Adventurous Andrea

The Solo Female Travel Blog

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Eating Dinner With Locals in Amsterdam

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Amsterdam is one of my favourite cities in the World, the Dutch capital has everything that I need and I seem to find something different to do there each time I visit. In the past, I have visited all the main attractions such as The Rijksmuseum, The Heineken Experience and the house of Anne Frank, I have taken canal boats out and been on city tours so now I look for something a little different to do on each trip. On my last visit to the Dutch capital I had one of the best experiences that I have had since I began visiting there 10 years ago, eating dinner with locals.

The Start

A friend recommended a website to me called with locals which is basically a community of locals who look to offer their hospitality to tourists by way of inviting you into their home for some good old-fashioned home cooking. I browsed the website and found that there are so many hosts on their who wanted to cook for me and my friend with an array of different experiences. Everyone has their speciality when it comes to cooking and there was local Dutch food on offer, Asian cuisine, food from Suriname and countless other styles of cooking. Furthermore the range of people and types of houses available really blew me away.

Negotiations

After I decided, I contacted my would-be host who offered to cook a 3- course vegan meal for my friend and I, at a really good price. Once we made contact, the host got in touch with us within hours and to my surprise asked me hundreds of question about our likes and dislikes when it comes to food, music, eating times etc. I think that when I booked I kind of though that I would just arrive and be served whatever the host decided and I loved having some input into it. My vegan friend has found it more difficult to find vegan restaurants and cafes in this city so I think she was ready to eat whatever vegan food she could get her hands on but being able to suggest and discuss the meal really impressed us both.

The Meal

Once we’d decided upon our meal and music, we turned up our hosts home to join 2 other guests plus the host and her wife for our evening of entertainment. I wasn’t sure how the night would go, I wasn’t confident that the food would be great but I didn’t know what the night held in store for us. I shouldn’t have been worried, the host was incredibly friendly and the 2 other guests that night made for excellent company. We spent the night playing games, swapping stories and eating some fantastic food with some great company, it really couldn’t have gone any better and I can’t wait to try this type of experience out again as soon as I possibly can.

 

6 Must See Destinations in the UK

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The United Kingdom is an incredible place to visit, within the isles there are some of the most culturally diverse cities in Europe and at the same time there are cities and locations that remain the way they have always been….

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Vegetarian’s Guide to Travelling in Arabic Countries 

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Being a vegetarian on the road can present some challenges and options for vegetarians can be a mixed bag from country to country. There are almost always options for vegetarians but there is a big difference between options and real choices that you would want.

Arabic countries are fantastic for vegetarians, whilst meat is often a staple diet for many, the region offers up amazing vegetarian ingredients such as various types of beans, nuts, seeds and cereals. Salad is regularly eaten, both cold with traditional salad ingredients and hot with lashings of vegetables, fruits and lentils. Added to all of these tasty ingredients is numerous combinations of spices and herbs. They love bread here too and most meals are served with either unleavened bread or beautifully wood burned flatbreads. From a snacking point of view I don’t think I’ve ever found a better option than warm pitta bread/flatbread with a bowl of hummus and some fresh olives, beautiful.

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Arabic cuisine has roots in the Mediterranean, North Africa and Mesopotamia which give the food a rich mix of ingredients and meal choices that aren’t locally seen anywhere else in the world. Whether in Jordan, Egypt, Iraq or Yemen there is a basic style of food running throughout albeit with the twist of that particular nation.

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Not only is there plenty of options for a vegetarian ( and I mean real options ) but everywhere that I visited accommodates for the meat free customer. I have visited places in the world that can ‘knock something up’ for me, but in the Arabic nations I would say that 9.5 restaurants out of 10 had plenty of options for meat eaters and vegetarians alike.

Interestingly, in many, many arabic countries, meat was always a more expensive product to buy, which meant that it was only the upper classes that could afford to buy it, that meant that the poor had to substitute meat with whatever the land provided them with. If you ask me it was the poor that were the richest in food choices as the vast array of fruits, veg and grains that grow here are both plentiful and make for a meal fit for kings.

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These days of course there an abundance of both meat and produce but in my opinion they seem to be almost on par with each other and meat dishes are almost equal amounts of meat, flavours and veg/salad. Unlike in many nations where they consider veg,salad,grains etc. just to be an additional extra next to the meaty main event.

If you are vegetarian and you happen to be on the road then I would most definitely encourage you to head to some of the amazing countries in Arabia, for the people, the destinations and of course, the meat free food.

Girl’s Guide to Staying Safe on the Road

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Unfortunately in today’s world, it is a fact that travelling the world, particularly alone, is far more unsafe for females than it is for males. It is a sad fact but a fact nonetheless that there are far more unscrupulous men out there than women and many of whom wish to take advantage of women they perceive as vulnerable….

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