A day out at Ueno Zoo, Tokyo

    With a city as big and sprawling as Tokyo it’s surprisingly hard to decide what sightseeing to do first! After a few days exploring quirky Akihabara, bustling Shibuya and historic Asusksa it was time for something different. My hostel was not far from Ueno; an area with a large park filled to the…

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First Impressions of Japan

  I waited in line at immigration at Haneda airport, my shoulders aching with the weight of my backpack and feeling sweat dripping down my back due the the 5 layers of clothes I was wearing. When it was my turn I shuffled to the desk, sorted out the formalities and was handed a residents…

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First impressions of Thailand

‘Miss Stephanie, Miss Stephanie. Border time. Get off!’. I woke up from my deep sleep, still tired from the 5am wake up call. Dazed I made my way to the back of the mini bus and heaved my heavy backpack on to my shoulders. The border was swarming with people selling strong smelling food and…

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How I decided to take a sabbatical and travel long term

  I devour the words of other travel blogs. I love seeing what made people just like me take a permanent or temporary break from the treadmill of’ real life’ in exchange for a life of adventure and the unknown. There’s one similarity between all of these bloggers. They have always wanted to travel. My…

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Ten Months of Travel: Summary and Review Part two

Throughout my travels people had hyped up the South island so much I was actually scared that I would be disappointed. I’m glad to say that the South island actually took my breath away at every spot that I visited. The landscape is so diverse and untouched that it sometimes seemed too beautiful to be…

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July travel plans: I’m heading to Tuscany, Italy!

If you follow me on Facebook you will already know this exciting news.   I originally intended to travel to somewhere in Eastern Europe after being captivated by Poland’s culture, history and friendly people.  When searching on the Ryanair website I suddenly had an urge to go to Italy. Visions of an Eat, Pray Love kind of…

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The first 24 Hours after returning Home

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while but for some reason I’ve been putting it off. Maybe because after the initial 24 hours my thoughts and feelings changed so often that really I did not know what I was thinking. Travel really does change you and coming home is a shock to…

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First Impressions of Malaysia

Before my big trip I always had such a romantic view of Malaysia, the name itself conjured up images of an exotic country, the pearl of Asia and one where I would feel like I was a million miles away from the Western world. I couldn’t have been more wrong if I tried….   As…

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Ten Months of Travel: Summary and Review, Part One

My tenth and final month of travel was spent in beautiful New Zealand. After feeling thoroughly underwhelmed by Australia, a country I had initially dreamed of emigrating to I had no idea what to expect of Australia’s quiet neighbor. I had nothing to worry about, I soon fell in love with the natural beauty and…

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