August on The Little Backpacker

Wow, August has felt like the longest month ever. I’ve visited three countries, been on adventures in London, photographed a wedding and struggled with feeling restless with life.

Where I’ve Been Travelling This Month

August began with a week long road trip through France. JP and I were traveling with my best friend and husband for the first time. We don’t often travel with other people but we had the best time driving around with them. We were on the road everyday driving around northern France, including a cheeky trip to Paris. This was my first ever visit to Paris and I adored the city so much. Other highlights of the week included Reims, Chateau de Chenonceau and staying on a boat in La Rochelle. I also vlogged everyday of the trip and you can find the videos on my YouTube channel.

The road trip crew

There was then 10 days of London living where I failed to work as much as I should have and instead spend my time in the library wasting time online. Aside from that we did manage to spend a day exploring London as we popped into the Carsten Höller: Decision exhibition at the Southbank Centre, ate at Borough Market and did a little shopping in our favorite American shops. As well as a second Secret Adventure experience: this time wild swimming in Richmond

I then took a much needed break from London and headed back to the New Forest for some time with friends, family, too see my football team play in Europa League and to photograph a wedding. The summer weather finally came out again and it was such a fantastic day, you can see a few of my photos here.

I’m now in Greece and will be until the 3rd of September, to begin with I worked as a holiday nanny for a family who were staying on Skopelos (what a beautiful island!). I then began a five day stint of solo travel taking in Skiathos before flying to Athens last night. Although being a holiday nanny is hard work I am so grateful for escaping the awful weather Britain has had this past week.

What I’ve Been Writing

First I caught up with writing about my London adventures of last month; outdoor cinema experiences in London and the view from the Shard as well as writing about my latest experience with Secret Adventures.

There was then a bumper photo post from my time in Portugal back in June, when I edited the photos I just couldn’t decide on my faves so used them all!

Since I’ve arrived back from France I have been on a role with writing and have not one but four posts already up about our road trip.

What I’ve Been Listening To

This month I have found yet more awesome music thanks to continuously listening to hour-long mixes on YouTube.

Stu Larsen – Paper Sails

Sophie Elizabeth – See You In Peru (skip to 24:27, I can’t find just this song on YouTube)

What I’ve Been Reading This Month

I finally made it through Invisibles by Ed Siegle and I’m so glad I stuck with it because the ending was not what I expected. I only began reading this book because my boyfriend bought it as a one of this taster reads for Rio. It wasn’t the typical kind of book I choose but it really gave me an insight in to Rio through a local boy and a boy who spend his childhood years there before returning decades later.

In the middle of trying to finish the above book I also devoured How Not To Travel The World by fellow blogger Lauren Juliff. I read this in less than a week and couldn’t put it down. Although I have read her blog for years this described all of her disasters in a new way and I loved how a love story ran parallel. It certainly had me yearning for a trip back to South East Asia and to push myself from my comfort zone more.

Blog Posts I’ve Loved This Month

Not going to lie I have been horrific at keeping up to date with my favorite blogs this month let alone finding any new ones to follow! Anyway I still wanted to include this section this month so here are a few posts from my favorite blogs this month.

One blog I always read, no matter how little time I have is The Travel Hack and this post about keeping up with blogging while travelling/working full time was full of useful advice. Be sure to check out her Iceland posts too!

Brooke is back on the vlogs again and this one, her first of many instalments from Canada was my favorite this month.

The latest ‘the last time I saw you’ post by Brenna had me feeling all of the emotions as always.

Finally something that isn’t from one of my favorite bloggers, this month I totally agreed with this piece about the perils of picture perfect Instagram.

September…

I will begin the month with my final few days in Greece, the time will be spent exploring Athens on a cheap budget. I’ll arrive home on the 3rd of September before needing to be back out the door on the 4th for a weekend of fun at BlogStock (a blogging festival on the outskirts of London). After this it will be all hands on deck as my work hours get back to normal and I have to begin to pack up our London flat for the big move! Come 19th/20th September I will begin settling in to my room rental just in time to head back to university on the 21st.

If that wasn’t enough I’m heading off to Amsterdam for the opening of the CLINK hostel there, going to a Alice in Wonderland themed afternoon tea and heading home for another weekend where I’ll watch my brother face the challenge of Tough Mudder.

What did you get up to in August? Comment below with your highlight of the month and any big plans for September. And if you are going to Blogstock, lets try and meet up!