Flora The Explorer - Page 9 of 28 -

Sea of Hull: Why I Got Naked & Blue with Three Thousand People

Posted on July 17, 2016

At 4am in a park in Hull, Spencer Tunick held up a megaphone and told me to strip. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only person he was talking to. The crowds of people around me had all been waiting a few hours for this command, and none of us hesitated to obey. As clothes began to fly and the bare limbs of strangers began to appear, I pulled off my t-shirt and bent down to an innocuous little tub of paint which lay on the…

Challenges England Norway Personal Women

Being Naked and Being Human at Vigeland Park, Oslo

Posted on July 7, 2016

Have you ever seen a hundred naked human bodies? It started in Oslo, on a muggy summer Sunday with a hint of rain in the air. After two weeks on board an expedition ship to the Arctic Circle, I was relishing the chance to be walking around outside, with an entire day at my disposal to explore a city I didn’t yet know. Oslo has a fantastic amount of attractions, but my aim that day was the city’s Frogner Park.…

Europe Norway The Arctic Writing

In Pursuit of Storytelling

Posted on July 1, 2016

“The day the compass spun…” Eleanor’s eyes were bright, her knife and fork abandoned at either side of her china plate. “It was when we skied along that frozen river – Bob, you remember?” They’d been hiking in Iceland, some hours away from Reykjavik, taking care to always keep their hire car in sight: winter had heralded a virtual white out and the American couple had barely any landmarks to act as reference points. Yet the trip had gone off without a hitch – until…

Norway The Arctic Travel Plans

I’m Going to the Arctic Circle!

Posted on May 29, 2016

This week, my laptop died. I was mid-sentence at the time, hovering over which new Spotify playlist to accompany writing a chapter about Peru when suddenly my screen went black. No amount of frantic clicking would wake it up again. But while I panicked, half-sobbing on my orange fluffy carpet (evidently I was too distraught to remain sitting on a chair), a long-dormant part of my brain spoke up. “What the hell are you so upset about?” it said, calmly. Because although…

England Personal Photography

My Quiet London Love Affair

Posted on May 12, 2016

“Shall we walk home through the city?” Beverley and I had been out for lunch on a sunny Sunday in London’s Southbank, treating ourselves to burgers and beers beside a window that curious tourists kept peering into. After wiping up the last of the ketchup with our remaining sweet potato fries we headed outside to the river, where London’s weekend population were exclaiming over the bright blue skies and the glinting windows of far away skyscrapers. And for once, I…

Challenges England Europe Italy Personal

Thoughts From the Window Seat

Posted on April 14, 2016

It’s finally springtime in London. Joggers and dog walkers are multiplying; people walk down the pavement with sunglasses and smiling faces. This morning I am sitting at a desk in the new house I recently moved to, with the green spines of my flatmate’s aloe vera plant snaking towards my laptop screen. I am writing – more than I ever have in such a short space of time. Coffee mugs are cluttering the table corners; there are open notebooks, a huge white binder,…

Europe Italy

A Whirlwind 24 Hours with Ten Italians in Medieval Tuscany

Posted on April 1, 2016

“The coffee is different in Campania…” Marianna winces slightly as she sips her espresso. I’m sitting around a cluster of narrow wooden tables with a group of Italians, all who hail from different regions of Italy – and all of whom seem very concentrated on the coffee cups in front of them. They’ve spent the last few days around each other; I only arrived yesterday. But even though I don’t speak more than five words in the language, they’ve accepted me…

England Europe Photography

A Burst of Birds in the British Countryside

Posted on March 24, 2016

“Ooh, look! A partridge!” “… A pheasant, you mean?” Gill looked at me quizzically from the driver’s seat. On the grassy kerb beside my window, the long-tail-feathered bird twitched his bright red head once, twice, and hopped ungainly into the bushes to disappear from view. “You really are a city girl, aren’t you!” She said, laughing as our car zipped around a low brick-walled curve. The hedgerow gave way to an apple orchard, bare trees bending in the breeze while I…

Language Personal Peru South America Spanish Challenge

The Spanish Challenge: a Surprise Return to Paracas, Peru

Posted on March 11, 2016

It’s early in Lima. Men scurry along either side of the barrier which divides the congested highway in two. They carry paper-covered boxes of snacks to sell to car drivers through their windows: small biscuits, wafers, hot peanuts. Boys with stacks of newspapers pass women wearing tracksuits and pushing supermarket trolleys, who yawn as they delve inside their bumbags filled with loose change. The car horns are already sounding, even though its only 6am and barely light. Tiny buses with place names painted in elaborate…

Camino de Santiago Personal Spain The Camino

The Camino Finisterre: Walking to the End of the World

Posted on March 3, 2016

Arriving in Santiago de Compostela didn’t feel the way I expected. The Spaniards I had been walking with for the last seven days had tears in their eyes as we walked through the city’s winding streets and emerged in the central plaza. The famous cathedral towered above us, its facade draped in netting and scaffolds. My friends began to hug and take pictures while I searched for a suitable sensation. Joy, perhaps? A religious moment? Satisfaction in what we’d accomplished? I…

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