A Weekend In Herne Hill

Since I am now lucky enough to call Herne Hill my new neighbourhood, I thought I'd share some of the beauty this area has to offer in writing and pictures. 

Herne Hill is located in London fare zone 3, just a hop away from buzzing Brixton on one side and charming Dulwich Village on the other. It is also only a short and convenient 20-minute  train ride from central London (that is if Southern Rail doesn't act up again). After living in Norwood Junction for 6 months, deprived of cosy cafés and vibrant atmosphere, Brockwell Park and Herne Hill were quick to steal my heart. On my first exploration walk I set off in Tulse Hill and walked down to afore mentioned Brockwell Park, a giant, beautiful green space with ponds, a walled garden, tennis courts, an all-weather outdoor playing field, a lido, two inviting cafés and stunning views of the London skyline in the distance. What I loved most about the park is that it lets you escape the crazy London traffic, it lets you relax, wind down, switch off and forget about the stress outside. I can't wait to see it in spring and summer, I believe I will spend a fair amount of my free time there. 

To warm up after my walk in the park my love for cosy cafés was calling, and luckily I was spoilt for choice in this regard. There is the Brockwell Park Café in the old grand-looking Hall and the cute Lido Café, located directly in the park. As I planned on having a look at Herne Hill itself I ventured further and discovered The Roome, The Parlour and many more. In the end I settled for a Brownie and a soy Latté at Café Provecal, next to the beautiful Half Moon Pub. The café was busy on a Saturday afternoon with people coming for a late lunch and cake-lovers like myself. The interior is charming and homey, it has a unique, laid-back character and living room feel to it , thanks to the unmatching furniture and little details. Cake-and-Coffee-Lover Heaven.

Yesterday I took my new 50 mm lense out for a walk, but it looks like I need a bit more practice with the manual focus:

On Sundays Herne Hill hosts a market outside the station that is worth checking out. An array of quaint stalls with baked goods,breads, meats, vegetables, street food, second hand furniture awaits. 

Waste Less, Live More - Starting the Zero Waste Journey

These days, when I go into a supermarket and see egg plants & ginger roots (like, really?!) individually wrapped in plastic, or when I see people on the high street heaving heavy Primark bags around, I can't help but feel a bit sad/scared/disappointed, you name it. If I'm honest I can't really say when these things began to bother me, as in, there was no big moment when the scales fell from my eyes and I suddenly saw the light. It was more of a steady development, where the initial idea slowly entered my mind and grew bigger and bigger until I became hella passionate about it. I can't even have a conversation about wastefulness without seeming like a priestess on a pedastal on a busy market, announcing that the end of the world is nigh. 

All I know is that I came across @bezerowastegirl's Instagram profile one day and started following her. Her content was captivating, clean, concise and inspiring. One image in particular made me admire her with awe. It was an Instagram post showing a small glass jar containing a couple of wrappers and other waste. Underneath it said:

The rest reads:

... in our city. I have a cute adoring husband who makes a great effort to reduce his waste and this is his and mine combined. You can see a detailed list of everything we toss on Be Zero's website! 

I was so astonished by how little waste she and her husband are producing (if my calculations are right that picture shows waste collected over more than six months) that I wanted to start my own Zero Waste journey and be more mindful about the choices I make every day. Do I really need a plastic bag for my shopping? I don't mind looking like a pack mule when I forget to bring a reusable tote bag (happens more times than I care to admit). Do I really have to keep buying bottled water? Do I need to have my coffee in a takeaway cup ? These are small changes that can have great impact if we all started to act on them. Life seems to be all about peoples' convenience now. Veggies are already chopped for our convenience, they are packed up in aluminium and plastic so we only have to chuck them in our frying pan when we come home. Don't worry if you don't have a carrier bag, here is a 5 pence plastic bag that you can always rely on when going shopping, no worrying needed, for your convenience. I get that we all have difficult lives with challenging schedules, but can't we just make a little time and effort for the most basic things, like preparing our meals? Can't we get by with the clothes we have instead of accumulating more and more things we don't need?

As Andrea says in the Instagram caption, it's not about making zero trash. It's about making educated choices and rethinking this fast-paced consumerism. It's about refusing and not giving in to all these fashion trends. It's about appreciating the nature around us and changing our habits, rewiring our brains. 

I made changes little by little. The first thing I did was to ditch bottled water and plastic bags. Two incredibly easy things to do. I got myself a klean kanteen reusable stainless steel waterbottle and a GoGlass waterbottle. I then said Sayonara to ddisposable coffee cups and invested in a much-loved KeepCup. I stopped buying my lunch and took to doing some meal prep and take my lunch with me in a glass lunch box. Even though this was also motivated by different reasons (#SouthernFail) I started cycling to work now (which is really not an easy feat in London). I now buy almst exclusively in charity shops.

Andrea created the 30 day Zero Waste Challenge on her blog, which slowly helps you make those changes by giving sustainable alternatives. We don't all have to be Zero Waste Messiah's and drastically change our whole life. If we start thinking about our choices and making small changes  we can collectively make the world a cleaner and more sustainable place. 

2016 Recap

Even though 2016 was a rather tumultuous year that most people would like to wipe from their memories, it was one of the best years of my life so far. I started it the best possible way you can start a year: Traveling with my best friend and partner. We started with Australias East Coast, went to Thailand after and went on to travel New Zealand and lastly Australias Outback. The latter was one of the most special and extraordinary experiences of my life, never have I felt a greater sense of calm, happiness and self-discovery.

Coming back to Germany/Europe was difficult but necessary. It was time to go back and start the 'real life'. I applied to company after company until I lost sight of what I wanted to do and just randomly applied for any half-decent role just to start earning some money. This desperation could have led to me working yet another insufficiently paid internship and a miserable outlook on the rest of my future. As it so happened, I was extremely lucky and landed myself a job at Hootsuite. Six months into the job I still feel blessed to be working there, with truly inspiring people and friends. 

Now I am starting 2017 about to move into a room in a flatshare, which hopefully will become my home. I have found it quite difficult to feel at home in London so far, but I really hope this next spot will feel like home.

I ended 2016 doing the things that are dearest to me: spending time with friends and loved ones and traveling:

My take on the big B-word everyone is obessing about lately

BREXIT. This word is ruling European media since what feels like forever. I think I've heard and seen this word way too much lately and especially after the elections it has a bitter taste in my mouth. Before it was just another ordinary and boring portmanteau, now the word looks and sounds plain ugly  to me. 

Anyhow, as we all couldn't help but find out last week, Great Britain (more like, just England.. wait wait... more like just Englands elderly) wants to leave the EU. I admit that I did NOT see that coming. Could our neighbours from across the little pond really want this? Could they REALLY? I'm not going to bore you with the deets again, we've all heard them manifold. Almost a week has passed now since the referendum and as I'm trying to understand all of it, something has just hit me now. It hit me that I never really appreciated what we have here. What we have in Europe, in the EU, a sense of togethrness and freedom to go and see these beautiful countries. A friend of mine made me realise this as she posted something on facebook that also spoke from my heart: 

Sending love from Portugal, flying back to London tonight to France tomorrow to Luxembourg afterwards, rest of the family is in Italy, lived worked and loved in Germany: I deeply feel European, proud and lucky to have been raised around so many languages and cultures, to have learned tolerance acceptance and solidarity.

I've lived, worked and loved in England. I've travelled and admired Edinborough. I've spent family vacations in Denmark and Holland. I want to admire Prague and Vienna and someday go see Poland. I'm at home not just in Germany, I'm at home in Europe. These countries are my neighbours and I am proud to be European. 

Travelling Australia's Outback

Australia is a popular travel destination for many young and wanderlust-ridden graduates and school-leavers. One of the most popular routes for backpackers is up and down the East coast from the Cairns Region down to Melbourne and Adelaide. Amazing must-see places such as Fraser Island, Byron Bay and spectacular Sydney line up conveniently for an easy travel route.

Since it is not as easily accessible and requires some more preparation and determination, many backpackers find themslves unable to delve into Australia's red centre. For me it was not an easy decision either, but I felt like I couldn't leave without seeing THE Australia of my imagination: The Crocodile Dundee Australia, the Red Sand Everywhere Australia, the This Heat is Unbearable Australia, the You're Surrounded By Miles and Miles of Nothing Australia. And so my boyfriend and I decided we had to see it, to experience the vastness and the wilderness of this beautiful, massive 

country. 

Even though we travelled 6792 km in only three weeks and had days where we travelled 700 km in one day and there were times when we hated the Miles and Miles of Nothing and the unbearable heat, it was absolutely worth it. Travelling like this, in an old and small campervan, you learn so much about yourself, what you and your body can take, and about the people you're with. You expand your horizon, push yourself to new limits and possibly change into a different, more travelled, more experienced person. 

It sounds cliché but seeing what nature can do is absolutely breathtaking and awe-inspiring. You can't help but feel incredibly small and unimportant. During those three weeks I've seen the most amazing sunsets and night skies and stars like I've never seen it before. I wrote in my travel diary that those afternoons when I felt like I was melting away in the heat were totally worth the pain when I lay down in the evening  and looked up. 

I can only recommend taking the time to travel like this at least once in your life. It's rewarding and mind-blowing.

Outback Travel Tips:

•  Book / buy your vehicle in time and it's a lot cheaper if you don't go during high season
•  Inform yourself about National Parks, especially if you're travelling the Northern Territory (e.g. we went to Kakadu NP - one of the most beautiful ones in Australia - just after the wet season and many of the most popular waterfalls and swimming holes were closed)
•  Buy enough water and food to last until the next "town" (which is sometimes just a caravan park). We always bought three 10L packs at Woolworths for under $4, that lasted about three days for the two of us. We had a water tank filled with rain water we used for cooking. 
• Buy fly repellent or face nets (if you can't handle 20 flies buzzing around your face) and mosquito repellent for the tropical part of the NT
• Get 50+ sun screen and reapply frequently !

Moral Monday: Jealousy is not a good look on anyone.

Last year I made the decision to quit studying the Master's Degree that I started. It was not thought through and happened out of desparation, because I did not know what to do after my BA (which I was bullied into finishing). Hence, it was not a really hard decision to make when I got the offer to do an internship in Melbourne, Australia. Even though the decision was not very hard, the execution was so much harder. It is emotionally and physically stressfull, as beautiful as it sounds to say "I'm going to Australia for a year", it is not all roses and unicorns.

I am saying this, because ever since I went and ever since I shared pictures on facebook or other platforms, I have been hearing the same thing over and over again: I'm so/a little jealous. I heard this so many times now that it infuriates me, this uncharming, not-so-nice-as-you-think statement. I'm not sure if I'm alone with this (I hope not), but it never feels good when someone addresses you saying they're so jealous. Especially if you've achieved something you're proud of and would rather hear something along the lines of "I'm really happy for you". I'm sure the people who say it, are not aware of the effect it has on the recipient. They mean to express that you have accomplished something that is worth being jealous about. However, jealousy implies malevolence, resentment and grudges as opposed to support, favour and affection. 

So please, stop saying you're jealous, heck, stop being jealous and envious full stop. If someone has achieved a goal they worked hard for, they deserve support and recognition. It did not fall into their lap. It was probably not always fun on the way to achieveing it. Nothing special was handed to them that other people have no access to. If you want something, chances are pretty high that you will get it if you work for it. Nothing comes for free to anyone (only those with rich parents, and not even then), so spread the word. Jealousy/Envy is not a good look. Ever. 

I conclude this post with some of my travel pictures:

It was amazing and eye-opening and wonderful to experience all this. I was not always happy and it was not always easy. Pictures only show the happy moments. As fun as it sounds, travelling can be exhausting and hard work. I had to work a full-time and a part-time job for six months so I could pay for travelling, which was not fun at all. In the end is rewarding as hell though.