The World With Lizzy

In my previous blog post I wrote that it would probably be the last time you would hear from me before I went away on my trip. Surprise!! I wasn’t planning on posting again but I felt it was appropriate to update you all on my current feelings regarding my trip... in 2 days time. Although I write for everyone’s (hopefully) enjoyment, I’m writing, right now, specifically to first time travellers. Everything you read is from my first hand experience as a first time traveller so that those in my position in the future can find comfort reading this, knowing that it’s normal to feel all the things they’re feeling, and this post is about what all those emotions may be. Nervous. The most obvious. To my surprise I hadn’t felt nervous until about 5 days ago. I sorted all my booking documents out, bus tickets, detailed itinerary, etc, etc, and I realised how organised I’m going to have to be to pull this whole thing off successfully. Those who know me know that I’m incredibly clumsy and dits...

' South East Asia : 23 days before' was one of my first blog posts about planning my most recent adventure, mainly about packing. The prime reason I wrote it is that I'm posting things as I go along to show where I started and how I've grown, and that post depicted the initial thought process of someone who had never packed for travelling before. Although I wouldn't change the majority of it, there are 11 small changes I would make about the way I packed now based on the experience I have now having finished my travels. I've just used the original post, '23 days before', and made my little changes very obvious. Hopefully, it'll be much more helpful! 23 Days before As you have hopefully seen by the title of this blog post I leave for  Bangkok  in 23 days and I've met a healthy balance of nerves and excitement. The majority of people I've told I'm doing this trip alone have told me I'm so brave and that they would be so ter...

Hello people of the internet, Pardon the Ultravox reference in the title, I'm aware that probably only people the age of my parents will understand it, so apologies younguns. If you follow my social media you'll know that this week I went to 'Christmas glamour central'- Vienna , and I must say, it didn't disappoint. Before I went, from online searches that included the standard 'top 10 things to do in Vienna', I expected a gorgeous, snowy city scene where no building isn't covered in golden lights, and that's pretty much what I got, (minus the snow, which kind of sucked). With every street corner furnished with a Christmas tree it was the perfect December holiday destination. My boyfriend, Matthew, and I landed an amazing hotel almost right in the centre called Ruby Lissi. 'Ruby' hotels are a small chain of which Ruby Lissi is the newest member having opened in March this year (note- their Instagram is incredibly aestheti...

Good evening readers, Welcome back to the blog! Exciting times are ahead, with Vienna less than a week away and South East Asia less than 2 months away! But this blog post is about neither of these. If you read my very first blog post, 'This is the Beginning', you'll know that I'm taking a gap year; the very topic I would like to discuss. If you're not sure whether to take a gap year, if you're doing your A-levels, going to college or studying at University, I recommend you keep reading. To begin with, in my personal opinion gap years are not promoted enough at schools, so I'm using this opportunity to promote them here. Subtly and sneakily, I was taught at 6th form that it was preferable to go straight to University after A-levels instead of taking a year out, but now, less than 6 months on, I see that this is not the case. I've learnt that going to Uni, fresh out of school, is not for everyone. It's so important that people know that...

Readers, It's November. I'm snuggled up in bed with a cuppa, listening to Christmas songs (I know, it may be a tad early...), writing this blog post. But in the back of my mind I am super, super excited about a fast approaching adventure, the biggest adventure I have yet to embark on. In February 2018 I begin my travels to South East Asia . A while ago, I spoke to a couple of my older brother's friends, Pete and Emma, who are around the globe practically all the time and have a very successful blog and website. I told them I was planning on keeping a blog of my journeys and they said as an amateur traveller it would be really helpful for others in the same position who are looking for a bit of advice or inspiration. They said they are so competent at travelling now that they've forgotten what it's like to explore the world for the first time and so might miss all the little things that would worry the inexperienced, such as myself. That's why I'm wr...

¡Hola mis guapos! Last week I flew to Spain with 5 girls from my Spanish class and I must say Barcelona lives up to all the expectations derived from the Ed Sheeran song. The 5 days we were there offered so much culture and excitement, not the place for a relaxing long weekend if you ask me. First of all, I should mention where we stayed. Since we were a bunch of 18 year olds looking for a week of clubbing we decided to stay in a hostel called Sant Jordi Alberg. This a HUGE contrast to the quiet hotel we stayed in last year in Mallorca, but it gave us exactly what we bargained for. We made so many friends from all across the globe, from Brazil, Australia, Puerto Rico, and we went out every. single. night. Despite the hangovers, we managed to do the essential tourist must-sees. Being the crazy Gaudí fan that I am, I'm obliged to talk about the architecture. I actually spoke to someone staying at the hostel who was studying architecture who told me he hated Gaudí because, as ...

Good evening readers (of which there probably aren't many), My name is Lizzy and I'm the definition of your average 18 year old girl who dreams of travelling. I've just finished a drastic couple of years doing A-levels, but now I'm working three jobs to earn money to fund the journeys I've got planned for 2018. The bottom line is that I didn't get into my first choice of University and I was surrounded by my private school friends who got exactly what they wanted. Effectively, although it was what I was expecting, I felt like my world was falling apart. I hadn't got a back-up plan and for once I couldn't see the path ahead of me. It was terrifying to say the least, but my two older brothers convinced me it wasn't the end. They told me that I've still got so much going for me and no matter what my grades were I have to make the most of this year. With this advice I thought about how everyone else is going off to do what they want to do but that ...