Personal & Quirky Reflections & Intentions

As we shift from one decade to another I’d like to share with you what I’m really grateful for.  Please do share your thoughts, resolutions, gratitudes, intentions …  

I am really grateful for:

• My son Alex, who’s grown from a toddling 2 year old to the threshold of teenagerdom and brought us such joy, fun, enrichment and learning…
• My Mum, who died 7 years ago and whose wisdom, beauty and grace is with me every day. I thought I had lost her when she died but have learnt that she is all here all the time …
• The rest of my family for ‘being there’, keeping me sane and sharing the good and bad times, even when we drive each other crazy :-)
• Dear friends who share the journey, allow me to fail, be ‘out of order’ and forgive me every time … and for those friends who I have lost touch with but who are still in my heart ….
• All the very special clients, colleagues and people I have worked with – thank you for sharing your lives, loves, aspirations, hopes, problems and dreams – such a privilege …
• Living and working in such a beautiful part of the world
• Good health and that of those around me
• The luxury of being able to look forward to the coming decade from the warmth and safety (hopefully!) of my own home
• For learning the difference between desiring what I don’t have, and being content with all that I am blessed with …

My INTENTION for the coming decade is to live as much as possible in the PRESENT, to appreciate all that is good around me, to share what I can with others and be open and  positive to whatever DESTINY may have in mind in 2010 and beyond  …

I wish you all that you wish for yourself in the coming year, with an extra dash of magical  quirkiness

Quirky Christmas Past …

I recently wrote this article for a Twitter friend, Stephanie @TravelDesigned. You can see the original here   If you have a quirky Christmas memory please do share it … Leave a Comment below.

Aswan, Egypt

In the early 80s a group of us spent one Christmas and New Year in Egypt.  On Christmas Day so we left our VERY basic hostel to find a cheap restaurant open which served festive fare and a drink. As you can imagine, in a predominantly Muslim country on a Saturday, that was not so easy … Eventually we found a little place by the Camel Market (not on that day), with a big table outside.  We were offered Roast chicken and chips with local beer… Perfect.

Whilst we waited (for hours) for the chicken, we drank warm beer and relished the hot sun, safe in the knowledge that back home in the UK it was probably raining and definitely cold.  The chicken was the toughest, ropiest old bird you could imagine – but we enjoyed it anyway as we reminisced about our favourite Christmas holidays, exchanged REALLY cheap and fun gifts, toasted absent friends and congratulated ourselves on having a very unChristmassy Christmas Day.

 Pattaya, Thailand

In 1990, a friend and I escaped from Hong Kong to stay at a luxury hotel in Pattaya, which looked absolutely dreamy. What we didn’t know was that during the Vietnam War, Pattaya had been a favourite place for soldiers to chill out and ‘relax’ – and their legacy lived on …

 Having arrived on Christmas Eve we decided to eat out in Pattaya the next day, so after a relaxing day by the pool we wandered into the town.  What a shock that was.  It was late afternoon and still daylight but all the bars were busy and it was obvious what delights were on offer for Christmas here… We wandered up and down Soi 6 barely able to contain our amazement. Some of the bars and clubs had festive decorations amidst the neon – I’ll never forget one sign which read ‘A Merry Christmas to all our Customers’ above a lap-dancing club offering some very exotic acts …

 Eventually we found a vaguely respectable bar where we had Pad Thai noodles and fended off the attentions of some very drunk Australian guys who’d clearly partaken of a fair bit of Christmas cheer.  As their propositions got more extreme we decided return to our hotel and leave Pattaya red light district to its own unique Christmas festivities!

 Queenstown, South Africa

“We’re having a Braai on Christmas Day – just family and a few mates …” thus was I introduced to Christmas Dinner, South African style. I was staying with my boyfriend’s family on their farm just outside Queenstown. The weather was fantastic; warm, sunny and fresh. On Christmas morning we exchanged presents, drank sparkling wine and opened cards showing Santas and snow-covered carol singers outside typical English churches; all very incongruous with the African veldt outside the back door.

 A Braai is a BBQ, SA style. On the biggest grill I’ve ever seen, was every kind of meat imaginable, including ostrich and Boerewors, a spicy sausage.  Huge buckets were filled with ice and beer, boxes of red wine stood outside the kitchen door next to a tall fridge full of white wine, soft drinks & mixers.  Two trestle tables were loaded up with all manner of salads, dips, breads and fruit, with a smaller table for the kids – and not a turkey or Brussel sprout in sight.

 By 4pm the party was in full swing and it was time for carols and the Christmas pudding. The farm workers joined us and as ‘Hark The Herald Angels Sing’ rang out into the African sky from over 50 voices, it seemed the best way ever to celebrate this wonderful season.

Whatever you do, wherever you are and whoever you are with, may your Christmas be quirky and bright

Cumbria Recovery & Festive Fun…

Just a quick update re the floods and Cumbria’s recovery. The slogan going around is ‘Cumbria’s open for Business’ to which I would definitely add ‘… for Pleasure too!’  Today the new footbridge, Barker Crossing, was opened in Workington.  Well done to the Army, Royal Engineers for getting it put up in only a week. The BBC have given it great coverage here – note the rain is still pouring down!

There is a rather lengthy and earnest article on Cumbria Tourism’s website from Ian Stephens, their CEO, which gives details of what’s going on in the bigger picture – riveting stuff about NWDA and how we are leading the country in Tourism – yay! Read it here …

However, as Christmas is coming, I was much more drawn to how we are going to celebrate the festive season.  I especially love some of the quirky and fun events going on around the county.  All the towns and villages are bedecked with lights and decorations and the shops are full to bursting with hand-crafted gifts and delicious food.  I went Christmas shopping in Kendal on Sunday and found lots of quirky and beautful pressies  - and FREE parking!  (Apparently all South Lakeland Car Parks are free each Sunday until the 27th December.)

Holker Hall is hosting loads of great things including their Victorian Christmas extravaganza.  The Lake District is such a lovely place to visit at this time of year – there’s plenty to see and do so why not come up and see us sometime

What does ‘quirky’ mean?

The past few weeks have been really exciting with lots of new opportunities to explore, places to visit and people to meet.  The Quirky Traveller seems to have a life of her own – and it’s mine!  Very frequently people ask me why I chose the name ‘Quirky Traveller’.  It came about quite by accident and I’ve written about it for Mark Shaw’s Twitter Success Stories .  But the main thing people want to know is ‘Why Quirky …?’

‘Quirky’, for me, is about being real, about seeing the world from a different angle, about looking at things from all sides, finding the unusual, the interesting, the fascinating. It’s about quality combined with classiness, it’s about being curious about everything and wanting to know more… It’s about travels of mind, body and spirit, recognising that life is not one, two or even three-dimensional, but multi-dimensional.  And most of all, it’s a celebration of life and its uniqueness. 

What does quirky mean to you?  What is quirky about you?  What are the elements of you that make you unique?  Do leave a Comment – and get out there and celebrate quirkiness in style! 

Follow me on TWITTER and share the quirkiness …

Cumbria’s very first TweetUp!

“Excuse me, could you tell me where the … er… people from Twitter are meeting?”  Well, you feel a … Twit,  asking that, don’t you!  I was meeting up with a group of complete strangers, some of whom I FELT I knew from our connections, but still – a rather strange, definitely quirky and slightly daunting prospect.  The venue was The Lounge, a very chic hotel bar in the centre of Penrith (with great food – thank you!).  Linda Mellor, a local photographer,  had organised the event and about 12 of us turned out last Wednesday evening to meet the personal face of Twitter.

 It was a really enjoyable evening.  We were from all walks of life, with a wide range of jobs and interests.  Tweeps included Julie, a friendly bee fanatic, there with her husband Graeme, ubiquitous John the writer, my mate Ali the apostrophe obsessive (quite right too IMHO!), Lee the bag fetishist and even a very friendly representative of Cumbria Police – (who did not seem able to get me off my fine for overtaking a Penrith copper with my mobile jammed to my ear, in spite of blatant attempts to bribe him with extra peanuts …)

 Nick, a journalist from a local newpapaper group, interviewed everyone about why they had joined Twitter and what they got from it.  I think I told him that I couldn’t remember why I had joined, but it brought me lots of new friends, information and advice, that it is a very generous place to connect and that it was also helping me to create a completely new business around the Quirky Traveller persona … 

Friendly Twits relaxing ...!

 By the time we left, there had been a lot of laughter, some great connections made and a renewed enthusiasm for the phenomenum that is Twitter.  Don’t ask me HOW it works, but it does – and last Wednesday proved that.  Nick has written a great article all about our night out in Cumbria News & Star so you can read it for yourself!

I am very much looking forward to the next TweetUp, whereverand whenever it is… and if you have any Twitter tales do share them here.