Navigating our 7th Decade
It’s hard to argue with the fact that Italian cuisine is soothing and comforting. It is delicious and made with only the freshest of ingredients. It is often served with straightforward wines delivered in enormous jugs. These meals are typically enjoyed by a large number of family members and friends who are catching up in large, raucous parties. We adore it for each and every one of these reasons. Because …
There is nothing we love more than wandering through markets all over the world, talking to locals and finding out how to cook, or sometimes even eat, what they are offering. We’re yet to find a stall holder who is unwilling to engage in the intricacies of their particular product range: how they grow it; how they nurture it; how to know when it’s ripe, and importantly, how to cook …
So, there I was browsing the Whitcoulls Bookshop at Auckland Airport one April afternoon waiting to board a flight to Johannesburg via Sydney, when I found a little pearl of a book. I bought it and had finished it before we’d flown far enough south to see the white ice shelf of the Antarctic. I spent the rest of the flight going back over it taking notes, running numbers and …
It Was Written in the Stars Sometimes the stars align, and you just happen to be in the right place, at the right time, to realise a bucket list quest. It’s not planned. A snippet of information becomes an online search. Next thing you know you’re on a train heading through the hills to an iconic destination, to take in a performance that has become a global legend. And all …
We stayed just outside Barga in Tuscany for almost a month in September 2022. It is a delightful hilltop town about 37 km north of Lucca by road. And it can be very Scottish! Weird but true. During the time we were there they had a whole weekend of activities planned to celebrate their Scottish heritage (so perfect timing which we have a happy knack of doing – see our …
Birds of the Feathered Variety For me birding is the best way to relax, no matter where you are. I was introduced to it while serving on the WESSA (Wildlife and Environmental Society of South Africa) Board. We spent many a strategic session away in the bush, so the atmosphere was conducive to creative thinking. Looking at the game in their natural environment is always great and we’ve been to …
As we travel around, we learn helpful bits of info that might help others. We will add them here as and when we encounter them. We will try group them together in some semblance of order. Train Travel These are a few of the sites we have used to book trains while traveling in the UK and Europe. They don’t always show all the available trains but generally they are …
We love historical places with lots of old buildings, cultures and practices. So visiting an ultra modern city like Dubai for an extended period of time is somewhat out of character . However, our kids happen to be working there as teachers at the moment so, post Covid, guess where we headed to first? But of course, the trading port of Dubai has been around for eons, with pearl diving …
Welcome to Raglan Raglan is a small, somewhat Bohemian coastal town west of Hamilton on the North Island of New Zealand. Dianne last visited here over 35 years ago! It has both retained much of its laid back history, and also moved on to become a bustling, arty hive of activity. Lovely cafes are plentiful and walkways can either take you to the river mouth, or down to the harbor. …
A Haircut in Dubai For many tourists (men and women), a Dubai haircut involves a trip to a mall and an eye watering bill! But it needn’t be like that at all. Well. at least not for the men 🙂 We were staying with some friends in Dubai during a short stop over when my wife suggested that I needed a haircut. I pointed out that, cost wise, Dubai was …