Reconnecting with family and friends in the UK

Sadly, in the last week of April 2017, after Trav and I had been living and working in Bucharest Romania for a month, we heard news from family in the UK that Trav’s dad had become gravely ill. It had been less than three months since the death of his mum.

Trav immediately returned to the UK to be with his dad during his last days.

Just a few days later, after his dad had passed away peacefully, Trav returned to Bucharest and together we packed our bags to leave Bucharest and travel back to the UK to be with family and to prepare for the funeral.

First, we flew into Scotland to meet with our son Iain who lives in Glasgow and our son Ben who lives in Edinburgh.

The silver lining in the dark cloud of our bereavement was that for the second time this year, and in a short space of just three months, we would get to spend more time with our sons, with my own mum, and our much-missed family in the UK.

Blue skies over Glasgow

Our son Iain and his lovely girlfriend Alice

During our few days in Scotland, I also took the opportunity to attend a Romantic Novelist’s Association lunch in Edinburgh. It had been several years since I’d met up with my friends in the RNA Scottish Chapter. When I saw on our group Facebook page that a lunch meeting was being arranged for the morning I arrived back, I jumped at the chance to go along. I took the train from Glasgow and it was wonderful to see blues skies over Edinburgh and all my Scottish writer friends again face to face.

Edinburgh Castle in the sunshine

Blue skies over Princes Street Edinburgh

With Rosemary Gemmell in Edinburgh

With Eileen Ramsay - chair of the Romantic Novelist's Association 

It was wonderful to catch up with my Scottish writer friends in Edinburgh

Also, while we were in Edinburgh, we got together with our son Ben and his lovely girlfriend Hayley and all her family.

Trav and I with Hayley and Ben at the bowling club

Hayley is a ladies champion bowls player and there was a match being played that day at the local bowling club. It was a fun day and a welcome chance to spend quality time with Ben and Hayley especially when in just a few day’s time – the day after his grandad’s funeral – they were looking forward to their three-week holiday in Orlando Florida.

Hayley in action

Hayley's mum Andrea and Graham

Fun at the bowling club with Ben and Hayley and her family

Trav and I travelled down to England by train and were once again so grateful to our best friend Dina, who had generously offered to share her home with us again while we were in the UK.

Hanging out with my best friend Dina

In the days before the funeral, we managed to have some fun times with Dina in our old home town of Widnes and we also got to spend a great day out in Liverpool - exploring all the tourist sites like the Albert Dock and the Caven Club.

The day of the funeral was an emotional one for all the Horton family. For Trav and his brothers, Rob and Stuart, to lose both parent’s in such a short time was heart-breaking. As it was for all eight grandchildren to lose their grandparents. Their legacy of course will live on in them all and also in their one great-grandchild, Aaron, who lives in South Korea and whom they sadly had never met.

A short time after the funeral, on a solemn grey and rainy day in May, Jimmy and Dot’s ashes were buried together in the same Runcorn cemetery where their parent’s had been laid to rest. A small and intimate service was held with just their three son’s and wives present. Trav, being the eldest of the brothers, said a few words over his parent’s grave while we all held hands and said our last goodbyes.

For mid-May, initially from Bucharest, I had booked flights to London in order to attend the Romantic Novelist’s Association Summer Party. This writer’s networking event is a great opportunity for writers to get together with publishers and agents and other writing professionals. As I had been out of the country off and on for almost four years, I also saw this event as a great opportunity, not only for me to meet up with my writer friends, but to put my finger back on the pulse of the writing industry and to see what had changed over the past few years.

I had hastily re-organised my travel arrangements and I was very excited to be accompanied to the event and staying with my lovely writer friend Linn B Halton, who lives outside London. Linn and I hadn’t seen each other face to face (if you don’t count Skype) since the Festival of Romance several years before so you can imagine how much we had to talk about!

Ready for the RNA Summer Party -with my lovely friend Linn B Halton

Linn and I travelled to London together by train, had a fabulous lunch in an Italian restaurant in Piccadilly, and then caught up with other Romantic Novelist’s for pre-party drinks. It was so great to see everyone again. Below are a few photos with my lovely writer chums!

With Linn having lunch in London

Pre-party cocktails with lovely writer friends

With Mandy Baggot

With Talli Roland who also writes as Leah Mercer

With lovely Liz Harris

Soon, Trav and I felt ready to move on again. As we don’t have a home of our own in the UK anymore and, as we still have wanderlust to travel, we were keen to take up our nomadic adventures again and there is nothing like losing people to remind us of the fragility of life and how quickly time passes.

Our flight from London to KL via Singapore

Trav and I want to travel the world together while we can, while we still have our health, and before we get too old to do so. Of course, we love and miss our family and friends, but we appreciate they have busy lives too and being close geographically to them is no guarantee we would see them often as we'd like anyway. So I'm so grateful to the times in which we live; when we can keep in touch with our loved ones whenever we like on the internet and, thanks to affordable air travel, no place and no one in the world is much more than 12 hours away from us.

A farewell meal with my family before leaving for SE Asia

So we left the UK to fly back to Asia. We took a flight back to Kuala Lumpur and, while in a taxi to our hotel in KL, we had some wonderful news from Orlando Florida, where our son Ben was on holiday with his girlfriend Hayley. He had proposed and Hayley had became his fiancée.

The newly engaged Ben and Hayley in Orlando Florida

We were thrilled and so excited to see their proposal on video and to see how happy they are together. Our driver must have wondered what was going on when he heard me squealing and tearful on the back seat of his taxi!

After a good night’s sleep in KL, the next morning, we headed straight for the Perhentian Islands off the east coast of peninsula Malaysia. We flew with Air Asia from KLIA2 to Kuta Bharu - a 45 min flight and then took a bus and a boat over the Perhentian Besar (the larger of these islands). It’s a place that has been on our radar for a couple of years now but we have never been in Malaysia during these island’s short season - between May and September – after which all boats stop going there and all accommodations close down.

What is special about the Perhentian Islands you may ask?

Well, for one they are incredibly beautiful - the beaches are white sand beaches and said to be some of the best in the world - and the diving and snorkelling too is said to be amazing. But there is one other very special reason that we headed out to the Perhentians at this time and that is to do with my current Work In Progress. I needed to go to these islands for research purposes.

In my next book, I have a heroine who is establishing a turtle conservation sanctuary on an island– and so for a week I was going to be staying at a turtle conservation center to learn all about sea turtles and turtle hatcheries and baby turtles while Trav went diving.

If I was really lucky, I hoped that on Perhentian Island I would get to see baby turtles hatching and then help to release them to the sea. If I was really really lucky I would get to see a nesting turtle returning to the beach that she had been born on at least thirty years before, to lay her eggs under the light on the moon, before making her way back into the sea.

Please do join me here on the blog next time to find out more about the beautiful Perhentian Islands and to find out exactly how very lucky I was!

Love, Janice xx

Our most important trip of the year - to South Korea

During the last few days of July, Trav and I traveled from Glasgow Scotland with our 26 year old eldest son Ben and our 22 year old youngest son Iain to South Korea, to visit our middle son James (24) and his lovely wife Sujeong - and our 6 month old baby grandson Aaron - whom none of us had yet met!

We were also meeting Sujeong’s parents and her family for the first time and I was worried how we would communicate, as they don’t speak any English and we don’t speak any Korean. But I needn’t have worried as the immediate love and warmth between us needed no interpretation at all.

All together in South Korea

Thanks to a generous baggage allowance of 30kg each we were able to take some gifts with us to South Korea. Gifts for our new in-laws that included a good bottle of single malt whisky. I had the most wonderful time shopping for baby clothes for Aaron and buying him lots of Scottish children’s story books. Stories about Nessie and haggis and wee hairy scottie dogs that would connect him to his Scottish heritage. We also bought him a wee Scottish Rugby Kit!

This was set to be the most important trip of the year for us and for our three boys who hadn’t been together for over two years – since James left Scotland to teach English in this far away land. I knew from the outset that seeing our sons together again was going to be an emotional time – and you can multiply that by a zillion when we met our first grandson!

Aaron sporting his Scotland Rugby Kit!

We flew with Emirate Airlines from Glasgow to Dubai – which was a seven and a half hour flight. Once there we explored the impressive Emirates terminal for a couple of hours before we boarded the A380 ‘double decker’ flight to Incheon Airport Seoul in South Korea. The boys had fun checking out the Dubai terminal and I remembered how impressed I was with this airport the first time I ever saw it. I believe it has the largest shopping mall in any airport in the world.

After a total of twenty-three hours of travelling, we arrived at Incheon Airport, just outside Seoul, and after we had cleared customs and collected our luggage, we made our way down to the subway station, where we would take the super-fast KTX bullet train south (a journey of two and a half hours) to the city of Daegu, where James and his wife Sujeong would be waiting at the station to meet us with our grandson Aaron.

You can, I’m sure, appreciate the moment we arrived and we saw them and how special it was for Trav and I to stand back for a moment and to see our three wonderful sons being united after all this time apart.

Wee Aaron was sleeping when we first saw him and attached to his mummy in a baby harness. I kissed his soft head and accepted that I would have to wait until the next morning to cuddle him. It was very late at night and we were feeling very tired and jetlagged. We headed to our hotel to drop off our bags and then with James and Sujeong we went to eat at a nearby restaurant before we crashed out for the night. Trav and I had experienced a Korean barbeque restaurant before, but our two sons had not, and it was great to see how much they enjoyed eating the traditional food with the spicy fermented cabbage ‘kimchi’ and drinking the ‘Soju’ wine!

The next morning, James and Sujeong and baby Aaron met us at our hotel and escorted us via the subway to part of the city where they lived in their new apartment. (James had been in a different apartment the previous year when we had visited) After which we would visit the home of Sujeong’s family which was close by.

This was where we cuddled our grandson for the first time, and although I had feared that he might be wary of us as relative strangers and cry, he didn’t look distressed in any way and instead gave us lots of cuddles and smiles.

Trav and I have loved this boy from afar from the moment he was born but on this day we both immediately forged a special bond with our wee grandson and are totally besotted with him.

Meeting Aaron for the first time

I’ve put together just some of my favourite photos from the highlights of this week: images that represent how much fun we had and also how much it meant to us to spent time with our new Korean family. They really did all pull out all the stops to show us their wonderful country while keeping us fed and entertained the whole time. I am in awe of their organisational skills!

Hortons On Tour..!

Our daughter-in-law Sujeong and her mother, Jeong-im, and her sister, Subin, together with her sister’s boyfriend, Jin – who spoke excellent English and who kindly acted as our interpreter the whole week - had planned a full itinerary of cultural activities. Sujeong’s father unfortunately had to work during the day time, so didn’t join us on our trips, but we were delighted to be introduced to him that first morning and we spent several wonderful evenings in his company. Sujeong’s brother also couldn’t join us on our days out and so he is also missing from the majority of our photos - as he was on crutches after being injured in Kendo practice – a martial art and national sport.

It was a fabulous whirlwind of a week, in which we experienced the most amazing hospitality and were introduced to the most amazing food and Korean way of life.

Yummy Korean food!

The weather in South Korea during the first week of August was blisteringly hot. We all suffered in the heat, especially in the city where there is little breeze and the concrete of the roads and pavements and buildings seem to hold onto the oppressive heat. So on the day we all took the Aspan cablecar into the mountains surrounding the city to see the most stunning and panoramic views of Daegu, it was great fun and also an incredible relief from the heat.

Taking the Aspan Cablecar to see views of the City of Daegu

The view from the top..!

We took a trip to the Korean War Museum too and it was interesting and educational and rather horrifying to learn how the war had affected the people of Korea and it made me appreciate their need for security especially as the war with North Korea ended in an amnesty and not a peace treaty.

At the Korea War Museum

On another day, we took a KTX high speed bullet train to the second largest city in South Korea after Seoul, the city of Busan. It is a coastal town known for its beaches and traditional feel. The city is built on a steep hillside overlooking the sea and the busy port. We explored Gamcheon Cultural Village – a popular tourist ‘must see’ attraction that feels like you just stepped back in Korean time. The scenery and the colourful houses and small shops were wonderful and again we took lots of photos!

On the KTX super-fast train to Busan. Photo by Sujeong Horton

Favourite moments from Busan...

The thumbs up from Sujeong..!

More favourite moments...

One evening in Daegu city centre we saw the new Mission Impossible movie in 4D at the CGV Cinema – which was great fun – it really was like being in the movie with water, wind and moving seats. It's like a theme park ride in a movie cinema!

4D cinema - like a theme park ride!

On other days we navigated the subways and spent some time shopping in the ultra-modern malls and then in complete contrast we wandered round the traditional Korean markets, where the freshest fruits and vegetables and spices and fish were being sold. We ate some very strange but delicious street foods and then later in the evenings we tried different styles of restaurants; except for one very special evening when we were invited to Sujeong’s parent’s home and her mum cooked a traditional meal for us all.

Amazing food and sights and smells of the traditional Korean market

The night before we left, we asked all the family to meet us at a restaurant in town, which was to be our treat. The restaurant had a private side room with a long low table and with cushions on the floor as seating. They came with presents for us that they had thoughtfully made themselves and it was an enjoyable and fun but emotional time. We had all bonded so well in that short week that I could hardly imagine what it would feel like to be leaving the next morning.

A family get together the night before we left...

On leaving, our new family accompanied us to the train station to wave us off on our long journey back to Scotland. Trav and I make a firm promise to our son to return as soon as possible but there were still lots of tears shed on that subway platform in Daegu on our way back to Incheon Airport.

Our ride back to Scotland...

Just one week wasn’t enough to spend with our Korean family and we now miss them all dreadfully so our ‘soon as possible’ return will be for our grandson’s first birthday party in February 2016. Our flights are already booked. And as for our two Scotland based sons, we can only hope that they will want to return to South Korea as often as they can and that James and his family can one day visit Scotland, so that our three sons can be together again very soon.

In the meantime, we are all grateful for Facebook and for Skype and that we are blessed by living in an age when global travel is not only possible but achievable - thanks to commercial airlines and their now affordable air fares. Long may it continue!

Twenty four hours later, after Trav and I had transited through Dubai International Airport for the fourth time in less than a month (crazy but true - see my previous post on our island hopping adventures in the Seychelles) we arrived back in Glasgow - only to check into the adjacent airport hotel - as we were flying out again only in the opposite direction the very next morning.

So in my next post I’ll be blogging about our return to Utila. ‘Our’ Caribbean island home that is the smaller of the Bay Islands just off the coast of Honduras. We had spent March April and May of this year on the island and we were excited to be going back for August September and October to the laid back life there and to catch up with our lovely island friends again.

Do pop back soon and do leave me a message if you’d like to in the comments box below. I’d love to hear from you and I promise to reply as soon as I get an internet connection.

Love, Janice xx

Two weeks spent island hopping in the Seychelles!

The tropical islands of the Seychelles have long been a dream destination of ours but one we always thought would be outside our travel budget.

But in the first week of July this year, when we were back in Scotland for the month, and after a week of catching up with our much-missed families, we saw a last minute bargain flying to the Seychelles from Glasgow with Emirate airlines.

We are subscribed to lots of different airline and travel agency lists and when we were emailed with Emirate’s ‘24 hour flash sale’ – it seemed that a trip to the Seychelles might actually be affordable to us if we acted quickly and made our travel plans independently.

It didn’t take us long to agree and press a few buttons!

The Seychelles are an archipelago in the Indian Ocean consisting of more than one hundred and fifteen islands that are made up of ancient granite and corals. Famous for its beaches and nature reserves, island hopping is an absolute must and we planned to visit all the main islands of Mahé, Praslin, La Digue, and Curieuse, during our 14 day trip.

My husband Trav was excited about the scuba diving – the Seychelles are said to be one the world’s top ten dive locations. I was excited about seeing some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I was also looking forward to seeing the famous ‘coco-de-mer’ nut - the largest coconut in the world that is only found on these islands. The largest tortoises in the world can also be found here: they have a lifespan of around one hundred and fifty years and the breeding group on the Seychelles remains the only chance to save the species from complete extinction. I was really looking forward to meeting some of these giant gentle creatures.

To say that I had huge expectations for this trip was an understatement!

We flew out of Glasgow and left the rain and grey skies behind us – heading for Dubai and a change of airplane before flying onto Mahe, the main island. A total flying time of around thirteen hours plus airport waiting time.

The view from our room at a Glasgow airport hotel on the morning we flew to the Seychelles!

But all the travelling was all totally worth it! We landed in Mahe around 6am and having used several internet travel sites like Expedia, Hotels.com and Booking.com, to find affordable hotels, we took a taxi to our hotel of choice.

We planned to be on Mahe for our first three nights before taking an inter-island ferry over to Praslin, the island that we would use as a base for a week of island hopping over to Le Digue and Curieuse. Then we planned to return to Mahe for our last few nights before flying back to Glasgow.

These are just some of my favourite photo memories of those amazing two weeks!

First day - exploring the beach on Mahe Island, Seychelles

Island hopping is easy to do in the Seychelles using the inter-island ferry service

There are no cars on La Digue so we hired bicycles to explore the island

One of the world's most beautiful beaches... Anse Source D'Argent on La Digue Island, Seychelles

Impressively large beach boulders on Pralin Island

Hotel pool on Praslin

We visited a black pearl farm on the island of Praslin

The coco-de-mer nut!

Island hopping over to La Digue

Exploring Praslin on foot with Trav

Trav on a Praslin beach

Walking on the softest whitest sand in the world...

Meeting a giant tortoise on Curieous Island

An amazing sunset from our hotel on Praslin

Once back in Glasgow, on the last weekend of July, we headed up to the university town of St Andrews to attend our good friends daughter’s wedding. St Andrews is also known as the 'home' of golf course, of course. We were thrilled to be invited to share in such a special day and also excited to be meeting up with friends and to be staying overnight in such fabulous surroundings.

Trav and I don’t actually carry ‘best clothes’ in our suitcases while we are travelling, so we had to first head to Princes Street, Edinburgh, where I bought a lovely summery dress from Monsoon (half price in the sale - yay!) and Trav hired a very nice suit from a menswear department.

On Princes Street, Edinburgh, shopping for our St Andrews wedding attire!

The weather on the Saturday, for the wedding, having started out a bit grey and rainy, brightened up beautifully as we came out of the chapel and the sun came out just as we all enjoyed having champagne and nibbles outside on the famous grass quadrangle. While a string quartet was playing, and the wedding party were having the official photographs taken, we got to chat with our lovely much-missed friends and take lots of photographs. It was a fabulous day. Congratulations to the bride and groom, Leanne and Danny!

The day after the wedding, we drove back to Edinburgh, handed over Trav’s hired suit and stayed overnight at our eldest son Ben’s apartment in Edinburgh. 

In the morning, we planned to be up early to travel to Glasgow with Ben where we would meet our youngest son Iain.

We were all traveling together to South Korea to visit our middle son James, his lovely wife Sujeong, and our baby grandson Aaron – whom none of us had yet met!

We were also meeting Sujeong’s family for the first time and I was worried how we would communicate, as they don’t speak any English and we don’t speak any Korean. But I needn’t have worried - as we had an interpreter for our words - but the immediate love and warmth between us all needed no interpretation at all. One week wasn’t enough with our Korean family and we now miss them all dreadfully.

With our lovely Korean family!

So my next blog post will be about of our time, our experiences, and our travels in South Korea. It was wonderful, exciting and emotional trip – and I did get lots of photographs!

Thanks for reading my blog and please pop back soon. If you don’t want to miss any future posts please do consider subscribing to my blog. The form is on the side bar. You can, should you wish to hear about any book or writing news, also sign up for my newsletter – I only ever send out one or two a year and so promise not to bombard you.

Please also consider leaving me a comment or a question if you have one in the comment box below and I promise to reply from wherever I am in the world and as soon as I get an internet connection!

Love, Janice xx