The World With Lizzy

I feel like I need a quirky catch phrase to open my blogs because I’m running out of ways to say ‘hello readers’. I’ll work on it.  Before I travelled further, while I was still in Cambodia, I made the decision not to stay in the rainforest, Taman Negara, Malaysia- the next stop of my original plan. I made the mistake of not doing enough research back in England and I didn’t have the right clothing or equipment. But since I crammed Cambodia into my trip as well I don’t feel like I have done Malaysia justice anyway, so I’ve promised myself to come back to stay in Taman Negara and visit plenty of other places here too. Moral of the story- do your research into the places you’re visiting or you may end up not visiting them! It was also around this time I began missing home. I’m surprised I hadn’t been homesick until then. It was snowing a lot back in England and I LOVE the snow. I miss wearing jeans and wrapping up warm. I got really excited to go and see my friends and family. I ...

I’m in Cambodia!  and I have a whole new adventure to tell you all about, so sit back and enjoy the blog. I think the prime reason Cambodia has been so exciting is because it wasn’t part of my original plan. I came travelling to be free and independent, and going to Cambodia in the spur of the moment has made me feel these things. I came abroad with a fixed agenda- all my accommodation booked and everything, and I regret it. You don’t need a path to stick to. I got ‘to wander’ in Thai tattooed on my ankle because I’ve realised travelling isn’t about having direction. If you’re going travelling for the first time, like me, don’t be afraid to go with the flow. I’ve followed my heart, not a plan.  I came to Cambodia because my friend, Tom, was there for a while and I thought I’d join him. The first piece of advice he gave me which I think is important to share with anyone wanting to come to Cambodia is that crumpled dollar notes are not accepted so don’t accept them if they’r...

Hi again!  I hope you’re all well and you’re sat down with a cup of tea ready to find out what I’ve been up to for the last two weeks. If you haven’t already read my last blog post I suggest you have a scan of it because this one will continue on from that.  So before I travelled to the Thai Islands I stopped off in Bangkok again. I was only supposed to but be there for one night but I made a mistake with my bookings but it actually worked out really well. One of my old friends from primary school who I haven’t seen in 8 years now lives in Bangkok and suggested we went for a drink and it was so nice to catch up! We talked about the language and he taught me some phrases that I used pretty often (one included ‘tasty!’). He then went on to invite me to go with him and his friends to a music festival that weekend called ‘Kolour in the Park’.  It was nowhere near as big as a festival in England but that made it more intimate. I met so many people and it wasn’t too crowde...

Hello readers!! I’ve made it through my first 20 days in Thailand alive, only given in to Western food 4 times, and I’m having the best time! I’ll start from the beginning (duh). My journey to Bangkok was smooth but long and boring. I’m not very good at sleeping on the move so my two 6 hour plane journeys were spent wide awake and completely restless. Passport control at the airport upon arrival was agonisingly slow but then I managed to find a train to the centre where my hostel was. That’s when I met my first friend who found a hostel near my hotel and I stuck with her. The hotel, Buddy Boutique Inn (booked for me by STA travel), was really nice. Location was prime and they made cute, little elephants out of the towels. I struggled to sleep on my first night, and accidentally slept in. That’s jet lag for you. After my unintentional lie in, I went on a little walk where a lovely little Thai man who said he liked my converse told me where to book a bus to get me to Pai for the next...

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...