So, I’ve been accused of not really talking about some of the more ozzum things I’ve done and, since I can’t bore you if you’re choosing to keep reading, I might as well write a bit about it. Here’s a whistle stop tour of the places I’ve been to, in no particular order.
Australia
I literally remember nothing about this trip (I was 3) but my parents produced a photo album of my time there.
I was cute when I was little and there’s this particular story mum always tells when that comes up in conversation: a local tribe guy was trying to teach a bunch of adult tourists an aboriginal word. The adults repeated it back to him unenthusiastically. The guy encouraged them to say it louder and then, about a few seconds after everyone else had said it, I yelled out the word as loud as I could. Apparently the local guy was rather taken with me and joked that he wanted to take me home.
Singapore
I was talking to dad about making a list of the places I’ve travelled to and apparently I’ve also been here. I didn’t even know this. Apparently I was small enough to be getting literally passed around by the adults.
Poland
My Polish friend from primary school invited me and a bunch of her other friends over to take part in a water sports camp. It was amazing. I was about 12/13 at the time, I think, too small to have any luck windsurfing at any rate, but my arms were nearly always sore from kayaking!
We went sailing, watched various adult films (adult for a year 7, at any rate. These included one of the Fast and Furious films and the Shawshank Redemption) and generally had a great time.
Italy
I went to Naples and Rome with my family. Of course, while we were there we had to visit Vesuvius and Pompeii too! Naples was messy but had some cool sights whereas Rome was clean, impressive, gorgeous and it seemed like there was a historical thing looming in front of you around every corner! It was a little scary seeing how into the Italian driving style my dad got, but it was fun asides from that.
Spain
I went to Barcelona and then a theme park called Port Aventura, which I have some very fond memories of. The main things I remember about Barcelona is the delicious lemonade and how proud they were of an architect called Gaudi. As we walked up one of his carefully crafted staircases the audio guide told us to “feel the power of the staircase surge through you”.
France
I went to Paris as a post-exams celebration with my sixth form friends. We did all the touristy things and generally had a really nice time; random locals kept on spontaneously stopping to help us find our way around when we looked lost. It was also fun to watch my Disney-mad friend’s face light up in Disneyland Paris. She’d never been to Disneyland until this holiday.
In secondary school I also went on the Boulogne trip where we got to visit a snail farm (I ate a snail!), make croissants and muck about on the beach, amongst other things.
Belgium
My family spent a little time in Ghent on our way to somewhere else. We were there in the aftermath of a local football team winning so the atmosphere was very jovial and relaxed. I was constantly impressed by the waiters’ ability to greet and seat you in 3 different languages when you entered a restaurant. We went back there for another holiday.
I also went to Ypres on the secondary school Battlefields trip. We saw many, many graves, trenches and memorials. Then we went bowling. It was a curious trip.
America
I have been to LA, Vegas, San Francisco and the grand canyon. I found that I preferred Vegas to San Francisco (we visited both places on the same trip) because I was less tired on arrival in Vegas and therefore less freaked out than I was in San Francisco by the crazy person on every street corner. San Francisco was also more hilly. I remember Vegas being pretty static-y though.
My brother was jealous of my Australia photo album so our parents made him one for our Florida trip; we went to Disneyland (the American Disneyland is better than the French one although they’re both good fun), saw alligators (or crocodiles? One of those two) and generally enjoyed the warm Californian weather over Christmas.
Morocco
We went to the typical tourist destination of Marrakech. The culture was quite different and, despite mum’s excessive reading about our destination, constantly having your guide pull over for tea with a seemingly random bunch of people took a bit of getting used to.
We went up a mountain to appreciate waterfalls (our guide scrambled up seemingly vertical slopes with goat-like grace), admired palaces, explored the soukes (the vibrant market that everyone comes to see), went on a hot air balloon ride and rode on camels. Crossing roads was a bit of an adrenaline rush for me but it freaked out my brother because it was a matter of walking and letting the unstoppable traffic bend around you.
Iceland
This is my favourite place that I’ve been to ever. It was so beautiful and relaxed. Everyone was really friendly and laid back! We saw glaciers, went snow mobiling (unfortunately I was too young to be allowed to drive), saw a faint smudge that was the northern lights and went to the blue lagoon, a major tourist destination.
At new year, every firework that gets bought gives money back to the mountain rescue service and our hotel room gave us a pretty impressive view of the exploding city skyline. While we were there I also tried eating: shark, puffin, horse, reindeer and I think possibly dolphin?
Germany
Since some of my family live there, we’ve visited the country quite a few times now. However, I have also visited Hamburg with my immediate family. My memories of Hamburg are a little tinted by the strange place my parent’s relationship was in at the time and I sort of accidentally read a rather important bit of my dad’s diary over his shoulder (I couldn’t understand why he was so annoyed when he did it to me all the time) but I have fond memories of the large model railway that we visited. I know that might sound strange, especially given that I do not share my dad’s enthusiasm for locomotives, but it was the attention to detail that impressed me. There was a model chocolate factory that actually dispensed chocolates if you pressed a button, lighting that fluctuated between day and night and all sorts of other interactive bits. There were several floors of it and I remember my feet being very sore afterwards.
I’ve also been to Berlin, first with uni friends and then with family. I would totally recommend the fascinating Checkpoint Charlie museum and the impressively interactive DDR museum if you have enough hours to spare and want to get some sense of the history behind the place. The Currywurst museum was also good fun!
While I was there with family we also did a food tour, which was a lovely (but expensive) dose of culture.
Madagascar
This was my last proper family holiday before starting at uni. The story behind why we went to Madagascar is a bit of a long one but it begins with the fact that my dad is allergic to fur. He’s also the person in the family who likes to keep pets. He started off with fish and moved onto lizards.
Mum pointed out how bare a patch of staircase ceiling was in dad’s house and suggested that he should get a mural done on it. Since dad’s chameleon had recently died he decided to go for a Madagascan theme, as that’s where the chameleon was from. He hired a friendly artist to do the deed, picked out some Madagascan animals for the guy to add to the mural alongside the dead pet chameleon and asked him to make it as biologically realistic as possible. The artist, as it turned out, had studied/was interested in zoology so that worked out quite nicely.
Once the artist finished the mural dad then decided that we had to go to Madagascar to spot as many of the animals in the mural as we could, so we did. When dad comes up with an idea it tends to happen.
At one of the more impressive hotels we stayed at during the holiday, dad became known by the staff as “the insect man” and was presented with a large, multicoloured locust. He spent around an hour in bed with it, mosquito nets draped either side of him, trying to take a decent picture of it, much to the bemusement of everyone.
Laos
This was an altogether different kind of trip because it was my first adventure abroad with a university friend. We spent 2 weeks in Laos in the summer following the first year of our respective degrees.
The first week consisted of volunteering (teaching children English, helping paint a school and assisting construction workers with elephant conservation) and the second week consisted of touristy stuff.
There was also an eating competition during the volunteering week. I got to try crickets (they taste like popcorn) and won a round for my team by forcing down an egg boiled in God knows what while blindfolded. I enjoyed my time there and when I got home I was filled with a newfound appreciation for first world comforts.
Dublin
In my second year of uni I went here for New Year with my uni friends. Only 2/5 of us actually drank alcohol on a regular basis but that didn’t hinder us in having a good time. We went to an amazing Leprechaun museum on new year’s eve and then to the Temple Bar area.
While we were there we also wandered around nature-y places. It saddened me just how many homeless people were in the city.
Amsterdam
This was where I went with my uni friends directly after Berlin. We had a look at the red light district, enjoyed the sex museum and went on a boat tour. Me and my logical friend went into Body World too but the others chickened out.
Prague
Yeah, I can’t be arsed to go into detail with this one. Just check out my previous blog post.
Whenever someone says to me, “Wow you’ve been everywhere!” my automatic response tends to be “My dad is really into travelling” and it’s true. He used to travel quite a lot with his work, to the point where me and my brother would make him “Welcome Home” cards. He still travels with work a bit now but nowhere near as much as he used to when I was little. It’s mainly thanks to him that we have more family travel plans upcoming (the next destination of interest is Macchu Picchu!). He likes travelling and so do I, to an extent, but I find it a little nerve-wracking.
Travel is exciting but it is one of those things that can seem very scary at first. Diving headfirst into an unfamiliar culture where you may not even know the language might seem quite daunting to the uninitiated (or sometimes the initiated, if you’re anything like me) but my recommendation is to do it whenever you get the opportunity. I appreciate that it’s not something everyone can afford to do (one of my uni friends doesn’t even have a passport); I am incredibly lucky to have been able to visit so many places, but, if you get the chance, it’s definitely worth doing. It’s a good way to learn more about yourself and the people around you. The world is a beautiful, exciting, terrifying place so you should explore it while you can!
randomsongwriter 
5 thoughts on “Travel Tales”