The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. – Dolly Parton

The way I see it, there’s a lot of hello and goodbyes at the moment, which lead inevitably to ups and downs. Mostly it’s excitement about the future and making travel plans. Having spent the last few winters in Goa after working on my Hibiscus collection in Rajasthan I’ve decided I’m in need of a BLUE water and white sand experience, a real Robinson Crusoe back to nature fix, just cast away and forget about the outside world if only for a week. I’m lucky enough to have had a whole adventure package land in my lap, here’s what I’m cooking up…

I’m starting off in Bangkok on January 21st – if the plane takes off in this %!**!! snow catching up with an Australian family friend over dinner and poolside chats (17 years worth of stories to tell need at least 24 hours and a lot of chilled units) then my friends Andy and Antonia from Tarifa are meeting me and we’re going to spend two weeks travelling around Burma, finally I’m taking myself off to a remote unspoilt Island in Thailand to live in a tent on a beach and do nothing but snorkel and kayak for a week before heading to Jaipur for more work on my samples. NICE huh?

In the meantime I’m so pleased to have fallen in love with London again.  I have the bumpy ride of the recession with its challenges along the way to thank for my new found enthusiasm for this city, favourite eats of this stay have been:

Bob Bob Ricard – with Sara

Quo Vadis – Lucky me to meet Maree Gecks, a fellow Patnem beach, Goa devotee here for lunch, the food was sensational thanks to chef Jeremy Lee. Brawn – My friend Bruce and I turned up here by mistake thinking it was a Spanish place I had booked to get some sustenance onboard before our next stop at  The Birdcage Pub – Columbia Rd for some get on down bootie shaking good tunes courtesy of Ross Allen and belly laughs with my fabulous land lady friend Andi Oliver. Dean St Townhouse – for candle lit champagne, one of Kay Montano‘s favourite pit stops, I’m powerless when it comes to refusing a good old Soho Friday night. Cockneys  – eel, pie and mash portobello Road – for old school styling introduced to me by my old friend Tom Conran. Lashings of Thai fare with my old mucker Olly Daniaud, bottles and bottles of wine at the Chelsea Arts Club with my other staunch bar ally Charlie Hall and lest we forget some rioja soaked lunches at Galicia after my Spanish lessons with Patrick Hollander.

I’m feeling GOOD about 2013, my heart is truly in my new life and business. Yes, as Dolly says you gotta put up with the rain (definitely in London) I do hanker after roots and stability but my tinker life isn’t quite done with yet. One day I’ll be writing a post for you about my new home.

19 Jan This entry was published on January 19, 2013 at 6:00 pm and is filed under beach wear, Hibiscus, holiday wear, hotel/places to stay, India, myhibi.com, shopping, Thailand, Travel, UK. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.