Katie as we were waiting for the boat to leave Phi Phi
Today I SKYPE’d my lovely sister back in England. After many months of nagging her and my nephew to install it they finally did. It was the first time I’d seen her and my nephew since leaving Blighty and it was wonderful.
It also got me thinking about all the things Katie and I have seen and done since we last saw our family. As well as fulfilling my dream of travelling the world I have also ticked so many other boxes too, as a result I am feeling such a huge sense of gratitude to all the opportunities and circumstances that have made this trip possible and put us in the right place at the right time.
For many years I had wanted to see Havana and sunbathe on a Caribbean beach, I achieved this in 2006 when I visited Cuba.
I wanted to visit Istanbul and see where West meets East. I did that in July 2008.
The souk in Damascus
I wanted to visit an old world souk, this I did in August 2008 when we went to Aleppo in Syria where the souk is just how it was centuries ago. We also went to the souk in Damascus many times, where there were lots of little pin pricks of sunlight patterned all over the cobblestones from the bullet holes in the roof from when the French army sent in fighter planes to quash the Syrian rebellion.
Jerusalem
I wanted to go to Israel, the ‘Holy Land’. As a Jew I was the last person in my family to visit. I can’t say I had a huge religious awakening or a sense of belonging but it was amazing to see Jerusalem, the subject of so much pain, terror and history, not only of my people but Christians and Muslims too.
Petra, The Pink City
Petra, ‘The Pink City’, in Jordan, captured my imagination the first time I heard about it when I was 18, we visited there in September 2008. Walking through the ‘Suq’ my breath caught in my throat, I still can’t find the words to describe just how tremendous it was. All I can say is, VISIT IT, you just have to.
Katie writing her name in the sand in Phi Phi
Ever since watching ‘The Beach’ with Leonardo Di Caprio, I wasn’t so much hooked on the film, but I fell in love with the setting. In March 2009 we travelled to Phi Phi in Thailand, now almost a living shrine to Leonardo and much recovered since the tsunami reduced it to rubble.
Gay Pride in NYC 2009
Last month, June 2009, I went to the Gay Pride Parade in NYC. I had never been to a Gay Pride march before but had wanted to, it was amazing to see it in my favourite city in the world.
Ever since I was a child I have had a fascination with America and as I got older, from the age of eleven onwards, my biggest dream of my childhood, apart from marrying Brad Pitt, was to go to NYC for Christmas. In December 2005 I accomplished this and my daughter, my mother and a friend had a magical Christmas staying in Manhattan. Since then I have wanted to see much more of the U.S., in this trip we have been to California, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Utah, Illinois, Missouri, New York, Connecticut, Maryland and Washington D.C. I still have to pinch myself to realise that I’ve done it, I’ve seen more and loved every bit of it.
Riding an elephant in Chiang Mai
We’ve been other places, done other things that weren’t on my dream to do list, but should have been. We rode elephants in Thailand, white water rafted through the rainforest in Borneo, visited the ruins of San Simeon in Syria, spent a week at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, danced the night away in Chicago and spent ten magical days lazing by the Mekong watching the water buffalo bathe, being woken at 6am by the gentle tinkle of the bells of the fishermans’ boats and watching my daughter making mudcastles on the banks of the Mekong and so, so, so many more.
Katie and Brian apsara dancing at Angkor Wat
Tomorrow we leave for Mexico, I have to keep telling myself this so it sinks in. I made loose plans to visit Latin America more than ten years ago but it didn’t happen. In twenty four hours, we’ll be there.
Katie and I at Angkor Wat
When I think back to the times in my life when this trip seemed more and more improbable and then I see myself sitting in a hostel in Baltimore with wonderful new friends, I can’t help but think what a lucky amazing life I have. And for that, and for the wonderful things I have done, and the wonderful friends I have made along the way. I just want to say I am truly, truly grateful.
Katie and I at a Couchsurfing meet in Borneo
Thank you to the friends I have met along the way, and thank you to the friends I have yet to make and thank you to all the things and the people that made these dreams come true.
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Tags: Laos, making friends, Mexico, New York, Turkey
