Newcastle, England Was One Of the Most Pleasant Surprises of All My Travels

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I met Valerie Jamieson, who hails from Newcastle, England, with a teacher and teacher assistant at Annapurna Primary School in Pokhara, Nepal
This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Newcastle, England

I met Valerie Jamieson almost a year ago, during a visit to Chitwan National Park in southern Nepal. Serendipitously, we had booked weekend safaris at the same lodge and ended up on the same bus back to Pokhara, where she was volunteering at an orphanage and elementary school. We bonded immediately and started meeting every … Read more

Kilts Are All the Fashion, in Scotland and Elsewhere

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Posing with a member of the Scottish Guard in front of Edinburgh Castle
This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Scotland

From the moment I arrived in Scotland I was fascinated by kilts. My assumption that they were an ethnic costume worn only for historic reenactments or cultural shows could not have been more wrong. Ordinary men walked about the streets of Edinburgh in full kilt regalia and members of the Scottish Guard wear kilts. At … Read more