Looking for a change of scenery? Here are 7 reasons to move to a Turkish Village

I like to think of myself as a city girl. I like the buzz of big cities, the bright lights, the throngs of people, the twinkling skyline. I like riding the underground, the subway, the metro (basically I am a massive train geek). Tokyo, Seoul, London, Hanoi…I love these kinds of hectic, frenetic places. Places where if you blink, you might miss something.

So what on earth could possess me to up sticks and go to live in a fairly remote Turkish village that is famous for…well…basically being a ghost town? Where the walk to the village takes at least 25 minutes and where I’d really need to yell for our nearest neighbour to even have a chance of hearing us?

Travel Tales: That Time I Spoiled All Our Holiday Photos With a Haircut

Whilst Zambia is a land of stunning natural beauty, wonderful people and amazing wildlife, it is not a place where utilities can be considered what you might call ‘reliable’. Both water and electricity were capricious beasts during our stay in Zambia. Pretty much coming on and going off as they pleased and with very little in the way of predictability. The water especially was a pain in the rectum.

What does this have to do with my hair or ruining photographs? Well…

My biscuit love affair: Turkish Kurabiye

What do you get if you cross the best bits of a gingerbread man, a shortcake biscuit, a fruitcake and a scone?

Well, if you’re me, the answer is a massive crumb based mess. If however, you happen to be a Turkish baker and not cursed with the all the baking acumen of the guy in Pudding Lane who started The Great Fire of London (my skills in this regard are more ‘burnt off’ than ‘Bake Off’) then what you get is a small lump of otherworldly deliciousness known as a kurabiye.

The Perils of Travelling While Brown

Before I get any haters commenting on the fact that I am lucky to be able to travel at all, or that my passport makes it so easy to travel: I am well aware of the privileges that have been bestowed upon me by an accident of birth. I am a British citizen and I hold a British passport. It is maroon and says the words ‘European Union’ on it. (I’ll be keeping it looking that way until I have to renew it and sadly by then ‘The Saj’ will have made it blue and taken those words off it to show that Brexit means Brexit. Or breakfast.)

Getting Stuffed: Adventures in Taxidermy at the Hanoi Zoological Museum

Let’s face it, Hanoi isn’t a city where you are going to find yourself short of things to do. There’s spectacular temples and churches, water puppet shows, prison tours, Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, a plethora of coffee shops where you can just sit and watch the world go by (and there is plenty happening on the streets of Hanoi to keep you entertained) and, a wide range of museums covering everything from fine arts to ethnology.

But on this trip we fancied doing something different. We wanted to experience the Hanoi of old. The Hanoi that was hinted at in the broad tree lined streets, elegant colonial architecture and in the crepes and delicious pastries served in many cafes.

Enter the Hanoi Zoological Museum.

7 Ways to Stay Fit While You Are On the Road

If this seems to be an impossible conundrum, fear not: in the last year and a half of long term travel (but thankfully sans elephant pants and dreadlocks) I’ve found a variety of ways to exercise on the road. If you are a frequent traveler or living the nomadic lifestyle like us and want to up your exercise game, read on!

What Lies Beneath: a Guide to Visiting Gunung Mulu National Park

Adventurers from all over the globe often come to visit Mulu for something else: lying beneath the dense jungle is a honeycomb of underground caverns and rivers that make up one of the most extensive limestone cave systems in the world. Some of Mulu’s caves are even world record breakers: Deer Cave has the world’s second largest cave passage, whilst the Clearwater Cave System at Mulu is the eighth longest cave in the world. And if you still remain unimpressed, the Sarawak Chamber is the world’s largest natural chamber capable of holding 40 Boeing 747s wingtip to wingtip. Whoa.

The Run Down: Getting Food Poisoning When You Are Travelling and How to Deal With It

As much as Instagram would love you to believe, travel isn’t all about beautiful girls looking off into the middle distance on a swing over the ocean. Sometimes travel is about feeling like you are never going to stop vomiting, until you resemble the dried up husk of the person you once were or worrying you might actually shit yourself to death. Or both. Lovely, I know. But this is #realtalk.

To Egg Coffee or Not To Egg Coffee? Trying Out Cà Phê Trứng in Hanoi

Eggs and Vincent don’t go together. Anyone who knows him will know that he ‘isn’t a fan’ of the humble egg. In cakes, it’s fine. He can just about tolerate it in a fried rice or a Pad Thai, but he would prefer that it wasn’t in there in the first place. But an egg on its own? An omelette? Fried egg? Poached eggs? Egg and toast soldiers? No sereee, he would rather just pass, thank you very much. You can keep what came out of a chicken’s bum. He will just have something else.

Top 12 Things You Need To Do in Istanbul

We are back in Turkey for the first three months of 2019 and although we are staying in the South Western region, in the ghost town of Kaya Koy, it got me thinking about what I love most about this country. And I started thinking particularly about Istanbul - my favourite city in the world.

Istanbul is a city with good food, amazing architecture, a rich history, a myriad of cultures, huge shopping bazaars, beautiful parks and a plethora of fantastic cafes and restaurants. There’s so much to see and do, you could easily spend a week or two here. But if you are short on time, here are a few of my favourite things to do in Istanbul.

Safari in Sri Lanka: Is Yala National Park For You?

I've always wanted to do a safari in Sri Lanka and when Vincent and I finally decided to make a trip there together, it was on the top of our list of things to do. Despite being such a small country, Sri Lanka actually has 26 national parks (in addition to a wide range of nature reserves and sanctuaries) and is actually considered to be one of the best places in Asia for seeing wildlife.

The Ultimate Guide to the Victoria Falls and Livingstone, Zambia

The ultimate guide to what to do in Livingstone and around the Victoria Falls area of Zambia, including activities, costs and accommodation. With this guide, you aren't going to be short of things to do. (And if you are, then I don't know how to help you).

We lived in Zambia for three years and during that period I lost count of how many times we visited Livingstone. It's the number one tourist destination in Zambia and for good reason - it has the largest waterfall in the world and that alone is enough to attract millions of tourists every year. Aside from the Victoria Falls, there are many other activities to do in this town that are suitable for solo travellers, couples and groups.

The Ultimate Guide to Chobe National Park

I've always fancied myself as a small brown David Attenborough. But narrating the movements of next door's ginger cat didn't quite give me the excitement that I was looking for. I wanted to see real wild animals up close.

So, when we decided to move to Zambia, going on a safari was one of the first things we wanted to do. The question was - where should we do it? There were so many options: Kruger in South Africa, Luwanga in Zambia, the Serengeti in Tanzania... but in the end we decided that we would go and visit Chobe National Park.

In Praise of Kahvalti: The Ultimate Guide to Turkish Breakfast

Anyone that knows me knows that I love a good breakfast. If you ask me to choose between breakfast, lunch or dinner, I'd choose breakfast every time. I love restaurants that offer an all-day breakfast, because there's usually more on the breakfast menu that I want to eat. I've even been known to get excited the night before about the breakfast that I am going to have the next day.

Reasons to Visit the Fener-Balat Neighbourhoods of Istanbul

Ah, Istanbul. One of the cities that we fell in love with on our first backpacking trip together in 2008. Once the centrepiece of Byzantine, Roman and Ottoman empires, Istanbul is a city that straddles the continents of Europe and Asia and has incredible history, art and architecture.

Top Tips For A Lazy Five Days in Fremantle, Perth

Sometimes you just need one of those lazy holidays. The kind where you sleep a lot, eat a lot, mayyyybe see a few things and come back feeling refreshed.

When we saw that we had a long public holiday coming up in Malaysia, we decided that this was the kind of holiday we needed. Both of us had been working like crazy and we needed a break. Somewhere where we could just chill out and get away with not doing much. Somewhere where the food was good, the beer was better and where we'd end up feeling rested.

Planning a trip to Sri Lanka: a photo essay to inspire your trip to the Sapphire Island

Sri Lanka. It's recently become the go-to destination for every travel blogger and with good reason, because this little paradise island has everything. With spectacular beaches, ancient ruins, hill country tea estates, national parks with tons of wildlife from leopards to crocodiles...you name it, Sri Lanka has it all. (And it's got amazing food as well!)