Day 4; The #PlayOutside Challenge

Controversial Views on Yoga

 I'm gonna say it;

I don't think I like yoga.

I love learning new things about myself and yesterday I found out that yoga isn't my thing.

I've done yoga before; a beautiful friend of mine, Rosie, teaches yoga and we've had many a session with her. I always loved the post yoga breathing, the relaxation techniques at the end of each session and gaining that feeling that I was doing something good; something that connected me, spiritually, to my inner self and the earth, but personally, I always feel more at peace with myself and with nature when I'm standing on a hilltop overlooking a valley or when fully immersed in the sea.

 I feel like paying for yoga is like paying for someone to tell me to do things with my body that I have the full capability of doing by yourself at home. Kind of like paying to use the treadmill at the gym; you have the full capability to run wherever you like in this world.

If on average you run 3 miles a day, just think about all the landscape your eyes would ingest if you ran outside.

It's easier and cheaper to do an online yoga tutorial or even make up your own.

 I do quite like finding out that my body can do shapes and bend in ways that I didn't know it could do previously, and that's about as much joy as I get from yoga.

I think the problem is that I'm not patient enough.

It doesn't relax me in the way that it's intended.

I did however like the part where you cross your legs, put them straight above your head, grab your feet and rock up into sitting-up cross-legged.

Now that's more like it.

 When I'm doing yoga, I find myself feeling as though I'm trying to calm myself and move in slow motions, but a voice inside me is screaming to just shake all my limbs and go mad.

Kind of like when trying to relax in a really hot bath.

Relaxed, but so tense.

A mixture of - should I stay? - or - should I get the hell out of here? -

Perhaps I am more suited to a more upbeat kind of yoga.

This 'hatha yoga' that people talk about.

 Today, my tummy hurts, so I know it worked.

My muscles are tight and it feels good to laugh.

It's good to know I pushed my body during the session, even if I decide to never bother again.

Day 1; The #PlayOutside Challenge

 Meet Barbara and Unice.

 Today is day one of the Dirtbag Darling #PlayOutside challenge on Instagram, and I embraced it with both arms open, literally, whilst meeting Barbara and Unice, new members of our family.

 Considering I'm born and bred in Wales, the land of the sheep, it's quite funny to think my first experience of feeding a full sized sheep (I've bottle fed lambs before), happened in a small paddock in Hampshire!

 The Dennis family recently adopted these two lovely ladies to keep their paddock in tip top shape, and so far they're doing an excellent job. Occasionally, we go out to their paddock to feed them, just to top up their diet and keep them happy and friendly. Barbara was getting a little too familiar - she let me stroke under her chin! - but I think Unice is warming up. They've both currently got runny noses, bless them.

 I've never fully understood how farmers could separate emotion from their livestock. Being a farmer seems like such a heartless job. When I visited my friends Sioned and Lisa's farms last Christmas, I expected nothing less than frolicking through the hay bales collecting newly hatched eggs and stroking baby lambs; the reality is much different and much crueler. Don't get me wrong, I am a meat eater and will continue to be so. This past year I cut down majorly on meat since my housemate is a vegetarian and I began to embrace her way of life, that was until I tried to give blood and was told my iron was too low. I went home that night picking up some burgers on the way, washing them down with a pint of Guinness to top up my iron levels. I am a universal blood type and the thought of not being able to give healthy blood to people in need seems far more important to me than not eating meat. I do also feel we have canines for a reason; this dates back to our neolithic roots. As we grow older and get to know our bodies and what it needs, and as I've become more in tuned with my own body, with age, and become more familiar with its needs, often, it seems, my body send itself subtle reminders that it requires a steak. Rare, please.

The reality is that none of us actually want to see animals being slaughtered, even if they do end up on our dinner plates and in our bellies. I could never fully acquaint myself with the lambs I'd met because I knew what their fate would be. However, since Unice and Barbara aren't sheep for the slaughter, and merely pets for the paddock, meeting these Jacob sheep was quite a lovely experience and hopefully a lesson that we should treat all animals with love and compassion, even if they are only sheep.

8 Blogs to Inspire Female Outdoor Adventurers

 Needless to say, number one on my list has to be Dirtbag Darling.

 Johnie Gall has done an insane job of inspiring women to get outside, get active and embrace the natural world. Her "Play Outside" challenge, is nothing short of genius. Her blog features journal entries with reflections on her own life and adventures, outdoor gear reviews, field notes on land, snow and sea activities, travel entries, life hacks, monthly features on inspirational women, from fly-fishers to 'lady tramps' and even an online shop to cash in on some of her favourite camping, hiking and surfing gear. Her blog was recently featured in Marie Claire's 2015 "Change Your Life" issue and Cooler mag's "7 Stylish Blogs Every Adventurous Woman Should Read". Dirtbag Darling is all about encouraging women to get muddy, salty and sweaty, leaving behind what it means to be 'cool' and enjoying life and nature for what it is.
In Johnie's own words..

 "It’s a celebration of owning less, doing more, and having simple, authentic experiences worth writing about. 

And getting dirty. Obviously".

Another favourite of mine is Range. 
Founded by Jeanine Pesce; Range is an active, sports and lifestyle agency and magazine that features awesome daily articles on all things active and outdoors in a more modern, groomed and tech-savy kind of way.
Read one of their latest pieces on outdoor therapy to see what I mean.

 Captain Liz Clark is a surfer, sailor, environmentalist and National Geographic's 2015 Adventurer of the year. 
She reflects on love, forgiveness and compassion whilst sailing Swell, her 1963 Cal-40 sailboat, alongside her tropicat, Amelia.
If you want to learn more about being environmentally friendly and how to eat consciously, consider Liz your master and check out her teachings. 

 She Explores represents all novel outdoors women with an appetite for adventure.
Founder, Gale Straub, set out to write about her own endeavours treking North America with her partner in a Dodge Sprinter van, along the way, interviewing other inspirational women on the road. It'll surprise you how many women are living alternatively out of campervans and caravans, positively redefining societies expectations of the traditional housewife way of life by living nomadically and travelling alone.

WARNING: This may leave you wanting to quit your job, ditch your life, move out, buy a campervan and live on the road. 

 Love living a salty life? You'll love The Drifter.
Photographer Ming Nomchong founded The Drifter, through a love of surfing, travelling and living by the sea. Bursting with talented surf photography; drown in a sea of blue whilst scrolling through her work. Beautiful photographs of fearless female surfers chasing waves will make you want to grab your log and head out for a sunset session with your girl friends. 

 Another surf blog; Ladyslider creator Tara is more than inspired by surfing and spends most of her days mastering her cross step. 
She eats, breathes and sleeps surfing, as expressed by her blog. She represents the original Hawaiian surf goddess, living in paradise, communicating her way of life through visual content, i.e. bloody awesome photographs of her and friends getting some decent sized waves on all kinds of equipment.
Be prepared to have serious surfboard envy.

 Empowering female travellers, Adventurous Kate writes all about being a woman travelling solo. 
At 26 she quit her job and now travels full time with one aim; to show you how it's done.
Her top 3 posts include her adventures in Shetland, being shipwrecked in Indonesia and being naked in public.
Planning to go backpacking alone? Worried about feeling vulnerable or unsafe?
Read Kate's articles on female solo travel and learn about keeping safe and whether or not you should lie about being married whilst travelling alone. The impressive number of destinations she has visited alone makes her advice real, believable and reliable.
Let her mistakes teach you a lesson, and let her lessons teach you to make your own mistakes. 

 A lot less girlier than the rest, Adventure Journal is an online magazine founded in 2008 by Steve Casimiro. 
Articles contain posts on outdoor gear, historical badass', outdoors vans and landrovers, biking, cabins and elegant landscape photography. Personal essays reflect on cairn building, cliff jumping and why there are so little female adventure movies (yeah why is that?!). This online magazine is what I'd consider to be gender neutral, however, doesn't ignore the fact that women are underrepresented when it comes to the outdoors. Read one of my favourite posts "When Women Wear Bruises To Work" celebrating female mountain bikers and the scrapes and bruises then adorn.
If you do nothing, at least check out The Weekend Cabin; features on the worlds most unbelievable cabins, only ever adored on Pinterest.

Dirtbag Darling; The #PlayOutside Challenge

 If you're not already familiar with 'Dirtbag Darling', this blog was created by Johnie Gall, a woman with a passion for writing and inspiring women to get outdoors. She is positively redefining the masculine consideration of the outdoor world that the likes of Bear Grylls have created by venturing out into the wilderness and featuring other women who also embrace this gritty way of life. She covers everything outdoorsy, from how to road-trip proof your car (she travels and lives out of her van) and how to get your dog onto your surfboard, to what outdoor camping gear you should buy. If you're a lady with an appetite for getting muddy, salty and sweaty, you'll probably want Johnie to be your friend as much as I do.

 This coming week, Johnie and friends are motivating women from around the world to roam outside for thirty minutes every day starting tomorrow, from August 17th - 24th. Everyday, an Instagram post will contain a themed challenge for you to creatively interpret. Enter Instagram photographs of your daily adventure using the correct hashtags and get the chance to win prizes from Seea (my all time favourite swimwear company), Designer Protein, and a bunch of other amazing outdoor inspired companies.

 Whether you already embrace the outdoors daily and you're looking for a new challenge or merely a chance to grab some goodies, or you work a nine 'til five desk job in the city and stepping way out of your comfort zone, this challenge is exactly the thing you need this week. We all know the science behind the benefits of being in the outdoors and what a little exercise can do for our mental health (check out my blog post on how stand up paddleboarding helped cure my anxiety) and this may step you onto the road of creating a positive change in your life (even if you embrace it only for this week). This challenge is a great opportunity to appreciate the natural world around you, breathe some fresh air into your lungs and possibly become a tad healthier as a consequence. 

 So get your hiking boots ready and listen out for the first challenge starting tomorrow. Anyone needing motivation, I will be venturing out everyday to complete each challenge and keeping an online journal and posting instagram posts (@truelovestravels) of my daily adventures to keep you updated and (hopefully) motivated. Good luck!

 Check out their blog by clicking on their logo below.. 

A Short Introduction to Bali

When the cardboard and bubble wrap I spent hours wrapping my surfboard in for protection was quickly torn to pieces at Nghurah Rai airport on landing, I couldn't help but feel I was being interrogated on arrival in Bali. I was tired and probably drank too much free wine on my Qatar airways flight; this was the last thing I wanted to kick start my travels.

 It wasn't until I later read Kathryn Bonella's Snowing in Bali that I fully understood why — Bali is infamous for its drug trade. Drug dealers often pay ‘horses’ or ‘mules’ to pose as surfers — who make up the majority of tourists in Bali due to its world class waves — to traffic drugs, mainly cocaine and occasionally marijuana, sewn into the linings of backpacks and surfboard bags. Now I understood why they ransacked my surfboard bag.

  Bonella argues in her book that tourists are completely oblivious to this world of drug trafficking that exists in Bali — you only see it if you really look. As I looked around me at the sunburned faces of the Bintang vest wearing 'Bogans' haggling on the streets of Kuta for a cheap boat ride to the Gili islands — Australians, who are just as common in Bali as the English tourist in Benidorm — I realise she is right. However, Bali is so much more than just a drug lord’s money making paradise, hence why most travellers here stroll blissfully unaware on its beautiful beaches.

  During my two months of travel in Bali, I found myself numerous times becoming trapped in a sort of time capsule — days and time quickly become fictional concepts when you have no responsibilities or limits. The sun rising at the East over Jasri, Keramas, Sanur, and setting in the West over Medewi, Balian, and Canggu, are the only reminders of time on this enigmatic Indonesian island. As you gaze out into the vastness of the southern ocean from the cliffs of Uluwatu, watching as the swell rolls in, it's easy to forget about the darkness of the Balinese drug world, which exists only in the shadows of these impressive cliffs.

Overlooking the swell rolling in at Uluwatu from the overhead clifftop.

  Bali is an island of adventure and opportunity. A surfer’s paradise and a backpackers dream. A place where Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Buddhists live in harmony. Temples neighbour mosques. As you bathe yourself in the lukewarm, salty waters of the Balinese sea, you look back at the monkey-ridden cliffs, covered in colourful wild flowers. The sculpted landscape is so ethereal it could make the most committed atheist question the existence of a divine creator — an image even the most talented artist would surely fail to capture.

  Bali is a place where you can find women dressed in sarongs, paradoxically riding graciously on the back of petrol scooters, balancing a tower of sarongs on their heads; the perfect contrast of modernity and tradition. Unlike the children we know who rush home from school to play the latest PlayStation games or catch their favourite cartoons on television, children here embrace the outdoors and relish in the enjoyment of flying homemade kites. Aside from their own pleasure, soaring these huge kites, often shaped like birds or butterflies, high in the skies is a way of thanking the Hindu gods for plentiful rice each season. Lift your gaze at dusk and hundreds litter the sky; their silhouettes flowing beautifully in the evening wind. Flying a kite is a pleasure I am yet to experience. I can do nothing but hope I will meet a generous Balinese child who will teach me how.

  Throughout my journey in Bali, I have had the pleasure of visiting many places, with their own character. There are the Muslim villages whose people want nothing more than to share their beautiful waves with their guests, the Hindu towns who creatively decorate their streets with art, petals, and incense, islands populated with some of the worlds biggest sea turtles and mountainous terrains with the greenest rice paddy's and the most secret, natural, hot springs, surrounded by waterfalls. However, it's not all perfect barrelling waves and peaceful kite flying.

  After time, the continuous choir of women shouting "Buy some 'ting, yah?" and men calling "Taxi? Transport?" whilst driving an imaginary steering wheel (in case you somehow didn't understand), soon becomes very draining — but this is part of the Balinese life. This is how these people make their money, in hope that one person may just say "well yes, actually, a taxi is exactly the thing I am looking for at this very moment", instead of a "Tidak, terima kasih" (no, thank you) as they must hear so very often. Bartering is also a part of the Balinese culture. To them, this is like a game..

 You approach with your biggest smile, half their offering price (still smiling), then you meet somewhere between their initial price and your suggested sum. You might still end up paying a little more than you should, but nobody ever lost sleep over paying an extra fifty pence for a three hour long taxi journey. Just learn some bahasa Indonesia and you might even get a better deal. When ordering street food in bahasa Indonesia, we pay half the price than when asking in English. Throw in the phrase "sing ken ken", Balinese for "no worries" and you will receive a smile and a little respect. It's about respecting one another — we are all different, and this is a good thing.

Overlooking the rice fields in Ubud.


I hope you've enjoyed this vague introduction to Bali and I hope it serves as a palette cleanser for the many stories about Bali I am yet to share.

Wanderlust

Wanderlust
A strong desire to travel:
a man consumed by wanderlust

  As a Geographer and an aspiring travel writer, I spend a LOT of my time searching and reading about places. Often these are places where the sun generally shines all year round. Places you can find the tallest mountains, largest volcanoes, highest waterfalls. Places where the most extraordinary animals live on your doorstep. You get the idea. Those wonderful places we all wished we lived.. And I'm sure you sometimes get this feeling too? That feeling my friend, is called wanderlust. And you have probably got it bad.

 You can blame it for not getting you up in the morning. You can blame it for failing your exams. You can blame it for walking into that lamppost mid-daydream the other day. You can blame it for making you stay in the other night like a jealous girlfriend, whilst your friends partied the night away, just so you can save up your last pennies. You can blame it for all that money you spent on lonely planet books and national geographic subscriptions; they fuel your addiction. You can blame it for the lack of wall space in your room thanks to your ridiculous obsession with maps. You can also blame it for that real shitty summer job you worked full time (not PD's Dave! I love it there!).. But anyway, you know the point I'm trying to get at..

 Wanderlust is the bane of every nomad's life. It's that itchy feet feeling when you've stayed somewhere too long and just need a change of scene to freshen up your outlook on life. The longing to travel is like the longing for a loved one who's on the other side of the world or a thirst that is just never fulfilled, no matter how many bottle of drench you guzzle. I've never understood people who were happy living within their own little bubbles, never leaving the small town they're from, never meeting new people or having new experiences. People who'd say "you went where?.. I've never even heard of it.. Uh, you stayed in a hostel?!.. What a bizarre place to go on holiday..". I'm from a (relatively) small valley in South Wales and most of the people there will never walk to the end of their own street, never mind fly to the other side of the world (I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but it's true). The only way I could ever describe that feeling would be if you put me in a cardboard box and told me I was never allowed out. Please, if I ever turn down an offer to explore a new country, just shoot me there and then, because 1. I have either been possessed, 2. I've turned into a zombie, or 3. I've lost my marbles.. My mother doesn't call me Lora Dora for nothing. But anyway, I didn't begin writing this post with the goal of offending anybody, I just haven't written anything for a while (thanks degree and thanks dissertation), and found myself seriously procrastinating this evening applying for university travel grants, reading online travel blogs, reading through my huge collection of National Geographics and gazing at travel photography and just realised I've probably got it bad.

  I can't wait until my degree is done and dusted (only four months now!), and I fly to Bali for almost two months. Two months of exploring, walking, diving, surfing, SUPing, writing, photographing. I love the simplicity that comes with travelling, just having a backpack with some essentials, but really all that 'stuff' becomes worthless as you gain priceless experiences. As you approach the end of your travels and your funds run low, you're satisfied with rich new information, views, colours, culture. I've always been so amazed by new things, new informations, new answers.. I used to annoy my mother as a child with the question "why?" over and over again, because I've always been hungry for new information and explanations, my eyes always hungry for new sights. I think this is why I personally find it so hard to comprehend people satisfied with sitting at home all day, never seeing the outside world, never finding an adventure, even if it is only outside your own doorstep. It is however, very easy, especially now during the winter, to stay inside to avoid the cold and the wind, but please, I urge you to go outside. I've made it my new years resolution to be outside for at least half an hour every day. Try not to take your phone, and whilst you're there just enjoy the outdoors. Take in all of the elements and just be in the moment; appreciate what you have in front of you.

  I think it's so easy when we're at home daydreaming of places we want to travel to, reading endless books and guides, pinning places on the map, that we forget there is a world outside.

Most people spend their lives planning a trip away, and then consistently putting it off until eventually it never happens and it's too late. I think if we start small, explore local, this will encouraging a broader idea and inspire better confidence to finally take that plunge needed. I think the message I'm trying to get across is this; it's all well and good searching for adventures to have elsewhere, sitting in your room planning where to go, saving up all your money for expensive flights and buying new bikinis, but don't take what's on your doorstep for granted. Explore it all you can, even the smallest places. I remember as a child, even a walk up the street felt like a big adventure; a chance to explore. I think naturally, as human beings, we all have that urge to curiously explore new places because we are curious human beings; without experimentation and curiosity we wouldn't have succeeded as the developed race that we are today. Don't lose that childlike feeling of adventure; that curious urge to see what cool things there are around the corner.

A few small solutions to your dissertation blues

 I'm sure, like me, you've been feeling down in the dumps, being stuck in the library/office/at home writing your dissertation/thesis/whatever it is you're currently writing up. If you're in third year too, you're probably getting the same feeling that you just can't wait to finish. Well, good news, there's only 4 months left! But in the meantime you need something to get you through this (pretty boring and exhausting) writing up process..

 These last few weeks I've literally been going through every emotion humanely possible writing this dissertation, and when my laptop broke last week I was pushed over the edge. Luckily it came back to life so don't worry about me too much.. But just a reminder; back up your work EVERYWHERE POSSIBLE. Anyway.. I didn't want to emphasise the negativities of this crappy period too much, because you already know those and you're probably experiencing them right now.. But fortunately for you, I've been experimenting and trying new ways of shaking off my dissertation blues and some of them work pretty well, so I thought I'd share them.. I hope some of them work for you!

1. Eat chocolate (A LOT OF IT) - When I got back to Uni after the Christmas holidays I was determined to start dieting and work off my Christmas chub.. but seriously, if eating a creme egg a day is the only thing getting you through this tough time, do it, and don't even feel guilty. 
2. Find some happy music and listen to it before/during/in-between/after writing - Obviously, different music works for different people, but personally I love listening to a bit of Shwayze whilst coding my data.. His music also makes me excited for summer. Click here and give him a go..
3. Go outside - I know everyone says this, but it's so true. Going out in the fresh air gives your brain a rest from looking at a computer screen all day and when you return you'll feel so much better. This could mean sitting outside the library and enjoying the view for 10 minutes or going for a walk. People forget there's beautiful coastal paths and mountains in Aberystwyth; explore them on your break from writing. That's without mentioning the starlings..
4. Watch the starlings - I actually can't believe how many people live in Aberystwyth and don't go to watch the starlings! Their murmurations are the most wonderful and calming things to watch and we are so lucky to have this happen on our doorstep as it's such a rare phenomenon! The time it takes for them to fly around before roosting beneath the pier is the perfect amount of time for a break from writing, so at 4:30pm tomorrow, stop what you're doing and head over to North beach, sit on the jetty or grab yourself a bench and enjoy.
5. Keep your friends close - I know this doesn't work for everyone, but keeping your friends close will keep you sane. If you're coding data, this can drive you crazy/make you fall asleep so having friends around will give you short breaks to have a laugh. I know some people feel friends can be distracting, but this is where you need to choose your library friends wisely..
6. Go home - I went home last weekend and when I got back to Uni with warm, clean clothes and a tummy full of food, my batteries felt recharged and I was more determined to get stuck back into writing. Sometimes, you just need a break and some guilt for not writing for a couple days to push you back into writing. 
7. Make a realistic 'to do' list - I'm the queen of 'to do' lists, but we all make lists which are unrealistic.. Just focus on doing what can be realistically done today i.e. a paragraph/250 words. Ticking these off at the end of the day will make you feel more productive than aiming to do the things on your unrealistic 'to do' list and leaving things un-ticked. And most importantly, reward yourself for completing them by watching a film, going out for dinner or getting smashed, which leads me onto my next point..
8. Get drunk - Writing up can leave you feeling very frustrated and angry, and sometimes you just need to go out and have a dance and a drink to blow off some steam.
9. Sleep - Going to bed early will make waking up early the next day easier and the earlier you wake up, the earlier you can start working. Make sure you get enough sleep!
10. Go in the sea - Last but not least, go in the sea. This could mean swimming, surfing, SUPing, kayaking, anything.. (just not bodyboarding). The sea is right on your doorstep! I can see people reading this and thinking HELL NO.. It is pretty cold right now, but all you need is a decent, thick wetsuit, some boots and gloves and you're good to go. This probably sounds so stereotypical coming from a surfer, but the sea literally washes away your troubles. I went for a little paddle in the sea this evening during sunset (5pm), only for 10 minutes and it was exactly what I needed. Sometimes you can feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders whilst working hard, and the sea is the perfect thing to make you feel a bit of weightlessness. The cold is also the exact right thing you need to wake you up ready for working again. 

 

The starlings flying over Aberystwyth Pier March 2015.