Janice Horton's Blog, page 17
October 12, 2018
Culture Shock
After spending five months of Summer 2018 living on a very small rock in the eastern corner of the Caribbean Sea, it was a bit of a culture shock for us to have to leave. We’d been living a simple life – albeit with plenty of rum – wearing very few clothes and sleeping under the tin roof of a little house beneath a mango tree. Our diet had been nutritious but basic, mostly consisting of tropical fruits and rice and beans and fish, as fresh supplies only came to the island twice a week by boat. Our halcyon days on this beautiful island had all been spent dancing on the sand or bobbing about in boats, swinging in hammocks, swimming in the sea and scuba diving. Resulting in happy times, glorious memories, and a healthy weight loss.
Spending time in a hammock…
After the first month in our third world paradise, we’d managed to lose our white skinned intolerance to the incredible heat and intense humidity of the Caribbean and we’d even stopped caring about being constantly drippy with sweat or having crazy hair (me not him). So, by the time carnival time came to the island, we were wearing our beads and knocking back rum shots with the best of them, having become blissfully dark skinned and bohemian. We’d even developed an immunity to the torturous bite of sand flies.
Our halcyon days on this beautiful island had all resulted in happy times and glorious memories…
So, as you might imagine, by the end of summer, returning to Europe and the thought of the long winter ahead of us (never mind the concept of actually having to wear shoes again) was a little unnerving at best.
This was a bittersweet time. Saying goodbye to our island friends, while knowing once we were back in the UK, we would be able reconnect with our loved ones. Because we’ve been travelling so extensively, I hadn’t seen my mum and brothers and sisters and my very best friend in almost two years. Our youngest son too. Although, before we’d made our way from Asia across to the Caribbean, we’d been able to spend one week with our middle son, his wife and our grandchild, and our eldest son and his fiancée, in South Korea.
So, unreasonably early on a steaming hot Caribbean morning in early September, we took a taxi tuk-tuk to the island’s airstrip and a small plane over to the mainland. The mainland being Honduras in Central America.
We flew to the city of San Pedro Sula where we had a same-day connecting flight to Houston Texas USA.
Leaving the island for the mainland
In Texas, we took a pit-stop to eat big juicy Texas steaks and to drink American beer but the very next morning, we flew to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We planned to spend a couple of days here at the beach acclimatising (same heat/lower humidity/small time difference) before taking our flight over to London (lower temperatures/cold damp air/big time difference). We usually consider ourselves savvy travellers, having circumnavigated the earth twice in the past five years and have explored fifty-five countries, but it was while in Florida that we realised we’d left something behind on the island: our sundried brains.
Acclimatising on Fort Lauderdale Beach
Our first inkling of absent mindedness was when we left Fort Lauderdale airport in an Uber heading for our hotel without bothering to pick up our backpacks from the luggage carousel. We eventually realised our mistake and backtracked. Only to later leave our phone – and the only lifeline to the first-world as far as we were concerned – on the back seat of our Uber ride. Two days later, through luck and help and angst, we managed to get our phone returned. The third mishap involved our passports and what a heart-stopping drama that all was! Arrrggghhh!!
Anyways, after trying to enjoy a few demanding days in Fort Lauderdale, we flew to London. This would be the second time we have flown with Norwegian Air on their new Dreamliner aircraft (at amazingly low prices). The first time we flew with Norwegian was earlier this year when we left France via London to fly to Singapore at the start of our 2018 Round The World Trip – which you can read about HERE.
So back to the culture shock and the theme of this post. After arriving back in Gatwick, bleary-eyed and exhausted after a night flight, we took the Gatwick Express to Euston Station and then a train up to middle England (Warrington) where (because we were wearing beach clothes and flipflops) we were pleased to find temperature in the mid 20s’s C and summer had not yet left the UK.
We had a wonderful if hectic time in the UK. It was fabulous to spend time with my mum again. Great to see my family and lovely friends. We ate all the food we’d missed and craved while away – in large quantities – and we travelled around a lot through England Scotland and Wales.
It was great to spend time with my lovely mum again…
We went up to Scotland to visit our family and friends too…
Wonderful to see my brother and his family and my sisters and our lovely friends again while we were back in the UK.
Unfortunately, I came down with a horrible flu/cold/chest-infection that I’d managed to pick up along the way. That mixed with the change in temperature, humidity, time-zone, and jet-lag, pretty much knocked me for six. I can only apologise to all the loved ones I might have coughed over and passed on germs to in exchange for their wonderful hospitality.
While we were in the UK I continued to work on PR for my recently published book The Backpacking Housewife and I had an interview feature out in The Sunday Mirror newspaper which I read on the train into London where we spent our final weekend in the UK. You can read more about this and other media features and press interviews I’ve done on my Media Page HERE.
Reading the Sunday Mirror feature on the train into London…
We had an exciting weekend exploring The Tower of London and the London Bridge area on The Thames where at The News Building on Monday morning I had an appointment with my editor at HarperCollins Publishers.
I was mega excited to be meeting with and having lunch with lovely Charlotte Ledger, who is my commissioning editor and editorial director of Harper Impulse to discuss how my book The Backpacking Housewife was doing. Then it was time to talk about new books for 2019. After which, we headed to Harper Collins HQ, where I was delighted to meet so many of the people whom I’d only been in email contact with over the past months and it was so lovely to put faces to names. I did a promotional video for my book The Backpacking Housewife. I signed some books. I admired all the books on show throughout the offices and ogled the names of so many famous and coveted authors. I gazed in awe at the dazzling views from the high floors of the iconic building and over the London sights while overhead the skies of London were clear and blue. You can read all about my fabulous visit to HarperCollins London HQ in my next post!
We had an exciting weekend exploring London…
I was excited to be meeting with my lovely editor Charlotte Ledger…
I said my goodbyes in a happy fug – to be made even happier when on route to Gatwick Airport my backpacking husband insisted on us stopping off to celebrate at The Ivy with a glass of champagne – a theme that continued onto the BA lounge and our evening flight to Bordeaux France.
We are now happily ensconced in France.
Our culture shock now defined by vin and fromage.
We could be here some time. I have new backpacking books to write!
You might also like these posts:
Have you ever dreamed of selling everything and taking off to travel the world?
The post Culture Shock appeared first on The Backpacking Housewife.
September 17, 2018
Backpacking The World
Earlier this year, the backpacking husband and I set off from London heading east. After spending some weeks in Asia, we headed across the Pacific to the USA and The Caribbean to cross the Atlantic and to arrive in London – and right back where we started!
I feel amazed and fortunate that in our six years of being travelling nomads – we have now been around the world not once – but twice! The first time we circumnavigated the earth we took our time and it took us several years. This time around took us a little over six months. The reason for this trip was that having spent our winter months housesitting in South West France, we were looking forward to attending our son’s wedding in South Korea before heading over to the Caribbean for the summer, where the backpacking husband was volunteering on a coral reef conservation project. But, as the wedding was to take place around the busy Easter holidays, we found flights out of Europe to be too expensive.
So we decided to leave France for Asia two whole weeks earlier than planned to take advantage of a cheaper airfare and to allow for a week in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia (one of our favourite places in the world) and both the time and opportunity to fly onto Cambodia (a destination that has always been on our bucket list).
Exploring temples in Cambodia
After which we would fly to South Korea for the family wedding.
The Horton Kang family wedding in Daegu South Korea
The day after the wedding we left Seoul heading for San Francisco USA with a quick stopover in Beijing China. We had a fabulous and fun few days in San Francisco – yet another big bucket list destination – exploring Alcatraz and riding the steep streets on cable cars and riding bikes over the Golden Gate Bridge before flying onto Miami and to our final destination in the Caribbean.
Riding on the famous San Francisco cable cars
Biking over the Golden Gate Bridge
We planned to spend the whole summer on Utila, which is the smallest of The Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras, except for a mid-point ‘visa run’ to Panama City which was another destination on our bucket list.
The red circled area shows the location of The Bay Islands and Utila
The Backpacking Housewife on a ‘visa run’ to Panama City
That’s three big bucket list ticks so far this year!
Our onward/return trip would comprise of taking a small plane off the island of Utila over to San Pedro Sula on the mainland of Honduras and a flight to Houston USA (for a stopover) before flying onto Fort Lauderdale Florida (where we planned to spent another couple of days) before finally crossing the Atlantic to arrive back in London once more.
Leaving the island of Utila September 2018
The Backpacking Housewife in Fort Lauderdale Florida
https://thebackpackinghousewife.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Utila-Summer-2018.mp4
Have you ever been around the world or are you planning a RTW trip?
What would be your bucket list destinations along the way?
Do share your world travel plans and/or your travel hopes and dreams!
You might also like these posts:
Wearing the traditional Korean hanbok at a very special wedding
Current Location – a secret place in the Caribbean
Panama City – a modern metropolis and vision of old world charm
Glittering Kuala Lumpur – your gateway to Asia and beyond
San Francisco – steep streets, cable cars and clam chowder!
Lots more posts coming soon!
The post Backpacking The World appeared first on The Backpacking Housewife.
Around The World in 2018
Earlier this year, the backpacking husband and I set off from London heading east. After spending some weeks in Asia, we headed across the Pacific to the USA and The Caribbean and – just a few days ago – we crossed the Atlantic to arrive in London and right back where we started!
I feel amazed and fortunate that in our five years of being travelling nomads – we have now been around the world not once – but twice! The first time we circumnavigated the earth we took our time and it took us several years. This time around took us a little over six months. The reason for this trip was that having spent our winter months housesitting in South West France, we were looking forward to attending our son’s wedding in South Korea before heading over to the Caribbean for the summer, where the backpacking husband was volunteering on a coral reef conservation project. But, as the wedding was to take place around the busy Easter holidays, we found flights out of Europe to be too expensive.
So we decided to leave France for Asia two whole weeks earlier than planned to take advantage of a cheaper airfare and to allow for a week in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia (one of our favourite places in the world) and both the time and opportunity to fly onto Cambodia (a destination that has always been on our bucket list).
Exploring temples in Cambodia
After which we would fly to South Korea for the family wedding.
The Horton Kang family wedding in Daegu South Korea
The day after the wedding we left Seoul heading for San Francisco USA with a quick stopover in Beijing China. We had a fabulous and fun few days in San Francisco – yet another big bucket list destination – exploring Alcatraz and riding the steep streets on cable cars and riding bikes over the Golden Gate Bridge before flying onto Miami and to our final destination in the Caribbean.
Riding on the famous San Francisco cable cars
Biking over the Golden Gate Bridge
We planned to spend the whole summer on Utila, which is the smallest of The Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras, except for a mid-point ‘visa run’ to Panama City which was another destination on our bucket list.
The red circled area shows the location of The Bay Islands and Utila
The Backpacking Housewife on a ‘visa run’ to Panama City
That’s three big bucket list ticks so far this year!
Our onward/return trip would comprise of taking a small plane off the island of Utila over to San Pedro Sula on the mainland of Honduras and a flight to Houston USA (for a stopover) before flying onto Fort Lauderdale Florida (where we planned to spent another couple of days) before finally crossing the Atlantic to arrive back in London in September 2018.
Leaving the island of Utila September 2018
The Backpacking Housewife in Fort Lauderdale Florida
https://thebackpackinghousewife.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Utila-Summer-2018.mp4
Have you ever been around the world or are you planning a RTW trip?
What would be your bucket list destinations along the way?
Do share your world travel plans and/or your travel hopes and dreams!
You might also like these posts:
Wearing the traditional Korean hanbok at a very special wedding
Current Location – a secret place in the Caribbean
Panama City – a modern metropolis and vision of old world charm
Glittering Kuala Lumpur – your gateway to Asia and beyond
San Francisco – steep streets, cable cars and clam chowder!
Lots more posts coming soon!
The post Around The World in 2018 appeared first on The Backpacking Housewife.
Round The World in 2018
Earlier this year, the backpacking husband and I set off from London heading east. After spending some weeks in Asia, we headed west across the Pacific to the USA and The Caribbean and – just a few days ago – we crossed the Atlantic to arrive in London and right back where we started.
I feel amazed and fortunate that in our five years of being travelling nomads we have now been right around the whole world not once – but twice! The first time we circumnavigated the earth we took our time and it took us several years. This time around took us a little over six months. The reason for this trip was that having spent our winter months housesitting in South West France, we were looking forward to attending our son’s wedding in South Korea before heading over to the Caribbean for the summer, where the backpacking husband was volunteering on a coral reef conservation project. But, as the wedding was to take place in March and around the busy Easter holidays, we found flights out of Europe to be expensive.
So we decided to leave France for Asia two whole weeks earlier than planned to take advantage of a cheaper airfare and to allow for a week in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia (one of our favourite places in the world) and both the time and opportunity to fly onto Cambodia (a destination that has always been on our bucket list).
Exploring temples in Cambodia
After which we would fly to South Korea for the family wedding.
The Horton Kang family wedding in Daegu South Korea
The day after the wedding we left Seoul heading for San Francisco USA with a quick stopover in Beijing China. We had a fabulous and fun few days in San Francisco – yet another big bucket list destination – exploring Alcatraz and riding the steep streets on cable cars and riding bikes over the Golden Gate Bridge before flying onto Miami and to our final destination in the Caribbean.
Riding on the famous San Francisco cable cars
Biking over the Golden Gate Bridge
We planned to spend the whole summer on Utila, which is the smallest of The Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras, except for a mid-point ‘visa run’ to Panama City which was another destination on our bucket list.
The red circled area shows the location of The Bay Islands and Utila
The Backpacking Housewife on a ‘visa run’ to Panama City
That’s three big bucket list ticks so far this year!
Our onward/return trip comprised of taking a small plane off the island of Utila over to San Pedro Sula on the mainland of Honduras and a flight to Houston USA (where we did an overnight) before flying onto Fort Lauderdale Florida (where we spent another couple of days) before finally crossing the Atlantic to arrive in London on 11th September 2018.
Leaving the island of Utila September 2018
The Backpacking Housewife in Fort Lauderdale Florida
https://thebackpackinghousewife.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Utila-Summer-2018.mp4
Have you ever been around the world or are you planning a RTW trip?
What would be your bucket list destinations along the way?
Do share your world travel plans and/or your travel hopes and dreams!
You might also like these posts:
Wearing the traditional Korean hanbok at a very special wedding
Current Location – a secret place in the Caribbean
Panama City – a modern metropolis and vision of old world charm
Glittering Kuala Lumpur – your gateway to Asia and beyond
San Francisco – steep streets, cable cars and clam chowder!
Lots more posts coming soon!
The post Round The World in 2018 appeared first on The Backpacking Housewife.
August 31, 2018
WIN The Backpacking Housewife paperback book by Janice Horton – signed by the author!
Win The Backpacking Housewife book signed by Janice Horton
This is a free to enter giveaway raffle draw
There is one prize of a The Backpacking Housewife paperback book by Janice Horton. The book will be signed by the author. The prize will be drawn independently using Rafflecopter. The draw opens on the 1st September 2018 and will close on the 31st October 2018. The winner will be contacted by email and the book will be posted out to a UK address.
SORRY THIS IS A UK ONLY GIVEAWAY
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The post WIN The Backpacking Housewife paperback book by Janice Horton – signed by the author! appeared first on The Backpacking Housewife.
August 28, 2018
Panama City – a modern metropolis and a vision of old world charm!
Panama City is a cultural combination of old and new. It’s both a modern metropolis and also a vision of old world charm. The fifteenth-century side of the city with its links to Spanish colonialism and history of pirate invasion is known as Casco Viejo, or Casco Antiguo, or San Felipe, depending on your preference. While in stark contrast, the modern side of Panama City with its urban streets and sky-scraping high-rises is known as the ‘Miami of Central America’.
Panama City is a cultural combination of old and new…
The Backpacking Housewife in Panama City
Then, of course, there are other attractions too: Panama hats (which are originally from Ecuador) and the feat of engineering that is the man-made shipping canal (linking the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans via the Caribbean Sea) and the fact that Panama as a location not only straddles both of these mighty oceans but also all the border between Central and South America.
For all these reasons, Panama has been on my travel radar as an interesting place to visit for a long time.
We finally got our trip to Panama while we were staying on the smallest of the Bay Islands, just off the coast of mainland Honduras, in the Eastern Caribbean Sea. We’d been on the island for almost three months and planning to stay until the end of the summer. But, if we wanted to spend any more time on this rustic version of a tropical paradise, we knew we’d have to leave the Central Four countries (Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua) for at least 72 hours and come back again to renew our visa at the border.
A practice that is commonly known as a ‘visa run’.
Heading off the island of Utila Honduras on a visa-run to Panama City
We could have chosen to head off to Belize or the Cayman Islands or even across to the US but instead we decided to make this a bucket list ticking trip to Panama City. So, we took a small rucksack each and a boat off the island over to the larger island of Roatan, where we rented a small bungalow on a beach for the night before flying onto San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, early the next morning.
Our Avianca plane from Roatan to San Salvador where we had a connecting flight to Panama City
San Salvador was a pit stop (we were after all still in the C-Four) but it was where we had to wait for our connecting flight to Panama City. I had organised this four-day itinerary on a tight budget, so our flight times weren’t the most convenient. Our layover in San Salvador was going to be a gruelling six hours.
It was not quite long enough to leave the airport to go out sightseeing but way too long to be stuck in the airport building sitting on a plastic chair with no internet or access to a laptop recharge socket. But as we aren’t exactly strangers to hanging around in airports, we accepted our lot and settled ourselves down to make the most of our situation. It was while in this predicament that I checked our onward tickets and realised that fate had smiled at us – as it so often does – and that for the second leg of the trip we had been given a complimentary upgrade to business class. This also meant that for the next six hours we had access to the premium lounge. What a result. I must tell you that those six hours passed by very pleasantly indeed in comfortable seating and with a free buffet and a bar of free-flowing wines and international drinks!
Our choice of hotels while in Panama were all with the Holiday Inn Group. The reason for this is that we have membership of their IHG loyalty programme. We have been staying with Holiday Inn and collecting points and increasing our membership level since we first started travelling the world almost five years ago. This decision, to collect hotel stay points from the outset proved to be a smart one, as it has proved far more beneficial to us than collecting airline points – which of course we also do. We’ve had some fabulous room upgrades and free stays, bottles of wine, baskets of fruit, chocolates, cake, and complimentary club lounge access in many fabulous hotels within the group all over the world.
Indeed three of our four nights in Panama – staying in three different Holiday Inns: at the canal and in the new part of the city and then at the airport before our early morning departure – were booked using accrued points – basic rooms we knew would be upgraded to the ‘best available’ and with complimentary club lounge access due to our IHG membership status. Hurray!
Top travel tip: collect those hotel points!
Our first day was spend visiting the famous Panama Canal and the Miraflores Locks and visitor center. We arrived just in time to see a huge ocean-going ship travelling from Asia entering the lock system from the Pacific side. It was exciting and fascinating to watch this ship move slowly forward into the lock, then for the water levels to drop allowing access to the Atlantic side, saving travel around the tip of South America. I took lots of photos and made a video!
Ship Going Through The Panama Canal_Medium
The second day of our trip we explored modern-day Panama with its high-rise buildings and busy streets. We stopped for coffee and then lunch at a wonderful Lebanese restaurant. It was wonderful to sit in the sophisticated setting on the outside terrace next to the street, watching the world and men and women walking stylishly by in their Panama hats. Later, for dinner, we found an Indian restaurant and we fed our craving for a hot Vindaloo and poppadoms with lime chutney and spicy onions!
Our third day was spent exploring the charming streets of the historic district of Panama City. Once the domain of gangs and gangsters it is now a UNESCO site and it is as beautiful as I’d hoped and imagined it to be. The streets are narrow and the buildings and churches (many currently under restoration) are authentic and colonial. If it hadn’t been for the slow lines of traffic and the jam of taxis dropping off and picking up tourists, you could have imagined yourself whisked back in time a few swash-buckling centuries.
It was in the old town that I bought my Panama hat!
With the shop owner and proudly wearing my new Panama hat!
Finally finding our way through the shady maze of old town streets, we headed back to our hotel in the newer part of town and, in the intense and sweltering heat of the day, we stopped off at the marina to take some photos of the skyline. The views across the bay and the contrast between old and new from this vantage point was stunning.
The night before our two flights and a boat back to the island we enjoyed Chinese food. Tropical island life might be blissful, but a twice a week delivery of supplies and a diet of rice and beans and coconuts and fish for months on end, does make you appreciate a variety of delicious and spicy international food.
So now we are back on the island of Utila and we have another couple of months to enjoy living a Caribbean lifestyle before we make plans to head back across the sea to the US and onto the UK to visit our family and friends whom we haven’t seen for such a very long time.
It has been a wonderful long hot summer and I will especially treasure our fabulous few days exploring Panama.
Have you ever visited Panama City?
Have you visited the famous cross-country canal?
If not, is Panama on your travel radar?
The post Panama City – a modern metropolis and a vision of old world charm! appeared first on The Backpacking Housewife.
August 11, 2018
Celebrating our anniversary with His and Her travel tattoos!
While in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year we wanted to mark our wedding anniversary with his and her half-sleeve travel tattoos to represent our love for each other and for our nomadic lifestyle. We wanted our tattoos to show a compass and a map as the main theme with individual touches such as our astrology signs of Scorpio and Pisces. We wanted palm trees to represent our love of tropical places and three little birds in flight to represent our three boys flying the nest. I wanted a quill pen to represent my writing and my backpacking husband wanted a diver to represent his passion for scuba diving.
The result photographed raw after five hours under the needle!
We consulted with the very talented young artists and tattooists at The Tattoo Parlor Malaysia in Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur. It took many hours of consultation and skill and patience for them to fine-tune our ideas and to get the tattoo designs just right for us. During this time, tattoo artists Bruce and Oren Lee were busy designing, while Cheryl the owner of the shop was looking after us and bringing us coffee and food. The atmosphere in the shop was really friendly, fab, and fun.
The Tattoo Parlor Malaysia in Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur
These are our final approved designs
Tattoo artists Oren and Bruce Lee position the design templates
Then the tattooing began and after over eight hours in the shop, including five long hours in the chair and under the needle, we finally had the tattoos we had wanted and which meant so much to us. We were thrilled with the results. I have a few tattoos already but this was my backpacking husband’s first tattoo. I’m so proud of him and we both agreed it was worth the pain!
The outline is being tattooed and I’m in a bit of a sweat!
Each year, we like to do something special to mark our wedding anniversary. We’ve done lots of fun and crazy things and last year we celebrated by renewing our wedding vows in Las Vegas with Elvis as our minister. It was romantic crazy fun and you can read all about it HERE.
I wonder what we’ll do next year for our wedding anniversary?
Thank you to ace tattooists Bruce and Oren at The Tattoo Parlor Malaysia! We love our ‘his and her’ travel tattoos and we will wear them with pride. And now that our tattoos have healed – they look even better!
Do you have any tattoos?
Leave a comment in the box below. I’d love to hear from you!
The post Celebrating our anniversary with His and Her travel tattoos! appeared first on The Backpacking Housewife.
August 8, 2018
Glittering Kuala Lumpur – your gateway to Asia and beyond!
Kuala Lumpur (affectionately abbreviated to KL) is known as the Garden City and the cosmopolitan capital city of Malaysia. It is also being called the new gateway to South East Asia and it’s easy to see why. The city is a central hub for visitors travelling to Asia and beyond. It is also a city with an interesting history, great culture, amazing architecture, fabulous food, wonderful shopping – and some of the world’s most affordable five-star hotels. Yes really!
Kuala Lumpur Malaysia is being called the new gateway to South East Asia
For travellers and adventurers with a little time to spare and with a flexible agenda, it’s possible to use KL as an exciting and strategic hub, from which to fly on to so many other places relatively inexpensively. This is because you can fly throughout Asia and beyond on a budget-priced/flexible ticket with Air Asia from its own terminal at KLIA2 and from KLIA1 with a choice of many other airlines internationally.
Air Asia flies from its own terminal at KLIA2 throughout Asia and beyond
We recently flew on a budget-priced ticket with Air Asia to the beautiful Indonesian island of Bali. On another occasion, we flew to Singapore for the weekend to enjoy a Singapore Sling at the famous Long Bar at Raffles. On another trip, we flew off for a few nights to the Malaysian duty-free island of Langkawi. Penang is another popular destination within Malaysia (a foodie paradise) that is well worth experiencing and exploring from your base in KL.
This is why I absolutely agree with the new and popular opinion that KL is the new gateway to so many exciting cities throughout South East Asia and indeed the world!
I’ve been lucky enough to have visited KL many times over the past few years and I vividly remember my inaugural visit. It was a one-night stopover before I flew onto Cebu City in the Philippines. Arriving at night, and seeing the breathtaking sight of the Petronas Towers lighting up the KL cityscape through the window of a high-speed train from the airport, I sincerely wished I’d factored in more time to explore this impressive looking city.
My wish came true just a couple of weeks later when a typhoon cut short my planned trip through the Philippines. I returned to KL to stay right in the heart of KLCC – the city center – for a whole week. During this time, I made sure to get a ticket to take the lift to the top of the glittering Petronas Towers and to also walk across the famous sky bridge link that has been the location for so many action movies.
The glittering Petronas Twin Towers are a fabulous metaphor for Malaysia’s thriving economy
Floor 86 – top of the shop in the Petronas Towers…
The view from the top looking over the ‘Golden Triangle’ in KLCC
My most recent visit to KL was when my backpacking husband and I were enroute from Japan to Thailand and we used KL as a four-night stopover and a central meeting point to catch up with our son and his wife who live in South Korea. We all stayed in the Golden Triangle – KL’s main nightlife and shopping area – just steps away from the Petronas Towers at The Intercontinental hotel.
A club lounge family reunion at the Intercon in KL
You’ve planned your stopover in KL. What now?
Where to stay? Hotels – including the five-star ones – are incredibly affordable in KL compared to other cosmopolitan cities in the world. Boutique hotels, for those who prefer a more personal ambiance, are also sited in convenient city center locations. Do your research online and book with confidence knowing that the fabulous transport systems in KL will whisk you comfortably and most affordably to your destination.
The metropolitan transport system compliments KL with world-class KL Sentral. With its a mono-rail system, scheduled buses, and taxis (even more affordable are Uber/Grab taxis) and an excellent rail network, including a modern express train service linking the two international airports, swift access in and out of this cosmopolitan city is a real option even if you only have a limited stopover.
A modern fast mono-rail system makes it easy to get across the city.
See: The Tallest Twin Towers, The Sky Bridge, Malls, Forests, Temples, and Caves
The Petronas Twin Towers: I can’t help it – I get a rush of adrenaline every time I see the twin towers. They are the tallest twin structures in the world with both towers joined one hundred and seventy-five feet above street level by the fifty-eight-meter-long sky bridge. At the base of the towers is the Suria Mall – a very popular high-end shopping mall. At the top – at level eighty-six – is the observation deck. Do note that a pass is required to enter the observation deck and the sky bridge and visitor numbers are limited each day so do plan ahead. Your hotel will be able to advise and assist.
The Backpacking Housewife on the famous Sky Bridge!
The Menara KL Tower: The Menara Tower is another of Malaysia’s most recognisable landmarks. Built in the Bukit Nanas forest reserve, which is home to age-old trees including a hundred-year-old Jelutong tree and other plants indigenous to Malaysia’s tropical climate, the tower stands one hundred meters taller than the Petronas Towers, and it is visible from almost anywhere in KL. The Atmosphere 360 revolving restaurant is in the top section of the tower and the views from there are incredible!
Atmosphere 360 revolving restaurant is in the top of the Menara Tower.
There is so much to do in this city and in its surrounding areas that it is hard to know where to start and indeed where to finish. Online research is the key. The Batu Caves are KL’s most frequented tourist attractions. The cave is just a few miles outside the city center and is said to be some four hundred million years old. It houses an important one-hundred-year-old temple. If you are looking to do a little shopping in KL then you’ll be spoiled for choice. There are so many areas and street markets and air-conditioned malls that can turn your shopping experience into a retail therapy session. Pavilion Shopping Centre in Bukit Bintang is a luxurious shopping complex featuring all white marble, while at the entrance is the Pavilion Crystal Fountain, one of the most commonly photographed structures in the city. For an evening cocktail when the sun goes down I recommend the Trader’s Hotel sky-bar for its uninterrupted views of the Twin towers and the Golden Triangle that is the stunning city center of Kuala Lumpur.
To conclude… Kuala Lumpur is a fantastic place to schedule a stopover for sightseeing, dining, relaxing, and of course for shopping in its fabulous malls and street markets. There are hotels aplenty to suit every budget and, it has to be said again, that a luxury treat in KL (and in Malaysia in general) is far more affordable than you might think with such a favourable exchange rate on the Malaysian Ringgit (MYR). KL is one of my favourite cities in the world because it is beautiful, so centrally located in Asia, and so comparably affordable.
Have you ever been to Kuala Lumpur?
What were your impressions of the city?
Did you go to the top of the Petronas Towers?
Or are you planning a trip or a stopover in KL and have a question?
Leave a comment below – I’d love to hear from you!
The post Glittering Kuala Lumpur – your gateway to Asia and beyond! appeared first on The Backpacking Housewife.
August 4, 2018
The Hemingway House – Key West
As a writer myself, our visit to the Hemingway House was a highlight of a trip to Key West Florida. This was the home of Ernest Hemingway, the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954 “for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated with The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence he has exerted on contemporary style”. The house too is impressive and has the distinct air and rich ambience of old-world elegance.
The house is impressive and has the distinct air of old-world elegance.
A high brick boundary keeps the property private but the view from the first-floor wrap around porch takes in not only the garden but the adjacent street in what is an affluent residential part of town. I loved walking around the airy rooms and the book-lined hallways, taking in all the family photographs and the personal effects. I could almost pretend I was a house guest exploring the place while Ernest and Pauline (Hemingway’s second wife) had just popped out momentarily.
I could almost pretend I was a house guest exploring the place while Ernest and Pauline had just popped out.
The house gives the visitor a real feel for the life the Hemingway’s led in Key West during the 1930’s. Our tour guide happily gave out lots of insider information about the history of the house, the escapades of the children, the Hemingway marriage, the huge row over the swimming pool and Ernest Hemingway’s ‘last penny’.
Ernest and Pauline Hemingway
I loved walking around the airy rooms taking in all the family photographs and the personal effects.
The story is that the swimming pool which replaced what had been Ernest’s personal boxing ring was contracted at great expense by Pauline after she found out about her husband’s affair with Martha Gellhorn, his third wife to be. When Ernest came back from assignment to find out the exorbitant cost of the pool, he was reported to have thrown a penny onto the ground in front of Pauline, saying, ‘you’ve spent all but my last penny, so you might as well have that!’ Pauline had the penny set into the path where it lay. It is still there today.
The swimming pool replaced what had been Ernest’s personal boxing ring.
Another extraordinary feature of the house are all the cats that reside there. These are descendants of a six-toed cat called Snowball. One of Snowball’s kittens (named Snow White) was gifted to Ernest Hemingway by a salvage and shipwreck captain (a respected and official position in those days) called Harold Stanley Dexter. Ever since the six-toed gene has been passed down through all the generations of cats at the Hemingway house. All were named after Ernest’s famous friends. The cat in this photo is Rita Hayworth.
The six-toed gene has been passed down through generations of cats at the Hemingway house.
I was so engrossed and enthralled by the house and its history and the life of Hemingway, that the following day we visited the Hemingway exhibit in town. There were many exhibits and pictures and movie posters reflecting his work but the centrepiece is the bronze sculptor by Terry Jones (2005) which captures a young, enthusiastic and adventurous Hemingway, fishing off his beloved boat ‘Pilar’.
Hemingway in bronze fishing off his beloved boat ‘Pilar’.
Ernest Hemingway’s first visit to Key West in 1928 was only meant to a short stopover, but once he’d felt the sun on his face, inhaled the salty air and met the locals, he knew it would be his home with second wife Pauline.
Hemingway’s first visit to Key West in 1928 was only meant to be a short stopover.
He soon became an avid sports fisherman. In 1938 he established a world record for catching seven Marlin in one day. He also garnered a reputation for hard drinking with his new friends Josie ‘Sloppy Joe’ Russell, fisherman Eddie ‘Bra’ Saunders and his brother ‘Burge’ and later Toby Bruce who became his right-hand man and life-long companion.
I’ll give you a short tour of the Hemingway museum using my photos
A model of Hemingway’s beloved boat ‘Pilar’.
If you ever do find yourself in Florida I urge you to explore the Keys. We took a Greyhound Bus from Miami and stopped off in Key Largo for a couple of before heading across the famous bridges down to Key West. You can read about this trip HERE. There is so much to explore and lots to do there. The food is fabulous and the restaurants plentiful. In the Hemingway tradition, bars are a fun feature too. Sloppy Joe’s Bar is still there and a new addition is the first and original of Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville.
I loved finding out about one of my writer heroes and we adored Key West!
Author note: I so enjoyed meeting the six-toed cats that a fictional six-toed offspring features in my next romantic adventure novel ‘Island in the Sun’ – to be published later this year – the cat is aptly named ‘Hemingway’!
Have you ever explored the Hemingway House in Key West
Have you ever named a pet after someone famous?
Don’t hesitate to leave a comment – I love to hear from you!
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August 1, 2018
New Orleans – Jazz, blues, oyster bars, and voodoo!
We stayed in New Orleans for four nights in a gorgeous hotel in Chartres Street, the oldest neighbourhood the French Quarter, and the centre of all the action as far as we were concerned. We were just one street away from the infamous Bourbon Street so what better reason to drop our luggage and immediately make our way to the #1 tourist attraction… or so we thought.
Bourbon Street – the #1 tourist attraction?
It turns out that Rue Bourbon was named after the French royal family ‘The House of Bourbon’ rather than after my husband’s favourite tipple. Nowadays it is more famous for its tawdry strip clubs. We strolled the length of the street holding our nose most of the time against the stench of urine and vomit while averting our eyes from the scantily clad ladies. We stopped off for a couple of drinks and we did witness a passing ‘jazz funeral’ but soon decided that the action, as far as we were concerned, was elsewhere.
Rue Bourbon was actually named after the French royal family ‘House of Bourbon’ rather than after my husband’s favourite tipple.
Luckily, we soon discovered the delightfully picturesque Jackson Square just a block away in the opposite direction, with its street jazz bands, its ragtag collection of colourful entertainers and tarot readers. At the Square’s crown are three 18th-century architectural glories: the Cabildo a former city hall where the Louisiana Purchase was signed; St. Louis Cathedral and the Presbytère.
St. Louis Cathedral New Orleans
The one-time courthouse is now the flagship of the Louisiana State Museum and it was here that I came face to face with the so-called Witch Queen of New Orleans or rather a 1920’s painting of Marie Laveau by Frank Schneider. This very famous portrait is based on an 1835 painting (now lost) by George Catlin and had been an important plot feature in my book Voodoo Child (now part of a three book Voodoo Romance boxed set) a fictional story set in New Orleans that I wrote a few years ago sourcing information from the internet. It was a fabulous and rather surreal experience to walk in the footsteps of my fictional heroine and stand in front of the masterpiece myself!
In the footsteps of my fictional heroine: standing in front of a masterpiece!
That same evening we found Frenchman’s Street in the Faubourg Marigny, a historic neighbourhood a short walk from our hotel and to where the city’s music scene has now shifted. We had drinks in a bar listening to a traditional washboard blues band and then went on to the famous Snug Harbour Jazz Club and Bistro – paying a small cover charge to see a fabulous jazz, blues, gospel, and soul band. It was a truly unforgettable night and an amazing experience!
We had been told by friends that our New Orleans experience would not be complete without attending a ‘Crawfish Boil’ so the following evening we took a taxi downtown to The Maple Leaf Bar. We were a little nervous, wondering if we’d found the right bar, as we couldn’t hear any music. It turned out that we were a little early, so we again paid a small cover charge and bought a drink at the bar, while eyeing the long narrow table along the middle of the long narrow room. Soon lots of people started to arrive, buying drinks and congregating along the length of the table. Then the musicians arrived and climbed up on stage to do a tune-up. In no time at all the place was packed out and there was a commotion starting at the top of the table where a huge tin bathtub full of food – the Crawfish Boil – was being thrown onto the table. Several bathtubs later, the table was filled with crawfish, potatoes, corn cobs, and sausages, and a feeding frenzy ensued.
The Crawfish Boil!
It was crazy – it was fun – and it was delicious. Especially after a kind fellow diner demonstrated to me the correct and quickest way to eat the crawfish (which resembles a very small lobster). First, you pull off the head and discard it (on the floor or on the table!) suck on the headless body to extract the delicious juice/stock then quickly peel the shell and pop the crawfish meat straight into your mouth. It is a messy business!
Classic Louisiana Bayou Crawfish Boil Recipe:
Once the seasoned water comes to a boil in a large tin bath, add the potatoes, corn, garlic, and sausage. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Add the crawfish, cover, and cook for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the pot to sit, covered, for 10 minutes. Serve to the hungry masses by tipping the meal onto a scrubbed clean wooden table. No cutlery necessary!
It’s a messy business!
The next morning we took another walk through the streets of the Quarter, tipping back our heads to admire amazingly authentic 19th-century mansions and beautiful floral balcony apartments. We strolled along the banks of the Mississippi River to admire the river boats before stopping off for beignets (pronounced ‘Ben Yeah’) and coffee. Beignets are a New Orleans signature sweet pastry made from deep-fried dough sprinkled with sugar.
Beignets are a New Orleans signature pastry sprinkled with sugar.
A beautiful balcony in the French Quarter
We strolled along the banks of the Mississippi to admire the river boats
Later, we stopped off for at the French Market and ate baked oysters after which we explored the famously haunted side of the city, where the notable above-the-ground graves in ancient cemeteries were decorated with flowers and candles and voodoo coins in exchange for spiritual favours. Back on Frenchmen’s Street, feeling bewitched, we found spooky-looking voodoo shops and felt compelled to buy spells and tarot cards.
At The French Market to eat baked oysters!
We found spooky looking shops and felt compelled to buy spells and tarot cards.
With an early morning flight to prepare for we finished off our stay in New Orleans by eating out in the early evening at Irene’s Place on 539 St. Philips Street: a highly regarded Italian/French restaurant just a short walk from our hotel. On the outside, with a small swinging sign and modest canopy, Irene’s looks unpretentious – but don’t be fooled. Inside the atmosphere is of old-world decadence, the food is delicious, and the wine list fabulous. The restaurant opens at 5 p.m. but is so popular that’s almost impossible to get a table. Good luck and be prepared to drink wine while you wait because it comes highly recommended!
Irene’s Cuisine: the atmosphere is of old-world decadence, the food is delicious, and the wine list fabulous.
The essence of New Orleans:
It was the legendary jazz and blues music and the promise of fabulous Cajun food that first drew us to New Orleans. We chose to stay in the French Quarter because of the old-town atmosphere and the proximity to the places we planned to experience without having to hire a car. The city is diverse; a melting pot of culture and hedonism. Bourbon Street was quite a shock – but the rest of our New Orleans experience was just as I’d imagined it – if not even better. We stayed a total of four nights in The Big Easy and made the most of our time there – so this was a long enough stay for us. But you may have other reasons to visit New Orleans: The Carnival referred to as Mardi Gras, The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival commonly known as ‘Jazz Fest’, the Voodoo Experience aka ‘Voodoo Fest’, The Essence Music Festival or the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival. I could go on. New Orleans is like nowhere else I’ve ever been.
A Bucket List Destination?
Absolutely. I’d give it five buckets out of five!
Have you experienced N’Awlins for yourself?
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