Lock Down 2020

I can’t believe the length of time since my last post, I guess normal life just gets in the way!

I am writing this post in a very different time; Post Brexit and from lockdown in the UK. Most airlines have suspended their flights until June and the future is unpredictable at this point. It doesn’t seem to matter whichever country you are based as Coronavirus has affected the whole world. I watch the news and it seems more like a Hollywood film plot than real life, yet it is very real. If Brexit seemed like such a nightmare a few months ago it now seems like a distance memory.  

We can only hope that as we come to the end of this, that perhaps at the other side positive changes will come out what we are now experiencing. I don’t really think things are can go back to the status quo as so much of what we know has changed and a total recovery will be slow. Having to stay at home, not seeing friends and family, not going to work and stopping all our usual activities (most of which we take for granted) makes you re-assess what is important in the greater scheme of things what actually matters. I know having a couple of weeks or possibly months gives us chance to catch up on things we don’t get chance to do normally; reading, craft projects that were started but never finished, decorating, gardening or even writing blog posts. Many people are having to help educate their children, improve their cooking and baking skills and adapt to working from home. It’s a time of big change but also a time to show what is it important and what actually matters: family, health and community.

Travel, hospitality and retail have been badly hit and many businesses will struggle to survive, I hope that buying local and supporting smaller businesses becomes the norm rather than favouring low-cost imports. There have been Good Guys and Bad Guys though-out this and I hope that in the end the Good Guys win out and we remember the actions of companies who put profit ahead of their customers and staff.

A special thank you to the many front-line staff in the NHS, food industries, transport and councils who are working harder than ever for the benefit of others.

Stay Safe and Stay In.

Just Where Shall I Go?

Now I had made the decision to go travelling, the next step was to decide where I would go.

Would I go to one country or several; would I stay in Europe or travel further afield in Asia or even venture down under? Would I return to a previous destination? Or go somewhere for the first time?

Decisions, decisions, decisions, my head was spinning with trying to come with an answer.  I spent endless hours on the internet, I think I read every travel guide in my local library; I hung out so much in travel section of Waterstones I am surprised I wasn’t escorted off the premises. Self- help guides always advise to mediate when trying to find an answer; unfortunately my monkey mind never stays still long enough to be able to mediate. (Most likely a sign that I am a perfect candidate for mediation)

However the answer did come to be quite by chance or was it serendipity after all. I was looking on my bookshelf and came across a book on Majorca I had completely forgotten about. This book was full of fabulous images of the countryside, beaches and the city of Palma, what a beautiful place. I had visited the island as a child with my parents in the 1970s when tourism was just beginning to become an important industry to Majorca and this was the first time I had been abroad. This seemed the perfect place to begin my journey; it was not too far from home, I had been to a night class in Spanish ( although my skills were not that good) and having had a miserable, grey summer so far that year the prospect of blue skies and some sunshine was a very nice idea indeed.

So the decision had been made, I didn’t even change my mind for a second that had to be a further sign that this was a good move for me.

So now onto the next step….