Our Travel Diary

Freya and Tom From:🇬🇧 | 🇨🇿🇭🇺🇵🇱🇨🇷🇰🇭🇻🇳🇮🇩🇩🇪🇬🇧🇭🇷🇷🇸🇷🇴 Currently:🇭🇺

[freyjadawn]

Unique wall art, Flowers, Mandalas & more by FreyaDawnDesigns

Browse unique items from FreyaDawnDesigns on Etsy, a global marketplace of handmade, vintage and creative goods.

Heres the website with all of my artwork that is for sale <3

[freyjadawn]

The Dream I Forgot About

As you know I've spent a lot of my time drawing. Ive been doing my best to develop new skills by myself. I went to college to "study" art, if you could call it that. I got a good grade but I didn't like going to college, I always felt like it held me back. It turns out I was just lazy and held myself back. When I finished college I probably drew/painted a handful of times but never pursued it further. I should have done, but everything happens for a reason. And I thought I really wanted to be a hotel manager forever. Why oh why. I'll never know. Traveling helped me realise I have a wasted talent, a talent some people dream of having. A talent I could one day turn into a career (if I practice hard enough.)

I've been drawing so much to get back into the rhythm of things. It's not easy when we move around so much, it can be hard to get into the mindset. But when I have time I do as much as I can.

Anyway, last year when we decided this is what I was going to do, make this a career. We thought I'd draw some cool things, send them off to a printing company, they would send me the high quality prints of my artwork and then I'll sell them online. But this didn't seem like a great idea, I would be carrying so much stock everywhere with me and they would probably get ruined, plus depending on where I am the postage could get really pricey. So we scrapped that idea. Then one day we were walking up some mountains in southern Poland and it clicked (a bit of fresh air never hurt anyone) we would send my art work home, a few at a time to save on costs. And Someone at home would scan them, then email them back to us, we would edit/resize/do any necessary changes and then email back when for them to be printed at home. Then whoever was available would post my prints as and when one was purchased. Sounds perfect really doesn't it?

I could carry on travelling and work and hopefully earn money if my art is good enough. This was all a dream, a dream I decided to focus all my time on. Not long before we went home in June, Toms dad retired from his life long job at the steel works, absolutely amazing news! he deserves a break after all that time. Not long after we thought with all that extra spare time he has, he might want to help me out. We didn’t ask until we were home, obviously there was no pressure as we had other options. Thankfully he said yes! (Thanks Rob)

So in June we set up a little business, I had an Etsy account with a few of my favourite prints and Rob would print and post them as and when I got a sale while I’m away. Perfect.

I also have Tom to thank for this! none of this would be possible without his help, support and love <3

[freyjadawn]

I didn't take many photos whilst we were home, too busy enjoying everyone's company. So here's a couple of photos of my two beautiful besties Bec and Laura 😘😘 - Home, June 2016

[freyjadawn]

Home 🇬🇧

Home now means something completely different. People always ask where your from and the answer is always different (depending on what they've heard of) It's not just a small town near Scunthorpe or Lincoln or Sheffield anymore. Everywhere we go is our temporary home. We live there for a short time and live like a local as much as possible. We're not always being tourists, we still have to work otherwise we wouldn't be able to keep on going. But each place is always temporary and we connect with them all so differently. Home to me now is a place where the people I love are, the people I know will always be there with open arms every time we come home, no matter how short or long the stay is. Home is where good tea and home cooked food is. Home is family. Home is friends. Home is full of love.

[freyjadawn]

Mommas birthday! 😘😘 - London, June 2016

[freyjadawn]

Like I said before this time was no secret, everyone knew we were coming home and we were able to make a few plans before we arrived. The first and my most favorite one was mums birthday plans. We didn't actually fly into England until a day or two after her birthday but we planned to celebrate at the weekend. We flew into Luton airport and went to visit my aunty Vicki who let us stay with her for a few days so we could explore around London, which just so happens to be Toms first time. We were real tourists for a few days, we went on the London eye, visited the London dungeons, took a selfie outside of Big Ben and many more touristy things that everyone else has done. Then my mum and step dad arrived and met us at Covent Garden at the Punch and Judy for some lunch and a bit of a catch up, then Vicki joined us for a drink or two. Then the best part.. We went to see the Lion King at the theatre. It was absolutely fantastic! We all loved it and had an awesome evening. The rest of the weekend we were all tourists together, we went to the science museum, walked around Hyde park and even walked to Kingston, which wasn't to far from where Vicki lives, had some street food and walked around the beautiful town and obviously did some shopping before heading back up north to see Toms parents. - London, June 2016

[freyjadawn]

After the mental weekend in Germany we went back to Prague to spend some more quality time at the bar ;) haha! Only joking I mean with Tomas and Monika. We were there for 6 days, we explored (more like reminisced) for one of those days and spent the rest of the time either at the bar catching up with Tomas and Monika or getting ready for our trip home. - Prague, June 2016

[freyjadawn]

It's no secret this time that we are going home, but we will be taking a detour along the way. This is where everything got a little hectic. So here goes.. We had booked a while back to go to a rock festival in Nuremberg, Germany. Which just so happens to be a few hours from Prague 😉😉 what a fine excuse to visit our lovely Czech pals for a drink or two (probably 10). We got a bus down to Prague from Berlin, and saw Tomas and Monika for a couple of days then left the majority of our things in their apartment so we didn't have to take our valuables to the festival with us. Back to Germany, but in the south this time where we spent the weekend in a tent getting very drunk, eating all the bad food and going to see some amazing bands including- (my personal favorite) Red hot chili peppers, Bring me the horizon, Architects, While she sleeps, Deftones and many many more. It was a crazy, amazing weekend and we loved every moment of it. I'm so glad we have the same taste in music and the love of camping. (Sorry about the photos, we never had the chance to scan them) - Nuremberg, Rock im Park, June 2016

[freyjadawn]

We always know we will have a good time when we are welcomed to a new place with a beautiful sunset or sunrise. Welcome back to Prague ☺️ - Prague, May 2016

[freyjadawn]

Our last Friday in Berlin, we saw Simon and Trish again on the Friday evening, but that afternoon we went on a bike ride to a lovely lake near by and took a bbq and a few beers and had our first ever vegan BBQ. It was amazing. Seriously being vegan isn’t all about vegetables it’s real food and it’s delicious! The next day we had to take back our bikes and then pack to leave on Monday. It’s pretty sad leaving places, I get so attached sometimes, but I loved Berlin and I know I’ll be back, even if it’s just to visit Simon and Trish again. - Berlin, May 2016

[freyjadawn]

Being grateful for the friends we meet

It’s so lovely meeting new people when traveling, we’ve met a lot of people along the way and heard many of their adventure stories. A lot of times the people we meet have influenced our travels and have changed them for the better. What’s even more lovely than meeting people is meeting them again in a different country, and catching up on what we’ve been up to since. This has happened a couple of times, and I know there are many more people we have met that we will meet again and I can’t wait for that to happen.

When we were in Cambodia we went on that boat trip with our friend Cameron. Where we met a few lovely people on there. We also met Simon, an awesome guy from Berlin who we had a lot in common with. We told him we planned to go to Berlin at some point so he gave us his details so we could meet up when we’re in Berlin.

So we did, we let him know we were there and we met up a couple of times. The first he invited us to an ‘open air party’ which is basically a party in the park. It was a lovely day, we all had a few drinks in the park, some people had bbqs others had large speakers and decks etc. it was an awesome day, and it was lovely to meet Simon again and to meet his friends and girlfriend Trish.

The weekend after we were invited to meet Simon and Trish at a slightly secret bar on the roof of a shopping center called ‘klunkerkranich’ and it was a quirky bar where we could watch the sunset over Berlin’s skyline. Then they invited us to their friends flat warming party. I thought that would be awkward as we hadn’t met them and we don’t speak German, but Simon and Trish reassured us and said it would be fine. When we arrived we met everyone and was shown their lovely flat, and had a lovely evening with everyone that actually went on to early morning. - Berlin, May 2016

[freyjadawn]

As I’ve already said, Berlin is very green, and has many many lakes. One of which is very large and is around 11 miles from the center, you may have heard of it, it’s called Mugglesee. My dad actually asked if we had been there yet, and we hadn’t, so we looked into it and then waited for some lovely weather so we could bike all the way there. After a very cold week, where we stayed inside mostly and caught up with working and drawing and then the occasional bike ride to keep fit, the sun decided to appear at the weekend. We packed our bags full of snacks and water and extra layers just in case then we set off on our day out to Mugglesee. Luckily Berlin is quite flat and easy to ride around with all the bike friendly lanes. We eventually arrived at Mugglesee slightly exhausted and hungry, but we couldn’t see the lake, so we biked around in the woods until we found an opening, so we could take in the beautiful view whilst eating our lunch. Then we rode around the whole lake, stopping occasionally to take in the beautiful views. One time we stopped we found a small beach, with a few locals and a few families were sunbathing a paddling. So we joined, I sun bathed and Tom swam in the freezing cold lake. After a lovely day around the lake, it was time to ride all the way home. It’s safe to say it was exhausting but fun! - Berlin, May 2016

[freyjadawn]

Our lovely evening bike ride and meal out, followed by a trip to a few bars and had a few too many drinks. - Berlin, May 2016

[freyjadawn]

Germany is famous for its sausages, and we have tried them before and they were delicious. But this time we no longer eat meat, so how are we going to eat traditional german food?! Well luckily Berlin is one of the best places to be if you are vegan/vegetarian, Yay! So we found a place that makes vegan curry wurst (sausages with curry) and it was amazing! I honestly don't understand why people eat meat anymore when substitutes are amazing, tasty and no one dies. - Berlin, May 2016

[freyjadawn]

The Berlin Wall is one place you have to visit, and if you don't. What were you even doing? There are loads of places in Berlin to see parts of the wall, we went to two but every now and then we'd see a small part of it still standing as we rode around the city. One place we went was the east side gallery, it's very famous for all of it's amazing graffiti done by professional artists. The art was incredible but I actually wanted to see the wall as it was, the history of it, bullet holes and all. Which we did see, and it was amazing, mostly bare of graffiti and even had parts missing as people collected parts of it as souvenirs after the war was over. Definitely very interesting to see in real life. - Berlin, May 2016

[freyjadawn]

On the way home from the abandoned building we took a slight detour on our bikes and found another beautiful lake just in time for the sun set. - Berlin, May 2016

[freyjadawn]

Abandoned building - Berlin May 2016