AN INTRODUCTION....

Me at the top of the Shard

I like to travel. No, scrap that. I like 'being places'; the getting there can be a bit of a bind these days. I turned 68 last April and my body has been telling me that for awhile now. Last year in Spain I got food poisoning and I thought I was going to die. You do think you are going to die as you get older and something happens to your body. When your body starts to ache and creak you tend to run to the health centre looking for help; at least I do. I also get depressed in the winter or in days that are dark and cold and wet...and we get a lot of those here in Derry. I think it's called SAD which is a very appropriate name for it, I guess. For that reason I like to travel, mostly to Spain where the sun shines for most of the year and it's warm, hot even. But I like cities too, scenery and new places. I like to visit places I haven't been to before and sometimes I like those places so much I want to go back. I don't want to live there, wherever 'there' is, except maybe in Spain. For several years now I have been going to that area south of Malaga, resorts like Torremolinas, Benelmadena and especially Fuengirola and maybe one of these days I will actually buy an apartment or town house there. For now, these are just holiday resorts; not a home away from home.

Looking towards St Paul's from the Shard

Home will probably always be Derry. How many years have I left on this planet; a few? 10? 20? If I do live that long I will be much too old to travel so I need to make the most of the time I have left. This year I didn't travel as much as I wanted to; next year I hope I will do better. I was in Spain in January and am going back again in November. I've just come back from 5 days in London and I've made it to Dublin a few times this year. And that's it. The body isn't what it used to be even if the bank balance has never been so good. (No, I'm not rich; like Lee Strasberg in "The Godfather Part Two" I'm retired and living on a pension so don't be getting any ideas).  There are still places I want to see. I haven't ruled out crossing America, possibly by train or bus. I never wanted to go to India but now I have made friends there through Facebook and it is a possibility. I want to go Scandnavia, parts of Italy, France, Germany and even Moscow and St. Petersburg. Am I being greedy? Probably, but then maybe I have always been greedy. I like to travel and the purpose of this blog is to talk about my travels, past and future. It would be nice if some of you could join me.