"Hello" Mel_H's Profile

April 2006

Hello There,

I love to travel due to the fact that i `ve been exposed to various cultures from childhood and practically grew up all over.I`m Middle Eastern but was raised in the Far East and the United States with shorter stints in the Middle East inbetween but currently back in ME .Due to lack of time and a demanding work schedule and other commitments i won`t be able to build up pages of past travels or current ones,except maybe tid bits from future travels as quite a few of the places visited and photos taken where while living there and scanning the photographs would be time consuming, i would also like to note that i`m not fond of documenting stuff on the net but do browse for all kind of desired information . My main reason for joining the site recently is to team up with others and explore different corners of the globe if feasible.
I used to prefer normal cameras to digital ones and had photos printed and kept in albums and scrapbooks as opposed to CDs but do have few digital ones taken in America and on a work trip to Kerala ,India which i shall post here but soon i`ll be switching to digital ,for some reason i`m not fond of taking loads of photos as i used to do earlier while on vaccation anymore as it kinda distracts you from enjoying the place, guess a few should do though.
What`s new ...just added an intro to my Dayton ,Ohio page.
Travel plans ...so far going again this summer to the same countries i`ve visited before
2 nd visit to Istanbul - Done
Istanbul -3rd visit Next
Syria - Next (been there ages ago)
Egypt - Next (visited many times but not luxor and aswan )
2nd visit to Oman-Next (Salalah)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 2008

Well the above was written a long time ago so thought of updating
About 3 month ago , was on leave from work and started posting on miscellaneous and answering travel questions and to my surprise i`m still here when i have never been into any kind of chatting or net interaction .VT is the only site that managed to keep my interest ....well sort of ......if only for short periods and every now and then (being among my favorites either travel / engineering / news) so whenever i get the time i`ll post photos from upcoming travels and make an effort to attend the Aussie- Euro-North American big meets schedule permitting .Would be nice to meet all the lovely folks i encountered on here.
Middle East : constant quick trips to few countries/cities such as Egypt,Syria,Dubai,Doha,.......etc. are on the horizon,maybe others like Tunisia ,Petra,Lebanon ,Istanbul for a quick break.
I am aiming to visit Spain,Portugal and Morocco (15 days trip)
China (9 days or so)
Maybe Oz (for 7 to 10 days or so ,i prefer to visit the south starting with Perth then Adelaide ,Melbourne,Sydney,Brisbane but this trip concentrates mainly on north ie,Darwin and surroundings)
I hope to go on more short breaks to new destinations as i tend to repeat the places i lived in before or visited over and over.
Happy New Year everyone .

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 2010
I enjoyed answering your questions on the Middle Eastern forums (which i did profoundly and in detail) and interacting on the other forums with vt members. Thanks to members who answered my questions too.
2010 Plans : As usual... travel incooperated in life be it for leisure,family ,studies,work related purposes mostly within Mid East ..Hope to get time to build some pages or post a few photos.
Happy Travels & Take care everyone.
Damascus -done
Istanbul -done
Egypt -Next
Saudi Arabia -Next
Istanbul -next
Syria -Next
Greece or Lebanon or jordan - Next
......next
..... Next
.....Next

NOTE: I `ve often been asked about building the travel pages so i`ll start on it soon ,have lots of new digital photos to sift through ,shall try and document ONLY TID BITS of travels beginning June 2010 whenever possible as it`s practically impossible to document past decades of travel /living in other foreign homelands and scanning the tons of photo albums stored at home in huge boxes either in the store room or piled up in the library /office room . I noticed that If i were to document even current trips thoroughly i won`t have much of a life , also i never read tips as they are all repetitive or follow any particular guide while travelling , i `ll concentrate more on travelogues with photos on the main page of each country than seperate tips,need to update the map too.

......

In Kanya Kumari ,tip of India looking at lights in Sri Lanka during the night.

Intro Updated Apr 9, 2012
Report Abuse

Comments (27)

Reply
- Report abuse
connectingrod Mar 10, 2012 at 5:15 AM

A BIRTHDAY is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip.
Reply
- Report abuse
Bokhari76 Mar 9, 2012 at 11:32 PM

Hi Mel. Happy Birthday to you. Wish you many happy returns of the day.
Reply
- Report abuse
MalenaN Mar 9, 2012 at 10:21 PM

Happy Birthday Mel! Have a great day!
Reply
- Report abuse
Rabbityama Mar 10, 2011 at 12:20 PM

I hope you have a very happy birthday!
Reply
- Report abuse
VZ-Pam Jan 24, 2011 at 8:06 AM

I probably will move my travels to asia these few years...may be we can meet some day soon ! :)
Reply
- Report abuse
June.b Dec 1, 2010 at 9:36 PM

Thanks Mel for visiting my Damascus page, and ur right..it's Sham w/out the "s" ;-) Syria is a beautiful country w/beautiful people, will be back for sure sometime next year. Hapy travels!!!
Reply
- Report abuse
angiebabe Aug 29, 2010 at 11:07 AM

hi thanks for your comments on my Kuwait pg - yes its Makbous and noted in my tips - maybe you will like to look at them some time - compared with the makbous on the plane it was as good!...was better than mc donalds they first offered me!
Reply
- Report abuse
Donna_in_India Jun 21, 2010 at 1:09 PM

Hi Mel - how have you been? Yes, I guess I need a new name now! Are you off traveling soon?
Reply
- Report abuse
trav4bus Jun 20, 2010 at 12:33 AM

good pics
Reply
- Report abuse
joiwatani Jun 19, 2010 at 6:46 AM

Mel, thanks for your prayers and thoughts. My surgery went well yesterday!!! And, I am recovering well. Thanks for modern medicine! And, thank God for His greatness...