1979 – first trip overseas – Pont L’Eveque in Normandy, France. School exchange trip. First ferry.

1982 – first flight, London Gatwick to Alicante for Benidorm holiday

1987 – first European train tour – Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia, Italy, Switzerland, France. Inter-rail. First overseas train journey, Hoek of Holland to Amsterdam. First overseas football match, Lausanne v Neuchatel Xamax, Switzerland (2-2).

1989 – first visit to Scandinavia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, plus first travels above the Arctic Circle. First time train on a ferry – Puttgarten to Rodby. 

1992 – first trip inside the former Iron Curtain, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia. First overnight train trip in a couchette – Leipzig to Warsaw

1993 – first trip outside Europe, Israel tour. Float in Dead Sea. Visit Bethlehem (Palestine). 

1995 – first ski trip – Borovets in Bulgaria. First cable car. 

1996 – first trip to Africa. Egypt. First call to prayer. First African train, Luxor to Cairo.

1996 – first time in Asia. Istanbul. 

1996 – first trip to South East Asia. Hong Kong, China, Macau. First train Asia, Guangzhou to Hong Kong (Canton – Kowloon Railway)

1997 – first trip to a Hindu country, India. 

1997 – first trip to a predominantly Muslim country, Indonesia

1997 – first visit to Singapore. The country where my parents married. 

1998 – first overseas work trip, Athens & Piraeus, Greece. 

1998 – first Eurostar trip – London to Paris

1999 – first trip to USA, New York & Miami. 

1999 – first time in a helicopter, Nice to Monaco

2000 – first trip to Arabian Middle East, Lebanon. Israel pulls out of country whilst we are there. 

2000 – first visit to a significant Roman ruin, Baalbek in Lebanon

2001 – first volcano, Vesuvius, Italy

2001 – first trip to South America. Peru & Bolivia. First train in South America, Puno to Cusco

2003 – first safari, Kruger, South Africa

2006 – first Balkan train tour – Turkey, Greece, North Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria. 

2007 – flight to Albania (first direct flights there for 20 years)

2010 – first ride on an elephant, Laos

2011 – first visit to ex-Soviet country. Ukraine.

2015 – first border post walked through, Turkey to Georgia

2017 – first visit to a Caribbean island, Cuba

2018 – first visit to Central Asia, Turkmenistan & Uzbekistan. First train in Central Asia, Ashgabat to Mary.

2018 – first visit to a major waterfall, Iguacu Falls, Brazil/Argentina.

2020 – last trip pre-Covid, Zurich & Liechtenstein

2021 – first trip post Covid, Nancy, France

2023 – stay in every European country completed with San Marino

2024 – first rides on Shinkansen (Japan) & Maglev (China) trains.

2024 – first tuktuk ordered on Uber, Mombasa, Kenya

More to follow……………