CHEAP & EASY EUROPEAN GETAWAYS

So you may have gathered, from my posts, that I like a weekend escape. I like to take a break from the every day 9-5 lifestyle, and visit new places as much as possible. And living in Europe means I have the opportunity to fly to lots of different places very easily, and most importantly...cheaply! 

In 2017 I spent a lot of my weekends travelling to various different cities, within the UK and Europe. I thought I would compile a list of some easy and cheap destinations to visit if you are short of time, but still needing that escape. 

Now with this list, it's one that i feel can continuously be added to. Cheap air travel around Europe, with budget airlines, makes it easier then ever to book a last minute weekend away. This list consists of all the weekends away i did across Europe, in 2017, to try and show how easy it really is! 

Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

From my local airport, Amsterdam is only a 20 minute flight, though this can be quite pricey at times. But if you fly from one of the London airports, you can get a great deal on flights, making this beautiful city perfect for a weekend break! Amsterdam is one of my favourite places in the world, and there is always something new to be discovered. Museums, parks, and shopping. It's a great place for people of every age and background to visit. You don't necessarily have to visit a certain place in Amsterdam, as you can just walk to your hearts content and admire the beauty that this city holds, just make sure you look twice before crossing the streets!

We all know why most people go to Amsterdam, but when you get there you realise that there is much much more to be explored. The Jordaan area is a particular favourite of mine, and it is where the Ann Frank Huis is situated. You also have Vondelpark, which is beautiful in both winter and summer, and close to museumplein which is where you can find many of the top museums that this city has to offer. 

A visit to this city is not complete without a trip to the infamous Bloemenmarkt, a flower market full of all the tulips you could ever want or imagine. If you're a big foodie like me then you must also visit the Foodhallen, a place full of different cuisines for an affordable price, and a great picture taking opportunity too! I could go on forever with my love for Amsterdam and recommendations of must do's. 

Dublin, Ireland. 

A few years ago I visited Ireland for the first time, and to be honest it was quite a rushed visit, as we only had two nights to experience such a vast and exciting place. It was our second weekend in a row, in a different country, with very little rest period in between. Not that i'm complaining. But we managed to score some low cost flights, around £40 return each, so we thought why not head on over and tick another place off our bucket list! We decided to stay in a private room in a hostel, to save on money, and ended up staying in the Temple Bar area of Dublin. Now Temple Bar is the spot to be for nightlife. Though if you are like me, and wanting a nice quiet place to stay, or a light sleeper, then it's probably not the best place to stay. Saying that, if you're coming to Dublin in the aim to drink to your hearts content, then this is the perfect place to walk in at 4 a.m.

Transport from the airport and into the city centre is very easy to navigate and also very reasonably priced. There's lots to do in Dublin and lots of Guinness to be drank! 

During our two day stay we managed to visit the castle, the oldest pub in Ireland (The Brazen Head) and of course Temple Bar. We explored the side streets, walked across the river, and had time for a little bit of shopping in between. Our step count was through the roof! 

Dublin is a great place for a weekend away, and has something for everyone. Families, couples and a group of friends. I will definitely be returning.

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

Not a very commonly talked about city, and one that I never realised was so important. There isn't a lot of activities to do in Luxembourg, but it is still a good place to visit, especially for a weekend away! Though, just be warned, the vast majority of shops and restaurants are shut on the first Sunday of each month, so if you are like me, then you'll just end up going to the airport 6 hours early to avoid getting soaked in the rain. 

There are some beautiful parks, and walks to go on within this small city. Definitely a place to be explored by foot, and maybe one to visit during the summer months. I find it fascinating that the country has three official languages, French, German and Luxembourgish, and every person is fluent in all of them. When you go to buy something, you're not sure which language is going to be used. 

Luxembourg is also one of the safest countries in the world, which is good for solo travellers and families. Flights are relatively cheap from London airports, and there are plenty of reasonably price hotels going around. I visited with no knowledge of what to expect, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. The scenery is beautiful and you don't feel as though you are in a capital city.  My favourite thing to do here was to take a leisurely stroll to Casemates Du Bock, and then follow the river back to the main city. The buildings are beautiful and there's some great picture taking spots along this route. 

The country is small, and so is the capital. Allowing you to be able to visit most, if not all, places on your list. I was pleasantly surprised, and i think it's worth a visit at least some point in your life.

Edinburgh, Scotland
A lot closer to home for me, and with lots of different transport options from London, for every budget. Edinburgh is a city that everyone should visit at least once in their life. Flights are relatively cheap and trains can give you great views of the English countryside. Edinburgh is a beautiful city, with beautiful buildings, friendly faces and lots of little cafes. You can visit at any time of the year, which is a reason i would love to go back. Maybe to a Christmas market this time around.

The castle is definitely a must visit on your trip, and offers stunning views of the city below.  Make sure you visit the Greyfriars Bobby, a statue of the famous little terrier that spent the last 14 years of its life guarding the grave of its owner.  And if you're in to walking then make sure you venture up Arthurs Seat, in Holyrood Park. 

One of the best times to visit Edinburgh is during the Fringe Festival, the largest arts festival in the world. Thousands of performances across hundreds of venues in the space of just over three weeks, with most being free or very reasonably priced. Whilst you're their grab yourself a deep fried mars bar!


Cologne, Germany

I have a whole post on my blog dedicated to this city, so go on over and give that a read if you're looking for a more in depth experience! Cologne is very cheap to travel to, and a very easy city to explore.  

It's home to one of the most spectacular cathedrals in the world, and one of the most famous landmarks in Germany. Nearby, is the Hohenzollern Bridge, famous for the thousands of love locks that are placed in every little nook. If you're visiting, make sure to end each night with a stein of beer, and give the traditional foods like bratwurst, spätzle and sauerkraut a try. 

There are plenty of cafes, and bakeries to stop for a coffee, especially in the streets of the Old Town, so picking one will probably be the hardest decision of your visit! If you're a big chocolate fan then make sure you take a visit to the Schokoladenmuseum, where you can grab free samples and finish the day with a hot chocolate in the cafe. 



I'm sure in a few years, I will be making a "Cheap & Easy European Getaways Part II". But for now i hope this post has given you some inspiration for your next little trip! As always, feel free to leave a comment, and/or message me if you're wanting any further advice on these wonderful places.

Thanks for reading, xo

*As with all pictures featured on my blog, they are all taken by me unless otherwise noted. I use a Canon S120 and iPhone 6S.

2 MONTHS GONE

My oh my, has it really been 2 months since the last update? Yes. That is correct.

Since we last spoke i have been all over Australia, currently in a little town called Portland about 4 hours from Adelaide.

We did eventually find jobs in Sydney. Which meant we had to drive 40 hours straight to make it back to the big city in time to begin. It was at a fruit farm, pruning flowers and then the fruit later on. It started out okay, good enough pay for what it was and we had a cheap campsite. Eventually though we had to leave because they were in trouble with the council and then finding somewhere to stay became harder and more expensive. In total it was around 5 weeks before we packed up and left. We had almost two weeks without any work because the fruit was not growing as quickly as expected and we felt we were being treated unfairly. Our friendly employers were becoming not so friendly. So we left. For me it was only two days before i was scheduled to leave anyway but for my companions it was a good couple of weeks. But y'know, some things work out for the better.

We stayed in Sydney for around a week and my friend from the UK flew in. Then we decided to drive to Melbourne and do the Great Ocean Road. This is something me and George have already done about a month into our Australian adventure, but it was amazing and it wasn't entirely the same, we made sure the change it up. Including going to a wildlife sanctuary and seeing the cutest baby dingo i have ever laid my eyes on!

Just before we hit Melbourne we decided to rent a house on Phillip Island, infamous for it's penguin parade every evening. Here we celebrated my 20th birthday and then a few days later got robbed. Yup, this happened to us whilst we were having a lovely walk along a beach and came back to find our lock had been forced and i was short of my wallet. An Ipad and a camera were also in the mix. Not a lot got taken, but the most valuable to us. My wallet has two memory cards full of pictures from the past 7 months, which have now gone forever pretty much and the other two were also full of photos. C'est la vie. We didn't let this hold us back. Just a few tears were shed.

That evening we drove into Melbourne were me and Jordan were booked into a hostel for the night. One of the best i have stayed in so far, might i add. (Discovery Hostel) It was bang slap next door to The Queen Victoria Markets. We went for lunch with a lovely couple he had met on his flight over. We explored the markets, bought an engraved ring for $15! and a dog tag for my dog back home. We also went to the Eureka Tower which is the tallest building in the city and from there we could see the MCG and watch the AFL final! Pretty awesome. We also went to a market called Finders, which was full of independent stores and, dare i say it,  basically Pinterest as a market. Cute little knick-knacks and food and drinks everywhere! I loved the place.

Our next stop was the Great Ocean Road, i have written about it in a post before and nothing has changed. It is just as beautiful. Except this time we went swimming in Loch Ard Gorge and saw an awesome sunset. The weather was in the high 30's for a change so it was a lovely drive.

The next few days are going to consist of wineries, German towns and Adelaide. After that we will all go our separate ways until Christmas! I am going to explore Western Australia, the others are finding work and Jordan is popping back to Melbourne before meeting me in Perth.

I'm excited to see what the next few months bring me! See ya! x

LEAVING BRISBANE, AND BACK IN CAIRNS

Well hello! It's been a while, a few months!

So what has happened since i last made contact with this blog? Quite a lot actually!

I ended up spending two months in Brisbane, a month of which was working for accommodation at Base Central Backpackers. Here i was a housekeeper, which was an okay job and it gave me free rent which saved me $600. I made a tonne of new friends and said goodbye to some other ones, and then eventually to all of them when i decided to pack up and leave just short of a month ago! But we'll get back to that in a moment. First of all, what did i get up to whilst in one city for that long?Many things i can assure you, but quite important to me was the fact that i could finally unpack and not live out of a backpack!

There are lots of little treasures in this wonderful city and although i dreamed of escaping and traveling once again, i wouldn't change this little adventure for anything. Sunday sessions on the green at Southbank played a big part in my ability to stay sane and every weekend we'd go to the bottle shop and purchase the cheapest bottle of wine we could find, pick up some cups and catch the free ferry across the river to the green. Here we could chill out and listen to free music, drink wine and watch the sun go down over the city.

A few times we went to Eat Street Markets which is a big food market (obviously!) which contains may food stalls, serving food from all over the world! My first time i was like a kid Disneyland and it took me a good few loops to decide on what i wanted to eat. I chose yaki soba, langos and a cronut with a syringe on Nutella! Sounds like heaven right? I did try to not get the same thing and also tried the lanksa, currywurst and few other heavenly foods! Some locals do not even know of the existence of this place, we found out, even though it is a weekly event.

We also went to the Soutbank markets a few times, where i purchased a new ring. There was also a food market at the end of the mall every Wednesday where we would go around trying all of the foods.

Towards the end of our time in Brisbane we finally got around to visiting Mt Coot-ha, which is a lookout with spectacular views across the city and surrounds, and therefore became one of my favorite places. Here we were to say our final farewells to the city that became home for a few months.

Me and two friends, one who i've been traveling with ever since we met in our first ever week in hostels in Sydney and one we met in Cairns, decided that we wanted to leave! And that we did. on Gumtree i discovered a camper van that seated five people and slept four, for a reasonable price. The following day we met with the owners to have a look around and then the day after purchase our beloved Trevor. One week later and we were outta there!

Our 3 weeks travelling up to Cairns has bought us to many places we visited on our first East Coast adventure, but now with the ability to drive ourselves we got to see many new sites that Australia has to offer! Lots of lookouts, lot of sunsets, lots of waterfalls and many evenings playing card games. Our waterfall collection includes the infamous Milaa Milaa waterfall known for being the waterfall used in the herbal essence adverts! I have been nominated as chef, which i enjoy. Even though we have minimal room and the smallest pans in the world where i was having to cook for four hungry mouths! But now it's just as easy as cooking in a normal kitchen, though i still cannot seem to get the correct amount of rice and end up with tonnes of the stuff! But somehow we have gone down to two meals a day and eating rather healthy, due to buying mountains of fruit and veg from little stalls along the road where everything is as cheap as chips. Our stomachs have seemed to have shrunk a lot in the past months since leaving the city life.

Now it is back to the job hunting. We are currently in a little place called Ingham staying at a free campsite 20km west, near to Wallaman Falls. (Australia's tallest single drop waterfall, a stunning place) Trying to find farm work is seemingly harder then it seems, although we are at an advantage with our own transport and accommodation. We are thinking of heading down south any time soon, as that's where the promising phone calls seem to come from. But we'll see.

Lots of driving, and being in the middle of nowhere means that i have had the opportunity to read again and therefore since leaving Brisbane i have got back into books. The Girl On The Train, Dracula and now i am currently reading Be My Guest by Conrad Hilton, the man who built the Hilton Hotel empire! It's actually an interesting read and has given me many more facts to add to my random fact collection in my brain!

Oh, before i leave i would like to inform to the fact that i still haven't gotten my laptop fixed and have basically been carrying a dead wait with me for over 3 months. I also ended up braking my phone so had to purchase a new one, and have also been given the crown for most clumsiest and messiest person people have ever met. Saying that though, i have become a much more confident person and can speak to people! Hallelujah!

Anyway, the job searching awaits and i have taken a half an hour brake to finally get round to updating you all, so i must get back!

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Check out my Instagram for photos of all my travels! @wanderlustandfree and give me a follow if you so wish!