Life This Week 6/8/2018: Countries I Have Visited.


Travel is one of those things that I’ve come to appreciate far too late in life.  I spent my footloose and fancy free twenties happily cocooned in a cozy vacuum.  I had everything and everyone I needed right in front of me so there seemed to be no real need to get out there and explore.  Isn’t that why the internet and Foxtel came along?

Something changed in my thirties.  I’d listen to my friends travel adventures and see them on social media and while that all didn’t make me feel inadequate about my life, it did spark my curiosity?
What if?  
What if I did browse TripAdvisor and book those plane tickets and those places to stay?
And the rest, as they say, is history.
I had to move to Sydney for work and suddenly the rest of the world and its possibilities seemed to open up to me.
Work actually became a big reason behind my interest in travelling overseas.  The travel fulfils part of  my continuing education requirement.  So I kind of have to travel for work.  How serendeptious.

I’ve travelled the United States a fair bit over the years and it is still my favourite country to explore.  It’s a country that seems to just work for my quirks as a traveller.  I love how its cities never sleep.

I love the iconic elements of popular culture that call America home, I love absorbing a bit of American life each time I visit.

I love the history and the diversity across its 50 states

and I also love the little things that are common among them. Like supermarkets, Raisin Bran and in room drip coffee machines.

More so than any other country I’ve visited, there seems to be this sense of the surreal when visiting places that have been immortalised on film and television.

Singapore is the country of my birth and where much of my family comes from.  It will always hold a special place in my heart because of this.

Gleaming shopping complexes, historical architecture, amazing food and a sense of calm efficiency wherever you go – Singapore pretty much has it all.
It was also the destination of Master SSG’s first overseas trip.
Maybe it’s because I’m kind of old or maybe it’s because I’m a fan of the known and predictable, but my future travel destination wish list is heavy on places I’ve previously visited.
It’s been far too long since I last visited Japan.  
The contrasts of past and present, east and west, nature and future make for a holiday that’s a treat for all the senses.  Added to that is the fact that the Japanese are so very friendly and accommodating of foreigners such as myself.  Plus, Japan is the birth place of one Hello Kitty…
My favourite city in Japan is definitely Tokyo.  The colour, the unique blend of French and American influences in the architecture and food of the city.  And in the retail mix.  Oh the retail mix…  The buildings that house the stores are perhaps even more visually arresting than the merchandise within.
Next on my list of cities I’d love to revisit is London.
For similar reasons to why I love visiting Tokyo.
The architecture, the juxtaposition of past on present and how iconic images of the past peek out at you now and then as you roam the streets and footpaths.
And yes.  The British tabloid magazines…..

Places like Dubai leave me in a kind of slack jawed awe.

How the force of sheer will and money creates extravagant oases in the middle of desserts and how microcosms of other parts of the world are apparently effortlessly transported to its shores.  Dubai is also a place of contradictions and questions beneath its gleaming surface.
Paris is all those cliches to me and I’m not even ashamed to admit it.

The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the croissants, the luxe fashion houses.  They are my paint by numbers memories of Paris but what a beautiful picture it is.

Despite these loving memories of all the travels of my past and the travels still to come, there’s still no place like home.  
It’s a home of open spaces, 
crazy, busy cities, freedom
and water.  It always comes back to the water.
Sydney is one of those places where the world and its people seems to comes to you.

What’s your favourite country or city to visit?

Where would you like to go next?


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