"Manchester" traceyspacey's Profile

Manchester Town Hall on a sunny April day

A new City

Just come back from Myanmar (Burma) after a proper visit and not just a visa run. Had an amazing time and was so sad to leave. I am very happy that I was able to join them in part of their water festival celebrations.

Next trip (very short one)

I am off to the Lake District for a couple of nights 2nd-4th June to join my parents (and Dog) on their holidays. I haven't been there for over 20 years and can't wait.

Moving again-Manchester
After living in Leeds for 10 months we have had to move to Manchester due to my boyfriends work. So another city to explore only on a much bigger scale.

Leeds
It's fun, vibrant, there is always something going on. I love it. I do hear tourists who complain how small a city it is. It may not be a big city, but that it what I love about it. There is so much to see, to do, plenty of places to eat and drink.

This will be my third visit to Madrid. 10th August to 20th August.
My boyfriend and I have been invited to apartment sit for some friends of ours and I can't wait. I will be adding tips this time when I am taking a break from the sun and the sights.

16th January 2007 One amazing year and a bit

That was the date that we left the UK to start our travels. Our plan was to arrive in Mumbai (Bombay) and take it from there. I had never travelled before and my boyfriend had only travelled in Europe a number of years ago. This was a new experience for us. I quit my job, another new experience and we packed up vowing to never live in Watford again (it was my fault that we lived there anyway). We thought that we would be gone for about 6 months, how wrong we were! We didn't arrive back to the UK until the 9th February 2008, even then it nearly didn't happen. So what did we do in all that time? and where did we go?

3 months in India

We started in Mumbai, when we landed we had been warned of the chaos. What chaos? After 4 days of wandering around Mumbai, we then went travelling down the coast stopping in Marud on our way to Goa. Goa was almost as much of a culture shock as Mumbai was, only in an opposite way. After spending 2 1/2 weeks in Goa staying in 4 different places including Panjim we dragged ourselves away. Next stop Mangalore before reaching the state of Kerala. With the exception of one place, I can honestly say that I love this state.
So we continued down into Tamil Nadu reaching the very southern tip of India, before continuing back up the other coast. It was at this point that I discovered Virtual Tourist. We then cheated and took our first flight from Chennai to Calcutta. Calcutta is not as gentle as Mumbai and it can be overwhelming. As we left Calcutta it was 44c and as we arrived in Darjeeling you could see clearly that we were not dressed for the
colder weather of the Himalayas. We were unfortunate with the lack of views, people kept saying that it isn't normally this bad. From there we spent time in the beautiful state of Sikkim (Lake Changu is a must, walking in snow in April and seeing it reflected in the lake) before returning to Darjeeling before leaving India. The day we left the cloud lifted and the view was amazing

Nepal-possibly the only people who didn't trek

We crossed overland and then took a small plane into Kathmandu. We spent time in Kathmandu, around Kathmandu, in Pokhara. When we were in Pokhara we decided to try and find the old town, we walked and we walked. We didn't find it as we turned around the skies cleared and we could see the mountains. Incredible view. We did intend to do some trekking, but we usually one of us was ill most days or a bit lazy!. We had a relaxed enjoyable time here. We ended up staying longer than planned due to problems with flights. Kathmandu is a great place to relax though. The people in Nepal are very friendly.

More Culture shocks

Arriving in Bangkok is another culture shock. Cleanliness, toilets that flush etc. This was to be one of our many visit's to Bangkok. Cambodia (Amazing and friendly people with an incredible spirit), Vietnam( must see sights and beautiful scenery) , Laos (relaxed) followed by returning to see more of Bangkok, the Islands, the relaxed Chang Mai and Pai in the north. We briefly crossed into Mynmar (Burma) to get a new Thai visa with the intention of returning shortly to see more of Mynmar (events changed that and we were only able to get a visa from our own country. Another time). We spent 5 days in Malaysia whilst getting another Thai visa, a country that we shall return to in the future. By this time more than six months had gone by. It was when we were in Ko Tao in full monsoon season that we decided that it could not end like this.

India, we are back

Our return to India was delayed by a few days ( you get used to these things!), due to a certain airline cancelling their flights several months before they were due to. We had decided to spend Christmas and New Year in Goa before heading to Delhi, Shimla and Manali in the north. After spending time in Anjuna, Baga and Paiolem we settled on Palolem. This is my first warm Christmas and it was very strange. What a shock we were in for once we arrived in Shimla and then Manali. No heating, no hot or cold water most of the time. We managed 3 weeks before giving in. So we allowed ourselves 5 days in Goa before flying home.

Home again

It was such a shock coming back, bigger than we thought. It was cold, we were living at my parents/his parents, everything seemed so expensive and money certainly doesn't last long. Despite that we had an amazing time travelling and we would do it again. We have found that we have become unpaid travel consultants since we have been back, whether it be friends or strangers. We have just moved to Leeds with the historic city of York 20-30 minutes away so another adventure begins.

One of the things that has helped us is not just looking at our photo's from this trip but also of our short trips in Europe. We know that there will be more trips to come, whether they are short or long. South America is already on our list.

So where else have I been?

France, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Crete, Cyprus, Spain (Madrid and Majorca), Portugal, Hungary, USA, Tenerife, Netherlands. The longest time away I think was 2 weeks, so this trip certainly beat that.

Intro Updated Apr 17, 2011
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into-thin-air Dec 25, 2012 at 3:33 AM

Hi Tracey- Complements of the Season – Hope you are having a great time and all the best for 2013.
Best Regards
Rob in Cumbria
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DaHongHua Aug 25, 2012 at 8:22 AM

A warm happy birthday greeting from Malaysia. Wish you keep travelling and have more VT sharing. Cheers.
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into-thin-air Aug 25, 2012 at 2:41 AM

“Happy Birthday Tracey” – I Hope you have a Great Day – Best Regards from Rob in Cumbria
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Gillybob Aug 25, 2012 at 1:36 AM

Many happy returns of the day! Gillybob greetings
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manintravel Sep 13, 2011 at 11:51 PM

Hi there...been thru ur travellin pages n notice tht in ur Nepal travellin page ur review abt "Rum Doodle" is different then other travellers n I agree wid ur Review...Thanks...Mamta
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into-thin-air Aug 26, 2011 at 5:35 AM

Sorry that I missed wishing you a “Happy Birthday Tracey” yesterday – I Hope you had a Great Day – Best Regards from Rob in Cumbria
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Gillybob Aug 25, 2011 at 12:45 AM

Many happy returns of the day! Wishing you a year filled with safe and happy travels! Gillybob greetings
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spidermiss Apr 24, 2011 at 6:24 AM

Happy Easter to you too! Thought I'll spend some time today updating my VT pages. I need to update some pagesx
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Swades Jan 2, 2011 at 9:31 PM

happy new year!! wish your dream come true.. smile..Vivek
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jumpingnorman Oct 15, 2009 at 9:59 PM

Tracy, I hope everything is okay with you and that you are continuing well with life...jumping smiles from Arizona, Norman :)