One year on …. 1 of 4. Christmas and 2011 wishes

By this time a year ago I had visited Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong and already was in Chiang Mai Thailand doing a massage course.  Life nowadays is more mundane and I doubt I could maintain the readership of the blog the adventures of the six months of travel attracted.  I do miss writing it and for 2011 you may see the occasional further missive when I have interesting things to write.  I will be carrying the camera around a bit more as well.

What I have been doing is occasional interesting work with the theatre design consultants Charcoalblue, working on my flat, helping my mother move to Welwyn north of London, decorating her Swansea house, and looking for full time or further freelance work.  The highlight was spending time in Stratford testing all the systems which had been installed in the new theatre there (with the added bonus of nice food, views of the river, and good company). Since returning from my travels I have not been on a holiday away … even in the UK never mind a weekend in on mainland Europe.

Thankful I am still fit and enjoying getting out of the house.  I have my mother to inspire me, at nearly 80 she is walking miles each day and often swimming or country dancing.  I swim, bike and have even started running a little again.  Although it does not bother me much I am coughing again, the warmth / diet of the travels were the first year I did not cough in the last four.  The lump in my throat has thankfully reduced in size and I am seeing my third specialist about the cough but am resigned to living with it from now on.

It is a good time to think of my many friends spread across Britain and the world.  I wish you a happy holiday/Christmas and a good 2011 ahead. Christmas will be quiet; family meeting at my sisters next weekend, a couple of days at my aunts, all followed by some voluntary work.  I am unsure where I will be for New Year, probably my regular Sunday music pub The Neptune.  My resolutions for next year are; of course to get a job/jobs, to stay fit, to be more sociable, to take more photos, to be more creative, and to get back to travelling if only around the UK and Europe.

One year on …. 2 of 4. Memories

So many happy ones, although the mists of time mean I am forgetting some things.  I retrieved a box of photos, and one of letters, which had sat in my brothers attic for 15 years.  It made fascinating sifting through; the memory remembers some things and not others so there are some nice surprises in there.  I am at how skinny as I was in my 20s the photos.   Nowadays one has neither letters nor photos as something one can touch.  Having said this the computer is so much part of our life today that I have began scanning some of the photos, and will email some over the next few weeks to share with those involved; you never know I may even send some in letters/cards.

One year on …. 3 of 4. Single with such great friends.

The box of photos and the reviewing of the big adventure remind me of all the great trips I have had, the great friends I have, and at times how I have not always been so single.  I am thankful for all past and have been really lucky with the quality and variety of experience.  I do all my own nagging to get on with things, and I sometimes decide to ignore myself or set my goals too high sometimes (hence I am telling you all my 2011 resolutions).  I would like to be un-single but hey I should not complain.  I have my beautifully located flat and lots of rather widely distributed friends.  There are  many options as to what to do with my time when unemployment, although too few practical ones given the constraints one imposes on oneself.

One year on …. 4 of 4. Visual wonders …. enjoy.

I have picked 100 favourite photos from the travels to allow you revise them quickly…. They are on flikr in their own folder with comments as to why I like them.  I have emailed many of you a low resolution summary.  I have included three here which are probably my favourites overall (it changes from view to view but for the moment….).  This is the link to their folder.  I have also added to the selection of pictures of Whitstable and home.

 

Bali Battles the Spray

Gentle cow shining can.

Sarah in the poppy fields

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:”";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} 

I have picked 100 favourite photos from the travels to allow you revise them quickly…. They are on flikr in their own folder with comments as to why I like them.  I have emailed many of you a low resolution summary.  I have included three here which are probably my favourites overall (it changes from view to view but for the moment….).  This is the link to their folder.  Also there is a selection of pictures of Whitstable here.

I have picked 100 favourite photos from the travels to allow you revise them quickly…. They are on flikr in their own folder with comments as to why I like them.  I have emailed many of you a low resolution summary.  I have included three here which are probably my favourites overall (it changes from view to view but for the moment….).  This is the link to their folder.  Also there is a selection of pictures of Whitstable here.

To conclude – Post 1 of 5 – Stats

• 14 Flights taken, 11 Countries visited, plus countless miles on trains, busses, biking, walking, and even a couple of days hitching.
• The blog had 3,676 views with the most on any one day being 101 (November before you realised how much I was going to write!).  94 posts uploaded in 37 goes (yes 37 emails from me!), although some were multiple sets of comments in one so about double that number of subjects.  I had 67 comments on the posts, thanks.
• I took 10,555 photos, of which 872 were uploaded, and there were 1,016 times they were clicked upon.
• Hostels stayed in 35, homes of friends and family 12 (with another 14 couples or individuals who I saw and did not stay with).
• People I met on the route feels countless, not sure how many I will see or meet again (a dozen?) but all are welcome here.  Country best represented is the Germans abroad.

To conclude – Post 2 of 5 – Questions asked

• Favourite country?, many but favourites South of NZ, Japan, North Thailand, East Malaysia, Canada …
• Did I make the right decisions about the trip?  Occasionally wonder if I should have been looking for work or picking up small jobs currently but overall YES – think of the great times had, the wonderful places visited, the experiences, and the bitter winter missed.
• Favourite foods? – Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, East Malaysia, Singapore, NZ pies, meals out with friends and home cooked sharing with friends (yes everywhere I had exceptionally good food).   I have lost a stone in weight yet have eaten wonderfully well the last 6 months – all the walking around has helped.
• Could I live somewhere – Canada and New Zealand are the obvious ones, Canada I have and nearly emigrated once and if I had discovered NZ 20 years ago suspect I would be there now.  But currently no, happy to be back in Britain and in my flat in Whitstable.
• What would I have changed if I was doing it again …. Very little, it was amazing how well it went.  More or less time in Australia, aim to avoid the monsoon season in the tropics (I made the assumption that the summer would be the dry period – I lost out on seeing the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef and Borneo.
• If I was to return to where would I go?  Feel I did very well all places I went, a next big trip might  be India/Nepal or South America, and maybe would go back to SE Asia to see more of Laos then Vietnam and Cambodia.  But not very soon ….

To conclude – Post 3 of 5 – Adjustments at home

• Going to the shops and knowing where things are, but also realising prices have gone up
• Banking, Finances, Tax, and Investments
• Having so many things to choose from to wear, but also so many things to clear up / clean up.
• Not enough time to do everything I want, in contrast to much of my time away.  I am managing to run occasionally which is a joy, far from the heights of my fitness doing a half marathon etc but at a good pace.
• Having to plan more than one day and the next flight ahead,
• The routine vs the unexpected.
• My own company in general rather than ever changing company in hostels or chunks of time with friends.  The “open house” for my birthday/return was a sharp reminder how so many friends and family are away from here as I only had one friend drop in (my fault in part for not being more organised).
• Work, it is very nice to have 3 days work for three months with Charcoalblue (www.charcoalblue.co.uk) and I am travelling into London on the train each of those days (I leave the house at 7.30 and back 8pm or so).  I am very lucky to have such satisfying interesting work with wonderful colleagues.   Occasionally I have fitted in some volunteer work as well, although as my weeks change from week to week planning ahead is difficult.