Travel

If I have only one passion, it is to travel. It's all about discovery. Regardless of whether the roads I travel have been trodden a thousand times, if the experience is new to me then I may as well have been the first. I love the fascination of a new city or a new people. Bob Marley once said, 'we don't need education, we need inspiration'. What could be more inspiring than travelling the world? In this day and age, we need some kind of formal education too, but I hope that part of my children's will come from their experiences in this wonderful world we inhabit.

I've done my fair share of wandering thanks to a wonderful job, and a very like-minded husband. Some of favourite memories were born from stays in countries so very unlike my own. We remember them alot, and talk about one day taking our children to the same places, and to places we've yet to discover. When I was living in London, I used to send my Grandma a postcard from every place I visited. She loved to read about our little escapades. When she passed a few years ago, I found the postcards amongst her belongings. They are now one of my most precious treasures.

I love to daydream about exploring ruined castles in Scotland, sailing down the Ganges at dusk, lounging on the beaches of Mykonos, going to the theatre in London, sipping ginger fizz in Ubud, chatting to Tibetan refugees in Phokhara, bartering for a bargain (and getting it!) at the Ladies Market in Kowloon, eating cataplana with Rach in Portugal, buying my first pair of Doc Martens in Covent Garden, kava ceremonies on the Coral Coast, buying mountains of silk in Varanasi and of course, being proposed to in a motorhome in Tasmania. Ah, the list could truly go on!

And it will grow longer yet. I may not travel quite as much as I did - for those of you with mulitple children, you'll know it's no easy feat venturing off overseas on a whim! But they will get older and more independant, and we can start planning more adventures. I still have so many places yet to be ticked off - cruising the inner passage of Alaska, more of India, an African safari, the deep south of the USA, a villa in Tuscany, a cooking school in France....

I recently took Jai to Hong Kong. Just the two of us. What an amazing journey! We had so much fun and learned so many things - together. He still talks about the climb up 266 steps the see the giant Buddha! But you know what made me the happiest? Jai's report card. But not because his grades were excellent (which they were!). The comment that made me the proudest was the one that said, "Jai displays a rich background of information and experience and the class value his contributions." This, to my humble self, says it all.