suvanki's VirtualTourist Home Page
| Page Views: 25,895 | Back from Cascais, Next stop Dublin then Spain by suvanki - last update: Jun 14, 2009 |
How I Caught the Travel Bug! | Mandarin Duck - Isabella Plantation Richmond |
LINK FOR MY EUROMEET PICS AND VIDEOS
Growing up in Nottinghamshire (Robin Hood Country), I was aware that there was a big world out there! I couldn't wait to explore!
Family and friends who lived or holidayed abroad had me transfixed with stories of their travels. My prized possessions were a globe and encyclopaedia. I used to spend hours reading about foreign countries. I also received my first camera, starting years of snap happy moments
Family holidays were spent camping in Scotland or the Yorkshire Dales. My cries of "Why can't we go to Spain like normal families"? were ignored, as we set off up yet another rain soaked mountain. Years later, I realised how lucky I'd been to see these stunning, unspoilt places
1971 My first trip abroad aged 11, to Belgium, Holland and Germany on a school trip. I've never forgotten the magic of arriving in Valkenburg, Holland, at night time. The bars and streets were dimly lit. It had such an exciting 'foreign' atmosphere! I loved the differences, such as ham & cheese for breakfast!
Summer '76, the year of THE HEATWAVE, ladybirds everywhere! I was waiting for my O'level results. We headed off in our caravan, to Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg (still not Spain, but at least we were on foreign soil)
Amsterdam was fascinating, if a bit scary - our campsite was guarded by gun toting security men. We also visited Radio Luxembourg - the station I was (secretly) tuned into every night at home.
At 18, I left home for the bright lights of Sheffield, to start my Nursing career. Earning money, and owning a passport - I was off!
My first holiday with 4 friends was to Lake Como, with a day trip to Venice.
Long weekends and 'nights-off' were spent in Europe.
Married, I continued to enjoy the benefits of student travel. I even got to Spain! oh and enjoyed camping holidays and backpacking around Scotland and the Yorkshire Dales! My honeymoon was spent camping in Derbyshire!
Despite some great holidays in Europe and USA, and spending the night together in a police cell in Utrecht (That's another story!) we divorced.
This was the start of a whole new life for me!
Needing a holiday, I arranged a flight and accom in a small Cretan village, where we'd spent our last holiday.
My 1st holiday alone - I loved it!!
This gave me the taste for travelling by myself.
I returned to Crete.
Next, I booked a "holiday of a lifetime " to China, somewhere I'd wanted to visit since I was 5 yrs old.
Unfortunately, the tragedy of Tiannamen Square led to cancellation by the Foreign Office.
I ended up booking a last min package to Turkey, a country I knew very little about. It was love at first sight! Very soon I was obsessed by this fascinating country, the people, culture, scenery, food, language etc
I returned many times, either on my own or with friends, for 3 week hols just getting a flight and going where the fancy takes me, short winter breaks in Istanbul, or 2 week packages. oh and a couple of day trips from Symi.
In 1999 I spent a few months working as a holiday rep. in Turkey, based in Marmaris and Icmeler.
A job I found frustrating when the clients wanted everything to be English, and weren't interested in Turkey at all, except for its bargain t shirts, cheap drinks etc..
I returned home to Sheffield, and to my Nursing career.
I'm now employed by Oxford University as a Research Nurse, a job that I enjoy. |
| 'The Girlz' - In Bergamo for Patsys 50th Birthday! |
Where I've been recently 2002
First visit to Symi for a week, which co incided with Greek Easter! Plus a day trip to Datca (Turkey)
2003
Revisited Symi
for 2 weeks, and Datca.
December 2003/January2004
I finally got to Kerala, somewhere that had been at the top of my must see places list! It was well worth the wait!!! A magical place, and I made some good friends, during our 5 day Spice Tour, visiting Kovalam Trivandrum, Munnar, Periyar Sanctuaryand Cochin or Kochi
2004
After My Kerala holiday in January, the rest of my year was spent in the UK.
I had some great days out including Llama trekking around Saddleworth . I had a few short breaks including Whitby and Robin Hoods' Bay 2 of my all time favourite East Coast places. I also revisited Bristol for a meeting, and managed to spend a day in Bath, a place that I'd wanted to visit for a long time.
2005
January
Celebrated my 45th B'day in Marrakesh, A Fascinating experience! and visited Essaouira, due to many recommendations from VTers!
May
Granada -just for 2 nights, but packed in plenty of sightseeing, and was also lucky enough to enjoy some of the festivities of the Festival of the Crucifixes
2006
February 'Girls weekend break' 4 of us hit Oslo for a friends belated 40th celebration! Great fun in the snow!
March- Another bargain break to Porto with my friend Joy, who I met in Kerala. Great City, Great Weather!
August/Sept- 2 weeks in Morocco including 8 day group tour of Marrakesh and the Sahara, where we visited Ouarzazate, Ait Benhaddou, Telouet. Tighza, Essaouira and Zagora Still recovering from the camels!!
October- 4 nights in Granada - sightseeing plus seeing Bruce Springsteen play the Bullring- My 9th time of seeing 'The Boss' and I saw a bit of his sound check too! |
| San Giorgio Maggiore 0200hrs Christmas Day - |
Christmas 06 Venice A great time 'getting lost' and enjoying an 'unchristmassy' Christmas!
then 2 weeks later-
2007
January
I was in Santiago de Compostela for my Birthday! A great time, but not long enough!
February
Weekend in Valencia -8 of us celebrating Lou and Heathers 40th B'days- some culture, lots of liquid intake!!
June
Venice
Intended to see The Killers and Aerosmith at Heineken fest. but freak tornado resulted in cancellation. Still had a great time exploring more of Venice, then Padua and Lake Garda before returning to Venice, where I stayed on Sant Erasmo
November
Madrid
To see Bruce Springsteen in concert (again!)-and was lucky to see him and The E-Street Band at their hotel! (which curtailed my sight-seeing plans!).
December
Venice for Christmas again. 5 days spent exploring new areas including the islands of Torcello , San Michele and Murano
2008
May/June
My long awaited trip to IRAN - 19 Fascinating days spent exploring this wonderfully welcoming country.
July
Madrid - 2 nights - to see Bruce Springsteen again! (Met The E-Street Band again, but not Bruce) and some sightseeing!
September
Halifax- 'Fish Chips and Mushy Peas' (and much more besides) My FIRST VT Meeting!
October
Bergamo - 2 nights - £2 return flight including taxes etc!! Bargain!! A Lovely Place!
Cork Ekaterinburgs A Taste of Cork VT Meeting. and Blarney
November
Manchester Gillybobs Christmas Markets VT Meeting-
December
Treviso and Venice Another Great Christmas break.
2009
February Birmingham for Destinations Travel Show and The Killers at LG Arena. An Interesting City!
March Dublin, Sutton and Howth for a lovely day. Left East Midlands airport 06.30 arrived back around 22.00hrs - £16 return including taxes etc.
April Bergamo for Patsys 50th weekend celebration, with a day trip to Milan. Great time had by all!
London for Shah 'Abbas exhibition at the British Museum, (to meet Nasrin who organised my trip to Iran) and a mini VT meet with Diosh, Celia.q and Angiebabe -a picnic and stroll through Richmond Park and Richmond .
I'm spending more time getting to know more about my hometown of Sheffield, and I'm lucky enough to live a short drive away from the Peak District as well as Sherwood Forest, so plenty of places to visit!
Phew, how do folks find time to travel AND complete their pages???? But I'm glad that you do, I really enjoy reading your pages! |
|  | What's Happening and Where to Next. NEXT TRIPS
2009
May/ June Portugal including Cascais Euromeet!
July/August Dublin, then Spain -Bilbao/ Benidorm /Seville/ Valladolid /Santiago de Compostella, (all or some of) as Mr Springsteen is playing there - and it's a good excuse to visit most of these cities for the first time (and re-visit others)
Also VTer Fatehpur has offered me the chance of a free flight to Prague!
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Still loads of stuff to catch up on-especially from Iran June 2008 - zillions of pics and tips to sort out - I'm at page 5 and that's not the first week finished!!. Also Madrid, Bergamo, Treviso and still loads of Venice tips and pics to come!
Just started downloading my first videos on here too - Think I need a PA!!!
I've also taken a few trips back down memory lane - trying to add to my 'pre-VT travels' One of my favourite trips was the 3 weeks I spent travelling around Turkey by myself, just hopping on and off buses where the mood took me.Some places were Sanliurfa , Harran ,Erzurum , Amasya and Nemrut Dag Although this was in '93, some of the info is still relevant. It will still take ages to be anywhere near complete though! |
| VT Meet - Cork -Some of the attendees |
VT Meetings and members that I've met 'Fish, Chips and Mushy Peas' organised by Ricky 52
Halifax Friday 4th - Sunday 6th September 2008
aaaarrgh - Sean - Cardiff - Wales diosh - Diana - Richmond - England
celia.q - Celia- Kew - England Gillybob - Gilly - Manchester - England
leics - J - Leicestershire - England mamawinnie - Julia - Lancashire - England
Scoobydofast- Ryan- Lancashire - England royslaven - John - Belgrade - Serbia
Stephanie - Stephanie - Manhatten Beach - USA Gerry _ Gerry - Manhatten Beach - USA Waalewiener - Hansi - Windsor, Canada Lori Pori - Lori - Windsor, Canada angiebabe - Angie - London - England Dao - Dave - Wakefield - England doodybee-Julie - Barnsley - England Gwynfiguy - Rob - Preston - England mustertal - Margaret - Preston - England poons - June - Staffordshire - England Suet - Sue - Penicuik - Scotland davesut - Dave - Manchester - England Mrs Ricky- Sheila- Triangle - England
VT FLAG
Guests-
Irene, Chris and Sue who are friends of Ricky and Sheila
Monday 7th September - Poons, Suet, Hansi, Lori Pori, angiebabe and myself spent a day pootling around Howarth, Bolton Abbey, Brimham Rocks and Knaresborough -
CLICK HERE FOR INFO AND TO SIGN UP FOR FISH, CHIPS AND MUSHY PEAS Pt 2 - 4th SEPTEMBER 2010.
A Taste of Cork organised by Ekaterinburg
CORK Friday 17th - Sunday 19th October 2008.
Ekaterinburg - Katherine -(and Dennis, her husband) -Cork - Ireland
Nomad7890 - Martha - Lake Mary - USA Songlines - Agnes- Skibbereen - Ireland Tripack - Patrick - Valais - Switzerland Sachara - Ali - Emmen - Netherlands Benazer -Az - London - England dila - Diana - Amsterdam - Netherlands tjsomerset - Ted - Ireland
Dao VT FLAG Gillybob Royslaven
I arrived Saturday evening, in time for the meal. (So I didn't get to meet the VTers who'd been there Friday and Saturday only)
On the Sunday, Gillybob, Nomad 7890 and myself had a day in Blarney, Dao joined us for our pub lunch.
On the Monday, Katherine kindly took me on a whistle-stop tour of Cork, including Shandon, before I had to fly back.
2nd Annual Manchester Christmas Markets Meeting organised by Gillybob
Manchester Saturday 22nd November 2008
Gillybob DAO VT FLAG
mustertal Gwynfiguy angiebabe poons doodybee mamawinnie Scoobydoofast davesut Ricky 52 Mrs Ricky
Kaspian - Ed - North Bay - Canada Pickled Onions - Martin - England
Britannia52 - Colin- Swanland - England
Guest- Margaret -my friend that I met in Kerala
CLICK HERE FOR INFO AND TO SIGN UP FOR THE 3RD ANNUAL MANCHESTER CHRISTMAS MARKETS MEET Saturday 28th November 2009
Friday May 1st 2009 - Richmond Park, London
A mini VT meet with Diosh, Celia.q and angiebabe
A lovely sunny day - enjoying a drive and stroll around Richmond Park and a picnic in Isabella Plantation
Sunday June 14th Halifax -Moorlands Inn
Another spontaneous mini VT meet organised by Macedonian UK -Valentina Also there were Dao, VT FLAGMustertal, Gwynfiguy, Ricky52 and Sheila.
A lovely Sunday lunch - and it was hot enough to eat outside! |
 Comments for suvanki | | | | |
Stephanie Fri Jul 3, 2009 23:16 UTC
Hi Sue - Can you believe, I'm just getting to my correspondence after the Portugal meeting...it was terrific seeing you again!! What great times we've shared. :))) | tere1 Fri Jul 3, 2009 07:04 UTC
Thank you so much , Sue! I will tell you everything about it in Madrid! Looking forward to it:-)). Hugs. Teresa | revontulet Thu Jul 2, 2009 21:24 UTC
Hi Sue, though we were 3 people (pinat+tuna_ank+I) at Ankara meeting, it was pretty nice and we made brainstorm about Turkey meeting. Phewww, many ideas, many plans... I've already counted you in;)) Sibel. xx | Gillybob Tue Jun 30, 2009 09:33 UTC
I'm supposed to ask you how many Springsteen concerts you've been to? A mate (just turned 40) has now done 70. Gillybob greetings |
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