Beijing

Haven't even finished writing the stories from the recent North & South America famils but tomorrow I am off to Beijing for work for a week. This is kind how crazy life has been this year. Oh well, something to do on the three plane rides there and then back, I guess.

See you on the other side.

   

(Pic credit: Time Out Beijing)

Hola Chile and Argentina

I'm not quite sure how I've managed to swerve around these countries to date (actually, I do know: a few years ago, I was invited on a media trip to Chile but had to be in Oman instead!)

Anyway, tomorrow I head off on a 14-day media famil which I'm seriously looking forward to (apart from anything else, because I've been working like a dog to finish stuff before going and my head is about to explode if I don't see some different walls soon!)

See you on the other side.

     

(Pic credit: Google Images)

Hong Kong

The travel gods do love me, afterall! Am off to Hong Kong, one of my favourite places on the planet, tomorrow for a quick media trip.

Hello exquisite dumplings, shopping and the best subway system on the planet.
See you on the other side.

 
(Pic Credit: Google)

Bali bound

For the second time in just over a year, I will spend a week in Bali for a magazine. It was supposed to be Lombok but then the devastating quakes happened last month and, not surprisingly, that media trip was pulled.

But am looking forward to returning to Bali tomorrow - just hope the quakes there this week have also abated. Wish me luck!

Today's visual is of one of the gorgy resorts I will be staying at - Alila Villa Uluwatu. Be still, my beating heart.

    

Are you going to San Francisco?

Why yes, I am actually.

A last minute media trip has fallen into my lap and I am off to SF for a few nights. Has been a while since my last visit, so looking forward to reacquainting myself (the pic below is from Christmas 2010 when we flew from the UK where we were living to visit our beloved woofer Molly who had gone to live in SF with friends when we moved to the UK).

See you on the other side.

    

Land of the Rising Sun

Apologies for the radio silence, I've been literally running to meet deadlines before I fly to Japan tomorrow.

It's been a while since I visited this fascinating country, so I'm really looking forward to reacquainting myself with Tokyo and Kyoto.

See you on the other side.

 
(Pic credit: You Tube)

Porto

Yes, I know I've been back a month but I have literally been running since I returned. Deadlines have been coming so thick and fast, my brain is literally leaking out of my ear.

But here is visual evidence that I was indeed in Portugal's second city last month and cruising along the Duoro (and not, as some wag on Instagram suggested, at home in Welly wearing sweatpants, eating takeout and posting travel images ripped from the web).

I'm still writing the stories from this leg of the media trip but in the meantime, here are some visuals of this gorgeous city which is now my BFF.

 

Bali Hai

The last time I went to Bali, it was at the rump end of a three-month backpacking journey. We were enroute from London, our home for five years, back to New Zealand.

By the time we reached this idyllic cluster of islands, we were tired, hot, grumpy and wearing clothes that hadn't seen the inside of a washing machine for weeks.

And although we fell in love with the peaceful people and the countryside, with its tangled jungle and lush green paddy fields, we have never been in a hurry to go back.

Tomorrow that changes when I fly to the Indonesian island for a media trip. While last time we stayed in the cheapest accommodation possible, trying to make our money last until we got home, this time around I'll be checking out five luxury resorts for a magazine story. Oh how times have changed.

See you on the other side...

  
(Pic credit: Jakarta Post)

Bonjour Nouvelle Caledonie

Tomorrow I'm off again, this time on an Air NZ media trip to New Caledonia - for four nights.

The last time I was in this French overseas territory three and a bit hours from Auckland, it was to cover a food festival. This time I'm heading to the Isle of Pines.

Sunshine, here I come.

  

Kamusta (Hello) to the Philippines!

Have been so frantic meeting deadlines I've neglected to mention that next Thursday I head to the Philippines on a week's press trip, thanks to the Innovative Travel Company, Philippine Airlines and the Philippines Department of Tourism.

Am particularly looking forward to the 30+ degree heat, and the delicious cuisine. Doing the happy dance.

      (Pic credit: Pinterest)
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Taiwan here I come

I will spend almost all day tomorrow getting to Taiwan (the PR has, for some reason, booked me the long way round, including six hours in bloody Sydney airport!) but I have a couple of stories to write so that should keep me out of trouble.

I'm really looking forward to this media trip and lots of lovely things to write the shizzle out of when I return. I will, of course, miss this little fella...but he will be in good hands.

See you on the other side.

  

Damn!

It makes me want to cry but I have just had to turn down a media trip to another Asian city, somewhere I haven't been for a good many years - leaving next Wednesday!

But, as an old boss was inclined to say, you can't do it all. I have barely gotten back from Vietnam and have a plateful of stories that need to be crafted before I go to Europe late October (more about that later). So I had to be sensible and say no. But it was bloody hard to do.

Before I retire to a darkened room to lick my wounds, here is one of two stories I have in the current issue of North & South Magazine (click here to read).

      

A good kicking to the God of Travel

Today an email plopped into my inbox inviting me on a media trip to Chile. But, dammit, I will be in Oman and Dubai at that time.

To say I am gutted is like saying the Taj Mahal is a nice building. When I manage to unfurl myself from the foetal position, I will dust myself off and realise that everything happens for a reason, it wasn't meant to be, yada, yada. But for now I am marinating in the juices of anger and resentment.
#Firstworldproblemsstillsuck

  

Damnation!

How do you piss Shazzy off?

Offer her a media trip from Athens to Rome. One that leaves next week. As in, I would need to be in Athens by next Friday.

Brain goes crazy trying to see if a million commitments, interviews and deadlines can be rescheduled. And then realises I would get home a few days before I would have to schlep back to Europe for the Rhine cruise which starts early next month. And that the parentals are spending three nights with me in a couple of weeks. And that I have several social commitments that can't be moved.

And then I put my head in my hands and cry. This is the second famil I've had to turn down this year and I DO NOT LIKE IT.

Currently giving the finger to the Travel Gods.  

Today's visual is of the Wonder Dog because after the depressing events of  today, I need something beautiful to rest my gaze upon.

Scorchio!

Here's the temperature where we're going tomorrow...

Or around 31 degrees in our currency. I cannot wait to get to Hawaii. It's been particularly cold the last few months and it's high time winter packed her bags and got the hell out of Dodge. Here's hoping by the time we get back, Spring will be busting a move.

At least the Animator is coming with me on this media trip, so between eating and drinking (for a food story), visiting volcanoes and playing ukuleles (for two more stories), we will get some down time to chill.

See ya'll on the other side...        

Beautiful Bratislava

The rental property saga continues apace; work is piling on top of work and I have to play host to a family member later this week. It's all gone a little Pete Tong, as a former colleague in London used to say.

So instead of words you shall have some pics from the recent media famil. The first shot is of the Avalon Illumination, the new river cruise ship we sailed on from Vienna to Budapest, with stops in the Wachau Valley and Bratislava. This is especially  for my father, who complained I had been neglectful in posting images of the Illumination. So Dad, this slightly out of focus shot, which in no way captures the magnificence of the vessel, is for you.

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Spain? Thanks but no thanks....

Because I truly believe I am Superwoman. Because I suffer from an inability to say no. Because FOMO is a real thing in my world.

For those reasons, I seem unable to turn down every opportunity that comes my way. It's why I often end up working into the wee smalls, or waking at 3.00am worrying how I'm going to get everything I've committed to done. Or wondering why it's so very hard to utter that simple, one-syllable word.

Today, however, I managed to do it - the ultimate No - by turning down a media trip of a week's cycling and walking in Spain! It would basically have meant jumping on another flight to Europe in a few weeks and I've barely gotten over the last one. Plus asking for more time off would probably have stretched the patience of my employers at my part-time contract a little too far; and I have other work commitments, including six pieces from the recent famil and, horror of horrors, one from the Hong Kong trip in March I still haven't gotten around to. And then there's my two boys...

And so I said no. Did it hurt? Did it heck. But I have to realise that I can't do everything and it was good to set some boundaries and stick to them.

Still, I can't pretend five days in Spain wouldn't have been bliss. Sigh...