The Destinations Show, Olympia

Neither of us slept particularly well - it's always the same on the first night in the van. We were up by 7.15am and had bacon rolls before setting off to walk to Abbey Wood station 🚉 . There was a national rail strike today but the Tube was unaffected. The journey to Olympia involved 3 tubes and a bus 🚍 ! Luckily, it all went smoothly!

Before we gave up our normal lives in the UK, we used to go to the Destinations Show every year. We always loved the speakers and presentations. It was where we first saw a presentation about Tobago years before we actually went there. It was also where we first heard about overlanding and sat on a Dragoman truck to listen to a talk by Charlie, the founder of the company. It was probably 8 or 9 years later that we went on our first trip with them, but since then, we haven't looked back!! It's a few years now since we last visited the show, not least because it hasn't happened for the last couple of years because of the pandemic.

So, we were very excited to attend the show today. It was much smaller than in previous years, but we still had an amazing day!

We started with a presentation by Valentina Harris on South African food. She made bobotie and chakkalakka. We got to taste both - they were absolutely delicious!

We then visited a few stands and spoke to some really interesting people. We concentrated on the African stands and picked up plenty of useful information and maps. We also went to the Intrepid stand and booked an extension to our Africa trip to include the Masai Mara. Too exciting!! While we were there, we bumped into Yuku who was on the West Africa trip with us a few years ago! It's a very small world!! 😀

We went to listen to Simon Calder doing a Q and A. He's so knowledgeable about everything to do with travel - and really entertaining, too 😀.

During the afternoon, we also listened to talks on travel photography and the Okavango Delta which we will visit later in the year. It looks incredible! We are now even more excited about our African adventure!

Getting back to the campsite was a bit of a mission due to tube delays but we got there in the end! We had chicken and mushroom 🍄 pesto pasta for dinner - easy and delicious!Read more