Usually I remember the lightbulb moment I think ‘yes. I am going there,’ and decide roughly when & start obsessively looking at flights and accommodation. Strangely, and sadly, I don’t remember this for Skopje. I hadn’t seen friends pictures, I didn’t know anything about it’s history, but can only imagine I ... < STOPPED THERE. …
During July 1995 between 8000-9000 Bosnian-Muslim (mainly) men and boys (also known as Bosniaks) were massacred in and around the area of Srebrenica. This was genocide. I've written a short summary of the events leading up to and during the massacres at the end, but primarily wanted to write about my experience of visiting the …
Can you name the six countries of Former Yugoslavia? A little help needed? C B&H (you really should get this one...) Ma Se Sl Mo (There is also a seventh, 'K' though at the time it was an autonomous province and presently not recognised by one of the others - bonus points for getting that …
Yoga retreats. What do you think of? A Paradise of relaxation & pampering? To me, that's a spa holiday. But still, the usual response to where I was going was as if I’d just said I’m off to be waited on hand & foot, enjoy morning massages* and a week of doing very little. *To be …
For the last two weeks I've found it exhausting and incredibly painful to walk for longer than five minutes due to a stress fracture, so, despite it getting a little better, I made the rather sad, but sensible decision not to go to Return from Strength Fest in Querfurt, Germany this weekend. Still, I was determined …
Continue reading #SetHerFree – Protesting for the closure of Immigration Detention Centres in the UK
I guess I'm a 'seasoned traveller.' I don't even know exactly what that means but I hear it sometimes, and I think that's probably the way people would describe me. But whenever I land in a new place I feel lost and nervous. Going through immigration to get on a plane I'm excited. The way …
Continue reading It’s all about the moment when THAT feeling kicks in
When I first saw the Great White Shark Conservation advert in the STA brochure I thought I'd be spending a week living on a research boat with marine biologists. I'm not sure why I thought this, but the ambiguous description also meant the other volunteers also no idea what to expect from the program either. …
Up early for a two hour drive south-east to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) at the 38th Parallel. The roads were empty of cars, people, and snow. We stopped off en route at a service station, and managed to purchase a very welcome & much needed cup of coffee. The scenery en route was breathtaking, …
En route to the city the buildings we passed were on average ten stories high, in a standard issue soviet housing style, usually grey, but occasionally pale green or brighter colours. We saw very few people, and those we did were generally dressed in grey coats, head down, shuffling forward quickly, as I would …
Continue reading Buildings, bowing & bowling. First night in the DPRK.
It’s been almost three years since I went to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and as I still get asked about it frequently I thought I should finally get around to writing about the trip. And hopefully, at some point in the not too distant future politically, economically and socially it will be …
Continue reading Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Part 1.
Weeze X Christina 