13 Moments of 2013

This is the last of my 13 of 2013 series but more so, it is the last of my post for the year. A year ago, I didn't even have a blog to post on but here I am writing to you, not knowing who you are are where you are in this world but here I am once again sharing very private things with you and this post will be no different. It's the 13 moments from this year which I will remember.

1. My admission as an attorney. 

2. Returning to Ireland, and the moment I had my first drink.

3. The moment I found out Nelson Mandela had died.Coupled with the day after when my colleagues and I went to the house. The scenes there were incredible. 

4. Being lost in Brussels for 5 hours all on my lonesome.

5. Pepe Reina waving at me (and Charne)

6.Sitting at the Moses Mabida stadium for the Liverpool Legends game thinking, if this is how incredible the atmosphere is here, thousands of kilometers away from Anfield, I can only imagine what it feels like to be at Anfield during a game.

7. Justin Bieber's concert - the whole day was crazy and a once off experience. 

8. Arriving in Hamburg and thinking "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING COMING TO COUNTRY WHERE YOU DO NOT SPEAK THE LANGUAGE ALL ALONE?" Thank goodness for nice people on trains who speak English!

9. Leaving Juls and Oli at the train station in Mainz. I remember feeling so grateful and excited but scared for what I had experienced in Germany and what would still come.

10. Resigning from my job and the reception from my colleagues after that was humbling.

11. Leaving Ireland, I was so grateful that I had no one next to me on the flight because I cried a lot more than I would have ever expected.

12. Uptothemoon, after her last win, when she was upset with me and she was so angry. 

13. Family moment montage, from my mom's 50th to family picnics to music shows... great food, joking around to walking on the beach.

While I cannot lie to you and tell you this year was perfect or even great I can tell you that this year I achieved incredible things. I had so many moments wherein bringing it down to 13 was extremely difficult. However, I also closed a lot of unopened chapters this year which can only excite me about what 2014 holds.This year was difficult and challenging but I can say I have made it through and I am thrilled that I get another chance at trying again in 2014....  What will you do to make a difference in 2014? 

What was your moment of 2013?

Have a great New Years Eve... and I'll see you next year!

Travelling Music

I mentioned in my first travel post that I was going to include songs from parts of my trip but along the way I either forgot (sorry!) or couldn't think of one at the time.

So here are a list of songs which will remind me of moments in my trip

I heard this song in every single country and city I visited!

 

This is from O'Neill's on my last night in Dublin

 

While this is a sad song, hearing it in an Irish pub where the entire crowd is singing along gave it a whole new level of meaning. If I can figure out how to upload the video I will!

 

 

 

I didn't know this song before my night in Dublin and to be honest, the fact that I couldn;t sing along really bugged me! When I came back it was the first song I downloaded

 

 

I'm always amazed at the way in which music makes me feel and how it can evoke extraordinary feelings in a way that is unexplainable or how just hearing a song can link you to another person for life.

 

 

 

 

Do you agree with this quote???

 

 



Travel Post : Ireland ~ the final edition of EuroTrip 2013

I have been intentionally dragging on doing this post because this post, the last installment of this trip means it is officially over!

If you have been reading my posts you will know that I LOVE Ireland! On my previous trip, my friend, Alicia and I only went to Dublin and we did all the touristy things there and I left Dublin with a heavy heart. For the past 2 and a half years I have been holding a candle to it so it was obviously risky going back, I mean the way I looked at there would one of two scenarios:

1. I would be completely dissaappointed by it. I would think I was caught in the romance of my first trip and that the people and the place actually wasn't that great.

2. I would love it as much as I thought I did the first time round and would hate leaving it.

Well there is a third option which I hadn't anticipated, it would exceed my expectations by far and I would fall more in love with the place and the people. This is what actually happened.

When I got off the plane from Belgium, I was almost overwhelmed to be surrounded by such nice people, people who spoke English!!

On this trip I decided to go to Galway for a night so I could see the Cliffs of Moher however when I arrived the last tour bus for the day had left so I had the afternoon to relax in Galway.. this is when I met Aimee and Keeley, they were staying in the same Hostel as me. By the way this hostel was awesome :)

 

I sort of forced my way into lunch with my two new American friends and once we sat down we actually got along really well! Keeley had been to Galway before and loved it and she love's traditional Irish music which as you know.. I do :)

We decided we were going out that night and to say it wa EPIC would be an understatement.

The next day we were off to the Cliffs of Moher which were breath-taking to say the least. The entire tour was unbelievable...

Saturday night we went back to Dublin for another night out. While not as epic as Galway it was loads of fun!

Sunday I got to catch up with two friends I had made on my previous trip (Thank you Facebook!). If I am honest, I was scared that it was going to be strained or awkward but it was so easy and time just went way too quickly. They gave me an unorthodox one of a kind tour showing me things you would only know after living in a city and I loved it!

That evening I didn't have anyone to go with me to listen to some traditional Irish music so I decided, " Who Cares?! I'll go alone!" It was truly one of the most scary and liberating things to do. I went to O'Neill's in Suffolk Street.

The next day I spent the day just taking in Dublin City because I had previously been to Dublin I didn't have any tourist things to do I just got to enjoy the culture.

I saw this sign while walking around Dublin City

 

In the evening I managed to get all but one of the ladies from my room (Room 17) to go back to O'Neill's that evening and it was so much fun.

Ireland was once again incredibly kind to me and I am definitely going back - sooner rather than later! I think it's wonderful to feel at home in a place which is clearly not your home. The Irish are so warm and made me feel very welcome, once again.

Have you been to anywhere in Ireland?

Travel Post : Spending the Day in Strausbourg, France

When I was in Europe a few weeks ago ( I cannot believe how long it's been already) while I was with my friends Julia and Oliver, they decided they were going to take me to France for a day trip! How freaking awesome is that... we could just take a day trip to get there!

I was so excited that I got to take a drive into another country and the country just happens to be a country with so much history.

I was super super super excited when I saw this road sign:

 You know you would have been excited!! Paris was only 5 hours away!

 

It was so beautiful to be there but I will say compared to the other places I was visiting in Germany, Strausbourg was very touristy.

 

 

When we arrived we saw the Cathedral but decided to go eat first and we ended up at this restaurant - and it was not good. Well from the four meals we ordered, only Oliver was happy but I'm not sure if it was because the food was that good or because he was that hungry!

 

Afterwards we walked around and went into the Cathedral - it was incredible! I can't explain what it was like walking around there.. but as much as I liked the inside, I am absolutely in love with the details of the exterior of the Catherdral!

 

Here are some pics from when we walked around the town... all I can say is *prettiness* everywhere!

 

 

I hadn't even heard Strausbourg before this trip and now I am so grateful for the experience.

 

Have you heard about it? Have you been? Better question.... would you go after this post?

 

Have a great weekend everyone! I will still do my Blogtember post later today!

 

xxx

My Eurotrip 2013 : In Transit

So I worked out that in 15 days I was in 6 different countries, 3 different continents, 12 towns.. Ok so Dubai was in transit and I live in South Africa but its still a lot of places to see!

The reason I wanted to do an in transit  post was that I found that in transit, especially when travelling alone, is the time you will really get to know where your head is at.

When I was on my way to Hamburg I had a 8h 45 min layover in the Dubai airport and while I could have opted for a one day visa my layover was from 00h00 till 08h45 and didn't really feel like I wanted to just pop into Dubai and then pop right out again. However, while sitting at Cosy at the airport, I had this pizza:

Which was  O-K ... I mean I won't be rushing back for it anytime soon but it wasn't terrible. But while sitting there I made a new friend... and I was so excited because it was exactly the type of things I looked forward to on my travels making new friends.

So meet, Ouma - she's a morrocan lady who was volunteering in Indonesia for a few months and then she got to holiday for a while in Bali! How amazing is that?!

But the thing is, with our very long discussion, she was on a flight a hour before mine, we spoke about our different cultures, shared stories about our countries as well as travel experiences.

The funniest thing, was that throughout that whole time, we ended up talking about relationships and love and marriage a lot. I thought it was hilarious that two girls who got chatting would eventually end up discussing boys!

Either way, I am glad I met her at the airport, she made me feel more comfortable with the idea of me travelling alone and made me feel like although it is almost unheard of in South Africa, the world has a totally different view on travelling!

On my way back from Dubai, I was so excited to speak to other South Africans, it was crazy how talkative we are and I would say we are probably some of the friendliest people in the world - although the Irish might just beat us to the top.

I decided I will add a song for each post .. to set the tone I guess..

On my way to Germany my thoughts were very much like Miley's "We can't stop"

But coming back, although I do not have an official summer love to mention, it's the song that I thought of along with Daylight by Maroon 5.

I think it is the fact that each of these songs have an element (or more than an element) of love and having to leave it. I think that's how I felt.. how I feel, that I loved being away so much that leaving there was so difficult and returning home was trying to say the least...

Have you ever made new friends at the airport? Or do you have any songs that put you in the mood for adventure when travelling?  

Where did the last Two weeks go?

While I'm not sure about you, I can tell you exactly what I did with the last 2 weeks of my life!

Yes, I'm back from my eurotrip and to be honest it sucks to be back! I mean I love my family and my life here but I absolutely adored every moment of proving to myself I was capable of more than I ever thought I was. 

Before I continue, thank you SO MUCH to my guest bloggers, here are there posts.... and especially to one of my favourite bloggers, Meghan Silva bucket list post,  was exactly the type of post I would do so I knew you would appreciate it! And while I'm sending out thanks let me say, I really missed blogging and reading all my blogs so I will be a busy lady in the coming weeks.

Back to my trip, I think I'll have to do posts for my different towns that I visited but ill mix it up with other posts so you don't get too tired of only travel posts! 

If you haven't noticed yet or you don't link to my blog of the web then you wouldn't have seen I have uploaded a gadget which allows you to see my Instagram pics which I've uploaded and let me tell you that is the absolute bare minimum of what I wanted to Instagram!

While I have so much to say about all the places I've seen I wanted to state now, at the beginning of my travel post recaps - this was hard. Traveling alone is difficult especially because it was the first time I travelled using hostels and you know what?! I learned a lot about myself!
 

I'm so excited to share my trip with all of you as I am certain it is indicative of big things to come but here's some of my favourite moments of my trip and pictures (if I have them) 

*seeing my friends from my masters class, Julia and Oliver in Germany, they were the ones who invited me to visit Germany and seeing them after almost four years was awesome! They were truly the best hosts!

* Seeing some friends I made in my previous Ireland Trip, in 2010, and just getting a chance to hang out

*I really loved Heidelberg, Germany, and even though I may have complained to Oli about the walking the place was just so picturesque

* Notre Dame in Strasbourg, France, was incredible. The picture says enough for now.

 

* the first time I walked into the Grand Palace Market in Brussels, Belgium  - I was literally left speechless! 

* making new friends along the way from the lovely people that Juls and Oli introduced me too to the people I met in airports and hostels! 

* The Cliffs of Moher : Ireland

And lastly, this may be my favourite of the entire trip.. Walking into Taffs, a pub in Galway and a live traditional band were singing "Galway Girl" = bliss 

So that's the highlights, for now.. There will be much more to come :) 

Have you heard of any of the places I've mentioned? have you been there? Tell me about it, I missed hearing from all of you!