I travel because it extends my life ie I just remember so much more of it. I also take lots of photos. I find that I can remember the moment I looked through the lens and into the world around me. I can remember the smells, sounds and the air on my skin. I can’t remember who said it but I really think it is true…”photography has taught us how to see.”  I would probably consider replacing ‘see’ with ‘remember’.

The main reason I travel is to avoid being disrupted by routine. I despise routine. It smacks of repetition, rote, rectitude, religion and righteousness!!! How fabulous to wake up on the other side of the planet, actually excited by the prospects of a new and exciting day, not knowing exactly how it will all turn out and I haven’t been five for a long long time. Routine, rigour and rigormortis – the daily grind!

“He who would travel happily must travel light.” — Antoine de St. Exupery. Seriously.. we try. The ultimate challenge is to check in with just a handbag/daypack and a sweet little carry-on that we can stow easily in the compartment above our heads. Oh I wish!!! We have reduced, recycled and reused but we have not yet achieved the ultimate challenge of just one bag. Between the two of us we are down to one small checked bag and a carry on each but I know we can do better. It is really difficult when we (well…I) want to bring my laptop (the mouse, charger, external hard drive) and my DSLR (and tripod, lens covers, extra SD cards, remote switch etc…). Despite all this, I know we will overcome. I could consider ‘buy as you go’…. clothes that is. Really it would make perfect sense. Just travel with your underwear and the over wear can just keep going until it smells and then you buy new stuff from Oxfam or whatever the charity shop is in the town you are in. Oh I really wish I had the nerve to do that!!! I constantly disappoint myself. Where is my spine?

“If you look like your passport photo, you’re too ill to travel.” — Will Kommen. Take absolutely no notice of this advice. I look in the mirror and I swear that if I really felt like I looked I would simply go back to bed and stay there for a really long time. The absolutely wonderful thing about travel is that absolutely nobody cares about how you LOOK!!!! It is has nothing to do with how you look, it is all about how and what you feel and experience. It is all about being alive. It is all about breathing and seeing and feeling and laughing and wondering and amazing and appreciating all the wonders around you so that when you get home you do the same.