Sunny LA to rainy New York

So I arrived safely in LA and spent the first couple of days at the beach. Where I was staying was a fabulous starting point to riding a bike along the beach to Venice Beach and then on to Santa Monica. The weather was perfect - sunny with a cool breeze. The breeze was so lovely that I didn't realise how sunny and I got the souvenir sunburn but it was a small price to pay for such a fabulous adventure. Apart from catching up with dear friends I also visited the Getty Center (beautiful!) and LACMA with other little trips around these main destinations. Apparently of the 10 million LA residents only 2 million use public transport. I am not surprised as it seems to take a minimum of two hours to get anywhere. Coming home from the Getty I weakened and caught a taxi but it was such an interesting drive because the driver was a political refugee from Russia and had so many interesting stories. All in all I really loved my time in LA (sorry - no photos because I am writing this on my phone) but there are certainly some crazy looking people here and crazy places to visit!

I am only one day into my trip to New York and it was a really wet day but at least it wasn't too cold. I visited the MET and loved it even if I did get tricked by their 'recommended' admission price and thought it was the actual price! It is an awesome place to visit but I think I need to take a break from galleries for a bit. The restaurants here are great and thanks to recommendations I went to the best Mexican place I have ever eaten at. While I am here I hope to do a variety of things and catch up with old friends and former colleagues. I will hopefully include some photos in my next post.

Back in London

I decided to hold off posting too many photos of Morocco - as much as there are so many photos I would love to show you I also don't want to go overboard!

Today is my only day in London (excluding a day trip or two before Morroco) and it was great. I caught up with Jamie M for brunch which extended into a four hour catch up. He then caught the train with me to the V&A and left me to explore the museum at my leisure. It is strange to be in London after Morocco. It is certainly nice not to be asked if I want to buy something every step of the way (the phrases "hello hello" and "best price" were a huge part of the sounds of Morocco) but the contrast makes London seem isolating.

Tomorrow morning I fly to LA which by all reports will be fabulously sunny so I am tempted to send home all my warm weather gear to make room in my case. The extra room I had in my case at the start of the trip has been taken by a berber rug. Buying a rug in Morocco is perhaps a little cliched but it was worth it!

And hello Morocco...

I am back in London after a longer than expected time in Morocco. I arrived in Casablanca two weeks ago and I have to say that my first impression was not what I thought it would be. I was expecting to be blown away from the beginning but instead it was an evolving process. I will write more later but as each day passed I liked it more and more. We travelled from Casablanca to Rabat and then on to Meknes and Fes. We spent a whole day in the Medina in Fes and it was such an experience - the colours, sights and smells were nothing that I have experienced before and I loved it.

And then we arrived in Marrakech and I loved it. Marrakech is the Morocco I was looking forward to. Imagine a city teeming with people where it is not unusual to have an expensive mercedes negotiating for road space with a donkey and cart, where the new and the very old are mixed in a colour combination and where the noise of crowds and street sellers are harmonised with the sound of snake charmers and the calls to prayer. I had left my comfort zone long ago and loved soaking up the atmosphere. I wasn't ready to leave so when some people on the tour invited me on the second last night to join them after the tour to go to Assouria (a costal town) and the Sahara I thought why not!

I am so pleased I ended the trip with the Sahara. We rode camels across the dunes and camped under the stars. To lie on warm sand gazing up at a dark sky full of stars (and shooting stars) until 4.30 am was definitely worth it.

The extra time at the end of this leg was perfect and I was ready to leave. England is thankfully warmer than when I left it and I will have a final day catching up with English and Australian friends bfore heading off to the US of A! More photos to come but below are a taste...

From Oxford to Chorleywood with some London in the middle

I looked at my last blog and I think I should say that it is not all cold and wet here in England just in case I have given this impression. I have had some lovely days and have the photos below to prove it! On my last full day in Oxford it was gloriously sunny so I went on a walking tour of the city and learned so much more about the history, the buildings and the people. There are 38 colleges in Oxford! I had no idea there were so many. After the tour I found a coffee shop that served good coffee and read my book for a while. At the table next to me was a student with an American friend. She loudly exclaimed 'How do I GET to Oxford'. I was confused and so was her friend until she explained that she meant to be a student here and really soak up the life here. It made me think about whether I wanted to 'get' to Oxford and I realise that as much as I love it and I have loved spending time with the Bonnicis feeling part of their family (Hi Olivier, Rosalind, Ben, Beatrice and Luke!) it is time for the next adventure.

As far as adventuring goes I realise that an hour drive south (?) to Chorleywood is not exactly being wild and adventurous but it is a lovely next step in the travel. I am staying for a week here with Robyn and Terence in their lovely cottage which is in a little one-pub village called Chenies just outside Chorleywood. Thanks to the weather we have had some great walks (photos below) and also visited Disraeli's country house. He is an intriguing character and I look forward to finding out more about him. Yesterday Rob and I went into London for a day trip which was fun and today is a quiet day to catch up on my blog, emails and reading. I really like England - both the country and the people. I feel very much at home. It has helped that I have been with friends but also people I meet, at the churches (which have been great!) I have been to or even just walking around, are all so friendly. This Saturday I will fly to Morocco for a week which will be a big change but I am looking forward to it. I hope you are all well!

Christ Church College (Oxford) in the sun

A street in Oxford

Me and Robyn on our walk near Chorleywood

A typical view on our walk - beautiful!!

Oxford - the home of C.S. Lewis, Tolkien and the dreaming spires

From Aberdeen I went directly to Oxford. My hopes of warmer weather have been dashed but it is wonderful to be here nevertheless. The Bonnicis have been so welcoming and took me on a C.S. Lewis tour in Oxford finishing at the Eagle and Child which is the pub that the Inklings used to meet at every Tuesday to discuss their writings. They also drove me around on a tour of some local villages. Despite the cold and rain I have love Oxford. Walking around the cobbled streets has been so much fun and thank you to those people who gave me some good ideas of places to visit.

Oxford is a very beautiful city and I am looking forward to going to the museum tomorrow and doing some more walking. I went for my first run this morning and enjoyed it so much that I will try to do it every morning I am here. I might give Wednesday a miss because the forecast is for snow. Yes snow. Again I am impressed by my brilliant packing - I brought four t-shirts, bathers and no coat.

Below are some photos of my travels so far...

Balmoral Castle

 Jonah testing the laws of gravity in an important scientific experiment 

Me outside one of the sweetest little houses in Bibury

The dreaming spires of Oxford

Me touring Oxford. 

Where has all the tartan gone?

I arrived safely in Aberdeen to warm (for Scotland) weather and a very warm welcome from Chris and Sally and family. When I say the weather has been warm I should make it clear that I have still been wearing several layers including a scarf and hat but the people here have been in t-shirts and even shorts. I decided not to bring a coat as this should be the only cold part of my holiday and apart from one day I think this was the right decision.

It has been lovely catching up with dear friends and enjoying the beautiful Scottish scenery. Everywhere you go there is an abundance of daffodils which is a wonderful contrast with all the stone. I am not sure how long the daffodils will last so the timing of my visit has been perfect. On one of the warmer days we made the trip to Balmoral Castle. It feels strange to visit a place that is so obviously part of the royal family's life. The castle and gardens were very pleasant and the exhibition inside was interesting so it was worth the visit. As a result of the trip I have decided that I would quite like to be a member of the royal family. I realise that this is not the easiest thing to achieve but I am happy to include it on my 'To Do' list.

I did a little more exploring of Aberdeen itself today and I enjoyed simply walking around and getting a feel for the city. The side streets were the nicest and and thanks to a GPS I could be relaxed about getting lost (I usually get lost when I wander around a new city even if I have a map on hand) and enjoy the adventure. One of the things I have noticed about Aberdeen is that I haven't seen much tartan. When I visited Edinburgh a number of years ago I felt that tartan was everywhere. I have to say that this was a little disappointing but how can I be too disappointed in a place where I can hear the scottish accent everywhere I go?

It is my last night in Aberdeen as I head down to Oxford tomorrow. I will hopefully have some photos in a day or two so you can see some of the sights that I am seeing!

It's been a while...

I haven't posted for a while and even though I have travelled in the last four years I felt that any trip less than four weeks isn't blog-worthy. Now that I have said goodbye to facebook and twitter is so restrictive I am choosing to blog again for friends and family that want to see what I am up to as I set off for seven weeks.

My return to blogging is an experiment. If I don't have easy access to computers and blogging on my phone is too annoying then it might all come to a sorry end but if it goes smoothly then I will post photos and stories from my trip and those who want to keep up can and those who don't can choose not to!

I haven't left yet and I won't bore you with an update on the pre-trip preparation except to say that having less than two weeks between deciding to go and actually leaving is actually not that difficult.

This post is just the introductory post because I haven't left yet but I leave in less than 48 hours so stay tuned!