A Season in Saudi Arabia

Nothing much happened in our lives between arriving back from Tunisia to departing to our second destination of 2025: Sarajevo. This time, my family and I returned to the most convenient airport for us here in Norfolk - Stansted - to catch an unbelievably cheap £20 one-way flight with Ryanair to the Bosnian Capital.  I hadn’t thought much about this trip until it was almost upon us, which meant quite a lot of our choices were spontaneous.  In Sarajevo, we spent the morning checking out two museums and the afternoon taking a cable car to a snow capped mountain top and walking down an abandoned toboggan track. Whatever we didn’t see, didn’t matter. Onwards to Mostar on an incredible train track through the mountains to a town built around a stunning bridge for a one-night stay. Two vegetarian meals (for me at least) at Foodhaus were the highlight.Then into a private taxi to Dubrovnik, via a stunning waterfall, where we stayed for two nights in the heart of the old town. It was ...

After a truly miserable 2024 - a year of multiple surgeries, thousands of coffee enemas and fresh juices, various consultations, no travel, and frequently wondering if I even had a future - I was determined to make 2025 a whole lot better. Unsurprisingly, I decided to prioritise family travel and booked several flights in late 2024 to give us all something to look forward to. In order to mimic our old Saudi life, where everything felt limitless and abundant, I chose a return to the Arab world, to the underrated North African destination Tunisia, as our first destination of 2025.  The airport of departure - Gatwick - used to be a place I dreaded going to, much preferring the convenience of Norwich or Stansted, but my mind was now in a very different place. I felt a surge of gratitude and privilege just being alive and well and strolling through Gatwick onto an EasyJet flight to Enfidha. Funnily enough, I hadn’t even checked exactly where the airport was in Tunisia at the time of bo...