Highlights of London

My decision to move to London for six months to work was life changing. Not only did I gain international work experience, I also made friends from around the world, shared a house with four other people, went on numerous weekend trips and explored the ins and outs of London.

Where it all began... in an English pub!

London has plenty to offer all travellers. It's alive with West End musicals, museums, art galleries, shopping, concerts and music festivals, famous sites, multicultural eateries, red double decker buses, amazing cupcakes and of course home to the Royal Family.

Westminster Abbey

London signature pose!

St James Park

I made the most of key celebratory days as well - having a few drinks in an Aussie pub for Australia Day, spending Chinese New Year in Chinatown, watching the Oxford vs Cambridge rowing race, frequenting an Irish pub for St Patty's Day, lining the streets for the Royal Wedding, attending Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse, watching the Pride Parade and getting a glimpse of the Harry Potter premiere at Trafalga Square.

Royal Ascot

Australia Day at Waxy O'Connors 

One of my favourite pastimes and memories from London was the many dinner parties I shared with friends and the great friendships I made. We shared meals from different cultures, frequented galleries and museums together, explored London night life and went on road trips.

Chinese New Year dinner party

Tequila for Spanish night

Some of my all time favourite London things were Big Ben, Harrods, watching The Lion King musical, high tea at the Ritz, pimms, shopping in Topshop, and Portobello, Camden and Borough Food Markets.

Big Ben

Harrods

Camden Canal

Abbey Road crosswalk

Such an amazing city with so much life - I look forward to returning one day to relive my experience!

Ending it all in true British style - pie and pimms!

Goodbye dinner with all my favourite London friends xx

Back to my roots

One of my most memorable experiences whilst travelling was a visit to my nonna's (grandma's) home town on the south east coast of Italy. Roccella in Calabria is a quiet coastal town which comes alive in summer with festivals and tourists. My great uncle (my nonna's brother) still lives in the family home where my nonna grew up and that was where I stayed with him, his wife and daughter.

My uncle's house where my grandma grew up

Over my four day visit my days consisted of a caffe latte and biscotti for breakfast; a few hours at the beach with crystal clear, warm waters; and a scrumptious lunch comprising pasta, cutlets or zucchini patties with salad, vegetables and the famous buffalo mozzarella. After lunch in true Italian style, we took a siesta until it cooled down a little and then returned to the beach. Our dinners were fairly light with cold meats, fruit and pastries. It was definitely a lifestyle I could get used to!

Enjoying the Mediterranean Sea

I visited more relatives, took a tour of the town's castle, went for a drive to Siderno and Cavalogna, was treated to brioche e gelato (a sweet bread with ice-cream), went to a festa in Monasteri with my cousin, and enjoyed pizza by the port.

Brioche e gelato!

The castle from my uncle's balcony

Visiting Roccella was an unbelievable experience! It has encouraged me to explore more of my roots and return one day.

Day trip to the English coast

When my friend was sold two return train tickets from London to Brighton - on the south coast of England - I jumped at the opportunity to take the day trip with her. We arrived in Brighton around 10.30am after a 1.5 hour train journey and were met by chilly conditions, despite it being summer. It didn't take us long to start winding in and out of Brighton's finest vintage and jewellery stores before stopping for some famous fish and chips.

Fish and chips

Following lunch we walked through the Pavillion Gardens, saw the Royal Pavillion and made our way to the beach and Brighton Pier, which was alive with people, games and rides.

Royal Pavillion

Brighton Beach

We ended the day in true English style with afternoon tea!

My delicious triple chocolate brownie!

A fairy tale ending

Our travels together ended with two jam-packed days in Paris. As it was my third trip here and having had enough of sightseeing, we opted for a more adventurous experience. After arriving in to Paris at midday straight from our Sail Croatia trip and not being able to check in to our room, it was a quick lunch and coffee stop before a short walk to the Eiffel Tower.

Eiffel Tower

We had decided to walk up the Eiffel Tower so were pleased to see the stairs line was a lot shorter than the lift line. We purchased our stairs tickets for 4.70 euro each and walked up two levels - more than 1000 steps! When we reached the 2nd level we had to purchase another ticket to take the lift to the top of the tower - approximately five euro. Once at the very top, it was an amazing view over Paris city with the Arc de Triomphe, Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, Trocadero and River Seine in full view. We returned at sunset and waited for the flashing lights to begin - which didn't happen until 10pm when daylight was finally taken over by the night.

Arc de Triomphe from the top of the Eiffel Tower

The next day, my childhood dream finally came true - a trip to Paris Disneyland! We took the train an hour out of Paris to Disneyland and couldn't decide on Walt Disney Studios Park or Disneyland Park so we bought a two parks in one day ticket. We kicked off at Walt Disney Studios where the adrenaline junkie from within was let out with more thrill seeker rides on offer. We rode on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and Crush's Coaster, saw the Armageddon Special Effects performance and Cars Race Rally in Toon Studios.

Cars performance

With time against us, it was time to move on to Disneyland Park where we took on all the big thrills - Indiana Jones and Space Mountain. We also caught a glimpse at all the Disney characters and enjoyed winding our way through the range of gift shops.

Outside Disneyland Park

Sailing the Croatian coast

From Dubrovnik to Split we saw some of Croatia's most amazing mainland and island towns. The eight day Busabout tour departed Dubrovnik on Saturday and travelled to Mljet, Korcula, Stari Grad, Hvar, Brac, Bol, Makarska, Pucisca, Omis and Split where it docked on Friday afternoon for the last night.

Busabout IKA - our home for 8 days

We explored Old Town Dubrovnik, the tour group bonded over a captain's BBQ dinner in Mljet, enjoyed cocktails at Korcula's rooftop bar, walked to the top of the fortress and partied in Hvar, marvelled over the scenery and enjoyed the beach and markets in Makarska, saw the famous Bol beach, white water rafted in Omis and shopped in Split.

Old town Dubrovnik

Rooftop bar in Korcula

Busabout crew enjoying Hvar nightlife

Makarska's beauty

Split Piazza

The tour was a great way to see so much of Croatia. It included breakfast and lunch and had the option of below/above deck and ensuite/shared bathrooms to suit all budgets. It was a lot of fun but I think the experience you have on sail Croatia highly depends on the group you get. We were lucky to have a group of people who were travelling in no more than twos so everyone mingled and enjoyed each others company. I think we were pretty lucky as there were some boats which we were glad we weren't on.

Waiting for the sunset in Makarska

Chilling on top of the boat

Croatia Highlights
- Crystal clear swim spots
- Amazing seafood
- Partying for seven nights straight
- Gorgeous old towns and scenery
- Cheap alcohol
- Everyone is there to have a good time

Amazing ocean

Take me away... to Lake Como

Ever since moving to London, Lake Como was on my 'to do' list. And with my boyfriend visiting, there didn't seem a more perfect occasion. We opted to take a road trip from Rome to Bellagio - known as the pearl of Lake Como where the two lakes meet. The drive took 6.5 hours but with a break in between wasn't too hard to sit through and driving on the right side went quite well until we reached the narrow streets around the Lake which was a little stressful.

We arrived at our hotel, approximately a three minute drive uphill from Bellagio town. It offered the most amazing views over Lake Como, it was truly stunning and so picturesque.

Lake Como in Bellagio

Bellagio town is full of jewellery, clothes and accessory stores, restaurants with traditional Italian cuisine, gelato, cakes and biscuits, hundreds of stairs and a port so you can travel between towns along the Lake - but we thought why leave when we're already at the best part? My personal favourite was dinner at Silvio's, owned by a fisherman himself - try the rice with fish if you get a chance... delish!

Bellagio

One of many narrow staircases with restaurants
and shops on either side 

Bellagio is the perfect place for a relaxing weekend, to indulge in some Italian cuisine, for a spot of local shopping, and to enjoy the picturesque surroundings.

When in Rome for a day...

Travelling to Rome for the third time didn't stop me from wanting to see the same sites and eat plenty of gelato! Having been inside most sites before I opted for a walking tour around the city led by my boyfriend who had already spent five days in this amazing city prior to my arrival. We visited St Peter's Basilica, the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and Piazza Venezia.

Trevi Fountain

But the food was what I was looking forward to the most after a four week detox in London, so lunchtime couldn't have come around sooner! We indulged in caprese salad - tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, rocket and balsamic vinegar - pizza and veal in a rich tomato sauce. The day wouldn't have been complete though without stopping past a gelateria for some nocciola gelato.

Italian goodness

The evening was quite special. We met one of my Italian connections for the first time - a third cousin - at a bar overlooking the Colosseum and enjoyed cocktails and dinner. Then it was time to say goodbye to Rome and hello to our hire car ready for a road trip on Italian roads!!

Enjoying the scenery