My place for space: Travel

Saturday, 6 August 2011

People watching...

A couple of weeks ago I flew to Melbourne for work. I decided to go from the Sunshine Coast airport, even though that's not my preferred option. I was there early enough to have a coffee, some lunch and a lovely sit around so that I could do some people watching.

A lady caught my eye and I found myself wondering a bit about her. She was older, but not old old, I would estimate maybe 60 or so. She was dressed like a well off sort of a traveller, but a traveller. She had on a white polo shirt, olive cotton style (possibly quick dry or even light moleskin) pants, sturdy walking shoes, and she had a waist bag and a quality backpack.

Her clothes and her backpack and shoes were good quality, her hair was well styled, but short (easy look after) and she appeared like she had enough money for whatever she wanted to do. She was neatly attired, a belt on her pants and shirt tucked in.

What made this lady stand out to me is a couple of things.

She was travelling alone. Yeah, ok, nothing strange about that, but this lady looked like she was almost going backpacking - or heading off to undiscovered lands or at least third world countries.
She had obviously travelled a lot before. She had on her wrists several different things like you would get from the third world countries - tribal plaited wrist bands, leather style bracelets etc., as well as some around her neck. So, that told me that she was perhaps off on an adventure again.

I love people watching - so many stories, so many experiences, and you can either make them up or deduce them from how they look and handle themselves.

I hope that this lady is enjoying her travels!!!

Friday, 5 August 2011

On my mind... Holidays!

This is a Friday photo feature that anyone with a blog can join, courtesy of Rhonda's Down to Earth Blog. It opens the door to us sharing our lives through these photos and gives us all a new way to discover each other, and maybe form new friendships. Your photo should show something at home that you're thinking about TODAY. If you're in another country you should join in when you read this, even if it's still Thursday.

To take part, all you have to do is post a photo on your own blog, write a short caption explaining it, and link it back to Rhonda's blog. Please write a new post, don't link to an older one. When your photo is published, come back and add a comment below, with a link to your blog photo so we can all find you. Please visit all the blogs that appeal to you and leave a comment. Slow down, take the time to cruise around and enjoy your cyber visits.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's that time of the year again when I start to think about holidays. Gai and I are going back to Thailand this year - I am really looking forward to it.

I know that for some people, air travel doesn't fit in with their lifestyle, be it for whatever sort of a reason. I don't have a problem with flying and overseas / within Australia travel. I don't purposefully offset my carbon emissions, I feel that the lifestyle that we have here and the choices that I make offsets enough carbon for me. I believe also that we should learn to live with the technology and conveniences that we have - within reason.

I don't travel often - probably once a month or two within Australia, and once a year or so overseas. I get so much out of these trips that I intend to continue taking them as long as I can...

We went to Thailand and one of the places that we visited was the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi, near the Bridge on the River Kwai. This place is dedicated to conservation of Tigers, and I learnt a lot about these magnificent creatures, even though it just looks like we're playing with them... which we were! The babies were just like little kittens - only 2 months old!!!

We're going back to Thailand later this year and this is on the list of things to do!!!