Category: Europe

The hardest part of going away for the summer is always the first few days, you say the difficult goodbyes and set off knowing it will be weeks/months before you are back in your own home. As a parent travelling alone with my children there is also the added issue that for the duration of the trip you will not just be looking out for yourself, but more importantly for two young children. It is that constant mental awareness of not just what now and what next, but also what if. Add to that the great increase in heat and humidity, time difference, long days and short nights, mosquitoes and every other hazard of travelling and it’s easy to understand why those first few days away are the most difficult and tiring.

That is why I write this now from Athens, late, and through tired eyes and an aching body. But of course we had to get here…

I knew something was going to go wrong the second the train arrived on time from Huddersfield train station, trains don’t arrive on time in England, certainly not trains I am about to catch. Something fishy was going on… We had to change in Manchester and then get the train to London, we then had two hours to stroll through London to get our coach to Stansted airport where we had a hotel booked for the night.

I haven’t travelled on Virgin trains for many years and I instantly remembered why not, talk about a tight fit! Naturally someone got hit by a train en route and so we were badly delayed into London meaning the stroll was now a race.

We made the bus which should have taken an hour – However, because the Olympics are coming up Transport for London decided to shut many of the roads to allow access for the Olympic parties and so for everyone else it was just gridlock. 3 hours later we arrived at our hotel and it was an early night.

The flight to Araxos, Greece was largely uneventful until it came to landing. It was obvious there was wind shear and I wondered how on earth the pilots expected to land, but they tried. Hearing the roar of the engines a hundred feet from the ground and seeing us suddenly begin to climb was actually not a surprise. We had a missed approach. The pilot came on and reckoned that they had requested a Northerly approach but had been given a Southerly approach and just as we were about to land Air traffic control had told them to abort and go around, an error of miscommunication apparently.

Needless to say when we did land the plane erupted into claps and laughter. I was desperate for a piss and so looking to get off on get on our way.

Now, I have relied on maninseat61.com for all our trips and have to say it comes highly recommended. However, it really let us down this time. Before the Greek economy went South they had an international railway system. But with struggling finances and claims that it would be cheaper to put every passenger in a taxi than continue to run the railway system Greece cut itself off from the rest of the world. Additionally, the train which supposedly ran direct from Araxos on the Aegean Isle for a few Euros was scrapped (man in seat 61 had not updated this) and so it became very quickly apparent that we had two options to get to Athens. The bus run by the bus company for €40 or the bus run by the train company connecting with a train nearer to Athens for €27. It was a no brainer and before long the bus crawled along the Aegean coastline of turquoise waters abandoned villages before eventually arriving in Kiato where a train was waiting to take us to Athens. The whole journey took about four hours and along the journey we celebrated Charlie’s 9th birthday. Again.

Greece has failed and that is a fact. The economy is in ruin and the country chugs along at a quarter of the pace it used to. Businesses are closing, strikes are daily and after just 30 minutes in the country I figured out why. It is because the Greeks are masters of chilling. They are king of doing nothing and second only to Mexicans in the table of doing nothing 2012. As the bus cut through villages they were all abandoned, shops closed, not a person in sight. Yet as the bus skirted the coastline the beaches and seas were full of Greeks. Fat Greeks, thin Greeks you name it. Greeks are hardcore chill mesiters and the art of doing nothing is perfected here. With all the time spent doing nothing, there is simply no time to work. With Greeks not working, taxes aren’t being paid, which in turn means the politicians can’t cover the money they have been creaming. So when you consider Politicians lining their pockets so they can live lavish lifestyles and go on holiday to do nothing, with the Greeks who do nothing anyway – It’s obvious why the economy is failing.

With that in mind I decided prior to visiting Greece that booking a hotel was a bad idea. I recalled some years earlier a website called couch surfer. People with a spare room, or couch would advertise this and people would come and stay for free. It’s actually a great concept and any traveller will tell you that the best place to be is amongst the locals and/or other travellers. Its how you get to feel the country, how you get beneath its skin. It’s also how you get to learn all the inside info and so for all involved its a fabulous concept.

Obviously looking for three spaces was going to be awkward, and so was looking for somewhere that appeared safe enough to take my children. Fortunately I came across a woman with a son who lives centrally in Athens. She offered us a place at her house and so we made our way there.

As we made our way from the metro following crude directions I had written on a piece of paper, I wondered, firstly why is every where we seem to have to walk uphill and secondly was I doing the right thing. At what price do you try and save money? I rang the buzzer of the apartment we thought we needed to be at and within seconds my mind was put at rest as we were welcomed by Lena with a huge smile. Within a hour we were sat in a local park with Charlie getting chatted up by some Greek girl and Abi showing off her skills on a swing. We had finally made it to Athens, it was hot, humid, and we were exhausted, but the trip had begun.

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The only city on earth that straddles two continents, with one half perched proudly on the far Eastern tip of Europe, separated by the Bosphorus Sea the remainder of Istanbul and indeed Turkey is in Asia.

Getting from Selcuk to Istanbul was a lot harder than it should have been. From the off I realised we couldn’t get to Izmir in time and would not get to Istanbul that day. A text along the lines of “I’m in Selcuk and need to get to our hotel in Istanbul, directions and times please” was sent to Gemma back in the UK. What followed was a text containing the info we needed and I have to say, her prices were off a little and the time of the train slightly wrong, but otherwise they were spot on and we were extremely grateful. So, following a text message we made our way to Istanbul.

It meant a taxi ride, bus journey to Izmir and then a train to the coastal town of Bandirma before a 2hr crossing on a Catamaran into Istanbul. The problem is that nothing ties in in terms of time. So we either had a rush on our hands or a lengthy wait. Either way, 14 hours after we had set off we were in Istanbul. The final leg of the journey was a 100m walk to the subway station and then to get off two stops later in Serkeci. From there we found our hotel. Thankfully.

The best part of Istanbul is on the European side and the location where it is all going down is called Sultanahmet. It is an area full of Bazaars, spice markets and jaw droppingly gorgeous Mosques and Basilicas’. It reminded me a lot of Aladdin, with carpet and smoking shops everywhere, the smell of exotic spices and incense fills the air creating a mystical atmosphere.

Obviously when the Old City was built there were no cars, and being practical people all the places worth a visit were built extremely close to one another so that people didn’t have to travel far and could simply stroll between mosques.

Entrance to the Mosques including the stunning Sultanahmet in the photo above is free. Kids can walk in no problems once their shoes are removed but the usual rules regarding knees and shoulders apply to women, covers are provided free of charge. Men can walk in so long as their shorts aren’t too short. Mine are just at my knees and I had no problems.

Unfortunately we only really had the evening in Istanbul and so didn’t do much other than visit the main sites and explore the area of Sultanahmet. I realised that it’s the best area to stay in and literally everything is in walking distance.

The following day we went back to the old city and grabbed breakfast before taking the shuttle bus from our hotel the airport. There are two airports in Istanbul and most people fly into and out of Ataturk Airport on the European side. We are flying out of Sabiha Gokcen Airport which is about 45km out of Sulthanamet. The only bonus was that we got to cross the suspension bridge that bridges the continents of Europe and Asia.

I am sat in the airport as I write this waiting for our flight out to the Emirates, and am genuinely sorry to be leaving Turkey. Istanbul wasn’t the hard nosed place I’d imagined it would be, one of the few capitol cities that actually isn’t full of hardcore individuals all plying their trade and trying to part you from your money.

Actually the only problem we had in Turkey was an American guy. I have been to America many many times and love the place. But take an American out of America and hat you get is a patronising bell end who thinks that he is the only person on the planet ever to travel and the fact he holds a US passport entitles to him to some elite status. I guess it goes hand in hand with the mentality of just invading countries for thrills and then after destroying the place and getting chinned just walking out without a care. Perhaps. Anyway we were queuing and he just stood directly in front of us, I told him there was a queue and he didn’t even have the decency to acknowledge me. So I stood in front of him and he said “excuse me” I told him we were queuing and he said it didn’t look like we were. I told him it was obvious we were and he said in the most patronising manner ever “listen here, I don’t have the time for you” I told him that he is the reason why Americans are looked upon so dimly and he needed to learn some manners. He genuinely threw his toys out of the pram and left the queue. What the idiot doesn’t realise is that America was founded by early travellers and populated by travellers. The two biggest selling guide book companies on the planet were started by British people and one of the biggest aircraft makers in the world is European. What an absolute knob end the guy was. I can confirm that when you’re in America the people are friendly and amazing. Though I remember having a conversation with a female bus driver in Los Angeles en route to Anaheim and she genuinely believed that England was full of Castles and Lakes and we all lived in little thatched houses.

Anyway, I hope to come back to Turkey soon. I would love to fly back into Dalaman and Hire a car and drive up the Aegean Coast, Turkey has so much to offer and we saw only a snippet of the beautiful and spectacular country.

And since Turkey seems to flit between being European and Asian I can say it is my favourite European country by far and I came to that decision within 5 days. It is genuinely that good.

Thanks for everyone that is following us so far, now the trips takes a more conventional turn as we head out to the Emirates for a stopover of one night before the heading out to Kathmandu in Nepal on Wednesday. From Nepal begins the epic journey across the border into India, through India and eventually ending up in Sri Lanka. We have a week planned after Sri Lanka in Dubai which will be time to relax after what I expect to be an amazing journey albeit, very tiring.

Thanks.

Home of Ephesus, one of the best preserved Roman cities in the world and one of Turkeys most visited places. We came here for Charlie. He is fascinated with History – Particularly the Romans and this was a perfect opportunity for him to see just how far outside of Rome the Romans conquered.

Selcuk is a very confined place in that everything is within short walking distance. It’s actually a perfect backpacker place full of pensions (Basically someone has a room spare in their house and so rents it out, food usually included) and cheap street food.

I knew where we were headed to once off the bus and so walked the few minutes there, I rarely name where we stay but it was the Kiwi Pension. I had booked ahead and so turning up should have been a simple affair. Owned by a Kiwi we arrived and was told “yeah mate sorry, the only room we’ve got available is 45 Euro” It was a stinking tiny room with a midget sized double bed. I told him I’d booked a triple for 25 Euro only to be told “yeah about that…” Herein lies the problem with Lonely Planet. Once a place gets featured in LP their customer base massively increases and so they begin to take the piss and the whole thing that got them listed goes right out of the window as they get greedy.

I left and outside asked an elderly woman if she knew where all the pensions were. She barely spoke English but gestured we follow her. A few minutes later we arrived at a house. Once there her husband said on broken English that we should come in. I asked if this was a pension and he said “no no, come in please, stay, look after children” Basically the woman had taken us to her house and given us a room for the night. I was grateful in a way I can’t put into words. If their combined age wasn’t about 300 I’d have gone to the shop, got the beers in and suggested we put some Sky Sports on. I did buy them breakfast though, only a few loaves of bread and you’d have thought I’d just married their daughter off for an English the visa with the smiles on their faces. We were so grateful.

The following morning my main man from the local mosque had some lemon and honey, cleared his throat and obviously forgot to look at the clock before blasting out his singing voice early morning. Actually, I might joke but I really don’t mind, how can I, I’m in his country! It’s actually a call to prayer and distinctly Islam. He is basically saying “Look guy’s, I get your tired and that but you really should be coming down here to pray, when your bent over no one will notice if you have a few sly minutes shut eye, so get on with it or I’m going to look a right knob for getting up and singing for nothing” It’s one of the things I find fascinating about Islam, I think it’s such a spell bindingly interesting religion and offers some simply stunning architecture. I know in the UK some people see Muslims and see trouble but it’s really not like that at all. Travel to most Muslim countries and you’ll see it’s actually a relaxed, tolerant religion and incredibly interesting. Like any religion it’s how the person interprets the scriptures.

Now, there are two entrances to Ephesus, the top gate and the lower gate. Basically it’s a slope (steep too) and so having kids I decided we’d go for the top gate. The walk from town is 3kms and we walked it. It takes you through fruit yards and stunning mountain scenery. We saw peaches, oranges and limes growing, we even spotted a camel having a chat with a cow.

Entrance is 20 Lira for adults with kids free. Once inside it reminded me so much the Forum in Rome. I won’t go into how excited Charlie was but he was practically drooling, Abi was loving every minute too. It was much bigger than I imagined and was in excellent state. The kids loved exploring and climbing and we genuinely enjoyed it. After we finished taxi’s should be 10 Lira but because it was so hot had risen to 20 Lira, if we weren’t so hungry we’d have walked back, in the end we spotted a bus so dived on for 2.50 Lira.

We grabbed lunch and then made our way to the Basilica of St John. Basically St John was an apostle and when Jesus was killed he hooked up with his mum (The Virgin Mary) and they decided to take a flight out to Turkey and build a castle. From there St John got busy and wrote the Book of Revelations which would of course become a best seller as part of the Holy Bible. Whether you are religious or not, the significance of the bible is innumerable and so it is of course worth visiting where some of this legendary book was penned. What remains is actually very good, we had the place to ourselves and things really toned down. It might sound daft but for the first time on the trip we got some quality time together, peaceful, serene, it was perfect. Entrance was 5 Lira for me and the kids were free and it was worth every penny. The Basilica was open, but the castle at the back was shut.

At the end of the day we headed to a local park and I grabbed an Efes whilst the kids played Backgammon. It was the end of the perfect day in Turkey.

The next stop on the journey is Istanbul and so really not real Turkey, a capitol is never true of the people. But I will say this, I was wrong. And anyone else who thinks the Turkish are dodgy is wrong. They are gentle, friendly and immensely hospitable people, the flag flies everywhere and they are extremely proud of who they are – I would be too. They are a lesson to much of the world.

Let me set the scene, about 11 years ago I was going to Mexico and was talking about how it was a 10 hour flight. Sammy (Grandma) says “How is it 10 hours, what way does it fly?” To which I answered “I have no idea, but it is” Sammy quick as a flash said “Oh, I never realised Spain was so far away” After explaining to her that Mexico was not in Spain I realised very quickly that Sammy was one of those people that just cruised through life with no concern other than those that actually concerned her. And those that do get her everything; Well, those that she likes.

Dez (Grandad) is one of the most chilled out people Ive ever known, little seems to phase him and he is your typical man. I remember some years back going to a car boot sale at 5am one cold winter morning. It was freezing. I come downstairs wearing loads of layers and Dez asks “What you wearing all those layers for you girl” I replied “Dez, it’s freezing, I’m not a girl Ive just got common sense” Once at the car boot even I was cold with all my layers on so I asked Dez, “you cold mate” “no not at all” I could see his breath in the icy air. Within about 5 minutes we were stood looking at a stall selling thick jackets and Dez said “these are cheap, I might get one” I said “Why because you are cold” to which Dez replied “No, it’s just a bargain so I might as well get one” Needless to say, he didn’t need a bag for it, I seem to remember he coincidentaly happened to come across a ‘bargain’ pair of gloves and hat that morning too.

Anyway, I mention Dez and Sammy because between them they have done so much, unmentioned for all three trips. This year they employed my kids and gave them a fortune in spend. Some of the jobs were dubious to which Abi took full advantage of. An example, Sammy would ask “Shut the door Abi” To which Abi would reply “for a fiver” You can’t fault them for trying, but needless to say they were given plenty of jobs and a ton of spending money which has two huge benefits. First of all the kids actually feel like it is their money because in their minds they worked for it and second of all the money means they can do things I wouldn’t normally allow. I would always let them get souvenirs but now if they want to do things which usually I wouldn’t stretch for they can. And that, genuinely is completely down to the the love and generosity that Sammy and Dez have for Charlie and Abi.

So from me it is a huge thank you, you both are the best grand parents a parent could hope for and your help and efforts will always be remembered and appreciated. Without you both these trips we have taken would have been much less fun filled. So thank you both x

Message from Charlie and Abi:

Hiya, thank you for giving us jobs to earn money. We’ve already bought some stuff and some water pistols that dad banned us from. It was good seeing you in the airport and we miss you loads and loads. Thank you for everything see you soon xxx

(Abi had tears in her eyes when they both were saying that)

Thank you x

The decision to head to Turkey was purely a financial one. Flights direct out to Nepal one way were pushing £800 each. When I was researching the trip I came across and airline called Air Arabia, they just happened to fly to Kathmandu in Nepal from Istanbul (Via Sharjah in the Emirates) The cost was about £200 each. Having managed to bag some cheap flights out to Turkey for about £43 I had saved a fortune. The only downside was that we’d have to travel through some of Turkey.

This wasn’t a problem, I already had my feelers out for a Turkey trip and so knew we could quite easily fill a week en route from the SW Turkey to Istanbul.

Over the past decade in the UK travel companies have surged and gone are the days when the scope of a working man’s holiday was Spain or the Canaries. Turkey is a huge tourist destination and this part of Turkey is a hotspot. On the flight out there were 9 kids, 2 were mine. So it’s obviously mainly a couples place, this is fantastic for travellers with children. It means there is still some kind of niche for us and whilst you can’t expect children’s menus etc the Turkish seem more than willing to bend over backwards in their efforts to accommodate young kids.

I got us somewhere nice for our night in Icemeler, it was the best hotel in the area and the 4^th best in the whole of Turkey (trip advisor) the reason was simple. Last year we arrived into Delhi and it was too much, we were in a snide city, 48 degree heat and in a dirty hotel with nothing to do. This year was all about doing thing slowly and so that’s why once at the hotel we did very little except for a stroll into town and relaxing by the pool. The kids bought some water pistols and had great fun until one of them decided it would be funny to squirt me sat on a lounger reading my kindle. That was the end of the water pistol fun.

When we travel to different countries we don’t just go to see the sights, or for the stamp in the passport – We go for the whole experience, the culture, the lifestyle, the sights, the food, the experience. And so, it goes without saying that we always try local food and generally it’s usually all we eat. The daily diet is usually – Bread for breakfast, it may sound boring but every country does bread so different and it’s fresh and full of carbs which fires you up for the day ahead. Lunch is usually street food, it’s cheap, tasty and readily available and for dinner we tend to go to a local restaurant to have a meal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to say I’d try anything, I wimped out of eating soured fish in Malaysia – But Charlie would. That boy would try anything, and he has. Abi just sort of follows suit with the occasional moan, she is completely different to when we are in the UK where seemingly she likes nothing.

Well, turkey is a culinary dream for me. Their national dish is Kebab and so that’s pretty much what we’ve been living off, we’ve also had pide, which is Turkish pizza. The thing is it’s not like the UK. In Britain when you go buy a kebab what you’re essentially getting is all the dregs of lamb thrown into a mixer with loads of spices and a couple of wardrobes thrown in for taste. It is more effective than any laxative and has been keeping Rennies in business for years. Here it’s different, it’s quality and absolutely gorgeous.

Anyway, we genuinely were sad to leave Icemeler and really I wish I’d have planned for longer, but the trip goes on and so we left for the five hour journey North, through the ridiculously high mountainous roads with no barrier and on the world’s smallest minibus to Selcuk, home of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

I guess it probably gets some peoples backs up when I moan about going on holiday; Or when I whinge about seemingly minor things. But believe me, a Saint would have got pissed off yesterday – The day we set off.

It all started going wrong about 1am on Tuesday morning. I woke up with a kick arse fever and was really ill. By the morning I had a serious headache and could barely swallow. A trip to the doc’s confirmed I had tonsillitis caused by the flu virus; A bit of a double whammy if you like. I grizzed it out and by Thursday afternoon when I walked down to the bus stop I had eaten in two days just half of a muffin and a yoghurt. It was the worst possible way to start such a trip – Or so I thought.

The bus was late, obviously. In fact I rarely catch buses in England, but for me they might as well simply do away with timetables and just turn up as and when, it’s pretty much what they do these days anyway.

Eventually got to the train station and then got kicked off in Manchester Piccadilly citing ‘problems on the line’ eventually we got put on another train and it wasn’t long until we were brought to a halt by yet more problems. Finally we pulled into Manchester airport and went to check in. I know what the travel savvy are thinking ‘check in…at the airport’ it’s almost a foreign concept these days I know. Unless of course you are flying with one of the most backward airlines in the UK – Thomas Cook Airlines. Sat at gate 26 T1 I looked around and felt like I was in a juvenile detention centre. Scouser girls wearing pink tracksuits with huge Argos gold necklaces around their skinny necks and 3 inch thick foundation on their faces. The ‘in colour’ for hair right now is bleach blonde and so of course they all have that too. The guys were no different, basically it was chav central and we were at the heart of it.

Boarding was about to commence at 1805 until a call came over the tannoy “there is a technical fault with the aircraft, we’ll keep you updated” In true Jeremy Kyle style people took the fact the plane had a fault as a personal insult devised just to piss them off.

By about 1930 an announcement was made “you can now board but you will be flying via London Gatwick to get a part for the plane” Of course, this was just something else orchestrated by the management to wind people up. There couldn’t actually be a fault! I’m being serious, some of these idiots were so backward they were going mad. Anyway, eventually we got to London and were soon on our way to Dalaman on the South West coast of Turkey. The flight was a pain in the arse, I expected Jeremy Kyle to come out from the toilet any minute and tell everyone he was doing a Jeremy Kyle special on knob heads. They were loud, not just boisterous, but overtly loud. Swearing, arguing, drunkenness – It was a free for all. We moved to the back of the plane and I laid across 4 seats and got my head down. Eventually I fell asleep, until I feel someone tapping my leg. I look up and some young lass on a mission to take the piss said “You’ve been there an hour now, don’t you think you should give someone else an opportunity to get some sleep” You could not make it up. Every bit of turbulence and there were choruses of “ooooooooooooooohhhhhh” and when we finally landed in Dalaman the whole plane erupted into a cringe-worthy applause. We arrived at about 4am local time and as we left the plane we saw two familiar looking faces waving at us – The kids grandma Sammy and Grandad. They probably don’t know it, but they really perked the kids up.

We needed to get to Icemeler which is about 70km from Dalaman and since we had not pre-booked transfers and refused to pay over a hundred quid for a taxi it meant a lengthy wait for the first public bus. We made our way through the darkness and across the airport to the domestic terminal expecting more to be happening. We were wrong and so found a cafe at the Havas stop. We laid down went to sleep and were it not for the friendly mosquito that bit me just to let me know it was in charge round these parts we’d have slept past the first bus which was actually at 0730.

I’d just like to point out though, and I know I’m not alone in thinking this, but Turkish men are dodgy – Seemingly. That’s the impression we are given in the UK, but do you know what, I’ve seen nothing at all to back that up since arriving here. For example we got dropped off at the Otogar in Marmaris and went to buy a ticket to Ephesus tomorrow. We paid local price (27 lira) and when I asked where the bus to Icemeler was the guy sent us to a company minibus and we were taken right to the door of our hotel, no charge. We got to our hotel at 10am. I asked if we could leave our bags and was told that although our room wasn’t available right now, we could use all the facilities of the hotel. I’ll hold judgement for now, but it does so far seem that any negativity blanketed over the Turkish is nothing more than a misconception.

Anyway, isn’t it amazing how much a pool can perk up two very tired kids 🙂

We leave again in 2 weeks. It has come round so quickly it has been difficult to keep up. There is some kind of solid plan in place, but this trip is flexible. Extremely so.

I always try and add some kind of flexibility because sometimes things happen. Things you can’t control but this is different. We literally have a flight out and a flight back. Between those flights is some kind of plan of where we would like to be and where we would like to go.

I am posting this now because the final hurdle of the trip has been finalised. Our India visa is ready for collection and so, again, the dream is genuinely back on.

The plan is that we will fly to Dalaman in Turkey, there we have a couple of days to relax – I have purposely included this after last year. Last year we arrived into Delhi, it was 47 degrees and hectic. It was the baptism of fire and something of a nightmare for us. So I decided this year we would ease ourselves gently into it, so we hit chav central for a couple of days of Union Jack shorts, warm British lager and fried breakfasts. We then will head up to Istanbul on a night bus I am told exists but have yet to clarify.
Once in Istanbul we will bridge the Bosphorus and dance both in Europe and Asia before hitting up some stunning Islamic architecture and then blowing town to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. We won’t have long – In fact just one night partying before we fly out to the capitol of Nepal; Kathmandu. We have about a fortnight in the host of some of the worlds highest peaks (including Everest) before we bail down to India.

India by this point will pretty much be in full monsoon season and so our plans have been slightly tailored. I have tried hard – Very hard actually, to keep us dry. Rajasthan is the key – It’s desert like landscape is ‘real India’ apparently. Think sand dunes, old forts and mystique palaces and you won’t be far off.
From there we mooch South through Mumbai before hitting up India’s own Benidorm (Goa) Expecting to get quickly pissed off by the chavs that spill this far East we won’t be there too long and will then head inland to the ancient Hindu ruins at Hampi.

Sometimes things just don’t work out – A bit like my diet that starts every Monday and Operation Get Massive that starts every Tuesday, with the best intentions you just cannot make it work. For once it is out of my control and I have had to resign myself to the fact that the Middle East is a none starter.
Why? Well, the Middle East has always been a bit of a hotbed, and recently it has kicked off in Egypt, Libya, a few others and now Syria. The problem with Syria is that it’s got very bad, very quickly. I’m talking someone walking round Damascus with a placard last week to the EU and US pulling out all their citizens this week.
Not that I’m a quitter, believe me I have looked for alternatives but due to the whole Arab/Israel visa situation and the fact the only way to avoid Syria is fly over it has made me have to sit back and think.
So over a BBQ and a few beers I thought it over. Then I thought some more. I pondered just how to approach it and came up with the perfect solution – Go next year. By then hopefully everyone will have puffed on some Shisha, shook hands and got on with things.

So I started to think maybe I should just let the kids enjoy a good ol’ British Summer, running in the countryside that surrounds our house, the smell of BBQ’s, the sound of kids loving life – Then I realised, British summers consist of rain, extortionate prices and a government that just want to meddle in everything. I am fortunate in that I don’t have to spend the summer looking for that one day the sun decides to shine so I can bail to Scarborough and spend half the day stuck in traffic on the A64.

Whilst replanning our summer trip I spotted on my bookshelf a book that shone out from the rest, big eminent letters leapt at my eyes and fired up a light bulb above my head…

India.

Ask Charlie what his favourite country is and he will say India, it’s my favourite country too and we barely scratched the surface last time we were there.
India for us offered some of the most beautiful scenery, most amazing history and friendliest people we have ever come across. The loneliness we experienced in India is something we crave and the sights are something to behold. So, whilst it is the early stages the plan is to head out to the subcontinent and travel Northern India before hitting up Nepal and the Himalayas . Things always seem so simple but another adventure is beckoning and I have to admit, I’m a little excited.

Watch this space 🙂