When two princesses travel...

In Russia on my tour, I met Tanya. We could very well have been sisters, we were so similar. We kept discovering uncanny similarities between ourselves - we had similar histories, similar personalities, similar penchants. She was a Canadian from Vancouver who came to London for adventure and a new start a few years ago, and despite the many challenges that London threw at her, she persevered and built a fabulous life for herself. She is very much a princess, like me, we both travel with luxury beauty items, put make-up on each morning, like nice things in life, but also like me, we can put up with a few inconveniences for the sake of travelling and adventure. We immediately clicked and became bosom buddies during Russia.

But it was after Russia that our friendship truly blossomed. We discovered we had similar travel plans after Russia, so decided to pair up and explore Eastern Europe together. I could not have asked for a better companion. She organised my accommodation in Estonia, emailed me with 'Tanya's Travel Tips' to help me catch a bus to Tallinn, and taught me how to budget and the importance of living cheaply while backpacking. We had such fun giggling and chatting together, playing games, sorting out accommodation and transportation... she was bubbly and vibrant, with a toughness and inner will that belied her pretty petite exterior. She was so little, but with the most voracious appetite I have ever seen... she HAD to be fed every few hours or her spikes would come out, and she would devour a plate of food before I had swallowed my first bite.

The most amazing thing though was how well she put up with my little travelling idiosyncracies... those who know me know precisely what I am referring to. My dithering, my ditziness in the face of stress, my lack of common sense at times, my clumsiness, my need to walk back and forth between my bag, the bathroom, my bed and back to my bag again about five times before I find everything I am looking for. I drive myself nuts, I don't know how others put up with me, yet Tanya did, with an occasional well-deserved growl in my direction. She kept me on track and in line, and I adored her.

I just wanted to write this piece in thanks for such a great new friend and travel companion. I left Tanya in Krakow after an extremely ditzy unorganised morning, and it was hurried and sweaty, and left me feeling I didn't do our relationship justice by such a swift farewell as I scurried to the airport. I felt a sincere welling of emotion as my taxi pulled away and she waved me goodbye outside our hostel. I fondly remembered our recent adventures:

• Squealing as we travelled the cable car up the Zakopane mountain top
• Dragging her to four clubs in one night, despite her protests, and eventually taking her to her first gay club!
• Training her to appreciate and like red wine
• Our extremely decadent last dinner together, at the finest restaurant in Krakow, and being served by men in tuxedos while we wore hiking boots and jeans
• Trying to make sense of the Polish rain system together
• Our double breakfasts, double lunches, double dinners... generally at the ubiquitous Double Coffee cafe chain

Anyway... we had a ball, so many laughs, a month of adventures to treasure always.