Author: shannafranco

This date happens to be the day of the biggest music ‘festival’ in Paris! We arrived in a bustling city with bands and stages and people dancing at every corner, country music one end, trance at the other and a mish mash of all other genres in between.

While we were checking into our hostel I met two girls who joined our trip that I’d been in contact with before it started. Mel was born in Zimbabwe but her family left when she was six- we bonded over our same birth place and a mutual friend who we met up with later on in the trip! She travelled from Australia with her best friend Rachel.

Our first evening in Paris was spent getting to know one another while having a gourmet picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower at sunset- goals! I’m talking cured meats and cheeses, macarons and tarts- and of course, frogs legs and escargot which are a must for any visitor to France!

The rest of our evening was spent hopping from street corner to street corner, immersing ourselves in the Parisian nightlife, playing beer pong and taking advantage of 4 Jägerbombs for €10 🤪

This started at 6am, we all met (pretty much for the first time) in the reception of the hostel where about 20 of us grouped up and climbed onto a coach and made our way towards Dover to catch a ferry. I instantly became friends with a girl called Tiff from Australia who’s grandparents were friends with mine and who’s mum played with mine during school holidays- but we’d never heard of each other or met until we happened to book the same trip! We bonded over biltong she brought along as well as a letter from a family friend for me. Talk about a small world!

I made this blog with the help and support of my dad a couple months ago with the intention of doing an update every couple of days with pictures and stories of my travels. Well, as you can see, it hasn’t really gone to plan!

I turned 21 in April and received two incredible gifts from two very important men in my life. Firstly, a 26 day 12 country tour of Europe from my Dad and a beautiful semi-pro camera (for the amateur that I am) from my Papa. Spoilt I was! Anyway, with my wanderlust in full swing and airplane tickets booked for a 6 month European excursion I decided to make this blog in order to keep track of everything I do.

It has been (as expected) an absolute whirlwind so far with hundreds of pictures taken and even more memories made. This is for myself, but also for friends and family that would like to keep up with what I’m doing and where I’ve been and what I’ve seen!

I’ve finally finished sorting through loads of pictures after the first bit of my travels which was the tour. I’ve got back into a sort of routine and am settled in Salcombe for the next month or so which is a real pleasure because since I left home I haven’t been in a fixed location long enough to actually unpack my suitcase!

So, keep your eyes pealed for new stories and pictures over the next few weeks of how it’s been so far and what I’ve got planned next!

From the wanderlust fuelled amateur photographer, Shanna xo

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton