From Journeys to Words: Wobbly Tales of Expat Lives

From the shores of the tiny Comoros Islands, through the resilient streets of Beirut and Dhaka, to the gigantic Middle Kingdom of China;

From Journeys to Words is a collection of personal stories on our journey as expat spouses. We have Bonjour’d, Ni Hao’d, Kemon Achen’d and Salaam Alaikum’d our way through several countries, bypassed some pesky firewalls, ordered food in languages we don’t speak, tasted a few quirky meals and survived some dodgy economic and political crises.

These travel tales take you through the thrum (and supposed perks) of expatriate life to bring you anecdotes from, and insights into our day-to-day lives and experiences as ‘trailing’ wives.We also take a deeper look into the lives of the remarkable, vivacious and eternally optimistic people we have met as well as the enchanting cultures we have been a part of.

Many of these countries may not exactly inspire you to spontaneously book a flight and go visit them but for us, they’ve been more than temporary homes; they have been barrels of laughter, love, despair, kindness, heartache, panache, resilience and charm that isn’t shown on the 9 o'clock news or in a traditional tourist guide.

This book is an ode to all this … and more.