Claire Salter

"I had come to the conclusion that I must really be French, only no one had ever informed me of this fact. I loved the people, the food, the lay of the land, the civilized atmosphere, and the generous pace of life." –Julia Child I get where Julia is coming from. I love France. Every time I think about a previous visit a smile comes across my face 😊 there's just something about the country that I can't get enough of. Right now I would love to be able to visit France. To snow board along the Alps, stroll along the streets of Paris, walk along the vineyards... Oh if only we weren't under lockdown! If you want to mentally transport to France then my latest post is a list of incredible books set in France. (Link in bio) No matter if you like romance novels, classics, thriller or comedies, there is a book on the list for you. Oh and if you want to know more about Julia Child and her life in Paris, that book is also on the list 😉

"Nothing ever tasted better than a cold beer on a beautiful afternoon with nothing to look forward to than more of the same." - Hugh Hood I may have temporarily lost the ability to be able to travel but I haven't lost everything that I love. I'm still able to enjoy a cold refreshing beer. It's a beautiful day here in England and I have a fridge full of delicious craft beers. Life may be different these days but the best thing to do is make the most of it. I love visiting breweries on my travels and sampling local beers. Being on lockdown hasn't meant I can't keep doing this. Thanks to Craft Metropolis I had 12 amazing beers from independent UK breweries delivered to my door. If you want to know more about this beer delivery service or the beers I ordered check out my latest post (link in bio) What beers are you guys enjoying at the moment? 🍻

I've been trying to stay positive during these weird times and for the most part I have been. I've accepted my new normal and I'm making the most of my time in lockdown I've been able to get a lot of reading done, binge watch a few shows and lately I've gotten my motivation for blogging back so life has been pretty good all things considering However, tomorrow I was supposed to be going to Barbados and while I'm trying not to think about that, it's been tough Barbados was a treat I had booked myself on Black Friday. A nice luxurious holiday to relax and explore my first Carribbean island. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was gutted this trip had to be cancelled But it's worth not going if it means we can stop this virus spreading around. While it sucks to not be able to travel or see friends and families we have to remember we're doing it for a reason Barbados isn't going anywhere so I'll be able to visit in the future. For now I'll stare at my beach pictures from Thailand and pretend I'm on a sunny beach with a cocktail 🍹

Here is another photo from my trip to Poland. I love visiting Poland and it was such a shame to cut my last trip short. This photo was taken in Lodz which is definitely worth a visit when this is all over If you haven't heard my crazy corona related story yet the full story is on the blog (link in bio) I cant wait to get back on the road but sadly that won't be happening any time soon. For now I'm going to enjoy the memories of my previous trips. I've had some awesome adventures over the years and yes some bad ones too, like the Poland instance! But wether good, bad or down right crazy I'm grateful for every memory I've been able to create What is your favourite travel story? Is it a good memory or a crazy story?

“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” - Abraham Lincoln There's no denying that these are crazy times right now but it's important to remember this won't last forever. It can be anxious not knowing when this will all end but all we can do is take it one day at a time. While I would love to be out traveling right now I'm doing my bit and staying at home in lockdown helping to get theis thing over with as quickly as possible. Plus my last trip didn't exactly go as planned thanks to this pandemic. Remember when borders were suddenly being shut down. Well I was in Poland when they gave us a days notice to get out of the country and I was 3 hours outside of the city centre! With a lot of anxiety, a bit of luck and a miracle from a stranger I was able to get out an hour before they shut the border. There were a few times when things almost went wrong and I really thought I wouldn't make it. It was a crazy day and I've finally told the full story on the blog (link in bio) Do you have any crazy travel stories from this pandemic? 📷 Taken on my first night in Warsaw before I knew I would have the craziest trip of my life

Are you ready to visit the land where beer courses? I am! Tomorrow evening is The Big Virtual Czech In hosted by @traverseevents and @visitcz with a beer tasting from @budvaruk, a stay at home quiz and a live Czech DJ. Oh and the whole thing is streaming live to Facebook! Thanks to a special care package from the wonderful people at Visit Czech I have my Budvar beers chilling in the fridge ready for tomorrow. Did you know the Czech Republic has over 400 breweries which is why it is known at the Republic of Beer 🍻 with that many breweries you can bet my beer loving self wants to go back when it's safe to travel again. Until then I'm going to enjoy my Budvar beers at home and hang out virtually with my travel loving friends. Cheers! Or as the say in Czech na zdraví #CheersFromCzech #gifted

It's been a while! How is everyone? I know I haven't posted on here for a while but I've been going through some ups and downs during these weird times. 2020 looked to be an amazing year and now our world's have been turned upside down. I had some amazing adventures planned that one by one have been cancelled. For a travel lover it's tough to watch the travel plans you were excited for slowly disappear. Especially as a travel blogger who's also watching their website traffic take a nose dive. It's devastating. And it's not just my travel life that's disappeared but also my professional life. I work in television (mostly in sports TV) and was excited to be heading to Manchester this summer for a 3 month job. But with sport events being cancelled and postponed that job also disappeared. Earlier this year I went to Manchester to discuss the role and meet the team. As I walked around MediaCity that sunny day I couldn't wait to return for the job. I was excited to call MediaCity and Manchester home for a few months. So losing it was a big loss for me. But all we can do is accept life has taken a weird turn and embrace the new normal. We are all in this together 😚

Shhh I've been holding back a secret If you watch my stories you will have noticed I took a very quick trip to Manchester last week but I never mentioned why Well I went up there for a meeting about work. If you didn't know this about me I'm not a full time blogger and work in the television industry. I'm pleased to announce that I have taken a job in Manchester over the summer working for a sports channel to help out with the Euros, Wimbledon and Olympics Last year I spent 5 months in Manchester on a job working on a reality TV show. While I spent most of that time working I fell in love with the city so I'm excited to be going back This time I'll only be working 4 days a week so I'll get plenty of time to check out Manchester and the surrounding area and I can't wait 📷Some street art I found while walking around Canggu in Bali

I can't believe I've already been back in England for over a week. Where does the time go?! I know for most people the dream is to be a full time travel blogger and be free to travel all the time so people don't believe me when I say I like working. I worked hard in my industry to be good enough to be sought after and able to go freelance. This means that when I want to travel I just take a month off and no one can stop me. This way I can travel lots but still earn good money. And while I always say I like my job I can't help but wonder what it would be like to be a full time blogger. It's not currently something I'm considering but I'd be lying if I said I'd never consider it in the future So to test the waters I've just spent a month in Canggu in Bali where a lot of my fellow travel bloggers live for a few months of the year as their base. While I do love Canggu and Bali I have to admit that by the end of the month I was ready to come home. For me travel is a time for adventure and not to 'have a base' and work on a laptop doing very little. But I needed to do it once to know this. Now I've been back at work for 3 days and I'm having a great time being back. I love what I do, I love the guys I work with and I definitely have a new appreciation for the life I've created for myself. I'm always nervous returning back to work after being gone for so long. I worry I will have forgotten how to do everything. But these last couple of days have just proved that I'm damn good at my job and that's why I get hired back no matter how many times I leave So this is me admitting that I 100% love not being a full time travel blogger. Yes, it's hard to blog around a job but I don't earn a living from it so if I can't post for a week it's not the end of the world! 💖

When was the last time you had a 'pinch me, I must be dreaming!' moment? Feeling overworked last year I decided to start 2020 in Bali so I could relax and recharge and I think I've now found the perfect place in Bali to do just that! The other day a group of travel blogging girls came to stay at the amazing @camayabali we had seen so many pictures of on Instagram. The place certainly lived up to the hype and now I can see why they book up months in advance! Seriously staying here felt like true paradise. Our bamboo house was insane and the views of the rice terraces were incredible. We had a cool hammock which was a great place to just sit back and watch the sunset. With room service bringing us all our meals we didn't end up leaving the place once until we had to check out! Honestly once you arrive you won't want to leave this slice of paradise! We may have only been there 1 night but even that short time was enough to recharge our souls. After the excitement of discovering every amazing aspect of the place (and of course taking a million photos!) we all just sat back, enjoyed the breathtaking views and just read. It was pure bliss 💖

Happy New Year all! Can you believe it's 2020 already? Like seriously what happened to 2019? Actually, what happened to the last decade?! While a new year normally has people talking about fresh starts, a new decade makes you reflect on the past ten years.. So here are some of my key moments from the last decade: 2010 - Graduated University 2011 - Got my first full time job in TV 2012 - Took my first solo trip 2013 - Traveled around Europe and let the travel bug take me 2014 - Flew by myself for the first time (yes it took me that long!) 2015 - Started Curious Claire 2016 - Quit my job to backpack around Asia 2017 - The Curious Explorers started 2018 - The Curious Explorers Ended 2019 - Relaunched Curious Claire So what's planned for 2020? I'll be heading to Bali for a month of rest in a couple of weeks ☺️ then a bloggers conference in Italy (hopefully going to Malta afterwards), potential road trip around Glasgow and then I'll be heading to Barbados to explore some of the Caribbean for the first time What are your plans for 2020? . . . . . . . #travelmemories #travelblogger #nusapenida