Adam Bird - My Personal Blog

Thirteen years Stephanie and I have been together before finally getting married! Why that long? I really don’t know, but like our relationship and the famous idiom which links us with our final honeymoon destination the comparison couldn’t be any closer. Just as “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, the foundations upon which our marriage shall stand upon haven’t been either. There has been a recurring theme within this series of eight blog posts and it may have come across as slightly repetitive, but history, culture, architecture and cuisine are the four staples of any tourist experience. Rome is the birthplace for each and every one of them. From the ancient Romans, during the times of Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire, or even before that with the Roman Republic and Roman Kingdom, the historical significance of the Eternal City cannot be put into context by someone of such limited knowledge as myself, but it’s fair to say, that looking around, whether it be at our legal or economic...

On 11th September 2001, I sat on an aeroplane with seven other friends, tired and exhausted after a week’s hedonism in the Greek party resort of Malia. Little were we aware of, at the time, of more significant events happening elsewhere in the world. Indeed, we had been given, at least in hindsight a couple of clues, pilot warning of turbulence ahead, seat belt signs showing, but nothing was felt. Added to this, the hour circling around the skies at Gatwick whilst all air traffic was grounded and parking spaces for planes became more limited. Once landed, those of us with mobiles switched them on. I wasn’t one at the time, choosing instead to leave mine at home (how times change). But those that did were faced with a barrage of voicemail and text messages to ensure that they had landed safely. Word began to filter around that something was happening in New York, a terrorist attack of some kind, but the full horror of that day’s events where still to be fully understood. As it ...

Stood on the Rock of Gibraltar as a thirteen year old boy, looking out across the Mediterranean sea as it meets the Atlantic and gazing at the mass of land only thirty miles away trying to comprehend the shear size of the African continent ahead - five thousand miles from north to south and home to a billion people, numbers that are still mind boggling seventeen years later. I was hoping that we would be able to take a boat trip across so that I can say I have been to Africa, but we didn't quite make it. Now as a thirty year old man, the African continent lays in my path once again. Marrakesh, a city at the heart of Morocco, the country you can see when stood upon "the Rock", is the sixth destination on a list of eight possibilities put forward by my parents, with the grand reveal awaiting Stephanie and I on our wedding day. Marrakesh, the "Red City" is not the capital city, a fact which I have only just found out, (to my surprise) but a city of vast impor...

In 2005 the world sat and paid witness to one of the greatest football matches ever played. On the outskirts of the Turkish capital, Istanbul, the Atatürk Olympic Stadium hosted AC Milan vs Liverpool in what was to be a game of epic proportions. Racing into a half-time 3-0 lead, AC Milan had the trophy with the big ears well and truly in their grasp, only for a galvanised Liverpool side inspired by Steven Gerrard to turn the tie upon it's head in a crazy 23 minute second half spell. The game finished all square and Liverpool went on to defy the Rossoneri onslaught in extra time and won the trophy via a penalty shootout thanks to the exploits of Jerzy Dudek, the Polish custodian who recreated the famed "spaghetti legs" made famous by Bruce Grobbelaar twenty one years earlier. That famous night five years ago will always live in my memory and anyone mentions the word "Istanbul" that's where my mind immediately races back to. With a potential week's sta...

You're given a list, it could be any list, a list of crisp flavours for example, one always stands out. You love all the other flavours, but it stand out because it’s different, or a little more exciting than the others. When Mum sent me a list of places that Stephanie and I could potentially be visiting on our honeymoon, Hong Kong was the stand out choice. I must state right from the off. Just because Hong Kong stands out the most, doesn’t mean that there will be any disappointment when we finally find out. Mum and Dad have carefully constructed a list that removes any possibility of that from happening. But Hong Kong exudes a sense of the exotic, not exotic in a paradise beach kind of way, but a sensual melting pot that defies the very fabric of a living, breathing European being. The humidity of a tropical climate, the hustle and bustle of one of the most densely populated cities on earth, coupled with dramatic scenery on the backdrop of one of the worlds most iconic skyli...

In researching information about all of the possible destinations Stephanie and I maybe visiting on our honeymoon in September I've been on an unexpected interweb journey into the Caribbean and the Middle East. Before we found out which of the eight places we maybe going to, we thought Europe would be our researching ground and so now, finally, I find myself in somewhat familiar territory. Dubrovnik, a Croatian city which lies at the southern most tip of the country, the part which is split by a short coastline belonging to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro to the east. All "new" countries, which after the fall of Yugoslavia gained Independence and faced a dramatic task of rebuilding after years of civil war and the rule of socialism. Since the introduction of low-cost airlines, many new tourist routes have opened and people have been able to experience previously unseen parts of the continent in which they reside. Indeed, it'...