Looking back affectionately at 2014…

2014 has been the most amazing year for us. It was the year that my husband Trav and I decided that we didn’t need a permanent home anymore - we just needed a phone and a suitcase in order to live out our dream of travelling the world while at the same time still being able to be in contact with our loved ones. This was the year that we sold up, packed up, and took the leap to achieve our dreams.

This time last year, Trav and I had just enjoyed our last Christmas and New Year in our cottage on a Scottish hillside where we had lived for the past 25 years. We originally bought the place as a derelict shepherd’s bothy and it had taken us a full 25 years to renovate it to the condition it was in when we sold it in January 2014!

Over the years, among the renovating, rebuilding, plastering, extending and painting, our three sons grew up in something of a rural ideal. There were no visible neighbours in our remote part of the world but, typical of our Scottish lifestyle, we were still part of a strong village community and so we made lots of lovely friends and there was a good social life to be had. There was the village hall for harvest festivals, SWRI meetings and the like and, just six miles away from our tiny village is a slightly larger one, with a good school and some shops and a pub or two. Our boys spent their young lives with dogs and hens. Sledging down snowy slopes in the winter and playing freely in the countryside in the summer holidays, pitching tents and camping out in the forest opposite our cottage in true swallows and amazons style.

Our country cottage on the hillside

The kitchen - before and after the 25 year long renovations..!

With our boys all grown up and leaving home, there seemed little point in Trav and I staying in a family size nest. It was of course an emotional time for us when we put the cottage up for sale, as there were so many wonderful memories over so many years connected to the place, but we had a longing to travel and explore the world. Trav and I have always prioritised our one or two week holidays and mini-adventures over the years - which was probably why it took us 25 years to renovate the cottage - but this year we have made a real start on our traveling ambitions and by being careful with our budget and by planning our time, we've been fortunate to travel far and wide in 2014.

January: We packed up and moved out of our cottage and handed the keys over to the lovely couple who had bought it. Staying in Scotland, we moved downhill to a rented lodge house by the side of the river. It was an equally beautiful place to live and I love the sound of the river rushing by and taking walks along the riverbank.

Views from our new place down by the river...

February: We grabbed a late-deal bargain Caribbean cruise and left for Barbados almost immediately. We flew on an airplane called a Dreamliner and the ship that we sailed the Caribbean on was called The Dream. It was all very dreamy and I had to pinch myself to find out if it was all real. Trav and I visited Barbados, Antigua, St Barths, Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, Grenada, St Vincent, the ABC islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. We spent my birthday in the lush tropical rain forests of Dominica. As we sailed away to our next port of call at sunset, I was treated to a birthday dinner celebration with Trav and the lovely new friends we'd met on-board, whom I hope will remain our friends for years to come.

It was while we were sailing off Tortola in the British Virgin Islands that I decided to set my next novel there and had the idea for ‘Castaway in the Caribbean’ which is to be published in March 2015.

March and April: Back in Scotland the weather had improved considerably and Spring flowers were blooming. We had family and friends to visit us and we enjoyed lots of lovely walks along the riverbank with our wee West Highland Terrier, Polly.

May: We grabbed another online bargain holiday and back to the Caribbean we went - this time to the Dominican Republic – a place we have been once before and we really love. While we were there I had my hair braided. What do you think? Boho-chic or Medusa...?

Fun in the sun on the Caribbean island of Dominican Republic

June: No sooner were we back from the Dom Rep than we were packing our suitcases again in order to visit our Son #2 in South Korea. This was a very exciting trip and a very long journey. We flew with Emirate Airlines from Glasgow to Seoul via Dubai. You can read more about this fabulous country and our amazing adventures there in my blog post here.

Our flight path to South Korea

South Korea - where our son lives and works as an English teacher

July: August: September: For three whole months in the summer of 2014, Trav and I took our most exciting trip ever. We flew from Glasgow to London and to Miami on our way to the Caribbean Island of Utila – the smaller of the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras, South America. We went there for the scuba diving, as Trav has always wanted to swim with whale sharks. This was something he was able to do during our fabulous time on Utila, together with achieving his Dive Master qualification. Along the way, we had the most fun ever and we met some lovely new friends. You can read more about our adventures on Utila here and in the following three blog posts too.

Utila, Honduras - a paradise found!

Also in September we heard the surprise news that our son in South Korea was getting married – on that very day. This is the official wedding photo of the happy couple. As you can see, they didn't stand on tradition as the groom wore his Cure t-shirt and the bride carried a lollipop. Young love!!

The newly married Mr and Mrs Horton

October: We were home again to Scotland to see our family and catch up with friends. Son #3 picked us up from the airport as he had passed his driving test while we were away. He had decorated our bed at home and bought us presents to welcome us back. I think we were missed!

A wonderful welcome home!

November: Off to visit friends who live in the Kingdom of Bahrain. We traveled with Emirate Airlines again from Glasgow via Dubai. This was a fabulous and rather exotic trip. We got to catch up with our dear friends Sue and Pete and to go sightseeing and to live the life of ex-pats – if only for a short while! I've written a 'Snap Gap' feature on Bahrain for Loveahappyending Lifestyle Magazine and also a detailed blog post on the places we visited both in the city and the desert, which you can read here.

The sights and experiences of the Kingdom of Bahrain

  

December: What better than a winter break in Tenerife in the Canary Islands? But this trip was all about work as well as pleasure as Trav was there to complete a dive instructor course and I was going to work on the edits for ‘Castaway in the Caribbean’. We did have lots of fun in the sun too of course and we also managed to catch up with friends we hadn't seen in a while.

The Christmas decorations were up but the sun was shining in Tenerife as I managed to fit in work and catching up with friends. I had drinks with my friend Cami while Trav spent his days with Mary and Neil at Amarilla Divers.

And the year to come?  Well, I expect it will be even better than 2014…!

You might be wondering how I can possibly say that when we have just had the most amazing year in 2014 – but you see in February 2015 our first grandson will be born in South Korea. Aaron Thomas Horton is due at the very end of February - probably while we are travelling in the opposite direction - as Trav and I are booked on a flight to America on the baby’s due date. However, we do plan to visit South Korea again in the summer of 2015 to get to see our son and his lovely wife and their new baby son.

And that’s how I know that 2015 is going to be a fabulously fantastic year!

I hope that your year is both fabulous and fantastic too and that all your dreams come true. Please do follow my blog and pop back from time to time as I post from around the world. I love to read your comments and I promise to reply as soon as I get an internet connection. You can always catch me on Facebook and Twitter too, in the meantime.

Happy New Year everyone!

Love Janice xx

'Snap Gapping' our way to the end of 2014...

I’m sooooo late catching up on November's post because I've been ‘snap gapping’ again – this time to the Kingdom of Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf.

Glasgow to Bahrain via Dubai

Trav and I went to Bahrain to visit and stay with a couple of dear friends who live and work over there, so we were in fact, tourists by default. Bahrain is a country that hadn’t actually been on our radar as a holiday destination but it really is a well worth a visit if you have a penchant for fascinating, cosmopolitan, and multi-cultural locations that are as rich in heritage as they are in fun and excitement. It has to be noted there has been and still is some political unrest on the island but at no time did we feel unsafe. On the contrary, we felt at ease everywhere we went by day or by night, as the Bahraini people are so friendly and welcoming.

Our lovely friends Sue and Pete took us out and about for the ten days we were there and what a privilege that was for us – the country is vibrant and booming. Some days we ventured far into the hot white sands of the desert. On other days, we immersed ourselves in the Bahraini café culture and drank Arabian coffee and ate succulent dates (never in equal numbers – you can have one or three, for example, but never two or four). In the evenings, we ventured into the city and to hotels like The Soffitel or The Ritz Carlton for decadent sundowner cocktail and a delicious dinner.

Sundowners over The Persian Gulf

We traveled from Glasgow International to Bahrain via Dubai with Emirate Airlines. You can sign up for an Emirates air miles loyalty card and news of flash sale prices on the Emirates website. As you can see there were heavy grey skies over Glasgow as we left!

Grey skies over Glasgow!

Highlights of our Bahrain Trip: Top of the list! Catching up with our lovely friends Sue and Pete!

Visiting The Tree of Life - in the shimmering white sand of the Bahraini desert stands an isolated and very old mesquite tree. Its girth is broad and its branches are wide and dipped with the effort of holding up its green foliage. Some of the branches are now artificially supported to prevent them snapping. Local lore dates the tree in millenniums but a study was conduced in 1986 in conjunction with by the Smithsonian Natural History Museum of Washington DC, USA, and it was then concluded that the tree had been planted in c1583 AD during the Late Islamic Stage. But the really interesting thing about this tree - is that to this day its source of water remains a mystery. Some believe the tree gets water from an underground spring but that doesn’t explain the complete lack of any other trees or green vegetation in the vicinity. I loved the journey out into the desert, passing working oil rigs and desert settlements and I particularly loved the sight of this lonely old tree on its unique hillside desert setting.

In the desert to see The Tree of Life and count oil wells!

Amwaj – the floating city. The Amwaj Islands project is an artificial island development in Muharraq, Bahrain. Known as The Floating City - it is still partly under construction but has a shopping mall, restaurants, hotels, waterfront villas and chalets and apartments - all intertwined with a series of canals, enabling residents to park their boats by their own back garden. There is also a white sand beach where we paddled while also admiring the skyline of Manama in the distance. The island project is beautiful, ambitious and totally incredible.

Amwaj - the floating city

Here I am at the marina in Amwaj Bahrain

Bridging the International Gap. The King Fahad Causeway links Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and is one of the world’s longest bridges between two countries. You need a visa to enter Saudi Arabia but you can drive to the midpoint on the causeway and enjoying the glorious view across both countries.

The road to Saudi Arabia

Grand Prix International Circuit: Bahrain is famous for its F1 venue. Tens of thousands of visitors attend each April. Here I am standing in the vast sand car park outside the stadium!

At the F1 Grand Prix Circuit in Bahrain - the flags, the grand driveway and the hot sand car park! 

Shopping: There is a certain freedom that exists in Bahrain that attracts many shoppers from neighbouring Gulf States. We (mostly) window shopped in many of the air-conditioned malls which have lots of familiar western outlets like Marks and Spencer. In the Souks, we browsed in and out of exotic perfume shops amongst rich and heavenly fragrances with prices that made your eyes water.

Traditional Arabian clothes and Marks and Spencer!

Sue and I at The Mall

Nights Out! In the evenings, we either socialised with the ex-pat set at the Bahrain Football and Rugby Club or watched incredible sunsets while sipping cocktails on balmy terraces that overlooked the sea. It was fabulous and exotic.

Ladies night at The Ritz Carlton Bahrain

I’ve just written up a full ‘Snap Gap’ travel report on Bahrain for Loveahappyending Lifestyle Magazine which, if you’d like to read more about Bahrain as a travel destination and more of my recommended sights, you can read it by clicking HERE.

I’ve agreed to write several more of these types of travel reports for LLm throughout 2015 and it was while planning which locations to feature in the magazine that I came to realise that Trav and I have been fortunate to have visited 32 different countries over the years – and some on several occasions. These include: The United Kingdom, The United Arab Emirates, Antigua, Aruba, Barbados, Bahrain, St. Barths, Bonaire, St.Eustatius and Saba, Curacao, Cyprus, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Spain, France, Grenada, Greece, Honduras, Israel, Italy, South Korea, St. Lucia, Monaco, St. Martin, Martinique, Mauritius, Maldives, Turkey, United States, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, British Virgin Islands.

You can create your own world travel map using this website: http://matadornetwork.com/travel-map

December Update: During December we also ‘Snap Gapped’ from Glasgow Prestwick to Tenerife. We flew with Ryanair and rented an apartment for a week. While Trav was away on a diving course with AmarillaDivers I was working on the edits for ‘Castaway in the Caribbean’. It was wonderful- and at the same time rather strange – to go from 4 degrees C to 24 degrees C in just over four hours of the flight time. From these photos you can see that it wasn't all work! We are back in Scotland just now for Christmas and so I want to wish you a very happy Christmas and best wishes for the new year.

Tenerife in December - sunshine, writing, having fun and catching up with friends

I’ll be back before the year end with a round up of 2014 – the writing and the travelling - and to share with you our hopes and plans for 2015 and to hear about yours. See you then my lovely friends!

Love, Janice xx