Short Trips – Paris – two strikes and you’re out

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Paris – the romantic capital of the world, right?

Sorry, not for this chick!

It’s not like I had an especially bad time in Paris the first time I was there, it just wasn’t overly memorable compared to all the other amazing cities I’d seen.

paris_eiffel_tower
There it is – the Eiffel Tower

When the opportunity came up to go there again, just for the weekend, I originally baulked at the idea. See, I guess I’ve become part-European. I thought to myself, it seems like a lot of hard work, driving 10 minutes to the airport to go to Paris just for two nights. Of course, I soon realised my mistake – any opportunity to do these things shouldn’t be passed up – who knows how long I’ll be here!

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Longer Trips – Australia – I come from a land down under

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My recent trip to Australia for our wedding almost felt more like a working holiday than an actual holiday, due to the large amounts of somewhat boring (though essential) tasks that had to be undertaken, interspersed with crazy, emotional drinking sessions.

australia_hens
Like my hen’s night… which was awesome, and resulted in an almost-zero hangover… for me anyway

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Mostwandernweg – our annual cider walk – honestly, just walking and drinking cider

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The annual St. Paul Mostwandernweg or ‘Cider Walk’ is held in the surrounding hills on May 1st, which is technically Austria’s Labour Day, and is therefore a public holiday. It is a pilgrimage of the alcoholic kind so it is definitely right up my alley (only in moderation, of course!).

ciderwalk_sign
Follow this sign!

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The unique challenges of learning German – Same/same… but different

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One of the most annoying things people say to me when I tell them I’m learning German is something along the lines of the following:

“Oh! Cool. Yeah, well German is pretty easy. I mean, half the words are the same. When I was in Germany/Austria, I could understand all the menus/signs.”

I want to hurt you a little bit now.

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Top 10 Tips for organising a wedding – from overseas

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Organising a wedding, as many know, is never a simple process. Regardless of how simply you imagine it in your head, there’s always hiccups, last-minute dramas and unexpected outcomes. And then there’s organising a wedding from outside the country… where you have to rely on the internet and other people’s help to get anything done. So, following my experience, here’s my top 10 tips for organising an overseas wedding.

Wedding overseas
It’s awesome – but it’s an organisational nightmare

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Long-haul flights suck – Deb’s Top 10 Tips to making them half bearable

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Through my travelling adventures, and now living in Austria, I’ve spent a lot of time on aeroplanes, and not just short trips, but the long, nasty, boring 20+ hour ones. However, I’ve come to love them, or at least if not love, I’ve learnt to tolerate.

What you have to do, is acknowledge that it’s 15-24 hours out of your life, and then get over it. Use it to catch up on reading, movies, listening to music – just let it go by as easily as possible. Realise that it’s going to be long, it’s going to be boring, and by the end, you’re going to feel like crap. But at least you’re one of the lucky ones – with the opportunity and money to fly for that long.

So here’s my top 10 tips for long-haul flights: Continue reading →

Uncomplicate your wedding by stuffing tradition

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My original wedding plan involved a red dress, bridesmaids in black and bring-a-plate-instead-of-a-gift. However, upon the organisation of my actual wedding, though I still went with the red dress, I cut out the bridesmaids and my husband, being Austrian, had no concept of what bring-a-plate was.

With my Dad and bridesdog... ready to walk down the sandy aisle
With my Dad and bridesdog… ready to walk down the sandy aisle

My plan was to apply the KISS principle. Like so many before me, I had witnessed plenty of stressed out brides, and decided I wasn’t going to be one of them. If I was super organised, I surmised, surely it couldn’t be that stressful.

Well, I was wrong and right in the end. Because I love organising things, most of it was highly enjoyable. Making lists, crossing them off… heaven! But I have to admit, that even I gave into the stress every now and again… had a couple of mini tantrums and sleepless nights and wondered why we hadn’t just eloped.

So here’s how I cut out some traditions to make our special day a little more us and a little less stressful. Given that neither of us is overly religious and being a bit older and wiser meant that we could DO IT OUR WAY. Continue reading →

Why my new car is awesome – meet the Snow Tiger

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When I finally (just in time) got a job in Austria, I didn’t have much time to buy a car. Though with a 45 minute commute to contend with, it was a necessary evil.

New car_awesome
Meet the Snow Tiger

Thomas doesn’t like car shopping, and I’m not much help. To me, it’s a car – I want to be able to drive it without breaking down and I want to listen to music… if it was a cool colour that would be ok, too. But that’s it. We checked out a few cars and found some models I liked (in truth, I would have been happy with any of them… I just wanted a good deal) and I ended up with a Ford Focus. I’ve never been a Ford girl, but it was the best one we found. And here’s why: Continue reading →