You know, I'd completely forgotten that I have a blog part to my website, hence I've not blogged for more than a month which was when I set up my website but I'm going to blog far more regularly.

6 weeks today, I'm heading to Singapore for what's going to be a trip of a lifetime. I am buzzing. In all, I'll have 4 nights in Singapore but also day trips to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. In the past few days, I've been recommended a driver for when I'm in Phuket who can whizz me round to all the places that appeal to me which I thought was much more preferable to doing a group excursion where you can't dictate how long you'll spend in each place. I don't have the patience! However, this driver will take me to the Mountain Breeze Restaurant, The Big Biddha, an elephant sanctuary, Patong Beach and much more. It'll cost 1,800 Thai Baht which is very reasonable. I'll probably do the same in Penang and on the Indonesian island of Batam. 

However, at the end of June, I'm now going to head off for 2 nights to discover some more European countries. I was looking up flights to Helsinki (Finland) and I saw the AirBaltic can take me there from Gatwick but it'll need to stop off in Riga (Latvia) for 6 hours where I'm allowed to leave the airport. Well, if I have to! Factoring in time to go through immigration and then going through security when I get back to the airport should still leave me enough time to explore the city. Later that evening, I'll catch the second flight of the day to Helsinki that'll take no time at all and I'll stay over somewhere. The following day after exploring the city, I'm going to head to Tallinn (Estonia) which is just a ferry way. And then, after a night there, I'll catch a direct flight late in the day from Tallinn to Gatwick. In all, that's going to be 7 countries ticked off in June across 2 trips. Do I think I'll reach 25 countries before November which will mark one year since turning 50? Oh yes xx

Okay, I love a travel programme whether it's about the flashiest of hotels, about cruises, about well-known train journeys but I'm absolutely mad about Race Across the World which is a UK TV series but hopefully searchable for others living elsewhere.

They've already been two series that you can find on BBC iPlayer where contestants raced from London to Singapore in the first one and then a new set of contestants raced from Mexico City to Ushuaia, Argentina. They can't travel by air. They don't have smart phones or debit/credit cards. They have just a map and money that's the equivalent of the air fare. They have checkpoints to reach and there's prize money for the first couple that reaches the end destination. This third series started last Wednesday night where they're travelling right across Canada and oh my word. It's looking like it's going to be an incredible series. I wasn't sure how it'd work essentially going across a single country but the footage of things to come look spectacular. You won't find me on series 4 (very camera shy!) but wow it's inspiring me! xx

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m0002tvs/race-across-the-world