TRAVEL DIARY: 3 DAYS IN PARIS

Hey y'all. I don't really remember where I left off in Paris on the end of my London post and I'm kind of on a roll and don't really feel like sifting through posts again! Lazy, I know. So imma just start from when we got off the ferry from Dover & arrived in Calais.

DAY 1:

Once we arrived in Calais, we all assembled and then our Topdeck bus came around the corner and the first thing I noticed that the guy driving it was extremely attractive. We then met Victor; our extremely attractive, romanian bus driver. All I was thinking at the time was 'this is gonna be a great 21 days'.

It was about a 3-4 hour bus drive from Calais to Paris. We arrived at our hotel and were paired up with our roomies for the next 2 nights. Steph and I were roomed with two other girls, Jess and Mai, who were a bit older than us. Little did we know that those two girls would become our closest friends on the trip. Once we settled in a bit, we went downstairs and headed out to dinner. We walked to the restaurant as it was only across the road. The first dinner we had as a group, we sat with a Kiwi couple, Bec & Jason, and we got to know each other. Again, little did we know that they would also become 2 of our closest pals.

The dinner was beautiful. They even brought out escargot for us to try. I 110% did not try the snails. No way will anyone ever get me to eat those. After that, we jumped on our bus and began our City Lights Tour. It sounds fancy, but it really wasn't. We just got driven around Paris at night. So kinda sweet, yeah, but it was raining pretty hard too.

DAY 2:

The next day was a free day for us. We got to spend the day roaming around Paris. Steph and I caught the metro in and went straight to The Louvre. Now, my little piece of advice to anyone who is ever considering going to The Lourve: 1) GO EARLY! I cannot stress that enough. We went at about 11am and it was already hectic. 2) Please DO NOT underestimate the sheer size of the place. Like, it is bloody ginormous. We got lost for 2 hours trying to find the Mona Lisa, which is supposed to be the easier thing to find! 

After spending what felt like all day at the museum, we started adventuring. From The Lourve, we walked all the up the Champs-Elysees, got photos at the Arc de Triomphe, walked all the way back down, then I thought it would be a mighty fine idea to trek all the way from there up to the Notre Dame in 30 degree heat. Yeah, silly move. Anyone who's been to Paris knows how far of a bloody hike that is! We were so tired by the time we got there, all we did was take a couple photos, then got a tuk tuk man to drive us back down the the Eiffel Tower.

Once we got to the Eiffel Tower, I was speechless. It is exactly like how you see it in the movies and tumblr pictures. It's amazing. Maybe thats just me, because it's always been my dream to go to Paris, but I was in awe. I decided to sit down under a tree and read my book while Steph went and took some photos. I was so happy in just that moment. Sitting in a place I had always dreamed about, doing the one thing I just love to do. It was blissful.

After we chilled, we met up with the rest of our new family for a picnic dinner under the Eiffel Tower. Food wasn't overly great, but the view was stunning. Later on, we split up into a couple groups as some went to the cabaret,, some went back to the hotel and Steph, Jess, Mai, Nick & I all went on a night cruise down The River Seine. It was absolutely stunning, but the boat was packed with noisy tourists all trying to get the perfect shot.

 DAY 3:

So today wasn't really much of a day as we waved goodbye to Paris early that morning and spent the rest of the day on the bus to the Swiss Alps.

That's it for Paris homies. I'm trying to keep it as short and sweet as possible because I know I will get carried away with my typing and what not.

I am also trying to figure out the best way to upload all my photos to here! If anyone has any suggestions, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

NEXT POST: Swiss Alps

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TRAVEL DIARY: 4 DAYS IN ENGLAND

Hey y'all,
So I say 4 days in England, but it was really 4 days in London and an uneventful day trip to Brighton! Never the less, I was extremely excited to be in the UK. We arrived at about 10pm at London Heathrow and caught a cab from there to Wombats Hostel in Whitechapel where we would be spending the next 3 nights. Little did we know it was going to cost us, altogether, 100 pound! I had only taken out 200 pound in Australia. At the time, we just didn't even care. It was late and we were tired and we just wanted to chill.

DAY 1:

We woke up the next morning to about 10 minutes of sun before it started bucketing down with rain. This was expected though. However, we didn't think it was going to be that heavy! It ended up absolutely pouring! We shrugged it off and kept going. We met up with Steph's (who I travelled with) family friend and she took us around for the day. We didn't see too many sights in London because the weather was so drab.

We went and watched the changing of the guards, and in the space of about 5 minutes, my phone got bloody pick pocketed! Can you believe it? Just my luck that on our first day in London my phone gets stolen! Of course I freaked out for about 20 minutes and called my mum back in Australia and got her to do the whole 'Find My iPhone' thing, but that didn't work. As you can imagine, I was freaking out, so of course this brought on a panic attack. I breathed my way threw it, told myself it's only a phone and it can be replaced and moved on with my day. I did however, end up buying a cheap little prepaid phone just so I can use the internet and contact home, but that stopped working after about a day. So me being me, the typical, impatient person I am, chucked it out. 

We spent a lot of the first day shopping on Regent St, I think it's called. I swear, to work in any of the big name stores there, it has to be a prerequisite that you look like a model. Am I right? Or are british people just uber attractive?

DAY 2:

This morning we woke up and it was so warm and sunny and so we thought today would be the perfect day to take the train to Brighton and explore all it has to offer. What an absolute joke that was! We were on the train about half way to Brighton when it absolutely started to pelt down with rain. We thought it would ease up but boy were we wrong. We hopped off at Brighton Station and spent the next hour in a cafe in the station waiting for the next train back to London. The weather was absolutely horrific! Not only was it raining heavy, it was blowing a gale too! Steph and I decided it just wasn't worth it. I was pretty disappointed seeing as I was so excited for Brighton but I know I would've been super cranky if I was walking around soaking wet!

DAY 3: 

The weather today was rainy, but it wasn't too heavy and it was on and off. Steph and I decided to do one of those Hop On- Hop Off buses and see all the sights London had to offer. It was simply amazing learning about the history and the architecture. We jumped off at Regent St. for lunch at Nandos and to do some more shopping! It was in the time that I found what is my new favourite store in the whole entire world…Waterstones. Yes, yes, I am aware it is just a giant bookstore with stationary and what not BUT HOLY CRAP! I was needing hardcore! I literally wanted to buy one of everything. It was all so beautiful. It was like it was whispering to me "Buy me….Buy me!". It got to the point where I was needing too hard and it got super overwhelming that I was so in love with this store and I nearly started to cry (loser, I know) and I had to quickly buy my things and run out. If I hadn't, I would never have left!

DAY 4:

Our day started at 4.30am as we had to be downstairs, in the lobby of our hostel at 6am to meet everyone on our Topdeck Tour! It's safe to say that we were both extremely nervous at meeting everyone and scoping them all out. Of course the first thing we try and see is if there are any hotties. No Zac Efron's unfortunately, but we can't all be perfect. We were then chucked on a bus with everyone where we drove from London to Dover to take the ferry over to Calais. This was where we said goodbye to London and England itself. We thoroughly enjoyed our short time there and it absolutely certain that we will be going back! 

NEXT POST: Paris