I Don't Know About You, but I'm Feeling... 26?

And we're off! With Taylor Swift in my ears and my trusty £2 travel scarf around my neck. (Trustworthiness of other items of clothing yet to be established.)

Hello from blurry Vienna! 

First off, can I please just say how impressed I am with my packing skills? My usual backpack is (probably?) in storage somewhere since my parents moved, so instead I have this little guy, and I've finally discovered roll packing. I thought people who did that were just part of some weird cult, but several instructional YouTube videos later, I have a beautifully packed small suitcase in which I can actually find things. LIFE. CHANGED.

Boom. (And my much too large jacket still fits on top.)

I made it through the first leg of the 18-hour journey with the help of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Cabin Pressure and my new sleep headphones.

This is my face now. And always. 

The flight was crowded, and I was worried about always needing to get up to let the people beside me out, but they must have had bladders of steel because they never moved. Then again,  I've started taking an antidepressant before bed which renders me solidly unconscious within about half an hour, so for all I know they could have been vaulting acrobatically over me all night and I would never have known.

In fact, I like that story better. Let's go with the version with more back flips.

Oh yes, and it's my birthday. I actually forgot until I landed in Dubai and got a message from Emily. And she's a pretty trustworthy source, so I guess I'm 26 now?

I really wasn't looking forward to being 26 and still an intern, so being 26 and on holiday with a better job waiting for me when I get back is a much brighter outlook. Plus, as everyone knows, even numbers are better than odd numbers. #realsciencefact

I celebrated by spending R105 on a cappuccino and a small bottle of water, because fuck airport prices it's my birthday.

Then it was on to Vienna. This time it was the travel sickness meds that knocked me out, so at least I'm putting my body's many failings to use to buy me some extra sleep.

I checked into my hostel and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around. It was pleasantly sunny and warm, until it stopped being sunny, whereupon it was immediately freezing and I understood why all the locals were wearing jackets.

"But it's so warm! I can just go like this!"

I wandered pretty aimlessly and got lost and got all the many grand old buildings mixed up with one another, so I have no idea what I saw or where I went.

A sign for which ever way up you prefer to walk. 

Vienna, you look nice today. 

Mozart statue with treble clef. 

Mozart: "birds could u fucken not"
Birds: "lol"

More of this sort of thing please, Europe. 

"Tired of your dog having eyes? Bring it on down to Hunde Salon!"

Surely the best way to see any city!

A... palace? Almost certainly a palace. 

Open library! 

I took myself out for coffee and a cupcake when I got tired of chilly sightseeing (it's amazing just how often I can use "it's my birthday" as a justification for self-indulgence) and then found a vegan grocery shop about a block from my hostel.

I feel like it's important to note here that I'm not vegan any more. I've been back to plain old vegetarian since about the middle of last year. This is relevant because it means that, even after visiting this shop, I still have some money left over for the rest of the trip.

TREASURE TROVE

This is probably for the best. But they had my favourite sausages, so I treated myself to a few of those. Because it's my birthday.

Still, Vienna hasn't won my heart just yet.

I was feeling pretty tired and cold and lonely and sad by the end of the day, to be honest. Which I could really have predicted when I chose to spend my birthday in a foreign country where it's barely spring, I don't know anyone and I hardly speak the language.

But tomorrow I'll do my hostel's free walking tour and then actually pick out places I want to visit rather than just wandering the city and hoping to run into them. Maybe I'll even talk to other people! Well, if I feel like it. (It's my birthday, after all.)