advice – One Chance to See the World

Sky Garden, best free views in London

Sky Garden sits atop 20 Fenchurch Street. Known locally as the ‘Walkie Talkie’, it boasts two decks of lush plant life, bars, restaurants and stunning 360-degree views of London. Best of all, Sky Garden London is completely free.

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The Building

This isn’t an ordinary skyscraper. The building gets wider as it rises, the highest floors literally hang over the streets below it. Like a wave ready to crash it looms over you in intimidating fashion, yet draws your attention completely.

From here you can see the shape changing as it reaches it’s peak, a height of 525ft. A quick show of the ticket and a scan of my bag and I am on the 35th floor in just a few minutes.

A short walk from London Bridge and Bank/Monument Underground, it is easily accessible on foot and well connected by train and bus routes. Tickets are free on their website (linked below) and easier to book two to three weeks in advance. Last minute bookings can be made but I would avoid if at all possible. Tickets go fast and it is hardly surprising.

The Views

The 360-degree views of the city make Sky Garden one of the best views in London.

Classic landmarks such as St Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge and The Shard draw your attention immediately, and signs on the windows help to spot the sights further away. London’s Olympic Stadium can be seen, as can the Wembley Stadium arch on a clear day.

Looking down to Tower of London — Looking down to the Tower of London… notice the vans inside the walls that are only visible from this height!

When should you visit?

I visited twice on two very different days in the city. First with Ju, my Brazilian friend living in London. The second time was during the recent heatwave with clear blue skies. Interesting to note that despite the clouds, the overcast day helped make many buildings more visible. The bright sunshine was beautiful but created a haze. When booking, you really don’t need to wait for a less cloudy day. Just avoid fog!

In summer the sun sets outside of the free ticket hours, so it is recommended to book one of the bars or restaurants to catch this. Also as tickets are required for the free trip, you don’t need to worry about it being overly packed during your visit.

It is important to note that the areas are ventilated, so even whilst indoors wear clothes appropriate for the outside temperatures.

My friend looking out to Canary Wharf — Looking out to Canary Wharf- facing east

Steps run up the east and west of the building, taking you even higher. It is possible to walk up clockwise or anti clockwise and then back down to the 35th floor.

Tower Bridge taken from the steps up — Tower Bridge- one of the most photographed landmarks up here

The Garden

The plant life really stands out in the middle of London’s concrete jungle. A lush oasis that gives you a sense of calm and tranquility, with seating areas hidden within the greenery. Signposts prevent us from getting lost, although getting lost is what this kind of escape is all about surely?

Couple taking selfie outside bar — Visitors looking out from the upper deck

Sky Garden outside deck

Two revolving doors allow access to the outdoor section of the building, the Shard is the first thing to be seen and looks incredible from here. Squint and you will see the tiny double-decker buses crossing London Bridge, along with the commuters that look more like ants. The deck is secured with a giant glass barrier that you have to look through, but being outside feels great at such a height.

Tourists taking photos from outside deck — A scramble for cameras!

Looking south west, the London Eye is visible behind neighboring buildings, along with Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Tate Modern and Millennium (the Harry Potter) Bridge. Can you spot them all?

Bars and Restaurants

The easiest bar to find is the Sky Pod Bar, situated right in the heart of Sky Garden. With huge windows and an open plan, it is the perfect place to relax with a bottle of wine and watch the world go by. With your friends or your partner, on a date or even alone (like I did on this day!), it really is perfect for all occasions.

Prices seem to be slightly more than what is expected in London. A bottle of beer will cost £6, although it will hardly come as a shock in such a place. Full menus are available on their website, and the venues available are:

-Darwin Brasserie

-Sky Pod Bar

-Fenchurch Restaurant

-City Garden Bar

-Fenchurch Terrace

Although causal wear is accepted in Sky Garden, smart-casual is recommended if booking any of the above.

Pssst… if you head up on an evening from Wednesday to Saturday, a resident DJ plays live music as you wander the gardens and catch the sunset. From 7pm on weekdays and 9pm on weekends, what better way to end the day in London?!

Let me know if you have been, and add it to the list if not!

Sky Garden London- Official Site

Sky Garden venues and menus

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Early bird or night owl?

I have been following a lot of London photographers lately to get some inspiration. One thing I envy is just how empty the streets are in their photographs, they look abandoned!

Even in the height of lockdown, London’s streets were not totally empty, and getting up early seems to be the best way to get that abandoned vibe. The early bird catches the worm is very true in this case. The problem is I am not an early bird.

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But I am getting better. The earlier I wake the less busy tourists areas are, it really is rewarding and makes me excited to leave the house. And as I get older (cheese alert) I am appreciating everyday more and more, and realising how much time a sleep-in can waste. Too much.

Here are some shots not long before sunset at St Paul’s Cathedral. The ‘what‘ installation above is a part of a wider project around the city, with many other words dotted around nearby streets.

*Google’s what the actual full sentence is*

Thanks to Londonist for the answer, the full sentence reads ‘What are you going to meet if you turn this corner?‘

The Millennium Bridge perhaps?

Cute dogs on walkies?

The Shard perhaps, taken on a different, more cloudy day.

This street gave me a real Harry Potter vibe, and was a great way to see the Shard unobstructed from across the Thames. The new pictures I am uploading here and to Instagram are new ones I have taken in the past few weeks of lockdown, and edited using Lightroom. I will have at least one new shot a day for the next month or so, so plenty of London to see if you have five minutes spare to check them out!

But back to the question. Early bird or night owl? Have recent events changed your habits or have you stuck to your guns?

Let me know, and happy hump day!

Sam

Due to the Coronavirus outbreak I am somewhat limited as to what I can do in London, but I aim to post as much as I can during this time. I promise to have some great posts coming your way once this is all over as I continue to explore London.

Stay safe and happy blogging!

Sam

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Will you miss anything about lockdown?

From Instagram, 29th June 2020.

Covent Garden before the post-lockdown crowds.⁠

I am going to miss the emptier streets in a way, currently 2020 has seen me lose faith in humanity more and more with every month that passes. More reasons to hate each other and less willingness for conversation. So a lonely walk without human interaction is therapeutic.
⁠
But then again the lockdown has seen us online more than usual, and this is where trolls and their toxic thoughts reside more than anywhere. At least people are rarely as toxic in person as they are behind a keyboard. We need real life conversations again as talking behind a username is a recipe for disaster.⁠

—

I have enjoyed the lack of interaction on my walks at times, but then again realise face to face interaction is usually much more pleasant than it is online. So the jam packed tube rides that we all label as ‘unfriendly’ in London will be welcomed with open arms… if I had that much room to do so. The commutes crammed but silent sound like heaven right now.

At this current moment, silence is like gold.

I hope you are managing to avoid the negativity, and more importantly, avoid being sucked into to it. It is contagious and sticks to you like glue. And once in that negative headspace it is hard to make that shift towards happiness again.

Stay motivated, stay optimistic and we will get through this, whatever it is that you are personally fighting for.

Stay safe and happy blogging!

Sam

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Hogwarts is closed?!

I was on the Millennium Bridge the other day during sunset. It is a great place to walk, between St Paul’s and the Tate Modern, and to stop and think for a moment whilst overlooking the Thames. Lots of time to think however not enough energy to do so. That’s how I feel at this moment.

I am putting together a post regarding everything that’s happening right now, but admittedly I have been putting it off. I hope to have it up this week though. It isn’t that I don’t want to talk about it, more finding where to start. And I am mentally drained by this year as well. Typing feels like walking through thick mud at the minute but I am easing back into it.

So here is a short post about a recent wander. Something I have always enjoyed talking about and walking is really helping keep me sane right now. It is also very interesting to see how the city has changed and is evolving over time, now more lively than it has been for months.

…

Kings Cross is a short walk from me with a movie connection to the Millennium Bridge. Can you guess the connection?

That’s right, Harry Potter. Brownie Points if you can name the movies they both appear in!

During the lockdown the powers that be have decided to take down the Platform 9 3/4 attraction and replace it with a bench. Not much of a surprise, but I was intrigued to know what it would look like today. Would they have boxed it up or fenced it off??

Neither, just taken it off the wall completely.

For anyone unfamiliar, this is what it looks like normally. I am hoping it returns soon.

I would love to know how many train stations around the world have cool little features like this one. Airports such as Singapore Airport have made the waiting game cool, offering something new and exciting to look at whilst waiting for a flight. More train stations should do the same in my opinion!

(Click the arrow for more images)

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Have you seen the Platform 9 3/4 attraction in London Kings Cross? Do you think they will reinstall it?

Let me know what you think of it’s fate… and I hope you are all having a great week, whatever Hogwarts House you’re in 😉

Stay safe and happy blogging!

Sam

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London quiz!: How many famous spots can be seen from the Millennium Bridge?

Hey everyone, happy Tuesday! With the lockdown easing a little I have been taking longer walks in London. The majority of the most popular sights are within an hours walk for me, and I have been taking turns walking around the areas whilst they are much quieter than normal. St Pauls, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, Kings Cross, London Eye, Buckingham Palace… and with three cameras I am starting to build up a folder or two of new shots.

What I like about the GoPro is the burst function, allowing 15 shots to be taken in a couple seconds. This is good for capturing something fast moving, such as a backflip, and catching each sequence. I found it was also good for getting a 180 degree view of my surroundings, by hitting shoot and quickly rotating.

I look like a ballerina doing it, but thankfully there isn’t too many people around to see this.

I posted the shots to Instagram as the carousel format allows you to flick through as if you are there.

PS: Don’t look at the hashtags!! It gives the game away :p

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The only problem is the fisheye lens makes a smooth transition between shots pretty hard, unlike panoramic mode on most smart phones.

But it was able to take in each and every angle facing east, and all the sights that can be seen from the bridge.

Using the pictures, how many famous landmarks can you see? Clue: Big Ben and the London Eye are behind me, so aren’t hidden between the buildings 😉

Happy hunting!!

Stay home, stay safe and happy blogging!

Sam

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Blog growth- getting those blue bars rocketing

It has been a while since I last posted something that wasn’t really travel related. It is funny because my blog wasn’t intended to be a travel blog. I had lots of inner thoughts that I wanted to get out there, and when I moved to Australia it was difficult for me to post anything but travel. That and photography.

And now I am in London I am sure travel will still be a huge part of my blog, but it will be nice once in a while to blog about other things.

The world isn’t exactly experiencing a shortage of travel blogs…

But I can see why. We all love to read about places we haven’t been to, and read other peoples perspectives of the place we call home. It is in our nature, the curious beings that we are. And I love to read what people have to say about the locations I post from, whether they are people that haven’t visited or live right around the corner.

The trouble is, how do we get people to view the blogs? There are so many blogs out there, some that I know will feel like they were tailored for me perfectly. The problem is I know they are there, but knowing where they are is a different kettle of fish. A bit like music really. Our favourite songs are often found by chance, listening to the radio or hearing a friend listening to. But getting out there and searching really increases our chances of finding what we want.

Luckily I have met a lovely bunch of you that I talk to daily and I am glad we do. When I first started blogging, writing is all I did. Open laptop, write a post, publish and shut laptop. I was always a little disappointed when I powered my laptop back up to see that no one seemed to want to engage. It had a couple views, maybe a like or two and that was it. There are a few reasons for this.

For one, my blog is one of millions. On the journey to work (especially in London!) we don’t notice individuals during rush hour. It is one continuous blur of passers by, waves upon waves in a sea of commuters. Our brains just aren’t capable of processing all that information so fast, nor do we have the time to do so. The same with blogs. We can’t read all of them, nor can we find all of them within the masses.

Secondly, why would anyone want to talk to me if I didn’t want to talk to them? I kept quiet for the first couple of years, and with that I was left alone. If you don’t go to other people’s parties, why would they want to come to yours? By getting out there, introducing myself and having the time for others, people were more interested in wanting to know me. It felt much better.

It is a bit like a relationship. You get out of it what you put in. You give time to your partner, they will (hopefully) devote time in return. It is how so much of life works, but sadly this effort isn’t always put in. Social media doesn’t help, we see people posting and receiving a ton of interest and engagement, it is easy to feel we can just replicate it, sit back and watch as the views flood in. I have seen first hand so many blogs come and go, and I imagine that the lack of engagement and interest is a big factor. You cannot simply set up a site and have it be successful overnight. It takes plenty time and commitment.

Another factor is how much we blog and actually give readers something to read.

The chart I used in the picture above reflects my actual blogging stats, however in reverse. Below I have added the stats as they are currently, from 19th October 2019.

These are my daily numbers, the tallest bar is the day I last posted. As you can see bloggers had something to read, the following days not so much. It isn’t a sudden drop, as some of my followers weren’t able to read on the day I posted and did so in the days after. But the trend is obvious. Post and get views, don’t post and, well, get less views. But to get views in the first place I had to do what I mentioned earlier in the post. Get out there and let people know my blog actually exists.

As you can see above, February has clearly been my most successful month in terms of views. This is no coincidence, it was the month I finally announced my blog to people outside of WordPress. That’s right, until recently I kept my blog secret to the outside world, no-one knew about it apart from my mum and sister and a maybe one or two people that managed to find it. By announcing it on social media the views went from just shy of 10,000 to 17,000 in one month. It was actually much more that I had anticipated.

But since then I didn’t blog so much. I posted 42 posts in February, the closest I have gotten since is 24 in August. This was the month that I was leaving Australia, and I posted all my favourite pictures from my two years in Australia there. Frequent blogging is vital for me to receive views, and being absent clearly affects the stats. I love looking at these statistics daily and seeing how consistent the trends are with blogging.

Lets zoom into daily stats again, but zoomed out to show more days.

Again, a clear trend can be seen. September I blogged a little about flying back to the UK, going to see Muse in Berlin and moving to London. Since moving I have only posted twice, and the drop in views is evidence of this. I used to blog daily for quite a while, and as much as this took up a lot of my time my views increased daily. Another thing I want to state here is that by posting everyday, my views didn’t stagnate. They always grew gradually every single day. Reason for this wasn’t just because of frequent blogging. It was by getting my blog out there. Introducing myself to others, reading other blogs, literally getting my username into the notification feed of others. Not relying on people searching my name, afterall how could they if they didn’t know it was there? Have bloggers actually see my name pop up in their feed was the answer. And if ten or twenty new people everyday were introduced to my blog, my views would slowly rise each day.

Blogging everyday gets me consistent views. Reaching out to new people everyday gets me more views.

Consistent blogging+reaching out=growth.

And despite my recent slow down in blogging, I am still blogging more and more each year. This graph shows my blog from 2016 to 2019.

I think this is the most important graph of all, for any blogger. It is the one that gives me the confidence and motivation to keep going. Zooming out helps us to see that overall we are gaining ground. If we zoom into anything, whatever if may be, it looks less consistent. More rough around the edges. Even though my stats are currently seeing a fall I understand why and know that I am still moving forward.

Try it for yourself. I would love to know if yours follows the same trends. If your yearly views are dropping, try using the consistent blogging+reaching out=growth equation and take another look at the daily and monthly stats. Stick to it, watch the daily and monthly stats improve and the yearly ones will look after themselves.

Consistent blogging doesn’t have to be every day. Whether it is daily, weekly or monthly readers need to know you will deliver when you say you do. If not, followers will probably look elsewhere to where there is consistency. Whether my views are rising or falling I love looking, as the stats coincide with the above equation. The answers are there, and the stats help me figure out what to do next.

Also, get out there. I love speaking to you everyday and it makes blogging fun. I am glad I have found you all amongst the ocean of people and the only way we can do so is waving to blogging strangers and hope they are happy to wave back. Thank you to all of you that have done.

I hope this helps those that have asked me for a little advice, and thanks to you all that have engaged with me and helped my blog grow to where it is today.

Have a good weekend and happy blogging!

Rush Hour Photo by José Martín Ramírez C on Unsplash

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Memories

I was half-consciously browsing social media today, struggling to find motivation to post a blog entry. Whenever I leave it a couple days it always makes the next post harder to type up, I truly need to do it every day to keep the ball rolling at a decent speed.

You probably know Facebook memories, the social media platform occasionally brings up pictures from this date in a previous year, reminding us of the good and bad memories we decided to share with the world. Today’s caught me off guard as it was a picture of my dad, accompanying me and my immediate family and close friends on the airport shuttle as I headed on my first big adventure in 2010.

I was flying from Newcastle to West Texas to work in a hotel as an intern after university. One of the best years of my life. At this point I was still full of excitement, it didn’t really sink in that I wasn’t going to see my family again in person for a whole year until the cabin crew informed us we were about to land in the Lone Star State. I am very lucky I have family that despite missing me as much as I missed them, understood the importance of travel and having these experiences, especially at 21. It was a year that changed me as a person for the better and helped me understand the importance of experiencing this world whilst we can. It helped give birth to this blog and inspired the name One Chance to See the World.

This name is more true now than ever, as my dad is no longer here. After he developed a very aggressive disease a couple of years after this picture was taken, it reminds me that life is fragile and despite travelling being an important aspect of my life, going home and seeing my family again is priceless. This is why I am happy to be travelling back to England in September, despite this current Australian adventure being as amazing as my American trip was back in 2010.

It really caught me off guard seeing this picture again. I was totally zoned out and it just hit me. It is so strange seeing someone’s face after you know they are no longer here, it’s a bit like having a dream that they are still around and I have these from time to time. But it is a good feeling too, as they are great memories to cherish. What keeps me sane after this loss is remembering that we had great memories together, and my last memory wasn’t an argument or something negative. This is why I never leave a conversation on bad terms no matter what’s been happening. Any conversation could be the last and that conversation could eat away at your conscience for a lifetime.

I am sure many of you can relate to this too. I guess my advice here would be to not take life too seriously and always try to get along with family and friends as each conversation has the potential to be a huge memory in the future. It is important to make every moment a potentially great memory to look back on with a smile and not a regret, and I am very grateful this one brings a smile to my face.

Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog.

New to this site? Click here to visit my A bout My Blog section and Travel Diary

Want to introduce yourself and your blog and discover new ones? Click here for my meet and greet page.

Cheers!

Sam

Then and now: Turning thirty and being okay with it

If there was one memory that freaked me out growing up it was those that told me our schooldays are the best days of our lives. I mean if there was one thing that would make me anxious at the thought of another birthday it would be the idea that staring everything is downhill 16+. And it is a great motivator to make sure this isn’t true. Undoubtedly for some it is true, but we should all have an aim of ensuring we keep living the best life possible instead of investing energy into fond yet distant memories.

It is easy to look back on life with rose tinted glasses and feel like everything was great. That the ‘good old days’ were nothing but that, filled with laughter and good times. However I have made a conscious effort to remember the not so great, using it to remind myself that youth doesn’t equal happiness. Effort equals happiness.

I remember the moment in school when we found out that London won the bid for the 2012 Olympic games. And I remember thinking ‘Shit! I am going to be 23!’. And now I look back envious that at one point I was 23. But when I think of reasons why I would be envious, I struggle. I mean if I am fortunate to live to 100, I was further away from it back then. But this isn’t a guarantee. Picturing life as a long road has it’s problems because some leave that road much sooner than others. Why be happy at the beginning of the journey when then end could be around the next turn?

Instead I am trying to find joy in the fact that I am still on it. Age isn’t as important as knowing we are making the most of this current moment. Instead of thinking that our best days are behind us, it is much better to think of how to make our tomorrow better than yesterday.

One reason I came to Australia in my late twenties was that I struggled to find the motivation beforehand. When I was 24 my dad died and it hit me hard. I was numb and travel was the last of my priorities. A couple of years flew by and I finally felt it was time to make the most of life whilst I could. So, I packed my bags and here I am.

So why would I want to go back to my mid twenties? I was younger, but younger and needing therapy. I feel youth and happiness is often an illusion. Like when we think that old music was better than it is today. It wasn’t. We only remember the classics because the shit stuff wasn’t worth remembering. This is like our memories.

Also, back to freaking out about turning 23 around the London Olympics. It is pretty strange to think I looked ahead with dread, and now look back at that age as a seemingly distant memory. What I thought was only age was not, the same when I am 50 looking back at 30 I am sure. It is all relative, and I need to learn how to embrace the fact that I will never be this young again instead of reminding myself that I am the oldest I have ever been.

This helps me to have a little more urgency to do the things I can whilst I can. It is true that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best time is now. Don’t ever regret not doing things sooner, it is better than the regret of not doing it at all.

So this is why I am happy turning 30. I feel good, I am excited about my plans and realise that this is a decade in which I could achieve so much more than I did in my twenties, if I choose to. And I aim to say yes much more than no and see where it takes me.

Keep living!

Also, thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes. It really means a lot and I appreciate every single one of you. As I have said previously your kindness really helps me to keep coming back here!

Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!

New to this site? Click here to visit my A bout My Blog section and Travel Diary

Follow me @samest89 on Instagram and @octstw on Twitter

Want to introduce yourself and your blog and discover new ones? Click here for my meet and greet page.

Cheers!

Sam

This is my last day in my twenties…

Just before leaving work for the weekend a manager told me that I now have ten years to get my shit together. Which is a big relief as I was under the assumption that this was what my twenties was all about. I have a bit more time and I welcome that with open arms.

I made a last minute decision to fly out of Melbourne and spend my birthday weekend in Brisbane, a city I fell in love with when I was there and I still have many friends there. In fact one of my friends has the same birthday and a big reason for travelling back to Queensland was to have a joint celebration.

Now I have never been one to make a huge deal out of a birthday, I simply prefer to have a few drinks with friends. And it is weird as this one isn’t just another birthday, it is the next ‘big’ one after 21. And to think tomorrow I will be in my thirties is still surreal to me.

It is strange however that I am not dreading it. I think I was more concerned about turning thirty in my mid twenties, I guess I have just accepted that it is happening and found peace. One thing that has helped with this is that I am going to ensure that I make the most out of life no matter what age I am. I feel it isn’t really the number that is a factor in peoples misery but where they are at that age. I know people in their early twenties that really struggle to find happiness and people in the latter stages of life with a huge smile on their face everyday. For me, it is the ‘settling down’ that sounds unsettling. Doing what is expected for a person of a certain age instead of what we want to do at that age. I am still going to travel through my thirties as I did my twenties. And I am going to make sure I have as little regrets as possible.

A mistake I made in my twenties was to have a ‘things to do before I am 30’ list whizzing around my head, especially 27 onwards. I mean this is good, as it gets shit done. However we don’t always get what we want and sometimes this urgency makes life less enjoyable than just enjoying the moment. It is possible to be that focused on doing everything we want to do that we don’t fully appreciate what we have done and achieved. Regret and desire are such strong feelings, and the feelings of accomplishment don’t last very long.

The good news is that I am at the very beginning of my thirties, so I don’t have that mad rush to complete everything I want to do in this decade. But I am going to make sure that I have my life together more and instead of running around frantically without a plan trying to tick every box I want to tick, I am going to invest more time putting plans in place that will help me not just achieve these goals, but have much more success in doing so.

And of course, I will be here.

I haven’t been as present on my blog the past couple months, but that is going to change. I only have two more months in Australia and I want to make the most of them. And after that I will have a whole bunch of fresh things to blog about back in Europe. But for now, Brisbane.

brisbanefromplane

So am I okay turning 30? I think so. I feel good, I am enjoying life and that is much more important than age. Some people don’t even make it this far. Sometimes we obsess so much about our younger days that we forget that we are the young ones that our future selves look back on. It is all about perspective.

Now, to making my thirties ten years to remember!!

Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!

New to this site? Click here to visit my A bout My Blog section

Want to keep up with my travels? Click here for my Travel Diary or follow me @samest89 on Instagram

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Happy blogging,

Sam

Thank you for 300 likes on ‘Quitting Blogging’!

Wow, checking my stats today I have noticed that my Quitting Blogging post now has over 300 likes and more than 100 comments, which is astounding to me. I have been blogging for five years now and in all honesty I never though I would be able to say that about one of my posts. To know that so many of you are reading each day and taking time to comment with your own thoughts on the topics I bring up makes blogging such a passion for me. I truly appreciate every one of you.

It helps me to enjoy the writing process, whether it is in long or short form and click publish. I must admit it would be a hell of a lot harder to do if I didn’t have your support, I spent years writing hundreds of posts for basically noone in the hope people would eventually stop by for a read. And I have learned that with consistent writing, people eventually do. I hope my blog is as fun for you as it is for me to keep updating everyday.

And if anything, waking up to good news like this makes me want to keep pushing, making posts more often and trying to better each post. I mean if more and more people are appreciating the posts I need to keep justifying why people should read them right? Who wants a blog that stagnates? And even if some are happy to read my blog even if it was to never change, I am going to imagine most people want to see it evolve. I think that works for everyone.

I have to think about what my blog will be when I go home in September. Will I keep it focused on travelling and experiencing new things? As this will motivate me to keep visiting new places, especially back in Europe as there are plenty of places I haven’t seen. Maybe I will focus on blogging my thoughts and opinions more as my working holiday visa comes to an end, my blog originally started as this so it is something I am used to. It is exciting to consider what avenues it will take as I will sure be here regardless, whatever I am talking about.

The community here is a great and diverse one and I feel switching my blog up every now and then hasn’t really had any repercussions, and I appreciate everyone of you that has still followed me when I have done so. They say nobody likes change however that doesn’t seem to be the case! It is embraced here.

So with that, I say thank you again for the continuous follows, likes and views on my blog and for continually motivating me to come back each day. It is a long weekend for the Queens Birthday here in Australia and I am sure other parts of the commonwealth, however no matter what you are doing I hope you have a fantastic weekend.

Sam

Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!

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Cheers!

Sam