Unbelievable!

Do you ever get that odd feeling, the one that no matter how hard you try to imagine otherwise, something persists in feeling unbelievable, despite your knowing it happened?!

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As a teenager I long harboured dreams of one day just packing a rucksack, taking myself off to Heathrow, buying the first ticket I could and heading off into the big wide world indefinitely. I never did of course, the closest I ever got was

dropping someone off for a flight or picking them up on their return but even that filled me with dreams and excitement and I would stand by the gate imagining what it must be like to actually go somewhere. I would look at those returning from far flung destinations and try to conjure up images of where they had been,it didn't really matter to me whether it was Ibiza or China or anywhere in between, just the mere fact that it was a possibility filled me with wonder.

But in over forty years I never went anywhere outside of England, save for one trip to France aged five. I'm not sure why really, a combination of factors I suppose, other priorities, lack of funds, lack of anyone to go with etc. etc. etc.

I had never even flown!

And then it all changed and in a little over a year not only have I have flown, I have sailed and I have visited ten countries....and still at times it remains completely unbelievable to me! Often I sit here with my laptop in front of me and just gaze in open mouthed amazement at photographs of the places I have visited and in an instant I am almost back among those sights, those people, those experiences, lost in the wonder of it all, the diversity of the geography, the geology, the climates the cultures, the sounds and the smells, it is everything I ever imagined , even standing in a queue at an airport still holds excitement for me!

I couldn't choose a favourite place, be it riding accross the Alps seeing real glaciers, eating pizza in Tuscany, standing on the Ponte Vecchio, walking through the beautiful city streets of Prague at night or lying in the Andalucian sun every moment was wonderful and no matter how hard I look at the pictures or how hard I try to imagine I still find it completely unbelievable that it was actually me that went to those places, that I was lucky enough, not only to visit one country but ten....sometimes it just seems all too amazing to be true! :o))