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A very English trip

February 2018:  On a mild winter day in mid february, I start my journey to my favourite country in the world: England. My flight to Manchester is operated by Eurowings, my favourite airline when it comes to cheap, but still high quality and comfortable flights. From Manchester Airport, you can reach Manchester Piccadilly (one of the main train stations) within 20 minutes or less. When being the first time in Manchester, I would recommend Piccadilly station as it's directly in the city centre and you can reach everything in no minute basically. Coming out of the station, head left and follow Piccadilly Street until you reach Portland Street where almost every hotel seems to be located. I chose Britannia Hotel  for my first night and a youth hostel (YHA Manchester) in Castlefield which is about 15 minutes far from Albert Square and Manchester Town Hall and the city centre. For your first lunch in Manchester, the well-known British chain Pret-à-Manger seems to be a good option bec

The Dublin Adventure

March 2018 - It's 22nd March 2018 at half past 10 in the evening, and I'm packing and wrapping, trying to fit in all the stuff I'm going to need into my red suitcase. Later on, I'll having a shower, making myself ready for bedtime, polishing my nails accurately and starting this blog post. I realise I haven't finished my post about my recent England trip yet, but hey, I do need to mention that one was pretty intense! On Friday, 23rd March, my flight will take me to Dublin. I will stay in a hostel I never heard of before: It's called "Abrahams Hostel" and it seems to be very central and perfect for a solo traveller. I've bought a city guide and I use my Google Trips app to plan my day sightseeing tours in Dublin. Friday, 23rd March 2018: With the excited feeling of experiencing something new and unknown, I start my journey by taking a train to the main station of my city and from there, I take the airport coach to the airport. I try to phone my

Beautiful, yet nasty Milan

August 2014 - I was in a crazy mood and participated in a coach ticket contest where you had a chance to win coach tickets for a "virgin" line (a line that would start for the very first time) to Milan, Italy. I had already forgot about it when an email popped up on my mobile phone stating I had won two tickets. A friend - I will call her C. here - was upbeat and ecstatic when I told her the good news. We packed our bags, booked our hostel (the Piero Rotta Youth Hostel), made plans what to see. The coach drove over the eminent Gotthard Pass, we had beautiful views over valleys, mountains, hills and mountains again. Here and there, you would discover a lake or an old Swiss farmhouse. We took a break at a petrol station in Lugano - where we actually finally felt we were hungry and sleepy. We arrived in precious Milano in the late evening, but that didn't bother us at all. While we gathered up our luggage, had a quick look on a city map, we decided it's not too fa

My first trip to the big bright city of Hereford

As part of my first stay abroad, I also visited Hereford, a tiny, but very charming city in the West Midlands. Located near the Welsh border, it's more of a rural area. You'll find lots of forests, green spaces and small cafés in the town centre.  One of the best sights is the cathedral of Hereford, very old and historic. It hosts the Mappa Mundi, a medieval world map from the 13th century.  Once dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin and Saint Ethelbert The King, it has an impressive crypt and memorable library. It's also lucky to possess one of the Magna Carta which is sometimes shown next to the Mappa Mundi . When you've finished your leisurely, thoughtful and attentive walk surrounding the Cathedral, you'll soon reach a harmonious, tranquil park that may be a perfect venue for a picnic amongst friends or family. If you're missing a bit of a big city spirit, you may like the centre with the shopping streets and the Old House or the Black and White

A night trip with a wonderful best friend

It was a warm pleasant summer night, in June 2014. One of my dearest and best friends and I got up at 3 a.m., had 3 cups of coffee in a row and headed to the local coach station to catch a coach to Bristol at 4:30 a.m. We were tired, but we didn't even realise it as we were busy living our young twenties lives. We arrived in Bristol for breakfast time, talked and sat in a café near Mead Temples Main. From there we walked our way through the whole city. We had magnificent strolls through the city, we saw the university, the sea, we crossed Bristol Bridge, we discovered an old ruin of a church that was destroyed by the Blitz war. We passed by an oriental garden pavillion where my best friend took a pretty shoot (or maybe even more shoots) of me. We marched further and passed a playground with figures on it where I took amazing shoots of her. We arrived in the city centre where all the shops were and a road with a specific name caught my eye: "Quakers Lane" near Cabot Circu

The first real journey abroad

2014 - It was 7 a.m. on one of the last days of March. 23-year-old Leila was excited. She was about to get on the coach to Frankfurt Airport where she would take a plane to London Heathrow. She looked into her handbag every 10 minutes to see whether she still had her National ID card, her boarding pass, her coach ticket to Swansea, her hotel reservation for the first night and her internship material. She had a thousand of thoughts in her mind, yet she thought of nothing specific. When she arrived at the airport, she became a little anxious. After all, it was her first time flying. The only time she had flown before was when she was 5 and she visited her father's family in Pakistan. Gosh, was that exciting - nothing familiar seen for a while back then, Leila didn't even speak a word. All of a sudden, she shouted out of the taxi window "Mum, look, camels!" And her mother, the German tourist who has been a little fond of the hippie lifestyle, laughed heartily. It was a