It is my last morning in Rome and I had been holding off on touring the Colosseum and Roman Forum in the hopes that the heat would drop a little, but there was no such luck. As I made my way to pick up my tickets from the tourist bureau at 9am it was already 39 degrees! I was booked on a self paced tour, so I had a recorded headset to guide me and I could go at my own pace. The only strict requirement was the entry time into… Read More
I decided to have an easy day today and wander around some of the galleries in the city. I had a look online and decided that the Borghese Art Museum was the best one for me as it houses many of the works of Bernini, who I studied in high school. I walked to the building and was disappointed to find out that it was sold out! I had no idea that you would need to book a ticket, I thought you just got tickets at the door like you do at… Read More
It’s been 3 weeks since I arrived in Europe! I think about the places that I have visited, the experiences I have had and the great people that I have met – it really has been life changing…and I’m not even halfway through my trip! This morning, I woke up at 5.30am, the sun was rising outside my window so I really quicky pulled on some clothes, threw my hair in a bun, grabbed my handbag and jogged down to the Trevi Fountain. It was so incredibly busy the previous afternoon I… Read More
I arrived in Rome in the early afternoon and the first thing I noticed was how big and impressive everything was – even the airport seemed to be grander and more polished than any other I had landed at so far. I caught a taxi from the airport and marvelled at the incredible buildings and monuments that we passed as we drove closer to the apartment I had booked for the next 3 nights. We drove past the Pantheon and in the next street pulled up at a small wooden… Read More
I never would have imagined when I got up this morning how much I would end up cramming into this day! It’s the last day of the month and financial year in Australia so I had the morning set aside to work. Unfortunately there were some plane delays and I had not realised quite how far the airport was from the centre of Istanbul, so I had arrived at the hotel (which is beautiful!) at almost midnight and hadn’t even been able to check out the neighbourhood the night before… Read More
The alarm sounded at 4am. I had received my Whatsapp text message the night before that had requested that I be at the security gate to my hotel at 4.40am. I got dressed in layers and I wasn’t sure what to expect – this was my first ever hot air balloon ride! At 4.30am I walked around to the front of the hotel. It was still dark and the call to prayer was booming around through the village from the mosque down the road, the minibus was there waiting for me. We drove… Read More
What to do, what to do? Relax or explore? I came to Pamukkale to see the Hierapolis and the white travertines, but here I was, waking up to the sounds of hot springs erupting fresh, mineral rich water into the natural baths beside my hotel room – it was so tempting to spend the whole day just lazing at the resort. Outside was the first overcast day since my trip started, it was not too hot and there was a nice breeze, perfect condition to wander around the Hierapolis, so I… Read More