Sometimes we're lazy, sometimes we're organised!

We had our lazy Sunday, we got up wandered down to the beach. We had toast for breakfast, in a bid to feel less disappointed when our bacon and eggs came out... Only to see someone else had ordered an english breakfast and it looked delcious... Plus my toast came with peach jam, sounds yum, doesn't isn't. I should carry my vegemite with me (Lorraine, I'm still on my first tube, no vegemite shortages... Yet!) 

We found a spot at the beach and just chilled for hours. One thing I can't get over at the beach is the amount of women with their boobs out.... All shapes and sizes too not just amazing skinny Spanish women that have the right to wear no top and barely their bottoms. Older women whose boobs have seen the best part of 3 children and a decade with no bra, or younger mums walking along the boardwalk with their sons, all having a merry old time chatting away... I saw one woman with her boobs sitting on her stomach, honestly you can't be that concerned about tan lines if half your stomach is covered. Yesterday a girl sat down next to me, took her top off and proceeded to eat a baguette, could you just keep it on until you had finished eating. Alex saw a women covering her boobs with her arm while she ordered her kids ice blocks! I totally understand the amazing feeling of coming home after a long day and taking off your bra (sorry any males reading this) but is the new holiday thing? 'Yessss I'm on holidays, I'm going to wear no top as often as possible for the next week' we had to laugh at an Aussie girl that completely fried herself, obviously she was trying to compete with the other Spanish women... Can't begin to imagine how uncomfortable that would be, I burnt the underneath of my boobs, it was torture putting a bra on! Enough about boobs...

We went to an Irish pub for lunch for something different and had the most disgusting nachos I've ever eaten and half decent chicken wings, plus a pint of sangria and a pint of cider... I was day time drunk which is always a fun type of Gabi. We made our way back to the metro amongst the 1000 other people. 

We are a bit over people, it's seriously busy in Barcelona at the moment and people are in there own world... Where Alex and I are constantly punching gaps (trying to get around slow walking people by walking fast through a gap of people, it's a fun game), I've honestly run up the back of that many people, we say things in english like 'well done' 'just stop right there' or 'what's wrong with you'. You know just passive aggressive comments in a language people can't understand. I'm waiting for the day they can understand me and I have to run in fear... My second favourite thing to do during the day whilst drunk, is drunk day sleeping. After a really enjoyable sleep, we got ready and headed out for a walk and dinner. 

I hope no one kills me for this, but we haven't really enjoyed Spanish food. Tapas are great, but are usually expensive and you don't know what you're getting. We haven't had Paella cause it's always full of seafood and comes for two. So after a wander, we found a Korean restaurant... Yes Korean and it was delicious! We have been dreaming of fresh vegetables and salads, so to have kim chi and tempura vegies was bliss. We had yummy fried dumplings and a noodle dish full of vegies. As soon as I get in that kitchen in Courchevel, I'll be cooking as much fresh stuff as I can. Can't wait for salad and roast vegies, maybe we'll go vego for a few days, just get out bodies back to normal. 

We woke up in the morning to three emails from dad outlining our hotels and trains for the next three days, honestly can't tell you how nice it was for someone else to do that part of it... Not to mention paying for it! We are beyond grateful for his help, we couldn't have done it without him. We are getting the Train from Barcelona to Nimes, staying in the little village for two nights then heading to Montmelian for one night then up to Courchevel on train the next day. We'll have wifi, plus sims so we'll catch up with everyone then. 

I'm so excited to get back to work, earning some money but also doing something completely different will be fun. Painting and doing handy man work will be awesome, I'm hoping I'll be be so dead at night from hard work all day, I'll actually sleep well. Here's wishing... Oh and we have a hot tub at our Chalet, how hilarious! 

We had decided to be more organised and come to the train station early to get out tickets to Nimes, the trains in Spain are a nightmareeeeeeeee! We had to take a ticket and wait 4 hours to get our tickets, we waited longer than the actual trip takes. We just sat in this hall with 300 other people. We got our ticket 418, and it was only at 180... We ate lunch and went to the post office then sat down and waited. I got talking to a lovely French girl who was living in Barcelona. She was waiting to get a ticket to go home a week later for an exam. She didn't want to go home, she said she loved Barcelona more then Paris or anything other places in France. She was lovely and when she said goodbye, she said think of me in the French country side! 

We made our way back to the hotel, had showers and then headed back into Barcelona for drinks and dinner. We walked into the gothic section, past the cathedral again and all the other amazing art work in Barcelona. We found a great Mexican place which was packed, it was no la Quintas but the margaritas tasted pretty great! We walked our dinner off and headed back to the hotel to pack for an early train! 

Being reckless sucks...

In a bid to be less organised and more reckless, we decided we'd just book our train ticket at the train station (the website was in Spanish anyway). So we arrived at 11am for the 1:10pm train only to discover that Renfe had been having massive issues and our train was now sold out. The next cheap train not being till 8:30pm that night... My dream of escaping the heat and spending the afternoon at the beach was quickly dashed as we rushed to find other transport. Other than an 8hour bus, 1 hour from where we were, we decided to just cop it and by a ticket on the 8:30pm train... We found a locker for our bags, and started walking. Travelling with a backpack and wearing a dress doesn't really mix, so I chose tights, a oversized tshirts and cons whilst getting ready in our 20 degrees room that morning... We walked outside at 1pm and it was 37! Only to then rise to 39 an hour later, I stopped looking after that. 

We walked down to the Real Jardin Botantical gardens and wandered around trying to escape the heat. It's beautiful in there, we found some cold stone seats to lay on and relaxed for half an hour. We continued on and made it back to the centre of the city. We just went in and out of shops trying to make the most of aircon. Alex found a really cool Vans shirt and I finally found my skin product, which is a Spanish brand. It was really well priced so our spirits were lifted. We continued on for a few hours and then headed back to the train station, hoping to find a cold quiet spot with electricity. 

On our way, we saw two undercover cops bust some guys selling fake bags. I was at an ATM at the time and thought we were getting mugged... Alex saw the whole thing. One cop got a whole sheet full of bags... They put all their stolen/fake items on a sheet with strings, so all they have to do to get away is to pull the stings and run. About 5 other guys got away. We jumped back on the metro, pros after going two stops in the wrong direction that morning. 

We got anything but a cold quiet spot when we arrived, the arrival hall has a huge garden through the middle of it with constant sprinklers... Which makes it incredibly humid, especially with zero aircon. I found one power point but was told to go away after about 20mins. So we just sat in the heat for 3hours and killed time. Finally 8pm rolled around so we went to look at the screens to find our platforms... Nothing, 10mins later still nothing, we went through the arrivals lounge and waited till 25mins past before the platform came up, we headed to our boarding gate along with 300 plus people. We finally boarded at 8:50pm, with people pushing to get down the escalators. It was madness, we were in carriage 15, right down the end but we managed to find our seats and somewhere to put our bags for our 3 hour journey. 

Hated to think that if we were on the bus, we'd be there by now...

The hostel was less that impressed by how late we were, we just jumped in a cab (best €20 ever spent) and sped there arriving at 12:30pm instead of 3:30pm. They were nice enough, but we still felt terrible. Having a shower after being in transit for 14 hours is the most incredible feeling in the world... So is crawling into bed!

We woke a bit late, with an email from dad confirming how we wanted to get to Courchevel (the bestest father). I decided the beach 'wasn't far' so we set off for a day by the ocean, 1 hour laterwe finally arrived, hot and a bit bothered. We have both gotten a bit sick, possibly a tummy bug from dodgy food or from being in so many public places. So we just chilled by the water and sunbaked. What bliss. We hadn't been to the beach since Greece and felt amazing to be back in the salt water. Alex was feeling really nauseous so we just lay by the water and relaxed. 

I think we're both just a bit tired, travelling is so amazing and we are loving it, but we need a lazy Sunday, where you laze at home all day eating homemade food and just laying around. We feel guilty doing that here, we don't want to miss anything. I'm sure there will be time for that in Courchevel in less than a week. 

After exploring for a while, we got the metro back to our hotel and had a local dinner (which was horrendous). I stocked up on some delcious fruit and we headed back to relax. 

In the morning, we decided to head into Barcelona for breakfast. Breakfast is an interesting meal in Spain... It doesn't really exist. There is no breakfast culture like at home, they don't really understand that bacon and eggs go together in a delcious fusion of amazingness, that enables you to skip lunch and keep you walking for hours... We have some of the worst breakfasts here, I'm missing the avo and eggs in Ios. 

We walked around for hours and saw the arch de triomphe (Spanish style), the zoo, the marina, and then back into town and to Cassa Bálto. We finally had a lovely meal of tapas and sangria, it was so goooooooood, we were in need of a good Spanish meal. We had crispy prawns with soy mayo, pieces of steak with onion, mustard and cheese, chorizo sausages and potatoes with some amazing sauce.  So delcious! After walking for so long it was exactly what we needed. 

We wanted to hire bikes but it's only for locals. There are 'bike banks' on most corners, just teasing us. We are so over walking and I have legs made for riding bikes. My calves are being wasted on this walking crap. You could hire tandem bikes, segways or electronic scooters but 

1. I'm not a loser, and 

2. I'm not a loser 

I already wear Birkenstocks, I don't need people judging me more while I zoom around on a Segway with a helmet looking like a complete knob... We see while families doing it, those poor children. Actually maybe we should do it and pretend to be American again... They'd totally do that and would probably think they are cool! 

I shouldn't judge, especially as after 7 hours of walking, my blisters have grown blisters. 

Tomorrow is Sunday, so everything will be closed. We are going to sleep in and go to the beach for the day. That can be our relaxing day off... 

Alex is currently walking out the door to deliver me pizza in bed... What an awesome boyfriend! Although he's not sure what he ordered as it was in Spanish and the guy spoke no english... 

Madridddddd!

So we arrived after our 7 hour bus trip quite chipper. We were used to having long days driving so it didn't really worry us. It was 8:30pm, so we jumped in a cab and headed to the hostel. It's not too bad, the room is small but we have a bed, a bathroom and it's as dark as a dungeon and quiet so we are stoked. We went out searching for dinner and realised we were in the night club district, not a bad thing as it's always busy. We found this random tapas restaurant and ordered the meat plate (I'm a good girlfriend sometimes) which has veal, two kinds sausage, steaks, chicken, ribs and cheek (I think) with chips, peppers and salad. It was actually delicious, I really enjoyed it. Especially the amazing sangria, the best I've ever had! We loved dinner, had a wander around and headed home with tired heads. 

We both slept so well, can't tell you how nice it is to sleep in a real bed. Although we only have one massive pillow instead of two. Alex and I have very different pillow sleeping arrangements, I prefer mine very structured and to the side, where he is more random and all over the place. We both slept like the dead so there hasn't been any night time kicking fights (yet). We woke up and got to talk to one of my favourite ladies, Claire! It's been too long and there was too much to catch up on! I needed to talk to dad (Ken Hunter travel) as well, so we said our long goodbyes and hung up. Dad is trying to work out the cheapest way for us to get from Barcelona to Courchevel, would be simple in the Winter but rather difficult in the summer. 

Madrid is beautiful, we love it here. It's crazy hot at the moment, still 36 at 6pm so it was hard walking around but I got in some shopping. Hate spending €40 on dinner, but on a top and dress I'm totally fine. The clothes we brought are starting to get old and ugly so it was nice to get a few nice things. We walk around for hours and hours in the heat and then we are so dead, we can't move at night. We dragged ourselves out for roast chicken and lamb chops (accidentally sat down at a non tapas place) and had a few pints of sangria at Dubliners. Having internet in our room is bliss, so I updated my phone and updated all my songs on spotify (so needed as we might have to catch a 10 hour bus to get to Courchevel) and just relaxed. After walking around for hours all day, aircon was too good to leave... I know we are lazy. 

We got up in the morning and wander around before our massages... My god did we need them! Alex had knots that you could see on his back and my back and hip had been killing me for weeks. After self medicating with Voltaren (try sign languaging that to someone in Spain), a roll on deep heat and panadol, nothing was working. It was probably one of the best massages I've ever had, she somehow knew all my tension was on my right side and just worked it all out. Alex was the same and said she was all elbows on his back and knots. There was a bit of miscommunication when they had finished and we just lay there wondering what had happened, until 15mins later she came us to tell us to leave haha.

We went back to the room, I had an amazing bath and we lay down and relaxed. I've decided that I'm going to do a chalet cook course before I start in the Winter, just to help my confidence... And like it has happened since we left home, everything fell into place. Skivo2 sent me some courses, one in the French alps starting the week I was due to finish working. It was the cheapest and included 7 nights accommodation in a chalet and a huge range of units plus the hygiene certificate I needed to get. I emailed Georgie and she said that while I do the course, Alex can keep working and staying in the chalet, so good. The course is only 50mins from Courchevel which just works perfectly. I'll finish and either go back to Courchevel, if there is more work. Or we'll keep travelling for a bit until mum and dad come over. 

We worked out our lives and then headed off to explore again. We've enjoyed madrid so much but have had trouble waking around in the heat, I know you're all telling me to shut up cause it's so cold at home... But it's usually 37 during the day. We found the discount Zara and I bought black jeans and a jumper... Madrid has been good to me clothes wise, I've had trouble finding things that weren't minute or mid drift. I've got some really nice stuff here including two bras which were so cheap and so good. I feel like I'm ready to go to Courchevel now, where it's currently still snowing :| 

We had a delicious dinner of a Kg prime rib steak with salad and chips, Alex ate himself into a food coma. 

I just had a flash back to being a bit crazy in the van... Alex and I decided which celebrities we would swap so others could be alive... This was the list:

Miley Cyrus for Amy Winehouse 

Justin Bieber for Paul Walker

Rolf Harris for Michael Jackson

The Jonas Brothers for Heath Ledger 

We will continue playing this game and keep you updated! 

We are looking forward to Barcelona tomorrow, we're being a bit reckless and booking our tickets when we get there. Can't wait for some ocean and sun time :) 

Final daze...

We made it to Malaga and it was by far the most beautiful drive we've had. It was 4 hours from Valencia and we were well and truly over it. I'd been up all night with a bad stomach and both our backs have given out from the bad bed and sitting all day... We have become the old people I keep seeing everywhere... Maybe they're just weary travellers and when they get home they turn back into their young selves again... I think I'm onto something there. 

Back to the drive... It took us into the mountains, I think the Pyreenes, which were beautiful and green. It was a lovely day which made it even more spectular. On the other side of Granada we passed a huge dam that went on forever. It had the bluest water and was surrounded by the most beautiful forrests. We really enjoyed the scenery on our last drive but we are ao glad to be giving the van back... 

Pro's of a Campervan:

- visiting lots of different places, not just capital cities 

- you can take your time (sort of)

- you can cook

- you can sing loudly 

- you don't have to keep unpacking 

- you can choose your own adventure... 

Con's of a Campervan: 

- the bed sucks 

- you spend a lot of money on tolls and fuel

- campgrounds are priced based on distance from the nearest major city, so if you wanted to pay 20 Euro a night, you were in the middle of nowhere

- navigation is super hard unless you have internet 

- the terrible 'artwork' on the sides of the van, I'm over people staring at us

- trying to put pants on after having a shower and the floor is wet (not the campervans fault). 

- feeling like you're camping but then remembering you actually have to look nice in capital cities (again not the vans fault).

Would we do it again... Probably not because we've seen what we need to see. It's given us an awesome insight into where we would like to come back to and where we won't go again (Naples haha). 

Getting to spend two nights in one place has been bliss and the restaurant here is unbelievable. Alex's had the most delicious ribs and I had chilli con carne, so nice not to cook and for it not to cost the world. The second night we had a full english roast. 

Oh and I forgot our awesome news... We got short term summer jobs in the French Alps! The people hiring us in the Winter asked if we'd like 6 weeks work now, cleaning up and maintaining the chalets. We get to live in one of the chalets (which has a hot tub, Win!) and get paid €300 a week, not a lot, but who cares we're in France (cheese cheese wine cheese). We are currently making plans to head back the way we came, spending 3 nights in Madrid, a week in Barcelona and then back into France (Ken Hunter Travel is currently working that out for us, the bloody legend!) They don't need us till the 25th July so we've got some time to travel before then. We won't be back in London until September now, then mum and dad will be here... Maybe we'll just travel till the Winter season... Wouldn't that be lovely haha. 

Only problem with working in Courchevel is still quite cold, so my abundance of summer clothes just isn't going to work. We went to Primark before getting on the bus and spent up big (€40 what a joke, it's so cheap) and got track pants, shorts, tights, two jumpers, 4 tshirts and 7 pairs of socks. I already had two pairs of tights and some jeans and Alex's has a jumper, a jacket, jeans and cino pants (he didn't really get the whole packing for summer thing... But he's stoked now) (when actual fact, I couldn't fit all of my clothing in the suitcase left behind because it was filled with Gabi's clothes - Alex, The Editor). Sucks we couldn't go home first cause we've got lots of warm stuff in London but oh well, we'll survive. It's like Brisbane winter anyway, so not too bad (jokes I know how cold it's been). Plus we should be working pretty hard during the day, I'm hoping to burn off all the cheese I eat by painting like a mad woman. 

On our second day we ventured into Malaga, about an hours drive from our campsite. We needed to book our bus tickets because we found out the Spanish company we kept using didn't take non-Spanish credit cards. It was a Sunday so everything was closed, but we were stoked to have those tickets in our pocket. We got back to the campsite and started cleaning the van, we had a few bits and pieces that we weren't taking with us, like butane cans for the stove, camping chairs, rope, pegs and other stuff we'd picked up along the way. We set it all out on a table and wrote a sign in Spanish, saying please take it! A lovely Spanish couple arrived and took almost everything. They were so thankful but we were just happy not to throw it in the bin. We bumped into her later at the shop and found out she was from North Spain, she said madrid was beautiful and we would love it. In the morning we woke up to a 4 page note under the wind screen wiper, full of things to do in Madrid and Barcelona, it said 'to my australian friends'. What an amazing gesture. We wanted to say thanks but it was 7am. Little things like that make you so happy, and feel better about being away from home. Although thinking about it, if someone had given us all that stuff at the beginning we would have been so grateful. It was actually nice to have a conversation in English, broken english but all the same, we've been craving it. 

There was this one kid who just yelled all the time, just stood out the front of the van and yelled, usually it was 'HAYYYY PAPPPPPAAA' we had fun thinking about all the things we would say to him if we actually had the guts to get angry... It went along the lines of 'I'LL PAPPA YOU!'  with choreographed hand gestures. If you have been reading this blog, there may have been the odd occasion when you questioned mine and Alex's sanity! No need to be alarmed, we've just spent too much time around people that don't speak english and it has just been the two of us for a little while. Some other human interaction, wine and cheese and the beach should help us get back to our usual crazy selves, as long as they aren't kids... HAY PAPPA! 

We are beyond excited to arrive Madrid, sleeping in a real bed, having a normal shower and being in the centre of a city will be a dream. We feel like we haven't experienced Spanish food as I've been cooking so much, so we are stoked to eat more tapas and paella. Barcelona will be so fun, we really wanted to stay longer after we saw it the first time, so to have 5 nights there now will be amazing. I can't wait to have the beach so close again and to be able to explore at night time, we've missed a night life. We're staying in Hostals as well, so hopefully will be a few young people to talk, or these posts might just get weirder and weirder! 

Our travelling dream continues... :) 

And it continues... Days 7 to 11

So we left the little campsite without upsetting anymore children, although she did stand and stare at me whilst I was eating breakfast which was strange... 

We hit the road towards Montpellier, travelling through Aix en Provence. The weather was crap so we decided to use the freeway, we'd seen enough coast lines. We headed inland towards Aix En Provence, it was really cool, very gothic and made the most amazing streets and lane ways. 

We've got travelling without internet pretty sorted, we find a maccas, decide where we're going to stay that night and then start the maps navigation from there. It works most of the time, but we did get a bit lost this time and had to rely on a half loaded map and my phone signal to get us to our destination, a really cute campsite just out of Montpellier called Sommières. Alex went exploring, leaving me have a lay down while all of our electronic equipment charged. He said it was absolutely beautiful, similar to Aix en Provence but smaller and more quaint. Whilst Alex was gone, a lovely older english man called Fred came over for a chat. He saw that the van had UK plates and thought we might have some papers or books in english. He was in Montpellier to have hip surgery and pretty much told me his life story, he had an inoperable heart condition and was in respite care, where he escaped and got on a bus and a train, then the Eurostar to Paris. He made it down to Montpellier where he met a surgeon that fixed his heart. So he bought a push bike and spent a few years riding around Europe with a little trailer on the back (like you put babies in). He had quite a few injuries and said they were from Rugby, so I thought he must have been pretty good if he'd played for so long. I think he got a shock when Alex came back :) it was nice I talk to someone (other than Alex) in English, we've had a hard time trying to translate so it was great to take rugby and injuries with this old codger.  

We had stocked up on groceries, so I cooked steak with mushroom sauce, potatoes and vegie courgettes. I'm getting good at only using one stove and two pans to make dinners.

After finally having internet and power, (oh the bliss), we watched a few shows after dinner. Driving long distances everyday really takes it out of you, we drive at least 3-5 hours a day. Alex mostly drives but I have to navigate... Which is hard ok! 

I woke up to a computer put in front of my face and saw two lovely faces I had missed very much... Hessen and Carly! They weren't surprised to see I was still asleep! We had an awesome chat and caught up on all the happenings at home. It was nice to see and speak to them! I gave mum and dad a quick call as well, they've always got good advise of where to and not to stay, so it was awesome talking to them as well. 

We left Somméries late and headed through Montpellier to Perpignan, we tried to make it to Barcelona but we were just so stuffed. 

We drove through the most amazing fishing village called Séte. It has a canal running through the middle of it and was so picturesque. We wish we could have stayed there. Finding little gems like Séte makes the long days driving worth it. I found the most DELICIOUS macaroons, another French thing ticked off my list, and we had a coffee before heading off again.  We stopped in another beach village to make some sandwiches for lunch and ventured off to find our campsite in Perpignan. It was lovely, only €15 and had ice!!! 

Oh I forgot to mention, unlike Italians, French people like cold drinks but are currently having a health crisis because of contaminated ice... So in short, no one will sell us ice and no one will let us freeze our ice bricks. The last place had frozen bottles of water so that worked for a while but it's been a bit of a nightmare trying to keep all our food cold. 

We lost the plot during that drive, we started singing power ballads and then Alex had the good idea of recording us as he's putting together a little montage of our adventures... It all started with John Farnham- you're the voice, we went onto Africa- Toto and finishing with Bohemian Rhapsody. There are dance moves, badly timed singing and lots of laughing for your viewing, oh and if you're wondering why we were wearing each other's hats, Alex's flat brim is the driving hat... Plus he secretly wants mine.. Well it's not a secret, he told me he wants it haha. 

We got a spot on the lake which was stunning although we didn't go swimming... Alex read an article about 18 foot Salmander coming out of a lake, so we both decided that drinking wine and eating guacamole was a much safer option. Plus the view of the mountains above the lake was way more beautiful than meeting a Salmander... I don't need another slimy creature to be afraid of! 

Luckily we didn't go swimming cause I got a call from Georgie from skivo2 as a sort of phone interview. I decided to go with the bigger chalet (18 people) with an assistant as the food was much more basic then the high end chalet. Alex was briefed on the handy man position and the owner said that we sounded perfect and liked the idea of us being a couple so that was reassuring! I've honestly rung Sal (my god-sister not mum) about 5 times about this, she's been awesome. Georgie asked me how much I've skied before... I laughed and said '3 days'. A lot of people do the winter season because you get the ski pass and lift pass thrown in, but I'm mainly doing it for the experience and because Alex loves it. It worked well, cause I'll be quite busy and won't have a huge amount of time to ski, where Alex will have heaps of spare time and will be able to snowboard a lot. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that at least one of the 4 instructors I know will drag me up the mountain, but I'm happy to just stick to the flat bits to get back into it... There are flat bits in the French alps right? :) 

Feeling a bit more set, we decided that our travelling adventure might soon becoming to an end, so we started making plans for our return in a few weeks. We messaged our friends to keep an eye out for rooms to rent and told them I would be holding regular dinner parties. I think I won Georgie over when I told her I would start practising the meals now by having dinner parties, she said 'I wish I could come' I said 'I don't think I actually know 18 people in the UK, so you might actually get an invite'. 

We had a love dinner of tapas (our first restuarant meal in agessss) and a few beers and celebrated the next 6 months. 

We woke up in the morning after an very windy night and drove towards BARCELONAAAAA! We unfortunately drove into rain, it poured most of the way there. When we arrived at the camp ground it was pretty wet but blue skies were coming out. We had missed the bus into Barcelona so we thought we'd have some lunch and do washing and just relax for an hour. We finally made our way to Barcelona, we decided to drive as it was cheaper than getting a taxi and bus. We parked near the casino and walked along the water. Barcelona is amazing, we will definitely go back there cause we just didn't have enough time to see everything we wanted. We walked around for a few hours just site seeing and taking it all in. We were meant to meet Mill but both of our phones died and we didn't end up seeing her. She had a good night shopping though :) we had a delicious dinner at a place called Negro Carbon, it was nice not to cook. We made our way back to the campsite with full tummies, sore feet and tired heads. 

Spain is really beautiful, it's cities are amazing. Every round about has a beautiful sculpturesand the buildings are huge and beautiful. They probably look at our Opera house and go 'yeah so what'. The art and culture has blown my mind a bit. You're driving down a road in the middle of no where (past a few hookers... One winked at me!!) and there will be an amazing piece of art, today I saw dice, a steam train, three bronze heads as we exited a tunnel and went into another one and building blocks, all bright and colourful. It's beautiful and a great way to remember you are in Spain! 

When we woke up, I knew we had a big day of driving ahead of us and I just wasn't feeling it. It's awesome seeing lots of different cities and villages you wouldn't normally see but sometimes I feel like we waste days sitting in the van. It's especially hard driving past the most devine looking water and beaches. We set out to drive from Barcelona to Valencia... 3.5 hours with €30 worth of tolls or 7hours without... You can guess which one we chose. After a few coffees, it wasn't too bad, and knowing we got this far means we didn't have to travel as far the next day. If we hadn't wasted two days going to Naples, we would have had more time in Spain, but no matter, it's more of an excuse to come back! We drove through Valencia and into our campsite. I seriously have a way of picking them, it's just adds to the story of my life I guess, this campground also catered as a summer camp, so it actually had 3000 kids there with no parents. We wanted to lay by the pool for a bit and get some sun and fresh air but it was packed. It was half empty as well, honestly it was missing about half a metre of water, the shallow end was up to my hips and the deep end barely got to my neck, and it was not... Always a bad sign. It was all those bloody kids... Alex didn't last long and headed back to start dinner, I stayed and read for a little longer but 35 kids arrived and it made it a bit crazy. We had dinner and just relaxed and then watched Vikings, our new favourite now the Game of Thrones season is finished. 

In the morning, Alex woke up and there was frost on the windscreen... Come on Europe, this is what you call summer. Most nights I wear a long sleeve shirt and flannel pants (Mum- my giraffe Peter Alexander ones... They are still alive and now travelling Europe) and I'm still cold. It's mental, I was so worried I'd be so hot but we can't even keep the roof open. 

We made it from Valencia to Murcia in 3.5 hours and had no tolls!!!! Our first day without tolls since we set out on this adventure. We made good time and arrived just after 3pm. We had some lunch and spent a blissful two hours by the pool, it was so nice to just relax and swim and lounge around again. The campsite isn't too bad, it has a lot of kids and old people, pretty standard now. We are only 4 hours from Malaga, so were going to stay there for two nights before we drop the van off and then take a 7hour bus to Madrid... Oh the joyssssss of travelling! The bus trip isn't even going to phase me, I just have to sit back and let someone else worry about fuel, tolls and how the f**k to get there (sorry mum!) 

Van Adventures... Day 5 & 6

Day 4 ended with spaghetti bolognese and a bottle of wine. Oh and an email from the recruiter from Courchevel offering me one of two chef positions, one in a big chalet supervising 3 comis (sous) chefs and one in a smaller but premier chalet by myself... What a daunting choice. Both scared the shittttttt out of me but I accepted the smaller chalet and instantly emailed Mumma Hunter as prewarning for recipes for my menu creation. Everyone keeps telling me I will be fine, but there is something deep down in my gut that's scaring me a little, I'll be fine, just need to start practising! The chalet is called Chalet Elise, look it up through http://www.skivo2.co.uk if you could book it from November to April... That would be great :) Alex got offered the Handy Man position which looks totally rad, he gets to cruise round all day picking people up, fixing things and just generally looking cool (hopefully in overalls, don't worry I'll get photos). I'm already planning my winter wardrobe, which will probably consist of one pair of ski boots and one jacket, but a (poor) girl can dream! 

Day 5 started a bit over cast, so we gobbled down our bacon and eggs and headed to Florence. Thank god we bought Sims, they are heaven in the form of the internet, which is sent from god to help directionally challenged travellers find their ways in their Wicked Campervan, especially considering our first camp site didn't exist. Alex took over navigating himself, whilst I had an amazing chat with Mum and Dad! Can't wait to see you in October!!! 

We arrived at Internationale Firenze aka expensive craphole that caters to contiki buses, LOTS of contiki buses (we've seen 6 in 6 hours) and it cost €36 for one night. We aren't going to stay in capital cities anymore (thanks dad), Pisa was the same price for two nights, so we have vowed to be more organised. Plus you can only swim in the pool (Perissa... Ha I'm italian) if you wear a swimming cap, what a joke! 

We jumped on the bus to Florence cause I'm SO sick of getting lost in big cities, walking is fine, but getting lost on a highway here can actually cost you money in tolls not to mention petrol! 

We hopped off the bus and just wandered around for a bit. We found the leather market and we treated ourselves... I got a nice hat (I've been searching for one since we left home, where I left mine...), a handbag to replace my TERRIBLE Mimco one that ripped in London (honestly so angry, it ripped cause I kept zipping it up) and Alex got a beautiful leather wallet that actually fits Euros notes in it. A worthy splurge when in Florence! Super happy with our purchases, we walked down to Duomo which is absolutely amazing. We walked around the perimeter of the church and down to Galleria dell'Accademia to see the statue of David. We had to wait about 20mins but it was worth it, Italy really knows how to showcase it's art. It's incredible seeing these places/statues/art/monuments in real life after seeing so many photos of them. We walked around for hours, seeing all the sights and then headed back on the bus... Not before realising we had to get money out. We saw a Change place which normally has ATM's, I asked where the closest one was and she said that she could be used as an ATM, failing to tell me that she would charge €30 ($50) for the withdrawal. I was so upset after, that's two meals for us and we'd been trying so hard to save money as petrol is costing us so much (that would have gotten us to Genoa). Not only that but I'll get charged for the withdrawal from my travel card as well. I had my first moment of 'I want to go home'! I know it sounds pathetic but we'd been walking for 5 hours in 35 degrees, I was looking forward to shouting us a nice dinner after our €3 euro pizza lunch and this woman with a huge smile didn't even think to tell me how much it would cost to just withdrawal some cash. I was angry when I had to give the train lady €5... Imagine me then! 

So we headed home, me a bit deflated and ate vegemite crackers for dinner.  But hey I have a beautifulllllll leather bag from Florence. Plus I can't wait to wear my hat and someone asks 'oh where's your hat from' and I go 'oh just Florence' haha what a wanker! 

Day 6- we left Florence pretty early as we were excited to get to Cinque Terre and Genoa. I didn't sleep all that well as some young Australian girl from the contiki decided to have a late night/early morning domestic with someone... We got on the road and decided to take the highway back through to Pisa and then on to La Spezia, which is a beautiful picturesque little village, we made our way through and onto the main road that runs in between the coast and the Cinque Terre National Park. What a drive... We may not have done the Almafi coast, but that drive was beautiful and being able to pull over whenever we liked to take photos was awesome. We headed down into Vernazza to explore and have lunch. It was devastated by a flood in 2011 that washed away lot of the houses by the river, you could see he remnants of these little houses, one place had a sign Daniele's Vila, but there was only the gate left... Then just a cliff to the river which wasn't much more than a stream. Vernazza was very cute, it was like a little Rome. 

Greece has it's white buildings and blue shutters, where Italy has more range of pastel colours including oranges, browns, reds and creams. 

Vernazza was packed (and expensive) so we wandered around, had a delicious lunch and headed for the up the hill for a steep walk towards the van. The poor van couldn't really make it back down into another village so we headed back through another village and on to Genoa. Italy's landscape is so cool, it's all mountains and greenery and then bam, a village and the ocean and you're going across this enormous bridge just taking it all in. We've been through about 30 tunnels as well, it's been a beautiful drive. 

We made it into Genoa and our campsite which was pretty much a carpark above a noisey restaurant that cost €36 for one night... Awesomeeee! 

We went to the local supermarket and got dinner, I made chicken and mushroom pasta which was shared with a cute grey cat, one of the first I've seen in Italy. We tried to have an early night but it was hard with all the noise, and then in the morning some Swedish retard decided to teach his girlfriend to park next to us by yelling at her... A handful of people understand what it means to wake me up in the morning, 2 hours before I need too... Satan arose and to make it worse, it was overcast and rainy. Oh and some gross man had been farting loudly all night but to 'save' his wife he would just stick his arse outside the tent and let rip... Honestly! 

We drove through Genoa which was a bit dirty but nice and onto Monaco... We we're leaving the land of Pizza and Pasta to join the world of wine and cheese. We'd been in Italy for 10days and were ready for a change!

I wanted to take a photo of the France sign or of us handing over our passports but nothing happened, there was a sign saying France in 250m and then all the signs were in French... Mental. We then realised that I didn't have a French app and we were back to square one with the language barrier, we were getting so good. We'd learnt new words like Exit, highway, motorway and speed cameras, which meant nothing in France. Oh well... More experiences and hopefully internet to download another app! 

Monaco... What a place! What a spectacle of money and glamour, it was beautiful. We were excited to see Ferrari's, Lambo's, AMG SLR Mercedes, Bentley's, Maserati's and Aston's mixing in with normal cars. We drove along the race track wishing we were in a red 458, but another day... When we have our super yacht first. Alex and I have decided that we're going to move Monaco, we think it's definitely our sort of lifestyle. After doing a few laps it was onto Nice. Which is a stunning city, it's like the Italian buildings but with more pink :) it was so exciting to be in France. We accidentally said Grazie instead of Merci then said thank you as well, probably confusing the shit out of the already poor english speaking waitress. We wandered around for a few hours but being Sunday not a lot was open. We walked along the water, it's a much lighter blue than Greece and all stones. We definitely want to go back to Nice and spend a bit more time there but time was ticking and we had no internet and no idea where camp sites were. We headed towards Cannes hoping we might find somewhere cheap for the night, or some signs really. We were super lucky and came across a campsite for only €22 a night with a pool (and 3000 kids) and close to a village. We grabbed some wine, eggs and ham from the local market for an easy pasta free dinner. After two eggs were accidentally broken Alex went back to the shop to get some more and found me cheese, proper French Cheese! Heavennnn! We're only in France for two days and all I wanted for to eat at least once was French cheese and Macaroons... One wish has been fulfilled. I am making that cheese last too, lunch with be delicious tomorrow! 

We are the only people at the campsite that speak English, even the owner was speaking to me in half english half French which is just hilarious, honestly it makes me laugh... Pointing, using your fingers to count and gesturing to things. Alex said that when he asked for cheese, the girl had no idea so he just pretended to eat something, she went arhhhh and pulled our the cheese... How that translated to cheese I will never know! 

When we got to our campsite, a little girl and her family were walking back from shower to the site next to us, she turned to me fully naked with her hands on her hips and yelled at me in French. I'm sure it was something along the lines of 'you stole my play area, piss off loser!' Oh and when we were in the pool some kid hit me with his pool noodle, laughed and then when I got close to the side tried to do it again... I think we're definitely making friends here....

Rome... We are totally in love!

We woke up and headed off with no great plan in mind... We used the Vatican as a starting point. Walking into St Peter's Square gave me goosebumps, I'm not particularly religious but there is just something about that place, it makes you want to sit and stay to just let it all sink in. We were in awe of it's size and beauty, we just stood and stared at it for ages. We walked down the Main Street to Castle Saint Angelo and then across the river into West of Rome. We spent about 3 hours exploring the city, we saw Campo de Fiori, Piazza Navona and then wandered over to Trastevere for some delicious lunch and huge beers. We walked back along the river towards the Vatican, which is a pretty amazing beacon home, and ended up going into St. Peter's Basilica. The line was massive in the morning, by 5pm barely any one was there (Probably because the Sistine Chapel closes at 3pm) luckily I'd thrown a scarf in our back pack so I was able to get into church. That was another take your breathe away moment, it's so beautiful inside that church. Everything is perfectly placed and so amazing to look at, we spent about an hour looking around the church, including going down into the crypts. We wandered home to have a light dinner and an early night so we could get up early the next day. 

On day two of our Rome adventure, we bought a ticket on the 'hop on hop off bus' which takes you to all the main attractions in Rome. It wasn't as good as the London one, mainly because it was a recorded tour instead of an actual tour guide but we got a better view of how far we were from everything and the best direction to walk in. 

We jumped off at the Trevi Fountain stop, after driving past the Piazza Del Popolo and the main shopping district. I was totally devastated to see it was closed, I have been looking forward to seeing that fountain for as long as I can remember, it was such a disappointment to see it all covered in scaffolding, but we will be back, and at least it's being maintained so my children will be able to experience it's grandeur in many (many many) years to come. We hopped back on the bus and got to see the Spainsh Steps, the Barberini District, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggorie and other main sites, finally jumping off again at the Colosseum stop. Entering through the Arco di Constantino and gazing up at the Colosseum was pretty incredible. It made you feel pretty insignificant and small (especially in the crowds), I want to use the word breathe taking again, because I don't really have another word for it. We had pre bought out tickets on the bus (it's a must do, the line was so long and we walked straight in plus it only cost €2 extra). Alex was considered a child because he was under 25, so just a little mortifying when I had to ask for an adult and child ticket... We walked around the colosseum for ages, using an guide app that friend had told us about. If you've seen Gladiator, it's pretty easy to imagine just what went on during that era but getting an insight to it now was incredible. The history of that place blows my mind. 

We wanted to explore Palastine Hill and around the Roman Forun but we were just so over the crowds. So we jumped on the bus and got a great view from the outside, we got to see the Capitalone Museum, Aracoeli Stairs and the Il Vittoriani, which is an enormous building that stands at the end of Via Del Corso, a straight road full of shops. We made it back to the Vatican and wandered through it's back streets for somewhere to eat, we found a cute street with a pretty average lunch but delicious gelato place next door :) 

We had a little rest and then jumped on the bus back into the city, we got off at Piazza Venezia, and took in the site of Il Vittoriani more then headed down Via Del Corso to get lost (a normal occurance) and find some dinner. We stopped at a lovely place in a little lane and paid €35 for two courses and a carafe (oh those carafes... I shared this one) of wine. It was delicious, or was it just Rome that makes everything more delcious? Sitting people watching, with wine, pizza and the one I love, why wouldn't everything be better. We could have sat there for hours, but there is too much to see, so we walked towards the Pathenon (which was closed) and took it all it's beauty. We then walked home... Again... This time the Vatican was really our beacon, all lit up and beautiful. 

I think we walked about 30kms during our 3 days in Rome, it so easy to just to just keep going, there is so much to see and experience. 

I've decided that when I get back to London, I want to learn Italian, just like my Grandmother did all those years ago. There is something about the language that I love and I've had a lot of fun trying to understand it. 

Day three started off a bit slower, we called the Stephens families which is always hilarious, whether it's the kids going crazy or Lorraine trying to give advise which gets interrupted by Sophie, Alex and Jonno pulling ugly faces (don't worry Lorraine, I'm listening :). 

With not much of a plan for the day. we head along the river (and had the BEST granita of my lifetime) and walked up to Piazza del Popolo, then down Via Del Babuino to gaze at all the expensive shops and cars. We made it to the Spanish steps and then down into the shopping district. Where I spoilt myself to a bikini top, a t shirt and shorts, costing a whole of €25... Alex didn't find anything he liked so we stopped for lunch in another lane way and were treated to amazing pasta, this time with no beers. We walked back towards the Piazza Venezia, and hopped on the bus to home. 

Buses are an experience, no one pays, you just squash into people you don't know and hope you don't get pick pocketed (which we didn't thank god). We packed our bags and went to a local place to grab some dinner (Alex has steak he was over pizza and pasta). We headed home, gelato in hand for our final night in Rome! 

My favourite parts of Rome: 

1. The water fountains, with ice cold water coming out of lions mouths or something cool. 

2. There is always something to look at. 

3. St. Peter's Square 

4. Pizza

5. Gelato

Things I didn't like about Rome:

Nothing...