Road between graasy fields and woods, leading to mountains
Destinations,  Lens-Artists,  Travel galleries

Gallery: getting away, or, there’s a wonderful world out there!

July 18, 2021 / 42 Comments

There’s a wonderful world out there, and I can’t wait to be able to travel again to see it all. But while I wait I am lucky to have so many great memories of past trips; and so many photos of them too.

So today I’m revisiting some of my many past trips; and I’m sharing them as my contribution to this week’s Lens Artists Challenge. Guest hosts Rusha & Bert ask us what ‘getting away’ means to us; here’s my answer!

I want to travel again …

  • I want to get away and be in the air again, flying over strange lands and wondering about the lives of the people down below …
A city from the air, surrounded by sea and mountains
Taking off from Danang, Vietnam ~ 2020
  • I want to arrive in a country I’ve never visited before and on the drive from the airport watch the daily lives of the people around me, while pondering the sights I’m going to see in the next few weeks …
Small roadside stalls selling drinks and fruit
Road from the airport, Banjul, The Gambia ~ 2014
Two ladies talking beside a field, one in traditional Korean dress
Shot from the bus while driving into Pyongyang from the airport, DPRK ~ 2019

  • I want to be in Paris wandering by the banks of the Seine, or enjoying a coffee at a pavement café while watching the world go by …
Stall selling pictures with bridge beyond
Black and white photo of lady smoking at a cafe table
  • I want to be in Italy enjoying a crisp white wine with my lunch, gelato in the afternoon and an Aperol Spritz in the evenings as the passeggiata unfolds in front of my café table …
Glass of white wine with old buildings behind
Glass of orange drink and bowl of crisps, at night
  • I want to see and photograph wildlife in its natural habitat …
Lion sitting and looking at camera
In Chobe NP, Botswana ~ 2018
Large yellow scaled iguana face on to camera
Land Iguana on North Seymour, Galápagos Islands ~ 2012
  • I want to photograph everything!
  • I want to visit ancient ruins and feel the history that their stones have absorbed over the centuries …
Red sandstone ruins
The ruined kasbah at Telouet, Morocco ~ 2016
Ruined temple carved with faces
The Bayon Temple at Angkor Thom, Cambodia ~ 2020
  • But I also want to admire the drama of modern architecture
Modern building in curved steel
Tall glass skyscrapers reflecting the sun
  • I want to wonder at dramatic landscapes, mountain views and desert dunes …
Landscape of rocky mountains with small tracks
View from the small village of Ash Sharayjah, the Jebel Akhda mountains, Oman ~ 2019
Jeep driving through sand dunes
Driving into Wahiba Sands, Oman ~ 2019
  • I want to stroll through lively markets, the scent of spices hanging in the air, tasting the foods and exchanging smiles with those selling them even if we have no language in common …
Basket with blue stones and another of flower buds
Colourful baskets of herbs and spices
  • I want to wander city streets, seeking out the quirky and hunting for photo opps around every corner …
  • I want to meet people with lives very different from my own and find that, despite our differences, we have so much in common …
Group of children looking over a wall
Local children in Rajasthan, India ~ 2015
Two men and one woman smiling and clapping
A welcome from the staff at Xugana Lodge in the Okavango Delta, Botswana ~ 2018
  • I want to learn about different cultures, different beliefs …
Two huge bronze statues of men with single person in front
Flowers laid before the statues of the Great Leaders on Mansudae Hill, Pyongyang ~ 2019
Blue tiled minaret with mountain backdrop and gulls overhead
Minaret of the Shia Sur al Lewatia Mosque in Muscat ~ 2019

I want to travel again …

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42 Comments

    • Sarah Wilkie

      September 18, 2021 at 06:53 Reply

      Well, we did make it to Paris for our anniversary earlier this month, which was something to be very grateful for! And the UK government just yesterday announced a simplification of our travel rules and restrictions, so maybe it will get a bit easier going forwards. Thanks for visiting 😊

    • Henna

      July 21, 2021 at 09:11 Reply

      I might enjoy the landscapes and mountain views better than modern buildings but by now I am game for any one of those! 🙂

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 21, 2021 at 11:06 Reply

      John, thank you so much for this lovely response 😊😊 I know so many other people have the same itch to travel, and getting itchier by the day!

      And Henna, thank you too, and for the ‘follow’ 🙂

  • Amy

    July 20, 2021 at 15:59 Reply

    Wow… what a series for this theme, Sarah! I love these people images. You are a world traveler. Thank you for taking us there. 🙂

  • Teresa

    July 19, 2021 at 23:53 Reply

    Can’t wait to get my clothes on that luggage and take that first step back on that plane. I wish. Thanks for sharing your lovely photos as always. So you’re the same too…I usually don’t plan anything the next day following a long flight because of fear of jetlag….but guess what, I never experienced it, I always feel revived and raring to go and experience.

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 20, 2021 at 08:40 Reply

      Thanks Teresa. I find I vary with jetlag – sometimes I have almost none (like last year in Phnom Penh) but occasionally it hits me really bad. The worst was Tokyo some years ago when I just hit a wall halfway through the first day – although after a coffee and some lunch I was OK to carry on sightseeing 🙂

  • wetanddustyroads

    July 19, 2021 at 12:02 Reply

    You’ve got really great photo’s here … it feels as if I was on a quick world tour now 😉!
    If there is one thing I really-really love when travelling to a new destination, it’s that first trip from the airport to your destination … that’s when I know I will not sleep (much) for the next couple of weeks!
    But oh well, we’re in winter now and there’s no prospects of any travel at the moment …

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 19, 2021 at 12:33 Reply

      Thanks so much 🙂 Yes, isn’t there something particularly wonderful about that first drive from the airport – tired from the flight and often jet-lagged I always find myself suddenly revived by the excitement of looking out at this new world I’ve landed in!

  • Forestwood

    July 19, 2021 at 04:24 Reply

    I hear you Sarah! You are not alone, and I would gladly join you for the wine with my lunch, gelato in the afternoon and an Aperol Spritz in the evenings! But I might leave you to visit the drier countries of the world and just read them in your blog posts afterwards. I never imagined Danang to be so built up. IMy head is still filled with images of the Robin William’s character of Good Morning Vietnam fame.

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 19, 2021 at 08:17 Reply

      Thanks Amanda 😀 Yes, Danang is quite developed (it’s a popular seaside resort) but of course nothing like Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). But most of the country is very rural, as you’d expect 🙂

  • Marie

    July 18, 2021 at 20:46 Reply

    Wow Sarah – I want all that too!!! I spotted a rather sad looking bottle with dregs of Aperol at the back of a cupboard earlier… not quite the same thing is it!! Wonderful post.

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 19, 2021 at 08:15 Reply

      Oh dear no, not the same at all! I did manage to enjoy a nice spritz when out with a friend on Friday evening but that’s still not the same as enjoying it in Italy – even though the friend IS Italian 😆

  • lisaonthebeach

    July 18, 2021 at 19:57 Reply

    I really love this post Sarah! You have a lot of amazing photos and memories. Are you planning another trip yet? When will you be able to travel again? I am starting to plan our next trip, but it will be in the US, nothing international. You have some very cool photos here!

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 18, 2021 at 20:06 Reply

      Thanks so much Lisa, glad you enjoyed it! We have two short UK getaways planned in August (one a city break in Liverpool, the other a few days up in Yorkshire to meet up with friends). We also have a hotel booked in Paris for early September to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary (we honeymooned there and love the city) but we currently have no idea if we’ll get there or not as the rules for travel between the UK and European countries seem to change almost daily 😬 Where do you plan to go? You’re lucky to have such a huge country to explore!

      • lisaonthebeach

        July 18, 2021 at 20:13 Reply

        Oh Paris! I hope you are able to go! And I look forward to photos of course! …I am just starting to plan a trip in the NW to tie into a graduation trip next May. If all goes well it will be a 2-3 week road trip back down the west coast after an Alaska visit. It takes a bit of planning if you have to be on a schedule 😊

  • Oh, the Places We See

    July 18, 2021 at 19:50 Reply

    What a marvelous collection of places and people! I love your first-person narrative — great touch because it gives us all an insight to what you are missing, and many of us feel the same way. I’m drawn to the photos of places I’ve been like Bayon, but I also love seeing the modern architecture, Oman landscapes, and the people. Oh, the people!!!! But perhaps the photo I most envy is the first one — I should have thought to include one similar as the opening to this challenge. Yours is perfect as a signature getaway picture!

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 18, 2021 at 20:03 Reply

      Thank you so much – not just for this lovely comment but for setting a challenge so dear to my heart 😍 I’m like you when I look at other people’s travel photos – I’m drawn first to those of places I’ve been, that bring back great memories, but then start to connect with ones of places I haven’t yet been, which is very bad for my ever-lengthening wish-list, especially at the moment! And I’m glad you appreciate the opening photo, as I chose it carefully. It’s the road to the Torres del Paine in Patagonia 😀

  • sheetalbravon

    July 18, 2021 at 19:24 Reply

    Woah! That was an amazing round up of memories and your photos were the icing on the cake. It also happens to be one of the best virtual travel tours since travel in real time is a distant dream for me presently. I’m so glad I found your posts, Sarah!

  • maristravels

    July 18, 2021 at 16:44 Reply

    A few months ago I would have said the same, but the longer this goes on and the more friends I lose, the more I realize how lucky I am just to remain alive, so, at the moment, I feel that when it is time for travel again, I will take it more leisurely (and I’ve always been a leisurely traveller), spend more time just sitting and thinking, and even not bother with the photographs unless it’s to photograph people, because when I look at my pictures now it is those with people in them that I linger over most, it’s human contact I want, not vistas and scenery. I am glad to have travelled as much as I have but I may be content with that, and my first few trips will be to visit friends and family wherever they are. I’ve learned something from Covid, not least to spend more time away from the computer and return to reading for hours. Yesterday I read a whole paperback from start to finish, something I hadn’t done since I was last on holiday and I realised how much I was missing, so today I’ve started a new one which I hope to finish sometime tonight. Wish me luck!

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 18, 2021 at 17:41 Reply

      That’s really interesting Mari, as I wondered if the same might happen to me, but so far not. Of course I’m in the fortunate position of not having lost anyone to Covid, as yet anyway – the few friends that have died in the past year did so of other causes and would have gone anyway. So maybe that affects my perspective? I know that there are far worse things happening to others than the inability to travel and maybe I should have acknowledged that in my post – I certainly feel it and know I am lucky if an inability to travel is the worst consequence of the pandemic for me.

      It hasn’t turned me away from my computer, perhaps because the extra time I had on my hands (combination of Covid and retirement) led me to starting my blog. But it has taught me to appreciate things closer to home – the little pleasures such as a walk through the park or coffee in a favourite coffee shop, and the beauties of the English countryside. So that’s a bonus! I wish you luck with your book, and much enjoyment from it too 🙂

  • margaret21

    July 18, 2021 at 14:39 Reply

    Oh yes! Though even by the standards of many in the blogging world, you’ve been to more destinations than most. Fabulous! Thanks for sharing this gallery

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