Janice Horton's Blog, page 22
December 5, 2016
A fabulous weekend in KL with James and Sujeong Horton!
In mid-September my husband Trav and I flew from Vancouver Canada (via Montreal, Houston, and Tokyo) to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A total flight time of twenty-five hours and a leap in time of eight hours.
As we can never sleep on planes, you can imagine how exhausted and jetlagged we both were when we finally reached our hotel in KL! However, we did manage to get a good few hours sleep, before we had to dash back to the airport to meet up with our son James and his lovely wife Sujeong, who were flying in from South Korea to meet up with us in KL for the weekend.
Our son James and his lovely wife Sujeong, who flew from South Korea to KL to meet up with us for the weekend.
We hadn’t seen James and Sujeong since February of this year, when we were in South Korea for our grandson Aaron’s first birthday celebrations. Aaron wasn’t with them this time though, as this was a strictly grown-up affair, to help James and Sujeong celebrate their wedding anniversary.
We took the KLIA express train from the airport and a taxi to our hotel. We stayed at the Intercontinental, which is right in the centre of the city (KLCC) and just steps away from the stunning Petronas Twin Towers. Coming into the city at night, the world famous towers are lit up in white lights and they look truly magnificent!
At the hotel, James and Sujeong checked into their room, where we had arranged for a anniversary cake. The hotel staff did us proud by decorating their bed with red rose petals. Then it was cocktails and food and a wonderful opportunity to sit down together and chat and to catch up with each other’s busy lives.
Happy Anniversary to James and Sujeong!
The following day after a hearty breakfast, we headed out to go up to the top of the Petronas Twin Towers – the number one attraction in KL – and we also had tickets to walk across the skybridge that connects the towers at levels forty-one and forty-two. The views of the city from the top and from the bridge are breathtaking.
Looking up from the street at the Petronas Twin Towers
After lunch we hit the malls for some serious shopping and we had a ball.
Then it was back to our hotel for complimentary afternoon cocktails and tapas. After which, we enjoyed the luxury of our club rooms, until it was time to go out to dinner. We chose a Japanese restaurant for James and Sujeong’s anniversary dinner and it was a wonderful evening.
Happy Wedding Anniversary James and Sujeong
We had a fabulous weekend together, it went by too fast of course, but we made beautiful memories and we had a lot of fun. I hope it will not be too long before we can see James and Sujeong and our grandson Aaron and the rest of our South Korean family again.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading about our special weekend and seeing all my indulgent photos (some of which were taken by Sujeong). I enjoy using this blog as a travelogue, and my hope is that for many years to come, it will inspire those of you who follow our world travels to visit the many places I have enthused about. I also hope this blog will serve my family and myself as a detailed and personal travel memoir for the distant future, when maybe Trav and I are old and forgetful, or indeed no longer here.
Where next? James and Sujeong flew back home to South Korea and Trav and I left Malaysia early the next morning to fly to Bali.
This was our first ever trip into Indonesia and we were very excited.
First stop Bali for a few days, then we took a boat over to the three beautiful and tiny tropical islands off Lombok called The Gili’s, where the beaches are soft white sand and no motorised transport is allowed, and where most people get about using a boat or a pony and trap taxi/tuk-tuk or by just walking.
This photo taken by me on Gili Meno - the smaller of the three paradise Gili Islands
So join me here on the blog next time, when I will be sharing with you my truly amazing experiences in Bali and the Gili Islands, Indonesia.
Love, Janice
The End... well almost!
I’m excited to tell you that just a few days ago, after finally settling down somewhere long enough to get some work done, I have at long last finished writing my next romantic adventure novel entitled ‘Island in the Sun’.
I’ve now sent it off to my lovely editor for its first round of edits.
If you are not familiar with the publishing process and are wondering what this means exactly, my editor will read through the manuscript at this stage and then get back to me with a full assessment on whether, in her opinion, the story works, if the plot hangs together, and if the characters feel three dimensional and real to her.
She might suggest I rewrite particular scenes and she will look out for plot holes and gaffs and bloopers and the over-use of particular words and for continuity in the storyline. Then, I’ll either take on board what she has said, or not. I’m not obliged to accept her suggestions, but as she has been my editor for many years, I usually find she is absolutely spot on in her observations!
After I’ve read her assessment several times and mulled over her suggestions for improvement, I will work on the novel again.
The final stage of editing is when the the manuscript is checked over line by line to look out for errors and to correct layout and grammar and spelling.
My editor is very good at what she does and, once she has worked her magic, the manuscript will come winging its way back to me looking and reading like a proper novel.
Then and only then is it ready to be seen by you – the reader!
While I’m waiting for the assessment edit I’ll be keeping very busy indeed writing ‘the synopsis’ and ‘the blurb’ for Island In The Sun, which I know I will find very difficult to do.
The synopsis is used as a marketing tool to explain what happens in the book using just one or two pages of writing, while the blurb is the essence of the book in just one or two paragraphs, and is often seen on the back cover of the physical book and used as the book description for Amazon etc. So the words have to be chosen carefully!
I also have a travel feature to write for LLm (Loveahappyending Lifestyle Magazine) as part of my regular ‘Janice Horton’s – Dream, Explore, Discover… Travel’ which will be published on 11th December 2016.
This time, I will be writing about Kuala Lumpur, (known otherwise as KL and the gateway to South East Asia). KL is a city that I’m now fortunate to know very well indeed, having been there several times throughout 2016.
I also intend to catch up to date with my lack of blog posts here regarding my travel itinerary. My last travel post was about our amazing trip to Vancouver Canada (which you can read about HERE) .
So, my next blog post, will be about how we flew away from Canada (via Houston Texas and Tokyo Japan) to arrive (after twenty five hours in the air) at Kuala Lumpur, where we met up with our middle son James and his lovely wife Sujeong.
A quick stop over in Tokyo before we board our fight for KL
James and Sujeong and our grandson Aaron live in South Korea. We were meeting up with them in KL to help them celebrate their second wedding anniversary. Although, our beautiful grandson wasn’t with them on this occasion, as this was a grown up affair and what a wonderful and fun few days we had, sightseeing and shopping and eating and drinking – and so I warn you now that there will be lots of photos in my next post!
Helping James and Sujeong to celebrate their wedding anniversary in style.
Until next time,Love, Janice xx
I’ve now sent it off to my lovely editor for its first round of edits.
If you are not familiar with the publishing process and are wondering what this means exactly, my editor will read through the manuscript at this stage and then get back to me with a full assessment on whether, in her opinion, the story works, if the plot hangs together, and if the characters feel three dimensional and real to her.
She might suggest I rewrite particular scenes and she will look out for plot holes and gaffs and bloopers and the over-use of particular words and for continuity in the storyline. Then, I’ll either take on board what she has said, or not. I’m not obliged to accept her suggestions, but as she has been my editor for many years, I usually find she is absolutely spot on in her observations!
After I’ve read her assessment several times and mulled over her suggestions for improvement, I will work on the novel again.
The final stage of editing is when the the manuscript is checked over line by line to look out for errors and to correct layout and grammar and spelling.
My editor is very good at what she does and, once she has worked her magic, the manuscript will come winging its way back to me looking and reading like a proper novel.
Then and only then is it ready to be seen by you – the reader!
While I’m waiting for the assessment edit I’ll be keeping very busy indeed writing ‘the synopsis’ and ‘the blurb’ for Island In The Sun, which I know I will find very difficult to do.
The synopsis is used as a marketing tool to explain what happens in the book using just one or two pages of writing, while the blurb is the essence of the book in just one or two paragraphs, and is often seen on the back cover of the physical book and used as the book description for Amazon etc. So the words have to be chosen carefully!
I also have a travel feature to write for LLm (Loveahappyending Lifestyle Magazine) as part of my regular ‘Janice Horton’s – Dream, Explore, Discover… Travel’ which will be published on 11th December 2016.
This time, I will be writing about Kuala Lumpur, (known otherwise as KL and the gateway to South East Asia). KL is a city that I’m now fortunate to know very well indeed, having been there several times throughout 2016.
I also intend to catch up to date with my lack of blog posts here regarding my travel itinerary. My last travel post was about our amazing trip to Vancouver Canada (which you can read about HERE) .
So, my next blog post, will be about how we flew away from Canada (via Houston Texas and Tokyo Japan) to arrive (after twenty five hours in the air) at Kuala Lumpur, where we met up with our middle son James and his lovely wife Sujeong.
A quick stop over in Tokyo before we board our fight for KLJames and Sujeong and our grandson Aaron live in South Korea. We were meeting up with them in KL to help them celebrate their second wedding anniversary. Although, our beautiful grandson wasn’t with them on this occasion, as this was a grown up affair and what a wonderful and fun few days we had, sightseeing and shopping and eating and drinking – and so I warn you now that there will be lots of photos in my next post!
Helping James and Sujeong to celebrate their wedding anniversary in style.Until next time,Love, Janice xx
December 2, 2016
FREE BESTSELLER!
I'm building my 2017 Mailing List... in anticipation of sending out the OCCASIONAL newsletter in 2017 with news of my latest book releases and events and giveaways and special offers.
To get the ball rolling I'm giving everyone who subscribes to my mailing list a FREE BESTSELLER of mine that's filled with fun and top promo tips for authors and in fact anyone who wants to successfully promote, erm, I mean party, online.
How To Party Online is recommended reading for authors by top book bloggers and publishers as a proven marketing guide to successful online promotion.My Gift to you!'How To Party Online' is yours just for signing up to my mailing list!
This is the sign up link: eepurl.com/crtO0v
Note that there is also a link on this website on the top right sidebar.
My Promise To You
I promise not to spam you or drive you crazy in any way whatsoever - I'll only contact you if I have something interesting to say - and if you change your mind you can always click the easy to spot 'unsubscribe' button.
Get your #FREE #BESTSELLER #EBOOK with my compliments!
'How To Party Online' will be emailed you in PDF and Kindle format.
After you sign up using the sign-up form I'll be auto-notified and I'll drop you an email. Then How To Party Online is yours to keep.
Thanks! Love from Janice xx
What some Amazon reviewers are saying:
“How to Party online' is clear and concise, written with Janice's trademark humour, well-illustrated by personal examples and detailed timetables to take you step by step through the process.”
“Janice also adds a very nice personal touch to it all with her charm and humour. In fact it's like getting help from a friend. You really should get a copy, after all, who doesn't love a party?!”
“Janice's parties are fun, inventive and has those elements that are vital for promotion - reader participation and heaps of fun!”
“This book explains, step-by-step, how to prepare for a book launch and do it with style! What I particularly liked about this book is the style in which it's written and the fact that there is a timeline to the planning.”
DG Life Magazine. "Janice has made it her business to get stuck into the whole self-publishing malarkey. Savvy enough to realise it's not enough to simply write, she's studied social media marketing until it could be her specialist subject on Mastermind. She can plan a book launch, maximise publicity, keep the momentum going after the first initial flush, and perhaps most of all, she knows how to make the whole thing fun, which is no mean feat".
How To Party Online:
*Online parties are a fun way to launch your book or introduce your product and engage with your target audience.
*Social media applications are perfect forums for parties - the venue capacity is infinite, the guest list is global, and the fun and games can lead to bestselling success!
*This aim of this book is to show you how you can produce measurable results from your very first online party and while you are still working towards building up your social network.
*The purpose of this book is to walk and talk you through each step of the planning and implementation of four very different online promotional parties.
*Together we will look at how much work and effort is involved in implementing each step and we will experience the party format, explore the outcomes, and quantify all the successes.
*I'll show you how to make it lots of fun!
Comments from the party peeps themselves:
"I loved the parties because of the amazing fun and laughs we had - even if some of us ended up in twitter jail!"
"I liked the ways in which you involved others during these parties. They were great fun."
"Absolutely LOVE your blog parties!"
"The idea of having us post photos was brilliant in that it set up a series of interactions between lots of the different people who came - some of whom I'd never 'met' before."
"Love how you come up with such innovative ideas for each one."
"Great fun!"
"The party was a blast! I loved it."
"It was great being a part of something that involved so many different blogs. It was very unique and totally engaging!"
"I took part in the online party. What I enjoyed about it was reading all the other blogs that took part - everyone had something different."
"You have held some really fun and fab parties Janice. All have been great to join in!
"I've been to all of them and it would be difficult to pick out a favourite."
"What I think worked was that they were all different and each had an element of surprise."
"Asking 'guests' to do something specific ensured personal involvement - key to the success of any 'virtual' event."
"I enjoyed all your parties, Janice."
"The (party) was a lesson in how it should be done."
"A book of hints and tips is a great idea. Good luck with it!"
To get the ball rolling I'm giving everyone who subscribes to my mailing list a FREE BESTSELLER of mine that's filled with fun and top promo tips for authors and in fact anyone who wants to successfully promote, erm, I mean party, online.
How To Party Online is recommended reading for authors by top book bloggers and publishers as a proven marketing guide to successful online promotion.My Gift to you!'How To Party Online' is yours just for signing up to my mailing list!
This is the sign up link: eepurl.com/crtO0v
Note that there is also a link on this website on the top right sidebar.
My Promise To You
I promise not to spam you or drive you crazy in any way whatsoever - I'll only contact you if I have something interesting to say - and if you change your mind you can always click the easy to spot 'unsubscribe' button.
Get your #FREE #BESTSELLER #EBOOK with my compliments!
'How To Party Online' will be emailed you in PDF and Kindle format.
After you sign up using the sign-up form I'll be auto-notified and I'll drop you an email. Then How To Party Online is yours to keep.
Thanks! Love from Janice xx
What some Amazon reviewers are saying:
“How to Party online' is clear and concise, written with Janice's trademark humour, well-illustrated by personal examples and detailed timetables to take you step by step through the process.”
“Janice also adds a very nice personal touch to it all with her charm and humour. In fact it's like getting help from a friend. You really should get a copy, after all, who doesn't love a party?!”
“Janice's parties are fun, inventive and has those elements that are vital for promotion - reader participation and heaps of fun!”
“This book explains, step-by-step, how to prepare for a book launch and do it with style! What I particularly liked about this book is the style in which it's written and the fact that there is a timeline to the planning.”
DG Life Magazine. "Janice has made it her business to get stuck into the whole self-publishing malarkey. Savvy enough to realise it's not enough to simply write, she's studied social media marketing until it could be her specialist subject on Mastermind. She can plan a book launch, maximise publicity, keep the momentum going after the first initial flush, and perhaps most of all, she knows how to make the whole thing fun, which is no mean feat".
How To Party Online:
*Online parties are a fun way to launch your book or introduce your product and engage with your target audience.
*Social media applications are perfect forums for parties - the venue capacity is infinite, the guest list is global, and the fun and games can lead to bestselling success!
*This aim of this book is to show you how you can produce measurable results from your very first online party and while you are still working towards building up your social network.
*The purpose of this book is to walk and talk you through each step of the planning and implementation of four very different online promotional parties.
*Together we will look at how much work and effort is involved in implementing each step and we will experience the party format, explore the outcomes, and quantify all the successes.
*I'll show you how to make it lots of fun!
Comments from the party peeps themselves:
"I loved the parties because of the amazing fun and laughs we had - even if some of us ended up in twitter jail!"
"I liked the ways in which you involved others during these parties. They were great fun."
"Absolutely LOVE your blog parties!"
"The idea of having us post photos was brilliant in that it set up a series of interactions between lots of the different people who came - some of whom I'd never 'met' before."
"Love how you come up with such innovative ideas for each one."
"Great fun!"
"The party was a blast! I loved it."
"It was great being a part of something that involved so many different blogs. It was very unique and totally engaging!"
"I took part in the online party. What I enjoyed about it was reading all the other blogs that took part - everyone had something different."
"You have held some really fun and fab parties Janice. All have been great to join in!
"I've been to all of them and it would be difficult to pick out a favourite."
"What I think worked was that they were all different and each had an element of surprise."
"Asking 'guests' to do something specific ensured personal involvement - key to the success of any 'virtual' event."
"I enjoyed all your parties, Janice."
"The (party) was a lesson in how it should be done."
"A book of hints and tips is a great idea. Good luck with it!"
November 4, 2016
Bagpipes and Bullshot is on Countdown Promotion - 4th to 11th November!
Amazon Kindle BestsellerBagpipes and Bullshot
* Special Price Promotion *
Bagpipes and Bullshot is on Countdown Promotion from 4th to 11th November!
Look out for these special ads on social media and grab your copy now during the seven day countdown and while it's just 99p on Amazon UK and just 99c on Amazon US
Here are the Amazon links:
Amazon UK Amazon Dotcom
A contemporary tale told with timeless Scottish romanticism and a knowing sense of humour, Bagpipes and Bullshot twists an everyday love story with a whole cast of village eccentrics into an entertaining play on rural life.
Reviews
“Well done Janice Horton you have got the 5 star from me. What more can I ask for in a book than romance, light humour, descriptive writing and suspense.” Rea Book Reviews
“Bagpipes and Bullshot is an amusing, cleverly written, fun read with many moments that make you laugh out loud. Janice writes in such an expressive way in this romantic novel which I found very entertaining and an absolute pleasure to read.” Kim the Bookworm
“The plot is packed full of fun. Horton's great sense of humour shines through her skilfully drawn characters. A brilliantly entertaining read!” Talli Roland
“Scotland meets the Gulf coast of Texas in this enjoyable, light-hearted romance.” Kenneth Rosenberg
“This really is RomCom at its best in a rural setting.” Lou Graham
Bagpipes & Bullshot is available from Amazon for Kindle and also in paperback format
October 17, 2016
Beautiful British Columbia…
After our incredibly busy summer spent on the Caribbean island of Utila, the smallest of the Bay Islands, Honduras, where I was working on my next novel 'Island in the Sun' while my husband Trav gained his PADI Staff Instructor certification and did his IYT Boat Captain course, as well as teaching scuba diving to students with the Operation Wallacea project, it was so wonderful to be able to take some time out at the end of it all to visit my family in Canada.
My mum’s brother Ed and his wife Dawn and my cousins and their families live in British Columbia. We’ve seen Ed and Dawn several times over the years when they have visited my mum in England and they have stayed with us when we were living in Scotland. Each time we have seen them they have always extended an invitation to come and stay with them in Canada and so at long last we were able to accept their kind offer!
We are off to visit family in Vancouver BC!
We arrived in Vancouver on the 28th of August and Ed and Dawn met us at the airport. By happy coincidence, the day we arrived was also my cousin Elise’s eldest daughter’s 7thbirthday, so we were able to attend the party in Abbotsford straight from the airport and meet many family members whom we hadn’t met before including my little second cousins Brises and Jean. Afterwards, Ed and Dawn drove us back to their lovely home in the town of Hope. Yes, they really can say that they 'live in Hope!'
Birthday girl Brises with her fabulous birthday cake
Jean and Brises
Hope is a quirky small town surrounded by mountains and lakes. It is famous for its breath-taking scenery, its chainsaw carvings, and also for being the small town setting in the Sylvester Stallone movie ‘Rambo’.
Ed and Dawn can really say they 'live in Hope!'
With Ed and Dawn in the town of Hope BC
Me with a bear - one of Hope's many chainsaw carvings!
On Hope high street - a setting for the movie 'Rambo'
For our first day, the weather was sweltering - this part of Canada had been having a heatwave – and so we went down to the nearby Kawkawa Lake (http://www.kawkawalake.net) to go canoeing. It was the first time I’d tried canoeing and I absolutely loved it. It felt so amazing to be gliding so peacefully across this beautiful lake in such a fabulous landscape with Mount Hope soaring above us into the clear blue sky. It was one of those special ‘pinch me’ moments in life.
Canoodling on KawKawa Lake
On the way home we stopped off at Tim Horton's coffee shop (we wondered if he was a relative?) and also at a corn field to buy a bag of corn to go with our BBQ that evening – the cooking to be done by Trav and Ed – while Dawn and I enjoyed the hot tub!
Trav wonders if Tim Horton is a lost relative...
British Columbia is a place to indulge in outdoor activities and although the heatwave didn’t last very long into our trip, we managed to enjoy lots of outdoor hikes and trails, including the local historic Othello train tunnels that over one hundred years ago were cut into the granite mountain for ill-fated Kettle Valley Railway. (https://www.vancouvertrails.com/blog/othello-tunnels/). While we were there we watched from the bridges to see mature salmon trying to leap up waterfalls in the violently rushing river below. It was incredible!
We looked out for bears around Lynn Canyon Park and walked across it’s exciting suspension bridge (http://lynncanyon.ca). We explored The Great Blue Heron Reserve at Chilliwack (http://chilliwackblueheron.com) and mountain hikes in the wild and fabulous Manning Park (https://manningpark.com) where summer shorts could still be worn – albeit it was a bit chilly around the knees at the top of the mountain!
On other days, we visited the town of Harrison Hot Springs where we had fish and chips. We also indulged in visiting the local Dead Frog Brewery (http://www.deadfrog.ca) to sample their strange fruity craft beers with bizarre names like the classically named 'Big Stump' and the ‘Weeping Reaper’ - a lager flavoured with blood orange or 'The Nutty Uncle' which is a beer flavoured with peanut butter!
Sampling craft beer at the Dead Frog Brewery!
We also visited one of the many wineries in the area to try the local wines, which at the Backyard Winery (http://www.backyardvineyards.ca) were served with a platter of delicious cheeses. Mmmm cheese and wine – two of my very favourite things in life!
In the vineyard
All of these amazing experiences were punctuated with lovely evenings at home with Ed and Dawn, enjoying tasty BBQ food or Ed’s delicious Pad Thai, looking through old family photo albums and appreciating Ed and Dawn’s passion and talent for art by admiring their many paintings. Dawn plays the piano beautifully and entertained us by playing jazz and songs we could sing along to. It was all so wonderful and such fun!
My Uncle Ed and Aunt Dawn
A highlight with which we concluded our trip (although there must be of course a million other wonderful experiences to choose from in Canada) we drove north of Vancouver to go to Whistler (https://www.whistler.com) - home of Whistler Mountain – famous for its ski resort, for being the venue of the 2010 Winter Olympics and for having the Peak to Peak Gondola – the highest and longest gondola ride of its kind in the world!
(https://www.whistler.com/activities/peak-to-peak-gondola).
In September, pre-season, the only snow around is on the top of the mountain – which of course is also where the best view is - so I had to conquer my fear of heights to take two gondolas to reach the ski resort area up on Whistler Mountain and from there an open chair lift to the very top. It was breath-takingly beautiful but also incredibly scary to sit in a chair with your legs dangling and only a bar between you and the rocky and icy glaciers below!
I finally found a bear!
What an amazing time we had!Thank you so much to my lovely Uncle Ed and Aunt Dawn for being such fabulous fun, for being so hospitable, for taking the time to show us around their beautiful country and for so generously sharing their lovely home. Thank you also to my cousin Elise and her husband Doug and their girls Brises and Jean for welcoming us to their home and to Brises’ birthday party. It was a great opportunity for us to meet Doug’s family also. Thank you to Dawn’s sister Melanie and family for sharing their home with us in Vancouver when we were on route to Whistler. It was wonderful, while at Melanie’s house that we also got to meet lovely Helen, mum to the family, and also Dawn and Melanie’s sister Katherine. We are sorry that on this trip we never got to meet Stephen, the brother of the family, or my cousin Chris and his wife Trina and family as they live much further north in a town called Terrace, BC. Next time perhaps?
Trav and I on Cypress Mountain Road overlooking Vancouver
Trav and I flew from Vancouver back to Houston and from there we flew, like birds on migration, onto warmer climes in Asia, where Trav and I are planning new adventures. My next post will be about our wonderful weekend in Kuala Lumpur, meeting up with our middle son James and his lovely Korean wife Sujeong, as they celebrate their second wedding anniversary. After which, Trav and I flew on to Bali (our very first trek into Indonesia) and to the tropical paradise of the Gili Islands, three tiny islands off the island of Lombock, which are easy to get to by boat from Bali.
Until next time… do feel free to leave me a message/comment as I promise to reply as soon as I get an internet connection. If you are interesting in seeing more of my travel posts do please explore previous posts and also feel free to check out any of my e-magazine travel features by clicking on the picture icons/links on the sidebar. If you are interested in any of my books, then by clicking the 'preview' tabs you can read a sample of the book for free without going to the buy page on Amazon.
Love Janice xx
My mum’s brother Ed and his wife Dawn and my cousins and their families live in British Columbia. We’ve seen Ed and Dawn several times over the years when they have visited my mum in England and they have stayed with us when we were living in Scotland. Each time we have seen them they have always extended an invitation to come and stay with them in Canada and so at long last we were able to accept their kind offer!
We are off to visit family in Vancouver BC!We arrived in Vancouver on the 28th of August and Ed and Dawn met us at the airport. By happy coincidence, the day we arrived was also my cousin Elise’s eldest daughter’s 7thbirthday, so we were able to attend the party in Abbotsford straight from the airport and meet many family members whom we hadn’t met before including my little second cousins Brises and Jean. Afterwards, Ed and Dawn drove us back to their lovely home in the town of Hope. Yes, they really can say that they 'live in Hope!'
Birthday girl Brises with her fabulous birthday cake
Jean and Brises
Hope is a quirky small town surrounded by mountains and lakes. It is famous for its breath-taking scenery, its chainsaw carvings, and also for being the small town setting in the Sylvester Stallone movie ‘Rambo’.
Ed and Dawn can really say they 'live in Hope!'
With Ed and Dawn in the town of Hope BC
Me with a bear - one of Hope's many chainsaw carvings!
On Hope high street - a setting for the movie 'Rambo'For our first day, the weather was sweltering - this part of Canada had been having a heatwave – and so we went down to the nearby Kawkawa Lake (http://www.kawkawalake.net) to go canoeing. It was the first time I’d tried canoeing and I absolutely loved it. It felt so amazing to be gliding so peacefully across this beautiful lake in such a fabulous landscape with Mount Hope soaring above us into the clear blue sky. It was one of those special ‘pinch me’ moments in life.
Canoodling on KawKawa LakeOn the way home we stopped off at Tim Horton's coffee shop (we wondered if he was a relative?) and also at a corn field to buy a bag of corn to go with our BBQ that evening – the cooking to be done by Trav and Ed – while Dawn and I enjoyed the hot tub!
Trav wonders if Tim Horton is a lost relative...
British Columbia is a place to indulge in outdoor activities and although the heatwave didn’t last very long into our trip, we managed to enjoy lots of outdoor hikes and trails, including the local historic Othello train tunnels that over one hundred years ago were cut into the granite mountain for ill-fated Kettle Valley Railway. (https://www.vancouvertrails.com/blog/othello-tunnels/). While we were there we watched from the bridges to see mature salmon trying to leap up waterfalls in the violently rushing river below. It was incredible!
We looked out for bears around Lynn Canyon Park and walked across it’s exciting suspension bridge (http://lynncanyon.ca). We explored The Great Blue Heron Reserve at Chilliwack (http://chilliwackblueheron.com) and mountain hikes in the wild and fabulous Manning Park (https://manningpark.com) where summer shorts could still be worn – albeit it was a bit chilly around the knees at the top of the mountain!
On other days, we visited the town of Harrison Hot Springs where we had fish and chips. We also indulged in visiting the local Dead Frog Brewery (http://www.deadfrog.ca) to sample their strange fruity craft beers with bizarre names like the classically named 'Big Stump' and the ‘Weeping Reaper’ - a lager flavoured with blood orange or 'The Nutty Uncle' which is a beer flavoured with peanut butter!
Sampling craft beer at the Dead Frog Brewery!We also visited one of the many wineries in the area to try the local wines, which at the Backyard Winery (http://www.backyardvineyards.ca) were served with a platter of delicious cheeses. Mmmm cheese and wine – two of my very favourite things in life!
In the vineyard All of these amazing experiences were punctuated with lovely evenings at home with Ed and Dawn, enjoying tasty BBQ food or Ed’s delicious Pad Thai, looking through old family photo albums and appreciating Ed and Dawn’s passion and talent for art by admiring their many paintings. Dawn plays the piano beautifully and entertained us by playing jazz and songs we could sing along to. It was all so wonderful and such fun!
My Uncle Ed and Aunt DawnA highlight with which we concluded our trip (although there must be of course a million other wonderful experiences to choose from in Canada) we drove north of Vancouver to go to Whistler (https://www.whistler.com) - home of Whistler Mountain – famous for its ski resort, for being the venue of the 2010 Winter Olympics and for having the Peak to Peak Gondola – the highest and longest gondola ride of its kind in the world!
(https://www.whistler.com/activities/peak-to-peak-gondola).
In September, pre-season, the only snow around is on the top of the mountain – which of course is also where the best view is - so I had to conquer my fear of heights to take two gondolas to reach the ski resort area up on Whistler Mountain and from there an open chair lift to the very top. It was breath-takingly beautiful but also incredibly scary to sit in a chair with your legs dangling and only a bar between you and the rocky and icy glaciers below!
I finally found a bear!What an amazing time we had!Thank you so much to my lovely Uncle Ed and Aunt Dawn for being such fabulous fun, for being so hospitable, for taking the time to show us around their beautiful country and for so generously sharing their lovely home. Thank you also to my cousin Elise and her husband Doug and their girls Brises and Jean for welcoming us to their home and to Brises’ birthday party. It was a great opportunity for us to meet Doug’s family also. Thank you to Dawn’s sister Melanie and family for sharing their home with us in Vancouver when we were on route to Whistler. It was wonderful, while at Melanie’s house that we also got to meet lovely Helen, mum to the family, and also Dawn and Melanie’s sister Katherine. We are sorry that on this trip we never got to meet Stephen, the brother of the family, or my cousin Chris and his wife Trina and family as they live much further north in a town called Terrace, BC. Next time perhaps?
Trav and I on Cypress Mountain Road overlooking VancouverTrav and I flew from Vancouver back to Houston and from there we flew, like birds on migration, onto warmer climes in Asia, where Trav and I are planning new adventures. My next post will be about our wonderful weekend in Kuala Lumpur, meeting up with our middle son James and his lovely Korean wife Sujeong, as they celebrate their second wedding anniversary. After which, Trav and I flew on to Bali (our very first trek into Indonesia) and to the tropical paradise of the Gili Islands, three tiny islands off the island of Lombock, which are easy to get to by boat from Bali.
Until next time… do feel free to leave me a message/comment as I promise to reply as soon as I get an internet connection. If you are interesting in seeing more of my travel posts do please explore previous posts and also feel free to check out any of my e-magazine travel features by clicking on the picture icons/links on the sidebar. If you are interested in any of my books, then by clicking the 'preview' tabs you can read a sample of the book for free without going to the buy page on Amazon.
Love Janice xx
September 7, 2016
Island life, reef expeditions and a hurricane…
It seems like I blinked and three months went by...
After our last visa run to the US and Mexico (which you can read about HERE) we returned once more to the island of Utila, the smaller of the Bay Islands off Honduras for our fifth three-month-long stay on this beautiful Caribbean island since we first came here in 2014.
On our way back to Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras
Feeling excited to be back to our island home of Utila
Flying over Ecomarine Dive Centre!
During our previous three months on the island in March, April, and May of this year, my husband Trav completed a PADI Staff Instructor course at Coral View Dive Centre. This time around, we were returning to Utila so that he could take up a voluntary position teaching scuba diving to students on a reef conservation management expedition at Coral View Dive Centre.
Trav’s internship over a period of eight weeks during the summer was a fantastic opportunity for him to gain valuable experience working and teaching scuba diving as a PADI Staff Instructor.
When the expedition project was over, Trav also completed his IYT Powerboat Captain Course. I’m so proud of him - what a busy year in which he has achieved so much!
While Trav was busy teaching scuba diving, I was busy too working on my next novel entitled ‘Island in the Sun’ which I hope to publish later in 2016. During that time, when I was researching and writing about a hurricane in the story, we actually had a hurricane warning for our part of the eastern Caribbean Sea!
Hurricane Earl had started out as a tropical waveand, during my research watching the National Hurricane Centre website, I watched it progress to a tropical storm and then become a hurricane. Trav accused me of conjuring it up!
Hurricane Earl
Everyone on the island began to prepare for Earl’s arrival in earnest by cutting down trees that might fall on power lines or properties, moving items like diving equipment away from the dockside, battening up beachfront properties, taking boats to the safety of the lagoon, and of course planning hurricane parties and mixing hurricane cocktails.
With only a few hours to go before Earl was expected to hit our island, the hurricane changed course - and we got a day of wet windy weather instead. But of course other places were not so lucky and our friends in Belize reported quite a lot of damage to palm trees and property but thankfully no-one hurt.
Our last few weeks on the island were spent at a more leisurely pace, riding our bicycles around the island, getting a couple of new tattoos (me) and spending time on the dock with our lovely friends at Ecomarine Dive Centre – our home from home on Utila. We also had lots of parties on the beach and BBQ's and movie nights on the dock and we had lots of fun at carnival time. Once, I even got to swim in the sea close up to a pilot whale and her baby and several times I got to catch tarantulas in our house and put them back outside on the porch. All part of the amazing aspect of island life on Utila!
Our bikes parked outside Rehab Bar
Steve 'Daddio's' birthday beach party on Utila:
Photo by Dave Thatcher
Ecomarine dinner at Mango Tango Restaurant Utila
Trav and Steve at Ecomarine Dive Centre
Having a drink on the dock of the bay at Mango Tango
A tarantula spider in our house on Utila
With my friend Giselle on Carnival Day
Happy days out on the Salva Vida with Trav and Ecomarine
My new tattoos came about because a guest tattooist called Jeff Dott from the USA came to Utila and, after seeing his work, I decided to finally get my 'mermaid and diver' tattoo done on my thigh and, to cover the scar on my foot, a 'marine' montage with a shell, a starfish, a sand dollar and a sea turtle.
Getting my new tattoos - no pain no gain...
Leaving Honduras for the USA in late August
We left Utila in late August when our three month visa once again expired and we flew to the US. We stayed for a week in Florida on the east coast at Lauderdale by the Sea – a quiet little seaside town that is a bit of a throwback to the 1950’s. We rented a little self-catering apartment opposite the beach and we chilled out for the whole week.
On the beach in Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida
Our small rental and pool in Lauderdale by the Sea
The small town of Lauderdale by the Sea Florida
It was such a treat to go to a big US supermarket and to see the huge variety of foods available. After our long stay on a small Caribbean island that only got supplies by boat twice a week, we could hardly believe our eyes. We bought steaks and sausages and cheese and vegetables and lots of other fresh yummy foods.
It was such a treat to buy a variety of fresh foods in the US!
Trav at the BBQ
We enjoyed shopping for food and cooking for ourselves in the BBQ back at our apartment. We did eat out a couple of times however and we took walks on the beach and lazed around in the sun at the pool and we slept - we did a lot of sleeping to make up for the sleep loss on Utila - where we were woken every morning by our natural alarm clock of ear-piercingly loud cockerels crowing outside our bedroom window at around 4.30am!
A view of the beach from Aruba restaurant
Having beers and burgers and enjoying live music at Whisky Tango Bar in Fort Lauderdale
Revived and refreshed, we set off on our next adventure by flying from Fort Lauderdale to Vancouver Canada, where we were to stay with family for the next two weeks. My Uncle Ed (my mum’s brother) and his wife Dawn have, over the years, often invited us over to stay with them at their home in Hope, British Columbia, so we thought we’d take them up on their kind offer at long last and visit.
Canoedling in British Columbia Canada
So do pop back soon to catch up with our exciting first ever trip to Canada!
Janice xx
After our last visa run to the US and Mexico (which you can read about HERE) we returned once more to the island of Utila, the smaller of the Bay Islands off Honduras for our fifth three-month-long stay on this beautiful Caribbean island since we first came here in 2014.
On our way back to Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras
Feeling excited to be back to our island home of Utila
Flying over Ecomarine Dive Centre!During our previous three months on the island in March, April, and May of this year, my husband Trav completed a PADI Staff Instructor course at Coral View Dive Centre. This time around, we were returning to Utila so that he could take up a voluntary position teaching scuba diving to students on a reef conservation management expedition at Coral View Dive Centre.
Trav’s internship over a period of eight weeks during the summer was a fantastic opportunity for him to gain valuable experience working and teaching scuba diving as a PADI Staff Instructor.
When the expedition project was over, Trav also completed his IYT Powerboat Captain Course. I’m so proud of him - what a busy year in which he has achieved so much!
While Trav was busy teaching scuba diving, I was busy too working on my next novel entitled ‘Island in the Sun’ which I hope to publish later in 2016. During that time, when I was researching and writing about a hurricane in the story, we actually had a hurricane warning for our part of the eastern Caribbean Sea!
Hurricane Earl had started out as a tropical waveand, during my research watching the National Hurricane Centre website, I watched it progress to a tropical storm and then become a hurricane. Trav accused me of conjuring it up!
Hurricane Earl
Everyone on the island began to prepare for Earl’s arrival in earnest by cutting down trees that might fall on power lines or properties, moving items like diving equipment away from the dockside, battening up beachfront properties, taking boats to the safety of the lagoon, and of course planning hurricane parties and mixing hurricane cocktails.
With only a few hours to go before Earl was expected to hit our island, the hurricane changed course - and we got a day of wet windy weather instead. But of course other places were not so lucky and our friends in Belize reported quite a lot of damage to palm trees and property but thankfully no-one hurt.
Our last few weeks on the island were spent at a more leisurely pace, riding our bicycles around the island, getting a couple of new tattoos (me) and spending time on the dock with our lovely friends at Ecomarine Dive Centre – our home from home on Utila. We also had lots of parties on the beach and BBQ's and movie nights on the dock and we had lots of fun at carnival time. Once, I even got to swim in the sea close up to a pilot whale and her baby and several times I got to catch tarantulas in our house and put them back outside on the porch. All part of the amazing aspect of island life on Utila!
Our bikes parked outside Rehab Bar
Steve 'Daddio's' birthday beach party on Utila:Photo by Dave Thatcher
Ecomarine dinner at Mango Tango Restaurant Utila
Trav and Steve at Ecomarine Dive Centre
Having a drink on the dock of the bay at Mango Tango
A tarantula spider in our house on Utila
With my friend Giselle on Carnival Day
Happy days out on the Salva Vida with Trav and EcomarineMy new tattoos came about because a guest tattooist called Jeff Dott from the USA came to Utila and, after seeing his work, I decided to finally get my 'mermaid and diver' tattoo done on my thigh and, to cover the scar on my foot, a 'marine' montage with a shell, a starfish, a sand dollar and a sea turtle.
Getting my new tattoos - no pain no gain...
Leaving Honduras for the USA in late AugustWe left Utila in late August when our three month visa once again expired and we flew to the US. We stayed for a week in Florida on the east coast at Lauderdale by the Sea – a quiet little seaside town that is a bit of a throwback to the 1950’s. We rented a little self-catering apartment opposite the beach and we chilled out for the whole week.
On the beach in Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida
Our small rental and pool in Lauderdale by the Sea
The small town of Lauderdale by the Sea FloridaIt was such a treat to go to a big US supermarket and to see the huge variety of foods available. After our long stay on a small Caribbean island that only got supplies by boat twice a week, we could hardly believe our eyes. We bought steaks and sausages and cheese and vegetables and lots of other fresh yummy foods.
It was such a treat to buy a variety of fresh foods in the US!
Trav at the BBQWe enjoyed shopping for food and cooking for ourselves in the BBQ back at our apartment. We did eat out a couple of times however and we took walks on the beach and lazed around in the sun at the pool and we slept - we did a lot of sleeping to make up for the sleep loss on Utila - where we were woken every morning by our natural alarm clock of ear-piercingly loud cockerels crowing outside our bedroom window at around 4.30am!
A view of the beach from Aruba restaurant
Having beers and burgers and enjoying live music at Whisky Tango Bar in Fort LauderdaleRevived and refreshed, we set off on our next adventure by flying from Fort Lauderdale to Vancouver Canada, where we were to stay with family for the next two weeks. My Uncle Ed (my mum’s brother) and his wife Dawn have, over the years, often invited us over to stay with them at their home in Hope, British Columbia, so we thought we’d take them up on their kind offer at long last and visit.
Canoedling in British Columbia CanadaSo do pop back soon to catch up with our exciting first ever trip to Canada!
Janice xx
June 14, 2016
Who is Janey Travis….?
Now that we are back here on the island for the summer, I’m focussing with renewed vigour on my writing career.
Those of you who are authors will know that writing books and marketing them requires time and effort and expertise no matter how you are published, yet as skill sets they are poles apart, one being creative and the other being - well, necessary.
Right now I’m busy working on a brand new romantic adventure novel entitled Island in the Sun, which will be released later in 2016, and I’m also taking a good hard look at my past year’s sales results and reports.
Happily, my 2015 release Castaway in the Caribbean has done very well. It was a #1 Kindle bestseller in its genre category on Amazon and has remained in the top 20 of that list for most of the time since. It was also shortlisted for the prestigious Love Story Awards in London in November 2015. My other two romantic adventure novels - Bagpipes and Bullshotand Reaching for the Stars consistently do well, regularly featuring in bestseller lists on Amazon.
BUT….
The BIG BUT concerns my voodoo romance e-book stories How Do You Voodoo?, Voodoo Wedding and Voodoo Child, which despite being bestsellers during their launch periods on Amazon and garnering fabulous reviews and many five star ratings – are hardly selling at all.
So I’m writing this post to explain why my voodoo romance books have recently been withdrawn from sale on Amazon. This is because they are soon to be being reincarnated, rebranded, and reissued as a novel entitled I Need A Doctor by Janey Travis.
Unlike this trilogy, which was only ever published in Kindle format on Amazon - I Need a Doctor will be published in all ebook formats and will be available worldwide not only from Amazon but from Kobo and with Apple for iBooks and with dozens of other premium distribution outlets.
It will also be immediately available from its launch day to order in paperback format for those who prefer a real book reading experience.
The information in this blog post will be shared/tweeted/and promoted on my social media platforms - as it is important to me to sincerely thank to all those readers who have supported me by buying and reading and reviewing my ‘voodoo romance’ books over the past couple of years and also to ISSUE A STATEMENT to the same that I Need a Doctor by Janey Travis is a rebranding of my voodoo romance series edited to form a novel length book.
I Need a Doctor will be available to pre-order as an ebook in all the formats mentioned from 1st July 2016. It will be officially published/ launched and be available for instant ebook download from 15th July 2016.
So who is Janey Travis? She is me!
You can follow Janey Travis on:
https://www.facebook.com/janeytravisbooks
https://twitter.com/janey_travis
Website (under construction just now)www.janeytravis.co.uk
The following is aimed at those who might be interested in knowing the details of this book marketing strategy, reasons for rebranding, and for using a pen name:
I noted how sales had slowed with How Do You Voodoo?, Voodoo Wedding and Voodoo Child at the start of last year when some in the writing industry were speculating that novellas – shorter length novels - were now declining in popularity.
I didn’t want to give up on these stories - as I’m proud of them, I enjoyed writing them, and many readers have left reviews to say they liked them too. Indeed, I’m planning on writing a sequel. So I studied the eBook market and digital reading trends and I also asked author friends for their advice on why these particular books were not selling and this is what I discovered:
I’m not reaching my target readership. My other books are being successful marketed to readers who enjoy reading romantic adventure stories. BUT my three ‘voodoo romance’ books have been written in in a totally different style and would be better categorised under Romantic Comedy Fiction or Chick-Lit Genre Fiction.
Voodoo: I have been advised by those in the industry that there is a general aversion to the word voodoo in social media and many of my promotional posts containing the word voodoo and the hashtag #voodoo have either been rejected or have failed.
So what am I going to do about it?
My strategy at this time is to completely rebrand these stories as one complete novel. I’m giving the novel a new title of I Need a Doctor.
I’ve had a new cover designed that will separate this book from my current branding style, so that it can readily appeal to a reader who specifically enjoys a light-hearted chick-lit style romantic comedy.
I’m taking a chance on coming away from exclusivity with Amazon for I Need a Doctor and distributing with all premium book outlets for both ebooks and for physical books.
I’ve acquired a pen name: I’m going to continue to write Romantic Adventure fiction under my own name of Janice Horton and Romantic Comedy fiction under the pen name of Janey Travis.
So who is Janey Travis?She is me!Please wish me luck!
Janice xx
Those of you who are authors will know that writing books and marketing them requires time and effort and expertise no matter how you are published, yet as skill sets they are poles apart, one being creative and the other being - well, necessary.
Right now I’m busy working on a brand new romantic adventure novel entitled Island in the Sun, which will be released later in 2016, and I’m also taking a good hard look at my past year’s sales results and reports.
Happily, my 2015 release Castaway in the Caribbean has done very well. It was a #1 Kindle bestseller in its genre category on Amazon and has remained in the top 20 of that list for most of the time since. It was also shortlisted for the prestigious Love Story Awards in London in November 2015. My other two romantic adventure novels - Bagpipes and Bullshotand Reaching for the Stars consistently do well, regularly featuring in bestseller lists on Amazon.
BUT….
The BIG BUT concerns my voodoo romance e-book stories How Do You Voodoo?, Voodoo Wedding and Voodoo Child, which despite being bestsellers during their launch periods on Amazon and garnering fabulous reviews and many five star ratings – are hardly selling at all.
So I’m writing this post to explain why my voodoo romance books have recently been withdrawn from sale on Amazon. This is because they are soon to be being reincarnated, rebranded, and reissued as a novel entitled I Need A Doctor by Janey Travis.
Unlike this trilogy, which was only ever published in Kindle format on Amazon - I Need a Doctor will be published in all ebook formats and will be available worldwide not only from Amazon but from Kobo and with Apple for iBooks and with dozens of other premium distribution outlets.
It will also be immediately available from its launch day to order in paperback format for those who prefer a real book reading experience.
The information in this blog post will be shared/tweeted/and promoted on my social media platforms - as it is important to me to sincerely thank to all those readers who have supported me by buying and reading and reviewing my ‘voodoo romance’ books over the past couple of years and also to ISSUE A STATEMENT to the same that I Need a Doctor by Janey Travis is a rebranding of my voodoo romance series edited to form a novel length book.
I Need a Doctor will be available to pre-order as an ebook in all the formats mentioned from 1st July 2016. It will be officially published/ launched and be available for instant ebook download from 15th July 2016.
So who is Janey Travis? She is me!
You can follow Janey Travis on:
https://www.facebook.com/janeytravisbooks
https://twitter.com/janey_travis
Website (under construction just now)www.janeytravis.co.uk
The following is aimed at those who might be interested in knowing the details of this book marketing strategy, reasons for rebranding, and for using a pen name:
I noted how sales had slowed with How Do You Voodoo?, Voodoo Wedding and Voodoo Child at the start of last year when some in the writing industry were speculating that novellas – shorter length novels - were now declining in popularity.
I didn’t want to give up on these stories - as I’m proud of them, I enjoyed writing them, and many readers have left reviews to say they liked them too. Indeed, I’m planning on writing a sequel. So I studied the eBook market and digital reading trends and I also asked author friends for their advice on why these particular books were not selling and this is what I discovered:
I’m not reaching my target readership. My other books are being successful marketed to readers who enjoy reading romantic adventure stories. BUT my three ‘voodoo romance’ books have been written in in a totally different style and would be better categorised under Romantic Comedy Fiction or Chick-Lit Genre Fiction.
Voodoo: I have been advised by those in the industry that there is a general aversion to the word voodoo in social media and many of my promotional posts containing the word voodoo and the hashtag #voodoo have either been rejected or have failed.
So what am I going to do about it?
My strategy at this time is to completely rebrand these stories as one complete novel. I’m giving the novel a new title of I Need a Doctor.
I’ve had a new cover designed that will separate this book from my current branding style, so that it can readily appeal to a reader who specifically enjoys a light-hearted chick-lit style romantic comedy.
I’m taking a chance on coming away from exclusivity with Amazon for I Need a Doctor and distributing with all premium book outlets for both ebooks and for physical books.
I’ve acquired a pen name: I’m going to continue to write Romantic Adventure fiction under my own name of Janice Horton and Romantic Comedy fiction under the pen name of Janey Travis.
So who is Janey Travis?She is me!Please wish me luck!
Janice xx
May 20, 2016
A whirlwind of adventure and romance..
What a whirlwind of adventure and romance the past few weeks have been! Trav and I left our Caribbean island home of Utila on a visa-run to the USA, where we celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary by renewing our wedding vows in Las Vegas, took a 600 mile round trip on a bus to drive over the Hoover Dam and travel along ‘the mother road’ of Route 66 before exploring the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and grabbing a last minute flight to Mexico for a second honeymoon.
Yes, really, it all happened exactly like that - although, when we set off, all we had was an 18 day window, a tight budget, a low cost flight to Sin City and a deal-of-the-day hotel reservation.
This time last year, in May 2015, we also had to do a visa-run/wedding anniversary trip and we'd flown to Miami Florida for Memorial Day weekend and then took a Greyhound Bus down to Key Largo and then onto Key West – where we spent our wedding anniversary. Afterwards we'd flown to New Orleans for a few days before going to the Bahamas and staying in a rental apartment just off Cable Beach, Nassau. It had all been amazing.
This year we decided to explore more of the USA and at the same time do something we had been talking about doing for years - renewing our wedding vows in Vegas – with Elvis.
We were SO excited about going to Vegas. It was our first ever visit and I kept thinking of all the movies I’d seen and all the TV shows about the casinos and the iconic hotels like the Bellagio, the Venetian, Caesars Palace, the MGM Grand. It was just as fabulous as we expected and we must have walked at least fifteen miles up and down The Strip that first day. Happily, our aching feet were relieved with all the complimentary drinks we were served in the Casinos while we gambled away a few dollars and won them back again!
All this excitement gives you a hearty appetite and we found the best value and most delicious dining was at the ‘big name’ hotel dinner buffets. We tried the Bellagio and the Wynn – the Wynn won – and their endless pours of champagne and wine made the gourmet food even more delicious.
The next day was our much anticipated special day - our second wedding day. We chose the Graceland Wedding Chapel, a traditional and also famous wedding chapel that offered Elvis themed weddings.
We had a stretch limousine to pick us up from our hotel. Ridiculously, I was bursting with excitement before I even saw it. Our driver had phoned to say, that when he picked us up, he would have to leave the car at the end of the drive AS THE CAR WAS TOO LONG for him to make the turn into the hotel’s circular driveway!
At the wedding chapel. I was given a red rose bouquet and Trav a red rose button hole. Elvis walked me up the aisle and sang a few classic songs while we joined in and danced. It was crazy fun!
As well as our wedding vows,we also recited the ‘Elvis vows’. Trav promised to Love Me Tender and not to leave me at the Heartbreak Hotel and I promised not to step on his Blue Suede Shoes or treat him like a Hound Dog. And the whole thing is on video!
The next day we were up early – 5am – as we had booked an excursion to the Grand Canyon. We chose to take a bus tour to the South Rim – a 600 mile round trip - but which offers a wider and more spectacular view of the canyon and also takes in the spectacular Hoover Dam and part of the famous ‘mother road’ of Route 66.
It was a long and exhausting day – but so worth it to walk the trail from Mather Point to Bright Angel Lodge along the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
Another big tick off the bucket list for sure!
As I mentioned, we hadn’t yet booked a flight out of Vegas, and because we were feeling tired from all our exciting activities, we decided to stay in Vegas one more night just so we could slow down, sleep in late, and have some time to discuss and plan the next part of our trip because we still had a couple of weeks before we needed to return to Utila.
We looked into going to San Francisco – another destination on our bucket list. I’d love to see the Golden Gate Bridge, all those famously steep roads and tramcars, and Alcatraz. Flight prices seemed reasonable but hotel prices were prohibitively expensive for our budget. So we looked at heading east instead using budget flights and Greyhound Buses to get to Nashville, to Louisville, and Lexington in Tennessee, because Trav had always wanted to do The Bourbon Trail. But again, on this occasion anyway, both logistically and financially, it seemed to be out of our reach.
So we looked outside the USA instead and on the internet we found a bargain flight to Cancun. Mexico is a country we had yet to explore and certainly a place that ticked all the boxes for sun and fun and as a ‘honeymoon’ destination. We struck lucky again and managed to also book a bargain all-inclusive hotel resort in Cozumel – an island just off the Mexican coast which seemed easy to reach from Cancun via a public bus to Playa del Carmen, a ferry over to Cozumel Island, and a taxi to our resort.
After an amazing 6 nights and 7 days of eating, drinking, and lazing on the beach or by the hotel pool, we decided to add a little adventure and some culture into the holiday mix, as we discovered there were Mayan ruins to explore just a couple of hours away in Tulum.
We checked out early the next morning (made difficult by the horrible hangover I was nursing from partying with our new friends by the pool bar the night before) and we took a ferry back over to the mainland and then a public bus down to Tulum.
Then we had a flurry of a drama at Tulum when we stepped off the bus and it promptly drove off with our luggage. We ended up chasing it across town on another bus until we managed to catch up with it and retrieve our bags!
In Tulum we stayed in a gorgeous little roadside hotel. It didn’t look like much from the outside but its few rooms were clean and comfortable. The place had a rich history and was atmospheric with lots of old photos of Mexican bandits and antique guns displayed on the walls!
The hotel offered us bicycles to get to the ruins – which would have been a good idea early in the morning but by this time it was mid-afternoon and blisteringly hot – so we opted for a short taxi ride instead.
Seeing the Mayan ruins first hand and walking around the ancient site at Tulum was a wonderful experience; for me it was akin to walking around the ruins of old castles in Scotland, seeing the great pyramids in Egypt, or visiting the sacred Buddhist temples of Thailand. I do love old places and the feel of history they evoke and so I now wished we’d had the time to take in the great Mayan step pyramid ruins at Chichen Itza, which were only a few hours away from Tulum, and to visit and swim in the many Cenotes, the fresh water pools and caves in the region. Oh well, places and adventures for another visit to Mexico, perhaps?
It was time to make our way back to Cancun, to Houston, and to home.
We’d experienced another amazing trip, had another fabulous and exciting adventure, and made a few more ticks off our bucket list.
What’s next? Well, Trav has some very exciting diving commitments over the next few months and I have a new book to finish writing. Then, as the end of the year and the rainy season approaches, and another visa-run is required, we will no doubt fly away again like birds on migration to another place and on another adventure.
Until then, I’ll continue to post about island life, about writing and my progress on the new book. I’m excited because my lovely cover designer has now produced the cover for Island in the Sun – and it looks fabulous – but I feel I must actually produce more of the novel before I can legitimately show it to you!
Please do feel free to leave a comment or ask a question or tell me about your own exciting plans and adventures – I’d love to hear from you.
Love, Janice xx
Yes, really, it all happened exactly like that - although, when we set off, all we had was an 18 day window, a tight budget, a low cost flight to Sin City and a deal-of-the-day hotel reservation.
This time last year, in May 2015, we also had to do a visa-run/wedding anniversary trip and we'd flown to Miami Florida for Memorial Day weekend and then took a Greyhound Bus down to Key Largo and then onto Key West – where we spent our wedding anniversary. Afterwards we'd flown to New Orleans for a few days before going to the Bahamas and staying in a rental apartment just off Cable Beach, Nassau. It had all been amazing.
This year we decided to explore more of the USA and at the same time do something we had been talking about doing for years - renewing our wedding vows in Vegas – with Elvis.
We were SO excited about going to Vegas. It was our first ever visit and I kept thinking of all the movies I’d seen and all the TV shows about the casinos and the iconic hotels like the Bellagio, the Venetian, Caesars Palace, the MGM Grand. It was just as fabulous as we expected and we must have walked at least fifteen miles up and down The Strip that first day. Happily, our aching feet were relieved with all the complimentary drinks we were served in the Casinos while we gambled away a few dollars and won them back again!
All this excitement gives you a hearty appetite and we found the best value and most delicious dining was at the ‘big name’ hotel dinner buffets. We tried the Bellagio and the Wynn – the Wynn won – and their endless pours of champagne and wine made the gourmet food even more delicious.
The next day was our much anticipated special day - our second wedding day. We chose the Graceland Wedding Chapel, a traditional and also famous wedding chapel that offered Elvis themed weddings.
We had a stretch limousine to pick us up from our hotel. Ridiculously, I was bursting with excitement before I even saw it. Our driver had phoned to say, that when he picked us up, he would have to leave the car at the end of the drive AS THE CAR WAS TOO LONG for him to make the turn into the hotel’s circular driveway!
At the wedding chapel. I was given a red rose bouquet and Trav a red rose button hole. Elvis walked me up the aisle and sang a few classic songs while we joined in and danced. It was crazy fun!
As well as our wedding vows,we also recited the ‘Elvis vows’. Trav promised to Love Me Tender and not to leave me at the Heartbreak Hotel and I promised not to step on his Blue Suede Shoes or treat him like a Hound Dog. And the whole thing is on video!
The next day we were up early – 5am – as we had booked an excursion to the Grand Canyon. We chose to take a bus tour to the South Rim – a 600 mile round trip - but which offers a wider and more spectacular view of the canyon and also takes in the spectacular Hoover Dam and part of the famous ‘mother road’ of Route 66.
It was a long and exhausting day – but so worth it to walk the trail from Mather Point to Bright Angel Lodge along the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
Another big tick off the bucket list for sure!
As I mentioned, we hadn’t yet booked a flight out of Vegas, and because we were feeling tired from all our exciting activities, we decided to stay in Vegas one more night just so we could slow down, sleep in late, and have some time to discuss and plan the next part of our trip because we still had a couple of weeks before we needed to return to Utila.
We looked into going to San Francisco – another destination on our bucket list. I’d love to see the Golden Gate Bridge, all those famously steep roads and tramcars, and Alcatraz. Flight prices seemed reasonable but hotel prices were prohibitively expensive for our budget. So we looked at heading east instead using budget flights and Greyhound Buses to get to Nashville, to Louisville, and Lexington in Tennessee, because Trav had always wanted to do The Bourbon Trail. But again, on this occasion anyway, both logistically and financially, it seemed to be out of our reach.
So we looked outside the USA instead and on the internet we found a bargain flight to Cancun. Mexico is a country we had yet to explore and certainly a place that ticked all the boxes for sun and fun and as a ‘honeymoon’ destination. We struck lucky again and managed to also book a bargain all-inclusive hotel resort in Cozumel – an island just off the Mexican coast which seemed easy to reach from Cancun via a public bus to Playa del Carmen, a ferry over to Cozumel Island, and a taxi to our resort.
After an amazing 6 nights and 7 days of eating, drinking, and lazing on the beach or by the hotel pool, we decided to add a little adventure and some culture into the holiday mix, as we discovered there were Mayan ruins to explore just a couple of hours away in Tulum.
We checked out early the next morning (made difficult by the horrible hangover I was nursing from partying with our new friends by the pool bar the night before) and we took a ferry back over to the mainland and then a public bus down to Tulum.
Then we had a flurry of a drama at Tulum when we stepped off the bus and it promptly drove off with our luggage. We ended up chasing it across town on another bus until we managed to catch up with it and retrieve our bags!
In Tulum we stayed in a gorgeous little roadside hotel. It didn’t look like much from the outside but its few rooms were clean and comfortable. The place had a rich history and was atmospheric with lots of old photos of Mexican bandits and antique guns displayed on the walls!
The hotel offered us bicycles to get to the ruins – which would have been a good idea early in the morning but by this time it was mid-afternoon and blisteringly hot – so we opted for a short taxi ride instead.
Seeing the Mayan ruins first hand and walking around the ancient site at Tulum was a wonderful experience; for me it was akin to walking around the ruins of old castles in Scotland, seeing the great pyramids in Egypt, or visiting the sacred Buddhist temples of Thailand. I do love old places and the feel of history they evoke and so I now wished we’d had the time to take in the great Mayan step pyramid ruins at Chichen Itza, which were only a few hours away from Tulum, and to visit and swim in the many Cenotes, the fresh water pools and caves in the region. Oh well, places and adventures for another visit to Mexico, perhaps?
It was time to make our way back to Cancun, to Houston, and to home.
We’d experienced another amazing trip, had another fabulous and exciting adventure, and made a few more ticks off our bucket list.
What’s next? Well, Trav has some very exciting diving commitments over the next few months and I have a new book to finish writing. Then, as the end of the year and the rainy season approaches, and another visa-run is required, we will no doubt fly away again like birds on migration to another place and on another adventure.
Until then, I’ll continue to post about island life, about writing and my progress on the new book. I’m excited because my lovely cover designer has now produced the cover for Island in the Sun – and it looks fabulous – but I feel I must actually produce more of the novel before I can legitimately show it to you!
Please do feel free to leave a comment or ask a question or tell me about your own exciting plans and adventures – I’d love to hear from you.
Love, Janice xx
May 3, 2016
Back on our island home and unpacking our backpacks...
Hello friends and family! I know - it has been a while since I’ve updated my blog and it’s been two whole months since we arrived back on our beautiful island home in the Caribbean - but after a fabulous but exhausting four months travelling around Asia I really felt the need to unwind and settle down and unpack my backpack.
Trav and I are happy to be back on our Caribbean island home of Utila
Happily, it didn’t take us long to slide back into the laid back Caribbean lifestyle here. Trav is diving and I’m trying to perfect the art of balancing fun, relaxation, and work – yes work - I actually have to do some because my next novel won’t write itself and my travel features all have deadlines!
This is our fourth extended stay on the island of Utila and our time spent here now adds up to a full year - but the time passes so quickly – and I can’t actually believe we are now into May 2016.
During our first week back on the island it was my birthday. I celebrated with drinks on the dock bar at Ecomarine dive centre and was thrilled to catch up with so many dear friends. Later we all went out to dinner to the Foo King Wok Restaurant. It was a fun night and I didn’t mind one bit that I got a year older. My present this year was a bicycle. I haven’t owned a bicycle since I was about 12 years old but it is a fun and fast way to get around the island. I love it – and now have a shopping basket fixed onto the front too!
My fun and delicious birthday dinner at Foo King Wok Restaurant
Birthday drinks at Ecomarine Dive Center bar with my lovely friend Tara
My birthday present - I love it!
The rest of March whizzed by - filled with sun and fun and diving and snorkelling and boat trips and picnics and BBQ’s over on Water Cay – one of the small islands off Utila and a favourite spot for spending time on the beach and catching up with friends.
On the 1st April we were so excited because two of our sons, Ben and Iain, were arriving from Edinburgh UK with their lovely girlfriends, Hayley and Brogan. They were to spend two weeks on the island with us and they were looking forward to lots of sunshine and fun and diving.
Ben and Hayley and Brogan and IainWe had a great time introducing them to the island and to all our lovely friends. We went on a rum-crawl taking in all the infamous bars on the island like Rehab and Skid Row (and getting the t-shirts) and we had fun horse riding and swiming and paddleboarding and jumping and swinging off the dock into the sea as well as spending quite a few days out on the dive boat with Ecomarine.
Ben and Iain are already qualified dive instructors and the girls wanted to do their Discover Scuba Diving courses. One of those days out on the boat turned out to be very special indeed because we spotted and swam with a whale shark and, not one, but two pods of dolphins. It is such a joy to swim so close to these beautiful and wild creatures. Thanks to David Thatcher for the great photos taken on the day of my first whale shark and dolphin close encounter!
During their stay it was Iain’s 23rd birthday and we celebrated with a day at Coral Beach and with lunch and cocktails and birthday cake at Neptune’s Bar and Grill.
Meanwhile on the other side of the world in South Korea, our middle son, James, who also has a birthday in April, was soon to celebrate his 25th birthday. We sent him our love and wished him a happy birthday from afar. This was his birthday photo - and he looks like he's having a good one!
Over the weekend during the 'kid's' stay we all rented a private island in the Cays – a small island called Little Cay – and although we did spent a considerable time lazing about in the sun, drinking cocktails and eating BBQ food, my husband Trav and son Iain also spent a lot of time in the crystal clear and warm water of the house reef teaching Brogan her Open Water Diver certificate!
Little Cay - one of the tiny private islands off Utila that you can rent and have all to yourselves...
Congratulations to Brogan who is now a qualified Open Water Scuba Diver!The two weeks with Ben and Hayley and Iain and Brogan went by far too quickly and soon it was time to wave our loved ones off at the airstrip on Utila. I can't even begin to tell you what it meant to Trav and I to have two of our sons with us on the island and we hated to say goodbye. We hope to see them again somewhere in the world maybe later in the year, but they have busy lives and demanding careers, and so if things don't work out it could actually be a long time before we see them again. I try not to dwell on that because I miss our sons so much and I'm so happy to have shared these fun times with them and their lovely ladies.
Then it was time for Trav to get back to diving and for me to get back to work. I’m working on a new novel right now and it’s had a few stops and starts over the past few months, what with with all the travelling and fun and adventures we’ve been having. So it’s time I got down to some serious writing...... but then it was Captain Steve’s birthday...... and we were invited out to a beach BBQ and party. So the fun goes on - and the new novel is getting written - but slowly. You can see my problem here!
Now we are into May and to Trav and I that means two things – it is time for a visa run and it’s also our 33rd wedding anniversary. Both those things together means a trip off the island and a reason to celebrate.
Where to?Well, we have made plans to go over to the USA for a few weeks.
You might remember that this time last year we planned to visit Miami and the Florida Keys from Key Largo down to Key West (which we did by Greyhound Bus). We then decided to go onto New Orleans and extend our trip further by spending almost a month in the Bahamas.
The entire trip was a fabulous a bucket list dream. You can read more about that particular trip by clicking on the highlighted text for my blog post on Florida and on the Bahamas or you can go and read my travel guide to New Orleans and The Florida Keys published online with award winning LLm lifestyle magazine.
We are not sure of our entire travel itinerary this time around - which in my opinion makes a trip more flexible, spontaneous and fun - but we do know that we will have to head first over to the Honduran mainland so that we can take an international flight to Houston Texas. Then, after an overnight in Houston, we will fly onto Las Vegas!
We have not been to Sin City before - so it’s another fabulous bucket list destination – and we are SO excited about that.
So do please come back here and join me soon for an update on the trip!
Love, Janice xx
Trav and I are happy to be back on our Caribbean island home of UtilaHappily, it didn’t take us long to slide back into the laid back Caribbean lifestyle here. Trav is diving and I’m trying to perfect the art of balancing fun, relaxation, and work – yes work - I actually have to do some because my next novel won’t write itself and my travel features all have deadlines!
This is our fourth extended stay on the island of Utila and our time spent here now adds up to a full year - but the time passes so quickly – and I can’t actually believe we are now into May 2016.
During our first week back on the island it was my birthday. I celebrated with drinks on the dock bar at Ecomarine dive centre and was thrilled to catch up with so many dear friends. Later we all went out to dinner to the Foo King Wok Restaurant. It was a fun night and I didn’t mind one bit that I got a year older. My present this year was a bicycle. I haven’t owned a bicycle since I was about 12 years old but it is a fun and fast way to get around the island. I love it – and now have a shopping basket fixed onto the front too!
My fun and delicious birthday dinner at Foo King Wok Restaurant
Birthday drinks at Ecomarine Dive Center bar with my lovely friend Tara
My birthday present - I love it!The rest of March whizzed by - filled with sun and fun and diving and snorkelling and boat trips and picnics and BBQ’s over on Water Cay – one of the small islands off Utila and a favourite spot for spending time on the beach and catching up with friends.
On the 1st April we were so excited because two of our sons, Ben and Iain, were arriving from Edinburgh UK with their lovely girlfriends, Hayley and Brogan. They were to spend two weeks on the island with us and they were looking forward to lots of sunshine and fun and diving.
Ben and Hayley and Brogan and IainWe had a great time introducing them to the island and to all our lovely friends. We went on a rum-crawl taking in all the infamous bars on the island like Rehab and Skid Row (and getting the t-shirts) and we had fun horse riding and swiming and paddleboarding and jumping and swinging off the dock into the sea as well as spending quite a few days out on the dive boat with Ecomarine. 
Ben and Iain are already qualified dive instructors and the girls wanted to do their Discover Scuba Diving courses. One of those days out on the boat turned out to be very special indeed because we spotted and swam with a whale shark and, not one, but two pods of dolphins. It is such a joy to swim so close to these beautiful and wild creatures. Thanks to David Thatcher for the great photos taken on the day of my first whale shark and dolphin close encounter!
During their stay it was Iain’s 23rd birthday and we celebrated with a day at Coral Beach and with lunch and cocktails and birthday cake at Neptune’s Bar and Grill.
Meanwhile on the other side of the world in South Korea, our middle son, James, who also has a birthday in April, was soon to celebrate his 25th birthday. We sent him our love and wished him a happy birthday from afar. This was his birthday photo - and he looks like he's having a good one!
Over the weekend during the 'kid's' stay we all rented a private island in the Cays – a small island called Little Cay – and although we did spent a considerable time lazing about in the sun, drinking cocktails and eating BBQ food, my husband Trav and son Iain also spent a lot of time in the crystal clear and warm water of the house reef teaching Brogan her Open Water Diver certificate!
Little Cay - one of the tiny private islands off Utila that you can rent and have all to yourselves...
Congratulations to Brogan who is now a qualified Open Water Scuba Diver!The two weeks with Ben and Hayley and Iain and Brogan went by far too quickly and soon it was time to wave our loved ones off at the airstrip on Utila. I can't even begin to tell you what it meant to Trav and I to have two of our sons with us on the island and we hated to say goodbye. We hope to see them again somewhere in the world maybe later in the year, but they have busy lives and demanding careers, and so if things don't work out it could actually be a long time before we see them again. I try not to dwell on that because I miss our sons so much and I'm so happy to have shared these fun times with them and their lovely ladies.
Then it was time for Trav to get back to diving and for me to get back to work. I’m working on a new novel right now and it’s had a few stops and starts over the past few months, what with with all the travelling and fun and adventures we’ve been having. So it’s time I got down to some serious writing...... but then it was Captain Steve’s birthday...... and we were invited out to a beach BBQ and party. So the fun goes on - and the new novel is getting written - but slowly. You can see my problem here!
Now we are into May and to Trav and I that means two things – it is time for a visa run and it’s also our 33rd wedding anniversary. Both those things together means a trip off the island and a reason to celebrate.
Where to?Well, we have made plans to go over to the USA for a few weeks.
You might remember that this time last year we planned to visit Miami and the Florida Keys from Key Largo down to Key West (which we did by Greyhound Bus). We then decided to go onto New Orleans and extend our trip further by spending almost a month in the Bahamas.
The entire trip was a fabulous a bucket list dream. You can read more about that particular trip by clicking on the highlighted text for my blog post on Florida and on the Bahamas or you can go and read my travel guide to New Orleans and The Florida Keys published online with award winning LLm lifestyle magazine.
We are not sure of our entire travel itinerary this time around - which in my opinion makes a trip more flexible, spontaneous and fun - but we do know that we will have to head first over to the Honduran mainland so that we can take an international flight to Houston Texas. Then, after an overnight in Houston, we will fly onto Las Vegas!
We have not been to Sin City before - so it’s another fabulous bucket list destination – and we are SO excited about that.
So do please come back here and join me soon for an update on the trip!
Love, Janice xx
March 16, 2016
To South Korea with Love…..
In previous posts, I’ve blogged about our fabulous four month long trip of a lifetime around South East Asia. In this post I’m chronicling the grand finale destination of our Grand Asian Trip - South Korea.
Our middle son, James, who is an English teacher, lives in the city of Daegu in South Korea with his lovely Korean wife Sujeong and our baby grandson Aaron. During this visit it would be our grandson’s first birthday – a big event in any case or place – but in South Korea it is marked by the hosting of a big formal party for friends and family.
Our middle son, James, lives in the city of Daegu in South Korea with his lovely Korean wife Sujeong and our baby grandson Aaron.
So a function room was booked, catering was organised, a professional photographer was present, and gift bags for the guests were stacked on a welcome table that was set up as a wonderful showcase for young Aaron’s first year of life.
For Aaron's first birthday party a function room was booked...
Our son bought a new suit for the occasion. Our daughter-in-law, who looked stunning, had been to visit a hairdresser and a makeup artist to prepare for the big day. Aaron had a new outfit too. We, however, arrived from Bangkok (+32 degrees C) to Seoul (-5 degrees C) shivering in the warmest clothes in our backpacks. I’d been hauling a pair of canvas sneakers, a pair of jeans and my favourite cashmere sweater all around South East Asia for four months, as I knew it would be cold in South Korea in February. My husband wasn't so prepared and so, shivering in his t-shirt and flip flops, he garnered a few strange looks on the bullet train from Seoul to Daegu - where he bought himself a pair of socks.
My husband garnered a few strange looks in Daegu...
We arrived in Daegu in the afternoon and we were met by Sujeong and Aaron. We had seen lots of recent photos and video of him over Facebook Messenger - but I was still in awe of him walking towards us at the station wearing a warm red coat and carrying an umbrella. Last time we had visited he was only just learning to crawl!
Aaron at Daegu station wearing a warm red coat and carrying an umbrella...
We had an amazing time in South Korea, we ate fabulous Korean food and spent lots of precious time with our Korean family and cuddling Aaron.
We had an amazing time in Korea...
With Sujeong as our driver, we took Aaron to Korean Toys R Us and bought him some birthday presents. We bought him a car that he can be pushed around in that will be great for the park in the summer, a baby ‘laptop computer’ that speaks about colours and shapes and other interesting things in both English and Korean - and a ‘baby’ mock TV remote that makes interesting sounds and that might distract him from his current obsession of operating the real one.
Buying our grandson Aaron a first birthday gift at Toys R Us
The Birthday Party was of course the main event of the week and it was a great success. It was also a wonderful occasion for us to get to know Sujeong’s extended family and to meet Aaron’s Korean great-grandparents for the first time. James’s co-workers also attended the party and it was lovely to meet them too.
It was wonderful to meets Sujeong’s extended family and James's co-workers...
A movie had been put together of Aaron’s first year and when the room darkened and the images were projected onto a big screen at the front of the room, I felt incredibly proud and emotional and full of love. Then the rest of the week flew by and it was again an emotional time. Time to say goodbye. It’s hard to go away, knowing that they live on the opposite side of the world from us and it will likely be another year until we are able to hug James and Sujeong and our little grandson Aaron. But, thanks to social media, we take comfort in that we can see them every day through pictures and video clips that make us feel we are part of their everyday lives and that they are part of ours. We wept and hugged and left on the bullet train back to the airport. As we climbed aboard the fastest train in the world for our two and a half hour journey, Sujeong gave me a little paper bag, which she said was a gift from her mum. When we opened it later, I saw it was a tray of my favourite dumplings. They are so yummy and I had eaten so many of them during the week that she had kindly thought to provide them as a snack for our journey!
A snack for the train - a tray of my favourite dumplings!
We flew from South Korea to Bangkok and from Bangkok to Doha. We had two hours in Doha before we boarded our flight to Houston USA - a non-stop journey of over sixteen hours, during which I watched back to back movies, ate tray food and drank wine. When we reached Houston, after a total of over twenty-eight hours in the air and with a fourteen hour time difference, we headed straight for a steakhouse where we ate prime Texas beef and drank beer before crashing out for two days and two nights at an airport hotel – except for of course waking up at 3am a couple of times – as our body clocks were all over the place.
On the 1st March, we flew from Houston to San Pedro Sula in Honduras and from there we took a small plane over to our Caribbean island home of Utila, where we intend to settle down for the whole of the summer and to relax back into island time.
After our Grand Asian Adventure we intend to settle down in the Caribbean and relax back into island time....
Although, to comply with our visa entries, we will need to do a couple of visa runs, which means there is sure to be a couple of (yet unplanned) exciting mini trips off island to look forward to during the summer!
On the 1st April,we are looking forward to our eldest son Ben and our youngest son Iain coming out to join us here on the island with their girlfriends for a couple of weeks. Both our sons are certified scuba divers and so my husband is looking forward to taking them diving in the warm clear waters of the Meso-American Barrier Reef - which is just off the island – the second largest barrier reef in the world.
As my next post is sure to be all about Caribbean island life – do please join me again here next time - and if you'd like to be notified of future posts via email you can sign up for that on the side bar!
Janice xx
Our middle son, James, who is an English teacher, lives in the city of Daegu in South Korea with his lovely Korean wife Sujeong and our baby grandson Aaron. During this visit it would be our grandson’s first birthday – a big event in any case or place – but in South Korea it is marked by the hosting of a big formal party for friends and family.
Our middle son, James, lives in the city of Daegu in South Korea with his lovely Korean wife Sujeong and our baby grandson Aaron.
So a function room was booked, catering was organised, a professional photographer was present, and gift bags for the guests were stacked on a welcome table that was set up as a wonderful showcase for young Aaron’s first year of life.
For Aaron's first birthday party a function room was booked...
Our son bought a new suit for the occasion. Our daughter-in-law, who looked stunning, had been to visit a hairdresser and a makeup artist to prepare for the big day. Aaron had a new outfit too. We, however, arrived from Bangkok (+32 degrees C) to Seoul (-5 degrees C) shivering in the warmest clothes in our backpacks. I’d been hauling a pair of canvas sneakers, a pair of jeans and my favourite cashmere sweater all around South East Asia for four months, as I knew it would be cold in South Korea in February. My husband wasn't so prepared and so, shivering in his t-shirt and flip flops, he garnered a few strange looks on the bullet train from Seoul to Daegu - where he bought himself a pair of socks.
My husband garnered a few strange looks in Daegu...
We arrived in Daegu in the afternoon and we were met by Sujeong and Aaron. We had seen lots of recent photos and video of him over Facebook Messenger - but I was still in awe of him walking towards us at the station wearing a warm red coat and carrying an umbrella. Last time we had visited he was only just learning to crawl!
Aaron at Daegu station wearing a warm red coat and carrying an umbrella...
We had an amazing time in South Korea, we ate fabulous Korean food and spent lots of precious time with our Korean family and cuddling Aaron.
We had an amazing time in Korea...
With Sujeong as our driver, we took Aaron to Korean Toys R Us and bought him some birthday presents. We bought him a car that he can be pushed around in that will be great for the park in the summer, a baby ‘laptop computer’ that speaks about colours and shapes and other interesting things in both English and Korean - and a ‘baby’ mock TV remote that makes interesting sounds and that might distract him from his current obsession of operating the real one.
Buying our grandson Aaron a first birthday gift at Toys R Us
The Birthday Party was of course the main event of the week and it was a great success. It was also a wonderful occasion for us to get to know Sujeong’s extended family and to meet Aaron’s Korean great-grandparents for the first time. James’s co-workers also attended the party and it was lovely to meet them too.
It was wonderful to meets Sujeong’s extended family and James's co-workers...A movie had been put together of Aaron’s first year and when the room darkened and the images were projected onto a big screen at the front of the room, I felt incredibly proud and emotional and full of love. Then the rest of the week flew by and it was again an emotional time. Time to say goodbye. It’s hard to go away, knowing that they live on the opposite side of the world from us and it will likely be another year until we are able to hug James and Sujeong and our little grandson Aaron. But, thanks to social media, we take comfort in that we can see them every day through pictures and video clips that make us feel we are part of their everyday lives and that they are part of ours. We wept and hugged and left on the bullet train back to the airport. As we climbed aboard the fastest train in the world for our two and a half hour journey, Sujeong gave me a little paper bag, which she said was a gift from her mum. When we opened it later, I saw it was a tray of my favourite dumplings. They are so yummy and I had eaten so many of them during the week that she had kindly thought to provide them as a snack for our journey!
A snack for the train - a tray of my favourite dumplings!We flew from South Korea to Bangkok and from Bangkok to Doha. We had two hours in Doha before we boarded our flight to Houston USA - a non-stop journey of over sixteen hours, during which I watched back to back movies, ate tray food and drank wine. When we reached Houston, after a total of over twenty-eight hours in the air and with a fourteen hour time difference, we headed straight for a steakhouse where we ate prime Texas beef and drank beer before crashing out for two days and two nights at an airport hotel – except for of course waking up at 3am a couple of times – as our body clocks were all over the place.
On the 1st March, we flew from Houston to San Pedro Sula in Honduras and from there we took a small plane over to our Caribbean island home of Utila, where we intend to settle down for the whole of the summer and to relax back into island time.
After our Grand Asian Adventure we intend to settle down in the Caribbean and relax back into island time....
Although, to comply with our visa entries, we will need to do a couple of visa runs, which means there is sure to be a couple of (yet unplanned) exciting mini trips off island to look forward to during the summer!
On the 1st April,we are looking forward to our eldest son Ben and our youngest son Iain coming out to join us here on the island with their girlfriends for a couple of weeks. Both our sons are certified scuba divers and so my husband is looking forward to taking them diving in the warm clear waters of the Meso-American Barrier Reef - which is just off the island – the second largest barrier reef in the world.
As my next post is sure to be all about Caribbean island life – do please join me again here next time - and if you'd like to be notified of future posts via email you can sign up for that on the side bar!
Janice xx
