I’ll show you the world – my husband’s promise

Nine years ago, did I but know it, my life was about to change completely. I went on my first real date with my husband.

A world away from drunken office nights and stolen kisses.  An actual real date.  Together.  To the cinema and then for spaghetti.  We knew how to live at the heady age of 25.  I still can’t quite remember what it was we went to watch, other than it was terrible.

Those early, whirlwind, years.  On again.  Off again.  On again.  Crazy in love to quote a certain singer.  It was a time of passion, of ups, downs and in betweens, before settling to a life in London, with a cat.  Then proposals, babies, weddings and emigrations.

During those heady early years however, my husband said to me one thing that has stuck with me forever.

I’m going to show you the world

And he has.

Through the turbulent early years, airport errors and tears all round.

The early days

Trips explaining in pigeon English and LOTS of gestures in Rome to find the bus we needed to get back to the airport..  City breaks won on the radio.  Middle Eastern trips to where he grew up.

The before children era

The settled years, before children, travelling across South East Asia, through South America.  Milking every single day of annual leave possible.  Somehow squeezing in three holidays a year.

The after children chronicles

Not stopping once the children have arrived, just changing how we travel.  From spontaneous weekends away to planned weeks in advance.  Meticulous planning on the hows, wheres, and whys.

But still going.  Fuelled by the passion to travel, to see the world, to live.

Cruising through the Caribbean, satisfying wanderlust in 8 ports whilst having the convenience of 5* luxury.  The ease of the same bed each night.  And the wonder that was kids club.

Villa holidays in Europe.

Short hops away to hotels locally.

Trips with the children, trips without.

Holidaying as a family, holidaying with friends.

The one constant in all of my holidays, bar my UK trips to escape the summer heat here in Qatar, is my husband.

The driving force behind my love of travel, my eagerness to see the world, to visit new places and gasp in wonder at the beauty of the world.

When I first met my husband I had visited 13 separate countries on various holidays throughout my childhood and early twenties (think club 18-30, no I wouldn’t recommend them….)

Today my country count stands at 39.

That’s 26 different countries we have explored, visited and discovered together.  The food, the wine, the culture, the beaches, the seas.

That’s why my husband is my favourite travel companion out of everyone in the world, because he IS my world.  And continues to live up to his promise that he would show me the world.

*linking up with SilverSpoon London, Follow Your Sunshine, Adventures of a London Kiwi and Wandermust Family.