My Top Ten Travel Memories

I drink cherry wine and learn to dance, in a town where teens compete to do the best polka. - Czech Republic

Ten year old Majda teaches me to count in Moroccan Arabic. "'Wahet,' 'jooj,’ 'tlata,'" she says patiently. - Erfoud, Morocco

We find shelter from a downpour with Rocio and Andres, from Chile. After introductions, he produces from his backpack a bottle of wine carried from home. - Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

Eighty-seven year old Bill teaches me how to plant garlic. - New Zealand

Seventeen and on my first trip alone. I meet a boy on the train who makes me jump out at all the stops so that I can say I’ve been there. - Austria/Italy

She asks in Quechua, and when I don’t understand, begins singing what sounds like a lullaby. Then she points to me. The first thing I can think to sing is Dido. - Bolivia.

I sit on the edge of a cliff, 12,500 feet high in the Andes. Below me is a cauldron of fog. Above me, a star-lit sky. - Peru

Our conversation is so engrossing that by the end of the night, I hardly realize that she and I have not shared a word of common language. - Italy

I am eating meat from chicken that has lived its whole life outside. I never knew meat was meant to taste this good. - Vashon Island, WA

A herd of goats rushes past me, breaking the alpine silence with miniature rockslides. - Austria

This post has been entered into the Grandtourismo HomeAway Holiday-Rentals travel blogging competition. www.homeaway.co.uk