Travelling Archives - Runaway Brit

Košice, Slovakia: Try Once, Love Forever

October 13, 2018October 13, 2018 City Break, Europe, Featured, Health & Fitness, History, Tourist Attraction, Travelling biela noc, Kosice, marathon, peace marathon, Slovakia, white night

Home of Europe's Oldest Annual Marathon Slovakia is an underrated travel destination; most people I meet have never heard of it, and could not point it out on a map, so it was surprising to learn

Goodbye, Serendipity

August 18, 2018August 18, 2018 Asia, Beaches, Featured, Heartbreak, Life, Relationships, Travelling cambodia, heartbreak, love, occheuteal, relationships, serendipity, sihanoukville

In March 2008 I visited a place that changed my life. Of course, back then bracing myself for every bump in the dusty road I had no idea where the rusted bus careening wildly along

10 of the Best European Old Towns to Visit this Spring

February 10, 2018February 10, 2018 City Break, Europe, Featured, History, Top Ten, Tourist Attraction, Travelling Bratislava, Budva, corfu, dubrovnik, gamla stan, Hallstatt, mostar, Old Towns, prague, Slovakia, stockholm, tallinn, Trencin

Who doesn't love visiting a Historic Old Town? My teaching career has shuttled between Europe and Asia on more than a few occasions: I moved from the UK to Vietnam in 2007, Vietnam to Sweden

Help! How Should I pack for Tanzania?

January 27, 2018January 27, 2018 Featured, Travelling Tanzania

This time next week I will be in Tanzania. Other than a package holiday in Tunisia many years ago, Africa is a completely new continent to me. I am simultaneously jumping for joy about the

A Snowy Weekend in the Tatra Mountains, Slovakia

January 15, 2018January 15, 2018 Bratislava, City Break, Europe, Expat Life, Featured, Nature, Tourist Attraction, Travelling Bratislava, Slovakia, Tatra mountains, Tatras, Tatrasky

A few weeks ago, I was tired of the rainy, grey, city sky. I desperately wanted blue sky, crisp air, and plenty of snow. I longed to see mountains; and for that, I would have

Gazing into the Blue Eye, Albania

January 1, 2018January 1, 2018 Europe, Featured, Nature, Top Ten, Tourist Attraction, Travelling Albania, Blue Eye, pool, Syri i Kalter, water

The unbelievably clear water of Syri i Kalter (‘Blue Eye’) in the South of Albania is beautiful, but it is not easy to reach. You have two options: 1) a laborious 5-hour journey along dilapidated

Čachtice: The Castle of the Bloody Countess

November 17, 2017November 19, 2017 Bratislava, Europe, Featured, History, Tourist Attraction, Travelling ?achtice, Elizabeth Bathory, Slovakia

It’s on a frigid Sunday in late October that I find myself climbing towards the ruins of a 13th Century limestone castle in Čachtice, Slovakia. Battling a bitter wind I draw my coat closer around

Hévíz: Bathing in Hungary’s Healing Thermal Lake

November 4, 2017November 4, 2017 City Break, Europe, Featured, Health & Fitness, Nature, Tourist Attraction, Travelling heviz, hungary, spa, thermal lake, wellness

If you’ve been to Budapest then maybe you visited Széchenyi thermal baths; but did you know that with over 1,000 hot springs, Hungary boasts more medicinal spas than any other European country? What’s more, it

A Year in the Life of an International Teacher

July 15, 2017July 15, 2017 Bratislava, Europe, Expat, Expat Life, Featured, Travelling, Working Overseas austria, bojnice, Bratislava, castle, cornwall, expat, heviz, hungary, iceland, international teaching, lake, looe, mountain, salzburg, Slovakia

I often get people asking me about life as an international teacher, so to honour 10 years of living overseas I have put this post together to show you what a year in my life

Spring in Bratislava is a great time to visit!

April 3, 2017April 3, 2017 Bratislava, City Break, Europe, Expat Life, Featured, Health & Fitness, Travelling Bratislava, expat, expat life, Slovakia, spring

Readjusting to a European winter after two years of perpetual spring/summer in India has been harder than I thought. I’m not sure why, because I like winter. For the last few months in Mumbai I’d

Orava Castle: Inside the Lair of a Vampire

November 27, 2016December 16, 2016 Europe, Featured, Literature, Tourist Attraction, Travelling dracula, Nosferatu, Orava, Orava Castle, Ovavsky Hrad, Slovakia

The flickering, grainy image of a hunched figure creeping up a silhouetted staircase, his claw-like hand extending towards a shadowed door, is an iconic piece of cinema history belonging to the 1922 German Expressionist movie,

A Day Trip to Devin Castle from Bratislava

October 9, 2016October 9, 2016 Bratislava, Europe, Expat Life, Featured, History, Tourist Attraction, Travelling Bratislava, castle, Devin, nature, Slovakia, walk

Autumn has arrived in Bratislava. Only last week I wore summer dresses and flip-flops, but this week it’s all scarves, winter coats and boots. When yesterday dawned cold but sunny, I went for a walk

A Macabre Mass of Bones and Skulls at Sedlec Ossuary, Prague

October 1, 2016March 19, 2017 Europe, History, Tourist Attraction, Travelling bones, CzechRepublic, death, musing, ossuary, prague, sedlec, thoughts

Honestly, I don’t know how I feel about Sedlec Ossuary – or, as it’s better known - Prague’s ‘Bone Church’; but I did know I wanted to visit it. History of Sedlec Ossuary The history

The Sound of Silence in Kerala’s Backwaters

September 17, 2016September 22, 2016 Featured, Food and Drink, India, Life in India, Tourist Attraction, Tradition, Travelling backwaters, boat, india, kerala

Having lived in Asia for 6 years of my life, I am pretty immune to noise by now. I can sleep through the loudest thunderstorm, I like hearing early morning church bells or the Call to Prayer,

Pictures from the Cornish Coast

September 14, 2016September 14, 2016 Europe, Featured, Travelling, United Kingdom cornwall, lizard, looe, porthcurno, whitsand bay

Most of my summer was spent in Cornwall, a place that I grow to love more and more each time I visit. For this mid-week post I wanted to show you some of my favourite

Why You Should Visit the Chocolate Museum, Köln

September 10, 2016September 11, 2016 Europe, Featured, Food and Drink, Tourist Attraction, Travelling germany, Museums, tourism, Tourist Attractions

I know that I don’t really need to tell you why you should visit a building full of chocolate, but I'll tell you about the Köln chocolate museum anyway. When I went to Köln (also known as Cologne)

Khatu Haveli – Staying at The REAL Marigold Hotel

September 1, 2016September 5, 2016 Featured, India, Life in India, Travelling india, Jaipur, Khatu Haveli, rajasthan

When I retire I'm going to settle in a place where the sun is always shining and the drinks are cheap; so watching Judy Dench browsing colourful markets in the movie, ‘Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’, made me

Coastal Walk: the Lizard to Kynance Cove

August 27, 2016August 27, 2016 Beaches, Europe, Featured, Nature, Travelling, United Kingdom cornwall, hiking, Kynance Cove, united kingdom

When I was a child my family holidayed in either Wales or Dorset where we would camp, spend hours on the beach, eat picnics by the lake, and go for leisurely hikes. I spent these holidays walking

The One Where I Moved to Bratislava

August 23, 2016September 12, 2016 Bratislava, Europe, Expat Life, Featured, Travelling, Working Overseas Bratislava, expat, living overseas, Slovakia

Just like that, two years passed and I was standing with all my bags at Mumbai airport ready to leave India for another new life somewhere else. You can see my last day in India by

Five Reasons Why Stockholm is Best Experienced on Foot

August 3, 2016August 3, 2016 Europe, Featured, Life in Sweden, Swedish Climate, Swedish Tourism, Travelling stockholm, sweden, tourism, transport, walking

As a participant of TBEX Stockholm I was very kindly given a 72-hour transport pass that works on trains, buses, and some boats across the city. This was perfect for enabling quick transport to the conference,