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

A Day Trip to the United States: Visiting Runnymede

My most recent day trip from Reading was to the United States! That may sound close to impossible - you would expect it to involve at least a seven-hour flight there and another seven-hour flight back. However, I wasn't doing an extreme day trip (though this is a trend that is becoming more popular). In fact, it only took me a 40-minute train journey, a 15-minute bus ride and a short walk to get there.

So how was that possible? The truth is that there is a small corner of U.S. soil here in England, at the National Trust site at Runnymede in Surrey. I had read about this place a few years ago and had been intrigued to visit it someday. And at the end of February, we were lucky to have a sunny day with temperatures reaching 18 degrees, so I had the perfect opportunity to go to visit this outdoor area filled with sculptures and memorials.

First, I took the train from Reading to Egham. My next step was to take a bus, but as I missed the one five minutes after my train's arrival, I had about half an hour to spend in Egham. So I went to get a coffee and had a look around the town centre, which was very clean and modern.

On the bus later, I went past this incredible grand old building that looked like a fairytale castle! I was absolutely amazed by it. Looking it up later, I found out that it was the Founder's Building at Royal Holloway University. I actually came back to Egham with Claudio that weekend in order to visit it properly. (I'll be writing about that soon!)

A bit later on in the bus journey, I was surprised and happy to find I had views across to London, including Wembley Stadium!

I got off the bus at a stop with the interesting name of Bells of Ouzeley. It is actually the name of a Harvester pub next to the bus stop. It's a very charming old building opposite the river, and looked like a great, scenic place to enjoy some food and drink on this sunny afternoon.

I then walked along the river to the National Trust site. The path was a bit muddy, but the route was very picturesque.

Unlike a lot of National Trust sites, Runnymede is free to enter. It doesn't have a manor house like many National Trust properties do - it is an outdoor area with various artworks and memorials - but it does have  a small building with a tearoom and bathrooms.

The site is also really near Heathrow, so there were plenty of planes passing low overhead, which added to the international vibe of my day out.

The first spot I visited was the John F. Kennedy memorial, which is the part I had read about previously. You step through a wooden gate to enter the area where the memorial is and you are officially on U.S. soil!

There is a long pathway and fifty uneven steps that take you up to the memorial itself. It's definitely quite a unique experience to be able to say you've gone to another country (sort of) just by walking through a gate.

Runnymede is most famous for being where the Magna Carta was signed in 1215, and there is also a monument dedicated to that event.

There's also this really interesting artwork called Writ in Water, which is located inside a small building. Inside the building, you go around this sort of labyrinth, which leads you to a small, reflective pool, in which is written an extract of the Magna Carta. It's very clever and unique.

After having a good walk around the site, I walked back to the bus stop and then sat by the river in the sun while waiting for the bus.

This day out was a big reminder to me of how important it can be to get outdoors in the sunshine and enjoy some peaceful, beautiful surroundings from time to time. To be honest, I'm not always that much of a fan of life in the UK - a lot of places can look very run down and grim, especially at this time of year, and the cost of living crisis never seems to get any better - but there are some beautiful places to be found in this country, and spending time in them can make a real difference to your mood.

That's all for today, but I'll be writing again soon about more of my February travels!

Summer Travel Adventures in England (Outside London)

Having just written about our summer travel adventures in London, it's now time to cover all the places we visited outside of the capital...

Mercedes Benz World

It was Claudio's birthday in June, and given that his big passion in life is cars, I decided to surprise him with a trip to Mercedes Benz World. As we don't currently have a car, the journey there took us over 90 minutes and involved three trains and a walk through a fairly deserted area. I was hoping that the destination would be worth the hassle, and thankfully, it was!

The museum is free to visit (though there are extra activities you can pay for) and it kept us entertained for a good few hours. Attractions included a cinema showing a film about the history of Mercedes Benz, cars from different eras to look at, modern cars that we could go inside, and a race track where we saw a driving demonstration. Definitely a very fun experience for any car lover!

Bournemouth

During one of the heatwaves over the summer, we decided to spend a day at Bournemouth Beach, which can be reached directly by train from Reading. 

With its long stretch of golden sand, this is definitely one of the UK's most beautiful beaches. I'd been twice in recent years (once in 2019 and once in 2021) and wanted to show it to Claudio.

Unfortunately, there was some kind of big cheerleading event going on, which meant that the town was a lot busier than it otherwise would have been. The weather also turned very cold around lunchtime, which put paid to our plans for a swim in the sea, as we knew that the train back would be heavily air-conditioned and we wouldn't be able to warm up until we got back home. 

So we chose to spend a large part of the afternoon walking through the Town Gardens, a park that I hadn't fully explored before. The Upper Gardens is supposedly inspired by three continents: Europe, Asia and North America. To be honest, I'm no expert on plants, so it was hard to tell which parts were inspired by which continent, except for the Japanese-style bridges. But it was a nice, tranquil place to explore away from the chaos of the town centre.

Maidenhead

Living on the Elizabeth Line, Maidenhead was an obvious place for us to go and visit. We'd passed it many times when going into London, and thought it looked really nice, so took a trip there one weekend.

The town centre was actually not as nice as we were expecting, though it gets better the further you go from the station.

The part next to the river, however, is super picturesque, and we really enjoyed our walk there. 

Oxford

I have been feeling very burnt out this year from a long job search and from a job that isn't aligned with my career aspirations. This was especially tough during the summer, and so I decided to take a few days off one week to give myself a bit of a reset. I used one of those days to take a trip to Oxford, one of my favourite cities in the UK, to spend a day walking around the sights, and enjoying its cafés and shops.

One place I really loved visiting was Blackwell's bookshop - it's a beautiful shop with so many books. I could spend hours there!

Eton and Windsor

Claudio really wanted to visit Windsor Castle, and we had no excuse not to go, as it's very close by. We didn't go inside, as it's so expensive (and the Windsor family get enough of our money as it is!), but we had a nice time walking around the picturesque town. We also crossed over the river to the town of Eton, where you can find the infamous school (another institution I don't approve of!). This was another pretty (and surprisingly peaceful) area to visit, and we were lucky enough to see Dave the Eton Dachshund in his window!

Reading

Over the summer months, we've also got to know our current town better. One place I liked checking out was the museum housed in the town hall, which is completely free to visit. Highlights included a copy of the Bayeux Tapestry, Roman mosaics, and a collection of vintage biscuit tins!

We also spent an interesting evening exploring the university campus (this actually inspired us to take our recent trip to Nottingham!). We really loved the old building next to the lake - it looked like something out of an Agatha Christie adaptation!

Life has been pretty full-on recently, which is why this post about summer travel has ended up being published over halfway through October! But in the coming weeks, I want to try to get back on track posting regularly here, as well as on my Instagram page. I have a lot of interesting things to write about, including a recent trip abroad! So stay tuned for the next installment in my next travel diaries. 😊