I nearly forgot to show you these brilliant old Egypt swap cards

See posts below for more on swap cards

Stunning vintage travel swap cards

Exotic, exciting, extreme and Essaouira

One of my favourite books is a big photography book called Travelogues. It's published by Taschen, whose books I greatly admire for their high-spec production, beautiful photography and content that is full of wonderful places and people. The book chronicles the traveller, Burton Holmes, who journeyed around the globe in the first half of the twentieth century and funded his trips by telling his stories and showing his photos to a paying audience. Near the end of his life he reflected on his life and travels and on the difference between his memories and those of his friends who hadn't travelled. This is what he said:

'I, too, have nothing but memories but I would not exchange my memories for theirs. I have a secret treasure upon which I can draw at will. I can bring forth, on the darkest day, bright diamonds of remembered joys . . . a little journey made, an expedition carried to success, several circumnavigations of the globe accomplished.'

Burton Holmes was an extraordinary traveller travelling in that age before globalisation began. Travel wasn't easy and it wasn't cheap. It required months of planning, long sea voyages, and real culture shock. It's rare these days to go somewhere that you have never seen footage of. In these days of the internet and TV and a proliferation of books, we often have a sense of what we'll see before we see it. Global brands penetrate every corner of the earth and it's surprising in most countries not to meet other travellers or a local that speaks the same language. For someone like Burton Holmes, travelling to other countries must, at times, have been as foreign as going to another planet. 

When I first read Burton Holmes's great insight into travel memories, it really resonated with my own. I have been thinking the past few days of Essaouira in Morocco. I was lucky enough to travel to Morocco in 2006 on a three week trip with my husband and mum. We got to see a lot in that time and all fell in love with so much of the landscape - from the breakthtaking Sahara desert to the labyrinth alleyways of Marrakech and Fez. I'd really only read about Morocco before going there so for me it was a great culture shock, which I loved. I found it to be a wonderful assault on the senses. The culture was very exotic, the liveliness of the marketplaces very exciting and the heat extreme. I'd rarely had Moroccan food previously so the spices were tantalising to my palette, and I found the people fascinating to talk to.

Essaouira is on the Atlantic coast and known as Africa's windy city. It's set on ramparts overlooking the ocean and is picture-perfect with its whitewashed buildings, sea walls, and fishermen's boats. When we were there, there was a luminosity of light with the bright white of the town set against the blue sky. Compared with the cities, it was very laidback and charming and was a beautiful town to explore. 

We met an old man selling ceramics who had no voicebox and could only tell us about his wares in raspy whispers, we saw children sitting in the street grilling fish on coals, there were cats everywhere, we read books on our riad's windswept rooftop terrace, and we drunk a lot of mint tea with carpet sellers. I have a beautiful handwoven silk throw rug that I bought in Essaouira. It has reds and golds and greens in it and it's currently draped over my couch as a memory of such a rich place. 

Whether you're travelling to somewhere very different to what you know in your own culture, or just exploring locally, travel can change the way you think, make you look at the world differently and expand your horizons in ways you never knew.

Armchair travel

Well, it's a cold and wet day and it'd be nice to be somewhere sunny and warm. Thankfully the good people at Taschen have published two tomes of great escapes. These books feature the most exquisite hotels and hideaways around the globe and are the perfect things to curl up with (aside from the fact that they're massive coffee table books and heavy!) and plan your next trip or dream. So, thanks to the good people at Amazon UK who managed to deliver this book to my doorstep today - despite the volcano cloud that's been delaying passengers and freight and causing havoc. Now, it's time to make a milo and put a blanket over me and sit and read! Until baby girl wakes up that is!

A beautiful bookshop

Like many avid readers, I like to find a bookshop with soul. I fit into that category that will pay a bit more for a book from a charming independent bookshop rather than the same book at discount from a big chain. Although I'm not adverse to special offers or buying online.

Whenever I go to a new place, I am always on the lookout for bookshops that are warm, inviting, interesting and cosy. The kind of places that I can linger for hours and immerse myself in the worlds of literature, photography, design and travel. 

On my travels I've discovered a few such bookshops that live in my memory.  Nomad Books on Fulham Rd was one of my favourite local places when I lived in London. It has armchairs, a cafe and a big downstairs room with a huge table and chairs where many a winter weekend afternoon was spent researching the next trip and stocking up on travel guides (although the travel section has sadly since moved upstairs). Robinson Crusoe books in Istanbul is another bookshop that captured my imagination with its dark wood-panelled shelves and a range of fascinating titles. And you can't be a true Melbournian without being in love with Readings in Carlton - a stalwart of the city's literary circle and a favourite evening or weekend browsing and buying place.

I now have another bookshop to add my favourites. It's in a little town called Talbot about 50 minutes' drive from Ballarat. It's one of those gold-rush towns where the main street looks like it should be a western movie set. In its goldrush heyday it had 30,000 people and now it has 340! Talbot is becoming very trendy and has a lovely cafe called London House, a new little homewares store called A Life Less Ordinary, and a really great monthly farmer's market. The bookshop is called Slightly Bent Books. It's lit by lamps, has big armchairs and a couch, a woodfire, a globe, a Moroccan lantern in the window and loads of new and second-hand books. It's one of those places where you pick one book off the shelf and there's another five or six gems in the same genre hiding behind. A book lover's bookshop.

If you are in the Ballarat or Talbot region on 1st and 2nd May, the town of Clunes is holding their annual book fair. 

By the seaside

I had a lovely Easter in the little coastal town of Port Fairy on Victoria's shipwreck coast. It has become very trendy in the past few years with gorgeous accommodation places, cool cafes, lovely homewares stores, and beautiful beaches. I had divine lemon pudding ice cream at a cafe called Bella Claire, and Rebecca's Cafe served sumptuous meals and cakes. Just a few photos to share with you if ever you're in Victoria and you'd like a weekend escape. I've never stayed there but my pick of places to stay based purely on location and the exterior would be Oscars Waterfront Boutique Hotel http://www.oscarswaterfront.com/

Paris dreaming

My mum is going to Paris later this year so yesterday I spent some time researching hotels with her. Then I got an email from my friend Sue who was in Seoul on her way back from Paris, and now all I'm thinking about is how to scheme a trip there! I've been fortunate to go to Paris a half dozen times. Living in London allowed that - from there it's just a few hours away by Eurostar. Now it's a 22-hour flight! 

Anyway, whenever I think of Paris, I think of it in black and white like the old photographs by the great photographers: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau and Willy Ronis. It is a romantic city regardless of whether you're there with a significant other or not. Every cobblestone has a story, every scene is elegant, every pain au chocolat and chocolat et banane crepe tastes sumptuous, every shop seems glamorous and exciting. So, as I was day-dreaming about strolling through the Luxembourg Gardens, the left bank with its narrow streets and boulangeries, the exquisite Musee D'Orsay and the funky shops of the Marais, I dug out some of my own photos to share with you. 

An armchair travel day today.

Postcards from the past

I am a big fan of collecting interesting little mementos whenever I go somewhere new. I have travel diaries full of postcards but my favourite ones are vintage postcards that remind me of the golden era of travel before mass tourism began! These postcards sit on my mantlepiece in a cute heart-shaped display that my sister-in-law gave me. They show the Pyramids, old Marrakech, London and Brighton in the UK. A lovely reminder of places I've been that I can enjoy looking at everyday.