Friends and Family Archives

Love in the Time of Coronavirus

March 21, 2020March 22, 2020 Bratislava, Europe, Expat, Expat Life, Featured, Friends and Family, Health & Fitness, Teaching, Working Overseas Bratislava, coronavirus, europe, international teaching, Slovakia, teaching

With coronavirus currently decimating the travel industry, it’s a good time to write about my life as an international teacher instead. I don’t write frequently, because I can't travel full-time like I'd hoped I would

Shifting My Paradigm

September 27, 2019September 30, 2019 Featured, Friends and Family, Life, Relationships changes, life, Life Lessons

When I've reached a grand old age and, like any self-respecting old lady, I am surrounded by an army of cats, I will look back over my life, and remember the following things: living in

Perspectives: Why Single Indian Women Should Travel to Thailand

October 31, 2015March 29, 2016 Advice, Asia, Beaches, Featured, Friends and Family, India, Life in India, Travelling Female Travel, india, Indian female travel, thailand, Travel to Thailand

Having been living and travelling overseas for, gulp, about 13 years now, I have met many people from many different places, all with great tales to tell. I have often thought of inviting them to

The Best Mumbai Street Food and Where to Try It

October 17, 2015March 28, 2016 Advice, Asia, Featured, Food and Drink, Friends and Family, India, Life in India bademiya, elco, gastronomy, india, Mumbai, pani puri, pav bhaji, sada dosa, street food

If there is one thing you must do when you visit Mumbai it is to put all fears aside and try the street food; because, honestly? It’s simply the best street food that you will

Mumbai Festivals: Holi

March 11, 2015October 11, 2015 Asia, Featured, Food and Drink, Friends and Family, Life in India, Partying celebrate holi in India, colour, festival, holi, india, Mumbai, travel

Having seen numerous documentaries and vivid photographs of people covered head-to-toe in brightly coloured powder I have wanted to experience Holi for many years. Out of all India’s many,many, festivals Holi is the most colourful

25 Signs You’re a Long-Term Expat

March 15, 2014August 8, 2016 Featured, Friends and Family, Humour, Working Overseas expat, living overseas, resident

I have been an expat for almost a decade. After a year in Tokyo waaaaaay back in 2002, I left the UK permanently on July 27th, 2007, when I moved to Vietnam. Since then I

Dogsledding in Lapland with Arctic Husky Adventures

March 2, 2014April 13, 2014 Europe, Friends and Family, Life in Sweden, Nature, Swedish Climate, Swedish Tourism, Travelling adventure, arctic, arctic circle, dogsledding, husky, jokkmokk, lapland, sweden

A memorable journey is often more about the people you meet than the things you see, and when I went dogsledding with Arctic Husky Adventures in Jokkmokk, Swedish Lapland, last week I met quite possibly

Friends With Benefits in Istanbul

July 2, 2013August 23, 2013 Asia, Europe, Friends and Family, Travelling bosphorus, friends, istanbul, ortoköy, travel, turkey

The title of the post got your attention, huh? Yes, I have a friend with benefits in Istanbul, but not the kind of benefits you might be thinking. You see, my friend Alex works in

Travel or Family, Do You Always Have to Choose?

February 8, 2012April 13, 2012 Childhood Memories, Friends and Family, Relationships, Tradition, Travelling, United Kingdom family, guilt, society, travel, travelling

Today is my birthday. It is not a significant birthday, the last one of those was three years ago, and the next one is still way off in the future—although we all know that the

Midsummer Madness

June 25, 2011July 20, 2011 Europe, Food and Drink, Friends and Family, Life in Sweden, Partying, Swedish History, Swedish Tourism, Tradition, Travelling flower garland, little frogs, maypole, midsommar, midsummer, sweden

“Why, this is very midsummer madness! “ (Twelfth Night) Not so long ago Sweden was celebrating Valborg to welcome in the spring but it seems that Valborg is only the warm-up act to the biggest

Free to Travel – How I Broke Free From Debt

May 25, 2011March 12, 2014 Asia, Friends and Family, Teaching, Vietnam, Working Overseas debt, finance, saving, travel, uk, vietnam, working overseas

On the evening of March 15th 2007 I sat in a small bar in Northampton confessing to a friend of mine that I was struggling with debt. I didn’t know how I had reached that

Driving Home for Christmas!

January 6, 2011April 15, 2011 Childhood Memories, Friends and Family

Okay, so this is TOTALLY cheesy... It's my journey home from Stansted to South Wales on the snowiest weekend in Britain for over 100 years. It took hours but it was so worth it :)

Visiting Friends

December 5, 2010April 1, 2016 Friends and Family, Life in Sweden, Swedish Climate, Swedish Tourism skansen, snow, sweden, swedish winter

This weekend Rhoda—my very good friend from college—came to visit me in Sweden. It is always great to see a familiar face from home when you are living in a foreign country; over the 4

A Social Life

November 27, 2010April 14, 2011 Friends and Family, Life in Sweden partying

If you’re wondering why my blog has been abandoned recently it’s because I have rediscovered my social life over the past few weekends. One of the things that I have particularly enjoyed since being in

The roof top terrace taken from the lounge.

Another New Home

November 14, 2010October 11, 2011 Asia, Childhood Memories, Friends and Family, Travelling, Vietnam moving house, sweden, uk, vietnam

My Baltic adventure ended a week ago today as I stepped off the Tallink-Silja Festival and back onto Swedish shores. But new adventures are always awaiting and it was with a spring in my step

Fancy Dress Friday

October 30, 2010December 30, 2011 Childhood Memories, Friends and Family, School, Teaching fancy dress, partying, school, sweden, teaching

Yesterday was the last day of an incredibly long half-term and what better way to celebrate than with a fancy dress day at school? The first time I used the phrase 'fancy dress' with Nicklas

One Hel’ of a Weekend – the staff social.

October 3, 2010December 30, 2011 Friends and Family, Life in Sweden, Travelling, Working Overseas ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki, finland, helsinki, mui ne, partying, silja line, staff social weekends, teaching

In my opinion, one of the best things about teaching internationally is the sense of comraderie that develops amongst your work colleagues. This seems to be very different from the UK when everybody already has