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Posts tagged ‘Memories’

An ode to British summers

View down the River Avon, Bath

Summers in Britain can be hit-and-miss, governed by the famously unpredictable weather patterns that are such a talking point among the local populace. Last Friday we witnessed a spectacular opening ceremony for the Olympics, celebrating British culture and featuring several key episodes of the nation’s history. Watching these clips brought pangs of nostalgia for the rainy islands that I called home for four influential years of my life. Read more

Milestones, Awards and the Atlas Game

Lamma Island, Hong Kong

This month marks a season of celebration. Just recently Plus Ultra passed the 1,000 mark for followers, and now the blog is just shy of its 100th post! As much as I would like to throw a party in the blogosphere, there are a couple of practical issues to deal with (timezones, for instance!) so I am writing this post instead. Read more

Switzerland and the Call to Europe

Summertime in Zürich

As a teenager, I could never have imagined that I would spend more than half a decade living on the other side of the world. But in the summer of 2000 my father would take us on our first-ever trip to Europe, traversing the breadth of Switzerland before heading onto Vienna and Prague. Read more

Memories of Salamanca, Spain

Cloister, Convento de San Esteban

In Spanish the expression for “handwritten” is “de mi puño y letra” – of my fist and handwriting. Today I was flipping through my Spanish notebook when I came across a page scribbled with several verses, an early attempt to write a poem on Salamanca. Read more

Travel sketch: Downtown Montréal

As a fifteen-year-old, being in Montréal for the first time was an unforgettable experience. I was captivated by the beauty of the old town, its diverse cultural scene, and the distinct meld of European flair and North American optimism. My family had booked a hotel room somewhere along Sherbrooke, between the downtown skyscrapers and the slopes of Mont Royal. Although I did have a camera at the time (one of those tiny ones that used film), something about the city inspired me to record this scene in my sketchbook.

My 7 Links: A Year of Travels

Select 7 of your favourite posts in different categories, and tag up to 5 of your fellow bloggers to do the same.

It may sound like a chain letter, but Tripbase’s “My 7 Links” project is a call for bloggers to showcase their best entries and connect with other writers. Two weeks ago I had my first glimpse on spunky, hilarious Candice Does The World; it was a thoughtful recap on her two years as a travel blogger.

Over the weekend, Debra from Bagni di Lucca and Beyond has kindly given me a nomination. I feel like this is a belated one-year anniversary celebration of Plus Ultra, and a look at how far it has come. Read more

Dim Sum Diaries, Hong Kong

Heavenly morsels

It’s been exactly ten days since I moved back to Hong Kong. Although my Spanish adventures are over for now, I still have many stories to share from the past month of European travels. Here is a little introduction as I begin blogging about life in this pulsating Asian metropolis. Read more

Honey-coloured sunsets – Bath, England.

The end of my whirlwind tour around Western Europe was a signal that my life was about to take a very different course. After 4½ years of study, I was going to leave England for good. Read more

Prologue

My earliest memories of travel involved being on 12-hour transpacific flights between Hong Kong and Canada. I will always remember the wonder of embarking on a Boeing 747 as a 7 or 8-year old – the sheer size of the cabin, the ginger ale that my siblings and I drank to stave off motion sickness, and the endless card games we’d play to pass the time. Read more