What an honour! Thank you so much Patrick McNeill for entering your travel highlight:

On the Istrian Peninsular, I found Solaris Autocamp at Lanterna.  Fee paid, I pitched my tent near the sea.  Bathers in the waves weren’t wearing swimsuits.  I’d stumbled on a naturist site, but I’d paid my money, so I would stay.  Christina and Deitrich, in the next tent, wore clothes, reassuring me, and soon we were making a meal together.
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Invited to badminton I was the only one clothed, and not wanting to be the odd one out, joined in as nature intended.  In the restaurant and supermarket I quickly forgot no one was wearing a swimsuit or anything else. 

The second excerpt from the second edition of Fred's Diary 1981 has been published today on 'Sarah Jane's Blog' on the Rukia website. Follow this link to read today's segment and to find out about other authors and their works:
www.rukiapublishing.com/sarah-janes-blog


Today's excerpt is also reproduced below​:

Working as a Film Extra on HK TV
 
The journey took an hour and a half. We sat on the bus for another hour before eventually being ferried to the yacht, arriving there about 12:30 p.m. The filming and a riot of laughs started.
 
We were meant to be a load of English people on a boat from England going into Hong Kong. Yvonne and I had a couple of important parts as passengers standing around with the stars from the show. Most of the afternoon, however, was spent on various shots of us buying merchandise from merchants by the boat side and throwing money to boys who dived into the water to recover it.
 
It was cold and we spent a lot of time huddled around an engine outlet between numerous takes and retakes. We had a lunch-box at 3 p.m. and finished filming at 6 p.m. We got back to the hostel at 7:45 p.m. all quite tired.
 
Five of us went to an Indian mess club on the eleventh floor where we had an incredible meal. Between us we got through thirteen different dishes of eggplant, mutton, and chicken with numerous chapattis and rice plus five large bottles of beer. It was the most delicious meal I have tasted for ages and we had a great time.
 
We bought a few beers and sat around in the hostel chatting until we went to bed at 11:30 p.m. Everyone was exhausted after a great day's entertainment and eating.
 
Peter, the guy who helps run the hostel, paid us each HK$100 for the basic work and will give us a bit more later on for the extra hours we worked. I hope to be able to get some more work of this sort over the next couple of weeks.

Great News!

Julie Haigh, We Love Memoirs moderator and top Amazon reviewer has just posted a fantastic 5* review for Fred's Diary 1981. 

Links to the review follow - please vote Julie's review as 'Helpful'.
www.amazon.com/review
www.amazon.co.uk/review

The full review is reproduced below:

I was lucky enough to win a signed paperback copy of this book in a competition. I also have the kindle editions of both the new edition and the older edition, and, at various times, I did read parts of all of them to compare-eg: when I was at a hospital appointment, rather than taking my precious signed copy, I read on the original kindle version-I later got the brand new kindle version and continued reading from the two new editions. I like diary format-this is kept very simple, it feels as if it would be very authentic to the original diary. Some of it is almost just notes then some sentences are fuller. I like how it is as it was then-it's not been written years later and things tried to remember-this is the actual diary he kept at the time. It's now all in one volume and I still re-read and enjoyed the first two sections I'd read previously in his two shorter books (£99 to Hong Kong and Time in Thailand). We’re soon exploring India. This is the kind of writing I love to read; informative, describing the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of the area. We have climate details, these happen throughout his trip and I found it welcome information. It’s very interesting finding out all the places he plans to visit: Agra, Nepal, Sri Lanka. Also very interesting is reading about the night bazaar with all the stalls selling their wares and the food stalls too where the food is cooked on-site. This is a very detailed diary-there really is everything in here-both of local interest etc, the foods he had, how much it cost and right down to the times he woke up and went to bed! A very open, honest and revealing diary which appeals very nicely to my nosey nature. I love reading of other people's travels to far flung destinations. It means I get the feel of going there without all the inconveniences. There are great examples and descriptions of his seeing the sights to be seen-the first bit of the diary doesn't have this because of his unexpected detour to prison! Contained in this book are the author’s adventures, the people he meets: other travellers and locals, the foods he eats, the sights he sees. It's all a very interesting log of a memorable trip of a few months from many years ago. Apple crumble?-I was somehow amused to hear that they do this pudding here! It seemed so out of place and unexpected! Eg: fried rice, daal, vegetable curry......Apple crumble!!!!! Of course, this is in the days before email and he keeps checking if he has any post-only to find there is frequently none. There are news events from the time included-e.g., mention of The Ripper sentenced to life imprisonment. I like how he tells of the books he is reading at various times throughout his trip. One of particular interest, I wondered if this book was still available? It was amazing to think that here was a type of travel book which was interesting ‘Fred’ back then-and he was to end up writing such a book himself. I found this book is still available so this introduced me to yet another book! This is the kind of thing I do-I don’t just read quickly through something-for those few days or week etc. when I’m reading a book such as this, I live it!-I enjoy looking things up and finding out more about the places mentioned etc. I love lots of detail and I get so much out of it. I realise that, for some people, the detail may be a bit exhaustive and indeed, this new edition has quite a few pages less than the original one-but, it’s just my sort of thing. I loved the intrigue about whether Rita would reply, what was going on? Was it on or off with her? Fred certainly keeps us guessing with the Rita aspect! So he mentions he did take plenty of pictures-I would have liked some in here. Oh my goodness! But oh my how interesting where they see the bodies burning and about what they do with the ones not cremated. And another thing-he's brought out this new edition-and this year 2015-has exactly the same days and dates as 1981. I do like how things tie in like this-what a great idea to bring out a new edition in a year which mirrors the original. It's great, it's just written in normal, everyday language-a genuine, authentic, REAL diary. Just read it like that, it's not meant to be an action novel! Just real, true, raw. And I like that. Oh my goodness, SO interesting-the bit about the Hanging Gardens. I was reading this book whilst waiting for a hospital appointment and was so engrossed in it that I jumped out of my skin when the doctor called my name out! This is a record of an experience, a moment in Fred's history, it tells it like it was. It doesn't need any dressing up. I really enjoyed it. The diary has engrossing moments and more 'normal' moments too-this is real life. This is an edited and updated edition and I noticed on comparing my different editions that some bits are missed out-I loved all the details but I accept he may have been recommended to take some excess out. There’s still plenty of detail and info in here-a great record of Fred's trip, very enjoyable.

This first excerpt from the second edition was published on Rukia Publishing's website this week on Sarah Jane's blog: To follow this series of eight excerpts and many other interesting features about authors and their works, visit  www.rukiapublishing.com/sarah-janes-blog


​First Impressions of Hong Kong
 
I was soon outside and got my first taste of the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong. Waited twenty minutes for a 201 bus to take me to Kowloon and sat dazed in the bus trying to take in the many sights amid the clamour of Chinese conversation, which to say the least is pretty loud.
 
After a ride of half an hour I got off the bus in Kowloon and within twenty minutes, with the help of a young Chinese woman, had located Chungking Mansions, a collection of supposedly cheap guest houses.
 
Eventually found a room free in one run by an old woman for HK$40. I tried knocking the price down for a longer stay but she wouldn't consider it. Being tired I decided to take it for one night and look around tomorrow for alternatives.
 
Got into the room and tried to get some rest. I got a couple of hours sleep disturbed by a TV being played loud in the next room. One thing I'm going to have to get used to here is noise. It is now 8:30 p.m. and I am going to go out in search of something to eat and drink.
 
I returned to the room just before midnight after a fascinating if bewildering wander around different parts of Kowloon. Lots of bright lights, scores of different shops and stalls, amazing contrasts between rich and poor, the swish tourist hotels near the waterfront compared with the slums and beggars in the backstreets.
 
Saw a few western faces but not many. Had a meal in McDonalds of all places as I couldn't pluck up courage to go into one of the Chinese restaurants. Feeling a bit lost and far from home but hopefully that will soon pass.

Many thanks to Susan Joyce for submitting this very moving Travel Highlight into our competition:

Krakow boasts of magnificent sculptures and monuments. The most impressive is in “Ghetto Heroes’ Square” in Kazimierz. A community where Jews and Christians lived side by side in harmony. Until the 20th century.

This eerie display of empty, over-sized, bronze chairs honors the murdered Jews of the Podgorze Ghetto. They were ordered to bring earthly possessions to the square, and were then taken away. Most perished in the concentration camps of World War II.
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I sat on one chair and blessed the bright minds silenced because of war. I wept, grateful to have survived the Cyprus War of 1974.

Our latest entry in the Travel Highlights competition is from Renee Moon:

It's not MY travel nightmare but it did end up with me purchasing numerous gifts including two "I survived Hurricane Sandy while my friend was in Caymen" shirts!!

I waited 2 years to go to Grand Caymen and when I got there Hurricane Sandy hit my home in New Jersey. The lights were on the day I landed, my house/dog sitter hasn't spoken to me since. She flew in from Wisconsin, for a FUN, AFFORDABLE New York vacation. I have pictures and bills of storm damage. :(
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We are really excited to announce that the launch day for the Kindle second edition has finally arrived. 

Rukia Publishing have kindly featured the launch on their website and you can find out more by following this link: http://www.rukiapublishing.com  

Please help this launch by sharing our blog, Facebook and Twitter posts. As always, we really appreciate your continued support.

Today we have another fabulous entry for our Travel Highlights Competition.

You may remember that Nancy McBride was the June winner with her second Travel Story entry Babushka the Beautiful.  

Here is Nancy's travel highlight:

Her lover picked us up in a limousine. Openly, they conferred, “Where can we be SEEN?”

At the right restaurant, shown to the right table, as hoped, we were “SEEN” by the elite of Melbourne. “You’re Coral’s American friend? How IS she?”

Without Coral, a famous former fashion model, these wanna-bes were nothing. Bored, Coral travelled the world, skiing, and now lived in my working-class hometown.
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She was wearing a floor length mink coat—a last vestige—when I met her at a local pancake house. She told me to tell them all she was studying to be a nurse.  
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It is a real privilege to be able to feature this latest entry into our Travel Highlights competition. It is from well-known author, Frank Kusy:

THERE’S THE RUB

‘I don’t believe it!’ said Anna, bursting out of the room with just a towel clasped around her. ‘I just woke up and that guy was massaging my tits!’

Well, I wasn’t having that. I marched over to Allan, the proprietor of our modest guest house in Jodhpur, and said: ‘You told me that massage man was the best in Jodhpur. What’s he doing massaging my girlfriend’s breasts?’

Allan went deathly pale.

‘He is massaging your girlfriend? I thought he was massaging you. This man, he is a eunuch. He has never touched a woman before!’
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We have another great competition entry, this time from Julie Haigh. You may remember that Julie was voted second in our Travel Story competition with her entry Yes, It Had Been a Good Day All in All.

Here is Julie's entry to our Travel Highlights competition:

My travel highlight has to be my trip on a shoestring: a return flight to Belfast for £5!  It cost more for the bus trip from the airport to the city centre than to travel from Yorkshire to Ireland!  It was a fun day out-yes-I know-not very ground-breaking or exotic-but really cheap!  We had a long browse in the book shop which mum wasn’t too enamoured with as she’s not really a reader-she thinks you could be cleaning the windows while you’re wasting time reading a book! It was actually a lovely day out and just that little bit different.

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