The Alphabet Quest and X.

As they say X marks the spot but there is no country starting with X and only two that contain the letter X, so in the interests of the Alphabet Quest it is time to visit one of those two countries. Yes Luxembourg, in the middle of Europe, this will colour in a very small but important bit of the map. Oh and on the way to get there I'll stop in Singapore, change planes in Helsinki, do some work in Gothenburg and Stockholm in Sweden, and then fly to Luxembourg via Copenhagen in Denmark and finally home via Hong Kong. I wonder if there'll be treasure in the land of X, or perhaps the treasure is the riches of the old and beautiful city. Only two more letters to go after this.

The Middle Kingdom

Only two letters now remain for the Alphabet Travel quest in Y and Z - no simple task to accomplish so instead a deviation to visit the Middle Kingdom of China. Shanghai, Beijing, Zhengzhou, Shaolin and Xian. A cold time to visit with temperatures expected to be around -1C but potentially to -9C here's hoping for some snow but not too much. A bullet train ride and the Longmen Grottos look to be the highlights.

Sri Lanka

Well Sir Roger, it's almost that time again. Off to Sri Lanka this time the mission includes an elephant orphanage, wild life park, heritage tea factory, a number of temples and a train ride into the mountains, which I am looking forward to. I rendezvous with some locals on my arrival for lunch and will make sure I pick up a gift for them before I travel. The case is all packed, the cameras ready and the countdown begins.

Alphabet Travel Quest continues

In a previous post I outlined my current travel quest, which is letters of the alphabet, with the letters remaining as D, P, Q, Y and Z. The letter D will soon be retired with a visit to Denmark. As part of this trip the other destinations visited include Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. I am especially excited about visiting Greenland and the Faroe Islands because of their remoteness and these are not common places for Australians to visit. Both places as well as Iceland should contain some spectacular scenery and I am travelling to some remote parts of Iceland that should give some great photos.

Kind regards,
Derek.

Top Ten Most Photogenic Places

For my most recent trip to Borneo and Brunei I visited the Omar Ali Saifuddein Mosque in Brunei and this is easily one of the most beautiful places I've seen - incredibly photogenic.

So here is my top ten most places I like to photograph the most.

Siem Reap, Cambodia - home of Angkor Watt, Bayon, Ta Prohm and other amazing places

Omar Ali Saifuddein Mosque, Brunei

Sedona, Arizona, USA

Antarctica

Borobodur, Indonesia

Uluru, Australia

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Venice, Italy

New York, USA

Capetown, South Africa

The last three will likely fall off this list when I get to Egypt, maybe Pagan in Myanmar, Petra in Jordan, Peru, India and the Greek Islands. And a few places you thought might have been on the list but are not - the Grand Canyon, London, Paris and Rome. Ottawa in Canada just missed out.

Clothing range

Suitcase Photography has produced a new travel T-shirt, "Image'n the world", comes in a variety of colours, styles and sizes; available from Redbubble.

A second T-shirt has been produced based on a recent trip gorilla trekking in Rwanda and Uganda. Captioned "This shirt contains 97.7% pure me" with an image of a baby gorilla, the shirt is a desire to help conserve the mountain gorillas.

Welcome to Suitcase Photography

Welcome to the new Suitcase Photography blog. Be sure and check out www.suitcasephotography.com for travel photos, videos, stories, podcasts, the ability to send electronic postcards, buy stock photos, calendars and more.