ending 2014

After my trip away when my visa ended I re-entered the UK on a tourist visa (after a bit of grilling from immigration at the border!). I spent the rest of the year mostly in Edinburgh, with a couple of small trips away.

Edinburgh Christmas Market

bratislava at christmas

Bratislava is one of those cities you tell people you're going to and they say "oh cool!...where is it?". It definitely doesn't get enough credit, especially since it's cheap and if you go in December it has one of my favourite Christmas Markets. There's also towers to climb, castles to see and a too many cafes and bars to choose from over a 3 night stay. 

Clock tower in Bratislava Old Town Square

christmas in scotland

Last year I had a winter Christmas, for only the second  time in my life, in England with my best friends family. My first winter Christmas having been in Wichita, Kansas, when I was 17. I had an awesome time last year in England and had no responsibilities whatsoever. This year was a different story altogether.

With my family over for their first ever winter Christmas, I was playing host and going all out.

My cake!!!

dresden by train

Since we had originally planned to take in two cities on Mum's birthday trip, before Ryan Air thwarted our plans, I decided to have a look and see what was near Prague that we might be able to visit.

Such is the beauty of Europe, we could train to another city in another country in 2 hours! Plus Dresden has one of the oldest Christmas Markets in Europe. Tick and tick, we were on our way!

Mum waiting for the train to leave

december in prague

Mum arrived in Edinburgh right before her birthday in December, so we decided to do a trip that would take us to Christmas Markets, since Christmas is one of her favourite things. After a bit of drama with cancelled flights we ended up going to Prague, with a side trip to Dresden in Germany.

Just arrived at our apartment in Prague!

life goes on in edinburgh

I don't have anything particular to write about this time, but lots of little exciting things have been happening so I feel like it's time for a bit of an update.

Walking through Holy Corner at 10.30pm

an english christmas

Originally I had planned to spend Christmas in Edinburgh, but during my epic Asia Adventure I decided to spend it with Kim and her family in Congleton instead. So I was reunited with Kim sooner than planned! Happy days. 

Kim and I together again!