Last but one "14-Days-of-Love" post

Plan Your Escape
We all dream of escaping to some sweet retreat. What is the most romantic getaway you've ever been on –or dreamed of?

That is the subject today. And I was really really torn between two places. You know all about our little cottage in France, which is the most perfect place for me, on top of a hill, miles from civilisation, with the most beautiful views and wonderful neighbours. It is a lovely romantic place and everytime we go there to spend a few days or weeks, it is like a dream come true.

But if we are talking going away on holiday, then the most romantic place we have ever been to is definitely Langkawi, but the Langkawi of almost 30 years ago. I was working for Lufthansa as a billingual secretary at the time, and therefore had access to cheap flights, so we decided to spend our honeymoon in Malaysia. We spent a few days on Penang, and then took a little 4-seater plane to Langkawi. OMG, that was terrifying! Langkawi is a group of 99 little islands and 30 years ago, only a couple of them were inhabited. The pilot of our little place flew so low over the islands, I could see the individual leaves on the trees. I don't like flying at the best of times, but that was pretty hair raising. And the landing strip, nightmare, lol, a little grass/earth strip with a wooden hut by the side!

But the Langkawi Country Club was a beautiful place to stay and the setting was the most romantic you can imagine. The bluest water, the whitest sand, the most intoxicating, colourful shrubs and flowers, and best of all, at the time we were there, only a handful of guests were staying in the place. Often we had the terrace or restaurant all to ourselves.

I could only find a couple of photos, I didn't have much time to search through my boxes, lol and they have faded somewhat over the last ( almost ) 30 years -


These photos I quickly pulled off google -

If Langkawi was still the same place we fell in love with nearly 30 years ago, then I would dearly love to return there. But, progress can't be halted, it seems, and our beautiful island paradise has been developed as well. I saw a programme on Langkawi a couple of years ago and it was unrecognisable. Thats the way it goes though.

So, that beautiful romantic retreat is firmly committed to memory, the jungle walks, the footsteps in the sand, which were still there undisturbed a week after we had visited an uninhabited island earlier for a romantic picnic, the evenings holding hands on the terrace looking out over the blue water to the distant islands. And our romantic retreat now is our little cottage in France. Are we allowed to still be romantic fools after nearly 30 years of marriage ( it will be our 29th wedding anniversary next month )?

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.