In April I enjoyed a few days in Rome and Florence with my friends from Uist. Shawshank’s brother is a priest in Rome so he knew where to go and where to eat. It’s one of my favourite holidays I’ve been on, although I was still working. My business had its busiest week ever whilst I was in Rome!
Germany
Waking up at 5.30AM was kind of worth it.…
Visiting London For Fun
After speaking in Nottingham at New Adventures, I went to London for the weekend. I had a meeting on Monday, but decided to, y’know, do London just for fun for a few days.
I invited Brittany with me. We ate lots of food (can’t stop thinking about the mac and cheese at Camden Market), had lots of drink (half pints of Camden Hells), walked all over the city and visited Bram Stoker’s house. Win!
Croatia, My Fave
This year has been insane for travel. Lanzarote, Amsterdam, California, Belgrade plus UK trips to Belfast, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Bristol. But let’s not exclude my favourite trip of the year—Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Like most of the travel I ended up doing this year, it wasn’t planned. I was invited to speak at MicroConf fairly last minute. We were put up in a 5 star hotel, Hotel Dubrovnik Palace, and I was upgraded to a suite!
There wasn’t much time for exploring, but on my first day I headed to the Old Town. If you’re a Game of Thrones fan you’ll be familiar with Dubrovnik because it’s where some of the series is filmed. The weather was fantastic, the food and drink was delightful. Dubrovnik was the highlight of my year.
What I Packed for California
I was determined not to check-in luggage for my trip to California. I took just one, carry-on bag that I got from Trakke and I was able to fit all of my belongings in it (not pictured: make-up bag). For this trip I wasn’t fussed about my hair being on point, I was more interested in making space for my camera and hiking shoes. I wore most of my ‘heavy’ clothes on the plane there and back.
Gosh, I could definitely get used to travelling without checked luggage.
California
This was the trip of a lifetime and it took me by surprise. I was not planning on visiting California this year.
In July I got a Twitter DM from Dann Petty asking if I wanted to speak at Epicurrence. A month later I was on a plane to San Francisco where I spent 24 hours before driving to Yosemite National Park. We hiked, mountain biked and share stories around a camp fire.
I didn’t get to see much of SF, but I made a point of visiting Mrs Doubtfire’s house! Yosemite was everything I wanted it to be and more. A month later and I can’t stop thinking about this trip.
A Quick Trip To Manchester
I have a confession. The first couple of times I visited Manchester I didn’t enjoy it. Whenever I visited there was a monsoon of rain. My Converse would get wet and I was cold. Miserable! Now it’s one of my favourite cities, and this visit to Manchester is one of my best summer memories so far.
A group of us got a loft-style apartment in the city. The sun was shining. The World Cup was on. We ate good food and drank Sangria. Perfection! I like you a lot, Manchester.
48 Hours In Amsterdam
Last year I visited Geneva for a few days with just my camera. I enjoyed my trip and vowed to make solo photography adventures a regular occurrence. Fast forward to May, 2018 and I took a short flight to Amsterdam for a few days. Here’s what I got up to in my 48 hours there:
- Walked 33KM around the city
- Saw a lot of dogs on scooters and bikes
- Had lunch with Chris, who has been working in Amsterdam
- Spent €20 on a gin and tonic
- Ate a life-changing sandwich at Small World Catering
- Got sun burn
- Took a canal boat ride
Amsterdam won me over instantly. I can’t explain why exactly, but I haven’t loved a city as quickly as I did with Amsterdam. It was very easy to get to (1 hour and 15 minutes in the air, then a 15 minute train ride into the centre). The weather was perfect. Every person I encountered was friendly (aside from a bad experience on my way home). The food and drink was tasty. It was easy to get around.
I can’t stop thinking about Amsterdam and I’m already considering a second trip. There are so many food places and museums I still have to visit. Have you been to Amsterdam? What did you think of it?
Adventure Time
We visited Saturday’s wedding venue on Friday as the sun was setting. We wanted to scope the surrounding location. The sun was doing lovely things for us, so I couldn’t help but ask Rab—my friend and second shooter—to snap this photo.
