What better a way to spend a rainy New Year's Day than stare at the blog dashboard, re-read a few of last year's favourite posts and ponder who were the 42,500 or so visitors who dropped by over the past twelve months. I do think we need to say thank you - though I blog mainly for my own satisfaction it is heartening to know that others do follow what we get up to, so - a big Happy New Year from Gill and Pete - wishing everyone safe travels and fantastic journeys in 2018.
We are back on our travels in a month or so, though Maisy stays behind - as we are heading to New Zealand for five weeks with a few days in Singapore on the way out and a visit to Shanghai on the homeward leg. It's now six years since our last long-haul trip. Europe is amazing - but there is a whole world to see beyond it. I do love peaceful places, but mega-cities are intruiging too, especially those on the Pacific rim; they are the global economic powerhouses now.
The contrast of the remote Southern Alps in New Zealand with teeming Shanghai will be amazing I think. With a population of over 24 million, Shanghai has over 5 times as many people living in it than the whole of of New Zealand, yet the city is 300 times smaller in area. It is these kinds of astonishing contrasts that turns travel into a mind expanding drug; probably less harmful than cocaine and having the advantage of being legal, nevertheless, long haul is probably as wallet-emptying a habit!
After we get back Gill has some major dental surgery to contend with and it's a bit unclear how long those appointments will be scheduled over -still, we are hoping to squeeze-in a two month trip to Denmark and Sweden before the moho's MOT is due in late June. As for the autumn, as yet we are unsure. We are due a return trip to Greece at some point, Italy calls as ever, what about Corsica and Sardinia? In among all that we are still thinking about moving house and that could put the kibosh on our travel plans for later in the year. So, lots of things to look forward to in 2018.
Wishing you well with whatever you have planned.
2 comments:
Good Luck in all your travels for 2018. I finally finish work at Easter an we set off for France and Spain by the end of April. Your Blog has helped me keep to keep the dream alive over the past year, thanks for all your inspiration. Happy New Year, Steve.
Thanks Steve, All the best for 2018 - and bon voyage.
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