Have you ever been on a holiday that failed dismally to live up to your expectations? For the most part I have been fortunate to experience wonderfully happy holidays whenever I have been able to unchain myself from my desk long enough to say, “wish you were here!”.

Buying 14 pairs of shoes in seven days in Hong Kong is a treasured memory, and drinking in my first breathtaking view of Florence at dusk has never been forgotten. Also stuck in my memory are the holidays that were anything but enjoyable.

At 22 I set off to discover Europe and found myself stuck on a Trafalgar Tour with the “Blue Rinse Set” as my only travelling companions. Apparently my rookie travel agent hadn’t quite grasped the difference between Contiki and Trafalgar. Needless to say, I didn’t spend the European summer in a daze of late night parties, hangovers and holiday romance as I had imagined. Nope, it was strictly lights out at 8.30pm.

In a desperate attempt to find some sort of distraction to occupy me, I managed a half-baked crush on our old bus driver which came to an abrupt end when I realised he was (rightfully) more interested in one of the gorgeous ‘golden girls’ on the tour.

On another occasion, my entire family had to get up in the middle of the night to catch yet another bus (Greyhound this time!) from the Gold Coast to Sydney. Apparently Mum thought we would be less conspicuous travelling under the cover of nightfall as we set about lugging our Bris-Vegas haul of goodies back home. Instead, we looked more like the Von Trapp family from The Sound of Music making our hasty dash for freedom. Poor Dad didn’t realise until we got home that the reason the suitcases weighed a ton was because they were filled with solid wooden sculptures purchased at the nightly beach markets.

Travel can be so liberating, and often transports us to a new place – not only physically, but emotionally as well. Who doesn’t feel just a little bit more adventurous when they are in a new city? And, free from the constraints of your regular routine, haven’t you ever let your mind wander to consider what life might be like if you ran off with the Moroccan sheikh (or tour guide!) to set up your own little souk. To support you in dreaming up some exciting escapes of your own, this edition of SW is dedicated entirely to the joys of travel. Joanna Hall tells us why the bays of Huatulco in Mexico are so hot right now, and our beauty feature, Travel on the Fly, will make sure you look and feel your best when you arrive at your destination.

Few of us these days are not looking for a more holistic approach to our lives, and this naturally spills over into our travel plans too. Kristie Kellahan’s story, ‘Soul Travel’ shows us how easy it is to combine a holiday with the opportunity to give back. After volunteering and working periodically with a Buddhist orphanage in Northern Thailand for the past seven years, no one is better placed than Kristie to share her valuable insights and experience. If like me, a holiday is not on the immediate horizon, I recommend reading guest columnist Maggie Hamilton’s story ‘Sacred Space’ which provides some great suggestions on ways to create a little time out for your soul during a regular work week.

Finally, I encourage you to read our interview with Elizabeth Gilbert, author of travel memoir Eat Pray Love. This New York Times bestselling-book is about Elizabeth’s year-long journey of travel and self discovery, and her interview was incredibly refreshing. She tells us that even when we can’t leave home, it is important that each of us ask this important question every day “What do I really, really, really want?”.

Elizabeth says that you need to use all three “reallys” or else your heart won’t believe you’re serious. It’s definitely worth a try! But for right now, I am going to tap my red heels together three times and like Dorothy, be very grateful that although travelling is wonderful for the soul, there really is no place like home!

Happy Travels!

Cherie & the SW Team.