Once again, following my sisters advice, I decided to spend my last two days on the Greek island of Santorini. Having seen so many beautiful images of this place, it was definately one of the places I was most looking forward to seeing. It was an early rise from Athens to get down to the port of Piraeus to board the high-speed ferry that would take me to Santorini. Much like Athens, Santorini was hot. I’m talking 38 degrees, in the shade. One things for sure, I was going to work off the last months over indulging in pure sweat.

I stayed at a delightful little family operated apartment style hotel, Reverie Traditional Apartments. Whilst it wasn’t directly on the caldera, it was only a 10 second walk away, and was not hugely overpriced especially considering it is high season. More importantly it had a pool, which was just what you needed to cool down in the middle of the scorching hot day!

First thing I set about doing was hiring a car. I thought skydiving was going to be the most dangerous thing I’d do on this trip - think again. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking, but in hindsight, I was far better off in a car, than on a scooter or quadbike. The roads in Santorini are narrow, and road rules don’t really seem to apply. Add to that being on the wrong side of a vehicle, and on the road side of the road, and it’s a recipie for disaster. But Santorini is such a spread out island, and I really couldn’t be bothered waiting on public transport, so I just had to dive in.

It was here that I rediscovered my love of travelling alone. Sure, sometimes you miss having someone around, and you don’t go out as much, but I actually really enjoy my own company. I like not having plans or an agenda. I like not having to worry if someone else is having a good time. I can spend as long as I like fart-arsing around taking photos, and not be boring someone senseless. If I want to sit for a while and just take the world in, I can. And if I want to stop every 500 metres for a Street’s Calypo iceblock, then dammit I can do that too.

The first thing that I wanted to do, was to check out the famous Santorini sunset from the northen most point of the island, at Oia. I took the scenic (ie long) way round, found a park, and wandered through the alleyways before finally arriving at the tip of the island, and saw that big red ball slowly decending behind an island in the distance. The island really seems to come alive at night, with many people flocking to the caldera restuarants to enjoy dinner overlooking the ocean.

The rest of my time was spent exploring the island, and the villiages of Fira, Firostefani, and Imerovigli. Everywhere you turned it was like something straight out of a postcard. The beautiful white buildings dotted with colour, carved into the side of the cliff were all picture perfect. It would be hard for anyone not to take an amazing photo in Santorini. I really couldn’t think of a more perfect place to spend my final days before making the long and arduous journey home. 

Even if, like me, you despise cats, there’s still something you can’t help but find cute about this image…

Possibly my favourite slideshow of all…

I effectively had four days between when my tour finished and when I needed to head home. I’d tossed around a few ideas in my head as to how to spend that time, but I really needed to consult the travel guru, my sister Lisa, as to where I should go. Lisa has worked for Qantas for the last ten years, and I don’t think there’s a place on this earth she hasn’t been. Without a moments hesitation she said “Greece”. So that’s what I did.

Our tour pushed on from Berlin to Amsterdam, and instead of heading back to London on the final day, I bid them farewell, and jumped a plane to Athens. Three weeks on the road with Topdeck had left me completely exhausted. I had no idea an organised tour would be so full on. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it thoroughly and had some amazing experiences, but it’s not something I’d recommend to anyone but Uni students, or nervous first time travellers wanting to find their feet on their first overseas trip. If you have a sense of adventure, and a reasonable amount of common sense - anyone, and I mean anyone can navigate their own way around Europe. Language was never a problem (even with the French). People just seemed to know by looking at you that you were a tourist, and would just speak to you in English. Failing that, pointing and smiling seems to work fine too.

So I ended up getting into Athens in the evening, and just went to the bar for a drink, and pretty much hit the sack comforted in the knowledge that I didn’t have to be up at 7am the next morning to get on the bus! Once I did wake up, I went on a walking tour taking in the sights of ancient Athens on foot. After stopping for a long Greek lunch with a fellow Aussie traveller, we decided to head back to the Acropolis and explore the area for ourselves in the late afternoon when there were less crowds. For a couple of Aussie girls, it was amazing to be walking around structures that existed thousands of years ago, long before our country was even thought of.

After dinner and a few drinks it was time to hit the sack, as I had to be up early to catch the bus, make that ferry…

Looking up towards the Acropolis…

The Agora captured my imagination more than the Parthenon. More intact, and no scaffolding….

The Parthenon…

View from the rooftop bar of the hostel where I was staying…

More in the slideshow…
 

Enough said!

Prague brings back many fond memories for me. I travelled here with my Uncle when I was 12, and was unceremoniously thrown out of Czechoslovakia for not having a visa. Thankfully now, some 17 years later, the Czech republic welcome Aussies with open arms, so there wasn’t going to be a repeat performance!

Long long time blog stalkers may remember that my old flatmate, Belinda, ran off to live in Prague some two and a half years ago. So I slipped away from my tour and headed over to once again be flatmates with Bel (well, for two nights anyway!).

Belinda took me out on the town Friday night to some local bars and clubs. Even with me being sick as a dog, I managed to make it through to 4am before we decided to go home. I then got to have something I haven’t been able to have on this entire trip - a sleep in!! Rain had started to set in and made for a miserable day, but finally in the afternoon I forced Belinda to come out with me to the city to get some photos. The sun did come out for a good 10 minutes, but the rain just wasn’t going anywhere. We gave up after a while, and sought refuge in a pub where Bel introduced me to some traditional Czech food and liquor (whipped cream on your beef anyone???)

As short as it was, it was a great time catching up with Belinda and getting to see Prague again!!

A small slideshow…

I come from a pretty conservative family background. We enjoy life, but don’t live life on the edge, and we don’t take unecessary risks. At least nothing that would endanger your life anyway. Whilst I’ve always been curious about skydiving, my fathers words echo in my ears “Why would you want to throw yourself out of a perfectly good plane”.  

So when the opportunity initially arose to go skydiving in Switzerland, it was simply not an option for me. But then I saw the DVD of someone who had done it, and it just looked like fun. The idea was going around in my mind, and while it scared the shit out of me, I have to say I was curious. So when the skydiving option came up again in Austria, I hesitantly put my name down.

The thing is that the actual skydiving is not what scares me. I’m really afraid of flying. I’m scared in a huge passenger liner, let alone a rickety rust-bucket-of-an-excuse for a light aircraft. I had nothing but complete trust in the instructor (who is a skydiving diva - the man is a machine!), but it was going up in that little plane that freaked me out the most.

I won’t bullshit you, and tell you it’s the most fantastic thing I’ve ever done and I can’t wait to do it again. It was the scariest experience of my entire life. The moment I was on the edge of that plane ready to be pushed out into oblivion, it felt like time stopped. If I wasn’t paralysed with fear, I’d of probably crapped my pants. During the free-fall, I could barely breathe (although that could be swine flu related too). It’s something I’m so glad I did, and can tick it off my list, but I swear to God - never again.

Before the jump, leaving a video last will & testament….

The beautiful view of the Austrian landscape….

A very nervous “thing” at 11,000 feet….

Down she goes… 

Breathing a sigh of relief that the parachute opened…

Very happy to be on the ground again….

I then rang my mother to tell her what I’d done. She didn’t sound impressed.

The majority of this tour has been spent in Italy. Six days in total, taking in Pisa, Florence, Orvieto, Rome & Venice. There was a brief stop in the town of Verona, but please don’t get me started on that one. Tourists were lining up to see “Juliette’s Balcony”, some even paying 6 euro to stand on said balcony and have their photo taken. The fact that people didn’t realise this was a FICTIONAL balcony from a FICTIONAL story, that didn’t exist outside of the imagination of William Shakespeare, makes me wonder how dumb people can truly be. But anyway. 

Italy is in every sense, just beautiful. The moment we crossed the border, the architecture changed, and little villiages on the sides of mountains were popping up everywhere. Exactly how you imagine it to be. Tiny narrow stone streets, buildings crammed together like sardines. Tuscany was my favourite place with the acres of vineyards and the beautiful old estates dotted throughout the valleys.

I’d been warned so many times about potential theft and crime especially in Pisa & Rome. However our visits were to be rather uneventful with nothing even raising an eyebrow. Kind of disappointing really as it would have made for some rather interesting travel stories.

Rome was interesting, from a history perspective, and of course no visit would be complete without a trip to the Vatican. I was hoping to run into the Pope in the corridors simply so I could say “fancy seeing you here!”, but much like the Queen, I should have called ahead because he was out for the day.

This is also where the trip turned into the “Great Swine Flu Tour 09″. Whilst it’s undiagnosed, I’m fairly certain that’s what I’ve got. This ain’t no common cold that’s for sure, and thanks to the Tamiflu I got before I left, I have to say I’m feeling a lot better. 

Anyway, on to the pics… 

Pisa… 

I climbed up a shitload of stairs for this image of Florence….

This dude always has no clothes on, always….

The adorable villiage of Orvieto…

Crowds. Have I mentioned how much I hate them?? You may or may not have noticed that all my images of major icons tend to be shot from a low angle, showing only half or the top of the monument/buliding. Like this image of Trevi fountain…

Reason being, if I pull out to get the whole fountain in shot, it’s going to look a little something like this….

Hence why this also has to be my take on the Spanish Steps.. (I’m not a snob, honest, I just don’t like stupid tourists taking stupid photos of themselves in my photos)…

Some famous ancient building…

Sistine Chapel (pfft, no cameras my arse)….

Venice…

You can see a little bit more of everything in the slideshow…

After a jam packed couple of days, I decided to take a “day off” on the French Riviera. We’d partied on the night before until the ugly lights came on at a bar called “Wayne’s”, where dancing on tables is not only encouraged, it was compulsory. Feeling a little worse for wear, there was nothing more welcoming than the sight of a deck chair and umbrella by the crystal blue ocean, and nothing to do for the entire afternoon….

In the evening we headed out to join the rich and famous in Monaco….

From Paris we made our long way down into Switzerland to the picturesque Lauterbrunnen Valley. I was told by both my Mum and my sister that this would be a highlight of the trip. Whilst I believed them, I guess I didn’t truly understand how beautiful this would be.

Since my first sighting last April, snow has been a huge thrill for me. But this setting was so different from what I’ve seen before. I mean, I was one lonely goat away from being Maria Von Trapp. The mountains, the rolling hills, the quaint little alpine villiages, it was just spectacular.

Apparently a visit to this region isn’t complete without a trip up the Jungfrau Mountain. Now the signs up there say that it’s the “Top of Europe”. Someone told me it’s not the highest point in Europe, but at 4,158 metres, it’d go pretty bloody close. So up I went on the train ride up the mountain, where the fog cleared and gave some of the most amazing views imaginable.

We were actually above the clouds, it was amazing…

The beautiful village of Lauterbrunnen….

Up the mountain, I went on a dogsled ride, and someone kindly took this photo of me. I loathe (with a passion) watching people who get their photo taken in front of each and every landmark they come across. I know I have to respect how people wish to remember their travels, but I can’t help but cringe. Even this was a stretch….

Check out some more in the slideshow….

Deciding to do a tour of Europe was a little bit daunting for me. For one, I hate bus tours. Not that I’ve ever been on one before, but they’ve always gone against everything I believe in. Not having the freedom to go where you want and do what you want to do is a big issue for me.

So far I’ve been pleasantly suprised. The first day or two I thought this was going to suck majorly, as there were next to NO people my own age, and most of the conversations didn’t extend further than “So do you go to Uni?”, or “Did you bring your hair straightener?”. I’m fairly sure I was considered the stuck up “old” bitch (which I’m told is a common first impression), but once they met Snelly after a few nights on the piss, it broke down a few barriers, and things are going along nicely.

Our first stop was Paris. I loved Paris. I loved it so much I could totally live there. Actually I think I’ve said that about all 3 places we’ve stopped so far (you’ll see why when I post the images), but Paris is just so chic and cosmopolitan. I spent a day just walking around seeing the sights, and trying to take in all this beautiful city has to offer. The biggest challenge for me is dealing with crowds. I don’t like crowds, and I don’t do queues. My biggest challenge is trying to take photographs without tourists in them. I want my images to feel like I’m the only one there.

I forced myself to get inside the Louvre just to catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa…

I also happened across this store on the Champs Elysees, and picked myself up a souvenir…

See the rest in the slideshow…

Whilst I love being on holiday and taking photos for myself, I don’t consider myself to be that fantastic a landscape or travel photographer. My holiday photos are really just for my own fun. I am first and foremost a people photographer. So when I was standing there looking at a beautiful field of yellow flowers, I didn’t actually want to photograph the field - I wanted to photograph SOMEONE in the field.

Enter Laura. She was there, and is gorgeous, so I forced her to jump the electric fence and model for me. Just for fun. She made easy work of it, and I think she has a real future in looking good in front of a camera. She certainly doesn’t have to try hard.

Once we got home her lovely boyfriend Silas came over, and once again I forced them both to submit to my itch to photograph a gorgeous young couple.