Runaway Brit - Teacher. Expat. Traveller.

Eating My Way Around the US

May 22, 2020May 22, 2020 Featured, Food and Drink, Travelling food, United States, US, USA

With my visit to the US coinciding with the fourth of July, I hoped to experience at least two of the 'four Fs' that form the tip of the cultural iceberg: food and festivals. I'm

Čičmany: Slovakia’s Charming Gingerbread Houses

May 15, 2020May 15, 2020 Bratislava, Europe, Expat, Featured, Tourist Attraction, Tradition cicmany, design, museum, Slovakia

Čičmany in central Slovakia comes straight from the pages of a fairy-tale book. The picturesque village sits in a verdant meadow surrounded by pine forests, but this is not what makes it so delightful. What's

Kayaking on the Danube in Bratislava

April 25, 2020April 25, 2020 Bratislava, City Break, Europe, Expat, Expat Life, Featured, Nature, Tourist Attraction, Travelling, Working Overseas Bratislava, danube, kayaking, lake, Slovakia

Peeping through the trees ahead of me, the iconic shape of the castle reminds me that although I am kayaking in the countryside, I’m actually still in the city. That’s the beauty of Bratislava, one

Lofoten: A Winter’s Dream

April 17, 2020April 17, 2020 Europe, Expat Life, Featured, Nature, Photography, Tourist Attraction, Travelling lofoten, norway, photography

Waking long before daylight, we found our car concealed beneath the icy shroud of the first winter snowfall. Once outside and puffing impatiently into my hands to enjoy a momentary sensation of warmth, I opened

Clothes May Be Optional, but Masks Are Not!

April 11, 2020April 11, 2020 Bratislava, Europe, Expat, Expat Life, Featured, Health & Fitness, Life, safety, Working Overseas coronavirus, face masks, naked bathing, social distancing

Approaching a large metal gate crossing our path, my friend whispered ‘Do you think we can walk here?’ ‘Well, it’s open, and there’s no sign saying we can’t’, I replied, trying to sound more

Lockdown! A Teacher’s Thoughts on the Corona Pandemic

April 5, 2020April 5, 2020 Bratislava, Europe, Expat, Expat Life, Featured, Health & Fitness, Heartbreak, Life, Relationships, School, Teaching, Working Overseas international teaching, teaching, teaching overseas

It’s been 26 days since my world shut down. It’s been far longer for others. It began slowly. Back, in January, news of an unknown virus in China reached us here in Europe. I barely took

The Hidden Dangers of Quarantine

March 28, 2020March 28, 2020 Bratislava, Expat, Expat Life, Featured, Humour, Life, Working Overseas Bratislava, coronavirus, humour

Stay indoors. Stay safe, they said. They're right, of course: if you stay indoors you won't catch Coronavirus, and – more importantly – you can't spread it. But what I didn't know is that being

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

A Surprise Birthday Trip to Budapest

February 10, 2020February 11, 2020 City Break, Europe, Expat, Expat Life, Featured, Life, Tourist Attraction, Travelling budapest, city break, For Sale Pub, hungary, New York Palace

I left work on Friday with my bag packed for a surprise birthday trip. All I had been told was that the bus departed at 4pm and I would need my passport. Of course, I

Why You Should Visit the Bratislava Christmas Markets This Season

December 15, 2019December 15, 2019 Bratislava, City Break, Europe, Featured, Food and Drink, Tourist Attraction, Travelling Bratislava, christmas market, market, Slovakia

Once again, Christmas—the most wonderful time of the year—is upon us; and Bratislava just burst into life with festive crooners singing jovially of snow, sleigh-bells and chestnuts roasting on open fires. Ridiculously cute wooden cabins

Cyprus: Birthplace of a Goddess

October 22, 2019October 25, 2019 Europe, Featured, Nature, Tourist Attraction, Travelling cyprus, Greece

Most people visit Cyprus during the summer, but you shouldn't avoid this charming Mediterranean island during low season. Known for being the birthplace of Aphrodite: the Goddess of Beauty, Cyprus has much to love -

Why I Love Working in Europe (And Never Want to Leave)

October 14, 2019October 15, 2019 Advice, Europe, Expat, Expat Life, Featured, Life, Teaching, Working Overseas europe, expat, international teaching, living overseas, teaching overseas

Recently, I've been reflecting on why I love living in Europe out of all the places I could go. And, yes: publishing this post as Britain perches precariously on the brink of Brexit is ironic.

Winter Break: Malta

October 4, 2019October 4, 2019 City Break, Europe, Expat, Featured, Travelling city break, Malta

Here in Central Europe, summer hangs on a thread. The long, light evenings are closing in, the sun's warmth is fading fast, and I'm already thinking back to my first holiday of the year in

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

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

Europe Travel: Eight Lakes in Six Days

July 24, 2018August 13, 2018 Europe, Featured, Nature, Tourist Attraction austria, balaton, bled, bohinj, europe, Hallstatt, heviz, hungary, lake, lake bled, mondsee, Slovakia, slovenia, wolfgangsee, zlaty piesky

"What do you want to see on our trip around Europe?" I asked my friend. "Mountains, lakes, or beaches" came the reply. Lakes, it is then. Because Europe is so compact, one of the best

Reinvention, Promotion, and a Whole Load of Summer Travel

June 30, 2018June 30, 2018 Featured, Life, Relationships heartbreak, life, travel

If you have read my blog for some time, you may have noticed that I have been absent for a while. On the other hand, maybe, you have not. Either way, it has been five

Heartbreak and Healing in the Holy Land

March 4, 2018October 4, 2019 Featured, Relationships broken heart, heartbreak, Israel, Jordan, life, relationships

"May I have your passport, please?" asked the man at the hotel's dingy reception desk. "Certainly." Smiling brightly, I handed it over. "And the other one?", he asked. "Um, there is no other one. It's just

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