"See it before it's too late" bumpychick's Profile

On tour

When we travel around the world, visting all these fascinating countries, we try to take tours where available. This way we get to see all the main sights a country or area has to offer, without the hastle of getting there ourselves. Although I love beaches and laying in the sun, we won't do that until we can really say we have SEEN a country.

Tsunami. We were there.

Sri Lanka - post Tsunami

My husband and I were in Sri lanka when the Tsunami hit. Fortunately we were in Kandy at the time, and weren't due to travel to the coast until the next day. Our hotel was washed away, we had nowhere to stay and we couldn't get home, but we count ourselves lucky. The Srilankan people really looked after us and found us temporary accomodation in a nice little hotel. There were people in the hotel with us who had lost all their belongings and were very traumatised by their experiences. This photo is of the beach near to where we were staying. The debris had been cleaned up but it was very spooky. Not a soul in sight during the height of the tourist season.
The whole experience hasn't put us off travelling, but it certainly made us realise what is precious to us.

Great travel quotes.

Spot the tourist?!

I think all of the following quotes are really true; they either made me smile or think...

My favourite thing is to go where I have never gone.

The average tourist wants to go to places where there are no tourists.

Travelling is like flirting with life. It's like saying, ''I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.''

The bigger the summer vacation, the harder the fall.

The traveller sees what he sees, the tourist see what he has come to see.

Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember and remember more than I have seen.

Life is a journey that must be travelled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.

To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.

Travelling is not just seeing the new; it is also leaving behind. Not just opening doors; also closing them behind you, never to return. But the place you have left forever is always there for you to see whenever you shut your eyes.*

Away for Christmas?

Festive celebrations

One of the things we particularly like to do is go on holiday over Christmas. Christmas trips have included Boston, Barcelona, India (tour), Sri Lanka (the fated trip) and most recently Borneo. As long as you aren't desperate for the usual traditions, I would thoroughly recommend it. Of course it costs lots more. airlines put a huge suppliment on the flights, particularly to destinations in the Carribean (which is why we haven't been yet). Asian destinations tend to be the cheapest, the prices don't go up too much, and the weather is usually pretty good. Most hotels, wherever you are in the world, make some attempt to get in to the festive spirit; there is usually a tree, and sometimes they even have turkey on offer! Barcelona is incredible at Christmas, everything is open and bustling with life. Boston closes completely!!

Our Travel Diary

In the last ten years, since we got married Mark and I have made it our mission to travel. The travel bug really hit us when we went on our honeymoon to Thailand. We hadn't been to Asia before and felt really nervous when we first stepped out of our hotel on to the streets of Bangkok. It was such a culture shock! Now, we love travelling to Asia, and try to go every year, time and money permitting.
We are limited to long distance travel at certain times of the year. This is because I am a teacher. 'Lovely long holidays' you may say! Yes, that is one of the perks of the job, but not very helpful when we want to enjoy a 3 or 4 week trip to eg. South America or New Zealand as their summer is our winter. The choice has to be, go when it's colder, or make it a short trip having travelled for 24 hours!

2007
Came back from Borneo on 1st January
Madagascar
Laos for Christmas

2006
Borneo (Sabah and Sarawak) Penninsula Malaysia
Alaskan Cruise, Road trip from Vancouver to Calgary through the Rockies.
Vietnam (Hanoi, Halong Bay, Nah Trang, Hue)

2005
Singapore, Australia (Sydney, Red Centre, Darwin and Kakadu, Cairns) Tahiti, LA (Universal studios).
Cambodia
Cyprus (to see Dad!)

2004
Sri Lanka (and the Maldives, but we didn't make it!)
Tanzania (on Safari)
Zanzibar Island
Scotland

2003
India
Peru, Chile (including Easter Island)

2002
Barcelona
China, Hong Kong, Thailand (Phuket)

2001
Mexico
Paris (Euro Disney)

2000
Florida

1999
Niagra Falls, Boston (for the Millenium)
Egypt

1998
Rome, Thailand (for our Honeymoon)

1997

1996
New York (Mark proposed to me on top of the Empire State Building!)

1992
California (I won a raffle, the prize being a trip to California!!)

Intro Updated Mar 4, 2008
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Comments (13)

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connectingrod Aug 13, 2012 at 10:47 PM

A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip.
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Usctwin Aug 13, 2012 at 5:58 PM

Happy birthday!
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DaHongHua Aug 13, 2012 at 6:21 AM

A warm happy birthday greeting from Malaysia. Glad you have been to Malaysia and shared your wonderful experience. Wish you enjoy your travellings and keep more VT sharings.
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Rooster_poot Aug 13, 2010 at 5:33 AM

Happy birthday young lady. Haven't seen you here in awhile. I hope you have a great day. Take care.
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Karlie85 Jun 3, 2007 at 9:51 AM

Great pictures in your Alison's Travels album!
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WStat May 31, 2007 at 7:00 AM

Hi Alison, most certainly they will organise a New Years Dinner or similar, although the hotel is very nice, everything is very low key there, so you mustn`t worry at all about evening dress or dinner jacket! Have a nice trip- I`m envying you! Willy
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ghibli88 May 14, 2007 at 4:04 AM

Hi Alison,greetings from Italy.
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Norali May 12, 2007 at 1:50 AM

Seems like a nice plan. Haven't seen the whales yet... one day. How long would it take to do the whole stuff ?
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margaretvn Apr 15, 2007 at 12:18 AM

you were so lucky. I enjoyed your HP and the travel quotes are great!
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Fergie01 Aug 13, 2006 at 7:40 AM

Happy Birthday to You!!! many happy returns...greetings from Ontario Canada - Deana