Year Abroad: My Travel Highlights

For today's post, I'm looking back at my Year Abroad (which I can't believe was 8-9 years ago!), and specifically showcasing my travel highlights from those 15 months.

During that time, I travelled to eight countries across Europe and South America, and visited some of the world's most famous tourist destinations, like Paris, Vienna, Venice and Florence. I used my weekends to take various day trips and mini breaks to places in the countries I was staying in and in neighbouring countries.

Though I had a great time in every place I visited, these were the trips that left the biggest impression on me...

Travels Around the South of France

Following a difficult start to my Year Abroad, when an au pair placement I took on in the south of France turned out to be a nightmare, I returned to the UK after just 10 days. However, just a matter of days later, I was back in the same region, this time spending a few weeks at a language school in Montpellier. Fortunately, this experience was completely the opposite, and I had a wonderful time. I stayed with a really nice lady and her cat in a lovely flat and had the opportunity to travel to various places around the area on weekends and Wednesday afternoons. Those weeks were one of my favourite memories from the entire year, and gave me confidence after the initial setback to keep going with my Year Abroad plans.

Read more here!

Udine, Italy

The second part of my Year Abroad took me to the south of Austria, where I worked as an English teacher in two secondary schools for four and a half months. As I was living pretty much right in the centre of Europe and worked four-day weeks, I had amazing opportunities to travel all around the continent, without even getting on a plane. I visited four neighbouring countries, including Italy on three separate occasions. The first trip I took was to the small city of Udine, close to the borders with Austria and Slovenia. It was a city I'd never heard of before seeing it on a train map, but it turned out to be one of my favourites - it has so much beautiful architecture and none of the crowds you get in the better-known Italian cities.

Read more here!

Vienna, Austria and Bratislava, Slovakia

The following month I, along with the other British Council English language assistants in Austria, was invited to an afternoon tea at the British Embassy in Vienna. The event was nowhere near as fancy as it sounds - it was literally just us passing round packets of Mr Kipling cakes and making tea from a hot water urn! However, it was interesting to visit the embassy and hear from the ambassador about what it's like to work in diplomacy. Of course, I used the event as an opportunity to stay in the city for a few days and see its many sights. I also took the train over to Bratislava in Slovakia (a journey of less than an hour), which was a great experience. The two cities are very different, but there's a lot to like about both, from Vienna's grand palaces and elegant streets, to Bratislava's fairytale castle and quaint streets.

Read more here!

A Weekend in Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein

Later on in the semester, I went on a trip that incorporated destinations in three different countries: Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. First, I took the train to Innsbruck for one night before travelling to the small town of Sargans in Switzerland, which I used as a base for exploring the tiny country of Liechtenstein, before stopping off in Innsbruck again on the way home. This was a long weekend filled with mountains, castles and a real feeling of adventure.

Read more here!

Valparaíso, Chile

In February 2018, I headed over to South America to start the third part of my Year Abroad: a semester studying at a university in Santiago, Chile. This was the most daunting but also the most exciting part of the year. During the first couple of months, I got to know my new city, but didn't travel much outside of it, other than a trip to a vineyard with the university and a weekend at the beach in a group. Before going to Chile, I'd been given a lot of warnings not to travel around Latin America on my own, but when my plans for one weekend fell through, I spontaneously took the bus to the coastal city of Valparaíso by myself and joined a group walking tour, taking in all the sights of the city. Valpo is full of steep hills, colourful buildings and street art, and has a Bohemian atmosphere that really draws you in. Almost five years later, I had the chance to go back, this time with Claudio, and I enjoyed it just as much the second time around.

Read more here!

Huilo Huilo, Chile

The first three months of my time in Chile were filled with ups and downs. While I fell in love with the country, its landscapes and culture, I also invested myself in an unhealthy relationship, which ultimately ended in heartbreak. In the days that followed, I was strongly tempted to book the first flight back home, but forced myself to stay by booking a spot on a group tour to the south of the country towards the end of the semester. By the time the trip came round, I'd unexpectedly met Claudio (my now-husband!) and life in Santiago was better than ever. Though Claudio wasn't able to join me on the tour, he did turn up at the bus station to see me off, which was a lovely surprise! After an entire night on the coach, I emerged into a landscape that was much colder than Santiago, but also much more tranquil. The following two days were spent visiting lakes, volcanoes, waterfalls, forests and thermal springs. It was an incredible experience and one of my favourite memories from the year.

Read more here!

The Year Abroad was a big project for me and something I felt really nervous about beforehand, as I'd never done anything like that before. Though I experienced some difficult moments, it also changed my life in the best ways.

In terms of travel, it helped me leave my comfort zone and become more confident about living in and travelling to different places around the world, often by myself. It inspired me to seek similar experiences in the future, starting with 10 days teaching English at a summer camp in Poland after graduating from university, and then moving back to Chile for 15 months after the pandemic, followed by a three-month internship in Malta. 

We're now settled in our life in the UK and plan on staying here for the foreseeable, but I have to admit that part of me still craves the prospect of spending a few months, or even longer, in a different part of the world. Maybe sometime in the future!

That's all for my Year Abroad Series for the moment. But please check out the other posts in the series right here:

Year Abroad: Dealing With Problems

Year Abroad: The Best Bits

Planning a Year Abroad

Year Abroad: The Most Popular Destinations

Before the Blog: My Previous Travel Adventures

I've always loved to travel, and I think that being taken to various different countries and places by my parents when growing up contributed to that. Experiencing different cultures, languages and landscapes gives you a lot of curiosity to keep discovering more of the world.

I first started blogging about travel with My Year Abroad Blog in 2017 and then started Charlotte's Travel Adventures in October 2018. So all of my trips of the last 8 years have been documented on those two blogs, but I've realised that all the different places I visited during my childhood and up to June 2017 have not been written about, though I've mentioned some of them on here from time to time. Therefore, I thought it would be fun today to go through some of the trips I've had in the past!

Jersey (1998/1999)

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The first time I ever went on a plane was at around 3 or 4 years old when I went to Jersey with my parents and sister. To be honest, I don't remember much about it apart from the hotel room and choosing which of my cuddly toys to bring beforehand! 

The South of France (1999/2000 and 2003/2004)

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My first trip abroad was to the south of France to visit my granddad and his wife, who were living in a gîte near Cannes. I feel like I remember a lot more of this trip than the one to Jersey, but that's probably because we went back a few years later and I'm mixing up the two in my head.

On both occasions, I remember enjoying lots of time swimming in the pool, as well as taking trips to Cannes and Île Sainte-Marguerite, but I also found it really interesting to go to the supermarket, try French foods, and visit the clothes shop Kiabi. It was my first experience of a different language and culture, and I think it probably had some influence on why I came to love languages and travel!

Menorca, Spain (2002)

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During my first visit to Spain, we stayed in a villa on the island of Menorca. I loved seeing all the lizards and being right next to both the sea and a swimming pool. I also remember going to a monastery on top of a mountain, which was very impressive.

Zakynthos, Greece (2003 and 2007)

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The other Mediterranean destination I visited as a young child was Greece, specifically the island of Zakynthos or Zante. This was my favourite of them all! 

Again I loved swimming in the hotel's pool and the sea. We also took boat trips on both holidays there. The first time, we went on a tour to look for turtles - although we didn't see any, we got to swim at different beaches and even in caves, which was a magical experience. The second time, we went to the famous Navagio Beach, which was incredible to see, even though I felt very, very seasick!

Dublin, Ireland (2004/2005)

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As my mum is Irish, this trip was an opportunity for her to see family and friends, so there was a lot of sitting around while the adults chatted, which was a little boring for 8 or 9 year old me! I think I also expected Dublin to be like London, and I was a bit surprised to find it was a lot smaller and more provincial.

Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland (2004/2005)

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My first and (so far) only trip to Scotland was to stay with friends of my dad in Dumfries and Galloway. I remember arriving at Glasgow airport and expecting their house to be nearby and then being in the car for what felt like hours and hours, seeing miles and miles of empty countryside! I also remember everything being very green, trying Irn Bru for the first time and visiting the National Museum of Costume in Shambellie House. I also think I saw a cow like the one in the picture, but I might be imagining that!

Prague, Czechia (2006)

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I think my parents wanted a change from Mediterranean holidays when they booked this trip, but to be honest, Prague was always going to be a difficult destination for a 10 year old to appreciate. I wanted to be swimming in the sea under the sunshine, not traipsing through a crowded city to look at old buildings! Of course, I appreciate this kind of holiday a lot more these days, but still wouldn't put Prague at the top of the places I'd like to revisit - I remember it being pretty crowded 20 years ago (long before Instagram) so I imagine it would be absolutely packed nowadays.

Budapest, Hungary (2008)

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A couple of years later, we had a similar holiday in Budapest. It is undeniably a beautiful city with stunning architecture, but again, it wouldn't have been my first choice of destination as a 12 year old.

Northumberland, England (2009)

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The following year, we stayed in the UK and went to Northumberland for our summer holiday. To be honest, I wasn't very enthusiastic about going, but I enjoyed it much more than I expected. We stayed in a cottage on a farm, which had an adorable and very friendly pet pig! We also visited Alnwick Castle, which was used for some scenes in the Harry Potter films, and the island of Lindisfarne (pictured above), which made us feel like we were stepping into the past.

Toronto, the Niagara Falls and Montreal, Canada (2010)

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This was one of my favourite holidays of all time! We spent an amazing two weeks in my mum's country of birth, visiting Toronto, Montreal and the Niagara Falls. I loved both cities, and the Niagara Falls remains one of the most beautiful and incredible places I've ever seen. In fact, this was the trip that really gave me my passion for travel and that motivated me to learn French and other foreign languages.

France, Italy and Monaco (2011)

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In 2011, we went back to France and stayed in a charming B&B in the town of Juan-les-Pins. This turned out to be a three-country trip, as one day we went over the border to San Remo in Italy. I was really excited about this, as I'd never been to Italy before, and it was at the top of my bucket list. We went to a restaurant next to the sea, where I had pizza and tiramisù while watching people passing by on Vespas. It was a dream come true! After that, we drove to Monaco and went round the race track a couple of times, which was also a really cool experience.

Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina (2012)

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Another of my favourite holidays of all time! This trip was the perfect mix of relaxing and swimming at the beach combined with cultural discovery of new places. We stayed in an amazing hotel with a private beach in the village of Slano in Croatia, and took day trips to Dubrovnik, and to Neum and Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We were super lucky to get to see the beautiful city of Dubrovnik in the pre-Instagram era, when it wasn't too crowded, but my favourite place we visited was Mostar. It was the first time I'd visited a country that wasn't majority Christian, and it was a really interesting experience. Highlights for me included the mosque, the Turkish house (where we saw a family of tortoises!) and of course, the Old Bridge (pictured above).

France and Monaco (2013)

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My first trip abroad by myself was to Nice for a language course and homestay. I was 17 and really nervous about it, but ended up enjoying the week a lot. The lady I stayed with was really nice, and I got on very well with the other students at the language school. One day, a group of us took the train from Nice to Monaco, which was my first time properly setting foot in the tiny country - the race track experience in 2011 had been fun, but it was nice to explore on foot and see the sights in more detail.

Málaga, Spain (2013)

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Later that year, I went on a school trip with my A-Level Spanish class to Málaga in Spain. We enjoyed some fun experiences, including celebrating the San Juan bonfires on the beach on our first night, and visiting the caves at Nerja and the beautiful white village of Frigiliana. We also had a couple of afternoons of free time in Málaga city centre, where our teachers visited museums and art galleries, and my classmates and I spent hours looking round Bershka and Pull&Bear. To be honest, though I didn't say it at the time for fear of looking uncool, I would have much rather gone to the museums!

Paris, France (2013)

I had been desperate to visit Paris for years, so I was delighted when my parents treated me to a couple of days in the city for my 18th birthday. A lot of people who visit Paris say that it's overrated and disappointing, but I absolutely loved it from the moment I arrived, and it's been one of my favourite cities ever since. I've since been back twice, and my most recent visit was one of my most special trips of all time!

My Gap Year (2014-2015)

From June 2014 to September 2015, I took a Gap Year. It wasn't a typical Gap Year - I spent a lot of the year working and volunteering close to home, rather than going on a big backpacking trip somewhere exotic - but I did travel to Slovenia, Austria, France (twice), Spain and Belgium, as well as several places around the UK. You can read all about it in this post right here!

Valencia, Spain (2016)

I didn't go on many trips during my first two university years, because for some reason, I felt like being single and being a student without a job meant that I couldn't travel. It took going on my Year Abroad for me to gain more confidence to travel both by myself and on a budget. 

Anyway, during the summer between my first and second year, my mum sent me off on trips to language schools in Spain and Germany. For my Spain trip, I went back to the same school I'd been to in Valencia during my Gap Year, but I didn't enjoy it quite as much second time around. The first time, I'd had my classes in the morning, so had most of the day free to go and explore, but the second time, classes were in the middle of the day, which I didn't like so much, as it split my free time. However, I did really enjoy going on a day trip to Montanejos (pictured above), an area of thermal springs located in the mountains.

Berlin, Germany (2016)

This also wasn't my favourite trip ever; mainly because of a bad experience I had one day on the metro. I'd bought the wrong ticket purely by accident, and was made to pay a 60€ fine, even though I explained the situation and offered to buy the correct ticket (in Spain the previous month, I'd had a similar situation and the guard there had let me buy the correct ticket with no problem). The way the guards treated me was really horrible and frightening, and led me to file a complaint afterwards. Unfortunately, the transport company wasn't able to refund the fine, but they did issue me a grovelling apology, which was something at least. I was a much less confident person at the time than I am today, and it did basically ruin the entire trip for me, which was a shame, because I'd actually really enjoyed exploring Berlin up to that point.

That trip was nine years ago, but it really feels like a lifetime ago, compared to my Year Abroad, which I started only a year later. That year was definitely a turning point for me, where I gained a lot of confidence and started to become the kind of person I'd always wanted to be. And that was where my story with blogging began!

It's been fun to go back over the trips I had up to the age of 21 - I feel lucky that I got the chance to visit some fantastic places at an early age. And since starting blogging eight years ago, I've been lucky enough to have visited just as many amazing places. Here's to hopefully many more exciting travel adventures over the years to come!

Rome: Day Four

Our last full day in Rome was the only day when we didn't have anything specific booked, so we expected it to be more relaxed, but it actually turned out to be the day when we walked the most out of the entire trip!

After breakfast at a nice café, Claudio and I started the day's sightseeing at Largo di Torre Argentina. This square with its Roman ruins is believed to be the site where Julius Caesar was assassinated. However, it is now also famous for being a cat sanctuary! It was lovely to go there and watch the kitties wondering around through the ancient ruins.

Our next activity of the day was exploring Piazza Venezia (with its Venetian style palace) and the Victor Emmanuel II Monument. Although we didn't go up to the roof of the monument, as that costs 17€ each, we had a great time looking around both the inside and outside. It really is an incredibly impressive building.

After a bit more time exploring the outside of the Colosseum, we had a lot of fun visiting La Bocca della Verità (The Mouth of Truth)! You have to queue to get your photo with this ancient Roman sculpture, but the queue moves quickly, and it's free to visit. Legend says that the mouth will bite your hand off if you tell a lie!

After your visit, you move through into a pretty church that has a gift shop. I took the opportunity to buy a Roman Holiday postcard, as I absolutely love this movie. In fact, this is one of two films that gave me Wanderlust to visit Rome - the other being the Lizzie McGuire Movie, haha!

Next to the church, you can find two Roman temples that are absolutely worth checking out: the round Temple of Hercules Victor, and the Temple of Portunus, which is somewhat like the Parthenon.

Afterwards, we went back to Pasta Imperiale for lunch, this time trying Fettucine Alfredo, a Roman pasta dish, which was very tasty and also very filling!

Then we spent most of the afternoon inside Castel Sant'Angelo. I always love visiting castles, and really enjoyed this one! It was actually built as a mausoleum for the emperor Hadrian, but was later used by popes, and has some beautifully ornate rooms inside.

The views from the roof across the city and the Vatican are also stunning.

After some delicious gelato, we finished off our last evening in Rome with a quick trip to see the Vatican City by night.

Rome had been on both of our bucket lists for a long time, so our week there was a real dream come true. It was fabulous to see all the iconic sights, such as the Colosseum, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain, as well as some quieter spots, like Villa Borghese. We also enjoyed visiting the Vatican City - a new country for both of us - and having a relaxed beach day in Santa Severa.

Hopefully, we'll have the chance to go back at some point in the future, but we both feel that we really got the most out of our time there (despite the nasty cold I had at the beginning!) and we have loads of wonderful memories to look back on from the Eternal City. ❤