Wowmoment's VirtualTourist Home Page

Plans for 2009 are now taking shape at the moment having spent New Year's Eve in the wonderful Galapagos Islands and followed with a trip round Ecuador it will be a hard act to follow. None the less my travel bug has not deserted me and I have ideas.

Also hours of re-living the delights of 2008 by creating a few pages on VT!

I now have a trip to South Africa lined up for over the Easter break. Excellent!

And in July I shall be returning to China to see those terracotta guys who came all the way to London last year. Whetted my appetite to see their home town!

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Time to take stock.

I have become a little concerned about attitudes to travel and am reviewing my own should I fall into the same trap.

What I have noticed, and particularly on my recent trip to the Galapagos Islands, is the number of people I meet who's attitude to travel is what I term "ticking boxes".

I met several people in that wonderful place, who were there for only a couple of days had just 'done the Inca trail' and were off to spend a couple of days in some other world famous destination.

How can you say that you have visited Peru if your experience is limited to that single, over touristed, piece of the country,however stupendous it is?

Are they (we) guilty of merely collecting the sights of the world, for whatever reason.

I shall attempt the following in 2009:-

I shall continue to try and absorb the country I visit and experience as many facets of the local life as possible.

I shall attempt not to rush around in case I miss something and enjoy the things I do see.

I shall not resist re-visiting a place if there is something wonderful to see or experience.

The last is easy. I have never considered myself a travel bore and rarely show my pictures unless asked or talk too much about my trips. In fact I take some amusement if I encounter some boastful person name-dropping about the places they have visited. I usually smile and say nothing, but if really goaded am usually able to shoot them down in flames!!! Less is more!

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I travel because I want to see what is there. I am not disappointed because that would mean my expectations have been too high. I try not to expect, merely to keep an open mind; a spirit of adventure and an eye for the ridiculous!

I endlessly hope that around the next corner will be something wonderful. sometimes I am right, these are the Wow Moments.

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" What was the beach like?"

So nice to be with people who would not ask this question. Most people just don't get the point.

My favourite answer that I was able to give to this was after going to Namibia, I said " Its about 1200 miles long and 70 miles deep, its called the Namib Desert!"

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IN PROGRESS

I am working on a site for the UK with emphasis on saving money, this is a job in progress but I feel I can help those who want to see more for less.

I'm also getting the hang of using this site - good isn,t it?

UK cost saving

London cost saving



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I went to this wonderful country and was taken aback by how much I enjoyed it. It was a relatively short flight from the UK and transported me into a magical world of deserts, mountains and castles.

After traveling along the edge of the desert we hit the coast and stayed at this bustling port. The picture was taken early, before breakfast when I have seldom seen a busier more colorful sight.

Chinatown in Singapore is like Chinatown everywhere, a delight.

Among a trip of highlights this helicopter ride around the island of Kauai was right up there. Quite a pricey treat but worth every cent.

For those who don't believe me, there is the possibility of something ridiculous round every corner.

Croatia is a gem and the coastline justly famous. However inland there are further treasures. Please do visit Plitvice Lakes National Park a truly memorable place.