4. Sail Croatia, July 2011
The next adventure was Croatia, on a boat with my ladies, and a whole lot of Australians. I had been told amazing things about Sail Croatia, that it was an incredible travelling experience, and it mainly lived up to the hype. I'll get the bad things out of the way first: sometimes the lack of independence frustrated me, and the tour company sometimes wasn't the best at communicating what was going on each day. And then the douchebag Australians. If I could have been on that boat with twenty of my friends, instead of five of my friends and fifteen strangers, it would have been the ultimate travelling experience, yes.
But the good things.
The weather. Hot. Beautiful, European hot. Yes, one needs to be careful about putting on their sunblock, but not nearly to the extent you need to do in New Zealand. I am one of those poor souls who burns in thirty seconds back in New Zealand. In Europe, I could sit outside for almost half an hour before I'd start to think, hmm, might be time for some sunblock. I got a tan. An actual real life tan. That's not a regular occurrence for me.
The sitting around and doing nothing. A regular day would be departing early from wherever we'd docked the day before, and sailing throughout the morning. A stop for a lunch and a swim. And then, we'd get to wherever we were going, and could go explore, eat, drink. We spent most of this time on the boat lying in the sun, reading, talk shit and playing cards.
The swimming. The water was the perfect temperature, and was so salty. Sometimes you could see the salt on your skin once you'd got out of the water.
The sloppy night's out. Drinking huge carafes of cocktails in a cave bar. Going to a bar in Hvar that had some sort of fountain, and dancing so enthusiastically that one needed to kick off one's jandals. Drinking cocktails out of buckets. (Large drinks seemed to be a theme.)
The adventures. We hired a wee car on the island of Mjlet, and drove the length of it, stopping at the end for a swim at the sandy beach. Liz couldn't fit in the car, and wanted to drive a scooter anyway, so she led the way. The only downside was there was no car stereo, so no sweet beats.
We finished up in Dubrovnik, which was one of my favourite stops, and a place I would like to go back to. An old, walled city, close to the water. Where you can buy cocktails in buckets. A true tourist mecca.
It was the perfect way to end five weeks on the continent. Thinking about it now, in the dead of winter, when it's two degrees outside, it seems like some sort of far off dream.
3. Family holiday to Provence - Aug/Sep 2011
I am a lucky girl; I have a very lovely mother. Leaving her in Wellington was not an easy thing to do, and missing her is one of the worst parts about being far from home. Lucky for me, her and her partner Gerald planned a European excursion of their own, and came over to visit in August of last year. Mum and Gerald have been together for a few years now (my lovely father died almost thirteen years ago) and Gerald has three daughters of his own, one of which, Michaela, lives in London too. So, the four of us, plus Nick, and plus another of Gerald's daughters, Erica, went to Provence for a bit of a family holiday.
We were utterly spoiled by Mum and Gerald, who had rented a villa outside of a small village called Bargemon. The villa had it's own pool, an amazing view over the hills, a huge barbeque area, and mine and Nick's bedroom at the bottom of the house was built in to the rock, like a cave. Luxury to someone who, while travelling, was used to sleeping in bunk beds.
It was an actual proper holiday, as opposed to travelling. Sure we did some sightseeing, drove through the hills to other perched villages, admired the sights, visited some markets, sampled the delicious food. But we slept in, and didn't stick to much of a schedule, and had afternoon drinks. I went for at least two swims a day, we had croissants for every breakfast, and most of the time was spent lounging by the pool with a book.
And the food. The food. Honey glazed duck, creme brulee, desserts that were on fire, hunks of brie and camembert. We had most meals at home, but still went out a few times, which was always interesting, because here the French actually only spoke French, not like in Paris, where they see you trying to speak French, and just speak to you in English, because they can't be bothered waiting for you to work it out.
I loved every minute of it. Especially hanging out with my mum.
2. Dublin - October 2011
I realise that this Top 11 is becoming more like: The List of Places Lauren Visited in 2011. But what can you do. I just like visiting places so much.
I was pleasantly surprised to receive a visit from my friend Sophie in late 2011. Before I left, she wasn't even thinking about coming over, so therefore I didn't think I would see her again until I eventually get back to NZ. But I was SURPRISED to hear of her plans for a European jaunt, and when she mentioned she was going to Dublin, I decided I would go with her.
Sophie lived in Dublin for a year, and at this stage, I was contemplating heading there to live after the UK visa ran out. (I'm not anymore because there is a New Plan, but more on that later.) So she seemed like a pretty good Dublin travel buddy.
And she was. We had another tour guide in the form of Sophie's friend Owen, who was also kind enough to pick me up from the airport and drop me back. Such luxury. We went out Friday night, watched Irish football, which was weird, and then went to a sweet bar with a lot of bookshelves (a surefire way to make me like a place is an abundance of books).
Saturday was sightseeing and wandering around Dublin.
And then Saturday night was drinking Guiness in a local pub (it really does taste better in Ireland), then heading to Kehoe's for a few hours, and then a club in an old movie theatre. Due to a stupid decision to watch Australia play South Africa in the Rugby World Cup, we did not get back to the hostel until 7.30am the next morning. And then had to get up to check out by 10am.
It was not the best laid plan, and meant that Sunday was a bit of a wash. We didn't end up doing any of the things we planned, just tried to keep warm and not die of our hangovers.
All in all though, I suppose I can't be surprised that I spent most of my Irish experience either drunk or hungover. Seems kind of fitting.
1. Christmas in Kennington, 2011
And here we are. The final highlight for 2011 was an excellent Christmas spent in our flat in the London suburb of Kennington. Nick and I had spent the previous Christmas with his sister in Berlin, so figured that our other Christmas in England should actually be spent in England.
My flatmates and I offered to host all the other orphan Kiwis who were in London, and there ended up being about ten of us for Christmas lunch. We decorated our kitchen/dining/living room (yes, all three in one, we live in London, space is a luxury) with lights, tacky Christmas decorations and crepe paper. Public transport in London pretty much shuts down on Christmas Day, so we had people sleeping on our floors and in our kitchen.
Christmas away from home, and all those familiar things, always feels a bit odd. The same, but different. Being in the northern hemisphere for Christmas, and therefore winter, is a bit odd too - as this is what we're led to believe Christmas should be like. Cold, dark, snow if you're lucky. Lots of warm heavy comfort food. So it feels like what Christmas actually should be, but also, nothing like what you're used to.
But anyway. We started the day with pancakes, banana and bacon. Then snacks. And then roast turkey (Katie was in charge of this task and did an amazing job). And then more snacks. And then chocolate pudding for dessert. All the while drinking bottle after bottle of delicious wine.
A happy Christmas indeed.
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So that's it, that's the end. Thanks for playing. Now I have to come up with some new blog ideas. I have a few brewing. I have some travel plans, so that should be a few entries, at least!
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