![]() As I mentioned at the end of last week’s blog, I headed out of London and took a few days for myself up north to Newcastle and to a little village called Seahouses, and the opportunity to see my birds. I have had the pleasure over the past 35 years to see puffins in several different places from Alaska when I first saw them back in 1987, on a halibut fishing trip, where I did not catch any fish, got seasick, but found a focal point and it was a little bird off the side of the boat and it was puffin. I want to say that it was a tufted puffin, but it also could have been a horned puffin. In any case, it was a puffin and that was the start of my love affair with these amazing little birds. I have held rescues, rest in peace Toti, in Iceland and returned to Alaska to see a circus of puffins on a few small ship sailings, taken a boat trip off the coast of Maine. I also saw them cliffside the last time I was between conferences in the UK, this time last year in a little town near Hull. Of course, this love affair with these amazing little birds lead to the naming of my travel agency back September 2007 and the collection of art and other collectibles are some of the few things I have retained over the years and will be shipped later this year to Italy. It was hard to decide what to keep and not keep and eventually, I will donate, but I plan on being around awhile and wish to enjoy the collection for now. In any case, the return to Newcastle was nice so I had a chance to see it more fully, via a Hop On Hop Off circuit, as last year, I used Newcastle as a base to see Hadrian’s Wall. This time, it was to have another chance to see birds and the train and bus to this little town of Seahouses was very plenty. When I got there, I was not sure the boat would get out, as the whitecaps on the North Sea were intense, but we did, and it was quite a roller coaster ride. While the first boat I went on those 35 years ago, was a seasick ride, I had no issues this time, as I had prepared myself with a version of Dramamine and ate properly beforehand. It took about 20 minutes from departure to get to the islands and we saw all sorts of seabird life, seals, and generally up close, but the waters were not cooperative. I truly felt that we may not be able to land on Inner Farne Island, which was the piece de resistance, but somehow were did. We were warned and I had experienced this years ago in Iceland, that the Arctic Terns would attack , as they were protecting their territory and they did, by divebombing, pecking and pooping and I think I got attacked 8 to 10 times between coming and going, but I had both my hat and my hoodie, so no damage done except for a quick cleaning and we had an hour to explore this island. The amazing thing once you ran the gauntlet of Arctic Terns is the amazing wealth of other seabirds and of course, puffins on land in the sea and in the air coming and going, some with fish it their mouths to bring back to their pufflings in their burrows and there were hundreds there. I was in my little peace of heaven just watching the comings and goings of these amazing little birds and I could have spent all day just watching. Of course, so were other birds that wanted the puffin’s food, but most I saw who landed got into their burrows to feed their puffling. Puffins only lay one egg year, so it is most important to have as many survive to keep the population strong. In any case, watching the interaction, hearing the sound sounds of the birds, the smells, some not so good and running the Arctic Tern gauntlet, to get back to the boat, made for a wonderful afternoon. When we finally landed and the sea had calmed down some, I enjoyed, what else, fish and chips. I have had better, but it was good. The little town was also inundated with souvenir places, that featured, among other things, puffin stuff. Admittedly, I saw many items, locally make, not in China, that intrigued me, but I had decided a long time ago to not increase my collection, but in the end, I found a birthday card, Rosa’s birthday is in less than 2 weeks with a puffin on it, so I did buy something. In the end, I did the return trip bus to train and relived the amazing day I had had seeing my birds up close, some not more than a meter away. It was definitely worthwhile. The next day I headed to Leeds and spent the day, but the weather did not cooperate, nor the opportunity to really explore much. I was surprised to hear that Leeds did not have a Hop On Hop Off Experience and when I tried to find a walking tour, all seemed to operate in the morning and nothing was available that afternoon. In any case, I walked around a bit, enjoyed a nice dinner of wings and ribs, done in a Korean style and watched as Italy lost their first game in the knockout round of the European championships. Yes, I do follow soccer or football if you prefer, and the Italians call it neither. They call it Calcio. Don’t ask me why, but this is what I have been told by Rosa. In any case, they lost, and I had to follow other teams. The favorites, England, got past Slovakia by their skin of their teeth, as they also looked lethargic, but sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. In this case, lucky. It won’t be a rematch of Italy and England, as it was some years ago and Rosa and the whole country of Italy having a panic attack. In that matchup, Italy won in the shootout, sorry England. Who knows this year, as England just got through to the Quarterfinals to be played against Switzerland. The last thing I want to about this past week is the second half of my time here in London, which ends tomorrow, but through today and the past two days, I have attended Experience Africa, for the land reason I attended the Latin America function last week. I know the world knows me for planning travel here to Europe, but I also want everyone to know that I do handle other destinations around the world, some of which I have traveled, and that is important, for the first-hand experience, for sure, but also having partners vetted and trusted partnerships with companies around the world, many local and small more personalized companies that truly have a passion to share their experiences, communities and opportunities when coming to destinations, perhaps quite exotic to the average traveler and even the most traveler and there is more to Africa that simply Safari, but that is certainly a must for the traveler to southern and east Africa, of which I have had the pleasure in places like Kenya and Botswana, so I, the Wandering Puffin, can arrange through these amazing companies your next experience to Africa, customized to you, as I do for Europe and other parts of the world with my amazing partnerships. Tomorrow, after 2 ½ long months apart, I arrive home to be with my wife and love and can’t be more excited to be starting our lives together. It will be crazy and hectic and so much to do, but I am here for my clients, time change, not object, moving forward and of course, for my new life. I hope you have enjoyed my offerings each week and appreciate that you have read my blog posts and look forward to continuing with sharing. As always, thank you so much for your support of Rosa’s and my little world now that they have been merged into one. We truly appreciate your support and congratulations. Stay safe, healthy, and most importantly happy, and as always, your shared comments and thoughts are most welcome!!!
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Wandering PuffinWeathering the Storm with the Wandering Puffin Archives
February 2025
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