Barefoot and Breezy

Since arriving in Sri Lanka, we had both been desperate to see turtles. It seemed every beach we rocked up at, locals would quickly inform us "no turtles here" so we continued hopping along the south coast. That was, until we arrived in Hikkaduwa where, finally, we got up and personal with the beautiful, majestic creatures of the ocean. As soon as we arrived in the relatively quiet seaside resort of Hikkaduwa, we headed straight to the stretch of beach where a family of turtles apparently lived. On arrival we didn't have to look too far to spot three huge turtles being fed handfuls of seaweed by tourists. As a lot of the coral is dead around this stretch of beach, the turtles have smartly figured out that by befriending the visitors, they can have constantly full bellies! We had so much fun swimming around with these guys, and were able to get so close to them underwater. We returned back to this spot a few times throughout our time in Hikkaduwa, making the most of get...

It’s not really the worst dilemma you could ever find yourself in - residing in a small town on the south coast of Sri Lanka, temperatures exceeding 30 degrees, trying to plan a route that allows you to see as much as possible over the coming two weeks, whilst also giving yourself time to integrate into a community for long enough that you get a decent understanding of the place. Impossible! But here we are, giving it a good go… Our first stop was Mirissa - the beach and town that everyone raves on about! The main beach itself didn’t disappoint, with its crystal clear water and soft, white sand - it became clear why this is such a popular destination for a holiday. In fact, we quickly realised we were pretty much surrounded by people on their honeymoons, so we felt very lucky to just be ‘passing through’! At night, the beach bars are transformed into rows of beautifully lit restaurants, that look picture perfect with their twinkly, white fairy lights. It was definitely on...

Before we even went travelling, as soon as we mentioned we were going to Sri Lanka, people would straight away tell us we have to take the train from Kandy to Ella. It is notorious for being one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world and it didn’t disappoint. We spent the majority of the trip either gawping out of the window or hanging our heads out from the doorway, looking out   onto incredible landscapes painted from a palette of the most vivid shades of green.   We had heard mixed things about Ella itself, with some travellers claiming it to be a highlight of Sri Lanka whilst others warned us about the tacky tourist feel it has come to occupy. Either way, it quickly became clear to us that ‘Ella’ is a fitting name for a such a pretty little place. We have found we enjoy visiting a mixture of places, including some that are heavily occupied by foreigners and some places that are more remote and off the beaten track. Sometimes it is quite refreshin...

Our final train journey of India was definitely the low point of our trip so far. There was a mix up with our tickets which meant whilst we had got ourselves all settled in our beds for the overnight train, a group of men arrived a few stops later looking a bit baffled as to why we were there. We quickly got our tickets out to show we were in the right place, in that overconfident way you do when you are quite sure you’re in the right and they must be mistaken for a different carriage… …Nope, turns out we were definitely in the wrong and we had to repack our bags before squeezing our way through the jam packed aisle and taking the train walk of shame. In a nutshell, we were on the right train with the wrong ticket and were initially advised we would need to pay a small fortune for two upright seats (for the entire 13 hour overnight journey). After trying to barter, and subsequently nearly being thrown off the train (which we HAD to be on to catch our flight to Sri Lanka), the...

With only a couple of weeks left in India, we had originally planned to spend the majority of our time relaxing on the beaches of South Goa and Kerala…needless to say, it didn’t exactly pan out that way and we ended up being busy as ever! After North Goa, we took a night bus over to Hampi - a village located on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, which is particularly famous for the impressive ruins it boasts from the Vijayanagara Empire. We found it incredibly beautiful, and a lot more green and peaceful than anywhere else we had been in India. For the first time, we deemed the roads quiet enough to risk hiring a scooter, and we felt a new sense of freedom arise as we set off for our day exploring. This quickly disappeared, though, as we made it a mere 2 kilometres before breaking down!!   As we had no means of communication on us, there was no other option but for me to run the 2 kilometres in the mid day sun back to the hostel. We had a few incidents like this, wit...