Welcome to the A to Z challenge, a blog post everyday of April apart from Sundays, covering every letter of the alphabet. My theme is travel, that thing that we haven’t been able to do over the last 12 months, so it seemed appropriate to reminisce about past travels we’ve taken, looking forward to when we can travel freely again.

I’ve found the perfect word for us, Xenomania, which is a passion for foreign things and customs, so in other words a passion for travel. This quote fits us totally as we try to avoid things that are just like home.

“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and avoid the people, you might better stay home.”
― James A. Michener

I remember when we were looking to book our honeymoon, the travel agent started out by showing us places to stay that featured British food options, British pubs nearby, and basically describing a place that we may as well have stayed in the UK for. As long as I can get a coffee of some description then I’m happy.

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We love finding quirky art wherever we’re visiting, and both of these were in the Netherlands. The cat mowing the lawn with a mower that has a human head on it is just total craziness, and the figures sitting together are uniquely gorgeous.

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We really love getting to know the locals, and whereas I prefer to chat to cats, my beloved will stop and have a long conversation with any puppy dog he meets. The pug on the right is such a cute old man and spent the entire time we were talking to him sitting on my foot.

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Some interesting meals we’ve had. On the left is the bug bagel that my beloved had, featuring mealworms, crickets, and a large grasshopper. In the middle is the meal we got in Aachen, Germany at a Canadian chip shop – the main reason we ate there is that they had poutine on the menu and I’ve always wanted to try it. Poutine is chips with gravy and cheese curd – it was delicious. On the left is the speciality of Stonehaven, a town on the east coast of Scotland, and that is a deep fried mars bar. My beloved thought it was disgusting but I loved it.

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It’s really worth doing research about the place you’re visiting, even if it’s just a new town in your country, because you never know what interesting fact you can find out. In Dornoch, which is north of us, has the site where the last witch in Britain was legally burned to death. This stone marks the spot where Janet Horne died.

As we haven’t been able to travel over the last year I’ve found books being a much bigger escape route for me and have constantly read every day…… Have you found yoursef reading more during lockdown?

Thanks for stopping by and make sure you visit other bloggers who are crazy enough to be doing the challenge with me – Click Here to visit the master list of participants.

Stay safe and have a lovely day.

Previous A to Z post:

2018 – X is for Xylophone

2017 – X is for Xanthic

2016 – X is for Xmas