Meet Me On The Way: My Eastern European Adventure

So, I have just returned from a month of gallivanting across Eastern Europe (a.k.a. The Best Month of My Life So Far)

It was the craziest, most hilarious and non-stop month of my life and I cannot even begin to recount all that happened (parts included a perilous crossing of the Serbian border in a taxi with a driver who spoke no English – an experience that I won’t be forgetting any time soon!)

However, despite my best efforts for the sake of this blog, it wasn't particularly fashion orientated.

Embarking on the holiday, I had planned to return with expansive portfolio of Eastern European street-style made up of 11 different cities in 9 different countries. This did not go to plan. It was in Belgrade (a city that I realised does not get enough credit for its exquisitely nonchalant style) where I learned how truly difficult it is to communicate asking to take someone’s picture for your blog in a completely foreign language (the poor girl in question looked at me with pure terror in her eyes – I may have got slightly over-excited at her beautiful leather t-shirt and tulle midi-skirt combo)

In addition to this, before my travels I had also planned to represent British style to the max, and so continued to stuff my entire summer wardrobe into the suitcase that I would be living out of for the month. Here, I also failed.

1. Summer style is not my forte. Being British, Winter is my prime style season. Only seeing the Sun a handful of times a year causes one to immediately strip off all extraneous layers and wap on a bikini whenever the giant ball of fire appears in the sky, and so this leaves me rather unsure how to dress for it.

2. Unfortunately, my clothes didn't all fit into my case and so I had to take into account practicality (my least favourite consideration when it comes to clothes). This meant that not only could I not take a new outfit for every day (crycry), but I also had to consider the fact that they would be LONG, HOT days (I’m talking 34°C in a city centre with no pool to cool off in - much shade-hunting ensued). This leads me on to...

3. TAN LINES. Otherwise known as THE BANE OF MY LIFE. In Summer, tanning is my favourite hobby. People who live in Britain will know that this is actually a lot more difficult than it sounds as we only get about 2 days of actual sun per year. Therefore, the only serious tanning you can get is on holiday. On a beach holiday this is fine and dandy. When you’re spending the month wandering around cities where it isn't socially acceptable to walk around in a bikini unless you look like Gisele Bündchen, tanning is a lot more difficult. As a result, when packing for a back-packing holiday potential tan lines must be considered. Want to wear that gorgeous vintage floral summer dress that you bought especially? No chance! Not unless you want a chest whiter than snow and oh-so-fetching two-tone arms where the sleeves cut off. And so this is how Levi cut-offs and vest tops became my new staples, turning me into a generic clothes zombie. This made me sad. But not as sad as awkward tan lines, so I got over it pretty quickly.

4. It became obvious pretty quickly that living out of a suitcase causes clothes to become extremely lack-lustre. Doing all my washing when I got home, I had never been more thankful for an iron in my life.

To sum up; this holiday was not the most successful in terms of fashion. I would have cared, BUT I WAS BACK-PACKING ACROSS EASTERN EUROPE FOR A MONTH AND IT WAS BLOODY AMAZING. The best experience of my life so far. Totally and indescribably amazing. If you want to do it, work and work in whatever job you can find until you can afford to go.

I would recount all my fantastic tales but that would take forever and a day, and so I provide you with a picture from each place I discovered.

...Holly