Sometimes the Universe has a Different Plan

I've learned a few things about divine timing over the years. Taking the plan of the universe into account is always a tough thing. So I've tried to stick with the philosophy of the plan is to have no plan.

A lot of crazy things have happened on my trip. Lots of divine intervention and all that good stuff. I tried to fight the 'take it slow' vibe. Bam I got sick in Fez and had to take it slow. Since being sick I have done my best to slow down.

I had had grand plans of jamming my trip full of shit. You know see all the sites eat all the food. But after being sick I literally couldn't. I was sick for a week in Fez then it took me a further week to get better and not be winded after 5 stairs. So I took it slow. And continued to take it slow.

A safe statement would be that I've seen more of my manuscript then some of the cities I've visited. But you know what that's just how the universe swung it. And damn have I done some amazing writing! Like no joke I'm looking over some of it today and I'm so proud of myself because it reads so well and I'm a bit like did I really write this?

Today is another of those curve balls the universe loves throwing me. I'm in Reykjavik, Iceland and there is a hardcore snow storm outside today. How hardcore? Wel it's -3'C (26.6'F) but it feels like -12'C (10.4'F) because of the 38 kmh (23.6 mpg) winds.

Yeah I'm not leaving the house. What's a girl to do? Well I was editing. Then I was like I should blog. But after this it's back to editing. The universe has been forcing me to edit and work on adding new chapters this whole trip now. I've whipped out this manuscript in fantastic places and just worked.

Even though I had planned on trying to site see and drink some famous coffee today that plan was shelved in favour of editing and staying warm. I really should be thanking the universe for making me work because otherwise I'd have a half edited manuscript with a shoddy ending. Instead due to all the time I've had to work on it I'd venture to say it's borderline perfect! It'll be editor ready by the new year's eve and I'll be contacting agents in January. Fingers crossed I'll be published by this time next year!

But I'm not planning on it. The universe might have something better planned....

Any how here are some pictures of where this bad ass manuscript has been worked on!

London Stansted Airport

Kasbah Mohayut,  Merzouga,  Morocco

My tent in the Sahara before bed time

the actual Sahara.  I'll be honest I only got through 3 or so pages before I was like fuck it's hot. I'll take pictures before going back.

Getafe,  Spain at Ana's flat

Barcelona,  Spain at Lenka's flat

Little Bucharest Hostel, Bucharest,  Romania

And today in snowy Iceland! 

Home again in 2 days! I'll see you the other side of the Atlantic! 

Cheers, 

Taylor

Bucharest Has Stolen My Heart

I've been in Bucharest since Monday. I had planned on going to Transylvania for a day or two. That plan went out the window when my atm card got eaten and I had to stick with a budget. But I'm so very glad it turned out this way. I've walked around this city. Seen the parks and cemeteries.  Gotten lost and had some drinks. I had 300 lei to get me through.  And it will that even includes my hostel. This hostel will get a post all of it's own when I get home. I've made some friends here and been offered a job. Too bad it's so close to Christmas otherwise I'd be staying in Bucharest. But I'll be back I can just feel it. There's something about this city that has captured my heart in the best way. I love the communist architecture juxtaposed with the old buildings. There's something so functionaly beautiful about communist architecture. There's also abandoned house next to ones people still live in. I fell irrationaly in love with one such house. I like the weather and the Christmas market. I can't quite put my finger on what made me fall for this city but I have and on the eve of my departure I'm a bit sad to be leaving. I'm off to London tomorrow. I'm happy because it's one step closer to being home but I feel like I'll be leaving a bit of me behind. More so then normal. I'll just have to come back and collect it one day soon.

this is the view from my hostel dorm

my abandoned house I love

the house of parliament

the ever lovely Christmas market

Cheers, 

Taylor

Finally pictures!!

It's only taken me 6 and a half weeks to figure out how to post pictures!  Here's a pictorial look at my travels....

Me on obviously getting ready to jet off!

Trafalgar.... my not so secret obsession

Stonehenge! 

Salisbury Cathedral at night looking grand!

A view of Bath from the hill that I thought I was going to die walking up with my pack

The Tower of London with the poppy installation still up

Marrakech time!!

The view from the terrace at my hotel in Merzouga

Was I on a camel? No. It was a dromadary

Sunrise in the Sahara

The tanneries of Fes

London.... again

Shameless Colosseum selfie

Edinburgh Christmas Market

La Escorial outside of Madrid

Sol decked out for Christmas

Getafe Cathedral

Atocha train station because I love trains

the view from Lenka's terrace

I had a stroll on the beach in Barcelona (ignore my finger I don't know how to switch the picture)

I traded this view in Barcelona

For this one of old city Bucharest

And there we are. You're current on pictures. This has been my life for the last six and a galf weeks and I've loved every moment,  even the shitty ones.I'm looking forward to these last few days of travel fun!

Cheers,

Taylor

Vampire Hunting

And now for something completely different.

I'm off to search for Vampires!

Okay that's a lie. I'm just in Romania. Bucharest to be precise. What am I doing?  My normal blundering about without a plan. I've got a map and that's all the matters.

I'm staying at Little Bucharest Hostel. It's a. Insanely clean kitschy hostel. And the Christmas market ia a 5 minute walk away! How could my life get any better? 

This truth is I'm doing some personal recon for my vampire book. I'd started it ages ago but put it aside because EVERYONE was publishing YA vampire crap. But being here is the perfect touch to make it even more epic. I'll need a book distraction soon when I send my precious baby out to agents.

But my trip is winding down. Only 9 days to go. Thank goodness! My debit card is dead. It was eaten by an atm in Barcelona. So I have limited cash and credit cards are always hit or miss abroad. So I am being frugal and ingenious! Like a champ. Since I still have 2 cities after this. Then it's time to head home for Christmas!

I was on Skype with my mum this weekend and she was like we're not doing a big Christmas. Just homemade and shabby chic gifts.  I rolles my eyes as hard as I could because my budget has been consumed by presents and thw agony of repackaging get tougher each city. So a warning to my family you had better be excited as fuck for these epic presents! Sweat and tears have gone into bringing them home!

On a fun note it's rainy here and anow is on the ground. So I am glad I hit the charity shops in Edinburgh and got my heacy jacket!

Well I'm off to do some writing I just thought I'd let you know I've left the lovely Spanish weather for Romania.... and Christmas markets!!!!!

And don't think I forgot about my time in Spain. It's just a bit to amazing for an on the road blog post. I mean I made thanksgiving dinner. Had a winter barbecue. Wrote on a terrace overlooking Sangrada Famelia. And all the ham... it deserves an indepth post. I promise to make it worth the wait!

Cheers,
Taylor

So I'm in Spain....

If you've been following me for a while you'll know Spain has a fond place in my heart and you can skip the next paragraph wherein I explain my love for the country.

You see the only reason I ever decided to explore Spain was because one of my housemates from Ireland was Spanish.  When I lived in France our house decided to meet up for a reunion in southern Spain. Ana convinced me that Spain was a wonderful place to visit and I should do a tour of the country and visit her again at the end. So I did. And slowly fell in love with Spain during my solo backpacking of 4 cities in 12 days. And I've fallen more in love with the country as Ana has become one of my best friends and I visit the every time I'm in Europe.

Basically Spain will forever be one of my favourite places. And I'm so excited to be spending 11 days here. I'm staying with Ana in Madrid at the moment.  She's taking her master's here. It's been rainy, but it wouldn't be a proper trip to Madrid for me without the rain. Because it always rains when I visit Madrid. Thursday I'll be off to Barcelona to visit Lenka and meet up with Damien. And coincidentally Kelly will be there too!

Kelly and I just spent a week together. We met in London then saw Rome and I stayed with her in Edinburgh. 

A bit about that all. I got really sick in Morocco. I was happy I'd gone to Fez 3 days early because I had a temperature the first 2 days there and slept till it broke the afternoon of the third day. I couldn't go far from the bathroom because I couldn't keep food down and well food poisoning.... so I saw nothing of Fez. Then I was supposed to couchsurf. I waited 2 hours at the bus station for my host. Then it turned out his sister and brother were at his house so there wasn't room for me and I had to stay with a friend. More on this eventually but for now take my word for it... it was disgusting. It was too late to find a hostel so I stayed but the next day I said fuck off I'm going to a hostel. Plus I was still sick as hell. I slept more. Over all I only walked around Fez for 4 hours total. 2 of those were me being sick and trying to find my way to my hostel because I felt like my insides were dying.

I got to London having not eaten for 6 days. It was the first time in my life I've had cheekbones. Not to mention my jeans were too big and I had way too many ribs. It sucked. But I had my first meal since Azrou that I didn't promptly vomit back up. It was a BLT from Costa. And god did it taste amazing (it took me an hour and a half to eat it but I ate it all)!  I met Kelly and proceded to eat my way around London then Rome. I met a friend of my cousin in Rome and the three of us ate the fuck out of pasta and pizza. It was the perfect stop after being so damn sick!

And now my pants still don't fit and my bras are a smidge too big but I'm in Spain and still eating tons. I'm trying to get back to normal so my jeans fit me again because I don't feel like buying a belt. In my head it's easier to eat more then to buy a belt.

Besides it's Christmas Market season!! Sweets and mulled wine and all things Christmas!

I've found my travel swagger again. Yesterday marked a month since take off and holy shit it's really flown. I've enjoyed it so far. More enjoyment these past few days but I've got another 17 days to stretch myself and push my comfort zone. Because the best thing about traveling is the fact that your comfort zone expands. The more I travel the more I find I become comfortable with the craziest things. Fewer and fewer things scare me. And I like it. I'm constantly stepping out of my shell and having adventures of all shapes and sizes!

So here's to 17 more days of adventure!

Cheers,
Taylor

Morocco Shock

This trip I've decided to adopt an "open book" policy on my experience. Normally when I travel I internalize my shitty days and homesickness. I would only ever tell my friends about the good times I was having. Which is great and maybe inspires people to travel as well but might not help them once they get there.

I'm not going to try to sound cool about my first few days in Morocco. They were tough.  Like really fucking tough. And I don't think I read any other blog about what a shock it is.

Granted I'm a solo female and did fly into Marrakech and that city is just overwhelming. I learned to see it as a good overwhelming. But none the less it was hard.

I think my first "crisis" was brought on by the fact that I was sleep deprived. At times of almost tears in a sleep deprived state I remember my first day in Limerick and how I cried over my busted converter. Why do I recall this? To remind myself that a little sleep solves all the problems.

My "crisis" was thus. People stared at me more then I had prepared mentally for. Everyone tried to compliment my hair. My host wasn't as good with English as I thought, so my fast talking slang wasn't doing me any favours. His family didn't speak English so I felt rude and inconvenient to them,  I hate that out of place feeling. I also walked around the city that first day. Trust me tired and Marrakech don't work.

I ended up messaging my mum. I was whiny and upset and strangely homesick even though I'd been away only 5 days. She nicely put me in my place and reminded me why I had gone in the first place.

The next day I walked around with new eyes. I was trying to pick out places and settings from my favorite book series, Daughter of Smoke and Bone.  That helped quell my wacky feelings. This series is essentially why I came to Morocco. Side note it's by Laini Taylor and it's amazing so go read it!

I felt accomplished when I found my hostel in Marrakech my last night.  I did have help but I still felt good. I got on the bus at 9h00 to Merzouga and arrived at 21h00. It was a long day.

My near break down there was iver stress of not knowing how to get to my next city if Azrou. I ended up deciding I didn't give a fuck where I went next and BAM I made it to Azrou.

So lesson learned stop giving so many fucks about every little thing. I know plans change when you travel and they have in the past. This time it was just tough for me to take the different environment and plan mix ups in stride. But I'm on my last leg of Morocco! I can do this!

Cheers,
Taylor

Where in the world...

Hi all. So yes my westward blogs still need finishing. I have to tell about Yellowstone and San Francisco and Vegas and climbing a mountain. But thse won't be up till December. Why?

I'm in Morocco right now. I booked myself 7 weeks of adventure! So I'm on the road with only my phone as internet and contact point. Blogs might be non existent or I might post lots. Who knows what the next 6 weeks have in store. I've already done London,  Salisbury, Bath and Marrakech.

Still to do:
Azrou
Fez
London
Rome
Edinburgh
Madrid
Barcelona
Bucharest
And Reykjavik!

I'm in Merzouga right now. I slept in the desert last night and climbed a huge dune to watch the sun rise.

If you want to keep up with me follow my instagram: TayVang

You'll find Geronimo my good luck cat who is traveling with me. He was a present from my pseudo sister so he had to come along.

If you're looking for another good blog to pass the travel time with check out Kelly's Crossing. Kelly is one of my best friends. She's taking a semester in Edinburgh Scotland so obviously it's a grand blog. And I'll be seeing Kelly in 10 days to show her around my 2 of my favourite cities London and Rome!

I have had a huge plan change today and don't exactly know where I'm staying tonight. So wish me luck!

Cheers,
Taylor