Adventures with Asperger's Syndrome

As I write this entry, like all of us, I am currently living under self-isolation conditions due to the very strange and obviously worrying threat of the Coronavirus. With being only able to leave home for essential reasons, it will likely be a fair while before I am able to post a travel-themed blog entry, so instead, I am going write the entry that I have been wanting to post for quite some time! Those who know me well will likely know that as well as Asperger-related obsessions with railways, astronomy and cricket, all of which began for me at young age, I also have quite an obsession with TV nostalgia. The story I am about to tell is what I consider to be possibly the greatest story for those, like myself, who grew up in the UK in the 1980s. A inter-woven series of developments that occurred during my upbringing would not only see a rat save a flagship TV station, but would also be an inspiration to travel, including learning as to why it is important to take plenty of toothp...

Located in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanzania, with its tropical climate, palms trees, white sand beaches, turquoise waters and coral reefs, the Zanzibar archipelago is visually a travel agent's dream location providing the perfect photo-opportunity for marketing purpose for holiday companies to use to tempt us to go ahead and book our next break. Beyond such idyllic images though, which can sometimes become stored within the visual mind to the extent that we may feel the 'wish we were there' mentality on a cold and rainy day, there is a whole other sensory aspect of a place which the limitations of images and videos only having sight and sound can't replicate. Freddie Mercury House, Stonetown As a person with Asperger's Syndrome who practices mindfulness exercises, something that I have noticed while travelling in recent years is how much deeper I feel my sensory experience is of where I visit, often to he extent that I feel that I am able to recall ...

One of my favourite things about Africa is seeing the sun set over flat savannah landscape often with silhouettes of acacia trees and sometimes animals roaming in the distance. As the stunning glow of the sunset fades, Jupiter, over 350 million miles away, comes into view dominating the early evening sky, until becoming submerged by many thousands of stars visible in the absence of light pollution. Within them, the most distant object visible to the human eye, the Andromeda Galaxy at around two-and-a half million light year away, can also be seen. What is less immediately apparent though is how despite being so far away, they both have a connection to the origin and development of humankind, as well as perhaps also to its immediate present and future. Sunrise above the Serengeti  After experiencing the Mountain Gorillas in the dense, thick vegetation of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, travelling across the equator, the thick forests along rugged terrain gradually began to fad...

Located in the Kigezi Highlands along the Ugandan stretch of the Western Rift Valley and shrouded by mist, Bwindi Imprentrable Forest National Park at first sight gives off an aura of mystique. Going beneath the mist, not only is a lost world revealed, but when viewing the forest’s most famous inhabitants, the Mountain Gorillas, to a human visitor it can almost feel like entering an evolutionary time capsule. For me, as well as seeing and almost feeling the sensation of five million years of evolution, it was also a personal journey through my own life development.     Sunrise above the mist surrounding Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Over 25,000 years old, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest survived the last Ice Age. When seeing the rugged elevation when approaching the entrance to the national which ranges from around 4,000ft to over 8,000ft, one notices the inter-dependency of geological factors in its existence brought by the journeys that the Great Rift Valley has brought in...

Travelling by steam on the Aln Valley Railway, Northumberland, one hears older passengers enjoying a day out talking about as to how the carriages with compartments, luggage racks with netting as well as the distinctive trickety-trock of the old carriages and the chuffing sound of the steam locomotive takes one back. Meanwhile, entering an encampment of tents at nearby Alnwick Castle where an apothecary is demonstrating medieval medicine, a fletcher is making arrows for the longbow master and knights in armour are being readied for combat in a jousting competition, one feels like they have just stepped out of a time machine back to the 15th century. Enjoying both experiences during a day out, as well as seeing how the past is with us in the present, the optimist in me also saw some exciting future potential. No. 9 'Richboro', approaching Lionheart station Originally opened in 1850, the original Aln Valley branch line ran from Alnwick to Alnmouth until its closure in 1968 ...

As a multi-faith pilgrimage center, paths visualized by so many lead to Jerusalem. But the Holy City is also the start of many, often epic, journeys. Some of which, literally go deeper than anywhere else. After seeing journeys brought by millions of years of geological activity and thousands of years of by caravan in Jordan’s deserts, the next part of my adventure through the mythical and geological trails of the Middle East took me to the lowest point on land, the Dead Sea. The Dome of the Rock viewed from the Mount of Olives with the Jewish Cemetery in the foreground Overlooking Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives ( 800m high) gives visitors a spectacular panoramic view of the city, including the old city walls and the gold-topped Dome of the Rock. A much fought-over city throughout history and still a place where tension between faith arises from time to time, at the Mount of Olives, one sees commonalities that the three great Abrahamic spiritual paths share, that of transcend...