As I sat aboard the Arlanda Express, making the final part of my journey to Stockholm, I was alone with my own thoughts. Since finishing university, time has flown by and as one often finds, I haven’t done half of the things with my free time that I wanted to do when I was so ridiculously busy researching dystopian fiction and typing away furiously to the tick tock of the deadline clock. I’ve spent much of that time not so patiently waiting to board a flight to somewhere in South East Asia and begin my journey around the region. In that moment of solitude, with Sweden passing rapidly outside the window, I knew I was making the right choice in accepting my call to adventure and going it alone in the big wide world. But this, my short stay in Stockholm, would be the true test. It would be my first time travelling solo and a part of me knew that my mind, though set on travelling, could potentially be swayed.

We’ll leave the tranquility to Adam and Derek this time around, as they Escaped the City DJB and I drove straight into the heart of as many as we could. With little time and a lot to do, there was an urgent need for speed. Luckily, the BMW had that covered.

Being in such a beautiful city has its perks, don’t get me wrong, but too often when visiting these places full of historic landmarks we forget to bring our eyes back to ground level and look at the happenings around us. Being in a new place is not just about seeing new sights, but about embracing and observing the differences occurring around you. I had recent trip to Paris courtesy of Lacoste and, instead of putting my focus on the popular landmarks, I people watched. Read on.

It’s been a while since our last Y&Y Travels feature in Switzerland, it’s been long overdue but finally we’re back at it. DJB and I headed off to Nice last month for a weekend of exploration and an escape from the concrete jungle that is London. It’s always nice to get away even if it’s just for a few days, so when the folks at SKYN UK decided to send us on this expedition we just couldn’t refuse. Yes, you may be wondering why a condom company wanted to send us across Europe to experience fancy bars and restaurants, well the answer is simple - the folks over at SKYN like to do things a little differently and we certainly weren’t complaining. Any excuse to indulge in a lifestyle to the norm and take a few days off work. More after the cut.

Switzerland! I naturally think watches, mountains, snow, chocolate… and that’s about it. I like all of those things (aside from snow) but Switzerland is one of those places that many people don’t know enough about including myself. Lucky for me, the Swiss Tourist board invited us to spend a weekend in Switzerland as part of a campaign to highlight some of the best spots in the country and change perceptions. I was one of a few bloggers and we were all given different cities, I got Lucerne which is North of central Switzerland. The weekend saw me explore Lucerne’s creative network, the nightlife, visit Lake Lucerne and immerse myself in Swiss culture with my ambassador; Heidi Happy. More after the break.

I think it was mid-April whilst shooting a brand’s lookbook with the rest of the team when the email from the agency arrived in my inbox, much to my disbelief it contained an invite to Malta in May. Yo, I wasn’t expecting that but I’ll take it, any escape from the city life is a good one. Malta though? I wasn’t expecting much, heck I didn’t really know anything about the Mediterranean island off the coast of Italy. It’s not a place that my friends have spoken about previously about visiting so I had no idea about what to expect aside from the quick Google image search. Read on.

“What brought you to Brazil?” was the second most asked question I heard during my ten-day visit to Rio De Janeiro this month. I’d explain that the visit was mainly to kick off Y&Y Travels (and escape the SEVEN MONTH winter England had bestowed on us). However my answer – my true answer, anyway – was that I wasn’t quite sure. I just knew I felt drawn to the country, and more specifically, Rio, for a quite some time. I wasn’t sure where exactly the interest had stemmed from – I had no first-hand exposure to the culture, I’d never hit the samba spots with Elephant & Castle’s Brazilian contingent; in fact, I’d never even seen City of God (which is hardly a tourist-friendly representation of Rio, but still). The point is, I had no real, informed opinion of what I’d see, smell, hear, taste or feel in Rio De Janeiro, and this made this ten-day sensory overload even greater.