Hello there! Thanksgiving is here – a time to be grateful for the year. Although it has been a challenging year , we manage to go through it. While this year , there has been no travel abroad and maybe reduced travel domestically , the positive side is we managed to spend more time with family, some become good chef and others pick up a new hobby.

Hello there! Christmas and New Year 2021 is coming. It is the time of the year for housekeeping, spring cleaning . And boy – look what I found. Do you remember when we go travelling we always have to equip ourselves with maps and sometimes we like to buy a travel guide book so as to get familiarize with the city before touch down. Today we can google everything i.e. 10 things to do at Venice ( which by the way is one of my favorite city in Europe ) , use Google Map, Waze etc. to find your way to the highly recommended restaurants, café , or tourist spot for the perfect Instagram photo.

While we take pictures happily, there was a time when we do not really know how it turned out until when we come back home , have the negatives processed . Unlike today , we can see the result immediately, and pose for that selfie/ we-fie again for the perfect angle, perfect take.

There was a time also when , we may take a video of our trip and when we come back home , either burn it into a tape recorder / CD . And I confess, that I would patiently wait for the postcards I sent from my trips overseas to arrive, with the country of origin stamps as well. Those were the days .

Note that the Sultan’s Adventure ticket when I was in Taiwan back in 90 (Taiwan Calendar) . Do you know that Taiwan calendar or Minguo calendar uses 1912, the year of the establishment of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as the first year. It was confusing isn’t it. So do you know Year 90 in Taiwan is year ? in the Gregorian Calendar?

2020 has been such a challenging year , with no travel overseas for leisure / business , we can only reminiscent of our previous travel experiences and plan for some future visits to places we have not been to. It is also a time to:-

a) look back in our life. As I walk down the nostalgic memory lane, there are questions I ask myself like things I should have known when I was in my twenties and you can read my new book here

b) take some time to plan for thing we had not done or achieved , but would like to at least give it a try. With the new normal , I look forward to exploring “my own backyard”- Malaysia. Keep an eye on this space.

At the meantime , Happy Thanksgiving , Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2021 . Stay Safe and Healthy , everybody.