BoukenDAN

Taken from the word meaning "tale of adventure" in Japanese. I originally moved to Japan and got the travel bug from there. I'm now backpacking across Italy and then heading out to Europe! I'll be posting videos about the people I meet and the places I greet 💕

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I've decided to move my travel blog over to word press so please check it out! I also have links to my Facebook page and Instagram if you prefer to follow me there! Thanks for your support and hope you enjoy the new blog!

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I urge every human being to travel. Travel as far and as wide as you can. Explore all the world and it's beauty. Meet other human beings and see how you are not so different. See with you own eyes the kindness that exists through out the world. Experience cultures which are completely different to your own with an open mind and an open heart. You will never be the same again and forever in your soul will there be a new kind of love.

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Am I insane to travel?

There's something very liberating when you decide to give up everything you know and just go explore. There's a way in which it both pleases and challenges your soul. I'm currently stood alone at a bus stop in Italy contemplating life. The sun shines down on my face and I watch the people passing by, locals chatting with their shopping bags and young children chatting with excitement. The odd person stares at me and mumbles something in Italian but I have no idea what they are saying. In order to travel, you have to let go of control. There will be many occasions when you will simply have absolutely no idea what is going on. You jump on that bus and hope that it's the right direction or destination. People shout at you but you have no idea what you did wrong. They probably just called you an idiot tourist but it's okay because you're happy. Sometimes you might even find it funny because you've become comfortable with not fully knowing what is going on all of the time. There's the odd occasion I think I'm crazy. Like the time I moved to Japan and was cycling late at night. It was pouring down with rain, my jeans and t-shirt completely soaked while exhaustion started to set in. I'd only just moved to the area and I'd been cycling round the same blocks for over an hour trying to find the road where I lived. I'd thought it would be easy to find my way back but I had been wrong. Now I was stuck in the pouring rain with no internet on my phone, no map, no way to ask for directions and the possibility of having to sleep on the street was growing larger. My heart was racing and a panic started to set in. It was late and there were no people on the streets. Is this what it felt like being homeless? I wondered to myself. Just as I was feeling like crying and sleeping under a bridge was my only option. I spotted a woman walking hurriedly down the street. I had no idea how to tell her what I wanted but I quickly cycled over and stopped her. She didn't speak any English and I had no idea how to explain my address but then I remembered a tiny detail about my new Japanese ID. It had my address on it! I took out the tiny card, rain pouring down on us both and pointed at it. I then prayed that she understood that I wanted to find my home. I could tell she didn't really want to stop in the rain but in Japan a person will never be rude. She quickly pointed in a general direction and made a gesture to turn right. I thanked her in Japanese, one of the few words I actually knew and began to cycle in the direction she gave. I prayed once again that once I got closer I would recognise the streets. I was angry at myself, I was normally so good with directions but here I was. Nearly midnight, cycling in the dark, exhausted and completely drowned in rain water. As I started to get closer, I realised that the tiny Japanese streets started to look familiar. My heart started to feel some peace and I lifted my head, searching for the building that was my home. I spotted the white plastic cabin like structure that made my Japanese "mansion*." My heart skipped a beat like I was in love. I will never forget that feeling, as I stepped through the door and turned on the lights of my tiny little studio flat. I peeled off my soaking wet clothes and ran the hottest bath I've probably ever had. I had never been so ecstatic to reach home in my life. As I lay in the water, submerged up to my shoulders. I questioned my own sanity. Why hadn't I just stayed at home in England? Why did I always have to chuck myself in the deep end? However the fact I had made it through and used my own determination and ingenuity to get myself back. Will always be something I will be proud of and I came out a much stronger person because of it. *In Japan, they call flats & homes mansions

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I'm baaaaaaaack!

So the adventure times are back again! After three months of working hard away in Italy. I’m off to do some travelling! I’m actually currently sat on a train on my way to Trieste before heading off tomorrow morning to Slovenia! I’ll make sure I’ll post some photos and the latest tales of my adventures! Looking forward to meeting new people and exploring more of the world! I’m also going to be starting a new video series about the people I meet on my travels! So keep your eyes peeled and subscribe to my blog for my latest adventures!

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The new adventure

So a complete change of plan. I’m now in a new job and doing something completely different in life. It will involve travel but mostly for business and as of right now I’m sat in the Italian countryside.

I’ve always had a passion for fitness and a passion for travel. I’ve always tried my best to live a healthy life. I tried to manage keeping several blogs and two Instagrams and it was a constant battle between the two. Now my full time job involves both so I decided to make it about both. So that means rather than the odd post here and there just travel related. You can now follow at my fitness blog below since my life is predominantly about that.

It’ll be a bit of travel, lots of fitness and my journey of trying to start a fitness start up!

http://knockingdownwalls.tumblr.com

P.S - I’ll keep my old blog posts online but there won’t be any new ones :)

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The beautiful Italian countryside!

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Sorry that it’s been a while! Over the past year and a half, I have travelled a little bit but not a huge amount. It has been all holidays. So it would have been a blog post here and there.

So which towns and cities in which countries did I go to over the last year and a half? Sirolo, Ancona, Portonovo, Camerano (Italy),  Amsterdam (Netherlands) Barcelona (Spain), Innsbruck (Austria), Dubai, Abu Dhabi (UAE), Prague and Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic). You can see my photos on my Instagram @littlemissdannib. I’ll also upload some and do some guides for you guys to the cities! So I’ve been working hard to save money over the past year and a half so I can go on my next adventure and the time is finally here though it wasn’t exactly my choice.

I had been thinking about what I wanted to do for a while. Saving all the money I could but I wasn’t sure whether to buy a house or use it to emigrate to another country. I had been missing my old lifestyle of Dubai (I’d wanted to move to London back so bad and thought I could just go back to my old life but that’s another story for another post). So I made the plan to buy the house, rent out two of the rooms and then work hard to get some more money into my savings but it was likely to take at least another year of saving before I would be able to have spare cash.

I’m an impatient person, waiting a year to start a new life was annoying but I also didn’t like the idea of having no home to come back to. So although buying a house, buying furniture and then maintaining it wouldn’t be the cheapest or easiest option, I felt it was a good one. I knew I was probably stretching myself to do this but it seemed a good investment. It also meant I would have somewhere to stay if I came back in the summer (staying with my family is not ideal for many reasons).

Then suddenly, out of nowhere I lost my job. 

The universe had made the decision for me. I wasn’t meant to buy the house and I thought I probably would have been over stretching myself anyways (plus there is talks of another recession which would be very bad for renting it out and house prices). So now I am going to use my money to help me start a new life but not before travelling some more!

So as luck would have it, one of my friends has 6 weeks off work and needs a travel buddy. So for 6 weeks, I will travel around Europe. I’m super excited and will update you on my travels. I’m currently planning where I will go. I’m also looking at having small weekend breaks in between. So sometimes in life it can be scary to make that jump but when life forces you to do it. You have the choice to either roll with it or to let the ground decide your fate. I’ve chosen to hit the ground running!

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So I’d never thought I’d say this but I miss Dubai...

I read through some of my old posts and wow, it’s amazing how the small things that wouldn’t normally bother you can become huge annoying problems in the right circumstances. But anyway, perhaps I should start from the beginning. When I left Japan, I was already wanting to go home but I was determined not to. At first I enjoyed Dubai but spending such a long time away from your family will naturally make most people feel homesick. In honesty, I should have gone home and then gone to Dubai. I remember my friend making me feel like I need to hurry there and start my job. In reality, I think he just wanted me to hurry and get there. My manager barely blinked an eye about my start date. When I finally left Dubai, I’d created a dream of what my life would be like once I went back. I imagined slipping back into my old life perfectly and being with all of my old friends. My old life which I had so longed for while I was over there and how settled I’d felt in London. Unfortunately things don’t always turn out how you think.

To begin with, I was staying at friends places, commuting back home and feeling like a bum while trying to find a job. It didn’t take long for me to get a job but the massive amount of change along with lack of money (racking up debts to get resettled) I was consumed with worry about being a burden to others and with very little to actually support myself and hating being dependent on others. I was slightly missing Dubai (but at the time I didn’t fully realise it) and was finding it hard to re-adjust to UK life. I wanted to try and explain to friends in the UK what life had been like. I wanted to share my experiences but suddenly only my friends from the Middle East understood.

I had several arguments with other people and at a time when I was already feeling insecure along with sadness from giving up on something that was supposed to be a dream. The arguments made me feel even more insecure. All the people I felt I had moved back for, suddenly felt like they’d turned their back on me. While those who I was still friends with had moved on, their lives different and the inability to share jokes from your past year experiences only made the gap wider. After half a year; I was miserable in my new job, my room renting in London had seemed to be one nightmare after another and I’d fell out with some dear friends to me. The people who I’d once called best friends, I couldn’t talk to. At one point, I literally cried great sobs of tears and contemplated just getting on a plane, anywhere away from London. I’d realised later on that I’d been looking at the negatives instead of the positives. That my expectations and then feeling sorry for myself after they didn’t meet them, instead of just acceptance was holding me back. It also made me realise I couldn’t live my life for other people or for their acceptance. After all, a few of them were now no longer even in my life. It’s ironic that when you’re so worried about other people and over thinking, that you seem so self consumed and yet you’re consumed in worry for others. Fast forward a year later and I’m re-settled. Happy where I am but also wondering, if done correctly that perhaps Dubai would once again be an amazing opportunity. I’m also happier in myself. Happier to spend time alone, less feeling the need to pour my soul out to my friends. Less worried about what’s going on in their head. Also with Dubai, a year of development is a long time. There are now more cultural attractions near completion and more events which now seem to be reaching Dubai. It’s slowly changing from a tourist destination to a home for the millions of foreigners who land on it’s shore. So what do I actually miss? I miss the laid back attitude and the freedom in work. I miss the happiness of the people, people are enjoying their lives and having the time to enjoy themselves. I miss how social it was, there never needs to be a night on your own, random dinner plans and how chatty everyone is. I miss that most people aren’t worrying about their money constantly or that they’re exhausted from city life. I miss the smell of the malls, from the foods from every corner of the world to the wafting smell of oudh from the scent stalls. I miss the safety and the cleanliness. I miss sitting high up in the sky with a cocktail or being sat on a terrace with the sun. I miss the warmth. I miss that feeling that this city is where dreams are made instead of demolished.

The funniest is part is that I now find it difficult to work here in the UK. The strictness of rules, the need for precise time keeping. I had got so used to being laid back without realising it. I was in Dubai getting annoyed at the constant lack of what can only be described as get up and go. Now I ask, what’s the rush? It will get done... What’s the point in getting stressed? I came back a changed woman but the world I returned to was still the same... If I go back to Dubai will everything be perfect? Of course not! However now I know I can go back when the time is right, when I am ready and that in life there is often very little holding you back other than your own mental walls.

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After having lived in a few different countries, you begin to feel like little pieces of your heart have been left all over the globe. Moments and memories. You realise that any part of this planet could be your home.

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Dining Etiquette Around The World, an infographic by Restaurant Choice

via Feel Design

are these relevant or clichés to you?

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Flat Cities Ema Rogobete

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So I booked my flights, I will be officially leaving Dubai. I'm a little sad to go. I've met some really nice people here and my house mates are a really lovely group of people. However I just feel me and Dubai aren't made for each other.

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Inside Tourrettes-sur-Loup…

Tourrettes-sur-Loup, France - January 2014

One other great surprise about villages in the Nice area….CATS EVERYWHERE!!!!!

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I want to go <3

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Travel. As much as you can. As far as you can. As long as you can. Life’s not meant to be lived in one place.

Unknown (via psych-facts)

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Architecture - Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi

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Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi

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by Helene hille Rydén

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This makes me miss home <3 Edinburgh is such a beautiful place which I've had the joy of visiting twice. There are so many stunning towns through out the UK like this.