European cities and Ghanaian weddings.

Although the travel itinerary doesn’t really make sense, this year for the holidays I traveled to London, Barcelona and then back to West Africa.   While it was a whirlwind trip, I couldn’t have asked for a more amazing opportunity to spend some time exploring the new places in the world. 

I was able to travel with my friend from the states (who previously lived here in Zambia).  We spent quite a bit of time figuring out how we were going to coordinate travel and meet up at the same places/times since we had to essentially book our flights separately to travel to three different countries in 12 days.  This meant that we traveled together yet we never really traveled together.  We just kept leaving the same cities and meeting up in new ones. 

We originally met in London on New Year’s Eve.  I must admit that I was not prepared for the weather in London.  It was cold.  It doesn’t get that cold here in Zambia so I didn't come very prepared.  We did brave the weather though and rang in the New Year on the streets of London (okay, we were actually in a warm bar)!  Interestingly it didn’t look like anyone else was that cold?  Anyway, we only had a day in London so we spent New Year’s Day at the Tate Modern art museum and then walked along the Thames before hunkering down in a very warm and cozy restaurant.  The next day we left for what we thought would be warmer weather in Spain.  It wasn’t really.  Okay, it was warmer compared to London but we decided we just aren’t cut out for cold climate vacations.  That said, I loved Barcelona.  The city was beautiful (despite the cold) and I could have stayed there much longer (in the summer).  It’s got this great energy.  I loved the architecture, the restaurants, people, beaches.  Everything.    

After only a few short days we traveled back to my beloved Africa.  Our friend was getting married in Accra, Ghana, so we were able to attend the wedding as well as visit some of the sites around town.  Can you guess what our first stop was??   Yes, the beach!  I can’t tell you how happy we were to see sand and lay around on a beach…a proper vacation.  But we did manage to tear ourselves away from the beach to visit a city called Kumasi, the capital city of the Ashanti region which is an important historical center in Ghana.  So we got some culture too, don’t worry.  Our friend also had a traditional wedding ceremony where she wore a beautiful hand-woven kente cloth gown and looked amazing!  And the next day she had a church wedding where we danced to the electric slide at the reception!  And there’s this amazing video of a fight which broke out between two women when the bride tossed her flowers to the lovely awaiting single ladies.  Ahh, weddings.      

I had such an amazing holiday – I tried to capture with a few pictures so I hope you enjoy.  And…Happy New Year everyone!