It is a real pleasure to welcome another newcomer to our pages, Robyn Boswell, with this last minute entry in our travel story competition.

Robyn says, "I have never written a short story before, so just wanted to try it to see if I could actually do it. Quite a challenge I have discovered!"

​I think you'll agree with me that Weathering the Storm proves that she has a real talent for writing a short story.

​Below is a short bio that Robyn has provided to accompany her entry:
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I live in the beautiful far north of New Zealand surrounded by beaches and forests. My family have lived here since the earliest days of settlement in New Zealand.
 
I recently retired and am enjoying a new lease of life. I was a teacher for 21 years and then became a facilitator, training teachers in the field. In 1989 I discovered the International Future Problem Solving Program and was the first teacher to teach it in New Zealand. A couple of years later I became the New Zealand Director, a voluntary position I’ve held for 20 years and this has been my passion in life. Through the programme I have been able to slake my appetite for travel with 17 trips to the USA to attend the International Finals. I have wanted to travel since I was six and my great aunt worked as a stewardess on cruise ships around the world and I’ve been lucky enough to spend 13 months travelling in Europe and the UK, 3 months camping in the Australian Outback and various trips through the South Pacific and Asia. A last I have time to travel again and am enjoying having the time to rediscover my own beautiful country and am looking forward to once again venturing further afield.
 
I have chronicled my trips through scrapbooking and journal writing so my memories are always with me.

New insights and extracts from my diary. Available to pre-order on Amazon:
http://smarturl.it/WasThatMeBehindDiary
​Release Date: July 31st 2016
Only 99c/99p

When a travel diary becomes a memoir there are always details from behind the scenes which are edited out or not fully expanded upon.

In this special edition ebook author Robert Fear reveals some untold facts and stories that occurred during the period covered in his travel diary as he takes you behind the scenes of his travel memoir, Fred's Diary 1981.

As he delves deeper, behind the diary entries, readers are given an honest insight into his Asian adventure, including his Thai prison experience, as he takes you to visit Nepal, journey through Kathmandu, bask in the glory of Annapurna. See the Taj Mahal, The Red Fort: Explore and share the Asian culture as Robert's personal notes, written as an adjunct to his diary, takes you on an exhilarating journey like no other.

With only four days left in this year's competition, it is an honour to welcome back Elizabeth Moore with her latest entry Tapas on the Feast of St Joan, another fantastic travel story.

Elizabeth has kindly included some photos with her story:

​Elizabeth has lived in Australia all her life. She is happily married, a mother of two, grandmother of four and devoted assistant to one very bossy tortoiseshell cat named Lucy.

Her working career began as a speech pathologist and later morphed into the totally unrelated field of retail manager in a university science centre and planetarium.
Travel has always been a focus and yes – there has always been a bucket list. This was brought into stark relief when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and following treatment, a travel timetable began to take shape. Guam was first, followed quickly by European and North American adventures.

Illness nudged another long held interest to the fore and Elizabeth began chronicling her trips with extensive photography, promising herself she would also write about her exploits. Spain has always been a long term destination – it was not a disappointment.
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Susan Joyce is a regular contributor to our competitions, having already entered two travel stories this year. This entry is a very different one though and has been written following her recent trip to Peru. I'm sure that you will enjoy Alien Skulls? as much as I have. Thank you very much for sharing Susan.

Bob Manning describes himself as a random abstract freelance writer and a singer/songwriter. He first travelled to the Alpujarras/Contraviesa Granada region in the 1980's. Bob settled in a small mountain village of 200 souls as the only Ex-pat. There he spent 15 glorious years before embarking on his wanderings for almost thirty years in Andalucía, from isolated mountain villages to dynamic vibrant cities.
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With the 2016 Travel Story Competition rapidly drawing to a close, it is a great pleasure to welcome back our April winner, Jackie Parry.

If you haven't read her winning story Walking on Water - A Shark Encounter That Changed My Life, then catch up with that, before enjoying her new entry I Feel Alive.

UPDATE: I am finally able to fulfil my father's wishes by publishing his memoirs.
It is available to pre-order and will be released on August 7th 2016. Get your copy now: smarturl.it/ExclusivePedigree

With only a few days left in the 2016 Travel Story Competition, it is great to be able to feature another new contributor, Lisa Fleetwood. 

Lisa is a fellow-member of the friendliest group on Facebook We Love Memoirs. Her travel story came as a direct result of a post on their page. Please read and enjoy her fantastic entry The Smiling Nun.

It is a great pleasure to welcome back Mark Boyter, with his second travel story in our 2016 competition entitled Anne Murray in Jerusalem.  I am sure that you will enjoy it as much as I have. If you missed his first entry then check out Asakusa and The Monk as well.

Jaffa Gate and Tower of David