Journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochran or more commonly known by her pseudonym, Nellie Bly recognized she needed a vacation from her job and in that moment wished that “she was on the other end of the earth!".

But as the pandemic days loom on, and international travel is still limited - I have instead drafted my dream weekly breakfast menu. My menu is like that of a Sommelier pairing the most complimentary wine to food, but instead I’m pairing my breakfast to my typical work week. The menu would pack in my favourite international meals on the days that I’d need them the most. Bon Appetit!

I decided to not only be the star of my movie but also the screenwriter. I have a long way to go on the full script, but for you dear reader, I offer the opening scenes of - The Bridges of New Brunswick.

These men, wielding large knives, were rapidly chopping fish heads and removing guts at a pace that subconsciously made you curl your fingers into your hand.

So when lamenting to my aunt about my poor packing abilities while planning a month-long adventure through the middle east, she offered some savvy advice.

With the current death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to rise, the matter of dealing with the dead is being grappled with around the world. It’s led me to think of burial places, but less about what I see from ground level and more on what’s happening underneath.

"The doors will open to those who are bold enough to knock” - F.Scott Fitzgerald

But for this blog post, I don’t want to contemplate what Paul meant in his song. This blog post is strictly about the literal words of the song, specifically those “bright colours, greens of summer and a sunny day”.

But notwithstanding the impressive ruins of the Roman Empire in Tunisia, there is equally as interesting evidence of this past history in the smaller artifacts remaining of Roman Africa — the mosaics.

I travel extensively to exotic, remote and sometimes more traditional places, and it’s those moments when travelling that I, like Shirley, am transformed. 

But that is more than made up when travelling in the Arabian Gulf and in particular in Oman. The moment you arrive in Oman is the moment your olfactory senses are heightened and move into overdrive.

If I dip back into the recesses of my brain, my memory would suggest there was about 4 permanent rotary washing lines standing upright in a sea of pebbles spread throughout the area of the courtyard. The purpose of the pebbles would have been to facilitate appropriate drainage to prevent a wet, muddy, slippery surface, given the English weather and the frequent use and access to the lines by the flat occupants.

But while for most, strolling through burial grounds is uncomfortable in broad daylight and can make the hairs rise on the back of your neck during a ghost tour, there are others that feel differently.

People like me.

Each morning started the same. A breakfast of sangak, watermelon, cucumber and a hard boiled egg in the sparsely populated hotel dining room while being serenaded by Leonard Cohen. Well, not Leonard himself, but a playlist of Leonard’s music being piped through the speakers suspended in the corners of the dining room ceiling. Not to diminish the notoriety of our Canadian legend and the international span of his influence— I was surprised to hear the distinct voice of Leonard Cohen during breakfast in Isfahan, Iran!

Anatoly spoke no English and I no Russian, but with Irina as our translator the conversation was continuous, chatting about gardening, hockey, and the weather as we walked the property, admiring his art and passion project.

Polydactyl cats are also referred to as “mitten cats,” “thumb cats,” or  “Hemingway cats”.  The latter name refers to the author Ernest Hemingway, who in the 1930s was allegedly given a polydactyl kitten by a sea captain named Stanley Dexter. That cat went on to parent numerous polydactyl kittens at Hemingway’s Key West, Florida, home.

You see, Hojat is a skillful storyteller and what became obvious to me, day by day as we visited the historical monuments, or enjoyed a lunch together was that his stories were complex, interconnected, and, over 8 days I had the pleasure of hearing the story of Persia.

Persepolis - meaning, the “Persian city” was once the capital of the Achaemenid Empire (550-330BC). Cyrus the Great chose the site, but it was King Darius the Great, his son Xerxes and grandson Artaxerxes who built the palatial buildings for the rulers of the empire and a center for receptions and ceremonial festivities. However, in 331-330 BC the palaces were looted and burned by Alexander the Great.

Because at the heart of it, my family, friends, colleagues could appreciate me wanting to visit those historical sights and the country's landscape. Their concerns were rooted in their misconceptions of Iranian people and their customs. And, even I underestimated the warmth and genuine welcome that I would receive.

This book came to mind on my recent travels to Iran. There was something surprising about Iran and, although I didn’t have to climb to the top of a tree, I felt that I kept entering enchanted faraway lands. I loved each adventure up the faraway tree and could envision these lands, rotating above the clouds, high above the branches, whereby a seemingly plain tree provided access to a completely different world.

When I consider the place of my childhood, it is visually represented for me by a monument that I could see from my bedroom window. A monument that upon first sight after being away for a day as a child or years as an adult, is the “welcome back to your home” landmark, Penshaw Monument. 

Of course, I should have come to this conclusion after the first fall, or at the very least the second. But it took five, certainly a hard lesson to learn from the perspective of my bruised and battered thighs. But this last fall seemed particularly poignant.

So the ‘science’ tells us that over 50 million years ago an ancient volcanic eruption resulted in the 40,000 interlocking basalt columns that comprise the Giant's Causeway. It’s beyond impressive, whereby the hexagonal columns appear like stepping stones going into the sea and in some places raise up to 12 metres high. But that was a long time ago, so who knows for sure if that really happened, I prefer the alternative theory, that the causeway was, in fact, built by Giants.  

While waiting in the departure line at the Muscat airport, I made a decision to get out of line and stay longer. But it still wasn't long enough and from the moment that I returned home, I've been thinking about going back.

"The Troubles" reference the conflict in Northern Ireland that transpired from the late 1960's till the 'ending' with the Good Friday agreement of 1998.  The Troubles were primarily political and nationalistic and many of the murals in Belfast commemorate and communicate the aspects of this historical event. In Belfast, there are approximately 300 quality murals on display and the themes of murals tend to reflect what is important to a particular community.

Solo travel, especially for female travelers has become a niche market as there are great opportunities and benefits associated with travelling independently. But, my decision to travel solo for an upcoming vacation to Wales wasn’t as much of a choice as it was a circumstance of my marriage ending.