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Back to Blighty
(8/4/13) One of my favourite parts about arriving to a new country by plane is that first moment when you step outside, and pass from the recycled, air-conditioned, over-used air into air with entirely different smells and flavours. Every time I get back to the UK, it just smells like home to me: it […]
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Boots and tours
(16/05/2013) My second day back in the UK was spent looking for boots. Having size 43 feet is rather a challenge at times, and in fact all day, I found just three pairs of boots in my size. Two were hideous, and the other cost $600. But oh my god were they lovely. Until I […]
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A’dam
(16/10/13) Shockingly, I managed to catch the ferry from the UK to the Netherlands with no dramas. I probably should have thought to myself that ‘oh, I didn’t screw up departure, so arrival’ll be my problem’—but hindsight is a wonderful thing! The ferry is how I usually travel between the UK and the Netherlands actually. […]
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Child soup and other German adventures
(16/10/13) My B&B in Mannheim was super-luxurious after the hostel grossness in Amsterdam, and was even relatively conveniently located. Mannheim is an industrial city in the south-western corner of Germany, and definitely not on the tourist trail. It’s actually the only place I’ve been in the country, despite best intentions of making it to several festivals […]
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A place of many names
(18/10/13) A couple of trains and a bus or so after leaving Mannheim, I arrived in Selva val Gardena, aka Wolkenstein. It’s in an area of northern Italy which used to be part of Germany (?), but was reapportioned following WW2 (another ??). As such, residents speak Italian, German, and a weird local dialect which […]