My top five European cities

When thinking of my top five European cities, it is actually quite difficult, as we all know how much this continent has to offer. Whenever I meet travellers who have never been to Europe, I find that they often think they can cover off Europe in a few weeks. I’ve lived in Europe for over 27 years and I haven’t even touched the surface. Even though we may be a small continent, we sure make up for it in terms of culture, cuisine and history. Every European country is vastly different from the next, and the same goes for the cities as well, but I think I’ve managed to narrow my European city ventures down to my top 5.

Budapest

Ruin bars, an old city, Turkish baths and cheap beer. What is not to love? One of my fav European cities is the Hungarian capital, Budapest. I have only visited once but I’d happily visit again and explore the nooks and crannies of this place, as my first trip did result in a lot of hangovers…

I’d recommend to spend a few days here, explore the beauty and history of the old town, grab a few drinks from the ruin bars (popular ones are Szimpla and Instant), then head to the baths and relax in the heat. Or, consider taking a boat trip down the Danube to nearby towns and suburbs of this capital and see what else is on offer.

Paris

I am in love with Paris. Some say they find it underwhelming when they arrive, that actually Paris has some quite grimy parts, but that’s why I love it. The majority of the city, or the bits you see as a tourist are inspiring! Beautiful architecture, ornate statues and generally just incredible sights. I can walk around this city for days and I’d still find that I am in awe of it’s beauty. I also need not really mention the food that the French capital has to offer. Pastry, wine, cheese, bread, but why aren’t the Parisians fat?! Maybe they save it all for me?

Anyone that hasn’t been to Paris, needs to really go. It may not be the cheapest European capital to stay in, but you can get by with the right tricks and the right deals. I stayed for 3 nights, with flights from Manchester included for just £200 on a last minute deal. Yep I probably spent more whilst I was there, but I do love a grog au rhum after all.

Prague

I have been to Prague trice now and I still haven’t touched on what the Czech capital has to offer. A smallish European capital, as you can walk around the main sights and hotspots but there is still plenty to do over a few days. Prague is getting more and more popular each year, and with that comes more and more expense, but I find that it is still a relatively cheap European capital.

You will find a big mix of history and culture, plus more modern and edgy parts of the city. Head to the John Lennon for graffiti heaven. Or for a more scenic day, walk on the Charles Bridge and listen to local musicians playing along. Head over to the old town and explore great views teamed with great wine. Or head just a little out of the city centre to see Sedlec Ossuary, which is a type of church made up of over 40,000 skeletons…

Salzburg

This may be an odd one to add onto the list but I couldn’t get enough of this Austrian city and it’s charm. Salzburg may be most popularly known for the location from the Sound of Music, or for the birthplace of Mozart. Therefore, the culture and history of this city has so much to offer the average traveller.

When you picture a typical Austrian town (or at least when I picture it), then everything that is pictures is all envisaged within Salzburg. Freshly made pretzels sold my local vendors, beautiful European architecture, incredible mountain views and good beer. This city is worth adding to your European Must-Do’s and it’s worth a day or two of your time. Easily accessible from Vienna on the train and everything is moderately priced. But a lot of the beauty of this Austrian city is the buildings and nature, so you can tick a lot of free things to do off your list.

Manchester

Last but not certainly not least, is one of my favourite cities, and my current home, Manchester. I moved to Manchester two years ago, after only visiting once or twice and mainly making the trip to use the airport. I can’t believe this amazing city was on my doorstep for so many years and I never really bothered to visit. The city has so much to offer and it has that great Northern British charm about it. From great bars, great restaurants, beautiful buildings and a lot of history as well.

For example, did you know that Emily Pankhurst, Antony Burgess and so many incredible musicians were born here. With that, then comes a lot of culture and history. The music scene in this city is incredible and you can enjoy a vast amount of live music and comedy for a great price. There is also a fantastic sense of community and people are really proud to be from this Northern powerhouse, plus it’s easy to understand why. When the tragic bombing happened at the Ariana Concert last May, it was overwhelmingly brilliant to see the whole city pull together and show how incredible we are at been there for each other.

I don’t plan on moving away anytime soon as I really do love it here, and after all, I still have so many more bars I need to tick off.

Why I Haven't Blogged in Over One Year

When you travel on and off for three years then suddenly return home and go back to your part time job in a pub and live in your single bedroom in your parent's house, then what is there to write about? I recently had a job interview, which later very fortunately turned into a job offer, and the job spec asked me to speak about my social media experience and my skills in marketing. I wrote on my CV that I have my own travel blog and when the interviewer brought it up I felt embarrassed to discuss it as I haven't posted in so long. So now I not only feel the need to carry on writing and doing what I loved doing for three years, but I really want to get back into blogging (then I'll finally have something to speak about in interviews...)

Paris for Beginners

Paris. Where the hell do you begin with this great French city and one of the most visited cities in the world? It’s hard to come by someone who hasn’t heard of Paris, or even hasn’t visited it as even the most backpackery of backpackers will have likely to come through gay Paris at some point. Surely? Paris may not be for everyone but it’s one of my most favourite cities in the world. I’ve been numerous times and I was lucky enough to be living just forty minutes outside of the city for six months in 2014. Therefore I’d visit Paris nearly every week and really get to know the capital.

Many may think Paris is beautiful, surreal, and arty and like something out of a movie, and it often is, but it also has a grungy side with a great deal of homeless people, dark alleys and sometimes not the friendliest of locals. But fear not! As you can always enjoy this city, and even after living so close to the French capital, I was never bored of finding things to do. Which means not one blog post can cover the extensive range of things to see and do in Paris, so I’m attempting to keep it simple and highlight the main attractions and some of personal favourite places that I liked to go. This isn’t a niche, hidden secret Paris guide, I’ll save that baby for another time.

Great Landmarks

It goes without saying that you HAVE to see the Eiffel Tower. But this is easy to do as the tower can be seen from all over the city. Whether you want to go up is a different matter? Some say they find the climb disappointing as when you get to the top you can see the great views of Paris, but the Eiffel Tower obviously isn’t in the view. Still it’s worth climbing up, and although it may not be cheap for a whole family to crawl up there, I’d still say it’s one of those things you kind of have to do.

My 2014 Travel Resolutions

No matter what time of year it is, I still think it’s important to have some kind of travel aims for the year. At the start of the year I made a paper list of what I wanted to achieve this year, and now I thought I would share it with the world. Or whoever reads this website…

At the moment I’m an au pair just outside of Paris, France. My plan is to stay here until August at the earliest, but who knows what could change.

We Can't Leave Until I Have My Shot Glass!

This isn't a post about alcoholism, although I’m sure it would be a lot more fun if I were describing a drunken rampage down the Amazon, or waking up in the tropics of Madagascar with only an empty tequila bottle to my name, but give me a few years and I might cover those stories as well.

Within the past week I visited the famous Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, Japan and completed one of my Japanese aims which was to find a shot glass with ‘Japan’ written on it. For every country I go to I collect a shot glass and add it to my collection. Some people collect postcards, some collect key rings, I collect shot glasses. This all started off when I was 17, visiting Amsterdam. As I was the young age of 17, my friend and I didn't get served for any….well you know what I mean... therefore we spent a lot of our time trailing round the sex museums, clothes stores and souvenir shops. I found a shot glass for €1 which seemed like a bargain so I bought it. My second shot glass was in Disneyland Paris. As a Disney loser I went crazy in the downtown Disney souvenir shop and bought most things my hands could grab. This of course added up to over €100, so I put a lot of things back and headed for the SALE section, and wa la Disney shot glass found on sale for €1, hardly surprising as no child is searching for that truly perfect shot glass with Mickey Mouse’s face on.

Disneyland

Just like any self-respecting 22 year old adult, I'm a huge fan of Disney... judge away but I love Disney and especially Disneyland. What's not to love when you combine a land of childhood characters, roller-coasters and magic… Okay, so Disney may not sound like everyone's cup of tea but I once had an aim to visit every Disneyland in the world, maybe not so much now as I've discovered life beyond the Magic Kingdom, but here goes the blog anyway.

There are five Disneyland parks in the world (in order of opening):

1. Disneyland Resort - California 
2. Walt Disney World Resort - Florida 
3. Tokyo Disney Resort - Tokyo 
4. Disneyland Paris (Euro Disney Resort) - Paris 
5. Hong Kong Disneyland Resort - Hong Kong