Everyone knows that the UK is notoriously expensive; budget travellers and backpackers avoid it, and even UK residents don’t travel around all that much because of the cost. Although I’m originally from the UK, I’ve never held down a full-time job here and because I’ve been away for so long, I don’t own a car. I am well and truly outside of the British economic circle and have only my savings from teaching in Taiwan to rely on.
If you ask someone whose never been to Poland what it’s like, they’ll tell you it’s all industrial and drab. And sure, in certain areas it is, but for the most part Poland is beautiful. What people don’t know is that Poland is home to quite an array of different landscapes: cobbled cities, snow-capped mountains, golden sand beaches, forests and lakes. This 2-3 week backpacking route around Poland encompasses all of those cityscapes and landscapes.
“A vegetarian travelling to Poland? You’ll struggle to find anything to eat there. They only eat meat, more meat and bread.”
When I told people at home that I’d be travelling in Poland, I got only negative replies about how I’d have nothing to eat. I’d probably starve if I didn’t eat meat, they said. It turns out that people are either misinformed or altogether uninformed about the Polish diet. It turns out that the Polish eat a lot of vegetables and being vegetarian in Poland isn’t so hard. They have salad with every meal and you rarely see a plate that doesn’t have shredded beetroot, cabbage and grated carrot heaped on the side. In fact, Poland has the highest rate of fruit and veg consumption in Europe.
Angloville is a culture and language exchange programme. The project supports advanced English speakers to improve their English through 1:1 conversations with native English speaking volunteers. Read on for our Angloville review.
There are signs everywhere advertising cooking classes in Vietnam. All claim “authentic Vietnamese food,” “the best pho in town,” and “delicious, fresh spring roll masterclasses.” I love cooking, and so does Luke. We often quarrel because we both want to do the cooking, even more often we bicker during the cooking, and we even prefer eating in to eating out. So naturally we wanted to take our bickering out of our own kitchen and into someone else’s.
Vietnam’s north-to-south, or vice versa, backpacking route spans the whole length of the country. During that time, you will no doubt end up on a less than ideal overnight bus or sleeper train. These can take anywhere from 8 to 15 hours.
Whilst sipping coffee all around Vietnam, I heard Westerners sniff at Vietnamese coffee because 1) you can’t get a good latte like in the UK (not that I’ve ever had a good latte in the UK) or because 2) the condensed milk used on the streets can be overwhelming, or because 3) it’s just too strong.
We’re Charlie and Luke — UK travel bloggers, adventurers and storytellers. We travel slow and write about sustainable travel. We want to make responsible travel choices and help you do the same. Get to know us.
