Discovering The Best Places to Visit in Europe
It’s that time of the year again. The boulangeries, chocolate shops, and other little shops and cafes have shut up shop for a month. All the Parisians have left for the country or beach and all you have left is a deserted city. The streets are empty, the shops are empty, the parks are empty, the cinemas are empty.
I love Paris in the summer.
It seems to me that the further north you go, the stranger the people get. Well, if you believed everything you see in their films, that is.
White Night Wedding is an Icelandic film, set in the middle of summer when it’s light all day and all night long. That’s kinda weird in itself. This is part comedy, part drama. Would have been better as one or the other.
Movie #: 24
Who am I kidding, I knew it was going to be crap but I just couldn’t resist. For serious SATC fans only.
Movie #: 23
I thought this was the story of my life but I was wrong. This, unfortunately, is the true story of my life:
I saw this cute little English movie today. Tamara Drewe goes back to the little village where she grew up with intentions of selling her late mother’s house. Once there she manages to get in trouble with the locals and all the men who seem to be after her. Quite a quirky movie with some of the characters kind of half done but it was fun anyway.
Movie #: 22
Proof that anyone, at anytime, can move abroad and make a great life for themselves living as an expat:
For the last several decades, though, Emma has been living an expat lifestyle all over the world– in Dubai, Scotland, Switzerland, and now finally in Malta.
Here’s what’s most intriguing about her, though… she’s always worked. Even as a 70-year old widow in Malta, she still has a job.
I recognize that a lot of people are scared to expatriate simply out of financial anxiety; they don’t know how they could find a job, make money, and pay the bills. Even with three children to take care of, though, Emma never let that uncertainty stop her.
You see, Emma always had supreme confidence in her own abilities to add value everywhere she went; she’s hard working, intelligent, and resourceful, and she knew that she would always be able to put those qualities to work for someone everywhere she went.
She was right. Even in male-dominant cultures like Dubai in the 1970s and 1980s, Emma was able to find work and thrive. Moreover, she religiously saved her wages, believing in the old adage “waste not, want not.”
For this reason, she says, she has been able to accumulate substantial retirement savings, even though she never held an extremely high paying job.
Read the full article at Sovereign Man, a really interesting blog about living the expat lifestyle. About the blog:
I’m a student of the world, and I believe that travel is the greatest teacher. My knowledge is practical, and hopefully of significant use to you. Off the top of my head I could quote you the price of beachfront property in Croatia, where to bank in Dubai, the best place to store gold in Singapore, which cities in Mexico are the safest, which hospitals in Asia are the most cost effective, and how to find condo foreclosure listings in Panama.
I believe that in order to achieve true freedom, you have to be able to make money, control your time, and eliminate the mindset that you are subject to a corrupt government that is bent on degrading your personal liberty.
You don’t have to be a slave to geography anymore; live where you want, how you want. You can take control of your time and spend it how you want, not how others tell you You can live a luxurious and worry-free lifestyle overseas that would be unaffordable elsewhere You can make money anywhere, whether it’s China, Panama, New Zealand, or online
I spent an afternoon in Lille last year and it seemed like a city worth exploring. So when I saw that Pearl Jam was playing in Arras (a town not far from Lille) I figured I’d go to the festival and check out Lille at the same time, making a weekend out of it.
My second impression of the city was conflicting but only because it poured with rain most of the time we were there but that’s to be expected in a northern European city. It was fine on one day which you can see from the photos below and for the most part IÂ think Lille is a sweet city with gorgeous Flemish style architecture. Â Even on this second trip I didn’t have time to see everything, just the main squares and parks so next time I will do a dedicated trip to see what else is on offer.
A couple of weeks ago I went to Disneyland Paris with F and L. It was my first time at Disney (F’s too) and even though I know it’s for kids, I’ve always really wanted to go. We bought tickets 5 days in advance which for 29 euros gets you entry for two days. So we went 5 days after purchasing and can now go back any time until the end of September. Disney is a million miles from Paris (it took 1 and 1/2 hours from my place) on the RER A and a return ticket is around 13 euros. The food is mostly fast food type crap which was cheap enough so the only expensive things during the day were the drinks. Overall though, it was a pretty cheap day out and I’m looking forward to going again.
Seeing as L is THE expert on Disney, she showed us around and explained how it all worked. We started at the very tame Haunted House and then went on some other tame, but fun, rides including:
My favourite was probably the carrousel and the Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups. I was pretty dizzy after the tea cups, lol. The least interesting was the Land of Fairy Tales boat ride but seeing as we didn’t have to wait to get on, no biggy. The Autopia was the most disappointing because we waited for almost an hour and it was pretty boring. We should have skipped that and gone home.
The more exciting rides were of course the roller coasters. We only did two, Thunder Mountain and Indiana Jones, because we ran out of time. I know they aren’t super big roller coasters but I love that kind of thing so was happy. I wasn’t expecting the 360 on the Indiana Jones ride so that was a bit of a shock, lol. Felt a bit light headed after that 
I’m going to try to go back next week before F heads off on holiday but it’ll all depend on the weather. Thanks to L for showing us around!
Why is it that whenever I go to the hairdresser and ask for a 1-2cm trim, I end up with my hair being about 7-8cm shorter? EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
I’m sure if I went to the hairdresser every 6-8 weeks as they suggest, I’d end up with a crew cut within the year.
