I love June. In my head it’s offically summer. In theory sunny but without the intense heat , at least if you are in Europe!
I have taken the plunge and decided I am at a stage in life where I have to pursue and combine my passions of travel, food, fashion and Shoes. For me I get excited at choosing and researching a new place or country to visit. My heart begins to go boom boom, though I am terrified of flying, that I will be seeing a new place, trying different food meeting new people and enjoying different cultures.
Experience has taught me to travel with hand luggage as I hate waiting the other end, though often particularly when I am in India I come back loaded with spices, fabrics, paintings and jewellery! I take or buy shoes when I am there as it’s quite incredible how a pair of to-die-for-shoes can lift a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
There are certain key things I do before I take off and it’s really worth it as over time it does pay off. It costs nothing but can over time get you upgraded rooms, travel points, etc. I am a member of numerous airlines British Airways and it’s One World Alliance, Air France, Emirates that more or less cover the airlines I use. I belong to almost all the Luxury Hotel chains from The Four Seasons, Small Luxury Hotel’s, Relais and Chateau and the TAJ Group just to name a few. My criteria first and foremost is the experience of the place and sometimes what’s in your head is not the reality but I take the view so what? There is always but always something positive that emerges.
I do sometimes use travel agents when I am visiting hard to access places and internal logistics of getting from a place to place as often it’s difficult to do as the information is not readily available. In China and Panama I used Abercrombie and Kent. But but I did the research I knew what I wanted to do or not to do and where to stay as sometimes they do try to get you to stay in places where they are associated with. There was no way in China we could have managed the bullet train from Xian to Beijing as nothing is in English and we would have spent hours just finding which section of the station to go to.
I have lots of travel planned for this month from Amman Jordan where I am experiencing the Ramadan period of fasting and going to downtown local restaurants for the break of the fast , Then off to the USA, Portugal and Morocco.
I am building up the site and learning how to use social media. I am getting s lot of design and practical help from Sahar Huneidi whose been really supportive as well as challenging my ideas and pushing me to get better.
Coming soon is Gatun Lake in Panama which was a surreal experience. A moment to hold on to. Bye for now.
Mona Moments 