Jo Herrings Adventures

I'm now in the fidgeting disillusioning part of travel where you feel a little unsure of the what comes next? See I have stopped "travelling" and have settled back into my old flat, back to familiarity. Or so I thought. See we hosted the Olympics in my neighbourhood so the area is "regenerated". Don't get me wrong my timing couldn't have been better. I missed much of the reconstruction, road works and delays leading up to the world coming to the neighbourhood. "Regeneration" generally means suddenly white middle class folk think that they should live here. I am white and by New Zealand standards middle class but have always loved living in London where my people don't. So coming back to my flat after a year to be surrounded by hipsters instead of burkas (I live in the East End where it may as well be Bangladesh). So the familiarity is well on the way out...and  my sister moved out, so I now share with an Italian chocolatier - so the ha...

Everyone loves a good awards ceremony at the end of an epic journey. So in preparation for all these questions I have come up with the following to sate your appetite. Photos are on FB as usual. Favourites of The Big Adventure Sight -  seeing trees growing out of temples was cool at Angkor Wat but what was jaw dropping was seeing the curl of cloud of the back of Mount Everest. The top of the world really is awesome. Cuteness – seeing a little boy in nappies playing in a huge bowl of rice in a Laos market City – Sarajevo. It’s a beautiful city with a heart breaking recent past. The food, the people, the sunshine, the environment, the religion and the peacefulness Trek – Everest Base Camp – could it really be any other. Pinnacle of a Lifetime in more ways than one. Moment –   being at Eden Park when my All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup and reaching Base Camp of Mt Everest share the tops of my list Funniest Moment - having my bum pinched by a tribal Bur...

Passing time while travelled usually contains a few books that will never see time spent on my bookshelf as I pass them on to the next eligible backpacker with a book to exchange. Here are a list of my favourites…..from book shops and café shelves, shared, returned and recycled. The Secret Letters of the Monk who sold his Ferrari, Robin Sharma – a great read when you are looking for something more in life. I will be giving this as a gift to many of my old colleagues! Q&A,   Vikas Swarup - known by millions across the world as the “Slum Dog Millionare” – this has to be the loosest basing of a book to movie I have read. The premise of the Who Wants to be a Millionaire and the fact they thought he cheated match but I don’t think a single question matches….oh hold on maybe the one of the Taj Mahal. Definitely read the book. It’s a fantastic piece of modern Indian literature. And I met a few of characters in Agra that reminded me of him! One Day, David Nicholls , Funni...

Traveling solo lets you dwell on a few reasons it BRILLIANT and FRUSTRATING to Travel Solo. Every time I went out to eat I was asked " Is it just you? ". " it is especially me" was always my answer.When you travel every individual gets something different out of the experience. For me travelling alone allowed me to embrace all aspects of my personality from art galleries and history to walking for miles and taking photos of all things great and small. These highlights shaped my experience and might help with planning or understanding that travelling solo is a whirlwind. THE HARDEST PART IS THE FIRST STEP - when people ask me about travelling alone the hardest part I found was my first flight out of New Zealand 7 years ago. Sitting in the departure lounge, on my own, with all the people I love and home being behind a glass wall. I even called my sister and asked " is this what it really is all about?, hours of waiting around ". But then someone sat n...

Its the annual celebation of the day of my birth today   and it casts me back to all past years and what I was doing then. Not least the birthday celebrations of The Big Adventure. See its been 14 months since I left my job in London, packed up my bag and set off for Eastern Europe, Australia and finally home to Gore, New Zealand to be with my family a year ago. With my niece Sophie and cake baker nephew Joshua on my 30th helping blow out the many candles I celebrated the eve of my 30th with cups of tea with one of my mates from primary school, then some wine at the local with my girlfriends from school, And the big day (with a head feeling a year older!) with family and friends gathering from far and wide for lunch and birthday cake before we set off for the Rugby World Cup match between Argentina v Romania. I felt like the happiest girl in the world. What has come to pass in the year since then has been supreme. The stuff that life should be full of. This blog has t...

Because I have written my blog in chronological order I have updated a few gaps whilst I am procrastinating from job hunting! Hope you enjoy the stories as much I have enjoyed the experiences and if you have any questions or comments I welcome them..... India  - I had a few items to catch up on so here goes Mumbai/Bombay  -  Hello Mumbai! Bye Bye Bombay! Chandigarh, Punjab -  A Modernist Experiment 60 years on Taj Mahal, Agra  -  Taj Mahal Unvisited Thailand - I have not writen anything for my time in Thailand because my dear Mum says "if you can't say something nice so nothing at all" but here is a great cooking school I attended in Koh Chang of the South East Coast I am desperately trying to write about  Myanmar  for my friend Matthias. Promise its coming, I just need to put some final research into it my dear x I am working on some overview items for you too....joys of having some spare time on my hands "between job" Sensual ...

I joked with my friends as I left for my Big Adventure that the countdown to London2012 Olympics was simply their countdown to my return. And what a return party I had! I was greeted at Heathrow by an army officer at immigration bought on to manage the influx of visitors who moaned about not being able to get gravy on his chips in London and asked me where I might be able to find some given I'd clearly lived here for years! Then to the open arms of my sister, Liz. My Olympics kicked off in style with a party with my family with Alwine & Ray coming all the way from Invercargill, New Zealand for the occasion. Delightfully I had my London-nephew Desmond on my knee to watch the Opening Ceremony which was the warmest welcome I could have hoped for. The following day was spent at Victoria Park enjoying the footage of the games on the Big Screen from outside amongst the people. Disappointed by all the advertisements and large gaps in screening the footage I decided not to head ba...