Life, Travel and Blogging Update

Hi all!

This might be my last time writing on this blog for a while, so I just wanted to post a quick update about what's going on with me at the moment and my future plans for Charlotte's Travel Adventures.

Life in general

I would describe my life as having been in a somewhat transitional phase for the last year or so, but the good news is that things are finally moving in the right direction. After a lot of paperwork, money, stress and patience, Claudio's visa to live in the UK has finally been approved, and he's planning to come back next month! We did use legal assistance with our application, which helped a lot, but it was still a hugely challenging task, and we're so relieved it's finally done and our hard work has paid off.

Our next step, once he's here, is to look for our own place in the London area, but that may not happen as soon as we originally hoped. At the moment, my parents are both having some health issues, so I need to help out more in the house and possibly stay here a bit longer than planned. On top of that, the visa application and our upcoming wedding and honeymoon are all making a big dent in our finances, so it doesn't really make sense for us to move until Claudio has a job here and starts earning too.

Maybe it won't happen until 2025, but we're moving in the right direction now, and we're both really happy to be on the pathway to setting up a more permanent life together.

Our wedding!

Our wedding is coming up now in only a few months, which is hard to believe but very exciting! We can't wait to be properly married - though we're grateful that our civil union allowed us to get our visa to be able to live together, it's left us in the strange situation of kind of being "married" without actually being married. We always said that the civil union was basically just a legal process, and that our wedding and marriage would be the real event, but most people we know viewed the civil union as us getting married, and maybe that's meant there's been a bit less excitement among people we know surrounding our engagement and wedding than there would have been otherwise. (Of course, if governments didn't make it so difficult for couples from different countries to live together, we wouldn't have had to have a civil union in the first place!)

But I think that once the big day comes, it's going to feel very special for us, and hopefully for all our family and friends too. Our venue is exactly the kind of beach wedding setting I've dreamed of since childhood, and now the planning of the event is really coming together. We've got our date set, the photographer booked, my hair and makeup stylist booked, and I've bought my dress and had it altered. There are still more tasks to do, but we're feeling much more on top of things than we were, especially now that we don't have to think about the visa application anymore.

Another big task we've ticked off is booking our flights out to Chile and also reserving a gorgeous Airbnb in Santiago, where we'll stay in the days leading up to the wedding and for a couple of weeks afterwards, including over Christmas. I'm really looking forward to being back in one of my favourite cities and going back to something like the old lifestyle we had while we were in our little apartment in Ñuñoa, which I still miss. It's also going to be great to have a proper summer together, as Claudio went back to Chile on the 1st June and won't be back here again until late September, so he's basically missing the entire northern hemisphere summer. As for me, I haven't really done any fun summer activities since he left - I haven't had a holiday, set foot on a beach, or even been to a swimming pool. So our time in Chile is going to be a great opportunity to do all of those things we love, and I'm very excited about it!

Travel

Aside from visiting Westonbirt Arboretum in July, the only other day trip I've had in the last few months was when I went to London with my mum for a theatre day.

After a delicious lunch at Côte, we saw Frozen at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, which was fantastic. Although there were quite a lot of noisy kids in the audience, we really enjoyed the show (the quick change in Let It Go was a real highlight!) and the theatre was beautiful to look around.

Afterwards, we walked through Covent Garden, where there was an event going on with Nissan electric cars. One of the things I love about London is that there's always something happening!

Our day in London made me really excited to hopefully move there soon - it is one of my favourite cities in the world and both Claudio and I can imagine having a great life there.

Blogging

The final thing I want to write about today is this blog itself. 

I have a confession to make: I have lost a lot of motivation and interest in blogging and making travel content on social media recently. This loss of interest has been a gradual process that I've noticed particularly over the last 18 months or so, though I have had sporadic bursts of inspiration.

I fell in love with travel blogging during my Year Abroad, which led me to create Charlotte's Travel Adventures, a project that has been a huge passion of mine. During the pandemic years in particular, this blog was such an important outlet for me and I loved every minute working on it. Then life got more exciting and busier for me, and the blog took a bit of a back seat, but I always thought that the old passion would come back once life got quieter. However, since finishing the visa application, life has got quieter, and yet blogging kind of feels like work these days. I started writing a post last week that I thought would be really interesting to write, but the inspiration just didn't take me, and after having written just a couple of short paragraphs, I ended up deleting the draft - the first time I've ever done so. In addition, Google has been steadily de-indexing my posts and refusing to index any new ones since around September last year, which is quite demoralising.

My passion for travel is still as strong as ever, but while it used to go hand in hand with an equally strong passion for travel blogging, that's not really the case anymore. My other great passion in life, musical theatre, has come back into my life in a big way since January 2023, and maybe that's partly responsible for the lack of interest in blogging I'm now experiencing. Furthermore, after work and at the weekend, there are lots of other things I want to do more than I want to blog, such as watching musicals, movies, series and documentaries, reading books, singing, and working out. Stepping back from the blog will free up more time for me to do those things.

From now on, I won't be publishing anywhere near as many posts here as I do currently, and perhaps I might go months at a time without blogging. But there's no way I'll be closing this blog altogether - I absolutely want to post about our wedding and honeymoon and any other exciting trips we take in the future. And if inspiration takes me, perhaps I'll post about other travel-related topics occasionally. But I'll definitely be taking a break for the time being.

Thanks to everyone who's been reading here over the last several years. I hope to see you back here in the not too distant future! 😃

The Best and Worst Things About Travelling

I wouldn't write a travel blog if I didn't love travelling, but I have to admit that sometimes it can cause some annoyances! 

These are the five things I find worst about travel - and the five best...

The Worst Things About Travelling

Costs

This is the most obvious disadvantage of travel, especially now that we are going through a cost of living crisis. Long-haul flights have always been expensive, but nowadays it's also a lot harder to find cheap short-haul flights than it used to be five or ten years ago.

Additionally, some countries are very expensive destinations in terms of train travel, hotels, restaurants, etc. The UK is certainly one such country, which is frustrating for those of us living here, as we can't even save money by having a holiday here rather than abroad!

Of course, there are always great deals to look out for, but if you've got your heart set on a particular destination at a particular time, generally, you have to be prepared to spend big.

Queuing/Waiting

I'm quite an impatient person, so I don't enjoy having to queue for a long time to get into attractions or waiting around at boarding gates in airports. Fortunately, most of the time, it's worth the wait!

Delays/cancellations

This particular issue is one that can really wreak havoc with your travel plans. Be sure to have travel insurance in order to avoid any extra costs.

Uncomfortable flights/Busy trains

I do think that often the worst thing about travelling is the actual travel part itself. So many modes of transport can be crowded, uncomfortable and unpleasant. 

It's annoying how airlines get away with charging so much for flights and cramming people in like sardines. Train travel in the UK can also be just as bad, with trains regularly filled with people standing in the aisles and corridors.

Often, it's a case of just having to grit your teeth and get through it, in order to be able to arrive at that destination you've been dreaming of for so long.

Crowded destinations

One of the worst things about travel is when you do finally make it your dream destination, but it's too crowded for you to really enjoy it. This has become a bigger problem in recent years, especially since the rise of social media. We all have our bucket lists, and sometimes it's worth putting up with the crowds in order to experience somewhere really special, but other times, it can leave you feeling disappointed. 

In my own experience, Venice, the Vatican City and the Blue Lagoon were places that were a little bit spoilt by the sheer amount of tourists there, though I did enjoy my time in all those places. In big cities with lots of tourists, like London and Paris, it's actually surprisingly easy to find nice, peaceful spots to take in famous landmarks - it's mostly just the museums that get uncomfortably busy. 

So, it's a good idea to combine busy and quiet attractions within a trip, or to alternate between taking trips to popular, touristic places and going to more off-the-beaten-track destinations.

The Best Things About Travelling

Discovering new cultures

One of my favourite things about travelling is visiting countries or regions I haven't been to before, whether that means going to far-flung places on the other side of the world, or simply somewhere new in my own country. I really enjoy experiencing different cultures, cuisines and languages, which is what drove me to study modern languages at university. It's just really exciting, as well as educational, to broaden your horizons through travel.

Seeing beautiful places

Of course, one of the main reasons people love travel is because they love to see beautiful places, from areas of natural beauty, like beaches, mountains, rainforests and waterfalls, to the man-made beauty of grand cities and charming villages. I think that as humans, we're quite aesthetic creatures, and it can really restore the soul to take in beautiful sights when travelling.

Exploring sites of historical and cultural significance

From Machu Picchu to the Colosseum to Avebury, I absolutely love visiting historical wonders. It's really a special experience to find yourself in these places that have such a long and incredible story. They don't even have to be places from hundreds of years ago - I also find it fascinating to visit places from more recent time periods, such as the Cold War era nuclear bunker we recently visited. Physically being in such places can bring their history to life much more than simply reading about it.

Having new experiences

This is something I recently wrote a post about! Whether you're having a go at an adventure sport or simply trying a new cuisine, travel is all about having new experiences, and creating memories that will last a lifetime.

Going on an adventure/escaping from the everyday

Quite possibly, this is the very best thing about travel, in my opinion. Most of us have quite repetitive and often mundane daily routines, even when we are happy with our jobs and lives, and travel is a way to get away from all that and refresh the mind. Of course, it's fantastic to spend several days or even weeks exploring a bucket list destination or relaxing on a beautiful beach, but even a day trip can have a similar effect. In fact, during the pandemic, going on short outings to places around my local area was something that proved to be a huge help to me in getting through what was a very long and tough time.

Overall, I believe the benefits of travel far outweigh its disadvantages! Although there have been times during trips when I've felt stressed or frustrated, travelling is still one of the things I love most in the world. There are definitely things I'd change about the tourism industry if it were up to me, but that doesn't change the fact that there's really nothing like the feeling of being somewhere absolutely incredible! 

Image by Kelly from pexels.com

Westonbirt Arboretum

Time to write about another local trip!

Last weekend, I went off for an outing to Westonbirt Arboretum with my parents, who have a membership there. It was the first time I'd been there since I was a child and I didn't really remember it, so it basically felt like visiting somewhere new.

It's a very big arboretum with a lot to see, but on this visit, we went to the Old Arboretum, as well as the Treetop Walkway.

One of the most fun features of the arboretum is the Gruffalo trail, where you can find six animal characters from the famous children's book. 

Some of the more nature-based highlights for me included the giant Californian trees and the Chilean araucarias.

The Treetop Walkway was also fun to do, and a different and interesting way to see the trees.

And as always, it was great to end the outing with a tasty coffee and cake in the café!

Although I'd say I prefer Batsford Arboretum, as I find it more picturesque and love its Japanese theme, I still had a very nice time visiting Westonbirt. Spending time in nature is always a good idea, and it's a great place to do just that!

My Year of Adventurous Travel

As this blog is called Charlotte's Travel Adventures, it seems only right to write a post about adventurous travel!

Of course, I like going on holiday to relax, and visiting places to see interesting sights...but travel is also about having new and different experiences.

The 15 months that I spent living in Chile were a time when I made an effort to go on some exciting and sometimes a little extreme adventures. Though of course, there were plenty of challenges during that time (which I wrote about in this recent post), I feel like I really made the most of it and had a lot of fun travelling and trying new things across South America.

Here are 5 of my biggest adventures from the year!

Indoor Surfing in Santiago

Though I'd tried windsurfing in 2016, I'd always wanted to have a go at classic surfing. Surprisingly enough, even though Santiago isn't by the sea, you can surf there - Mall Sport offers indoor surfing lessons, and Claudio and I took one in May 2022. 

This experience was actually the most extreme of them all, I'd say! You basically get have to try to stay afloat against powerful jets of water, and if you don't manage it, you get thrown across that big curved area you can see in my pictures. Though we had plenty of bruises and even a couple of scrapes afterwards, we had a lot of fun. 

A Speedboat Ride in the Pacific Ocean

Our weekend in Papudo was one of our most low-key trips away during my time living in Chile, but it was actually one of my favourites. We saw so many beautiful animals there, from adorable pet cats to incredible marine life. Plus, the town and its beaches are absolutely beautiful.

Our time there was mostly very relaxing, with the exception of a boat trip we took to Isla Los Lobos. To my surprise, the boat was actually a dinghy with an engine, and it went incredibly fast - it was fun, though I was slightly scared that either I or my stuff would fall in the sea!

But the sights we saw on that trip were incredible: Humboldt penguins, sea lions and even a beautiful dolphin. We finished off the ride with a jump into the water at a beautiful, secluded beach. It was such a memorable experience!

Ziplining in the Andes

Another extremely memorable experience was going ziplining in the Andes mountains. This was something I'd always wanted to try, and I was really excited about it...until we actually got there and saw it!

The experience took place at Cascada de las Ánimas activity centre in Cajón del Maipo, which is such an enchanting and beautiful place. But the zip-line is suspended 25 metres above the River Maipo and looks pretty daunting! We were both pretty nervous when preparing to set off, but it was such a fun and exhilarating experience!

In fact, we liked it so much that we did it again a few months later at Parque Aventura in Santiago. 

White-Water Rafting in Argentina

White-water rafting was another sport I'd wanted to try for years, and I took the opportunity to try it while renewing my visa in Argentina. Although my day at the activity centre was rather long without a lot to do, the activity itself was so much fun, and the landscapes of the Andes and the Mendoza River were beautiful. I definitely plan to go rafting again at some point!

Backpacking Solo to Machu Picchu

We had several adventurous trips during the 15 months, but the most adventurous was when I went to Peru for a week on my own with just a backpack. 

During my time there I took in the sites in and around Cusco, and travelled around the Sacred Valley of the Incas, before taking the train to Aguas Calientes and hiking up hundreds of stone steps to the famous citadel, Machu Picchu.

It was a trip I'd dreamed of for several years and took quite a lot of organising, but it all turned out really well. I had an amazing time!

In my opinion, trying new experiences and adventures like these are a great way to get out of your comfort zone and create memories that will last forever.

There are still several other adventurous experiences I want to try, such as surfing at a beach, paragliding, and maybe even scuba diving.

Perhaps there will be more extreme adventures to come on this blog!