Tuesday 26 November 2013

Plans for Lucy's Locations

I've decided not to give up this blog, just as I have decided not to give up traveling! I will be studying Events Management at the University of Chester for the next 4 years but I have several holidays in between terms and I am intending to take a year abroad for my 3rd year and study somewhere cool, so although I am no longer on my Gap Year, my adventure continues!

Due to my degree, my posts wont be very regular anymore, however they will pick up again when I have a trip to talk about, or am planning something like my study year abroad!


Travel plans that I already have:



A weekend in York with Rachael Mole
A possible weekend in London with Klaudia and Lee and whoever else turns up from International Camp

Christmas plans:

Bedfordshire to see Abigail and co'
Welwyn Garden City to see Hedvika and co'
Sandhurst to see Jean/Nana with dad
Mudeford to see Ali, Spike and Ellie with dad

Christmas in Amsterdam with mum, dad and Oli
Hopefully meeting up with Steph Van Balsfoort in Amsterdam

New Years Eve in Carlow with Colm, Glenn, Niall, Conor and anyone else there
(I'm hoping this eventually turns into a tradition as we were there last year too, but the German girls can't make it this year -sad face- )

Long term plans:


This Easter , I will be doing Hitch 2014 to Morocco with my team member Will Duckworth, or Ducky. We are doing this to raise money for a charity called 'Link: Community Development' who improve education in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, South Africa and Uganda. We have already started fundraising, so please donate generously and help us to beat our target of £600. For more information, and to donate, please follow this link: www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/lucyandducky

Summer 2014, I have a few plans that are slowly coming together but I'll talk about those on a later date!

My next ambition, is to study abroad for a year. I have already started to research this, even though I am intending to go in my 3rd year (September 2015 to Summer 2016). I will probably make a separate blog post about how this is organised and about where I intend to go.

For now, that is all,

Lucy from the World xxo

Please donate!


Wednesday 13 November 2013

Content Page - Lucy C from A to B

In summary of my Gap Year:

Places I went, in alphabetical order:
Austria
Vienna

Australia
Sydney, Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise, Mooloolaba, Noosa, Rainbow Beach, Fraser Island, 1770, Airlie Beach, Whitsundays, Townsville, Magnetic Island, Cairns

England
Bedford, Mersea Island, Stevenage, London, Norwich

France
Perpignan, Toulouse, Paris

Germany
Schlangenbad, Klarental, Hannover, Cologne, Munich, Berlin

Ireland
Cork, Carlow, Dublin

Italy
Pisa, Follonica, Punta Alla

Netherlands
Amsterdam, The Hague

Spain
Madrid

Switzerland
Les Crosets

Turkey
Eskisir, Sile, Istanbul

USA - California
San Franscisco, Mill Valley, Fort Bragg, Davis, Mill Valley, Tahoe, Los Angeles


And if you are new to Lucy's Locations, or just want to read about a specific place again, then here is a guide to which countries are covered in which blog posts:

June 2012
England and Spain

July 2012
Spain and England

August 2012
England and the Netherlands

September 2012
Turkey

October 2012
Turkey, France and Germany

November 2012
London and Germany

December 2012
My Interrail trip through France, Austria and Germany

January 2013
Ireland, England and Germany

February 2013
Amsterdam, Cologne and Italy

March 2013
Italy, Amsterdam and Switzerland

April 2013
Berlin, Amsterdam, Switzerland
and Australia
Bondi Beach, Sydney, Palm Beach and the Blue Mountains

May 2013
Australia
Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise, Mooloolaba, Noosa, Fraser Island and Agnes Waters

June 2013
Australia
Airlie Beach, The Whitsundays, Magnetic Island and Cairns

July 2013
USA
San Francisco

August 2013
USA
Mill Valley, Fort Bragg, Santa Rosa and Davis

September 2013
USA
The lake house near Tahoe, Mill Valley, San Francisco and Los Angeles

Returning Home

At the airport
Coming home wasn't as surreal as I thought it might be. I think I was ready to return and this made it a lot easier to settle in. Abigail and my parents met me at the airport with this lovely sign in the photo above. I think I'll be keeping it forever and ever ;)


Nathalie and a few of her friends were doing a trip through Holland so we met up with them for one evening. It was great to see her again and for my two longest friends to finally meet.


Abigail and I finally agreed on a tattoo to get together. We had originally planned to get it together in L.A. but in the end I think Amsterdam was the best place for it. Getting a tattoo is very weird. Abigail doesn't seem fazed by it but for me it was crazy. It didn't hurt as much as I expected, people have said to me before that it feels like scratching sunburn, but to me it just feels like a needle scraping your skin... which I guess is exactly what it is, haha. Anyway, I sometimes forget I have it and get little shocks of "oh yeah" when looking at photos or in the mirror. I know I've always said that I only want one tattoo but I didn't think I'd get one with Abigail back then, so I still want something on my ankle, but if I do, it will take me a lot longer to decide what it is, as it will most likely be my last tattoo.


Before I knew it, Abigail was gone again and I had a few weeks to relax and recover - I had found that since returning I was very weak and exhausted all the time. My mothers theory is that my excitement was over and so my body was finally relaxing and allowing itself to be exhausted... I think I agree. Through my travels, I have gotten ill but it was in Germany and in Italy where I had a consistent 'home'. For the last 4 months in Australia and the USA I was moving a lot, not knowing where my next stop would be, so my body wasn't allowed to relax into a routine. I think that's probably the main reason I didn't get ill until I got home.
(Apparently the body has the same reaction when you put on an event: you work a crazy amount leading up to the event, work even harder during the event and then crash when it's over and become ill for several days/weeks.)


Suddenly I was packed and ready to leave again and finally go to University. It was time to say goodbye to my father again, time to say goodbye to my double bed and my beautiful bedroom view and start a new adventure. My mother has said several times that moving to University felt more final than my Gap Year did. Again, I have to agree, (whoever said "mothers know best" really knew their stuff haha) it's probably because I am moving to a house, a place I will live in for a year, a place that I will eventually call my home. On top of this, I will have 3-4 years in one place. University of Chester - here I come!


My father has asked me "what are you going to do with your blog now?" and I evaded his question a little. I wasn't really sure for awhile what I would do - should I change it to a University blog? Just stop writing? It didn't seem right... I have a half-plan now, and I guess you'll just have to wait and see what it is ;)

On that note, I dedicate this blog post to all those of you who have stuck with me throughout my travels and read my blog. This post is for those of you who made 7,375 views possible. Thank you for the support, thank you for asking me questions over facebook, thank you for sticking by me, thank you thank you thank you. But most importantly; thank you for accompanied me on my dream come true.

Well then, until next time ;)
Lucy xxo

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Los Angeles

I was staying with Rachel's brother Richie and I had a week to explore Los Angeles, of course, the first place I went was Hollywood, but feeling a bit lost and disorientated in the big city, I decided to pay for a guided tour, which turned out to be really worth it!


After a typical American breakfast, I managed to get a $40 tour for $20 by talking to the old woman about her life. She explained to me all the places we would be going and by the time I had given my $20, I had already forgotten half of what she said, woops! But here are some pictures:

Where it started
IRON MANS HOUSE!!!!!



Some famous peoples houses but I have forgotten whose they are, but I remember we did go past Ellen Degenerates, Katy Perry's, Lady Gaga's, the Playboy Mansion, Johnny Depp's and a tonne of others.







I remember that this was Snoop Dog's

And this was Johnny Depp's front lawn



After the tour, I walked around Hollywood for awhile feeling a lot more confident in this big city.  I realised that this was my last week of my Gap Year. The last chance to really explore, and to concentrate on everything this Gap Year was supposed to be about, so I vowed to make the absolute most of it all...


Maybe this will have my name on it one day? Hehe





After exploring Hollywood and Beverly Hills and Bel Air for awhile I climbed the "mountain" that the Griffiths Observatory is on to go and see the view and the science museum.




Then I climbed back down and decided to head to the LACMA and find those pretty lights that are in a lot of romantic films (to anyone who cares, totally take me on a date here one day hahaha)





Then it started getting dark and I decided I had achieved enough for one day and I didn't want to push my safety on the first night by being outside at dark. I got the bus back to Richie's house and made it to the door just as the sky went black.

The next day, after a breakfast brunch lunch at a popular cafe (which you can find in this edition of the Los Angeles pocket guide in the picture below) I went to Whimsical Alley to go and see American Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and Dr Who - bit strange but also very cool, but nothing compared to the Harry Potter Warner Brothers Experience just outside of London.




Then I took my dad's advice and walked down Rodeo Drive and wished I had worn a better outfit and had way more money than I've ever had because the stores here were all for the filthy rich! But it was a great place to see, so thanks Dad for suggesting it!






Photoshoot going on in the middle of it all


and wedding pictures too!
That evening, I went to Santa Monica beach for dinner and to have a quick look around the area. I went to see the Original Muscle Beach which my dad had also told me to go see and basked in the last evening rays before heading back to Richie's.










The next day, I went to Venice Beach but the weather wasn't that great so instead of sunbathing like I'd hoped, I walked along the coastal stretch and took in the sights to be seen. Including a basketball event going on with a small person and the tallest man I'd ever seen!




Some graffiti artists celebrating their crews existence

In America, even the mannequins have bigger butts ;)


Tall man

Short man


After spending most of the day in Venice, I went back to Hollywood for dinner where I found this star:


One of my favourite days was when I went to the Warner Brothers studio. I had previously booked a $250 5 hour Deluxe tour (compared to the $50, 2 hour VIP tour) - on my bus route from home to the studio, I met a Mexican girl who was also doing the tour but at a different time. We exchanged addresses and emails before departing and for me, it was a fabulous start to a fabulous day :D



I got to hold an actual real life Oscar


Trailers for the rich and famous







The houses above are all sets for different TV shows, a lot of the sets actually over lap so if you look closely you may see the same house in both The Big Bang Theory and Pretty Little Liars etc.


This is where the upside down Spiderman kiss happened!


And then we got to go and see the set up from Friends, and because our host was a bit sneaky and I think he had about three cocktails with his lunch, he allowed us to touch everything as long as we didn't move anything and as long as the door was shut behind us, brilliant!






After Friends, we got to see all sorts of different props used in all kinds of movies, commercials and TV programs. Near the end of our stay, we also had a look at all the famous cars:




On the 20th of August, I had tickets to see Taylor Swift live at the Staples Center. I had two tickets from Christmas as originally planned Abigail was supposed to meet me in Los Angeles, but because of lack of funding, this plan didn't end up actually happening. So I had an awkward ticket spare...

I tried selling it at first, but who really buys just one ticket? So in the end I used couchsurfing.com to advertise the ticket and to get someone to actually go with. In the end I had about 7 replies and I just picked the most enthusiastic person who turned out to be Joseph (who also turned out to be the niece of Angelina Jolie - not that I knew that when I picked him!)































































It was SUCH a great night and I loved every moment of it. Even though I had been looking forward to it since I got the tickets at Christmas, it still exceeded my expectations and I even cried at one point, and for those of you who know me, you'll know that that really is insane!


The next day it was time for me to pack my bags for the final time on this adventure and on the 22nd of August I flew from Los Angeles to England Heathrow and then from England Heathrow to Amsterdam, arriving on the 23rd of August to my mum, dad and best friend Abigail Black waiting for me.

More on coming home next time,
Lots of love and wish me luck for my first week at University,
Lucy xxo