other things

Apart from friends and music, which are the most important things to me, I really enjoy travelling and have been to some fantastic places over the last few years.
My earliest BIG travel was backpacking round the world (we didn't actually go everywhere!) with my daughters back in 2004/2005. It was a marvellous evperience which unsettled me no end with a view to travelling. I'm always looking for the next place!!! We spent 8 months travelling: Malaysia; Thailand; Australia; New Zealand; Fiji; The Cook Islands and finally into the States for only a few days on the way home. Anybody with the time, the money, the lust for travel and some good companions could do worse than follow this trail!
Since then, apart from the odd week here and there in the Canaries, I've travelled with friends to Mexico where we saw the solstice at Chichen Itza; Florida, where we gave Disney and Universal a going over; Cuba a must-go destination before the Americans spoil it.......we travelled round in a small group, staying in people's homes all over the island and really enjoyed every minute of it and in particular the music. You've never lived till you've seen the little children dancing with such rhythm in the streets. Brazil; three of us shared a cabin on a cruise ship and headed to Rio...wow! we stopped off at the Cape Verde Islands, surely a place that will be an "IN" destination soon. My highlights were singing to about 800 in the theatre on-board ship and seeing the Christ the Redeemer Statue which appeared out of the mists as if to save me>>>>>he'd have a job!!!!!!
Shorter breaks to Norway, where we have friends living and where we met and made more friends and sang and swam in the fijords, diving for mussels which we cooked back on land. Riga, a wonderful city with lots to recommend including the lovely people (except the police!!!) and the quantity of alcohol that has to be consumed to keep warm!....or is that just an excuse for the "Riga lurch!" Marrakesh; another really interesting city where you never knew whose hands were on your backside!!!....a great atmosphere. Paris...a city for lovers....well it was at the time; Cork....the place to go for the music and Innsbruck for a magical Christmas where it even snowed to order on Christmas Day. I had a lovely time in Borneo visiting an Orang Utan reserve and am now planning a trip to Costa Rica next month.