From the UK to India: My action packed adventure that never ended….

Firstly, let me introduce myself!  My name is Dannie, I’m 33years young and moved to Jaipur, India in December 2016.  Why would I leave the cold and miserable skies of the UK to live in Jaipur, well for me Jaipur and India have so much to offer.  Rajasthan is full of colour and and vibrancy, when you live or travel in India no two days are ever the same and you never know what you’re going to see!  Only the other day we were being held up on the road by a camel pulling a cart!

I went on my first holiday abroad to Spain when I was 21 and since then I haven’t looked back.  I’ve visited over 25 countries, covering a large chunk of Europe but also much further afield such as Thailand and Peru.  I first came to India on a group trip in December 2015, planning only to come to India for a week so I could see the Taj Mahal….after all what else was there to see in India?!  Clearly I got over my ignorance and within a few days of being back in the UK, I was not only dreaming about India, I was planning a two month sabbatical  in order to travel India….alone….as a single female!  Travelling India was nowhere near as scary as I first thought it would be and I had some wonderful experiences meeting Indian people throughout the country who showed me kindness, a lot of help and a different side to life.

I decided to give up my busy massage business in the UK to return to teaching by working in a local NGO in Jaipur where I help to educate children living in slums. It was a chance to give something back and work with a lovely bunch of children helping to enrich their lives. To help subsidise the free work I do here, I was looking for work opportunities and my expat friend told me about the owners of her accommodation and how they were looking for people for a music video.  This sounded like fun and typical of the random things you can do in India!  Whilst this didn’t work out I got talking to the new owners of the recently renovated hostel which we now know as Blue Beds and was fortunate to meet two great guys who had that same Indian charm of warmth and kindness.  They were keen to find someone with the same passion for their city with a love for writing and a new friendship was formed, as was this blog!

To me, Jaipur is my home and I look forward to sharing with you all the hidden gems of life out here.

Photos:

Monkey 

Taj Mahal

Slum school