Ever since I was a little girl, I've wanted to see elephants in the wild.  They were always my favourite animal even though I had only ever seen them in Fossett's Circus on the Fair Green in Carrick or in Dublin Zoo on a Presentation school trip.  Seeing them in the wild would be a different kettle of fish.  Anyway, in 2015, that dream of seeing them in their native habitat became a reality as we set off on my 50th birthday trip to Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.  I was so excited.  We had planned this amazing trip to Africa to mainly see elephants. And, boy, did we see elephants!!  
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I’m sometimes asked “Of all the places you’ve visited which stands out?”  I can say hands down “Southern Africa”.  It’s like nowhere else on the planet.  Wonderful people, stunning scenery, spectacular nature and wildlife and it’s the cradle of humankind to boot.  This is how we got on.  A lot of the good photos are mine; most of the amazing ones are Charlie's.   Enjoy!

​Norway was on my Bucket List since I had travelled to Alaska with Charlie in 2013 (the previous year – see B30: A Whale of A Time) and realised that a holiday featuring fjords, glaciers, snow and ice was not a bad option at all.  As we had also “done” Canada, we knew that once wrapped up it could be quite cosy.  I had been to some of the Scandinavian countries before with work (see B67: Stockholm 1996) so I knew that they were generally great places to visit, well organised but pricey.  Therefore an all-inclusive cruise would also make financial sense; it would make a trip to Norway more a-fjord-able!!     
 
Sadly, my Mam, Peggy – my first ever cruise buddy – had passed away just three months previously in Feb 2014.  We went ahead with the pre-booked holiday knowing that Peggy would have wanted us to.  And we ended up enjoying the day trips even though we didn’t partake in many of the evening frivolities back on the ship.  This is how we got on.