Another new chapter....

Walking along a white empty beach in Zanzibar, I saw a solitary white woman walking towards me.   As she approached, I stopped to face the sea thinking I should probably head back. My body language must have hinted the same cause as she caught up with me, she said “What stopped you from going on?”

A flow of possible answers clouded my brain in seconds. Well, for starters I had been walking for quite a while only clad in a bikini under the scorching sun. I was also having second thoughts of whether it was safe to continue venturing on my own on what I thought was a deserted beach. I can’t remember what I actually replied. But I do remember being tempted to reply; why should I go on?  I had just climbed Kilimanjaro after months of training and set up a school in Arusha in the past three weeks – hadn’t I done enough? Shouldn’t I just call it a day? No yet!

After Africa, I went back to the UK to quit my job and backpack across East Asia then onto Australia for a year before spending a couple of months trekking in New Zealand. Back in the UK and at 34, I became a fulltime Uni student. Nothing seemed to stop me from going on, or even reversing back! To this day every time I think I’d stop and stay, again the question pops; what’s stopping me from going on?  

Yes, fear, loneliness, getting lost, etc. cloud my brain but my heart and soul have a mind of their own; one which is stronger and drives me to go on. Or couldn’t be destiny? Or, just a bit of both!  For the past two and a half years, London was home. And once again when I thought that’s it I’m staying, here I am, starting another new chapter in my life; living in New York.  

Finally London

There are many facades to London. As I climbed the stairs out of Tottenham Court Road tube station I caught a vision of it. The photo captures its two extremes; the glitz and the revolting.



The combination of thrill and fear is what attracts me to it, just like other things I’ve done in my life; bungee jumping, sky diving, leaving everything and everyone behind to travel across the globe – all scary but exciting. When I first left Malta five and a half years ago I so wished I’d move straight to the capital however, faith decided to take me on a round-about way starting from West Berkshire in the UK to Africa then Asia, South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand then back to the UK in Reading (still in Berkshire) and now finally, London. It is here that I now live, play, work and soon-to-be a student again.






I love it. Ok, it’s only been two months since I moved here so I suppose I’m still my honeymoon period. What do I like about it? Well, for starters being the largest metropolitan city in Europe, it’s like being in another country or many of them actually, only a doorstep away. About a third of the 7.5 million population is not born in UK so the City lives and breeds a fusion of diverse nationalities and with them cultures. I just love to stroll along the markets, smelling and tasting the food, feast my eyes on colourful clothes and artefacts and listen to some of the three hundred spoken languages.












There’s always somewhere to go and something do in London; watching a play or musical, visit exhibitions of fashion, art, attend religious or traditional ceremonies, go for walks or a cycle and picnic in parks, to dancing salsa and partying. I’ve so far enjoyed most and look forward to so much more. But probably one of the best things is meeting its inhabitants who hail from all corners of the world. I’m making a habit of attending events to meet people with similar interests or in similar professions, then chat for hours over a drink, or perhaps two.






Being overpopulated the City let’s its steam out in various ways. ‘Welcome to The Big Smoke’ I was told when I first got here. Since demand is greater than supply everything and every inch of it is pricey. What you pay is worth the space you occupy not the space you’re in. Men in black ties accompanied by diamond-dazzling dames, walk out from the theatre into its streets where homeless ask for their spare change. The rich mingle with the poor as each live in the City of their dreams. As a sage once told me, every prize has a price tag to it.










Ultimately, you get what you put into it and that’s what makes London.

Lanzarote

Finally, after a long cold snowy winter in the UK, the sun is slowly coming out from its hibernation. I was lucky enough to break the winter with two journeys to two lovely sunny islands. I went back home, to Malta last Christmas. That was quite something on it's own. I hadn't spent Christmas with my family for two years since I was 'busy' travelling Asia then Australia. Snow struck UK just a week before I had to fly out. I narrowly missed out on lovely sun, 24 degrees Celsius of warmth and my family's unbeatable home-coming shower.


Back a month, end of November, I spent five fantastic days on one of the Canary Islands, Lanzarote as a birthday treat. It was not a typical 'Nicky holiday' (you'd get that if you read the rest of my blog!!) This time I decided to celebrate it 'Diana style'.




I met Diana about a year ago in New Zealand on a tour. We kept in touch especially every since I returned back to the UK. She too has toured the world mostly as air hostess though. Her birthday is just a day before mine, so we joined forces packed her young colleague Bambos with us and flew away from cold-smitten UK.



The clammy heat was welcoming. A five minute taxi drive brought us to our holiday complex aparthotel in Port Carmen. The sea so blue and inviting. Lanzarote's landscape is made up of grey dry lava dotted with white-washed houses, against a background of volcanic mountains.

We sweated our way up to our little holiday apartment and wasted no time to swap into our bikinis and laze by the pool. Bliss, felt my body melting. We couldn't be bothered to go out that night so we just chilled out in the balcony over a wine and pasta supper.


The next days were a mix of sleeping in, lying by the pool or on the beach, enjoying an occasional ice-cold swim then finding a good restaurant and some friendly locals to offer us a drink or two!

Port Carmen is a typical summer resort retaining some of its old charm in the old quarter. The harbour harnessed fishing boats and their owners' lived in the tiny cottages in narrow streets surrounding it. The wide promenade was lined with sandy beaches and palms on one side and restaurants, shops and hotels on the other.

One evening as we meandered along the promenade enjoying the final streaks of sunlight, Diana and I were caught by a plump glittery-pink English woman who sold us a Gran Tour around the island.



A slightly chilly morning (well, it was end November!) saw us three waiting on the bus stop for the coach to pick us up. We first drove towards the north of the island to visit 'the most beautiful nightclub in the world'. (Pity it was a day tour, actually!)

The Jameos del Agua is a volcanic tunnel. We descended into the roofless part of the cave. A narrow naturally formed passageway allowed us to get to the other end, or the stage, which extends itself into the next volcanic bubble adorned this time by a man-made pool. Towards the end of Jameo Grande is the concert cave; an astonishing hall with its wonderful natural acoustics perfect for concerts and performances.



Further up north of the island we captured some stunning views of the Mirador de Guinate.



Our next stop was wine tasting at La Geria. Mmmm tasty sweet wine, we so needed lunch after that!












Finally, we got to the most talked about Timanfaya National Park. Driving along the steep winding roads in-between the volcanoes, we stopped by the earth fumes-operated restaurant. Natural furnaces were everywhere underneath our feet. The restaurant had however converted one into a proper huge 24hr natural gas BBQ and gosh it piping hot, a steak would take two minutes to cook. Hungry anyone?














We were simply taken away by some scary geothermal stunts performed by the locals. It was almost as if they were teasing the devils in their inferno.















Sunset awaited us at El Golfo; a rough isolated beach ideal for spending lousy romantic evenings taking stunning pictures.


















The tour finally led us towards Costa Blanca, the second largest resort on the island and from where ferries made their way to and from the neighbour Tenerife island.

Another evening of delicious fish and wine awaited us. It was as if Diana and I celebrated our birthdays every day :)

Can't wait for summer and more sun
cheer for now
Nicky
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