1. There are a lot of fantastic people working in different communities in the Philippines. Regardless of the struggles they face, they are determined to make a difference in the lives of the Filipino people. They need all the support that they can get. Hopefully, a number of people around the world can find ways to offer some help.

2. I do what I do at work partly because of these very people who work in similar communities, wherever they might be in the world. That’s why meeting the very people we serve is so important and special. It’s great to be a part of this.

3. No matter how challenging some of the aspects of this country (traffic, pollution, chaos, disasters, etc), there is SO MUCH beauty in this country. And, even though I was born here and spent most of my growing up years here, I haven’t seen it all. That’s why I’m now hoping to see more. Preferably, with my family.

4. What I do and accomplish can be so much more for other people. I don’t completely comprehend it, but for some reason, the work I’ve done and am doing seem to make other people happy. During this trip, I have been approached by some people about how excited/happy/proud they are of me/my work. They shook my hands. They thanked me. They asked to take photos with me. These are strangers who have only heard of me on the day. And, I am completely amazed and humbled by it all.

5. Although I do consider Australia home, and I love my new home country dearly, I know that the Philippines will always be a part of me and who I am. Yes, even when I also receive funny comments about my accent – of how ‘foreign’ I sound, etc. Or how I make people smile by calling “trash cans” as “rubbish bins” and such. Besides, I know that I will always crave for Jollibee, green mangoes & bagoong, inasal, sinigang, and all the other local food. Plus the shopping. Of course.

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When it comes to travel, I must confess that it has become way too easy to take my birth country for granted. After all, I grew up in the Philippines. I lived there (here) most of my life.

My parents have enabled us to visit several towns, cities, and islands as I was growing up. Of course, with over 7,000 islands, it’s almost impossible to see the whole country in one’s lifetime. But, I thought (foolishly) that once I’ve seen enough rice fields, farms, beaches, mountains, forests, waterfalls, markets, volcanoes, plantations, jeepneys, and the like, I would’ve just about seen and experienced it all.

So, why not opt to explore other countries more, right?

That’s why I find it interesting that in order for me to appreciate coming back and discovering new places in the land of my birth, I had to go and find myself a new “home country” in Australia.

Having left the Philippines over a decade ago, I have managed to miss mostly food, family, and friends. Everything else, I was not too worried about missing.

Over the last few months, however, I have come back to this country more than I ever had in the last decade due to work matters.

Well, my family and I spent Christmas and New Year in Manila in December/January 2010/11. And, it was quite amazing to see my birth country especially from the eyes of my kids. I think I must have developed a refreshed sense of appreciation of this place due to their enthusiasm about it all, regardless of traffic, crime, disasters, pollution, poverty, and other issues that get some of us way too jaded about life in the Philippines.

Showing my kids where I grew up and what helped to shape a huge part of who I am as a person was quite a special experience.

Needless to say, I really enjoyed that trip.

Unexpectedly, I found myself back in the country not too long after I left, due to an invitation by Microsoft to speak at the MS NGO Connection Days in Davao and Manila last February. Although it was primarily a work trip, I had a great time meeting people working in the communities, speaking to them about social media in nonprofits, and just generally catching up about what’s going on in the country and the nonprofit sector.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the opportunity to visit anywhere in Davao, but at best, I have developed new work contacts and loved the inspiration from people who are working passionately to change people’s lives in the Philippines. It really helps to think that perhaps, one day, some of the issues of the country will be changed for the better because of the work of these amazingly dedicated people.

Although I thought that that trip would be the last one I’d have in a while for this country, I ended up finding my way back here this week. Again, as invited by Microsoft. But this time, representing my organisation and a new program we’re part of launching in the region.

And, in this trip, I found myself visiting Bacolod for the first time. From the moment we flew in to the airport, it was almost love at first sight.

The sight of sugar cane farms during harvest was a delightful sight – farmers with bolos, chopping sugar canes; farmers on carabao-drawn carts carrying sugar canes, and trucks full of sugar canes on the way to the azucareras… Then, there are the colourful jeepneys going back and forth the roads… Recent festivities celebrating famous events called Cinco de Noviembre (5th of November) and Mass Kara festival (mask festival) have left remnants of their celebrations with giant colourful masks and flying banners all over the place. There are mountain views, forests, and the seaside all around.

The city itself is relatively small, but hold just about everything you’d need, even if you don’t want to venture too far from familiar places like Robinson’s Mall, McDonald’s, Jollibee, and Starbucks. But, seriously, if you did not at least try the amazing cake shop called Calea or the fabulous 18th Pala Pala restaurant or one of the many fantastic chicken inasal (BBQ) houses, where Bacolod is most famous for… You’d be insane. Seriously.

Everything about Bacolod felt strangely familiar, yet unexpected. Nearly everyone I met were lovely, hospitable people. The food was fantastic. The views were great. And, the whole place seems to be both alive yet peaceful.

In fact, I have fallen in love with the place so much that I would love to write more about it again one of these days. A blog post is not enough to cover the extent of what can be said about Bacolod. Even though I haven’t had the chance to see a lot of it, I managed to see enough to make me wish I can return one day. Hopefully, with my husband and kids.

Now, as I returned to Cebu after over a couple of decades since I first visited this city, I can see that it has changed a lot since then. And, unfortunately, much as I would love to rediscover its beauties, I won’t have the opportunity this time around, as I need to head back to Adelaide shortly.

Tomorrow, I will be speaking at another Microsoft NGO Connection Day. And again, I look forward to being inspired by what people are doing to make this country a better place. I am also much happier, knowing that the organisation I work for is part of an exciting program that will be extending some of the work we do in Australia and New Zealand in to this part of the world. Hopefully, through this, we would be able to contribute something too.

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But, when my first official travel writing gig came some 8 or 9 years ago, it was anything but glamorous and fun. I just ended up doing too much research and writing a lot of facts about places (some of them, I’ve never even been to!). It paid me well enough, though, so I couldn’t really complain. That’s just how it is when you try to write for a living.

After that gig passed, I’ve never really explored pitching proper travel stories to magazines or newspapers. Silly me, really. Especially since my then-editor at Elle Magazine (Singapore) seemed open enough to listen to a pitch from me.  I’m not sure if it’s from pure and utter laziness — or from the fear of doing something I’m not quite familiar with. Instead, I just became well and truly entrenched in web work. And, I fed my need to write travel pieces through blogging and contributing to places like IgoUgo (yes, I still have my stuff there).

But, other than those times – and my occasional blog posts on travel here at Studio Notes – I just let the whole Travel Writing thing pass me by.

Last year, however, I began to accept freelance writing and editing gigs again. Nothing major. Just bits and pieces of work online to start with. Later, I started thinking about finding some print work again. I miss it, you see. Getting my work published in print.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to stress too much to land my first print magazine writing job again. You see, approximately 6 or 7 months ago, the Editor of Tiger Tales (the In-Flight Magazine of Tiger Airways, by Ink Publishing) contacted me through this site (Studio Notes). He found my blog, checked my About page, and asked me if I wanted to be the Adelaide Correspondent for their Hotspots/Touchdown section.

Well, I was crazy busy at the time. But, how could I pass up the opportunity to write for print again? And, to do travel writing once more?

My first piece (image here, above) was published in their Jan-Feb 2010 Issue. I also got published in their Mar-Apr 2010 Issue. And, I’ve already submitted my contribution for the May-June 2010 Issue.

It’s no biggie, really. But, I’m still quite happy about it.

Maybe partly because it shows that having a website/weblog DOES help you to find paid freelance writing jobs.

And, it’s proof that when you want something, and you allow circumstances to provide you with opportunities, you can find what you’re looking for.

And, well… that this kind of travel writing is much more fun than the last few ones I’ve tried.

So yeah, if you’re ever aboard Tiger Airways, you might just find my name in the Adelaide section of their travel round-ups. And, even if you don’t get on board Tiger Airways, but you’re still curious to read some of my pieces, you can check them out at Tiger Tales’ website – Adelaide.

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It feels like ages ago – The Big Trip. That’s why it feels a bit odd blogging about this now. But, I promised to blog about it all, so I’m delivering on that word (whether you like it or not ).

Looking at these photos still make me smile though, no matter how long ago this may seem to be.

Anyway, since we spent almost four weeks in Johannesburg, South Africa, a day-by-day recount of our trip is definitely out. Let me just share with you some of my favourite memories and highlights from my fifth South African trip (this is my boy’s 3rd trip, and my li’l girl’s first official trip):

• Our arrival at the airport – with our family waiting for us. Such a nice sight!
• Going to the Mountain Sanctuary for a four-day camp. Lots of nice things here – barbecues, star gazing, swimming at an infinity pool, seeing baboon and warthog families in our camp, hiking to rock pools, toasting marshmallows on the campfire, reading… It was really nice of my sis-in-law and her family to organise this for us. They even paid for everything. How sweet, eh? Oh, and yeah… Funny moment for me was when I knew I just had to enrol in one of these courses at Uni, so I ended up with my brother-in-law’s laptop with a wireless connection… enrolling at Uni in the middle of the night, inside a tent, with warthogs just outside. How strange can that be?! Anyway, the views to this place were amazing!
• Lazy days at my parents-in-law’s place – Got to do lots of reading, even watched some movies (on Christmas Eve – I overdosed on FOUR sappy Christmas movies via cable – heh). There was also art-making and lots of swimming in the pool, some croquet and cricket, mini tea parties, and more… especially for the kids.
• Christmas Eve/Christmas Day – Fun gift-giving! We mostly stayed at home and just had a very traditional Christmas lunch with the family.
• Some shopping and eating out – I love shopping and eating out in Johannesburg. Really cheap – and lots of variety. Some of my favourite places to eat out there: Mugg & Bean, Ocean Basket, Nando’s (I first discovered Nando’s in South Africa, about 9 years ago, on my first trip there…), Bambanini, and Spar’s, among other places. There are also several nice places to shop at, and in this trip, I even discovered a shop that I really fell in love with called Young Designers’ Emporium (YDE) — such gorgeous clothes. Unfortunately, I discovered it too late, we were just about over-baggage (and over-spent! )… so I didn’t get to buy much from there. But, I’m definitely hunting that place down when I get to visit again.
• Going to Montecasino and the Bird Park – Well, we only really went to Montecasino for the park, but we did stop by for a quick lunch in their food court. The kids really loved the park. We remember this place really well because the last time we were there (some 5+ years ago), my boy was only 11 months old and he talked for the first time saying “bird” over and over again.
• Going to Johannesburg Zoo – Another favourite place to go to. Although, I must say, the zoo was looking a bit sad this time around. Hmmm…
• Going to the Botanical Garden – My sis-in-law often chooses to spend her birthday at this place, to meet up with family from our side and her hubby’s side. We have a nice lunch at their open air cafe, go for a walk, visit the beautiful waterfalls, and due to kids, we often take the mini train back to the entrance.
• Spending some time at sis-in-law’s place – They’ve hosted us for breakfast and a couple of lunches. Each time, they’ve been wonderful. There were barbecues – and even a yummy potjkie (a local thing!).
• New Year’s Eve / New Year’s Day – Lovely time with sparklers and braais (barbecue), which I’ve already blogged about here.
• Going to The Lion and Rhino Park – Another fave. It’s a great way to do a mini safari for the kids. It’s not like “the real safari” – but the real one will bore kids like crazy, I think, as it can take a while to find animals in the wild. This one’s almost as good – and definitely fun. We had a real nice experience spotting the lions!
• The Boy’s Advanced Surprise Birthday Party – My in-laws even went out of their way catering for this party with great food and fabulous party games, with prizes. It was so much fun, seeing how the kids reacted to this. Especially the boy. He didn’t expect it. It was sooo cool.

There are many many other moments that are not easy to capture in words and pictures. But yes, that’s why that “goodbye scene” at the airport is always tough.

In any case, yes, it has been an amazing trip.

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Time to share another leg of The Big Trip. This time, I’m writing about the England – Wales part of the journey. Unlike the Singapore Trip, I won’t do a day-by-day account here though. More like a highlights-and-rambling-thoughts report kind of a post. I hope you don’t mind.

Anyway, this part of the trip was a real whirlwind tour. So much so that out of the 10 days that we spent there, we only slept on the same bed twice, in two places (at a B&B in Plymouth and at a friend’s house in London). The rest of the time, we were staying in different houses/beds every single night. It was crazy.

Part of me was really apprehensive about this trip because I didn’t know how the two kids will cope with it all. But, they’ve been such great troopers. In fact, every time we got in the car in the morning, they asked: “So, where are we going to next? Who are we going to see? What are their names?” We only had very few dramas. Nothing at all that made the trip too tough, regardless of the heavy schedule.

Actually, there was only one major drama that I encountered. It was at Heathrow Airport. We just landed and were navigating our way out of that awfully busy and crowded airport when a local English woman just deliberately bumped me from behind and mumbled some insulting remark at me. I couldn’t believe it. I looked at her incredulously and she just stared back. She was petulant and unrepentant. I was livid. I didn’t know what her problem was, so I nearly lost it. Thankfully, I just about managed to keep my cool — even if it was 6am at the time, and I just had a 12-hour flight, with hardly any sleep. There were a couple of minor local irritations at the airport as well, but I think my sensitivities were already partly heightened due to my earlier unpleasant encounter.

At first, I thought it will be another trip that would make me glad that I wasn’t living in England. I mean, I’ve been to the UK twice before. Back in 1999 (hubby and I spent our honeymoon in cold, cold England & Scotland!), and again in 2001 (as part of a trip to Paris and Belgium). Both times, I’ve LOVED it as a tourist. Definitely a dream come true. But, during those times, there were some not-so-pleasant experiences that made me terrified about living in the UK. Those not-so-nice experiences – plus my fear of 8-month-long winters – just make me shudder every time hubby and I consider the idea of living back in his beloved homeland.

This trip, however, marked a turning point for me. Yes, in spite the awful welcome at Heathrow (and the threat of becoming frozen!), this trip to England actually made me WANT to experience living there. Not necessarily permanently. Just know what it’s like. There are several reasons for this, I must say. And, it’s not just because we had a fabulous time seeing London – and me, falling deeply and hopelessly in love with Cambridge.

Somehow, seeing some of our friends in the UK… and even meeting some of hubby’s relatives… just made us acutely aware of how disconnected we are here in Australia. Especially because the kids are pretty much growing up without strong extended family connections and such. And, hubby and I just saw how much the kids adore being in the company of people we’re connected with. It was really something that made us think.

Don’t get me wrong. We LOVE Australia. This is home. I don’t know if anywhere else would ever feel like home to our family. We’re still not completely convinced that we want to exchange our life here in Australia for anything else in the world.

But yeah, I have to admit that even though I’ve never seriously considered the idea before, this trip to the UK actually made me long for something else in our life for some reason. So… who knows?

Anyway… the main reason for a visit there was, of course, The Wedding. One of hubby’s great friends (a Geordie living in Plymouth with his family) was the best man at hubby and I’s wedding in Singapore and the Philippines ten years ago. His daughter was also one of my bridesmaids. We also asked her to be my son’s godmother. Even when their family lived in Cape Town, South Africa a few years ago, we came to visit them. So, yeah… our families are well and truly intertwined. In any case, it was the daughter’s wedding and she invited my son to be a pageboy and my daughter to be a junior bridesmaid. They held the wedding ceremony at a small church just outside Plymouth. The reception was at this gorgeous historic country home called the Kitley House (yep, the kind of place that makes you think ‘Jane Austen’!). And, the whole thing was just simply amazing. My boy and my girl loved their role (and their attire!). They did so well. The wedding was well-planned and wonderfully executed. Lots of beautiful little touches that made the whole event so special. As a bonus, our family even got to stay overnight in one of the incredible rooms at Kitley House, called “The Hubbard” (with an historic connection to the nursery rhyme, “Old Mother Hubbard”), courtesy of our generous hosts.

After the wedding, our family ended up on a road trip to see some relations in Wales (just outside Cardiff). After Wales, we went back to England and we had a quick passing-through drive to Windsor, just to show the Windsor Castle to the kids… before heading off to Wellyn Garden City, to see hubby’s old friends. Then, we went to Cambridge to see more relatives. This one was a major family reunion, as I’ve never met all these relations before and it has been 20-odd years since hubby last saw this part of his family.

The next day, we went on a day trip to the city of Cambridge. And yes, as I said, I fell absolutely in love with the place. We went punting, viewing Cambridge University and its surrounding architecture and features. Our guide (a South African one!), even pointed a section of Cambridge U where they filmed the “flying lessons” segment of Harry Potter (whee!). Whilst taking there, I decided that I wanted an old, secondhand Jane Austen book. Silly, I know, but still. So, I got myself a lovely hardbound illustrated version of Persuasion from one of the quaint bookshops there (David’s, I think, it was called). I also bought a touristy Cambridge U shirt from the market and a technicolour coat (seriously!) in one of the shops on the side streets.

After Cambrige, we went to stay at our good friend’s house in London (Finchley). We also went sightseeing. You know, the usual stuff… Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace… We had a fabulous day! And, even though I’ve been there twice before, it felt like I was seeing London for the first time. And yes, fell in love with it too. Then, we went to another part of London for another mini reunion with hubby’s old uni buddies. Another fab time. In each of our stop, the kids loved meeting the other kids of friends and family. It was really cool.

Seriously, my only regret about this trip to the UK is that we didn’t get the chance to stay longer — to see more places, to meet other friends we didn’t get the chance to meet, and to spend more time with some of those that we didn’t see enough of… (and perhaps, to shop more? ). I’m looking forward to coming back again one day.

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This is a bit delayed, I know. But, I did promise to tell you stories and to share with you some pics from The Big Trip, so here I am. I plan to do a round-up/highlights post for each leg of the journey (one for Singapore, one for the UK, and one for South Africa). And then some. Maybe.

Anyway, here goes Round-up #1 from The Big Trip – Singapore Highlights:

Ever since moving to Australia, we often stop by Singapore every time we travel. We just love going there for food and shopping. And of course, catching up with friends and reminiscing the first few years of hubby and I’s life together there.

On Day 1 (28/11/09): We mostly spent the day travelling. We took the Qantas – Singapore flight, direct from Adelaide. We left around mid-day and arrived at around 6:30 pm. When we got to Singapore, we went to see our friends. We often stay with them when we visit. From their house, we went to a nearby hawker centre to begin our food fest. Yummy roast duck, roast pork, steamed fish, and more. Absolutely divine.

Day 2 (29/11/09): This is the big day trip planned with our friends’ family. We all went to Sentosa (with a stop over at the lovely Food Republic via Vivo City for more food fest). First, taking the monorail in and then taking the Sky Ride. That was one scary moment there! It was fun, though. Then, we went to Underwater World to enjoy the big aquarium and the seal show. Afterwards, we all went on the Luge. Now, that was great fun! After that, we went back on the monorail to the shops. Then, back home to eat dinner (with some takeaway Chicken Rice!).

Day 3 (30/11/09): It was our solo family day. We decided to go to the city to show the kids all the skyscrapers and such. We first stopped by Lau Pa Sat for more food heaven (strangely enough, we actually had some delicious Filipino food when we discovered a very popular lechon stand there). Then, we walked towards Boat Quay. When we got there, we decided to take a cruise along the Singapore River via a bumboat. The boat was nearly empty and we had a really friendly driver/captain, so we managed to take a lot of photos. The Boy was even allowed to “steer” the boat a bit. It was all great fun! Later that evening, we met our family friends and we all went to Chinatown for dinner. The Boy was eager to try some barbecued sting ray and cray fish, amongst other things. We also did a quick shop there and bought The Girl a pink cheongsam, which she loves.

Day 4 (1/12/09): Our big social day! This is the day when we met up with as many of our friends in Singapore as possible. One of my biggest highlights was meeting Hsien and Jean, two long-time online buddies both of whom I’ve been busting to meet for ages now. I’ve known Hsien for almost 6 years now, and we’ve even worked together in the past online. And, I’ve known Jean for probably 8+ years now online. We’ve met through our blogs many many years ago, even back when I was still living in Singapore. The story of how I know both of them is so interconnected, it’s just too cool for words. Anyway, when they told me that they can come and meet me, I was really excited. It’s just so amazing to meet online friends in person. I’m so so happy to have finally met these two wonderful women.

After lunch at a vegetarian Indian restaurant in the city with Hsien and Jean, we went to my husband’s old workplace. There, we met up with and some of hubby’s Singaporean ex-colleagues (one of them, a good friend who has recently visited us here in Adelaide; he was even part of our two weddings 10 years ago).

Then, for dinner, we met up with more of hubby’s ex-colleagues/friends (this time, mostly the British expat ones). Had some more wonderful food and great catching up.

Day 5 (2/12/09): Our last day in Singapore. It was tough to choose where to go when you know you don’t have a lot of time in a place. So many places we wanted to see (e.g., Singapore Zoo, Little India, etc) and so many places we still wanted to do (i.e., shop and eat!). In the end, we decided to go to Science Centre Singapore as we thought that the kids would probably love that best. And they did. They had a blast. They especially love Waterworks in there. After the Science Centre, we had a quick stop over at a shopping centre to do a bit more shopping for the kids (yes, yes, one of my biggest regrets in this trip is not having had the chance to shop much for me – heh). Then, we were off to Changi Airport. There, we met up with our family friends – P and KY, with their daughters, A and N. We had dinner and our final chats. Saying goodbye is always hard, but we’re hoping that we’d get to see them again soon enough.

So, there you go. Our Singapore trip in a nutshell. Next stop: England!  

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Here’s a quick hello all the way from South Africa!

It has been a while since I’ve had proper internet connection… All this travelling thing just isn’t too conducive to online life. The thing is, even when I had access to the web, there wasn’t any time to go online at length. So, there hasn’t been a lot of opportunities for blogging and such. Sure, I’m able to update my social networks via mobile every now and then. But, the last few weeks had been filled with meeting people and seeing places… both familiar ones and new.

No complaints, though. I mean, this is probably the first long holiday I’ve had in years where I didn’t feel any strong need to be online a lot. For once, I am able to enjoy each day without a nagging feeling that I might be missing out on something. Well, nothing too big anyway (save for that time when I insisted on going on the web – in a tent – in order to enroll for next year’s grad school subjects).

So yeah… I managed to enjoy Sentosa, Singapore River cruise, etc in Singapore – on top of catching up with some friends and filling up with yummy food. Then, there was that whirlwind trip in England… the wedding was lovely and the kids were great… and we did manage to have a nice time punting and sightseeing in Cambridge, as well as walking all around London. And now, we’re in Johannesburg… went camping in the “mild wild” (yes, complete with warthogs, baboons and such in our campsite)… And now, trying to enjoy the Christmas festivities with the family.

There were scary/stressful moments in some places, but loving The Big Trip for the most part. In any case, I’ll try to write a proper travel report later on. Yes, with photos.

For now, I just wanted to greet you all a very happy Christmas! I hope you’re enjoying your time with your loved ones this holiday season.

Take care always and may you be filled with blissful moments.

xo,

Shai

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Ah. Funny calling it that, sometimes. But, that’s what we ended up calling it here at home with the kids – The Big Trip.

Yes, my family and I are off to three of our “homes” – Singapore, the UK, and South Africa.

Of course, Australia IS our real home now. We love this country deeply.

Other than Australia, though, we do consider those three countries, along with the Philippines and the USA, as our other “homes”.

To us, they’re home for different reasons.

You see, almost 10 years ago, my husband and I got married in Singapore. We lived there during the first three years of our marriage as expats. So, we consider Singapore as our first home as a couple. We had a lot of wonderful memories there and made a number of fantastic friends. That’s why it’s exciting for us to be celebrating our 10th Year Anniversary back in Singapore. This time, we’ve even got our two little ones when we celebrate this special milestone!

We’re all looking forward to seeing our good friends there – most of them even witnessed our marriage ten years ago. I’m even looking forward to seeing long-time friends online that I’ve never had the opportunity to meet in person, including Hsien Hsien Lei. And perhaps, even Jean.

I don’t know how much/many we’ll get to see, meet, and do, as we’re only stopping over for about 4 days. So, we’ll see. We’re definitely planning on making the most out of eating out while we’re there. We sooooo miss Singaporean food! (Not to mention, the shopping!)

After the quick trip to Singapore, we’ll be off to the United Kingdom – the “mother land”. There, we’ll have a whirlwind tour of a handful of cities in England and a quick trip to Cardiff in Wales. We’re only there for about a week and a half, so we’ve got an extremely tight schedule considering the number of places and people we’re scheduled to visit. I wish I can get the chance to meet some of my online buddies (Hi, Simon, Rachel, Sinta, and Jen!)… but we’ll have to see!

Anyway, the main reason for the UK leg of the trip is really to attend a wedding. The family of the bride is one of our good family friends. Their family was there to witness my husband and I’s two weddings (in Singapore and the Philippines). In fact, the father of the bride is my husband’s good friend. And, he was the best man at our wedding. The bride herself was even one of my young bridesmaids! She also became one of my son’s godparents. And now, she has invited my 2.5-year-old daughter to be a junior bridesmaid and my 5 3/4-year-old son as a pageboy. Yes, the li’l ones are going to be part of the entourage. It’ll be their first time to be taking part in a wedding, so it’s pretty exciting for all of us.

My husband, being a Brit, of course, has a lot of family and friends in the UK. That’s why we’ll be moving from one house to the next during most of our trip. Since it will be our first trip there with the kids (‘been there twice with hubby before kids came along) – we’re hoping to make the most of meeting as many friends and family as we can. Especially since the kids have never met their British uncles, aunties, and cousins. We’re also hoping to sneak in a bit of tourist-y stuff in-between. But, I know we can’t really fit in a lot.

After Singapore and the UK, the last and longest leg of our trip is a visit to South Africa, where my husband’s family live. It will be my fourth trip there, I think. My son’s been there twice. And, this will be my li’l girl’s first trip there. She will be meeting her aunt (hubby’s sis), uncle, and cousin for the first time.

The South Africa trip is primarily a time to spend with the family there over Christmas. Since we haven’t seen them for almost two years (three, for sis-in-law and family), it’ll be pretty special just to spend a few weeks with them. And yeah, I think we are going to do a little bit of camping, sightseeing, and a trip or two to do mini-safaris as well.

Can you tell I’m quite excited? I think, my biggest excitement really comes from the anticipation of seeing how the kids will react to this trip.

In any case, I’m not sure how much I’d manage to blog while I’m travelling. But, I’m definitely hoping to check in here every chance I get. I’m also hoping to update my Twitter/Facebook with bits and pieces from the trip.

Until then…

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