Why 'Wonders of Travel'?

Every traveler needs an inspiration and a guide. My journey has evolved as an idea over many months and years. I've long been interested in history and spent a previous life studying the medieval period rather a lot for a PhD. I suppose I first became interested and aware of the fabulous and rich history of Islam and the East at that time, and more recently I've started to read about it and about the experiences of other travelers to these parts of the World. It made me want to see some places for myself. Life has it's ups and downs, but I tend to think the bad things that come along can create opportunities for having new and interesting experiences. In my case the break up of a relationship and a need to sell my house offered me the freedom and finance to contemplate undertaking my own journey of a lifetime. So I've quit my job, booked my trip and leave Newcastle next Saturday on the first leg of a seven month odyssey that will take me half way round the World by road and sea.

And the website address name? Well that comes from my most engaging muse and guide, Shams al-Din Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Ibn Battutah al-Lawati al-Tanji, known as Ibn Battutah for short. Ibn Battutah was a fourteenth-century traveler from Tangiers in Morocco, who spent 29 years traveling the length of the then known world and ended up dictating his memories and experiences on returning home. The resulting book is known for short as the 'Rihlah' or 'Travels' of Ibn Battutah, but the full name is 'The Precious Gift of Lookers into the Marvels of Cities and Wonders of Travel'. Ibn Battutah was the Islamic Marco Polo, only much more entertaining. I'll be sticking a copy of his Travels in my back pocket to keep me company on my own travels.