.e, I haven’t blogged for a very long time.  I’m hoping I’ll find some inspiration to write individual posts a bit later on, but my overall feeling with my travels has become that of exasperation instead of excitement, which could be why I haven’t had the desire to share.    

The depths of Spain

Towards the end of my two weeks in Italy I didn’t want to look at my camera, let alone see another statue.  It began to seem like a waste of time to go to so many new places just to look at more things.   The month I spent in Wales over the summer was wonderful for more than a few reasons, but because I had the opportunity to see the city in a way that made sense to me, I was able to enjoy fully.  While I admire those who can travel for extremely long amounts of time and move around so quickly, I don’t understand where they get their energy.  After a while everything started to blur together and didn’t seem special.

Delicious foods with white ports in Lisbon..

Hopefully over the next few days and weeks I’ll have a bit of inspiration to share some things about my travels.  I’m now back in Wales and plan on spending the next few months over here.  I have a few things I want to do while I’m here, but my main goal is to learn about Wales.  I’m excited about being able to do some slow and local travel while still having a home base (and a kitchen!).  While I’m a bit turned off to the fast pace of travel I originally romanticized, I do want to continue to travel, I just want to do it at the snails pace I’ve realized I adore so much.  

Lake Bled in Slovenia

My 3 Things

1. Pinocchio is from Tuscany.
2. Slovenia is covered in lush forests and timber is one of it’s largest - though unorganized- markets.
3. Europe wants Obama for America.

English and Welsh Medley

Well the past month has fllooowwwwnnnnnn by on the wings of a black bird singing in the dead of night.  I’ve been spending the past month traipsing about Southern Wales and Southern England camping, walking and eating chips.  The English kind of chips though, not crisps.  Obviously.  This post will be a mush of a few of the places, mostly in the form of pictures.  Go Wiggo!

Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales

We “camped rough”, which essentially means camping where you’re not supposed to.  

Bada-bing.

The hiking wasn’t too strenuous but was beautiful at every turn.  To say the weather was lucky would be a vast understatement, as the sun shone brightly every day and each vista was better than the last.  Most importantly there were sheep, cows and horses EVERYWHERE.  It was amazing!  I love livestock, so this was essentially the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

That's me, and those are horses.  Excellent!

Cardiff, Wales

Cardiff is the capitol of Wales, and apparently the least Welsh.  The city lies on the Southern coast of Wales, and there is a bay area which boasts expensive restaurants and pubs while offering a view of the boats.  There is also a central part of town which has endless shops and a real castle.  That’s right, a castle in the middle of the city!  It's the castle of Lord Bute, who apparently just wanted a castle for the hell of it, and had enough money to build one.  I can see the appeal....

This makes me a princess, yes?

Surrounding the castle of Lord Bute is a massive park which evokes the presence of Central Park in Manhattan.  The Taff River runs through Bute park and the city of Cardiff, inviting feet to be dipped and dogs to romp.

The River Taff in all it's glory.

Devon & Cornwall England

Devon and Cornwall are counties in England, but I could not for the life of me remember the names of the smaller villages we went through, so I’ll stay vague.  I went surfing on the English Coast, which was quite nice as the waves weren’t too oppressive.  If you’re wondering, which I know you are at this point, if I stood up on the board, let’s just say I’m quite the shredder.  

An English Summer, surely.

I also did quite a bit of walking along the coast, which is magnificently beautiful.  And of course I had a few pints.  

My 3 things

Cornish Pasties, which are pastries filled with savory deliciousness, must be made in Cornwall to be called Cornish Pasties.

The English are fond of walking for leisure.  They talk long walks which resemble hikes, ambling through pastures filled with bulls who aren’t fond of dogs.

Black pudding is amazing! 

B-e-a-uuuutiful.

Frome, England

Frome (pronounced “Frume”) is a wonderful little city in England just outside of Bristol in the county of Somerset.  It saw much of its original livelihood in the industries of metal casting, wool and cloth manufacturing, and even printing.  Many of the neighborhoods began as factories, or as homes created for the factory workers.  

Cheap Street, with it's little stream running through the middle.

Frome has a wonderful summer arts festival that has been going on since 2000, where there are many free events and open studios for locals and visitors to view local artists work, as well as take part in workshops of various sorts.  Frome also has a strong sustainable and organic community in it, which is how I found myself there.

Shepherds Barton on a lovely day.

I went WWOOFing (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) for my first time in Frome.  The farm has what’s called a box scheme, where fresh organic vegetables are delivered to it's customers weekly.  

OH YUM

WWOOFing is an agreement where volunteers work on farms in exchange for room and board.  I was lucky enough to find a wonderful first place to WWOOF, where I stayed for a week in a gorgeous little town in the English countryside.  My time was varied nicely with building a shed, packing veg boxes for delivery, and helping with compost piles.  I really enjoyed my time on the land and can’t wait to figure out when I will WWOOF again.   

Lettuce, chard, beans, black currants and a whole lot of compost.

What made this particular experience really great for me was that I lived with an English family for a week.  I was also WWOOFing with a girl from France, who has been teaching me some French (es-tu fatigue?).

The land in the early morning...

Anyone out there do any WWOOFing, in England or beyond?  It's such a great way to experience a new place and culture, and really doesn't hurt the budget at all.  It's a win-win for me!

Goodnight Frome, see you again one day!

My 3 thingsDark blue cloth was a Frome staple.If you have a notebook and a camera people will assume you are a journalist, and will flock to supplement your writing.When buildings are out of order people call them “derelict”.  (You can derelict my balls)

Bournemouth, England

Around a month prior to my trip departure I made a few agreements with some nice people on Couchsurfing.org.  It’s a social networking site where you can look up people and activities, but also to find a new friend to stay with when you’re going to be in a new city.  Essentially, you already have a friend even when you’ve just arrived in a new place.  Something that makes it even more enticing is that you don’t need to pay for a place to stay!

The lovely Bournemouth.

Upon my arrival in London I couchsurfed with a nice guy who had a 1 day business trip to take, and he asked if I wanted to join.  It would be a mini road trip to the South England coastal town of Bournemouth.  I said of course!  I likely wouldn’t be able to make it to this town with such ease or good company, so I saw no down side.  

The Bournemouth Balloon

I was able to spend an entire day walking along the boardwalk watching wind and kite surfers, napping near a massive hot air balloon in the center of town, and window shopping at the ever enticing and ever familiar H&M.  Despite the sun sometimes hiding behind the clouds, I did manage to get a nice burn on my nose (and today, 5 days later, it peels). 

Definitely something I want to try, one day.

It was a perfect way to spend my first day in England, and the start of my trip.

All I needed was a pina colada, yes!

My 3 things

England has counties, which are similar to our states since the country is smaller.  Bournemouth is in Dorset.

According to Holly Willoughby, cohost of The Voice UK, if your tequila is 100% agave nectar you won’t get a hangover from drinking too much. 

People have little houses on the boardwalk where they keep their beach stuff.  Too small to stay in, about the size of a shed, but perfect for a day at the beach so you don’t have to keep bringing back towels, seats, plates and a change of clothes.

Beach huts.

London calling (rrrrring!)

Hello from London!  Or 'ello, as Sarah has instructed me (thanks girl).  The title of this post is because it took me so long to figure out how to use my phone.  Dialing in and out uses different numbers, but through the kindness of Londons strangers I figured it out.

Hellooooooooo!

My first few days in England have been really nice, spent with a wonderful Couchsurfing host.  Anyone out there have any good or bad Couchsurfing tales?  After my first official time being a "surfer", I can say I am very impressed with the entire program.

This is really just a post to say I'm alive and well!  I'm going to be posting when I can, but won't let it interfere with my seeing and doing.  I unfortunately can't upload pictures right now, but fear not, they will be pouring in over the next few weeks and months.

My 3 things

1. Traffic lights turn yellow before AND after the red light
2. The bees look slightly different
3. You need to register for wifi, even though it's free- it took me a few cafes to figure that out!