Return to blogging v.2020

It seems odd to start a travel blog in 2020, the year that travel ground to a halt for at least a few months and when travel might never be quite the same again. Pandemic aside, I still expect I’ll travel less in this decade than I did in the previous one. So why now? I used to have an active blog between 2005 and 2007 (!) but after a problem with the hosting platform for nomadlife.org, I didn’t attempt restarting a blog until a few years later. Save for a couple of posts, I’ve actually had this website lying dormant for almost six years. I’ve had so many ideas for blog posts running through my head but somehow I held back. Maybe it’s because a large part of my day job involves writing, and I didn’t want to be typing away in my spare time. Maybe I was just making excuses.

So as 2019 was ending, and the new decade about to start, I promised myself that I would start blogging again, and I meant it this time. No more regrets for not writing when exciting travel adventures were fresh in my mind. It might be an unorthodox form of travel blogging but I’m going to be delving into the back catalogue of my travels and explorations. So in a way, this blog will be a memory exercise. And perhaps, a creative writing exercise. Because part of the beauty of travel are the stories we recall: the people we met, a breathtaking landscape, a delicious meal…

Eventually, I hope to be writing about about travels soon after they happen or maybe even in real time. Due to current circumstances, this may be a while away. At the start of the year I thought that in a few months I would be able to write about climbing red sand dunes, kayaking among seals, watching a herd of elephants and enjoying a braai. But instead of southern Africa, I spent April and May in suburban west London. However, I’m grateful that our garden still graced us with a wildlife show of its own, with parakeets, goldfinches, blue tits and peacock butterflies keeping us entertained. And I know that the time to travel will come again.

In the meantime, we look back and appreciate the memories.