“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
~ This quote has been attributed to Mark Twain, but the attribution cannot be verified. The quote should not be regarded as authentic. Possibly by H. Jackson Brown’s mother from “P.S. I Love You:” (or possibly not)
Welcome aboard
Hi, I am Jude, the author of Travel Words which is simply a collection of my travel notes and diaries over the years. My working background lies in IT (Software Training, Network Support, Helpdesk Management and ICT Secondary School Teaching, Examiner, Moderator and Teaching Advisor), but travel has been a major part of my life from a very early age. From being transported in a seat on the front of my father’s bike through the Nottinghamshire countryside as a toddler to hitch-hiking around Europe in my late teens, which is when the wanderlust bug bit hard. I have lived in many different places both here in the UK and abroad, including brief spells working as an Au Pair in Switzerland and in a Hotel in Norway followed by 12 years living in South Africa where I once worked in the Sportsman’s Bar close to the Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town. My childhood vision was to emigrate to Australia, but although I came close to it on several occasions I never quite managed to fulfil that particular dream, but thanks to my eldest son who now lives there, I have visited the country on several occasions and consider it my spiritual birthplace.
There have been times of travel drought and times of plenty over the past thirty years and I still enjoy visiting different places, though not necessarily the means of transport required to get me there. As I head into my autumn years the wanderings have become closer to home and I am enjoying exploring the beauty to be found in the UK.
Most of my posts will be factual descriptions of road-trips and places I have visited with recommendations (or not) of accommodation and places to eat / drink. Other posts can be classified as travel writing and will be more descriptive and emotional. They are based on the memories that a certain place or person has left me with. Some posts are simply images or galleries, often responding to a Blog Photo Challenge.
Photography is another of my hobbies. I have a particular passion for flowers though they will not feature too often on here. You can see them on Earth laughs in flowers… where you will find flower portraits and garden portraits. And recently (2016) I have started a blog about Cornwall where I have just moved to. Possibly the last move in my life, but never say never! That blog will only feature posts about the county so if you are interested in Cornwall you might want to follow me there.
I now have the time to reflect on places I have been fortunate to visit and write about them before the memories fade; posts about places will not be in any chronological order except for the road trips.
I hope you enjoy reading about my tales as much as I have enjoyed the journeys and writing about them. If you have any comments or questions about any of the places I write about then please feel free to do so and I will do my best to respond.
TRAVEL WORDS 
A couple of weeks ago I was awarded the ‘Seed of Light’ award, which is the brainchild of the hugely talented Blou Leask, a fellow scribe who loves reading and writing as much as I do. It’s my absolute pleasure to pass this award on to you. It’s an award for blogs that inspire creativity, nature, connection, communication and beauty and you can learn more about it from Blou’s blog 360*tree at http://360tree.wordpress.com/faery-lights/. Congratulations!
Thank you, that is very kind of you. I shall definitely investigate Blou’s blog.
Thank you so much for following my blog! I’m usually much better at commenting and checking out other blogs, but I’m trying not to spend too much time on here since I’m traveling. I can’t wait to check out your blog more! Thank you again :).
No worries, I am having great fun travelling vicariously with you. Just glad I found your blog. 🙂
I love your photos and humor, think I’ll just tag along and see where you are headed… 🙂
Thank you, I hope you will enjoy the journey 😉
You may enjoy the South African trip reports xx
Now that the dust has somewhat settled I have had more of a chance to read your travel blog and have really enjoyed your posts and your beautiful photography, as well as on your flower blogs! I look forward to reading more, from one traveller to another 🙂
Thank you for the compliment Sherri. I take it you are commenting OK now?
Seems ok today so far, I took a day off yesterday, burnt out with it all! I have emailed Mark yet again though but not heard back. Perhaps things are at long last back to normal, whatever that is! Have a great weekend and keep in touch 🙂 Thanks for all your help & support too with this spam thing, appreciate it.
No worries! I seem to be OK commenting now, but I cannot comment on individual photos within a gallery which I was able to do before this trouble started. Can you do that? You could test one of my gallery photos if you like.
J xx
I just commented on one of your photos on your photo blog which has gone to moderation as normal. So that seems to be ok. Hopefully you can now do the same. Talking of photos, I like to take a lot of photos too and I use them to illustrate most of my posts but I love how you have a separate blog within a blog to showcase yours.
Thanks Sherri. I shall try again later and see what happens. No big deal I guess.
I have thousands of photos! And not enough to write about to showcase all of them – I use Postcards to mainly enter general challenges as it makes me dig around in the virtual shoebox, and the flower and urban ones are just stuff I am interested in. Maybe next year I will try to be less random 🙂
Hei Jude,
I love this this opening Mark Twain quote – I used for a Norfolk seascape some time ago. Thank you so much for visiting The World according to Dina and leading me to your fine blog. I’ll have a look around and certainly come back for more; I’m your new follower!
Enjoy your stay in beautiful Norfolk, have a great weekend.
L♥ve from the Rhine Valley
Dina
Thanks for stopping by Dina. I will have a better look at your blog once I am home again. Too busy getting out and about at the moment to spend much time on the computer. I have been inspired by your photos so will do my best to capture some of the beauty of North Norfolk in the coming days.
Jude xx
Thanks! Enjoy your stay. There’s lot to see and do, even with not so good weather. x♥
Unfortunately, Mark Twain didn’t write those words. You can learn more about that from Quote Investigator, who was able to trace the quotation back to a 1990 book in which H. Jackson Brown, Jr., credited the words to his mother:
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/09/29/you-did/
Hey, Jude! Thanks for dropping by my blog and liking my post which brought me here. I’m inspired by your travel writing. I’m sticking around here for more updates. 🙂
Why thank you Angie, I hope you enjoy the journeys with me 🙂
I’m enjoying your travel posts, Jude. Fascinating insights to places I haven’t been to. 🙂
😳 How did I miss your comment Sylvia? So Sorry to have ignored you, and thanks for coming along with me on my journeys. I hope that you will enjoy the ride 🙂
No problem, Jude. It’s sometimes almost impossible to keep up with everyone. 🙂
Personally, I think the new colour works well, without the distracting black border on the left, as before. The whole blog looks brighter, and the eye is immediately drawn into the photos, which is the main point. It will be interesting to see if other followers agree.
Regards as always, Pete. x
Thanks Pete, I shall see if anyone else comments about the changes.
I’m looking forward to travelling with you. Oh, how I know about the bite from that wanderlust bug. The itch never goes away.
(BTW, there’s a song based on that Mark Twain quote on my blog. Only if you’re interested. 🙂 )
Cheers H, I shall go seek 🙂
I have a question: when was your last trip abroad and where to? and another, where in the UK do you live?
Last trip abroad was a couple of years ago – California at the beginning of the year, Lisbon and Slovenia in the summer. Only travelled within the UK since which is very strange for me! And I currently live in the ‘Shires’ – on the border of England and Wales. You’ll find loads of posts of Ludlow on here 🙂