backpacking – sarah fynn

Germany travels: Munich

Welcome back, let’s get straight into it. Check out part 1 for my travels in Dusseldorf (http://wp.me/p1uQOd-vm)

So Munich did NOT play! It was so hot, 28 degrees (Why?) lol. It’s surprisingly different from Dusseldorf (But don’t I say this every time I travel to different cities in the same country lol), it seems the buildings were more historical. Anyway my friend picked me up from the station and we made our way home, gurl I was too tired to go out that day after traveling all day. Does it count we went through Cologne? I can say I was there too LOL. Next day we made our way to the center, Marienplatz after seeing more beautiful cars and us thinking which one we would like lol ( I swear I have never seen so many mini’s in the same road before until I went to Munich lol, now I know God wants me to get a mini lol, so if you want to bless me or add to my mini cooper fund I plan to get it for my 25^th birthday so we got time, I would greatly appreciate it J and I also saw a lot of Toyota Yaris’s hmmm). Let me say at this point my hair is wavy and I couldn’t be bothered to put on makeup (again something I do so often, as the days go by I reach for makeup less and less, especially if I am in a hot country lol). Anyway, walked about, got some ice cream and went shopping- I think they like their H&M stores? I have never seen so many of them in one shopping center lol. They even had separate H&Ms for women, men and children.

The next day, we went to the botanical gardens. If you love flowers and colour this place is the one for you! After walking around there for a while we headed back to the center for. We also planned to go to the Olympic park but damn after walking in that sun for a while lol I was soo tired I went back home (LOL)

I thought these were fake lol until it moved/

How beautiful are those? … I loved the colours and I would have liked to take more buut the bees were in full force lool

I went for a walk around my friend’s area (Max-Weber Platz) later in the evening when it was much cooler and found the street Albert Einstein was born on (and all this while I thought he was English lol).

On Wednesday, it was time to head back to the UK and start work lol. I really enjoyed my time in Germany, thanks to all my hosts and I hope you enjoyed my presentsJ. Next time around I will be going to the other cities I didn’t get time to go to (I’m so serious about that deal if you wanted to sponsor me lol), although I have always said I don’t see the point of going to the same country twice when there are others waiting hmm. My goal is to go to every single country. Every single one! I also want to do 15 countries before I’m 25. That’s in 3 years and 7 to go! Not bad huh? I’m already planning my next adventure! But for now it’s time to start work! And back to hair updates! lol

That’s all folks, I hope you enjoyed this post and if you did please subscribe for more. Hope everyone has a blessed week.

Love

Sarah

Germany travels: Düsseldorf

Hey guys! I hope everyone is doing great and enjoying this warm weather. its officially summer!!!! Yay. So this update is a much needed break from hair updates lol even though it will have some hair elements to it but I will keep it short. So my last travel update I think was a year ago in February, although I did travel to Amsterdam last summer but did not blog about it. This time I went to Germany to visit a few people I met in Spain and I went to two different cities: Düsseldorf and Munich so I will split them into two parts. I am so bummed I could not go to Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne and Hamburg: time and money! (hey if you want to sponsor me to travel to these places for my blog I would appreciate it lol)

Let’s get started. I have a lot of pictures! Hair element (lol) I decided to go with a hassle free hairstyle as I did not want to travel with a lot of styling products or hot tools (mainly because I could not find my travel adapters and did not want to buy new ones lol), so I went with my short wig already straightened like 3 to 4 times ( as if that meant it would be straighter for longer lol and I would later find out that it would be rainy and there would be no point to it lol. Only products I took was a little bottle of spray leave in conditioner for my hair underneath and some gel for my edges although I never seem to care if they are laid or not when I’m travelling lol). DONE

Rant: OK. So I flew with German wings and never again. First the flight was delayed by about 25 minutes then when we actually boarded we had to wait for another 30 to 40 minutes then when we actually got to Germany we then had to wait another 20 minutes before we got off the plane! My journey time was prolonged about an 1hour and a half! And guess what the compensation was? A free alcoholic beverage (LOL) but hey I got there safely the end. But never again.

Anyway so I got there and met up with my friend and later went for our 1^st night out. We went to an afrobeats bar/ club in the city center (Please don’t ask me the name lol I can give you directions if you want lool). So anyway the 1^st night was good although it drizzled a bit and my hair got ruined lol. We spoke and did a lot of catching up and I also met her another friend. Somehow all the guys in the place were from Cameroon or spoke French and I spoke the same words all night: I don’t speak French/Dutch. (Lol I just remembered this one guy who was German, an older man staring at us for what seemed like the whole night. This man was literally sitting right across us. After he was tired of staring (I guess), he (lol) offered me his drink (LOL) very confidently (LOL) which I declined lol. After dancing for like 10 minutes he goes away lool.).The next day we went round their city center, of course Germany been the hometown of VW, BMW and Audi almost everyone drove one of those cars and the very latest models. In the center they were test driving jaguars and because I had just passed my test I got to drive one too!!!! (Lol jokes!)

I love the buildings there. Every corner had a mall honestly lol. And designer shops everywhere. The city is really beautiful. Of course been in Germany I had to have sausages lol although they served it in round bread lol. I didn’t drink any beer though hahaa. I saw the tower and did a lot of walking around, I wasn’t there for long so I did as much as I could in 2days 2nightz. We had lunch in Maredo I would recommend their ribs (so nice but I didn’t even finish it lol). I was lucky to go on the weekend of the Japanese festival in Düsseldorf so the costumes and people were in full gear. Apparently Düsseldorf has a large Japanese population, to think about it I actually saw a lot of sushi places. Although at the festival itself I didn’t see a lot of Japanese maybe they were hiding in costume (hehe). Anyways there was the most amazing fireworks show I had ever seen! The place was packed out I mean, I think everyone in the city was there lol. We were standing on a bridge which I honestly thought could fall. Next time we should get a boat lol (or Diane move to the harbor lol).

DSCF2177 — Yes that was part of someone’s outfit. and they were speakers!

So I had a really lovely time in Düsseldorf with my friend and I just wish I could spend more time there but hopefully I will back to visit. There is supposed to be a boat show in January hopefully I can make it there. I left Sunday afternoon for Munich in the south. I booked tickets via the DB website. The whole journey was about 6 hours: 12. 30 to 6.30 pm. Stay tuned for part two of my Germany travels.

See you soon

P.S I used my very handy 40L mountain warehouse backpack. A review I did for it can be viewed here >> http://wp.me/p1uQOd-ng. Please consider investing in a backpack if you travel a lot, it will make your life easier!

At this point everyone was like awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Munich Travels up shortly

VALENCIA: A TROPICAL PARADISE

Valencia, the birthplace of the famous Paella (watch how I learned to make this later!) and the 2^nd city on tour. With palm trees and sunshine, I felt like I was in a tropical paradise. Again I was surprised on how different this city was compared to the others.

What blew me away about Valencia was… everything! There was something about this place that kept reminding me of a tropical island. Maybe it was the trees, or fountains or just the open spaces I saw either way, here are the things you should miss whilst there

The city of arts and science

Park Turia

Stay in the Ayre Hotel Astoria Palace. This hotel is the bomb.com! I was surprised and in doubt for the duration of our stay there and how much I paid for the room. To me, this is a 3 to 4 star hotel but booking through agoda.com ( which by the way I totally recommend) I paid 106 euros for a double room and a private bathroom for 3 days 2 nights. This hotel is really nice. Its location is perfect! It’s not your typical backpacker’s hostel/hotel! I stayed on the 8^th floor so you can imagine the view!

Take a walk to Park Turia which is all around the city. I first went to the place with the massive sculpture of Gulliver (from the movie Gulliver’s Travels) and my inner kid surfaced! (So yes I did go down the slides and climb it too)

Then I went into the park itself with the flowers and fountains and the trees. Then I found out that the final of the Spanish cup was been played in Valencia and the Real Madrid camp was right there! I even saw the coach which was on its way to pick the players and went past the hotel the players would be staying at! And all of this and it was the last day there!

Also visit the many plazas I saw but forgot to take pictures because it was soo hot.

And of course eat Paella and drink horchata both very typical of the city!

Don’t be scared by the number orange trees you see, it’s very common there. Also try the agua de Valencia (translation- water of Valencia) I didn’t get to try this so I don’t know if its water or another drink but do let me know when you go!

Let your inner scientist out at the city of arts and sciences and explore the very fun and interactive science museum. You need a maximum of 3 hours in there. And I say that because there are so many interesting and interactive games and activities for everyone! From building an arc hand mind battles to seeing ghosts! I think this place is for all ages! These are a few pictures from the museum.

Next visit the hemispheric and catch a show about the universe! With the intelligent design of the place (well it looks like a hemisphere) you feel like you were right there in the moment! Language options are available for the audio. And also student’s discounts are offered so remember your student id!

There was also a market which I went to but forgot to take a picture of the name.

other discoveries

More or less Valencia, go experience it for yourself! next stop GRANADA!

Thailand 2013- Part 1 Volunteering

Hey guys! I hope everyone is having an awesome summer so far… hopefully, wherever you are, there is sunshine, bbqs, family and friends. So taking a break from hair updates (although there is one shortly!), I wanted to share with you guys I have been up to so far this summer! This might be a long one (I will try to shorten it lol, but just in case grab some snacks and lets goo)

Ok. So, I love to travel. I love an adventure. And I love new challenges. For a while I have been thinking of doing some charity/volunteer work and I was so blessed to have been able to do that this summer! I spent a month in THAILAND! Yes the land of smiles, teaching English in the villages and travelling around Thailand! Since this is volunteer work, I had to fully fund this trip and thought it cost me a lot, it was worth every single penny I spent and all those extra shifts I took (LOL).

Travel advice

Please don’t be like me and let the excitement of your journey make you forget a few essentials, trust I had to learn the hard way

If you’re going to a hot and humid country, please remember to buy bug spray! I thought I could survive without it( cause I thought I was superwoman having grown up in Ghana lol) but after two days and with the amount of times I was bitten by God knows what, I’m surprised am still human without any powers!
Please, PLEASE double check what the charging sockets are like in your chosen country and buy a suitable adapter! In the end I had to hi jack someone’s charger for a week.
Please learn the basic phrases of the country! It’s just polite and a great conversation starter
Sunscreen/sun glasses if it’s a hot country
Make photocopies of your passport around and keep the real thing locked in your suitcase. Take a visa/ MasterCard or any card you can use worldwide AND inform your bank about it. if you’re short of cash and card stops working( oh yes it happened) don’t panic there’s western union
Make sure you take a device you can connect to the internet to through Wi-Fi (so now you’re thinking phone right? Yh what if it stops working? And yes again, guilty as charged!)

Volunteering- teaching English

For my first two weeks, I was in the south Thailand, in khao lak, from there I travelled to Takupa, a village to teach English in the local schools. I was at the ban yan Yao school. This school was actually affected by the tsunami that happened a few years ago. And from what I was told, the English room was built by a man who lost his wife and child in the tragedy. So with that being said, the English room was dedicated to the teaching and learning of English for the children. The kids in the school are awesome! Well behaved and eager to learn English! Their English was ok, but they needed more confidence in their pronouncination and more practice. I had so much fun with them. The teachers were nice to us and on the last day they brought us fruits and muffins.

At the end of my time there, I was given a certificate and was invited back any time I want to teach again.

I was with a company called original volunteers. You can check them out on their Facebook page ‘original volunteers’ or their website http://www.originalvolunteers.co.uk/