TANKS Travel Tales - a travelogue.......

Mobile phones with good quality cameras are now an essential part of everyday life, travel included. Gone are the days when one has to bring along a chunky conventional camera when travelling so as not to miss those opportunistic photo moments that one is bound to encounter. Whilst on a recent cruise trip as I was sighted-seeing from the balcony of my cabin located at the back of the ship on Deck 13, I took this photograph. As the ship pulled out of Singapore's Marina Bay Cruise Centre and travelled along the Singapore Strait heading for the Strait of Malacca, I decided that this view of commercial shipping will be a good digital memento of my trip. This photo reminded me of the busy shipping that contributes to global trade and keeps the economies of many countries humming along nicely. Commercial Shipping, Singapore Strait, Singapore (2022)

Getting in the travel groove......  Travel wise, things are slowly but surely getting back in the groove. Having completed four trips this year compared to just one in 2020 and zero for 2021, I can say that my travel experiences are beginning to look "normal" again. Normal when compared to 2019 and earlier. I have two more trips planned for this year, both in the months of October. After which, I am taking a short break from travel for the rest of 2022. My travel budget has its limits! For next year, I have nothing concrete planned for now. But I should at the very least, be able to go on at least three trips. Hopefully, one of these will be to Japan in August to watch the famous fireworks festival in Nagaoka in Niigata Prefecture. Whether Japan will be opened to leisure travellers by this time next year remains to be seen. Despite talks about being in the forefront of opening up, together with the rest of the G7 nations, Japan's doors remain shut tightly to foreigners. I