How to Interrail on the cheap..

In 2015, now a whopping 3 years ago, I spent 3 weeks travelling around Europe on trains. We visited 5 different countries and 6 different cities in that time, and although it was quite a short trip compared to some peoples travels, it's still one of the best times I've ever had.

A quick overview of our trip is that we started in Paris, then went to Nice, Rome, Budapest, Prague and finished in Berlin, and we got trains between each city, except Rome and Budapest, as it wasn't time or money efficient.

When we first started planning we originally were going to use the Interrail pass, but after planning where we wanted to go and when, we realised it wasn't the best way for us.
- Interrail passes basically work best if you set a time period, say 2 weeks and then want to travel for 9 days of that 2 weeks. There are many different options and time periods, but they're great for people who don't want to plan exactly where they're going or when!

The way we planned our trip was by deciding on the countries and cities we wanted to visit, then mapped this out on a physical map and started to plan what was actually feasible based on location and where trains ran. We cut down our list a lot and then started actually planning- this was when we realised that interrail passes weren't worth it for what we wanted.
- We wanted to use a lot of long distance, fast trains, like the TGV train that runs from Paris to Nice, which you can get reasonably cheap tickets for if you book far enough in advance. The issue we ran into was that if you had the interrail pass for these long trains you needed seat reservations, which cost money, and some ended up as much as the original TGV ticket would have been.


The way the interrail passes say to get around these charges was to map out an alternative route, which would be slower and would be on cheaper trains. This would have cost us time and money buying hostel nights in cities or towns that we didn't actually want to see.

I should also add that for the last few years prior to this I'd been getting the train all the way from a little village in Yorkshire to the South of France, with changes obviously, but I did understand and know how cheap these seats were if you booked them right!

These add-on charges to the interrail passes were essentially what stopped us getting them, we already knew that in some of the cities we couldn't just turn up and hope to get into a decent hostel without booking, so we were planning on booking hostels and knowing what trains to get in advance, to maximise our time away so it made no sense in us getting these passes, with the selling point being spontaneity, when we were going to have had planned our trip precisely.

We started with booking the Eurostar, which cost us £33 each, to Paris on the 5th (roughly) of September. The next train we booked was the TGV from Paris to Nice, which is an approx. 5 hour train journey that takes you across the country, and it's a great train. This is the exact journey, minus the few days we spent in Paris, that I'd done every year with my family, so this was all easy to book.
I think the TGV cost us approximately £15 each, this was 2 years ago and the exchange rate was so much better (thanks, Brexit!) then it is right now, so these prices are unlikely to still be the same, but needless to say, you get a lot better value for money on trains that you seem to in this country!

After Nice, we went on to Rome. Now, Italia Rail's website has been improved drastically in the last two years, before however, it was nearly unusable and was impossible to know when tickets were going on sale for anything. We booked a train that was an unofficial sleeper train from Nice Ville to Rome Ciampino, ideally, this isn't the station you want in Rome, as Termini is the central one, but this was the only train available.

We got to Rome at roughly 4.30 AM, and we were expecting to get there an hour later, so that messed up our plans a little. As we were at the non-central station, we walked into the city as it was getting light, and did witness the sun rising over the Colosseum, which did almost make that train worth it!

After Rome we flew to Budapest as it was actually the cheapest and much faster option- I think it took 2 hours vs 12 hours on the train.

After Budapest we took the train to Prague- tickets were very cheap and very easy to buy, and it was a nice train.

The final train we got was from Prague to Berlin, I remember this being the more expensive train, but in the grand scheme of things, still quite cheap. The last two trains went through particularly beautiful countrysides and forests.

Overall, the best tips I can give for interrailing if you don't want to spend the money on the pass would be to check ticket sites and find out when the tickets first go on sale.

One of the main sites we used was www.seat61.com, it was super helpful in helping us find the best routes and the right ticket sites for each train journey.

Obviously, the interrail pass does suit many travellers, just personally not myself and I preferred organising our trip and booking hostels in advance etc, but I hope this helps anyone trying to "interrail" for cheap!

The BEST Breakfast in Nottingham!

In Nottingham we are lucky to have a ridiculous amount of really good independent cafes and coffee shops but Hartleys in Hockley does, hands down, the best all day breakfast in Nottingham. Bold statement, but honestly, it's so so so good!
Hartleys also happen to be a really friendly coffee shop with the loveliest of owners who go above and beyond to make sure customers are catered to, whether it be gluten free, dairy free, wheat free, meat free, anything!

The first time we went in, which is the day the photos are from was after Record Store Day, so all the way back in April (oops!) and we sat out in the sunshine and both got the all day breakfasts, one with Vitalite, the dairy free butter they offer, and the other normal butter, and a cup of tea with soya milk! I think even if i wasn't lactose intolerant and needed the different butter i would still adore their breakfasts because they are just ridiculously good and even include chopped tomatoes, my fav breakfast item!

My mum came down to visit me a couple of weeks ago so we went to Hartleys for breakfast and she's a vegetarian and a soya milk drinker so she was already impressed that they had "her" milk! Whilst we were waiting for our breakfasts the owner came over after having heard me order Vitalite on my toast to tell me about the new vegan cheese they have for their cheese toasties.
I should have mentioned already but Hartleys also has the most insanely extensive sandwich, toasties and salads menu and offer pretty much every sandwich as whichever dietary requirement you might have! But going back to the owner coming over, he showed me their Violife cheese and told me how it worked really well in the toasties as it melts and also went as far to tell me about how they wrap their toasties up in foil to stop contamination from the grill at all, which is just another little detail that i wouldn't always trust other cafes to think of and the fact he came over just to tell me about the cheese shows how friendly Hartleys is and kind of shows why it's my favourite breakfast place in Notts!

I definitely plan on going back to Hartleys and actually getting a toastie at some point because although a huge fan of their breakfasts, the idea of actually being able to have a cheese toastie out is so amazing to me! If you want to check out their website it's here: http://www.hartleyscoffeebar.co.uk/ and i cannot recommend it enough!

PS. It's worth adding that i'm a fan of Arla's Lactofree cheese because although i'm lactose intolerant, i'm not vegan at all but my sister is vegan and has since bought Violife cheese and i've tried it and it does taste really good, nothing like the Tesco vegan cheese which has to be the worst vegan alternative i've ever tried! Tesco's do sell Violife cheese but i've seen that they have a Violife Mozzarella in Holland & Barrett and i'm very tempted to get some to try it on pizza's and the like.

Searching for Robin Hood...

I've lived in Nottingham for almost a year now and when i moved here i didn't know much about the city but like many, i'd heard of Sherwood forest and now that the weather is finally getting better and worth being outside in, me and Sean took a trip out of the city in the middle of last month, during our exams and deadlines to get a break from the city.

This is Major Oak *insert HIMYM joke here*, i think the story is Robin Hood and his friend hung out here or something. Historially, lets just say the tree is super old! We went on a 4 or 5 hour walk after leaving the Sherwood forest visitor centre and just walked around the forest all day and it was so nice. Sean thinks we walked about 7 miles because we weren't exactly route marching and stopped for lunch as well, but it was just so lovely to be out of the city and in the quiet forest for most the day!

Sean, the tree whisperer.

I didn't take too many photos as i'm still yet to have a "proper" camera, i just use my iphone but it was a really nice day out and sooooo lovely to just get out of the city. I do love the city and when i moved out last year i thought i'd always prefer a city over the countryside but i've got to admit, i do like a good walk in forests still!

A Visit to Byron Burgers!

The other restaurant we visited in London was Byron Hamburgers, which was a kind of last minute decision because we didn't want to plan anything because we just wanted to see what we fancied on the night. 

We considered Meat Liquor because we'd both heard good things about their food and general vibe but we looked up their website and not only do they not bother putting any allergy advise online but a few other things came up in our searches that thoroughly implied that they were not very accommodating for people with special dietary restrictions. So instead of risking it with Meat Liquor, we went to Byron Burgers, a place I've heard great things about before!

We went to the Wardour Street restaurant and we seemed to get there at the right time as we hadn't booked but there was one table spare! We sat down, got our drinks and ordered our food. The server we got was fabulous about my lactose intolerance- we ordered some of the tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole as a starter and i wanted to check there wasn't yogurt or cream in the guac (tescos "surprise" ingredient of yogurt in theirs has made me wary of all other guacs!), there wasn't which was great! And both of us had also decided on the Byron hamburgers, and i'd already asked for mine without the cheese but he also went and checked all the other ingredients to make sure it was all fine without me even asking him to which, i know to an extent is their job but it's always nice when you don't feel like you're nagging the server about dairy!

The starter, or "while you wait" snack of tortillas with salsa and guacamole was really good, i love salsa that's a right mix of sauce and chunks and Byron's was delicious. The guacamole was also lovely and the tortilla chips were huge and looked properly homemade, none of that wannabe doritos style chips!

  

The burgers were also delicious. We got the Byron burgers which is their beef burger with bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion and their "Byron sauce". I got mine without the cheese but other than that obvious subtraction, everything else on the burger was absolutely fine for me to eat! I love going out and only having to remove the cheese on items because it means you basically still get the food as it's supposed to be eaten. We also shared sides of the french fries and the HUGE onion rings which were so amazingly good!

Overall, me and Sean definitely enjoyed Byron burgers and they are definitely in our top 5 burger places, a list that might just make a blog post at some point! Byron burgers also have their allergy information on their website here https://www.byronhamburgers.com/menu/allergy/ which is very useful as i was like to know i have a good choice before deciding to eat somewhere! I'm home for summer now in Yorkshire and i know they have a restaurant in York so i might just have to have a visit before i go back to Nottingham in autumn!

Pho in Shoreditch

A while ago we decided to plan a day trip to London and one of the few things we properly planned was the food stops! 

I often make pho at home because when I first found out about it I still lived in East Yorkshire and surprisingly, there is not a ton of Vietnamese restaurants around (read: none) and when I moved to Nottingham I was really hopeful about the potential Vietnamese restaurants but somehow I managed to move to the only major English city without a significant Chinatown!

Long story short, I was really looking to finally trying proper pho! The idea was to go to Kingsland Way in Shoreditch which has been dubbed by Time Out as the "Pho mile" but we got out to Shoreditch and had a wander around Old Spitalfields Market before Google mapping our way to the Pho Mile and although it was a lovely day, walking far in London is never appealing and we then realised we were standing opposite Pho, the Vietnamese chain and just decided to go there instead.

We went inside and although I felt like we were almost "cheating" by having our first "real" Vietnamese pho experience at a chain, I was impressed by the decor, it definitely had a lovely little cafe feel and I think we really lucked out with our timing as we managed to get a little table in the window and it was a beautiful sunny day so we had a lovely view of a Brushfield Street and the edge of Old Spitalfields Market.

I ordered the Pho Tai which is thinly sliced beef steak, which is the type I make at home and Sean ordered Pho Tai Chin, which was the sliced beef steak like mine but also with brisket. They came in pretty much the proper way (from what I've gathered from looking online) the big bowl of broth with the noodles in and a side plate with beansprouts, chili, a wedge of lime and a lot of herbs, the only thing that I wasn't expecting is that it came with the beef already in the soup, which I didn't have an issue with.

The soup itself was great, the broth was lovely and meaty and just so tasty! I added all the beansprouts and a big squeeze of lime into mine as well as one of the little chili, without the seeds as the waitress had warned us they were very hot and we are not wonderful with spice! I was also very impressed with the noodles, as usually I use the thin rice noodles from Tesco, and I've only once used the flat udon noodles and I found them awful and slimy yet the ones in the pho were so lovely!

I have now been dreaming about this pho for a good while, and am definitely going again next time I'm in London! They also have a cafe in Leeds which I've seen before but never been convinced about because it was a chain, not an opportunity i'll be passing up again! Also, I didn't even ask about the dairy free aspect because I always find Asian food is great for me as the chances of them containing dairy are so slim, it only the obvious things that you have to worry about. Pho recognise this too as on their menus they have a little comment at the bottom about the fact that they are extremely unlikely to have dairy in, which is nice for peace of mind! They have many locations across London and a few in other places in the country, their website is www.phocafe.co.uk which has all the details about them you could ever need!

Morroccan Style Baked Eggs (Dairy, Lactose and Gluten Free)

This recipe is for Morroccan style baked eggs, which is a dish I’ve wanted to cook for ages but I haven’t got a saucepan suitable for this recipe as you need a pan that can be used on the hob and in the oven, but I was at my parents and took the opportunity to make this dish. I served it with tuscan potatoes which is my new favourite way of having potatoes because they taste gorgeous!

Welcome to my blog!

Hello, I'm Holly and I'm a history student living in Nottingham, and I love cooking and just food in general.

I'm also a lactose intolerant which can make cooking and eating out difficult.

The idea for this blog is that I'll post recipes I use that either are lactose free or I can substitute the dairy ingredients for lactose free ingredients. I'll also post restaurants and cafe reviews that are good for lactose intolerants because I used to absolutely love eating out and hate now how difficult it can be to find places that are still enjoyable to visit as a lactose intolerant!