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3月11日 trying a little italyTravelling to Stansted is the Norm to me, I’ve got it down to the tie, jump on the bus, get another bus then another third bus and there I am Stansted, Stansted airport for £4.20. Cheap as chips compared too many other forms but it’s the longest route and I’m prepared to do this to get a cheaper trip. Stansted is like a second home to me it’s my gate way to Europe, this great continent bursting with culture and language and different ways of life. I’m thankful to be able to know how to get really cheap holidays and it is a skill you pick up over the years, I travel ryanair because if it wasn’t for ryanair I wouldn’t have seen the places I have been to as I wouldn’t have been able to afford it. All my savings and earnings all go on travel as I love it with a passion and it’s what drives me to live a better life, to try and meet every one in the world and create great friendships. I enjoy seeing a different side to the world as you understand it better and its great fun to learn about new cultures. So where was my next budget trip to? To the Swiss Alps  , I was chosen to represent the UK in the world scout winter games in Kandersteg swizterland. Because the event is sponsored and the place we were staying was a scout centre the holiday was very affordable for my budget at around £120 which is a great price for skiing pass and place to stay with food and drink. Skiing is expensive and this was a bargain that couldn’t be missedMilan was my destination from Stansted as it’s the closest place to get to Switzerland and there is a great train connection to Kandersteg from here. £21.90 was the price of my flight and a bargain at that ! So as I wait for my gate to be called I quickly finish my little treat of a star buck’s coffee and head to the boarding gate. A little tip when boarding a ryanair flight. Get to the line 30 minutes prior to take off and sit down right at the start of the Queue, you won’t be there long trust me, in about 10 minutes your be the first to board the flight, I always sit at the front as you get off first and speed through passport control which saves a lot of hanging around. I have to say the flight to Milan is one of my all time best as the views are amazing of the mountains and you get to see Mont Bloc. This is great as you would have had to fork out about £200 to get a helicopter trip to see the views but yet it’s all chucked in with the flight . So as I enjoy finishing my in-flight magazine we land in Milan ready for a new culture to explore. Once I get to Milan centre, there isn’t much to do here as it’s mostly a business run city so I decided to find a place to get a bite to eat. I found Ranificio a lovely bakery shop which attracted me in because of the lovely smell of the smoked ham, yum! I went a little crazy ordering a lot of things to try out as it was all so cheap and the chance to try a new cultural food was tempting. What a lovely selection of foods they had and even though all the staff couldn’t speak English it was great fun trying to order and get some food, it was a great laugh, they kindly let me take photos and heated up my pizza which was like 2 pizzas glued together to make a cake , it was really good!! I even got a coke can which was shaped more like a red bull can it was very weird. After having my photos with all the staff the head baker gave me some free cake which was really nice of him, it was very nice as well . So I headed to the square to indulge on my amazing Italian feast and plan my route to get to swizterland. There wasn’t many trains going direct to Brig at the time so as my time in Italy was going to be short lived I booked a mini d-tour to Domodosalla for a couple of hours. Domodosalla is one of my best little mini villages as I love the fact it’s in the middle of no were nestled into this mountain shaped cup. I went straight to a coffee shop to try a real Italian coffee an Italian coffee is like a little shot glass shaped like a tea cup and it’s full of espresso a coffee which has been pressured so tightly into your little cup of coffee goodness! It’s great and for 30p who can complain! A great little shot of paradise. From here I had a little walk around the centre and people watched. It’s great to see people living there life and driving there really small cars around the cape of the mountains and I have to say I love this little village of Domodosalla. On the way to grab my train to Brig I picked up some ice cream to enjoy which was to die for, Italian ice cream is heaven. Well the sun was going down and there wasn’t much of my day to go as I jumped onto the change over at brig to get to Kandersteg. So here I was on my own to take part in a winter competition with a team I’ve never meet before competing with people from all around the world who like me have travelled in to take part. As my train approached Kandersteg I had finally made it to my destination after many hours of full on Travelling since 4am. I managed to find some sign posts to get me to the scout centre and embarked on my long trek to the centre. Once there I checked in and found out my team mates arrived much earlier and headed for dinner. On my way up to looking for my room I couldn’t find it but I did however bump into some random Norwegians , I had travelled around Norway and told them about my adventure and they were shocked and we decided to head to the pub as a much well earned beer was in need. The local beer has a bear on the front which was rather nice and they had dark beer as well on tap. It was great talking to them and finding out about their journey to Kandersteg as well which the same journey. You have to love ryanair lol. Well I managed to find the rest of my team who were also eating in the same place I was drinking so I said hello and introduced myself to everyone and carried on chatting with Norway, they let me crash in there room for the night and we pushed on to a bar more close to the centre to play some football table which was very fun . After making some great new friends we hit the decks to call it an early night and to look forward to the slopes tomorrow last day in corkmy 2nd day in Cork | 18 days ago | |  As I wake up to a new day in cork my host says good bye while I kindly thank her for hosting me for the night, it’s great to do home hospitality as you learn much more about the location you are staying in and you make friends easily and quickly in the short time you are in these places. So I woke up and got ready for the day ahead of me. |
The most popular thing to do in Cork is to travel to Kiss the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle but the locals last night told me it’s not worth the hassle of traveling there this time of year and the local kids like to use the rock as a toilet so it’s not the best thing to kiss . so I’ve decided to leave that till my next visit as I always like to not get everything done because the next time you’re in the area there isn’t anything to do so it’s nice to have something you can do when you return. So I decided first of all to head to the English market in the center which is a traditional market selling all sorts of goods ranging from meat, wine, eggs, cheese and all sorts of farming products. It has won many European awards in the past for its presentation and I personally found it wonderful to walk around. Up above on the second floor there is a great café which I highly recommend that sells all sorts of pastries and coffees and a wide range of teas to choose from as well. I opted backpacker style for the cheapest brekie option of a coffee and scone which was lovely and all the milk and butter was fresh in a jug on your table, I loved that idea and it did make the coffee taste even better, it was also great watching all the cork locals purchasing the weekly shop and every one getting into the market. Defiantly check it out if you visit. From here I decided to walk around the shopping area and try and spend my remaining euro for the evening. I like this sort of challenge as you really have to bargain and try and find something really cheap. There is a large range of shops in Cork to explore and discover so you won’t be short of having anything to do to kill time, what I enjoyed the most when walking around is the amount of musicians covering the streets playing wonderful Irish music and all the people outside the pubs having a little jig while smoking a pipe it was great to see. From here I thought it would be a good idea to head to the butter factory which was right on top of the hill, the hill is famous for being part of the tour de France stage when they visited cork as the cyclists had to push up this really steep hill, well it was a challenge even without the bike , once at the top I could see the butter factory in my sight but to my disappointment discovered it was closed, as my legs were about to fall off I just noticed a sign saying that It was closed during this month. O well something else on the books to do when I return. So time was coming to an end as I boarded my shuttle bus greeted by the driver on the onwards journey and it gave me some time to reflect on my amazing adventure to the wonderful City of Cork. I loved the people they were so easy to talk to and very warm and kind. It was nice chatting to them about live as they seem to love it and enjoy just being them and that’s what I liked about the locals. Also they loved to give a helping hand and help out with directions. I loved Ireland, the food, the drink and the people all made my wonderful journey ever more so enjoyable. I can’t wait to return a trip to corkAfter visiting Dublin for a few times last year, I decided it would be nice to venture to some of the other cities in Ireland and find out how they compare and relate to their capital city. I was in search of some real Irish culture which I didn’t discover in its capital and managed to find a flight to Cork the second largest city in Ireland. I was looking forward to the visit as a lot of people have told me how amazing and lovely it is to visit so I decided to go there myself. It’s all ways best to get to the airport really early so you make sure you beat any morning traffic and it’s also great to chill out and spend some time in the airport so as my flight was going around 5:00pm I made sure I was up and early and in town ready to get the shuttle bus to the airport. That day I and my friend meet up for Brunch to have a little chit chat over a brew while I waited for my bus and then on I jumped. I prefer the bus the rather than the train as it’s a third of the price and the journey is much more enjoyable as well. So I arrived at Stansted airport, I have to say Stansted is my most favorite out of the 5 London airports as it has that nice smooth laid back feel and you never lose your luggage as well. I skipped through customs and went right through to the waiting lounge as I had priority boarding which I managed to brag for free . The best bit about waiting at a airport is just chilling with a brew, reading a paper and just watching the world go by, seeing all the people with their roller bags flying away to all corners on the globe and people rushing epically to get to the boarding gate, you can’t sit and wonder what’s really out there in the big world and you envy people as you look on the screens of all the exotic locations that everyone in flying to. As my wait come to a end I like to get to the gate 3o minutes before take off as I like to see every ones faces who have been sitting around the queue for 2 hours then I just walk along and sit at the front of the line because all the seats are taken and I’m rather happy with the floor. It’s funny as I just sit down as a herd of animals come before me and the amazing queue system arises from the deep around me, all the great British sport of queuing . first on board I jump to the first row as this means I can quickly jolt to passport control and be home free when the plane lands. The flight was great and I love the budget airlines. The liberation of sitting in the best seat even though you paid 100 times less than the person sitting next you but yet you are treated with the same service. Once landed I was amazed at the size of cork airport, I loved the design of the place and it had a lovely feel to it. Compared to some places Ryanair have dropped me off in the past this was luxury. So after going through passport control I jumped onto the shuttle bus to the center, I could hitch hiker it but the tempting student return rate tempted me . The bus driver was a Cork local and very happy to talk to me about the history of cork and where and where not to go and what to look for, he was a very friendly guy and loved to act as a tour guide as well as a driver. To be honest I think I would of preferred him to drive the car during some close encounters with some other drivers but apart from that it was a great start to the trip and I as I only had a day the driver saved me money on a tour guide as well as discounted airport runs. I thanked him for his local knowledge and headed to St Patrick’s bridge were I arranged to meet my host. I prefer to stay with people through hospitality websites while I’m on the road not for cost but for the learning about different cultures side to it. Rather than staying in a hotel with that barrier with the locals I like to be chucked into culture and really experience it. My host Franzi was from Berlin in Germany and had lived in the local area for a while for work and had kindly put me up for the night. It was great talking to her and about her journeys to cork and why she loves it so much and why life is better here and why she likes the life style. It was great talking to her as even though she was German she was so positive about cork and the locals it was really nice. We then headed back to hers for some dinner which she kindly made me , lovely pasta and sauce, it was lovely! At this stage she called a local Irish man to come along with us on a little tour of cork and the night life. There wasn’t much to do but check out the local pubs as it was so late at night. The first place we visited was a really traditional Irish pub and it was so small! Like a whole in the wall with no electricity and just candle lights for vision. It was great I loved it, it had that real hearty feel to the place and you could see all the Irish just chatting away and laughing and drinking the black stuff, it was a very enjoyable experience. I tried a pint of McCarthy’s which is the local Cork Brew and It was very enjoyable it was the same color as Guinness buy the hops had a much more bitter taste to it which made it a much more enjoyable pint. From here we headed to the student bar which was in Gallic and translated to the shoe, I didn’t know if it was because it smelled of fellow students but that’s my guess: D. it was a lovely venue and every one chilling out after their lectures and it had a great vibe to it. As it was getting dark and my new friends from cork had work in the morning I figured it would be best and be polite to head home and call it an early night. On the way back we stubble upon a chicken shop called hill Billy’s which is this amazing chicken shop like KFC but much better and its famous to cork and there are only two in the world which are both funny enough in Cork . The gravy and chicken was to die for and I highly recommend it when you pay Cork a visit. As we headed back to my hosts house I said good bye to my new Irish friend and headed for the Bunks to rest my sleepy head for another day in the lovely city of cork | ||||||
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