Easing myself back into blogging after taking a little break, here's an update on my 30 Things project:

Since we're at the half way point, I'd like to say I'm ticking off a further 10 items (!), but this month I can only tick off numbers 8 & 9. We had a fun family photo shoot and I've added 50 new names to my recently created Family Tree. Still, it's progress!

Sorting out my storage and building a new desk area for the office are still "in progress"...

I'm now skydiving with my little sis and little bro, so that's all booked up for the summer, and I've booked my tiger moth flight and London Eye ride for June. What else is happening? Well, I'm planning to visit my old school and write a children's story with the Infants and do a presentation on travel and being a writer with the Juniors. If that comes off (hopefully in June), I'll be able to tick off two more items - 15 & 22 - as I hope to self publish the story on Amazon and re-visit the school at a later date to show the kids what they created.

At this point in time I am wondering whether I'm going to complete all this by November 6th. I do know I'm really excited about the next few months because some of the things I've wanted to do for ages and ages are packed into there.

Guess I'll just keep my fingers and toes crossed and I look forward to updating you all next month!

1.   DONE - Fly First Class long haul from anywhere to anywhere
2.   BOOKED - Take a photography course
3.   BOOKED - Experience the Caledonian sleeper train to Scotland & ride around Edinburgh in a funky Billy Connolly style Trike
4.   BOOKED - Visit 1 of the countries in my Top 3 “before it changes forever” list - Cuba
5.   IN PROGRESS - Sort out proper storage for my favourite belongings
6.   DONE - Try 3 new variations of foods
7.   Walk the beautiful Jurassic Coastline
8.   DONE - Complete a family tree with at least 50 people on it
9.   DONE - Fun family photo shoot
10. BOOKED - Fly in a Tiger Moth
11. BOOKED - Tandem sky dive
12. DONE - Bake a marble cake just like my mum’s
13. DONE - Make a decent curry
14. Finish writing the Dalton Trilogy
15. IN PROGRESS - Self publish an informative eBook or a children's book on Amazon
16. Publish a paid article
17. Feature photos on shutterstock.com
18. Catalogue my last 10 years of travels
19. Lose 14 lbs
20. Host a dinner party from scratch (3 courses)
21. IN PROGRESS - Build a new desk area for the office
22. IN PROGRESS - Do 1 presentation to an audience
23. BOOKED - Ride the London Eye
24. Interview 3 Indie authors from Twitter
25. (Market and) sell 100 copies of Little Child
26. Take a weekend TEFL course
27. DONE - Achieve 3000 unique visitor hits on my website in a month (Feb 2012 was 2816)
28. Make some serious progress on my Writers Bureau course
29. Local book signing
30. Walk parts of the Thames Trail

Today I want to talk about the rewards of travel. A month from now I'll be setting off with my cousin on a short, concentrated tour of Cuba to some of the places I've been longing to visit. Cuba was one of the countries in my "Top 3 to see before it changes" list (along with Bhutan and Cambodia) and I absolutely cannot wait to get under its skin!
If you ever need a reason to shock yourself because things are too samey samey and you feel stuck in life, throw yourself into a travel experience. Dealing with getting from A to B to C to D and all that that entails will quickly absorb your attention, leaving the mundane and boring or whatever else you're trying to escape from to fester on its own for a while. Once you're on the road, you can relax and enjoy everything in the experience that dips, tickles and touches your senses - and watch the real you unfolding right before your very eyes.
Maybe you thought you were cool, calm and collected in the office - I know I certainly did. It was only when I missed the first of 3 flights to get me home after a trip to Tanzania and Zanzibar that my real temperament came racing to the surface. Panic set in and with panic came anger and frustration. My father had recently passed away. A day after the funeral I was flying to Africa for the first time and while the trip had been an experience of a lifetime, now at the end all I wanted to do was get home and start my grieving - but I'd missed my charter off of Zanzibar Island. When I eventually boarded the final flight from Nairobi, I wept silently for a good portion of the journey. Luckily I didn't have anyone sitting next to me, otherwise I would've drowned them with my tears.
Now fast forward 3 years and I've just flown from Lalibela to Gondar in Ethiopia. I'm at Arrivals and there's no sign of my guide or driver. They didn't fly with me, they drove and I'm wondering if something happened. I'm also acutely aware we have a packed schedule ahead of us. Everybody leaves and I'm the last one in the hall. I surprise myself by taking a pew to figure out a plan. One of the porters comes over and we get chatting. He asks me what I'm waiting for and I tell him the situation. He asks around on my behalf and one of the other porters makes a phone call for me. The next I'm hearing, my driver and guide are just doing a spot of shopping for me in Gondar town and they'll be along shortly. Apologies for the delay.
I didn't panic. I didn't get angry. And it all worked out well in the end. So now, I make sure to keep my head.
And that's just one of the many things I've learned...
Whatever travel teaches you - seeing how the other half lives and putting your life in perspective, finding out that meeting new people isn't half as scary as you thought, experiencing new cultures is actually rather refreshing and fascinating, the wonderful sense of freedom is second to none, the stereotypes are rarely ever correct, you had better (or worse) instincts than you realised, or you never knew you could find such a peace within yourself - whatever it is, hang on to it because that's what you'll remember the most when you recount the stories over and over again.

Just a quick update on my 30 Things - I managed 3235 web hits for March in the end.

Very pleased with that result!