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.

Anxiety, Aberystwyth and Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP)

Losing my SUP virginity

The first time I ever SUPed was at Rest Bay, Porthcawl in South Wales when I was 17 years old. A friend of mine was recovering from M.E. (also known as chronic fatigue) and anxiety, so he decided to take up surfing to see if it would help, as the sea is known for being undoubtedly good for your state of mind and well being (I will elaborate on this later on). I was always interested in taking up surfing ever since my first lesson at Caswell bay when I was 13, so I often went along on surfs, but ultimately gave up trying as I seemed to get nowhere, and felt surfing was definitely not my calling (although I feel this wasn't the main factor which pushed me towards SUPing). On one occasion at Rest Bay, after throwing in the surf towel, I noticed there was a different kind of board for hire - one with a paddle. I'd seen pictures of stand up paddle boarders on fashionable websites like tumblr and was intrigued, so I made enquires with the hire guy and he gave me brief instructions on what to do before departing for my first ever SUP session. This board had a handle fitted, and was surprisingly very light, so it was super easy to carry to the beach from the car park. Needless to say I fell off a fair few times before actually being able to stand (and anyone who says they didn't is lying) - it was a little choppy too. After getting my balance right, I paddled around a little, beyond the waves, and really began enjoying myself. I came away with a better frame of mind than I usually did after attempted surfs. I made sure to remember the name of the board to look up online later that day. Red stand up paddle boards. It didn't feel like a blow up, but it certainly was, and kind of explains how I'd been able to carry it with such ease. I was so hooked on getting one, but after finding out the cost, my hopes were shot down as I could never earn enough with my small amount of hours at Pizza Hut to pay for one, and soon enough my paddle boarding dream was put in the 'whatever girl, dream on' box, alongside marrying Matt Cardle and being a Victorias Secret model.

Moving to Aberystwyth

A few months later, September 2012, I headed off to University at Aberystwyth. The only reason I really chose to go there was to be by the sea (like most other students here) and to properly learn how to surf, especially as I spent most of my time at home driving to the nearest beaches - Porthcawl, Ogmore-by-sea, Swansea.. In Aberystwyth the sea was right at my doorstep. I joined the surf club and although my main aim was to properly learn how to surf, I was excited when I found out the club kept an SUP. I don't remember the first time I used it, and it wasn't a blow up, but a big sturdy board. It didn't have a handle, so carrying it was pretty tricky (although by now, I'm pretty good at carrying SUP's on my head). Every Saturday on our 'club surfs' in my first year of University, whenever it was flat, we'd go grab the SUP and just have fun paddling around, experimenting with new ways to lay on it, standing up together, tandem surfing small waves (my absolute favourite thing to do ever), and since it was around 11'6", it caught literally the smallest of waves.



Using my head to get my SUP to the beach.. (Photographed by a local photographer Iestyn Hughes)

Summertime Sadness

Summer 2013 I spent the majority of my time back in South Wales after my plans for living down in Cornwall over summer didn't quite pan out as I'd expected. I felt landlocked, without a car to drive to the coast and as much as I absolutely hate to admit it, I developed depression and anxiety. I completely lost myself and shed tears almost every day against my own will. I was being sick regularly, also referred to as anxiety sickness. I cried because I was scared, I was scared because I was crying - it was all going on. In basic terms, I was officially mental. Whether this was linked to my distance from the sea is beyond me, but I couldn't help think about my (before mentioned) friend Alex, who had now pulled through his M.E. and anxiety, surfed daily and even bought his own paddle board. I spent most of my days in the house, scared to leave, watching gameshows like 'Pointless' and 'The Chase'.. Trust me, I look back and think "what the hell were you doing?!". During this summer I visited Aberystwyth on a fair few occasions. My boyfriend and I spent most of our days playing in the sea, badly attempting to fish off the paddle board and jumping off the jetty. In Aberystwyth I was fine, but as soon as I returned home, the tears and sickness kicked in again. This effect my *home* was having on me angered my mother, and her attempts to pull me out of this weird phase had no effect - she missed several days of work to comfort me, she took me for ice cream, she cooked me my favourite meals, she even took away all the mirrors in the house when I really did go crazy and began crying whenever I saw my own reflection. She put my depression down to repressed grief of my father passing when I was 9, and although I will be forever grateful for her love and care during this difficult time in my life, it was hopeless. I thought I was crazy, but soon after getting better, I realised going through these things in life is completely normal and I share these intimate, personal details about this time of my life with you so other sufferers of anxiety or depression can understand that others have/are going through it too, and it's not always going to last forever.

My First Ever SUP

Coming to the end of the summer, I began feeling a lot better. Harry and I went to Croatia, where I experienced a few down spells, but nothing major. After returning home in September, I had two weeks work experience at my old school as a part of a University module, where I hit rock bottom again, broke down to numerous people, an old friend, my A-level Biology teacher and the deputy headmistress. I spent most of my lunch hour in the bathroom having panic attacks in the cubicle, trying my best not to cry and somehow managed to hide everything from most people. I faked a smile and tried my best to be my bubbly old self - like they say, "if you can fake it, you can make it". In an attempt for a "quick fix" (there is never a quick fix with depression), my mother spoke to someone who could maybe help, which ended up with me being sat on a chair talking to a qualified stranger (also known as a councillor), which was a complete joke as I knew she couldn't help me. I returned to Aberystwyth, against my mothers will, still crying and throwing up everyday. I was adamant that dropping out of University would surely confirm my place in the loony bin. I had this thought stuck in my head that if I was back by the seaside then everything would be ok and slowly but surely, my sadness waddled away. I got a job on my return and I was doing well in all my assignments. I kept myself busy and I one day looked back and realised I was myself again! No tears, no sickness.. my smile was back.

I'd increasingly began surfing more that winter, not that I got any better, but waking up early just to be in the sea was refreshing. With flat spells we used the clubs paddle board more and more. I'll never forget that one day in October, when we took the SUP out to the reef with a waterproof disposable camera and cookies. I'd honestly never felt so happy. It was then I realised that the depression was surely on it's way out the door as we pretended to be mermaids in the sea. I think Harry could see this love I had for paddle boarding developed, and I had an inkling he was planning to get me my own paddle board for Christmas. I didn't want to raise my hopes, as I knew they were expensive, and we were students after all, but the smile on my face when I unwrapped it was the biggest it had ever been for a really long time. I couldn't believe how cheap you could get a second hand SUP. He's always been one for bargains but this one definitely seemed like a combination of luck and fate.



Unwrapping my very first SUP on Christmas 2013.

The first time I used the paddle board was amazing and unknowingly, a local photographer, Keith Morris, snapped some shots of me truly embracing this amazing evening. The sun was setting and the famous Aberystwyth starlings were flying overhead. I'd never felt so close to the sunset and the photographs were amazing. Since then, other photographers have also snapped me enjoying what I love, making me feel that little bit famous in this tiny town. I really have had some truly unforgettable experiences on my SUP. A few months ago at Llangrannog we paddled through caves and rocky archways, what I like to call "extreme SUPing". Before we knew it we were surrounded by seals and encountered a white seal pup at the back of a cave, behind a waterfall. Many times have I SUPed with dolphins in Aberystwyth, sometimes getting ridiculously close, which makes me feel like 'the girl who stand up paddles with scissors' (http://standupjournal.com/the-girl-who-stand-up-paddles-with-scissors/). You could argue that you'd have these same experiences on a kayak or canoe, but I strongly doubt this. Standing on a board allows you to be fully aware of your surroundings and turning is so easy on a SUP that missing the sighting of a dolphin or a seal is never an issue. You're also free to jump in, without constraints on a SUP, unlike a kayak or canoe. I also believe the strokes you take with your paddle when SUPing is extremely calming without mentioning its physical health benefits. Surfing on a SUP is also extremely fun, especially as you can surf anything from the smallest waves. The paddle is used to aid you when paddling into waves or allowing you to speed up/slow down whilst on the wave. I also believe anyone of any age/ability can SUP with a little help, which I believe is the main factor SUPing is becoming such a popular activity.

My first paddle on my very first SUP board (Photographed by Keith Morris).

The Future
As of now, the water in Aberystwyth is becoming consistently clearer, and taking a snorkel and flippers out on the SUP to jump in and explore the reefs is on the very top of my list of things to do this summer. Needless to say I will be staying in Aberystwyth this summer, not only to stay working in my job, but to be near the sea. My god if I ever get the opportunity to give a seal a belly rub like these guys (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U-91r-57_c) you won't hear the end of it! We recently purchased a go pro replica, SJ4000, and got some amazing shots, and it only cost us £70. We've filmed our encounters with dolphins, lobsters, jelly fish, which I constantly social media and blag about to friends.

I'm always keen to go to new places on my SUP, and since we have the van now to transport it, it's finally possible - so please, share your amazing SUP adventures with me. I am yet to try SUPing on a lake which I know is very popular inland and around London, and white water SUPing seems like something I'd love to take a stab at. I can definitely recommend heading over to the mid Wales coast where you'll find all sorts of fun caves, archways and marine wildlife. Aber Adventures, a local surf school have also bought a load of brand new Red blow up paddle boards which they hire out for pretty cheap - get in touch if you want to explore the coastline or have a lesson (http://www.aberadventures.com/Welcome.html). They recently provided boards for us to paddle a "Blue Mile" to raise money for the Marine Conservation Society - we raised a ton of money for them and I'd love to do more events like this in the future, which not only promotes SUPing but also helps the marine environment. There's also a recent development with the Wave Project in London which encourages children with learning difficulties to SUP - to me this sounds like the most amazing cause to be involved with, especially as I have first handedly experienced the amazing psychological benefits of being in/around the sea.

Suggesting that SUPing or being in the sea was the main contributor to relieving my depression and anxiety, I feel, would be inaccurate, but it undoubtedly helped. Paddling out to sea on a calm day, lying down on my board and looking up at the sky is my new favourite way of relieving my stress, as a form of meditation. I also have heaps of fun surfing on my SUP, and am so happy to finally master catching some clean waves on it! My next challenge is to get my pup, Oscar, out on the SUP with me when he comes to visit. I have a new SUP, due to arrive in August (custom made!) from Supremo SUP's, which I am so so so excited about, and will post more details about the up and coming company and the quality of their boards soon.

Enjoying a sunset paddle at Aberystwyth (Photographed by Alan Hale).

I'm not really sure whether to continue writing SUP posts on my travel blog, or to create a separate blog based on SUPing, but I think I'll just see how it goes for now..

Moroccan Style

 Haven't wrote in a good while, so it's about time! End of January/February consisted of fun times in Taghazout, Morocco (pronounced Tara-zoot). It was my second time in Taghazout and my third time in Morocco. Ocean Surf house provided accommodation with a rooftop terrace, ideal if you're on a budget and for catching some rays, stargazing, rooftop parties and wave watching. We were able to view all 3 major spots - Panoramas, Hash point & Anchors. The fish market provided us with some tasty, healthy, fresh ingredients to make our own tagine and don't forget to grab some spices from the market. Vegetables here are so cheap - around a £1 for a bag full. Paradise valley is a 40minute journey from Taghazout, and I'd definitely recommend going there (but make sure the taxi driver doesn't rip you off!). It's a bit cold this early in the year, so you'll need a wetsuit. It's better to go early and leave early as the sun disappears around 5o'clock in the valley. If you're lucky, some locals may bring you a homemade tagine with some bread whilst you enjoy the sun, the natural rock slides and the cliff jumping.

Check out our instructions on how to make a Moroccan tagine!

Clueless about Croatia?

 Last August my boyfriend and I spontaneously decided to go to Croatia for 12 days. We agreed before going to skip fancy hotels and simply travel, staying at each destination for around 2 nights. Choosing places to visit was effortless, all that was needed was google maps and a book on Croatia. Mapping out our journey was fairly easy. We packed light, with only hand luggage to carry around. Our flights were booked through sky scanner and our accommodation through hostel bookers and hostel world.



Where to go and where to stay


Since we chose to fly to Zadar, which is almost smack bang in the middle of the country (and the cheapest on Skyscanner; if you don't know about Skyscanner then you need to check it out - http://www.skyscanner.net), we had to make the decision whether we were going to travel North or South, since doing both would take too long. We chose to travel South, with the exception of one place; Plitvice lakes, which was slightly North and in land (around 2/3 hours) from Zadar, but it looked too good to miss out on. If you do decide to visit Plitvice lakes (which I do highly recommend as the waterfalls are very impressive), you should know that you can't swim here, you can however go swimming in Krka lakes, which is further south, but also worth a trip (I'll make a post comparing these soon). Both do student discount so make sure to take your student card if you're a student as you get almost 50% off your tickets. As we went at the end of August/beginning of September, surprisingly it was very cold at Plitvice during this time, so I'd definitely recommend going earlier in the Summer or taking warm clothes and waterproofs if you decide to go late August or onwards. I wouldn't recommend staying in Jezerce, as it was quite a walk from the lakes (through a forest) and from the shop in Mukinje. After choosing our destinations, we booked our first 4 nights of accommodation on hostel bookers. I'd never stayed in a hostel before so this idea did frighten me a little, but almost every 'hostel' in Croatia are apartments, and private double rooms with en-suites are not scarce. Hostel bookers also have the e-mail addresses of the owners, so it is worth e-mailing them if theres limited availability, as Croatian hospitality is second to none, and they will always arrange a room for you. I'd definitely recommend staying at 'Apartments Mira' which is in Bibinje (pronounced Bibin-yeah - a 10 minute drive from Zadar). Mira's husband (couldn't speak English) fetched us from the airport for free, and on arrival Mira gave us croissants, coffee and homegrown handpicked figs (also for free). She was the sweetest, hardworking lady who tried her very best to learn and speak English. She gave us bikes (yes you got it - for free!) which we used to explore Bibinje and cycle into Zadar (around 20 mins, but mostly flat and easy and plenty of places to lock your bike up and walk around the city). Everything in Bibinje was so cheap in comparison with Zadar, so staying here then cycling into Zadar rather than staying there was ideal. Definitely visit the big diving boards in Zadar and the old town. I'd also recommend staying in Skradin (whilst visiting Krka lakes). We stayed in Vila Marija, which was absolutely beautiful and above a restaurant which served yummy food. Funnily enough, vila Marija was the nicest yet cheapest place we stayed (we even had a balcony!). The boats came regularly to transport you to Krka lakes, which was such a pretty sight. I'd also recommend visiting Trogir (an old UNESCO protected town) and Supetar which is on an island called Brac, which you can get a boat to from Split. Split was very expensive in comparison to the rest of the places we stayed, but a very modern city, where cocktail bars and designer shops could be found within the old ruins. We stayed in apartments Zuvan where we extended our stay by an extra night because we had such good sleep in the huge double bed. There was an awesome forest on the coast of Split which Mr.Zuvan recommended we visited. It was lovely to walk through and to find a spot to sunbathe then go snorkelling. All the locals used this forest like a jogging/cycling place. We didn't venture to the most famous Croatian town, Dubrovnik, since it was so far South and so busy during the peak season.





Plitvice lakes.



Exploring Bibinje & Zadar on the bikes Mira gave us.




What/where to eat/drink


Definitely have a Karlovacko (the beer of Croatia, which they consistently served lovely and cold). Alcohol in general was cheaper than soft drinks. If you do stay in Bibinje, the restaurant opposite Mira's apartment (pizza lasagne restaurant) did yummy food for so cheap. The first night we had a pizza, carbonara, a beer and a glass of wine for 100kuna (£10.80). There are little bakeries everywhere called "Pekarna's" which did awesome pastries, donuts, strudels, bread etc. Definitely give a cheese strudel a go! Try a fig if a local offers you one as they are so fresh and homegrown. In every supermarket there's a bakery, meat and cheese section, so making packed lunches for our travels was ideal and super cheap. If you're a fan of olives, they do grow some yummy ones here. Croatian pizzas are amazing, so you have to try at least one (Harry had one everyday..). The local coffee is very strong, so bare this in mind if you're not a regular coffee drinker. If you decide to visit Zadar, get a calzone!!!





Harry eating his yummy calzone in the old town of Zadar.











Traveling


Buses were so regular from almost everywhere. The only place we struggled with transportation was Skradin as they're not so regular from here. All of the coaches are really nice and fairly cheap. We paid around £10 ish each for an average 2 hour coach journey. We did get a local bus one day which was also fairly new, clean and cheap. The new, main road built through Croatia makes travelling all around the country really easy.











Truelove's top ten tips

1. Look out for secret paths in the national parks to get under waterfalls (you're not allowed but it's so cool).

2. Take a little fishing line and try and catch some fishies (but not in the national parks as its illegal).

3. Definitely take a snorkel - the water is too clear not to (we found octopus, crabs, starfish..)

4. The j's in Coratia are pronounced like y's.

5. Don't visit Okrug beach on Brac (unless you like Benidorm).

6. You probably won't find a sandy beach.

7. They call ice creams "slags"..

8. Take only hand luggage (it's less hassle and the drivers of the coach don't charge you to store).

9. Take any medicine you may need just in case (it costs a lot to see a doctor/get a prescription).

10. If you visit Split, learn to breathe through your mouth at the harbour, it's a bit smelly.

Poor little starfish.

Go easy, I'm new to this..

 So it's 01:41 and I've finally found some time and ambition to start something I've really wanted to do for a long time. I'm completely new to the blogging world, and I've never written anything like this before, but since I've finally had some time on my hands, I thought I'd give it a go.

 I'm aware that the internet is currently occupied by thousands of travel writers, eager to share their experiences of the world, so whether anyone will even read this seems pretty ambitious right now, but it would be really cool if the needle you found in that haystack was mine. All I really wanna do is share how amazing the world is, through my eyes, even if that means one person reads this, my goal has already been achieved and I will be one happy bunny! I'm only 19 years old, and I know I have a lot of travelling and learning ahead of me yet, but I'd love to share my travel experiences and if someone even liked a small aspect of what I wrote, that would put the biggest smile on my face. Some constructive criticism would be amazing. I have no idea what angle to take with this yet and I am completely new to the blogging/travel writing scene, so go easy on me!

 Before I actually start writing any official posts, I thought it would be best that I wrote a sort of 'introductory' post, in order to explain why I've decided to write a blog sharing my travels in the first place...

 Ever since I can remember, I've always loved to travel. Starting from a young age I was really fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to some amazing places all around the world. Most of my friends in school hadn't even ventured outside the little town we lived, let alone to a different continent. It's not until lately that I've realised how lucky I was to have had those opportunities, and I feel it's definitely made me a more confident and open minded person today. My memories of these earlier holidays are vague, however my experiences, of what to me were the most notable countries I'd visited, I remember very well. Rastafarians, reggaeton, the dutty wine and the sweet taste of sugar cane. These people with funny looking hair, dancing oddly to music I'd never heard. It was all new to me. We filled our suitcases with that sweet tasting sugar cane, "better than sweets" the big Jamaican lady said. She sat preparing the plant on the side of the road outside our guarded Holiday Inn hotel, dressed in rags. She asked for what was pennies to us and we bought the whole lot. She couldn't have had a bigger smile on her face and we had sugar cane to last us weeks. Hookah pipes, the dead sea and sand, lots of it, comes to the mind when I think of our travels to Egypt. 10 years old, and I couldn't believe my mother was letting me smoke! They were of course tobacco free, fruit hookahs, but nonetheless, I felt badass. I'd never really saw a fish in real life, apart from a couple of goldfish we'd had, so when we snorkelled coral reef with thousands of different fish swimming around our feet and I swallowed a load of sea water in awe and threw up, I shouldn't have been surprised. This was the first time I saw a rainbow parrot fish, the most colourful living thing I had ever seen. The whole reef seemed like a rainbow to me. I feel these earlier travels to such interesting places with such interesting, different people, had a massive impact on how my passion for travelling and Geography developed. Being a white, young, British female, coming from a predominantly white area, seeing and meeting people of a different colour was a new experience to me, and I was instantly intrigued to learn how these people from different countries lived. Forget glaciology and the geomorphology of rivers, the main reasons I chose to study Geography at University is because I love learning about different countries and cultures, even the most smallest of tribes in the most obscure of places.

*Here is where I'm supposed to provide you with one of those terribly cliched quotes on how travelling broadens the mind.*

 As amazing as my earlier travel experiences were, looking back I felt something was missing, like I wasn't getting the full experience and that's when I came to realise that these experiences were just holidays where we were guarded and gated both inside the hotels we occupied and inside ourselves. I don't want to have the tourist experience. To me, the tourist view is boring, benign, buying into false representations of how native people live. I want to experience these places as the native people would, and that would be the only real way to truly gain any sort of true understanding of how these cultures live. I want to drink authentic mint tea and eat homemade lamb tajines in Morocco, drink from coconuts and eat homemade jerk chicken in Jamaica and handpick and eat fresh, homegrown figs in Croatia. I want to experience their world through their eyes. I want to taste not only their food but the richness each culture has to provide, and so, here I am today, either out there, experiencing the world or sat right here, writing about it.