Yesterday I donned a flowing green gown and flew high above the rice fields of Ubud. On other occasions, in my former life as a tour manager,  I danced to Zorba the Greek and smashed plates. I joined clients in propping up the Tower of Pisa, sipped champagne on top of the Eiffel Tower, rode a hot air balloon in Laos and was rowed by a woman using only her feet in Vietnam. 

Touristy? 100%.  But fun? Absolutely.  

So does this make me a…whisper it…tourist?

 Gosh how we damn the tourist. We even ‘welcome them’ to European shores by spraying them with water and telling them to go back to their own countries seemingly absolving the local authorities of any culpability for the irresponsible way tourism is managed in that place.

Before reading this, to close your eyes and think about why you go on holidays or travel at all? What are you seeking? And what was the basis for any trips you decided to go on recently? Did you enjoy them? If so, why? And if not, why not?

My own why for travel began with my love of reading. I was at the top of the Magic Faraway Tree, dreaming of the Land of Goodies, sliding down Moon-Face’s slippery slip. I was investigating the backs of the wardrobe looking for Narnia; well, my name is Lucy after all….

I contemplate whether or not to wear a coat but decide it’s the wisest idea as even though Bogota is only 320 miles north of the equator, at around 8,360 feet above sea level it is usually fairly cold and grey. I imagine most people think of Colombia of just jungle but truthfully it has a bit of everything. Yes, there are tropical rainforests but there are also savannas, steppes, paramos, deserts and most of all mountains.

These days, I've taken up cycling to work, bidding farewell to Bogotá's *ahem* interesting alternative to a metro system, the Transmilenio or as locals lovingly call it, the "Transmi". As with most transport systems, in theory it’s great, a BRT of epic proportions that provides the affordable transport over a sprawling city that is geographically bigger than London, Paris, Madrid and Rome. In practice, with Bogota housing a whopping 20 percent of the Colombian population, it is a little overstretched. While it's generally fit for purpose, some mornings can feel like playing a high-stakes game of human Tetris.

The Brits’ favourite, spag bol? Not Italian. They eat tagliatelle al ragù. Tagliatelle, allegedly based on Lucrezia Borgia’s long golden locks, form a better surface area upon which the meat sauce can be dispersed, whereas spaghetti (literally thin pieces of string) not so much. Specific pasta lengths and shapes go with specific sauces. Ie, spaghetti with mussels (spaghetti alle vongole) not penne with vongole. In fact, not penne lisce with anything as far as most Italians are concerned. They hate penne lisce and during the Pandemic, when the shelves were cleared, the only pasta left on them, was in fact, penne lisce!

Another one of my favorite things about Mexico City is the food. Oh how I love the food in Mexico City! For me, Mexico City is the soul of Mexico, because it is a huge melting pot of all the different cultures and traditions found throughout the country. Whether your into a tasty taco de cochinita pibil (from the state of Yucatán), some delicious tacos de carnitas (from the state of Michocán) or even a big fat burrito (from the northern part of the country), guaranteed that in this city you will be able to find them all. Then of course you also have a huge variety of international cuisines: Japanese, Korean, Thai, Indian and Middle Eastern, to name a few. And if you’re up for a real treat, you can try out one of the many Mexican fusion restaurants, blending all of the wonderful flavours of Mexican cuisine with your favorite ethnic seasonings. But above all, what absolutely cannot be missed when in Mexico City, is a sampling of its sensational street food, as this is where you will find the most authentic of flavors when it comes to Mexican gastronomy. 

With 37 million inhabitants, Tokyo has the most populated metropolitan area in the world. Almost one of every three Japanese live in Tokyo. Imagining an area this urbanized and dense, one may expect to see trash, pollution, crime, conflict. Instead, Tokyo is quite the opposite. The city has some of the lowest crime rates in the world, and litter on the street can be remarkably difficult to find. Recently, after an entire day of touring Tokyo, a guest pointed out an empty plastic cup on the street and excitedly exclaimed, “A-ha! There is trash here!”

I once visited a town in Northern Italy, somewhere close to the Swiss border as I recall. It was all rather picture perfect; green and peaceful. I had stopped for one of those wonderful espressos and gotten chatting with a barfly in a cafe by a stone bridge, under which an Alpine river flowed rapidly. We exchanged pleasantries after which, unprompted, he proceeded to tell me a rather sad story. One day, years ago, a journalist from a big national paper had visited to write an article. One of those ‘the best town you’ve never heard of’ sort of features the Sunday papers are so fond of. When published, it appeared under the headline ‘L’isola Felice’ - the happy island, and described this small mountain enclave as the kind of place so tranquil and safe, ‘no one ever locks their front doors’. You can guess the conclusion to his tale; within days the place suffered a spate of burglaries - as ne’er-do-wells from all over the country descended on the poor unsuspecting front doors. It’s said key makers and locksmiths did a roaring trade over the weeks that followed.

As a child I knew that if I ever met someone to start a family, he would be from another land. In Greece we are people who believe in fate, destiny . Pepromèno , as we call it. A strange mechanism, that interferes in the course of life of the people , in an unexpected way. As it happened with us and how we met. Unexpectedly. Later it came as a shock , finding out that we even have birthday on the same day and month. It’s funny when we have to do paperwork and fill in official documents, the surprise of everyone who checks them , when they see our birthday, they think we made a mistake.

Whenever I’ve walked the camino with groups, the walkers have always been a little bemused I think it would be fair to say, at my levels of enthusiasm. They’re levels that can’t be faked in an attempt to inspire others, they just are, and I can do nothing about this, nor would I ever want to. You see, whatever the day entails, however gloomy the weather or muddy the conditions, it is a day on the camino, and for me, life just doesn’t get any better than that.

And it doesn’t really matter which of the many camino trails I’m on. Getting me to decide which of them is my all time top camino is like “Sophie’s Choice” to me, I can’t decide either a specific daily stage, or a specific time of year. Though Spring and Autumn have to be the top two contenders. And if there are sea views involved that is always a plus. 

The biggest and most precious luxury we have is time. At the end of their lives, people do not regret not having enough cars, houses or watches, but they can often regret how they spent their time and wish for it back. What makes Diamond Skies Travel more luxury than anything else is that we give you back your time. We listen to your dreams and do all the hard, behind the scenes part, to make them come true.