Welcome to Bogota

Not really a blog update, more a note to say that we have arrived in Bogota.

Rodrigo, a friend of a friend is picking us up in the morning to give us a tour of the city after which a more newsy update.

Raine x

Echo de menos mis tacones (I miss my heels)

Lao-tzu said "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step", not quite true, mine it would appear begins with a sleepless night; a combination of excitement and anticipation is keeping me awake. 

I think it has yet to sink in that this is going to be the trip of my lifetime and not the normal 2-3 week luxury holiday that I've become accustomed to - I've never travelled for more than three weeks before and for all of the trips I've done in the past I've had the good fortune to travel with Caroline, Marc or Abby; all of whom are first class travellers in every sense of the word! 

With that in mind it's going to be interesting to see how Abby and I fare exploring South America staying in hostels, home stays estancias and maybe just the occasional Boutique Hotel..... 

My rucksack which took up residence in my living room a few weeks ago has now been packed, I have to say with a worryingly small amount of things and not a single pair of heels - at no stage of this trip will I be more than 5'8" which may be a good thing as I hear that the men are very short (apart from those that are on horses). 

Totally impractical for Machu Picchu I guess...?

On a practical note I have a head torch (thank you Tony), a Leatherman (thank you JT - I shall use it to whittle my nose), Marmite (thank you my Urban family) and disposable pants (erm, thank you Ad & Ian????). 

My iPod is almost fully loaded with: 

Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls; A Night on the Town with The Rat Pack; Fall to Grace by Paloma Faith; Prince, Muse, Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, Rhianna, Duran Duran, Placebo, The Divine Comedy, Julia Fordham, Pink, Groove Armada,  Hard Fi etc...... 

And thanks to John and my Dad a wonderful selection of classical pieces, most notably, Fantasia On a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Vaughan Williams and Cello Concerto in E Minor Op 85, Adagio Moderato  (Elgar) - beautiful pieces of music and as my Dad said if I feel that I need a bit of England Thomas Tallis is it in Music.  

My kindle, well that's a different story (no pun intended), one of my first observations is that the transition from CD to Digital was a far easier one than from paperback to eReader..... Whilst I accept that it is the most practical option for travelling (can you imagine if I was actually having to carry 1,500 paperbacks around with me) I doubt that my relationship will be a long one, I'm already craving an affair with a real book. Any way I have loaded some 'comfort blankets' Great Expectations (Charles Dickens) and The Box of Delights (John Masefield) and lot's of considerably lower brow literature of the chick variety. 

So, with my iPad fully charged, copies of National Geographic, National Geographic Traveller (easily the best travel mag published) and Red all in my hand luggage for inflight entertainment along with a secret stash of Earl Grey and Peppermint Tea bags I am good to go.

See you in Bogota!

Raine x

Does how we said goodbye define me or you?

Since deciding to go travelling I seem to have been on a never ending leaving do, thank goodness I fly on Saturday I really need to stop drinking and eating! 

Last night I had my final 'big night out' at Petrus with my amazing friends and as I sit in bed with a cup of tea and the failsafe hangover cure of an egg and bacon green olive ciabatta roll I thought it would be a good time to get going with my blog. 

As I reflect on the past couple of months which I've spent with my family and catching up with my friends, it's so apparent to me that I had got my priorities a little bit mixed up and so to those of you who I let down, cancelled at short notice or 'de-prioritised' in favour of work - I'm so sorry. 

Anyway, as this blog is going to be sharing the news and stories of where I am going and where I have been in South America I thought I'd kick start it with some of the highlights of where I have been in the past few weeks. 

A real highlight of the past few weeks has been spending time with my Mum and Dad, I've spent every Sunday afternoon with them which has been fantastic, each week we've had a blast from the past with my Mum cooking some of my childhood favourites - it's a little known fact that everything I know about cooking I learnt from my Mum; if I didn't know how much she loved me before I do now! 

I've left out the trips to the dentist, doctor, shops etc - all quite dull in their own right and not so much as a complimentary glass of wine between them! 


Thanks to Jo a girls weekend away at the wonderful Owenmore in Currabinny, Co Cork kick started my 'Summer like no other', Caroline, Fiona, Jo and I had glorious weather, some amazing cheese, too much over priced wine from the local Spa and endured Paul 'bloody' McCartney singing Hey Jude - the climax of the Olympics opening ceremony - it should have been Elbow! 

Bedroom with a view at Owenmore

With Ian very possibly being Qantas's most frequent flyer he had an invite to the Qantas pop-up Olympic bar in St James' so I met up with him and Adrian there for a couple of glasses of complimentary champagne before going to The Criterion on Piccadilly for dinner. I'm so glad that Ad was back from Hong Kong and that we got to see each other before I started my trip. 

The closest that I got to work was when I met Pat at Redhook in Farringdon for cocktails; Libertine's (Grey Goose Citron, honeydew melon, ginger and soda) for me and Dry Martini's for Pat. 

Dinner at Dean Street Townhouse (one of my favourites) with Elliot and a bottle Veuve Clicquot (another one of my favourites - is it true that champagne doesn't have many calories...?). 

I was introduced to a Japanese wine that wasn't saki by my big, fat, moustachioed and ever so slightly fantastic friend JT (If you're interested....Koshu, Kayagatake, Grace Vineyards, Katsanuma) 

After queuing for more than two hours Brighton Pride was kick started with Marc, John, Phil, Mike and Helen with Jäger bombs all round. www.out-late.com. 

Meeting up with Tony is always a highlight never more so than when we are served a cappuccino with a rather impressive cocoa dusted swan on it at The Swan in Denham (see what they did...) - not the most fitting way to celebrate his appointment to the Board but it was 11am. 

I love the photographic exhibitions at the Tate and Another London which I went to with Caroline is well worth a visit (though I suggest that you don't drink as much wine as we did on the way home - why can we never do just the one bottle!). 

Celebrating Fi's 40th at The Grove was lovely, I think we had the last true day of summer, being able to sit outside on the terrace was so nice. I love spending time with the Dykes Clan, it was great to see David and Anne. 

The Grove for Fi's Fabulous 40th!

Out to the 'burbs of Stevenage sorry, Hitchin for a wine tasting with Marc and John (www.outlate.com) - previous wine tastings I've been to have been just that, a tasting however on this occasion I think the wine merchant decided that a way of getting people to order more wine was to get everyone pissed, it was a very effective marketing campaign - M & J enjoy the Molly Dooker Velvet Glove when it arrives :-) 

http://www.drinkfinder.co.uk/wine/mollydooker-velvet-glove-shiraz.html

Friends is a lovely restaurant near me in Pinner and I was treated to dinner and wine there by my Mum and a couple of friends, one of whom I want to be when I grow up - Jean is 80 and flys to Burma for a trip next month! 

Friends....

Way too much Champagne at Fi's last weekend. It appears that now she's 40 she's gone all regal on us - with a week long jubilee-esque celebration to mark her 40th year of being fabulous. 

Fabulous!

Then at last the final night out to celebrate my birthday and my departure. Aperitifs all round in the bar at Petrus followed by Bollinger (a toast to Stu by way of an apology for not buying a bottle of Petrus) some amazing wine, another bottle of Bollinger (it is my absolute favourite) some more amazing wine followed by a cab! I was given some perfect presents; thank you. I love my urban family. 

Small and perfectly formed Urban Family

So, as I head off in search of the worlds best Caipirinha (cachaca, lime, refined sugar), I will be thinking of you pondering the question 'Does how we say hello when we haven't seen each other for six months define us? 

Raine x