Nurburg Castle

Residing in the small town of Nurburg for a few short days, buried away in the German country side, in a town where little to no English was spoken, was a big breath of fresh air I truly needed. Rushing between new cities, while exciting is also exhausting. This little castle was pretty much abandoned, so we were left to explore it while the few residing in the town below us, continued with their days. When I wasn't exploring castles here in Nurburg, I was sitting in a race car getting thrown around in the back seat, shaking and holding on for my dear life, while also having a turn myself, what an experience!

fffades xo

London Calling

 Obsession with the tube | Enjoying giant cappuccinos, while having withdrawals from my Nespresso back home | Enjoying London bridge on a double decker bus | Typical tourist shot at Parliament | The gates of Buckingham Palace | Shivering in Hyde Park | Statue at St. Pancras Station | Westminster | Views on the eye | Camden Markets | Foals | Bath | Vintage store in Camden | Carousel near the eye | The intriguing stonehenge as the sun sets 

London had been calling me for a while, and I finally decided to give in. 

Since I was so young when I last had the chance to see London, I have little memories. My year abroad in England with my family seems like a blur, of skin getting pale, wooly socks, English accents and British candy stores. I remember when I was in primary school no one knew anything about Australia, (I’m pretty sure I was questioned for being white, as one kid was certain it was part of Africa), I ended up making my own language, which back fired on me, many times. 

While editing these photos I have been listening to The National's new album, it really sets the tone for misty grey London, so please feel free to play a few of their songs while reading this post. Looking back on these photos, London seems so gloomy, but it really wasn't. 

Looking back on London, it feels like a lifetime ago, as I visited so many cities, it's sometimes hard to distinguish between them, but photos and videos always jog the memory, along with my travel journal. I think I took up a whole page just talking about how incredible the tube was. 

London is incredible as many people know, filled with millions of different people, history, markets, royal family members, oxford street and so much to see. Being bored in London seems impossible.

Being a typical tourist without a clue I did make the mistake of visiting some really tacky boring attractions such as Madame Tussauds and the dungeon, the lines were ridiculously long, you were sure that something amazing was waiting at the end of them, unfortunately not worth the wait.

What these photos don't capture is the bone chilling cold, the pushy crowds and the butterflies in my tummy all through Foals breathtaking performance, in such a perfect backdrop of the St Albert's Hall. 

I could only handle so much of the gray, cold weather so left with haste in search of sunshine, I hope to meet you again soon London, hopefully you’ve cheered up a bit by then. 

London Tips

See
       tourist sites: big ben, buckingham palace, the eye, westminster
       parks: hyde park, regents park
       day trips: bath/ stonehenge
       museums
       art galleries

Give it a miss
      Madame Tussauds, dungeon

Get around
                     underground (get an oyster card)
                     hop on hop off tours
                     barclays bicycle hire

Shop
          $-$$$ oxford st
          $-$$  camden markets
          $-$$  vintage stores (list available)
          $-$$ brick lane markets (Sundays 9-5)
          list of other markets here

Stay  
         $-$$  clink 78 hostel

Spend 
         40-70 pounds per day

DIY: Travel

So I have recently endeavoured on a ten week trip around Europe, it has always been a huge dream of mine to travel and I worked very hard to achieve it. I have been receiving many emails/ comments etc, asking for advice on places to go, spending, how to get around etc. So I thought I would try and answer them on here. I am no expert, but I planned my trip completely on my own and it was pretty easy. The best part about planning your trip by yourself is that you are constantly reminded to save, so it really helps when pay day comes around. So anyway here is my advice...

1. Where to go?
Firstly, where do you want to go, be super unrealistic and make a list of all the places you want to go, order them from the most important and then work from there. If you're like me the list is ridiculous, but don't stress you have your entire life to see the world, of course you are not going to see it all in the first few years of your twenties, thirties or whatever. So obviously if you are doing a trip to Europe or Asia or wherever you can group things together and knock them out in the one trip.

2. Time.
Time is really not stressed enough when you read lonely planet books or look at pretty pictures of places you want to go. But it is one of the most important things about your trip. How long do you have? Three weeks and you wanna see 10 countries? Probably not going to happen.
Suss out what you want to do in each place and be realistic about how much time you have there. By being realistic I mean don't spend two days in Paris and expect to see so much. Take waiting in line into consideration(being Aussie, never having lines they are just ridiculous in Europe), hangovers, getting tired, adjusting to time zones, getting to your hotel, getting from place to place and getting lost. Even though cities are quite close in Europe they can take ages for example by train from berlin to prague its about 6 hours... So make sure you are not rushing through each city, I'd suggest for big cities a minimum of 3/4 nights. So you can enjoy the nightlife, have time to recover, see the sites and actually take in what you are seeing and process it.

3. Money
It's what makes the world go round and makes holidays happen. We all need it to travel and we need to keep track of it, unless you are rich, in that case go nuts and I secretly hate you! When preparing for my holiday I budgeted about $100 (Australian) per day just for sights/ food and going out. Then I gave myself a maximum on what I'm prepared to pay for accommodation. Which was about $40 a night. Of course you could do this much cheaper depending on where you go, what you do, and where you stay. I will do another post on how much I spent soon. Now is such a good time for us to see the world as the dollar is so strong, so what are you waiting for, get saving!

So that's a super quick summary of what's to come, I'm almost home, and will try to post here regularly. I really hope this helps and if you have any requests please send emails through to gurtonp@gmail.com

fffades. xo

indonesia, bali

What a wonderful experience Bali was, (apart from the small hiccup of sickness) with such wonderful people. I had the pleasure of spending a full ten days with my best friend who I barely see as she is hiding away in Sydney enjoying the big city life. I know I'm probably one of the last Australians to experience Bali, but I now understand the hype. It was so wonderful to spend days on end relaxing and just doing whatever I felt like. It also made me realise how lucky I am, and I admired the Balinese and their happiness with such a simple lifestyle. They are such kind and friendly people who appreciate everything. Even though I went way back in February I'm only starting to reflect back on it all now. Here are just a few photos of my trip. 1) Kuta Beach street 2) Scooters in Kuta 3) Construction in Kuta 4) Demolition site 5) Overgrown fence in Kuta 6) Jenkins the Squirrel 7) Petrol 8) Relaxing by the pool 9/10/11) Potato Head, Seminyak 12) Friendly Monkeys 13)Friends 14) Potatoe Head