Languid London

The guards practicing.

 

Big Ben!

 

The London Eye

 The title tells you a lot about where I was and how i felt about it and if you don't know the definition of languid you can go on ahead and look it up because it really shows that I didn't personally like London all that much. Anyhow, I landed in London around 6am and was out and about in the city by 8am. \it was dark and cloudy much like how I felt about the day I was there. I have to admit that I have never been overly excited or fascinated with the thought of going to London. So this will be a somewhat short post. I walked around the city for about 5-6 hours and pretty much saw everything in the city that I was interested in seeing and boy was I un-impressed. All the buildings are boring shades of pales and tans. They have no overly unique architecture or anything that called me name. The only two places that I enjoyed was Big Ben and Westminster Abby. I got some good photos and had the chance to see the guards practicing outside of Buckingham palace getting ready for the last time before the queen came out the next week. That is pretty much the extent of my London post and here are some of the photos!

It was a nice day!

 Here's a little hint at where I went to next!

 

Second Saga of South Africa

Part of my current view

Annabel the Cheetah

Here's the second part I've already told you guys was coming! In case you were wondering where I'm hiding out at I am currently riding a train along the countryside of some country somewhere in Europe and it is very beautiful and refreshing to be away from the city and airports. Now that I'm done bragging about how great my day is you might also notice my photos are not as wonderfully placed as usual and that's because I'm on my phone and I don't have a laptop to make them look pretty, if you're seeing this and they look pretty, I was able to get to a laptop! Anyway, Do you want to hear about the rest of my beloved Jo'burg? I'm sure you do. Here you go!

They have 11 white lions!

About three days before I flew out I decided to go to a Rhino and Lion Reserve! Talk about exciting, Rhions, Linos, and Ashley oh my! (I know I typed them wrong, its for fun, also I said it that way about 5 times every time I was tired I would say it wrong). So after about an hour Uber drive out of the city I got to the reserve at about 9amish and I'm glad the driver was so sweet because I didn't realize there was no walking around allowed on the grounds unless you were in a specific area because there are literally animals just roaming around everywhere from Rhinos, zebras to various breeds of antelope and large birds. So he drove me into the walking part of the reserve and happily dropped me off and even gave me his number so he could come back and pick me up and I just think he really wanted to stay and do the tour with me but after it all he said he would be going out there soon to see it.



4 of the lion cubs

One of the whacky leopards

I bought about a $7 ticket so I could get into 3 enclosures with baby big cats. The first one was a 3 year old cheetah and she was a cutie but I didn't want to bother her too much, the whole able to kill me in 60 seconds thing if I annoyed  her was too nerve wracking for me. I did kiss her head and take some selfies. The next enclosure was 3 baby leopards. 2 black ones and one spotted one and they were perfect. My host told me not to pick them up and stuff because its unnatural for them so I didn't but they did climb all over me. I was told I had 5 minutes in every enclosure but the lady showing me happily let me stay about 20 minutesish in each. As soon as I sat down they climbed ALL over me and jumped on my head and it was so wonderful. I did get a few scratches, but now when I get back home I can saw I was attacked by a leopard. How cool is that? The last enclosure was a lion enclosure with 4 cubs and they were already in a cute little pack and didn't trust me one bit until I started playing with an old soda bottle and slowly one by one they came to me. They would all be so interested in biting me and if they did you just lightly tap them on the nose. 'Hey look its little old me bopping a lion the nose, the king of the jungle. And I'm telling him to stop it'. It was a great experience. Now I'm going past the ocean, talk about beautiful. After disinfecting my wounds I went on to start the safari after getting chased by a stork and ground squirrel. The safari went one for about 3 hours and we were able to openly cruise through enclosures of Rhinos, Zebras, 11 White lions, 9 brown lions, some number of cheetahs and various other animals. The big cats had no interest in us because they see the truck we are in as a whole and know they'll lose if they try, however if you get out, yeah you're going to get eaten. There was some safari in South Africa where some lady thought the big lion rubbing against her window was trying to be friendly and she rolled down her window and was killed. Also Lions are the worst hunters. They only catch about 30% of things they hunt. So the safari was by far the best thing.



The 80 stairs at 45 degrees

Inside of the cave

After the safari I was interested in seeing the wonder cave! The Wonder cave is a part of a thing called the Cradle of Humankind where people believe we all originated from. Which is funny because one of the biggest themes in Africa is that everyone is African 'We are all African' is on a lot of paintings. Not saying I agree with it, just a little insight for you guys. The wonder cave is about 5-10 million years old and was pretty exciting to go into despite to scary elevator and 80 stairs at a 45 degree decline. We got told the story behind the cave and how it was used to mine for gold and how they think there could be more 'human' fossils down there but they start excavating and find something the government will take it over, so they stopped. Anyway it was dark and really cool and I didn't get to see any bats which sucks because I love bats but it was still cool. After climbing the stairs and almost dying I went home to take a shower and rest up for the days to come.

Oh Ashley, where could you possibly be now?

Well I am in or was in or somewhere in the United Kingdom!
 

Ashley & Jozi

Some local art work

Some signs outside of the market

I'm sure you just saw this title and thought 'Isn't she supposed to be backpacking across Europe by now?' Well truth is I probably am but these posts have to be spread out somehow and plus it gives me time to see everything and post afterwards or when I'm heading to bed or waiting around for whatever. You are also probably wondering what Jozi is. Well I was or still am in Johannesburg, South Africa! Johannesburg is a very diverse community and full of surprises around every corner. Johannesburg also goes by numerous names such as Johannesburg, Joburg, Jozi, J-burg and many others i'm sure I haven't heard of yet. I have to break this blog post up into two posts because I've done so much! I'm only here about a week and I have treasured every moment and embraced everything from the culture to the people. It's pretty exciting because this is a new continent for me, and even a new hemisphere! Which if you guessed it good job, means it's freezing here. Well not freezing but it's about 15C or around 50-60F which is insanely cold considering I come from the desert so i'm typing this now with very cold hands because I most certainly did not dress for winter at all.

 

Some wooden spoons



Soft stone figures

Soft stone bowls

Now on to the fun stuff! My first few days here my lovely host took me out for food and we went to some neighborhood markets that were absolutely delightful and I was able to purchase some souvenirs and just walk around and meet and greet people. We went to two markets that were near by each other I believe (I don't know where anything is), The first market was more artsy (which a lot of Jo-burg is) and had more food than the second market. We walked around the first one for a few hours and then moved onto the second one which I just adored. There was so much stuff to see from people cooking things, to selling items and even live music! It was so vibrant and I enjoyed every moment of it, too bad I arrived on a Sunday and we could only see it that day and I flight out on a Friday and it's only a weekend market. It was wonderful and one day I hope to come back here and see it again. Later on that day we went to another market that was more of a store, well it had a store front and on the second level there was roughly 20+ merchants selling their wares and i'm a pretty good bargainer so I got some killer deals. I bought some wooden items and went to the post office to ship them only to discover they have to be fumigated in order to be shipped? How about I just won't ship it. The underground shops were my favorite to shop in because they had everything from various hand crafted dishes, elephant hair jewelry, clothing, key-chains and pretty much a little bit of everything. One stall could have the same item as the next and they would be different prices such as a key-chain here can be 45 rand and across the market it could be 20 rand. Right now the exchange rate between the rand and US dollar is about 16 rand to every dollar.
 

Later on in the week I did a hop on - hop off bus tour which i'm sure you've seen or heard of by now. They are the big red buses with seats up top full of tourists going around town. It was pretty fun, of course I had to sit up top and I only put one head phone in my ear so I could still hear the city noises. It had about 7 stops from the apartheid museum, constitution hall, and few other places and I chose to go to the Gold Reef City and Theme Park. In case you didn't know the reason most stuff in Jo'burg revolves around gold and mining is because they are a mining town and that is pretty much how they started. They acutually tell you on the tour that they shouldn't even be a city because it is so inconviently placed 1700m above sea level one of the highest cities in Africa if not the world. So the theme park had old mining equipment placed around and had a few rides named after some various gold related things. It was a total blast and I loved every moment of it, espically all the crazy rollercoasters I went on. 

Now this is only part I of II for this beautiful city and beautiful culture!  

What's up Qatar?

Doha Skyline

One of my many plane tickets

So my trip has finally started! My exciting trip of various long stop overs and backpacking across Europe! Haven't you been dying to find out where i'm at? Well it's in the title now. Now you may be thinking what is Qatar? Where is Qatar? Why Qatar? Well my dear readers Qatar is in the middle east and it is a tiny tiny speck next to Saudi Arabia. Why Qatar? Well it happened to be apart of my flight and I just oh so happened to have a 13 hour layover there. I've always wanted to go to the middle east even with all the turbulence that goes on over there and plus it's not in every country only a few. So I decided to look up what's up in Qatar. Well first it is only 10% the native population and the rest are all foreigners that go there to work. Why? because almost everyone who lives there is insanely rich. There is an unemployment rate and crime of less than 1%! Isn't that crazy?
I was there from roughly 6pm-4am give or take and it was very humid and about 90F. Throughout the day, well four times a day they offer a complimentary tour of their capital city Doha and provide you with a Visa and a free bottle of mineral water! As soon as I got off of the plane after going through customs for the thousandth time I rushed around the airport asking the many people where I can go to find the tour desk and I was told about 3 times I had missed the time frame, did that detour me? Of course not! After finally finding the desk I was greeted by a man who said I was not on time and could only board the bus if some people didn't show up. Guess what? 6 PEOPLE DIDN'T SHOW UP! So I got my ticket and I held onto it like a child at the fair I was so happy!



Museum of Islamic Arts



The Pearl

After going through customs AGAIN and immigration (They had some crazy cameras) we were able to board the bus and we were given the itinerary of what we were going to see which included the Islamic Arts Museum, The Pearl, A near by village called Katara Cultural Village and Souq Waqif. As we took off the tour guide started telling us the basics about the currency they use and how they have the youngest leader of all time at 36. It was pretty interesting and soon we saw the traffic. Oh lord is it bad. Do you think California is bad? Well it's freaking wonderful after the traffic we saw. Our first stop was the Doha skyline, where we sat across the open water (can you believe Doha is a peninsula) and off to the right we were able to see the Islamic Arts Museum, which we didn't get to go into sadly, but our tour was only 3 hours. The Skyline was amazing and the museum from the outside was stunning as well. The architecture there is pretty wonderful. As we all tried to stop and take good photos without boats passing through our photos, I made sure I took the time to stop and breathe in the air and remember the smells and sounds so I can recall them every so often. After that we went on our way to the village and prior to that I was told I didn't need the local currency, the Qatar Riyal, that most people take cards. So wrong! We got there a bit late so only had 25 minutes to shop and I love souvenirs so much so that was time for me to pick up the pace. After seeing four vendors shoot me down for a card I ran to an ATM and got about 100 Qatar Riyals which turned out to be enough. The exchange rate was about 1 USD to 3 Qatari Riyals I believe. So then I went about to find a shot glass, key-chains, magnets and postcards.  I quickly found tons of shot glasses (which is funny considering how strict the alcohol laws are there with it being an Islamic state), tons of key-chains, magnets but no post cards! So I bought my stuff quickly and made sure to save a 10 bill for my international wall when I get home and I hurried back to meeting point. After we left there we were able to see The Pearl and the story behind that is Qatar used to have quite the fishing scene because they had so many pearls so it's a monument to the people and history of how Qatar came to be. We didn't have time to see the cultural village due to traffic which is very depressing but I must be grateful for what I did see.

The quiet room in which I
slept for a few hours

Now if you're wondering what I did for the rest of my time there minus that 3 hours you know, the other 10 hours. Well luckily they had burger king and some other various food places and some wonderful quiet rooms which were separated by genders as was most things. They also had prayer rooms which I found to be lovely because it was so considerate of those travelling in the airport. I grabbed a bite to eat and walked around the airport where everyone who worked there was dressed in purple suits, blouses and skirts (which was the color of the airways and national flag ((purple and white)). They were all incredibly welcoming and open to answering all of my questions. Also if you're wondering if they were wearing the regular Muslim clothing yes they were. 

                                                       Here's some info on that!

 Some women wore just the head scarf (Hijab) or the whole Abaya which covers the whole body. Some men wore a long white cloak that covered their whole body (Thobe) usually accompanied by a square scarf over a mans head called a Ghutra or Egal which comes in white or white and red checkers and we found out the red and white was more of a fashion statement! I found some of the Abayas to have intricate designs on them and some of the women wore some beautiful shoes! 

All in all I am very honored to have seen the beautiful city of Doha which is actually hosting the Olympics within (8? years) I don't remember the date exactly, but they were building the stadium while I was there. It is a beautiful city and it was really nice to be able to see inside and understand a civilization so different from my own. It was truly a life experience and I hope to go back soon!

My next stop is Jo- Just kidding i'm not telling you yet! Stay tuned!

Where are my Destination Locations 2016?

     Chances are you've read my previous post about my travel buddy and I backpacking across Europe and going to a few other places as well. You might be curious about where were going and how long it'll take us. Let's just say over the course of two months we will have travelled 20,808 miles (33,487 Kilometers) and touched land on four different continents!


     I will be starting this one from the beginning though! Back in December my travel buddy went away to Thailand for Christmas and at the time I couldn't afford it so I opted to skip on that trip but I was so sad about the whole situation! So I sat around thinking about how I could go abroad again, soon. I was longing and without anywhere to think about going or planning a trip just made me more sad. So shortly after he arrived back in the US I told him that I wanted to go backpacking across Europe and for the next month the plans just lightly lingered without too much planning and just the occasional me bringing up the subject and him as well. So in February we decided that we in fact are going to go on this trip and we started planning different countries we should see, where each of us wants to go and we even started to research some plane tickets from some pretty great people who run some great websites that tell you when plane tickets get crazy cheap. Fast forward a few weeks and now we are here.

     About two weeks ago a great e-mail came out talking about cheap plane tickets to Africa. We had planned on eventually going to Africa, just hadn't thought about doing it on this specific trip. Well you sure can't resist a plane ticket that was originally about $1,100 for $500. So after I saw how unbelievably cheap they were my travel buddy immediately started researching where the cheap tickets were flying from and where to. He purchased his ticket a whole day before I did mine. However I did spend my day prior to buying mine researching what to do in (wait for it) JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA! There ya go folks, the first part of my trip! After going to buy my ticket I was unable to buy one on the same day he had his, so I had to buy one to leave one day before him. Extra beach time for me ;) On this leg of our journey we will be flying from our airport to Qatar! After a bit of research I discovered Qatar is a lovely place and thanks to my travel buddy he heard they give out a FREE tour of their country capital Doha, a complimentary visa for your passport (I can't resist filling all my pages) and a bottle of mineral water! They have about four tours a day and it takes roughly three hours for this tour, so I am totally excited! All countries should do this for longer layovers. Enough about Qatar now!

     Our leg starts off with a week in South Africa and then we will be flying to...You didn't really think I was going to tell you right? What's the fun in that!? You will just have to stay tuned to see where I'm going and what I'm doing!

We will not be leaving until the end of May! However stay tuned for more information as it arises, especially after I glide on out of here. I will be updating my blog with our photos, thoughts and ideas!

    

Backpacking with Ashley 101

     I've getting liters of questions of how am I backpacking across Europe, how to do it and how do we plan it? There is tons of planning ahead of time and if you're doing it for the first time I suggest making an itinerary depending on how long your trip is going to be. So first you need to decide how long you plan on being away. If you plan on going for 2-3 weeks I would make a list of what you just have to see and then make a list of what you else you can see in that country or that city. You definitely would not want to fly into a country and play it by ear because by the time you get back you might realize that you got caught up and missed some wonderful monuments or museums. If you're going from a month to two months you definitely have a lot of wiggle room. For instance my trip is 6-7 weeks and we have about 6 weeks of planned time and that leaves us with a week to use as we please, we can spend an extra day or two in some of our cities or take a leisure day and float down the Grand Canal (Italy) for half a day and not worry.

     After deciding how long your trip will be you need to start looking for when you want to plan your trip I.E. over the summer, winter, spring etc. and make sure you plan for the weather in the country you're going to because the weather here in the United States sure isn't going to be the same in Russia for example, It isn't the same from state to state let alone country to country! After you decide what time and of year and how long you want to be gone then it's time to start finding those plane tickets! Make sure you research your plane ticket for the time of year you're going I.E. If you're leaving July 1st, 2016 look for a plane ticket for that date and always buy in advance, they only get more costly the closer your date gets. Look at what your first destination is going to be and try to fly into there and then look at what your last destination is and fly out from there, or you can take the rail and go back, it really varies from country to country. There are a lot of resources out there for traveling internationally and don't be afraid to utilize them, there are other blogs, websites and sporting stores that are openly available to you. There are also a few blogs out there that look for prices to get really cheap for select airfare and definitely use those! If there's a select airfare for half the price and you get to go to Africa before your trip, take it! It's a great opportunity and an experience of a lifetime!

     After you find your airfare and have your dates ready start looking for a backpack, there are many options from front-loader to top-loader to suitcase style and they can range anywhere from $50-200, however I happened to find a great one for the price of about $90. They range in liters and cubic inches. I suggest a 50-65 liter and remember the backpacks are different sizes, One I might buy that fits me well won't fit my travel buddy Nick that well due to him being like 12in taller than me! Which was exactly our case when we went out to find some backpacks. I loved mine and he hated mine. Also I could fit in his backpack which I find hilarious so you know if I get tired where I'll be hiding! Make sure it's sturdy, has very sturdy zippers and a rain cover is always convenient as well. Try it on and add some weight to it to make sure it works with you and your body the backpacks can range in weight from 2lbs to even 5lbs I believe, I haven't held a 5lb one yet though so that's me guessing. Just remember this bag is going to be with you for a while.

     Now you may be wondering where do I stay and how can I possibly afford this many hostels or hotels! In most countries you can find hostels for dollars a night which is great and there are a plethora of apps and websites to help you find one that fits you such as Hostels.com (also an app), and AirBnB (also an app) those the two that I use. However I use an app called Couchsurfing and it is exactly what it sounds like mostly. There are tons of people on this app and website and you stay with them to little to no cost at all. There are people on here from all over the world and some of these people have hosted more than 100 people! Crazy right? Staying with a stranger. Well this is the great part they have reviews and they review you as well. So you leave a review saying what they did and if you enjoyed yourself and then they leave a review on you as a guest if you were clean, messy, loud, etc! You and them also have a biography on the profile asking various questions such as where you've been, what you hope to gain from being on the website and your hopes and aspirations as well as what kind of room you'll be staying in if you stay with them. It ranges from couches, to floors to beds. However it is free lodging and you're meeting a great new person and making new friends. International new friends, the best kind!. Likewise if the person whoever hosted you happened to come to your country it would great for your to host them!

     All in all if you dream it do it! Don't sit around thinking what if just plan and do. No one is going to achieve your dreams for you! Just do it.

We're getting pretty ancy over here because you guessed it we leave in a little over a month, the countdown begins!

 

 

Crazy Couponing?

     Over the past few months I recently got into the habit of couponing. You probably see couponers in line at the grocery store and think 'Come on, really?'. However were just trying to save a buck like anyone else we just put more time and effort into it. When people hear I'm a couponer they usually respond 'I don't have time for that, how do you do it, how do you have that much time?'. In reality it doesn't take much time. This is how I do it. 
     After I get off work I go home, pop some type of meal in the oven and sit down and watch Netflix for god knows how many hours and this is my usual routine. So now when I get home, I do the same routine except while the television I take the time to start cutting and stapling my coupons. I mean I'm sitting there doing nothing anyway besides watch TV, why not spend an hour or two cutting some coupons to save that extra money so my family doesn't have to worry about buying those products later! You're probably thinking to yourself 'I bet you this girl is a hoarder'. Truth be told I am, but not in the 'I can't walk down my hallway' type. I do have more than enough detergent for probably 5+ years, same with dryer sheets, toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap and many other household items. You might think why shouldn't I just buy some for six months and be happy. I buy for years purely because I give it away as I have it, I supply family members with my stuff, help friends and even the community. I like to know that if my family needs anything they will come and tell me so I can help them.

     Another common thing I get asked about is why do I buy stuff I don't even need? Say there is a great coupon for baby diapers that makes them free or even gives you money back (yes you can get money back on coupons) and I buy 20 plus packages because first, they're literally free (I MIGHT pay tax). I don't have a baby so what do I do with them? I donate them! A good co-worker of mine goes to a church and they are always looking for donations to give to shelters, etc. So I wait until my not need stock pile can fill up a few boxes I bring em' into work and pass it off on to her and there you go! Now people who need it can get it, all because I had coupons to make it free.  I have done this numerous times from diapers, to toothpaste, toothbrushes, contact lens solution, hair dye, and even feminine products.
     You might be wondering where I get all my coupons from. You can buy coupons in bulk online (the Sunday paper ones), online printable ones and even digital coupons. Most companies now a day have digital coupons that you can make an account and use the coupons that you clip, some of these companies are Kroger, Dollar General, CVS and a few other companies I can't remember the names of at the moment. You might also be wondering how do I know what's on sale and where. There are plenty of good phone apps out there now a days to do all that work for me! Flipp is an app that I personally use and it shows you all the current ads that stores have out currently from weekly to monthly and its updated when a store has a different ad out, it also shows you coupons that are available for certain items. There are tons of other apps available as well. There are also Facebook groups and web pages that are meant for couponing. Just look them up in your area and you might even make some friends while you're at it!