taylorjean-travel-blog

[taylorjean-travel-blog]

FROM WHERE IT ALL STARTED:

So, I don’t really know where to start to be honest. I’ve never really been good at writing, but maybe it will feel easier writing about my story and past experiences. Not sure why I thought about starting this blog- But I thought it would be a good way for people to read what I’ve been up to for the past few years with my travels/working as a yachtie (which will be in another post later on). I get a lot of questions and comments about how good my life looks and why/how I travel so much. I just want people to know that you all see only the good things that I post, lets be honest that’s what social media is, right? The best highlight reel of everyone’s lives. I never really post my struggles or the realness of working/living on a Super yacht.

My passion for traveling first started when I was about 19. Living on the Gold Coast in a job I wasn’t completely enjoying at the time. Living with my Long-term boyfriend Jed. One of my best friends Lana was travelling at the time. I never really had the desire to travel at all really- until I saw her photos and what she was getting up to- it looked incredible and so much fun. I started to Google places and checking out maps. Talking about it with Jed started getting me really excited. So we planned something big and definitely a worthwhile trip I’ll never forget. 10 weeks total in Europe, 6 weeks exploring in a van and the other 4 getting around via trains/buses and flying.

I think at the time the most daunting thing about deciding to travel for a long period of time was resigning from the security of my job and leaving my comfort zone. We moved everything back home to our family homes and that was it, we were ready to go. Not thinking about what would happen when we got back with jobs etc. We had saved and had been planning the trip for a few months. Half was booked which is a great way to do it. Luckily Jed had traveled to Europe more times than he can probably count, thanks to his map knowledge- we planned a good little route to see some places off the beaten track. I would definitely suggest traveling in a hire van or buying one. It’s a great way to discover little towns that would be harder to get too or you didn’t even know of. Back then living in a van was for sure something I found hard. This is so gross to mention to you guys BUT I didn’t shower for about 6 days at a time. Sometimes the only way we showered, brushed our teeth and used a proper toilet was at either the closest petrol station on the highway that actually provide showers for a small cost of 50cents each. The local beach that most of the time had the coldest water (it was the off season at this time)- Whip out the body wash and just get it done. Other times I would get frustrated and request for Jed to find a campsite close by to properly shower with hot water. I remember saying “If you don’t find a campsite and get us there by tonight, I’m going to kill you!” more than once. Not to mention some of the places we pulled up to sleep. I felt so scared and unsafe in countries I didn’t speak their language whilst sleeping in the dead end of a suburbia street or sleeping just off the highway with deer’s and creepy trees like something of a horror movie. Cold misty nights off a highway in Croatia- that’s the one I remember the most, I would wake Jed up when I had to pee because I didn’t want to go outside alone in the middle of the night. I also remember the first couple of nights in the van so well 3 degrees with one thin blanket for both of us that the hire company had for us?! The very next day I bought a thick sleeping bag and it was the best 50 Euros I did spend.

I had every piece of clothing I bought with me plus thermals and I was still shivering and huddling into Jed. It was the most freezing I’ve ever felt in my life. I think I slept all of 1 hour that night. Randoms kept walking by and looking in the van wondering what the hell a van from Germany was doing pulled up in their street for the night.

I’m going to post below the spots we stopped and some photos and a little paragraph from each place. The towns written in BOLD are some of my favs.

·      Frankfurt, Germany

This was our first stop. I remember it being so so cold. We caught the train from Frankfurt city to where we picked up our van. Then the adventure really began.

·      Paris, France

Funny story about Paris. I remember driving down the main road with the Eiffel tower in sight; I’m actually surprised we didn’t get lost. We decided to wing it for a park and surprisingly enough we scored one just a street away. Lots of the locals kept staring at us and a few of them suggest for us to not leave the van there too long as the area is known for break ins and pit pocketer’s (especially it being a tourist travel van from Germany).  We were in Paris for all of 4 hours, which I find hilarious. We walked for hours around the main attractions. Ate some croissants and I bet Jed ate a cake or two. I did not fall in love with Paris like others do, each to their own though.

·      Etretat, France!

So, this place is amazing but was so, so cold. Definitely need a car to get to this little gem. Etretat isn’t only just a cute small French fishing village, but has the most beautiful scenery and cliffs right on the seas side.

·      Mont St Michele, France

This place was extremely cool. Massive castle in the middle of at the time an empty sea bed (it usually is surrounded with water when the tide comes in). I remember being so in shock of how crazy and detailed the buildings are, not just here but all over Europe and how old they are! Considering how basic and simple the designs of buildings are these days.

·      La Rochelle, France

There was something about this cute little fishing town; market stalls with fresh olives, nuts, vegetables and fruits. There were many towns I didn’t feel comfortable at or we got completely starred at and I hated that. Thats one thing I have discovered with the Europeans, they have not been taught its rude to stare. Watch out if your like Jed and covered in tats or have really fair blond hair like myself. La Rochelle was very cute though I enjoyed walking around the streets here.

·      St. Malo, France

This town has a lot of history and it actually gets surf! We stopped in here for a night or maybe food behind a mc Donald’s- not to eat just for the Wi-Fi!! I think like every little town along the coast in France has an old town. St.Malo did and it had canons out of the walls of the forte that we checked out; here is a photo of me on one.

·      Biarritz, France

This was one of the warmest days on the start of our trip, I remember how excited I was that I could actually take of my 2 jumpers and eat an ice cream in the sunshine. We definitely enjoyed a scoop or 2 of gelato everyday if not every second day.

·      San Sebastian

What a place! I loved San Seb, it’s so beautiful. Unfortunately we didn’t spend enough time there, I think it was only 3 days. That’s one thing I would change or do differently with a van trip is explore more and spend more time there, also probably would want to see it In summer! In all its glory. We ventured up to both lookouts and were blown away with the view. Another tip along the way is always campsites offering spaces for Vans and offering amenities.

·      Pico’s De Europa National Park mountain range, Spain

This was a random stop and just a route we drove through to get to where we were going, I’m glad we did though. The mountain range was so cool and so scenic! Hung out with some snow, which was hard, to believe was around in Spain.

·      Santander, Spain

·      Porto, Portugal (drive through)

·      Lisbon, Portugal (drive through)

·      Benagil Caves, Portugal

Ok so one tip I would like to let you all in is… if you have googled this place and want to go then you must not pay for a boat trip- such a rip off! If you have a car- please drive there and its literally a 50-100m swim around the corner or hire a kayak. We had parked our van in a bush close by and slept the night and did not even realize how close we were to the caves. Eventually on our hike we came across it and enjoyed the view and cliff sides.

·      Lagos, Portugal

Wow! Lagos is amazing. I really enjoyed it here, We also drove to some point where the lighthouse was, Jed always drove down the roads that I thought were so dangerous and wondered how the hell we would get back up them. I always freaked out and would say “No”. I’m glad he decided to ignore me because we pulled the van up to this amazing spot, pulled out our chairs and watched the sunset.  Most nights we ate vegetables with zucchini pasta. Yes Jed did bring a zucchini peeler from home! Haha.

·      San Jose, Spain (Almeria Coast)

This was one of my all time favorite spots and a place I will never forget. It was like the Arizona desert meets the Mediterranean sea. I really love Spain. The whole drive along this coast was beautiful. I was so excited when we found this place. I’m obsessed with clear blue seas rather than cities! The sun was shining, it was warm although the water was absolutely freezing we still charged in.

·     PALMA DE MALLORCA, SPAIN

I don’t even know where to start with this incredible place. Just recently came back here 3 years later just because of how much I enjoy it here and probably will always come back whenever I’m in Europe. We traveled to Palma VIA a ferry from Valencia. Funny story about the Car ferry ride there. It was an over night ferry and we had learnt about how average the seats are onboard for sleeping. So, we decided to hide in the back of the van underneath all the covers and stay the whole night in the van. We had it all thought out. We had food we could munch on and a perfectly comfy bed to sleep on. Woke up in the morning to people walking to their cars whilst peeping through the curtain. Success. Palma has the most beautiful coves; I cannot even explain the color of the water and the backdrop of the mountains. This is another place I feel at home. We drove up to one of the highest points near Cap De Fermentor and slept the night, I remember being so freaked out. Felt there was ghosts all around me and random goats chilling. The most beautiful sunset from up there though. Was funny now I think back to it. Also you have to try out Beleverde Vegan/vegetarian restaurant in the town Pollenca. Seated outdoors underneath a canopy of green trees and offers such delicious food. This was our treat to ourselves for Jed’s birthday!

Cap De Fermentor, Mallorca

Cala Sant Vincec, Mallorca

Sa Colabra, Mallorca

·      Barcelona, Spain

Another spot we spent only a few hours at exploring the streets and tourist attractions. We got a ferry here from Palma, found a random place to park then walked into town and around the main tourist attractions. I wasn’t too impressed to be honest. I know a lot of people love Barcelona but its not one of my favorites. The buildings and cathedral’s are very impressive though.

·      Cassis, France

Yes! CASSIS! I am absolutely in love this place. Another spot I need to get back to and spend a little more time at. It’s incredible, we went on a boat trip to see the coastline and cliff sides,of course we ate a scoop of delicious gelato. We drove to the top of the mountain overlooking the town, watched the sunset and had some moments to ourselves. We came to know pretty quickly where was suitable to pull up for the night and where wasn't. Most of the time we would wake up really early and continue on leaving no time for rangers to fine us. I remember looking out the front windscreen to Jed sitting on the pull out chair listening to hardcore through his headphones and going absolutely ballistic. Air drumming and air guitar. Gosh it was so funny, by this point I think we were starting to lose our minds a little.

·      Nice, France

A spot I didn’t really care about spending much time at. We literally drove straight through the main beach road.

·      Monaco

Same thing here we drove straight through, also there’s not much in the way of a van campsite. So we just continued on.

·      Cinque Terre, Italy

This place is extremely packed with tourists, BUT well worth the trip to. The small villages built into the sides of the cliffs are breathtaking and very picturesque. The speed of the train was syko and something I found incredibly amusing for some reason. The track along the coastline was unfortunately being tended to so we couldn’t do the walk all the way between each town.

·      Pisa, Italy

Funny random stop. We literally took a pit stop to go to Carrefour. Carrefour became our favorite supermarket to shop at for our groceries. So anyway we stopped and walked to the main attraction, which is obviously the ‘leaning tower of Pisa’. Took the famous tourist photo and left.

·      Rome, Italy

Rome is obviously a very famous old city with a lot of history. We found a campsite a fair way out of town but easily accessible by bus. I remember it was a really average day with the weather, really rainy and overcast. The coliseum was actually amazing. One thing about traveling in the down season is how much less packed with tourists it is. It blows me away how old and the history of the buildings in Europe are.  We then went on a bus tour to the Vatican City and missioned around there. I think there was actually an Easter weekend ceremony happening and there was a public concert on and he was actually in town for this. So that was cool to see him. 

·      Pompeii, Italy

Here we did a day tour. The tour guide looked like the guy that wrote Seinfeld – Larry David. It was so funny that Jed had to get a photo with him. He was cool, I actually learnt a lot about Pompeii. Here’s a brief outline: Mount Vesuvius, a volcano near the Bay of Naples in Italy, is hundreds of thousands of years old and has erupted more than 50 times. Its most famous eruption took place in the year 79 A.D., when the volcano buried the ancient Roman city of Pompeii under a thick carpet of volcanic ash. The dust “poured across the land” like a flood, one witness wrote, and shrouded the city in darkness…like the black of closed and unlighted rooms.��� Two thousand people died, and the city was abandoned for almost as many years. When a group of explorers rediscovered the site in 1748, they were surprised to find that–underneath a thick layer of dust and debris–Pompeii was mostly intact. The buildings, artifacts and skeletons left behind in the buried city have taught us a great deal about everyday life in the ancient world.

·      Positano (Almalfi Coast), Italy

The drive here was absolutely mental. Being the weekend of Easter. I think all the Italians had a public holiday so they all had the day off and were thinking the same thing. Eat gelato and visit the almalfi coast for a day trip. These roads are one of the top dangerous roads in Europe to drive. Windy/thin and on the edge of a cliff. For me it was a great view. Poor Jed didn’t see much from having to concentrate on keeping us alive. We agreed on the first car park we saw we would take and walk as far as we had too to get to Positano. So that we did. It was worth it. I hope that in the future I go back and actually stay there, somewhere romantic! I’m sure during my time yachting I will see it from the sea.  

In between here by this point Jed and I did start to lose our minds being in the van. We always had our favorite music on which consisted of The National almost every night before bed and a lot of pop punk/hardcore when we were feeling crazy. At this time we were driving from Almalfi coast to Bari another town in Italy.  Like I will always say its the worst place ever. Won’t go into that story. So anyways Jed and I had Confession on and were jamming out hard moshing in the car whilst driving down the highway.

·      Croatia: Dubrovnik/ Split/ Plitvic National Park and KRKA National Park

Croatia hey, Croatia is awesome. I’ve never done sail Croatia like everyone else but I have experienced it by van. From a place called Bari in Italy (THE worst place in the world) we traveled to Croatia via ferry, then arriving in Dubrovnik. It’s another amazing old town! I loved exploring the little alley ways and walking along the ancient City walls surrounding it. But most of all my favorites were the National Parks we trekked to.  We did them both in one day and unfortunately for us the weather was drizzly and overcast. Usually you can swim at Plitvic. Its like a magical fairy land, its incredible! KRKA was a random waterfall out in the middle of actually nowhere. I remember getting annoyed trying to find it.  But we eventually got there.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

KRKA National Park, Croatia

Plitvic National Park, Croatia

·      Venice, Italy

I really did enjoy Venice. Obviously another crazy tourist destination. One thing I remember was the campsite we stayed in! Haha. It was the really good amenities that got me excited, Good Wi-Fi connection and hot showers!! That afternoon we spent walking around the side streets and explored. We watched a guy propose from a gondola (how original mate) haha it was romantic actually. We had some epic Italian pizza for dinner and amazing gelato for desert.

·      Switzerland:  Versasca Valley/ Jungfrau/ Lucerne/ Interlaken

Switzerland is crazy good if you’re into skiing/snowboarding. I definitely need to get back there. There was a lot that Jed was excited to do there but we weren’t able to because the season hadn’t started/the weather was terrible and the trains wouldn’t go up to top or something like that. Versasca Valley is a spot you definitely need to go visit. Jungfrau is also known as ‘The Top Of Europe”. The view and adventure platform at 3454 meters above sea level unites in a place that fascinates people of the Alps: a majestic backdrop of ice, snow and rock with breathtaking far-sightedness. You can usually see the Black forest in Germany on a good clear day from the top. The train literally goes directly straight up through the mountain. The Valleys in Switzerland are a must see, greenest rolling grass hills with cute little cottages huddled through.

·      Amsterdam, Holland

I think most people love Amsterdam its well known for its museums, red light district, coffee shops(weed) but also the great variety of eating & drinking places and night life.  By this point we had returned the Van back in Germany and had flown here. I was blown away by the serious amounts of bicycles and canals.  Reminds me of Venice a little bit. Didn’t smoke or eat cookies while I was here. Just ate loads of Poffertjes (the Dutch pancakes) and rode around all day!! We stayed a little out of town here, but rode and caught buses everywhere! I remember one day riding back to our hotel and witnessing a loser on a moped hitting a chick on her bike, was pretty full on! She was all-good though.

·      London, UK

From Amsterdam we caught a bus to London town. London was cool, was nice to hear the English language again and made me feel seriously at home, as at this point I was feeling a little homesick.

·      St. Ives, UK

A picturesque fishing harbor and seaside town voted best family holiday destination in the coast of Cornwall. Loads of good surf and beautiful beaches. My friend Caroline was living and managing backpackers here, She offered for us to stay for a cheap price. She gave us a private room for 2 weeks and we joined a gym worked out and just hung out! I remember Caro greeting us off the bus from London with Cornish Pasties! It was still cold, actually pretty freezing when the sun wasn’t out. We went paddle boarding one day, there were seals chilling- very different to back home where it would be dolphins or sharks.

·      Athens, Greece

Athens was interesting, not what I had expected it be actually. Very run down and graffiti everywhere. We only had one day and night here before our ferry to Mykonos. We went and saw the Acropolis and a couple of other sights.

·      Mykonos, Greece

Mykonos is one of my favorite Greek islands. Definitely a must see island, Party or no party its up to you. We did not party, just explored on quads and scooters, which was so, much fun. We ate so many gyros. Baklava also quickly became our favorite desert.

·      Santorini, Greece

Santorini was really really amazing obviously. Everyone is aware of this I don’t really need to say anymore. Quads, Gyros, Baklava, sunsets and fun. We also did a boat tour to the volcano that is still active just in the middle of the island that was pretty rad. Check out the Red beach too!

·      Heraklion, Crete

Whatever you do, do not stay in Heraklion! EVER! We literally hated it; we watched series in bed most of the days, we were pretty exhausted. We were only here because of the Greek island package. We did do a day trip to ancient ruins though so don’t judge us. I will be writing about another trip I did to Chania, Crete with my dad later on! Trust me stay tuned because this place is somewhere you NEED to get yourself to or put on your bucket list.

I also would just like to add that Jed and I look pretty funny and gross in a lot of these pictures, please forgive us as we probably hadn't showered in 6 days and cared more about where we were rather than what we looked like. Also these pictures probably aren't good enough for social media these days. No filters, no sharpened photos and a whole lot of realness!

I managed to collect a postcard from every country/ Town we went too, which will be perfect memories for me to show my kids and grand children in the future. Haha. 

As you can see we visited a lot of towns/countries in that 10 weeks.  Lots of frustrated and stressed moments for sure but also SO many laughs and happy memories were made that I will never forget, we enjoyed every moment and especially now when I look back at it, I would do it all over again. Big thanks to map man Jed, we are still very close friends to this day 3 years later. If your reading this I know you know what you mean to me.

This is just a basic outline of my first Euro trip traveling like a backpacker. Many more trips to come so stay tuned! My next Post will probably be about how I got into yachting and some sights I saw and personal experiences along the way.