From Middle Earth to Middle East to Middle Europe

This post is a combined tale of two halves, encompassing October-December 2022, and written retrospectively when reunited together in Patagonia in February 2023.

Arriving in Doha, Qatar was quite surreal. The Middle East felt a long way from New Zealand (commonly referred to as "Middle Earth") and we are still in a state of disbelief about having been there. There was an inherent peculiarity about everything that occurred in Qatar and it’s difficult to summarise. We reckon we could write an entire book on this portion of our life (maybe when the NDA's expire lol). But for now, here’s the condensed version with a few fun facts along the way, and if you’d like to know more, we would love to catch up in person!

Luke arrived a week prior to Jelley, landing at Hamad International Airport to a welcome sign with his name on it (his favourite!). He was swiftly transferred in a flash new BMW to his hotel, the Radisson Blu, which would serve as his home for the next month. It was quite an adjustment acclimatizing to the extreme heat of Doha where temperatures hover around 46° Celsius (114°F) in the summertime. Luckily, Luke arrived in September which was slightly “cooler” according to locals, but in his humble opinion it was still unbearable and “unsuitable for life, let alone soccer”. It didn’t drop below 40°C in our first month, even at 5am. The locals kept telling us “this is nothing” which was difficult to fathom. It’s no wonder FIFA made a late decision to postpone the World Cup to November in order to avoid the extreme temperatures of July which is when the tournament was originally scheduled.

Prior to it being granted the bid for the FIFA World Cup, we (and maybe you included) couldn’t place Qatar on a map. A glance over The Middle East and you could easily miss it. For context, Qatar is a small peninsular nation in the Persian Gulf (or Arabian Gulf depending on who you’re talking to). Its only land border is shared with Saudi Arabia, but it has close ties with all of its gulf neighbours which include Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran, and The United Arab Emirates (UAE). Fun Fact: all of these countries (with the exception of Iran) make up what is known as The Gulf Cooperation Council (or GCC) which is like the EU of The Middle East.

Qatar is a pretty prosperous nation thanks in large part to its bountiful oil and gas reserves which were discovered in the 1970's. Oil and gas helped Qatar transform from a nation of mostly Bedouins (desert dwelling nomadic tribes) to a global powerhouse who were now hosting the world’s largest sporting event, the FIFA World Cup. Another Fun Fact: the news programme Al Jazeera was founded and is headquartered in Qatar! It was especially funny turning on the weather channel where the weatherman always seemed to have the same update of "hot and dry" ..

Luke felt like royalty as he received private transfers to and from his 5 star hotel to high rise office called “Al Bidda Tower” where his employer “The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy” was based. The Supreme Committee is a verbose name for The Local Organizing Committee tasked with delivering this famed soccer tournament. Luke was working for the Hayya Programme which was a digital ID card required for all spectators planning to visit or participate in the tournament. It was a cool project to be a part of because it hadn’t really ever been done before. Hayya (or “welcome” in Arabic) was a smartphone app that granted visitors a visa to enter Qatar, free access to the metro, access to the competition venues, and a variety of other neat benefits. Luke was looking after all the English speaking sports teams (Team USA, Canada, England, etc.) as well as some corporate sponsors (Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Visa, etc.) to make sure that they all got their Hayya cards sorted and could seamlessly enter the country.

Luke’s work colleagues were from all over the world. Nations like Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Lebanon, Albania, Peru, Brazil, France, to just name a few. Some colleagues were even from nations that Luke had never even heard of. For example, Azerbaijan is a new one! Having such a diverse workforce made from some very interesting meetings and conversations because of all the languages that were spoken. One minute we’d be in English, the next in Arabic, then Spanish, then French, then Albanian and back to English. Wild! Luke was the only native English speaker in the department.

When Luke wasn’t at work, he was out braving the heat and exploring the many corners of Doha. He even got to see Jelley a couple of times while she was in Qatar - initially living in a hotel just a stone’s throw away. The bar at the Radisson became a common meeting ground for a late night cool beverage. It was bizarre living separately yet so close to each other. We had one day off together, where we got to pretend like we weren’t in Qatar and went across the country to a Hilton resort near the border with Saudi for a day in the sun, with a stunning sunset, drinks and pool to lay by wearing whatever we pleased.

While staying at The Rad, Luke met a lovely British couple, Ken and Yvonne who have lived in the Middle East for over 2 decades! Ken and Yvonne were the perfect people to befriend because they served as excellent ambassadors to Doha and kindly offered to show both of us around the many local sites / scenes! We shared so many great meals and adventures together, and Ken & Yvonne felt like an extended family to Luke especially after Jelley left. We also connected with a community of Americans based in Qatar, and it was great to hear about their experiences living in the GCC and spend time with their families over BBQs and other activities (like disc golf in the desert!).

Doha is the capital and most populous city of the State of Qatar. It is a unique destination given its relative newness. Doha (and the rest of Qatar) was nothing more than barren desert 15 years ago (Ken and Yvonne can confirm) and when Qatar received the ceremonial bid for the FIFA World Cup, the local Amir (or royal family) authorised the government to spend a fortune to build out the city in preparation for the onslaught of people expected to visit. It was startling to think that an entire city could undergo such rapid development and be born into existence all for a month-long soccer tournament.

Doha’s closest twin would be something like Las Vegas or Dubai. But what made Doha so unique was the juxtaposition of traditionalism and futurism. Many of the cultural customs of Qatar are quite conservative (i.e. public attire, no pork chops/bacon, alcohol restrictions, and the rest of the stuff you probably saw on the news) but when you walk around you can’t help but notice how futuristic everything was. With its 8 brand new air conditioned football (soccer) stadiums, countless high-rise buildings, artificially constructed islands, state of the art underground metro systems, gargantuan malls (complete with ice skating rinks& gondolas like Venice), and so much more. Makes you wonder how on earth all of this could have been built so quickly…? But perhaps the most astonishing infrastructural achievement was the network of air conditioning systems cooling just about every building in Doha. The company which is hilariously called “Qatar Cool” was to thank for the lifesaving air conditioning which even pumped cool air along some outdoor streets. It was a weird contrast spending all day indoors in the freezing air conditioning and then opening what felt like an oven door when stepping outside.

It was really neat to be able to experience Doha in the lead up to the World Cup. Come tournament time, the city completely transformed from a relatively quiet (and surprisingly super safe!) city to an international melting pot of crazed football (soccer) fans. Ironically, Luke is not all that enthusiastic about football. This is likely due to the fact that the sport is not very popular (or successful) in the USA, and football is a different sport altogether. According to Luke "Soccer is just 70 minutes of grown men passing a ball around, 15 minutes of them crying on the ground pretending to be hurt, and 5 minutes of explosive action". Once the frenzied football fans began pouring into Doha, it felt as if we were at the epicenter of a cultural phenomenon. Prior to this World Cup, we had no idea how mad the rest of the world was about football (soccer). The fans from Europe and Latin America treat the sport as if it was their religion. Luke even met some Argentinian fans who took out a second mortgage on their house just for a chance to catch a glimpse of their "Messi-ah" (see what I did there lol). You really couldn't go anywhere without hearing the deafening sound of fans drumming and shouting their nations anthems. It was madness, but also really really cool. Wrapped around the World Cup tournament was a host of activities, events, and exhibitions, too. Luke even got the fortunate chance to see the Black Eyed Peas and Sean Paul perform which was both epic and hilarious. Every day felt like a festival / carnival and there was a palpable buzz in Doha which was super neat to have participated in. Luke also stumbled upon the news set for Fox Sports and tried to get on TV, but unfortunately was unsuccessful.

Come tournament time, all eyes were glued to the television to see who was going to be the lucky team to take home the trophy. Luke got the opportunity to watch 5 games live and even was gifted a custom USA jersey with his name on it so that he could cheer on The Land of The Free! His favourite matches were the Saudi Arabian defeat over Argentina and USA vs. Iran. Both incredible matches despite the aforementioned disinterest in soccer. The atmosphere in the stadium was unlike anything he had ever experienced before and half of the spectacle was just soaking up the environment. The aura can only be best described as a simulation of primal warfare, but with lots of rules. Imagine Roman Colosseum Gladiator combat meets Disney's Aladdin. Fun Fact: For the first time ever, the official FIFA Soccer Balls contained miniature sensors for tracking ball movement digitally and helped the referees make more accurate calls! Luke saw some balls charging on the sidelines which was pretty neat.

While Luke stayed in Qatar for the World Cup action, Jelley headed back to the UK in November to see out the rest of the year in Europe. It was a memorable time in Qatar for Jelley, with the highlight being some of the incredible, hard-working and inspiring immigrant workers she had the privilege of getting to know, especially from Lebanon and India. Hopefully our paths will cross again in the future in a different environment. It was certainly an experience with many learnings, reaffiriming the importance of her core values, with unbelievable stories to be shared over a drink one day. When Jelley left Qatar, we weren’t sure when we were going to be together again, but knew it wouldn’t be until 2023 at the earliest. 2022 was the year we would spend both of our birthdays and Christmas apart (but also the year we got engaged!). Slightly sad as it was, it was the best possible decision. We felt lucky to have technology to keep connected, and that our only form of communication wasn’t limited to postcards or fax. The roles felt somewhat reversed, as usually it was Jelley offshore for a month or two working, but it was an exciting time for Luke to be delivering this prestigious event.

Jelley: Landing in London, I was fortunate to reconnect with several very good friends, and reintegrate back into daily life in the Western world. It was a relief to sleep off the long journey, see familiar faces and be in familiar places again. My winter wardrobe was stored with Lou in Worthing, who happened to be in The Philippines for a few weeks, so with just one warm outfit and on very short notice, I went straight to Greer’s new home in the city. A welcoming host, Greer let me stay at her new apartment after just getting settled and starting a new job. I will be forever grateful!

A few days later, I travelled north to visit Vic & Andrew in their new hometown of Oxford. They had recently relocated there for Andrew’s MBA programme, and I was excited to catch up and explore Oxford. The extended weekend was spent together with highlights including Andrew’s famous city tour, walking along the river to parks and cafes, the natural history museum, and a classic pub meal. A particular highlight was attending Oxford University’s iconic student debate, this particular edition with the topic ‘Is the American dream over?’, which had an interesting panel, including former US ambassador to NZ Scott Brown participating. It was so great to catch up again with Vic & Andrew, and have some space to work through the next steps for the last 6-8 weeks of 2022.

After some reflection, my shortlisted options included heading to Guatemala for a Workaway and Spanish language school, finding a short-term job in the UK, or travelling Europe solo to new places. The choice was made a little more difficult by the cold winter approaching, but eventually I landed on a combination of options 2 & 3, travelling in Europe and lining up a job over the Christmas holidays at a lodge down in Southern England (to pay for the European travels!). It seemed crazy not to make the most of being over in this part of the world, with great friends around. First up though was a week in Ireland with Claire, who had also recently left Qatar and we found ourselves with the luxury of time on our hands. It was the perfect spot to continue our history of drinking in pubs together throughout this year. It has often been observed that I have spent more time with Claire than with Luke in 2022, as we worked very closely together in both Birmingham and Doha.

Although British, Claire had never hopped over to the Emerald Isle, and with £12 Ryanair flights we were excited to be exploring this new country together. Flying in and out of Dublin, we were particularly keen to check out the countryside and smaller towns, so picked up a rental car and drove straight across the country to Galway. Yes, Ed Sheeran was played on repeat, along with a lot of Westlife as we drove through their hometowns. Turns out Claire is a superfan. It was my first time driving since leaving NZ, and quite exhilarating to be on the road again.

Galway had just put up their Christmas lights around the main square, and while it felt a little early in mid-November, it was nice to feel the holiday spirit and refreshing to be cold again. The Irish hot chocolates went down a treat, and we were quick to start tracking down the pubs with local live music for a fun first night ahead. We had considered joining a pub crawl, but felt just a little bit too old at the hostel and ventured out alone to mingle with the locals. We were soon joined by a cousin of a band member who it turned out has 132 cousins and had been divorced twice already himself in his 30s. A classic Irish tale.

Amazingly, it didn’t rain while in Galway, but although sunny, the wind was freezing and we thought the winter sea swimmers were absolutely crazy as we walked along the waterfront towards Salthill.

From Galway, we were driving south down to the Dingle Peninsula, but not before stopping in at the famous Cliffs of Moher. We arrived a little after 9am, and were surprised by the lack of other people around. We had the place to ourselves! Avoiding a downpour by sheltering in the lighthouse, we marvelled at the sheer size of the cliffs below, which popped out from the clouds intermittently with the occasional rainbow out to sea. After an hour, multiple tour buses arrived around 10am with the crowds tourists we were expecting earlier. We felt so lucky to have had the place in solitude!

There were multiple seasons in each hour, and the cliff walk became slippery as the rain poured on us at times. Claire being uncomfortable with heights did particularly well and was proud of her ability to hike along the steep clifftops. We were grateful for the stone barriers, and rolled our eyes at the tourists ‘doing it for the ‘gram’, climbing over the warning signs to get the perfect pic and potentially risking their lives in the process.

The drive through County Clare and south was stunning, with rolling green hills and stunning vistas. We took a quick stop in Limerick to stretch our legs and grab some lunch. Optimistically, I didn’t bring my rain jacket for the short walk and soon regretted it. We saw out the storm from a pub overlooking the local castle, which was a pretty cool spot, but we had to keep moving as we were hopeful to arrive in Dingle before dark. The rain really kicked in for the afternoon, pouring as we drove through tiny villages, via Tralee, and down the windy roads to the cute town of Dingle.

With just 2050 residents and 54 registered pubs, Dingle was a gorgeous small town with character and charm, and immediately welcomed us. It was a Thursday night and the winter off-season. We spent this first night popping into every open pub we came across, starting across the road at the appropriately named Dingle Pub. There was live music and good vibes in many pubs, but the highlight had to be Dick Mack’s. From the outside, it looked closed but we were in luck. The sweetest young bartender was on duty called Luke (great name!), who was saving up for his first ‘overseas’ trip with his girlfriend to London the next day! We met a couple of Irish guys at the pub, who took us to the ‘last call’ pub in town, An Droichead Beag, which is where all of the musicians go after their sets at other pubs to relax and continue to improvise and play music together. It was a super local vibe. The police came in at one stage - just to use the bathroom and leave again - not to shut down the festivities for being open later than allowed.

We were keen to check out one of the scenic drives in the region, even if the weather looked a little dodgy. The night before, we had met Patrick - a charming local lad who is a horse trekking guide in the tourism season and has lived on the outskirts of Dingle all of his life. Patrick had offered to be our unofficial tour guide over a couple of drinks, but we weren’t sure if he might change his mind after waking up from a big night out. Call it the luck of the Irish, but we met again and embarked on the famous Slea Head drive around Dingle Peninsula. Patrick was true to his word and filled with fun facts about the area, there were so many places we wouldn’t have stopped otherwise along the way, including (of course) another couple of pubs for a cheeky drink and toastie for lunch. He knew all of the locals and we couldn’t stop anywhere without him having a yarn with a mate. The rain cleared for us to have a perfect view of the Blasket Islands, which were a history lesson in themselves. We did a couple of short walks, tried to avoid getting poured on (impossible) and had a lot of laughs throughout the day. It was the perfect way to explore the area and we felt so fortunate to spend it with Patrick!

Hailing from New Zealand and England, it is a big call to award the ‘best fish & chips’ title - but we both agreed that Dingle might just have it at The Fish Box. One fun fact we learnt about Dingle that we were sad to miss out on was meeting Fungie the Dingle Dolphin, who had mysteriously vanished during the covid pandemic after 37 years calling the bay home. We hope the rumours he left due to loneliness are true, rather than having passed away. Learn more here https://news.sky.com/story/missing-fungie-ireland-gripped-by-mysterious-disappearance-of-beloved-dolphin-12111486

Our time in Ireland was coming to an end, but not before we went up to the capital city Dublin. We splurged a little with Claire’s Hilton status, and it was a welcome change from our cold hostel room in Dingle. We felt right at home after living in a Hilton in Birmingham for a month during the Commonwealth Games earlier in the year together. It felt right to be together watching the opening game of the World Cup in a pub in Ireland, a world away from the action, and surreal to think Luke was there soaking it all up.

Just before leaving Dublin, I managed to meet up with Grainne for a drink at a nearby pub. Luke & I had met Grainne on our tour in Turkey back in April, it was so nice to catch up again in her hometown and share travel and life stories together. One of the best parts of travel is the people you meet with the hope that one day you will meet again in another part of the world.

We returned to the UK. Lou was back from The Philippines, so it was down to Worthing for a weekend to catch up on our travel stories before I left for a solo Eurotrip. Lou & Jono were preparing for their annual ‘12 pubs of Christmas’ and had a couple of potential spots to check out. I finally got to experience the famous Worthing sauna on the beach - I generally hate sweating and saunas, but this was a surprisingly relaxing experience, followed by a quick dip in the raging sea afterwards! After the best Sunday roast of my life, it was time to bid farewell to my Worthing fam again until next time. I’ve spent so much time with Lou, Jono & Maybelline this year (and my clothes have spent even longer haha), and feel extremely grateful to have had a home away from home here this year.

I was off to Heathrow with nervous anticipation for the month ahead. Before arriving at the train station, I quickly returned to Lou’s to ditch my hiking poles - I realised my hopes of a hiking holiday in the great outdoors would likely be dashed by the winter season. This was one of my big anxieties about travelling solo in Europe - winter. This meant cold, really cold, very short daylight hours and it could be potentially quite lonely with not many other backpackers on the road. With the uncertainty on weather, I had no defined route, which was a little difficult for me as a planner who likes to know the bones of a trip. I would also be staying in dorms in hostels, something I hadn’t done alone since 2016 in Thailand, a lifetime ago. I was pleasantly surprised to find that hostels had improved in the past 6 years (or maybe just my standards and budget had!), and mostly went for female-only dorms with highly positive reviews.

My first destination was Zagreb, Croatia. It was crazy to think it had just been 2 months since I was in the country with Luke, soaking up the sun in Korcula. Somewhere I really wanted to visit on this trip was Lake Bled in Slovenia, which can be quite challenging to get to, and Zagreb was the logical airport for me to fly into on short notice. It was an excellent airport, very small, and I felt a sense of pride as I navigated the local bus ticket system to take a bus, then tram, into the city centre and to my hostel.

On my arrival at 8pm, I immediately met a roommate, an American Nicole, who was heading to check out the Christmas markets and lights. Definitely something on the list to visit, it was great to instantly make a friend and explore the city together, beautifully lit at night. Christmas market season had just begun across Europe - coming from the Southern Hemisphere, this was something I hadn’t experienced before. We came across the neat event called Advent Zagreb, with mulled wine, good food and fun live music.

It transpired that winter hostel life has its perks. No one wants to get up early when it’s so dark and cold outside, so there were unlimited opportunities for a sleep in, with no one stirring until 9am! I had convinced Nicole to sign up to the free walking tour with me, and when we got up talked our roommates Valentina from Chile and Nora from Chicago into coming along for the history lesson in the rain.

Our walking tour guide was enthusiastic and filled with interesting facts - you never know what you’re going to get on a free tour, but this was a good one. Zagreb interestingly was recovering from a series of earthquakes in March 2020, with the city’s main cathedral barricaded off under repair. It reminded me a little bit of Christchurch. Along with the unique buildings around the city, we learnt a little bit about life in Croatia - they don’t have property tax but do have 40-50% income tax, and also free university for all citizens. Our small walking tour group who braved the rain was from all over the world - NZ, USA, Chile, Montenegro and Germany.

We went for a brilliant lunch at a recommended local food restaurant Plac, before it started hailing and we collectively decided to head home to figure out next travel plans and chill for the afternoon. Although the weather forecast looked dismal for Plitvice Lakes National Park, Valentina and I were both hoping to go there, so we booked bus tickets for the next day together and hoped that all would work out.

A Chilean from Santiago, Valentina shared my excitement of Christmas markets with lights & decorations ‘just like the movies’ , a real Southern Hemisphere thing where we will never experience a cold, white Christmas at home! She had never been ice skating, so although it was pouring with rain, we went down to the local square and ice skated in the wet under the lights. We got absolutely soaked and there was no one else out, but it was a lot of fun and a magical experience.

We woke up in the morning wondering how on earth it was December already! What a year it had been. Valentina was also on a worldwide ‘Gap Year’ trip after working through her 20s at LATAM Airlines, and was a great travel companion to have, especially since Luke & I were considering Chile as a future destination. Well aware of the horrible weather forecast (rain in the day, possible snow in the evening), we took the 2 hour bus journey to the famed Plitvice Lakes National Park.

It was pouring with rain when we arrived, but all worth it as we got our first glimpse of the waterfalls. This place gets packed with summer crowds and tour buses, and we had the park nearly to ourselves, along with Tane from Myanmar and a couple from the UK. Part of the park was closed for winter , but we could still walk around the lower lakes and take the boat across on the way back. The boardwalk goes over the crystal clear water and at times over the waterfalls. It was a mystical, magical feeling with the fog surrounding us. We saw the faint remains of fall colours, the trees nearly bare of their leaves. During the boat journey, it started to lightly snow, and we arrived back with 2 hours before our return bus. We enjoyed a warm soup and a cool beer with our new friend from Myanmar before waiting on the road for our bus. While we had bought return bus tickets, Valentina and my bus never showed, and the snow had started settling around us. When another company turned up in the dark, the other 3 travellers were accepted onto the bus, but we had to beg to purchase extra tickets to be let on for the journey back to Zagreb, rather than be stuck in the middle of nowhere. Once we made it back to to the terminal, the lady in our bus office shrugged her shoulders and said ‘your bus should’ve come, but I can’t confirm or deny if it did’ and threw a piece of paper our way to request a refund. We were very surprised to find the refund came through to our international accounts at the end of January !!

That night, I took another bus to Ljubljana (which I still struggle to pronounce, silent j?), the capital of Slovenia and one step closer to my dream of visiting Lake Bled. The Christmas lights here had a unique theme to them - the solar system!

Nora, who I’d met in Zagreb earlier in the week, was in my dorm, and I convinced her again to join a city walking tour to learn about the city and country. With only 2 million citizens, and 300,000 in the capital, Slovenia had less than half of the population of NZ!

I loved to learn that hiking is their unofficial ‘national sport’, and it made me excited to plan a return in a warmer season with Luke. 5,000 years ago, the country was a lake, and people lived in stilt houses above the lake, before the Romans conquered, the lake eventually evaporated to more of a swamp and was drained to start building. Castles emerged during the Middle Ages, and this strategically located piece of land in Europe changed hands many times throughout the course of history. The Slavs came to the area , then the territory was divided and ruled by Austrian , Hungarian and Venetian kingdoms. Then it ‘Christianised’, before the 15/16th century Ottomans invaded but never conquered. The Ottomans burned towns, and took 200,000 Slovenians as slaves to Turkey. After the World Wars, communism came to the area, as much of the country that we know today was absorbed into Yugoslavia, although some became Italy (who had occupied during World War 2 and made Ljubliana a ghetto, leaving most historic buildings intact). Our tour guide’s own grandfather had never moved, but throughout his lifetime, has been a citizen of 4 different countries. In 1991, Slovenia officially became an independent country, with language being the main base of its identity. One final fun fact is that, like its neighbour Croatia, attending university is an affordable exercise, at just 30€ per year.

Nora & I took an adventure the next day to Lake Bled. It had rained consistently since I arrived in Europe, and today was no different, as we wandered around the lake in the thick cloud and rain. This might be a place better visited in another season. We took the climb to a lookout and observed a vibrant sign showing expectations of the view, vs the reality in front of us. Much like Plitvice Lakes, it was unique to experience this well-visited destination in near solitude, and a special type of beauty. We enjoyed some delicious Slovenian soup on the waterfront before returning to Ljubljana, and heading our separate ways in Europe.

My next destination was Salzburg, Austria, where I would be based for the next few days. Having been to Vienna in 2017, it was special to experience another part of this scenic country, and I enjoyed the bus journey through snowy mountain Alps, with a small glimpse of the sunset in the mountains through the clouds. I had a particularly interesting roommate in my mixed dorm, a Bosnian guy who (illegally) called Salzburg home while he worked to make money and sought to gain legal status in the EU. A very friendly guy with quite the life story, he took me on a walking tour around the city known to be Mozart’s birthplace. It made me reflect, not for the first time in recent months, how lucky I was to be born in NZ with a powerful passport allowing near borderless travel, and how this world can be an unfair place to very genuine and hard-working people who have no control over where they were born and the consequences of this that follow them throughout their lives.

A couple of Aussie guys who had just graduated Uni arrived in my dorm the next day, and we teamed up to take a daytrip to Hallstatt. While there were various tours headed there, we were feeling time rich and money poor, opting for the public transport bus/train/ferry combo to get to this touristic mountain oasis. It was great to have company so we didn’t get lost, and even better, it was the first blue sky in Europe for 2 weeks !!

In Ireland, I had met an Austrian girl who told me not to bother with Hallstatt as it was swarming with tourists, but options were limited in the winter season, there was semi-reliable transport to get there. It was easy to see why this town was such an attraction - a stunning UNESCO World Heritage well-preserved town on the lakefront, surrounded by towering Alps. I talked the lads into walking up the steep but rewarding path to the lookout rather than taking the funicular, and we stood on the Skywalk in awe as the cloud gradually lifted and revealed the lake below us. With fresh overnight snow, it was a winter wonderland up there and truly a special spot.

Although I was travelling alone, and anxious about being only in my own company 24/7, I never really had a moment alone up until that point! With the World Cup going on, most nights at hostels were spent in the common areas or bars at hostels, with a game on in the background and chatting to other travellers, who were generally either living over in Europe or embarking on slow, longer trips. I did feel especially old in Salzburg though after a conversation with a Scottish lad, who had cycled from Aberdeen to Turkey and was returning back again. He was born in 2003…

I finally met a fellow Kiwi traveller for the first time in 11 months on the road! Vivien had been travelling since June throughout Europe, and was soon to be settling in Austria for a winter ski lodge job. Vivian wanted to go across the German border to Königssee, in Bavaria’s Berchtesgaden National Park for the day. I was a little fatigued and also satiated from my day in Hallstatt. The weather didn’t look quite as favourable, but I couldn’t turn down this opportunity to get out into nature again and hear a familiar accent!

After a little bit of a mixup with buses, our transport connections worked out perfectly. Interestingly, as we crossed over the German border, we were required to put on face masks (although we were still sharing the same bus with the same people from Austria!). Upon arriving in the town of Königssee, we boarded a beautiful wooden boat which would be taking us across the lake to St Bartholomew. This was one of the clearest lakes in Germany, 8km long and 200m deep. It started lightly snowing as soon as we boarded, and we hoped the cloud might lift at some stage during the day. The commentary onboard was in German, so we didn’t get too many facts, but we really enjoyed when it stopped midway for the captain to pull out his trumpet and perform a tune, which the surrounding valleys perfectly echoed back to us. It was hauntingly beautiful, even more so with the snowflakes falling softly around us.

When we pulled up to the church on the lakefront, we looked up to try to spot Germany’s 2nd highest mountain, with no luck. After chatting to the park rangers, we took an easy trail around the lake, impressed with the little we could see. There was a track up to a nearby cave that we weren’t sure if we would be able to reach, but decided to give it a go in true Kiwi spirit, as we had the time. As we climbed up the mountainside, the snow on the ground became much thicker, and we decided to turn around after a bit of fun in the white stuff. As we descended, we looked up and it was almost a sudden contrast, as the clouds began clearing and we could admire our gorgeous surroundings. We decided to return via the lakefront, and we were greeted with stunning reflections on the still lake. It was wonderful to connect with nature again. We concluded the fulfilling day with some excellent Thai food in Salzburg together and a cheeky mulled wine at the Christmas market. I was starting to lose count of the markets (and the mulled wines)!

My next stop was Munich, Germany. I was feeling under the weather and sluggish, making it difficult to enjoy this stage of my travels to its fullest. My hostel was well-established with a great vibe and I wished I had the energy to make the most of it, and spent a lot of this time sleeping. I did meet an interesting French guy with Algerian parents, who told tales of his annual family holidays by ferry from Marseilles to Algeria every year, a 20 hour feat! I wished we could have talked longer. There was a great atmosphere in the hostel, and the city had a vibrant Christmas spirit with markets around every corner. I joined another walking tour, which was uneventful and crowded, unable to hear the tour guide and spent much of the time chatting to a Kiwi guy who had been based in London for the past 15 years and was contemplating a move back to Godzone.

I had an early start and a huge day ahead - I was taking a bus up to Nuremberg to meet with Maria. It was so exciting to be reconnecting after nearly 12 years! Maria was a great friend from my class at school in San Jose, Costa Rica, where I was an exchange student in 2011. We had stayed in touch thanks to social media. After graduating from nursing school in CR, Maria learnt German and secured a visa and job to move to Frankfurt to work there. It felt like no time had passed when we met in the train station, the only difference being that my Spanish was significantly worse and we conversed solely in English! I was gatecrashing Maria’s Christmas market holiday plans, and stoked to be joining her in Nuremberg. It was bitterly cold (the temperature hadn’t risen above 0 the entire time I had been in Europe), today was -7 and I thought my fingers might fall off. The city had quite a buzz about it, with multiple markets around, and we enjoyed exploring the alleyways and having classic German weiners for lunch. A short train ride took us up to the more local town of Erland, where we experienced wholesome carols and of course mulled wine.

It was a full-on day, which we ended with a train and bus back to Maria’s home in Frankfurt. It was really cool to see where she lived, and we woke to a light layer of snow in the morning, a novelty for the city. The next day Maria gave me the tour of Frankfurt, visiting a couple more famous Xmas markets and walking along the river ‘Am Main’ as the locals do. It was so special to be able to catch up on life after such a long time, reminisce on memories from our teenage years, and we swore to not leave it 12 years again before the next reunion somewhere in the world.

I had around 5 days before my next important reunion in Cologne, and decided to spend this time in Belgium via Luxembourg. Luxembourg, Luxembourg is an interesting city in a tiny county by the same name. A good friend from high school Anna had called the city home for a decent 5-6 years but returned home pre-pandemic, and I’d always regretted not going to visit her when she lived there! There was just one youth hostel in the city (which is a bit of an expensive tax haven, most people who work there live across the border in cheaper Germany and commute every day) and at late notice I could only book 1 night. After multiple train delays and confusion as no one really spoke English, I arrived after dark and walked through the empty streets across the city to my accommodation. If only I knew that public transport was easy and free in Luxembourg! Luckily it’s a safe place and I couldn’t really take a wrong turn after leaving the train station area. It was interesting walking along the city walls lit up at night, and wondering what it all looked like in daylight.

After my average experience in Munich, I decided to give the free walking tour a go again to learn a bit in my short time here. We were a small group, me + 4 Americans, and our energetic tour guide, who had moved here from Belarus and was passionate about Luxembourg. It was interesting to learn about the Duke and the royal family of the country, walk along the city walls, admire the views, and also take in the maps of how much larger the country used to be, with France and Germany both claiming large chunks of the land. The city centre was compact, and unfortunately there had been a fire at the Xmas market the night before so I couldn’t compare that to other markets to date.

It was just a quick stop before train dramas struck again, with a cancelled train and nowhere warm to wait. After managing to get on a later train, it was just to be stopped again in another random town with no English explanation available of which other train to get on and hope it connected to my next destination, Bruges. A group of elderly Spanish ladies were clinging to me at the train station for help with directions, which was a little hopeless as I had no idea myself and struggled to communicate.

Bruges, Belgium, was a quaint town, the original home of the ‘chocolate box’ style buildings. I knew little about Belgium, except for waffles, chocolate and beer, which I was sure to sample plenty of. I decided to wander at my own pace and see what I stumbled across. The Christmas decorations here added to the character of the town, with creative wreaths adorning shopfronts. Possibly the weirdest thing I’ve come across in our travels so far was a Catholic church, the ‘Basilica of the Holy Blood’. I arrived right on time for the presentation(?) of the blood vial, which was a brief ceremony with the opportunity to walk past the blood of Jesus and donate money to the church. The winter freeze continued, and once the sun went down (around 4pm), all I wanted to do was retreat back to my warm hostel bed !!

My Eurotrip was coming to an end, and I was off to Antwerp. On the bus ride over, I sat next to my 2nd Chilean of the trip, a university exchange student from Valparaiso who was doing an exchange in Milan, Italy. She was enroute to visit extended family near Antwerp who she hadn’t met before, and trying to make the most of being in Europe. It was really cool to chat with Ayleen, and by this stage our Chile plans were starting to solidify. We resolved to try to meet up in 2023 when we were both in Chile.

Yust hostel in Antwerp was possibly my favourite - it had everything you needed, and was more like a hotel than a hostel. The dorm beds were like pods, with curtains, lamps, power charging and lots of privacy. It was a relief to get some laundry done, and I got chatting with a young Aussie, filled with optimism for the climate and future and stoked to be travelling Europe during his uni break. I joined my final walking tour of the trip and learnt a lot about the history of Antwerp (but apparently didn’t take any notes on it, so you might have to google that one yourself!). The city surprised me in how modern it was. I was starting to tire from solo travel, and was feeling nervous about my travel plans to get back to the UK just the week before Christmas, as weather and travel demand had been causing chaos amongst flights and trains all over the continent.

I had one last stop in Europe before heading back across the channel. It was a visit I wish I had made years before, but was extremely grateful the stars now aligned and I would be finally be seeing Moritz in Cologne! Moritz was my German exchange student brother from 2010 in Nebraska, USA. We had been placed with the same exceptional host family, Kelly & Luella Hodson for 6 months in Osmond. My memories of a 16 year old high schooler were somewhat different to the man who met me at the train station - Moritz was now 28 and working as a full-time commercial pilot, with flawless English. I’m so proud of the transformation and hard work Mortiz has put into achieving his dreams. While our time together was limited, it was a very special catch up and we even surprised Luella with a phone call of us together!

We met up with Laura, another exchange student from Nebraska who is now based in Cologne as a teacher, and reached out via instagram when she saw I was in Europe! We climbed the Cologne Cathedral together, and it was so cool to catch up with her also after such a long time, and hear about her American host sister’s upcoming wedding. Being an exchange student truly was a transformative period of my life and shaped many of my values. I often look back on this pivotal time as contributing to who I am today, and it introduced me to incredible people from all over the world.

It was time to get back to Worthing, do a speedy luggage change and pack my bags for the next adventure 6.5 hours south - working at a lodge in Exmoor National Park over the holidays. Luke was still in Qatar, with the final match on 18 December, preparing to end his contract and hoping to make it home to California for Christmas.

We are so happy to say we were reunited again in mid-January in California, and look forward to getting up to speed with the next blog post (internet coverage allowing!). We’re sharing this from halfway around the world in Chilean Patagonia! It’s quite the contrast here to the experiences shared above, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Until then,

- A Kiwi and A Cali

P.S. Don’t forget to write your name if you leave a comment!