Going round in circles: a walking tour of London town.

I've lived in London for my entire life and as such you would have thought that i have been responsible for helping thousands of tourists to successfully venture around the city. From accompanying friends and making tours to pointing people in the right direction and lending a hand with our geographically inaccurate tube maps. However, as it turns out i don't know any of the names of buildings, get lost and wildly underestimate walkable routes. More than anything i've been responsible for sending people in the wrong direction. So with a foreign friend on the way i took the time to do a little research and find a great route to see the best of London town.

My route: London Eye, South Bank Centre, The Globe, Borough Market, Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, St Paul's Cathedral, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street, Oxford Circus, Bond Street, Hyde Park, St James Park, Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament.

Starting Point: The London Eye
Obviously a visual masterpiece, the Eye is a great place to start a walking tour on a high. Prices for a 'ride' are astronomical but the view from the river is excellent regardless of whether you go up or not, and from here a great walk down the river commences.

Walking along the river and down the South Bank Centre is one of my favourite things to do. Always dressed in bright colours the arts centre has an incredible marketing team who have created a strong, fun and friendly theme for the area that has transformed it from the skater park it was 10 years previous.

Continue walking along and you will get to one of my favourite places: The Globe. Standing tickets to any production, and there are many options if you're not a fan of Shakespeare, are just £5 and gorgeous if the rain stays away. Otherwise, the outside looks a treat and has excellent views of St Paul's over the river, and the Tate Modern and Bankside gallery next door.

There are several other attractions on the way to the next place: The Clink Prison Museum, The Golden Hinde Ship and Southwark Cathedral. But Borough Market is the best place to stop! Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays there's a massive food stall market, big English burgers, pans of paella, giant wheels of cheese and cakes galore. Anyone coming to London should make it their business to have lunch here; grab your favourite and sit down on the grass of Southwark Cathedral to give your legs a break from the route so far.

Still along the river the next stop is Tower Bridge, and walking along it to the Tower of London takes you back hundreds of years to a time of royal power and heritage. At this point the best idea is to get a big red bus along the North side of the river; not only an important experience in London but a physical necessity given the amount of walking so far! Depending on your religious stance a stop at St Paul's is a good stop on the journey aswell, however not personally my cup of tea as gargoyles sometimes shriek when i get too close.

You can get off the bus just before Charing Cross and head up Bedford Street to Covent Garden. An expensive place to grab food, Covent Garden is a really nice place to explore; there are artists clattered around sweet shops to meander around. Long Acre road (the road of the station) takes you to Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square and then Piccadilly Circus, both obvious places for tourists and easy to walk through.

The best and most iconic shopping can be done from here on. Regent Street leads to Oxford Circus, which connects Bond Street and famous Selfridges. Although you can get a bus if you're not up for more walking i wouldn't recommend it; the roads get massively congested and your bound to find shops you want to stick your nose in making the oyster fare null and void. Aligned to the left of Regent Street is a cluster of Italian restaurants that are great for dinner, and to the right is Carnaby Street, which has several little eateries with bistro food and bakeries.

At the end of Bond Street is Hyde Park, and at the end of that is Green Park with Buckingham Palace standing regal. Follow Spur Road down to the river and you've reached Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and back to the beginning again- a view of the Eye. 

You've gone round in a circle, seen the best that London has to offer and you will probably need a bath full of radox to heal your aching legs! However, since the route is circular you can choose which places to begin and end at, making this route incredibly due able. Plus, whenever you get too tired to carry on you can stop and return the following day. Either way, London can be ticked off your list and i can promise you that you won't get lost. Unlike when you stop me on the street i've checked my facts, road names and cultural sites and i am pointing you in the right direction.

Travelling Tom

My dad's favourite travel writer is Graham Greene and i didn't quite grasp why when i had to read Journey Without Maps in an English class, as illustrated by the fact that it hasn't made it onto my bookshelf and instead has fit nicely amongst his old Penguins...

Instead, i've got my own favourite travel writer. I was given Short Walks From Bogotá by Tom Feiling as a Christmas gift (books are the go to present in my family) because i'm currently dating someone from Colombia. It's history is pretty heavy, especially when you have to get your head around Colombia's complicated political and cultural struggles for the first time, and so it was overwhelming at times. However, the history is indented with interviews and personal accounts and begins to feel like a collection of stories rather than academia. Even better is The Candy Machine, which basing itself around 'how cocaine took over the world' is a lot more applicable and relatable to us Westerners. 

I finally understood, not just the history, but how Colombia's war on drugs continues to this day as growers, distributors, consumers and politicians pass blame to one another. Learning about all the different agents was fascinating, along with the original uses and creation of coca in altitude medicine and certain fizzy drinks. I imagined Tom as Ross Kemp investigating the front lines of this war, speaking to individuals who needed to hide their identities. My ability to play out a book as a film in my head is always a great indication of its successful imagery!
I understand that Tom is an expert in Colombian history and works on campaigns advising aid, so i'm presuming a similar collection on other Latin American countries is unlikely. However, i'm still going to hope, and search for more of his books to make me an expert on Colombia when i eventually venture over there to.. dare i say it, meet the family.

The Name of the Wind

When you're as obsessed with your bookcase as i am, travelling book-light can be a massive challenge. Fortunately, small hotels and hostels tend to have little libraries, and if you can read a book in the time it takes to see a city, your completely set. Having said this, theres a limit to how many times i can read The Da Vinci Code and Fifty Shades of Grey, so it makes my day when beneath these modern 'classics' and their copies in every language, i find a little gem.

I would say that Tolkien's Middle-Earth is the ultimate fantasy world, his extensive and methodical creation of an imagined realm surpassed the detail attempted by other authors. I found an insane amount of these attempts in hotels, they all began with a map; mountains and regions, languages and make believe character types. When i first found The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss it had a map of 'The Four Corners of Civilization' and introduced it's lead as a wizard 'Kvothe' and i figured it would probably have as much substance as the other books that had failed, a thought substantiated by a single endorsement by Tad Williams on the back cover.

As it turns out, I LOVE THIS BOOK! Once i got through the first few chapters and Kvothe began to tell the story of his childhood, i became attached to his character. I felt a great sense of sympathy for him, and became interested in his life without magic along with being gripped by his mysterious and incredible feats. Being introduced to Kote as a mature Kvothe, the reader's desire is to witness the key magical events that gave him the reputation of 'dragon slayer, the renowned swordsman, the most feared, famed and notorious wizard' and yet i don't skip ahead to these parts and enjoy far more his day to day life with friends, at school and work. Kvothe is not only a fascinating wizard but a fascinating man. 

Usually the best books are the ones you can't put down, but i'm actively staying away from reading The Name of the Wind in order to delay my satisfaction and make it last a little longer. So, fortunately it's actually the first part of a trilogy and i've purchased the second now i'm home from travelling. I've even had to illustrate my post with a picture of the follow up because i immediately loaned out the first when i got home. It comes as no surprise to me that The King Killer Chronicle trilogy is actually a Sunday Times Bestselling series- it obviously wasn't when the original was published, popped on the shelf in my hotel in Thailand, and endorsed by a single fantasy writer. Now it has write-ups by Publishers Weekly and The Times, and it certainly deserves them. It was nice to find i loved a book before finding out the rest of the world does too!

Traveller or tourist?

I recently given this blog a little revamp and though i'd reveal the insight to its new name. Whilst travelling around SE Asia i found some pretty pretentious people who constantly debated the traveller over the tourist. Apparently the tourist is a superficial holiday-maker looking to move around a country in a whirlwind, see the biggest and most expensive historical sight, stay in the most packed out area, and probably hunt out an irish bar. A traveller, on the other hand, somehow manages to go to a country and avoid the most popular areas, sights and restaurants, whilst seeing the most authentic side of a country.
Well, quite honestly, its just rubbish.
No sane person would go to Bangkok and not visit a temple, see Angkor Wat in Cambodia or ride an elephant in Laos, but apparently doing so makes you a tourist. If you have a truly authentic experience and see a country with a local they will undoubtedly take you to the best, and therefore most popular places. Some of my best experiences were definitely touristy- i drank a bucket in Koh Phangan, climbed a waterfall in Luang Prabang, went snorkelling in Malaysia- i even bought fake Prada in Kuala Lumpur!
In my experience, the true traveller was the person who was avoiding incredible experiences in an attempt to appear unique and was so worried about looking superficial all they did was sit around discussing the do's and don'ts of SE Asia. The essence of travelling is supposed to be enjoying yourself, letting yourself go and having complete freedom!
So, if that's a traveller, i certainly want to be a tourist.

Vientiane Night Market

One of the best things about travelling is being pleasantly surprised by a city. When you read about a destination you can usually gage whether its going to be your cup of tea, and its hard to not go there with these expectations.

I will happily admit that I wasn't excited about going to Vientiane, Laos. It was more of a transit, connection destination, a stop-over since there was no direct flight from Luang Prabang to Bangkok.
We arrived in the rain, exhausted after a sleeper bus and as my boyfriend rented a bike and cycled to see some temples I settled into bed with my ipad and HBO thinking I could take this opportunity to relax after a month of non-stop travelling.

The city looked pretty gloomy, there were barely any people around and I felt like my suspicions and expectations had been affirmed, but when we ventured to the river to try and get some cheap dinner we found that the city had completely come alive...

What seemed like an abandoned city had become full as the night market at the river had drawn in the city's population. Tourists had been pulled in to buy souvenirs, clothes, food and jewellery, and I could finally see that we weren't the only travellers in Vientiane. Rather than just clothes aimed at tourists- the obligatory elephant trousers and beer vests the market was full of clothes the locals wore, light silk shirts and flowing dresses, cute camisoles and tailored shorts. I could have replenished my wardrobe from them but i settled for a dress and a bracelet. 

Staff beckoned us into restaurants, recommending their prideful Laos dishes, but nothing makes you feel more at home in a city than negotiating the price of your dinner on a market stall.
Locals had been pulled in by the huge group exercise routines on the river. Scores of people dressed in pink dancing in unison. Not something you'd see at home where women are usually too embarrassed to run in public and to put their body and rhythm on show without a drink!

The sense of community was grand and the sunset was the cherry on top. 
Vientiane may have looked boring by day but by god it's not by night.

Obtaining hotel standards at hostel prices: Cambodia and Vietnam.

Student travelling automatically conjures up images of dorm rooms, shared bathrooms and interrupted sleep in my mind. Although I praise anyone who can live in shared quarters I know I couldn't do it myself. Don't take me as a solitary character or someone who can afford premium luxury, I just like my privacy- and possibly a fridge, safety deposit box, ac, wifi, hairdryer and satellite tv- am I asking for too much at a hostel price? Lets find out.

Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Golden Mango Inn is a good 10 minute drive from the centre of Siem Reap's lively backpacker centre, and this alone is likely to deter most travellers despite the hotel's excellent ratings. However, it's customer service wholly compensates for this geographical issue. The staff provide a free tuktuk shuttle service into town and a binder full of transport and tour options to book your excursion to Angkor Wat as soon as you arrive.
The hotel has a free breakfast, swimming pool, ensuites, cable tv, hairdryer, wifi, fridge and the biggest smiles on staff I've ever seen.
Price per night and per person based on 2 sharing: £8
5 stars.

Phnom Phen, Cambodia.
My stay at number 9 guesthouse was plagued by problems, and i still struggle to determine how sympathetic I should be to giving the hotel the benefit of the doubt. I had the normal travellers' first week bad belly and the city had a massive blackout. Admittedly, not the hotels fault, these problems were definitely perpetuated by the bad service provided by staff. When we checked in (in the blackout) the concierge made no mention of the pretty obvious problem - they didn't offer candles or torches for the room or for the treacherous pitch black walk up 4 flights of stairs to our room, which in addition, since being so high up, had no water either (not something you want to here after a sleeper bus).
The amenities were excellent- small pool, cable tv, great location and comfy beds. I'd like to say that the problems were all situational, however I can't help thinking that I wouldn't have looked so enviably on the other hotels with generators if the staff had been more helpful.
Price per night, per person based on 2 sharing: £8.50
2 1/2 stars.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
Most enthusiastic travellers favourite companion is a Lonely Planet Guide and I am no exception. I booked The Cove Beach Bungalows- named the place to splurge on in the book - as a present to myself for enduring Phnom Pehn and the rooms didn't disappoint.
Basic but with an amazing view from a private balcony complete with hammock. Free breakfast, cable tv and luxuorius double bed.
The location was excellent since it was on the main, lively Serendipity beach but not a victim of the inevitable noise. Granted Otres beach was a more beautiful beach, and a good hours stroll to get to from the hotel. Nevertheless i think that the quietness and lack of sellers, locals and hustle and bustle on that beach made it less favourable and a little boring for more than a day. Serendipity was definitely more exciting.
Our stay might have been faultless had the owner not booked us on the worst transfer to Ho Ci Minh. When you think (based on the price and lack of warning) that you've booked a VIP direct bus and end up in a car stopping 20 times in different towns to pick up passengers, and only reach the sleeper bus after crossing the border you can't help but feel ripped off and exceptionally tired - leaving a sour taste in my mouth for the otherwise excellent Sihanoukville.
Price per night, per person based on 2 sharing: £9
4 stars.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Saigon's backpacker district 'Pham Ngu Laos' is full of family run guesthouses and I have a feeling that many share the same homely atmosphere as Ngoc Thao Guesthouse. Despite having excellent private amenities- luggage storage, cable tv, ac and good sized rooms and beds its the personal home stay touch that made this place so good.
The family's welcoming curiosity over your holiday, the tour desk, free maps and restaurant recommendations, watching cartoons with the kids, using their shower to refresh yourself hours after check-out for the sleeper bus. You wouldn't even get these things in five star resorts, hence the five stars I'm giving them.
Price per night, per person based on 2 sharing: £6.50
5 stars

Nha Trang, Vietnam.
Most hotel workers in Vietnam seem to have an outstanding work ethic but I've never seen anything quite like the receptionist at Golden Sea Hotel. She was there early morning, day time, late night, she never stopped working or smiling.
This was also one of the best rooms we'd had: power shower (a rarity so far), cable tv, hairdryer, balcony, safety deposit box, large comfy beds.
Most of the time you get service or amenities, but this place had both.
Nha Trang itself was disappointing- busy yet boring and built up yet with endless construction. Nevertheless, Golden Sea pulled it back for the team.
Price per night, per person based on 2 sharing: £7.50
4 stars.

Hoi An, Vietnam
Hoi An was a surprising favourite, it had a better beach than Nha Trang and had a more interesting culture, unspoilt by high rise hotels. We had an excellent roommate Vinh Hung 3: power shower, cable tv, hair dryer, big comfy bed, ac, pool, free breakfast, tour desk, and they were really helpful and flexible when we arrived 8 hours early from our sleeper bus. We rented a bike from them, booked further travel- they could have sold ice to the Eskimos they were so nice and trustworthy.
Price per night, per person based on 2 sharing: £9
5 stars.

Hanoi, Vietnam.
To this day I remain confused about this hotel, the staff were incredibly friendly but the hotels amenities were terrible and we found it very hard to communicate this to them. The tour desk had piles of brochures for trips that left us beyond confused, the breakfast lacked basics and we ended up miming milk and butter to complete our meals. The rooms had hairdryers, basic showers, wifi and cable tvs, but our bed was incredibly hard. At night upon investigation we found out why- wooden boards and styrofoam do not make for a good night sleep.
We addressed our concerns to the staff and they apologised, but had no other rooms or mattresses to swap, and a few days later we were emailed to be told that a new bed had been purchased. Helpful, if true, but not for our stay.
Despite the friendly staff, and room benefits, no English, no sleep and no breakfast staples do not a good stay make.
Price per night, per person based on 2 sharing: £7
3 stars.

Most places with hotel amenities at hostel prices inevitably come with a massive catch- hidden charges, scams, bad service. However, I've been surprised to find that most of the hotels have had an excellent balance of services. We haven't been living in premier hotels and certainly haven't been paying for it, but I'd say I've had the luxury of blow dryed hair, privacy, security and uninterrupted sleep whilst living a backpacker adventure! Originally hesitant about the travellers lifestyle, I'm now pretty confident I could travel forever. 

September is the new Summer.

Playa Fuengirola, Malaga, Spain

Majas Pueblo

Tarifa, Malaga,View of Morocco

Ronda, Malaga

Pescaito Gadito, Fuengirola

Chicharon, my friend's mum's delicious food!

Photos © Julian Andres Yepes Molina

The vibrant culture of any popular holiday destination doesn't begin and end with the holiday season in summer. September is definitely the new August, lower prices, lack of commotion and equally sweltering heat, with the culture perfectly sustained.

I went to visit a friend in Spain this September because having to do an internship on top of a job and sky high University fees doesn't facilitate taking time off in the 'best' holiday months, i needed to be AT that bar, taking advantage of other tourists! However, i have to say taking this delayed holiday came with several great advantages!

The area of Fuengirola in Malaga has a long stretch of beach that at that time, laid waste to the remnants of a holiday i'm glad i missed. Ghosts of drunken teenagers and lad's parties, holiday reps and hen nights left their memories on the street and made way for me. The great clubs and bars, with their cheap prices were left, Playa Fuengirola was still accommodating tourists but i was left in the company of friends that knew the best places to eat, avoided the displays of social inadequacy and lavished in the 30 degree heat.

Now i'm not saying everyone flock in September, because that would defeat the purpose, but consider the options of timing your holiday with a 50% discount on flights.

Also, i have to say that staying with a friend had benefits i didn't even consider. I've never stayed with friends abroad before, despite offers, because i deemed the gesture of an offer generous enough, i never wanted to be a burden and offering proves love, friendship and a heart which means i should't be occupying their house with my suitcases of clothes or animal snoring. However, i certainly learnt that the benefit to taking someone up on the offer isn't even about saving money on hotels, insurance and food.

Staying with my friend got me piles of hospitality incomparable to money, a smiling face at the airport of an unknown city, a personalised tour of the best places to go, and not to mention some of his mothers amazing cooking!

I found it very difficult to swallow my pride and accept the offer, thinking that all i'd get out of it was a financial saving. But it turns out i spent that saving on presents for great hosts and an experience you could never equate to or buy with money.

So, if you do head to Malaga go to Pescaito Gadito (pictured above) a seafood restaurant that looks like a fishmonger and acts like one to. Waiters wander around with plates of fresh seafood, shouting their names: 'Langostinos!'Croquetas!' Just shout back if you want one! Or head to the Maijas, where the carnivals see the sky painted with streamers and the white houses visible from the beach, Tarifa where you can practically touch Morocco, or Ronda where you can practically touch the sun, because none of that would i have seen if it wasn't for the wonders of my friends and the wonders of September.