Tulips & Pierogi, Krakow 2024
Krakow! What an underrated city - or perhaps it just hasn't really crossed my radar until now. What I am sure of is that I’ll be back in...
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Tortoise Travelling
Jul 27, 2023
Luck of the Irish
Oh to live in Ireland. As serendipity would have it, I received the email confirming my Irish citizenship the night before travelling to...
Jun 14, 2023
Budapest & Bled - Border Hopping
Having visited all of Austria's states (no epic feat given its titchy size and excellent transport links), I decided it would be a fun...
Jun 4, 2023
Paris in May
I procrastinated writing this post because I left Paris desperate to return immediately, to the extent that I was googling possible...
May 14, 2023
Visit Vienna
My time left in Vienna is drawing to a close.… I wrote the exact same line two years ago, knowing full well that I’d be back as soon as...
Apr 9, 2023
Otto Terre
It wouldn't be a Tortoise Travelling trip without at least one unseasonal swim and multiple vertical hikes. What better place for it than...
Mar 20, 2023
Lamas in Liechtenstein
What's the final country that borders Austria? Errr…Luxembourg? No wait, Liechtenstein! Liechtenstein indeed. Although I haven’t yet been...
Jan 24, 2023
Snow devils
January 2023 brought with it a fresh bucket list, complete with many travel goals (tbc) and a few crazy challenges. One of these, was to...
Dec 17, 2022
Wi(e)nter Wonderland & Obertauern Traum
This past week has perhaps been the best of both year abroads thus far! Having had one Viennese Christmas in lockdown two years ago, it's...
Nov 23, 2022
Hej!
All hail business trips! Not mine, alas, but a friend's, which provided me the perfect excuse to catch the first airport train after work...
Nov 4, 2022
Hallstatt, Hikes & Hurdy-Gurdys
Autumn in this country is hard to beat and boy do the Austrians know it! From late-September, as the leaves start to set fire, Austrians...
Oct 19, 2022
Wander(n)lust!
One of the big draws back (absolutely not a drawback) to Austria for me was my lengthy list of unaccomplished hikes. Whilst here in the...
Sep 28, 2022
A surprise swim
From Como we headed over the border into Switzerland, hopping out in the country's most expensive city - ideal destination for a...
Sep 27, 2022
Another day, another lake
Sad to leave Garda but keen to make a Como comparison, we set off for the station as the first of the many daily lake-lapping cyclists...
Sep 27, 2022
Swimming through Europe (Part I)
Summer 2022 was defined by swimming. Inspired by both the heatwave and Roger Deakin's wonderful Waterlog, I found myself in rivers, seas...
Apr 8, 2022
I went to Rome, the Pope was in Malta
All roads lead to Rome. At least that's what it seemed like when a friend began her Erasmus placement in the city at the top of my bucket...
Sep 20, 2021
Mongi' without the murder
Back in the depths of Viennese lockdown my friend Francesca chanced upon a copy of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr Ripley in a...
Aug 5, 2021
Arles and Au Revoir!
A final year abroad day trip - this time to Arles with Kitty! After two surprisingly on-time buses, I made it to Arles to meet up with a...
Jul 21, 2021
Pizza, views and jellyfish
With friends stationed in Nice for July, two days off from work and a Bastille day to celebrate, I took my first (mid)weekend trip on...
Jul 7, 2021
Beaches, Boulangeries and Louise Bourgeois
Following my two very chilled first weeks here, work began and I found myself splitting my days between the Château and the bus stop....
Jun 12, 2021
Bonjour Provence!
Two countries in one day = two posts in one day! Following my nail biting wait for a negative test result, the rest of my journey to...
Jun 12, 2021
AufWIENersehen!
And just like that, 9 months in Austria have come to an end! Thanks to a lost PCR result the day before my flight, it was looking more...
May 30, 2021
Solo in Salzburg
With my time in Austria disappearing at an alarming rate, another bank holiday lengthening the weekend and my bucket list still far from...
May 16, 2021
Praha :)
The first non-Viennese post in a very long while! Just a few days before lockdown lifts here in Austria, I escaped the rain this weekend...
Apr 13, 2021
Austr(al)ian adventures
It’s cold, grey and absolutely pelting with rain. A far cry from the spring vibes I’d been hoping for so I thought I’d do a photo dump of...
Mar 27, 2021
Long time, no post!
Spring has well and truly sprung here in Vienna and what with another lockdown beginning on Thursday, it couldn't be more welcome. But...
Feb 13, 2021
Strudels & Steyr
Austria's infamous pastry and the country's 'most beautiful city' in the same blog title? Yes, today's post is just one cliché after the...
Jan 21, 2021
A coffee cup half full
I'm an optimist by nature which is probably down to both ignorance and naivety, as proven by my sincere prediction that corona would "be...
Jan 13, 2021
Travel chaos!
Right until the very last minute my Christmas travel plans were up in the air - were the fam going to make it out here? would we meet...
Nov 23, 2020
YA update 6: similar scenes (+ snow!)
We're well into lockdown 2 over here so this post is more of a commentary than an update - prepare yourself for new photos of similar...
Nov 7, 2020
YA update 5: words may fail but they're better than silence
It's tricky to know where to start and what to say and whether to say anything at all. But it would also be to leave a gaping hole in...
Oct 27, 2020
YA update 4: #culture continues
(Below: a snap from Semmering - read on!) Since the Graz trip a couple of weeks ago, the adventures have continued here in Vienna!...
Oct 14, 2020
YA update 3: back to school & an escape to Graz
Teaching. Hmm, it seemed like such a good idea at the time.. My first few weeks at school have been nothing if not intense - early...
Sep 27, 2020
YA update 2: on the streets no more!
As it turns out, finding a flat in Vienna is easier said than done. Rather naively, I came out here with the idea that a week in an...
Sep 19, 2020
Year Abroad, Week 1: dream city
My first week in Vienna was truly a dream - so much so that the ensuing stress (see next week's post) was entirely inevitable. But we'll...
Sep 6, 2020
A Sardinian Summer
If only it were a whole summer in Sardinia. One day perhaps! Way back in the depths of lockdown, an email pinged onto my laptop with the...
May 26, 2020
Sicily 2019 - Scopello
Scopello has my heart. No seriously, I shall be returning here as soon as I can. It is truly wonderful in every possible way. Perhaps my...
May 26, 2020
Sicily 2019 - Marettimo
Marettimo! The name just has to be said with an exclamation mark, for that's the best way of conveying how the locals pronounced it. Not...
May 26, 2020
Sicily 2019 - Palermo
Somehow this trip slipped through the net. Not because it wasn't wonderful and certainly not because I have no photos to show for it but...
Sep 21, 2019
(Final) Part 6 of The Baltic Series: Trakai, Lithuania
On recommendation from a friend and one that was followed up by every 'top things to do in Lithuania' search, we set out to the town of...
Sep 18, 2019
Part 5 of The Baltic Series: Vilnius, Lithuania
Riga to Vilnius was just a quick 4 hour bus journey, landing us in Lithuania in time for lunch! Maybe it was just a nice day but the...
Sep 7, 2019
Part 4 of The Baltic Series: Riga, Latvia
And so to Riga we went! From rural idyll to urban beauty. Riga has so much going for it - incredible history, beautiful buildings and the...
Sep 7, 2019
Part 3 of The Baltic Series: Cesis, Latvia
Baltic buses are amazing. For the longest journey of our trip - Saaremaa to Cesis (320km) - we merely hopped on a bus from the island to...
Sep 2, 2019
Part 2 of The Baltic Series: Saaremaa Island, Estonia
Saaremaa is supposedly the country's prime summer destination and the nation's favourite place for an annual week of sea, sun and sand....
Sep 2, 2019
Part 1 of The Baltic Series: Tallinn, Estonia
The Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Travelling from north to south, my brother and I began our two week trip this August...
Jan 3, 2019
Zermatt, 2018
When looking back at 2018, there's one thing that's certain - we had a white Christmas, a very, very white one indeed and what a...
Jul 24, 2018
Florence, July. 2018
This post is dedicated to my fortnight in Florence. My history of art adventure. Two weeks that I'll never forget. Having decided not to...
Jul 6, 2018
Cassis, France. 2018
While most of my year were heading off to Mallorca and Ibiza after A Levels, a friend and I hopped on the Eurostar to the beautiful...
Dec 29, 2017
Vienna, December. 2017
Following my final Christmas term at school, which was filled with University applications, subsequent interviews and lots and lots of...
Nov 4, 2017
Thuringia, August . 2017
I applied for a place on the UK German Connection programme - promoting links between England and Germany while enabling A level students...
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