An excerpt from ‘Travel A-Z rather than just A-B’ by Alison Laycock

Here is an excerpt from my latest book (Book 8) published on Amazon Kindle as an e-book at the end of August.

This book has come from blogs I wrote on one of my travel blogs: travelalphabetabc.wordpress.com and I also had guest posts which are amazing and very diverse. They are not in the book because I believed the best thing to do was to only have my work and they can always use their own work in another way rather than it being limited by this book.

The subtitle is: ‘A-Z of travel stories, tips, places and more’ and it is reasonably priced at £9.99. I am particularly happy with this book and proud of its contents as it includes a variety of writing including some memories from my years lived in Nepal and Cameroon. Nepal and Cameroon I am sure will appear in future books at some point and in some way so look out for those.

The difficulty for this post has been which post to share so I decided to just go from the start, what better place is there to begin from and that is of course A.

Let’s start with A for ASK!

The importance of asking is a key life lesson not just one for travelling so you may also wish to consider these in terms of your life and how you can adapt them. If in doubt ‘ASK’.

1. Ask all sorts of questions to all sorts of people: When I am travelling or living in a different country, questions have huge value. They serve as conversation openers with locals and fellow travellers and can lead to the best conversations or experiences. Asking a variety of people can also bring you a better understanding of their life and culture rather than just accepting one person’s views.

2. Ask your tour guide but also ask other locals: If you are travelling with a tour guide, be aware that they will have a set piece to present to tourists and you may not always learn the whole truth, especially if there are safety issues in the country. They will want to make sure that tourists keep coming so will naturally and understandably present the best of their country which is their job. Often locals will be more open as they aren’t risking their jobs by telling you the truth about political or human rights issues. I’ve found these to be the best ways of getting to know more about the country and its culture and I’m always pleased to engage with a level of trust, honesty, and sincerity.

3. Ask and listen with the right tone: It’s important to include listen here as what’s the point of asking a question and then not listening to the answer? Yes, you may need to be patient to understand but there is nothing worse than asking a question and then talking over the answer given or questioning its truth because you in your own country heard something different or believe it to be something else. If you’re asking, you’re wanting to listen and learn not talk when you only hear yourself. The tone is important so the person giving their time to answer knows that you are not being critical or rude in asking that question. Remember they may be sensitive to certain topics due to other tourists they have dealt with previously.

4. Ask about dress code: You may have read information in a travel guide or think you know the answer but there is something respectful about asking about dress code and making sure you understand what it means and why it is in place. I always carry a shawl with me when travelling in case I need to cover my head, shoulders or put it around my waist. Even if the dress code doesn’t match your beliefs, when you are in a different country you are there to respect their culture and traditions otherwise why travel.

5. Ask to take part: If there is a festival, wedding or religious event taking place then ask to take part. You may naturally be invited if you are living in that area, however people often don’t know whether you would want to take part or not and don’t wish to cause offence to you through asking. It is therefore your responsibility to show that you are interested in attending and being part of such cultural events, so ask but also make sure you ask what you can take or give as a present.

Some letters are represented more than once so it is more than just one run of A-Z which was interesting for me to do as there were so many posts I wanted to include in this book.

If you are interested in purchasing the book from Amazon Kindle then please follow this link.

https://amzn.eu/d/eEDJncN

An excerpt from ‘Mindful Finances: 31-day challenge to help boost your earnings, understanding and financial attitude’ by Alison Laycock

So we are up to date now with all of my self-published books so far, there are more to come. This is book 7 with many more on the way, some are being written and others are in the concept stage.

So many of us are struggling with our finances currently due to higher prices, interest increases and/or debt spiralling just to name a few. This book offers some tips and strategies so we can take control of certain aspects of our finances and also ensuring we maintain self-compassion techniques to protect our mental, physical and emotional all-round health.

Day 1: Where are you starting from?

It is so important in every area of our life to know realistically where we are especially when this involves changes, we wish to make to our behaviour, attitudes and/or circumstance. In terms of our financial situation this is even more necessary as if we don’t know where we are right now, how can we know where we want to get to and what we need to do to get there.

Knowing our current situation is so helpful as finances are so often neglected along with other areas of our life and without regular reviews, we will be unable to make any progress or know if our finances are in a better position than we first thought.

If you are expecting this exercise to be more negative than positive, then please be gentle with yourself as you set about answering the following questions. Take time to work through them as they don’t need to be done all in one go, you may wish to have a treat/reward in mind for you to do or have after the exercise so you have something to look forward to and you may wish to do this with someone else either there for support or doing it with you at the same time. Remember to be compassionate with yourself in terms of what you find out and what your current situation ends up being as there will be reasons for it being so which may or may not have been or be in your control.

In the first instance, answer them without looking at any of your financial information and then collect all your information to go through them in more detail and answer clearly.

Do you know the current situation of your accounts, how much money you have in your bank account, savings or other? How much money you have on credit cards/loans?

Are you aware of what credits/debits your accounts and when?
Do you know your spending habits? What you spend the most on/the least on? When do you spend the most? What are you tempted by the most for unplanned spending?
Outside of your bills, do you know your biggest outgoings each week and month?
Do you have any money left at the end of the month or is there more month at the end of the money?
Are you more a saver or a spender? What makes you say this?
Why have you bought this book? Why are you doing this challenge?
Is there a commitment you wish to make to yourself for during or after the challenge? Write it down so you can check back in with this whenever you need a reminder to stick with it.

Looking forward to the end of the challenge, what do you hope to have achieved once you have completed it? Why is this important to you?
Have any of these answers surprised you?

If this appeals to you and you wish to follow the challlenge, here is the link to purchase it through Amazon for £9.99.

This blog and each post is sponsored by http://www.beingthebestyoucanbe.org check out the offerings for mental health and supporting and encouraging all to live their most authentic lives.

An excerpt from: ‘Journal through life’s journey: Always leave your footprints in the sand’ by Alison Laycock

Journal prompts

I wasn’t sure what to include for this excerpt as there are introduction parts where I share the benefits of journaling, different types of journaling and how journaling has helped me in the past and currently. However, I am still so excited about the prompts and how they can help people just as much as they have helped me and continue to help me, I decided in the end to share the first 10 journal prompts.

If you enjoy these, there are 500+ in the book which is priced at only £7.99 and well worth that price so it won’t be changed in any promotion offers when other books are published which I have done previously.

Journal prompts

Write about your day.
How do you feel right now?
Write about what you are using to journal. Pen, pencil, notebook or whatever else you are journaling with. Why have you chosen those items today?
What messages do you see in the clouds today?
Describe what you are wearing today. Why did you choose those clothes?
Where are you writing today? Describe it in as much detail as you wish to. Why have you chosen to journal here?
What do you want? List 10 things you want for yourself. For each item, write a small step you can take today to move towards what you want.
What are the 10 biggest things that happened to you/for you this year?
What new things do you want to try?
What have you done so far in your life?

If you have enjoyed these and want to try the others, here is the link to the Amazon page to buy it. If you do then many thanks in advance, writers make a living from selling their books not writing them and it would be a pleasure for me to know it is helping others.

https://read.amazon.co.uk/kp/card?preview=inline&linkCode=kpd&ref_=k4w_oembed_RwLlTXxnwWfG2p&asin=B0BV3CSSD8&tag=kpembed-20

This blog is sponsored by http://www.beingthebestyoucanbe.org bringing you mental health support to encourage and support you in being your true self. Check out the website to see all on offer and get in touch for Zoom sessions, mindful walks or mindfulness over coffee depending where you are based.

An excerpt from ‘Mindfulness for NQTs’ by Alison Laycock

In September 2022, I self-published my 5th book ‘Mindfulness for NQTs: Strategies, techniques, and practices for all who work with children and young people’. This covers a month of areas of focus for teachers/ school staff to practice themselves every day and/or pass on to students.

Here is an excerpt from the book.

Day 3: Acknowledge and celebrate all the small successes, positives & improvements

Your NQT year is a steep learning curve, and you will experience lots of doubt, feedback which may come across as negative or full of areas of improvement and you will be so tired at times that you won’t know if you are coming or going. The first term and especially the first half will fly by in many ways, however when it feels like a hard slog, the tendency will be to only remember the negative or difficult times.

Make a point from the very first day (or from whenever you are reading this) to make a note of all the positives and even the smallest of successes as these will all build up to be so much more. When you are feeling low or just plain exhausted, remembering the positives and the small achievements will help you through.

Don’t wait for the whole class to demonstrate learning and understanding before you celebrate your role as a teacher, celebrate the first and keep going. Don’t wait for the whole class to behave before you see the lesson as being positive, notice all who quietly behave and get on with the lesson.

If someone pays you a compliment, say ‘thank you’ and store it away. Don’t dismiss it or try to justify what they have said, simply acknowledge it, you are doing a great job.

Acknowledge and celebrate the imperfect as well as the perfect. As long as you have completed it then it is successful, it does not need to be perfect. Don’t delay your bedtime or allow your sleep to be disturbed in the search for perfect. Accept that the lesson is planned, and the resources are ready as the students themselves make the lesson into whatever it will be.

Now do the same with your students: Celebrate and acknowledge the good in them, the good behaviour, the contributions they make in class and through their homework, how they interact with other students and who they are as individuals. Don’t wait for their perfection before you acknowledge all the positives. You can model this to them in the compliments you give and in the way you treat yourself, don’t put yourself down in front of them if something goes wrong, just carry on, laugh it off if necessary and carry on.

Encourage students to celebrate each other: Model this and encourage students to see the good in each other and their work through building it into the lesson. This could be finding the good in each other’s work and sharing what they like and have learnt from it or at the end of the day/ week sharing positives about other students’ acts of kindness towards them or others.

Take all the above into your personal daily life too so you build your confidence and self-esteem both inside and outside of school and your classroom. These positives will help you throughout the year and the more you do it, the easier it will be, the more positive you will be and the more you will enjoy your work. Once your students see how much you enjoy it, they will enjoy being in your lessons too.

You may wish to build in treats for yourself to celebrate each month, half term etc so you have something to look forward to.

‘Mindfulness for NQTs’ can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle for £1.99 at a price for NQTs to be able to afford in their training and/or first years or teaching. This book is also applicable for all working with children and young people no matter what your level of experience is.

This blog is sponsored by http://www.beingthebestyoucanbe.org supporting your mental health and celebrating your true self.

An excerpt from ‘Buses,Trains but no planes’ by Alison Laycock

‘Meeting’ Miljo in Plovdiv, Bulgaria

As I’ve already mentioned, Plovdiv was a choice I made due to it being the 2019 European Capital of Culture just like Leeuwarden, the Netherlands being the 2018 European Capital of Culture. Those who had already been to Plovdiv spoke highly of it, so I decided to spend a couple of nights there to see another city rather than just visiting the capital.

The city has historically developed on seven syenite hills, some of which are 250 metres (820 feet) high. Because of these hills, Plovdiv is often referred to in Bulgaria as “The City of the Seven Hills”.

Free walking tour: At 6pm on my first evening, I went for a 2- and 1/2-hours free walking tour so I could learn more about the city and decide what I wanted to see more of the next day. Firstly, we walked along the main street coming up to the statue of Miljo, a guy who was around in the 80s and would cheer people up as they walked along, and he wanted to see them smile. A native from Plovdiv who now lives in the USA paid for his statue so he could be immortalised in the position he used to sit in with his hand to his ear as he was hard of hearing. What a lovely idea!

Walking further along the main street, we saw the Roman stadium remains and then through to the KapanaArt district which had been popular and then destroyed in the communist era and now has been restored into the Art, shops etc. In the years of the Ottoman Empire, it was called ‘The Trap’ because of the bazaars and how the shopkeepers wanted to trap shoppers there to spend money. Now there is a different sort of trap through the cafés etc.

Then across the way and up to Old Town, passing churches, main houses and up to the hill to catch sunset. Checking out the 7 hills that are now only 6 as one hill was destroyed to provide rubble for the roads. Down and past the St Constantine and Helena church then on to the ancient theatre, which was gorgeous, restored from when it was destroyed in the earthquake.

The Roman theatre: One of the world’s best-preserved ancient theatres. It was constructed during Roman Emperor Trajan (reigned 98-117 AD) and can host between 5000 and 7000 spectators and it is currently in use. The theatre is one of the most valuable monuments from the ancient city of Philippopolis and is a sight to see for sure.

I returned to Sofia for one night ready for the onward travel the next morning and had a last walk around Sofia city centre.

Journal prompt: Who would you wish to immortalise in a statue in your hometown?

Travel onwards: Sofia to Belgrade: bus at 9am to arrive in Belgrade at 2pm costing 45 BGN. 6 hours as Serbia is an hour behind Bulgaria.

This is an excerpt from ‘Buses, trains but no planes: 23 countries and 45 places in 7 months’, my latest travel book. Here is the link to purchase it on Amazon Kindle if you wish.

An Excerpt from ‘Mindful Walks to be in the present moment’ by Alison Laycock

Here is some of the journal part of my book on Mindful Walks ‘Mindful Walks to be in the present moment’. As an e-book, there is no opportunity to add your notes in the book itself, however I have included some questions to prompt the reader to have thoughts around their walks. If this is helpful for you to consider for your walks then I encourage you to find your own way of using these questions if you wish to. Some may like to record their notes on their phone as a voice recording or typed up in a notes section whilst for others the pen and notebook is their preferred way. Your choice of technique is completely that, your choice as you will know what works best for you and if you don’t wish to make notes then that is ok too.

Journal your walks

These are general ideas for walks and then there is also a section for walk specific opportunities for journaling.

1) How often do you walk?

2) What do you enjoy about walking?

3) Do you prefer to walk alone or with someone else? Why?

4) Who is your favourite person to walk with and why?

5) When and where was the last walk you did together?

6) Why was it special?

7) What’s your favourite walk so far and why?

8) If you could choose to walk anywhere in the world, where would you go?

9) Who would you like to take a walk with if you could choose anyone in the world? What would you like to discuss as you walked?

10) What benefits do you see from walking?

During your walks there may be ideas, thoughts and feelings which arise which are all completely natural and also added to by the walking process. You may wish to take a break during the walk or at some point after the walk to:

Write down any thoughts or feelings that arise
A story, poem or song or part of it may come through to you and you may wish to record it somehow so you don’t lose it
You may have some important intuitive thoughts or ideas as you walk along which is often helped by the fact that you have let go of labels normally attached to yourself, you are walking through issues and hopefully also paying attention to the moment which provides space from any issues you are troubled with in your daily life or have future concerns about.
You may wish to draw a flower, scene or an idea which comes to mind
If you have taken photos along your walk then is there something you will do with them? Will you write a poem about it? Send a photo to a loved one? Maybe create a photo collage and frame it or frame individual photos which mean something to you.

What is your intention for this walk? Why? What do you want to think about, achieve or find the answer to?
What do you want more of in your future walks?
Are you different in any way after your walk?

An excerpt from Being the Best You Can Be by Alison Laycock

My 1st book, this one, was self-published 4 years ago on 10th October 2019. Since then I’ve written more, and am now up to my 9th due to be self-published in November 2023. I am so very proud of this first one still and loving that I did it! I had the idea, I wanted to do it and probably for years if I’m honest and I took a chance and put myself and my book out there! I did it!

Here is an excerpt! Still relevant 4 years on!

45 of my learnings so far

This is an excerpt from my first book ‘Being the Best You Can Be’ available from Amazon Kindle priced only at 99p.

As I turn 45, I wanted to think of 45 learnings I have and the idea of sharing them made me focus more than maybe I would have if I was just doing it on my own. There were some learnings that came to mind immediately and others that snuck through. So, I decided to do it over a few days, writing down anything that came to mind in different sessions and then to see which ones kept coming up and they would clearly make the top 45. These are in no particular order apart from maybe numbers 1 and 45. What would yours be?

Be positive and recognise the good in people

2. Never stop learning – personally and professionally. Have a growth mindset to keep developing

3. Only compare yourself to what you want to achieve: I don’t do Facebook and perhaps that’s why I don’t suffer from FOMO. I review my targets every birthday

4. Practise gratitude and pay it forward

5. Grief will get you when you least expect it so give in to it – it is not a weakness, but a strength and you are simply honouring your connection and the love you had. Experience it, let it shake you to the core and cry all you need. Don’t let anyone tell you they ‘thought you were stronger than this’. You need to grieve, so grieve. Time is a great healer.

6. Open your heart up to joy and love

7. ‘When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time’ Maya Angelou If you sit back, watch and listen you will learn all you need to know about someone. People give away who they are in what they say so listen to their words, watch how they treat others as well as you and who they are when they don’t think you’re listening. Actions speak louder than words

8. Hurt people hurt people so when they lash out or insult it says more about them than it ever will about you

9. Meditate, journal or do whatever brings you to a relaxed state where you can hear and understand yourself better. sit quietly so you can listen to your body, mind and soul

10. Sleep on it: it will always be better tomorrow and there is always a way forward even if you have to take a couple of steps back first

11. Travel, travel, travel – out of your own culture, religion, country and beliefs

12. Only share your story with those who want to hear it. Don’t give time to those who tell you who you are, but you only need to share what you want to share.

13. Some people will only ever see how something affects them and will only want what is best for them

14.Fear breeds intolerance/ hate so have a variety of friends from different backgrounds so that you can learn about different aspects. If you don’t understand something then ask about it, don’t just make fun of it

15. If you wouldn’t let the person physically into your home, don’t take them home in your head – let them go or leave them in work or wherever they belong

16. Experience fully/ deeply – love, life, travel, others, yourself

17. Test people if you need to – make a mistake and see how they react or say something controversial and watch their response. It will tell you much more than they will ever say verbally.

18. What you think of yourself is the only opinion you need to worry about

19. The struggles in life will provide many more learning opportunities than the easy times ever will. Sometimes parts of your life have to fall apart to get you to the next stage/ opportunity of your life

20. Set boundaries, keep them, let others know them and enforce them

21. Be the person who attends funerals no matter how difficult it is for you and how much it brings up sadness from your losses, don’t be the person who doesn’t turn up

22. It’s ok to walk away from those who mistreat you

23. You have a right to be heard

24. Treat all with the same kindness no-one is better than anyone else regardless of money or social status

25. Use your voice – don’t just complain if not going to do anything about it and also stand up/ advocate for those who can’t do it themselves

26. Every ending offers a new beginning

27. If someone wants to leave your life then open the door and let them go

28. Take responsibility for yourself and your actions/ thoughts and feelings. Don’t blame them on others and don’t accept blame from others for their thoughts and actions

29. Get to know yourself as ‘no matter where you go, there you are’ and you’ll never be happy unless you like yourself and can spend time with yourself

30. Travel lightly in thoughts and material baggage

31. Always leave a place, a person and a relationship better than you find it

32. You can always do something to help yourself, move away, stop listening, not letting it get to you. A controlling person is always that even in their nice days, but you don’t always need to be controlled and you will be able to escape mentally and emotionally before you can physically so protect yourself

33. Travel alone at least once in your life

34. Don’t run away from your feelings, deal with them otherwise you’ll never be free

35. Celebrate your achievements/ successes – don’t wait for or rely on someone else to do it

36. Make mistakes – the more you make the more you are learning and growing

37. Live and work abroad to gain a better perspective on life and how lucky we are

38. Dream and encourage others to dream. never tell someone their dreams are worthless

39. Listen more than you talk. Ask questions – don’t just make statements

40. The destination or the certificate is never the main thing, it’s the journey, what you learn and the people you meet along the way

41. Limit your time with those who undermine you or try to bring you down

42. An insult is an insult even if it is followed up by ‘it’s a joke’, ‘I’m joking’ and especially ‘oh you’re too sensitive, you can’t take a joke’

43. Travel inwards and get to know yourself – that can be the best journey

44. If it sounds too good to be true, then it is

45. Always know where the exits are

What are your life learnings?

If you would like to read the rest of my book, here is the Amazon link for it, it is only 99p!

Mindfulness for NQTs: Strategies, techniques and practices for all who work with children and young people

Welcome to my latest book which I self-published on Amazon Kindle on 6th September 2022. It costs only £1.99 and contains an offer of a 25% discount off courses for those who buy the book. There is a link below.

The book contains strategies, techniques and practices for mindfulness and is aimed at NQTs and all who work with children and young people. As a former school teacher and teacher trainer, both in the UK and abroad, I wanted to share mindfulness techniques in a way that I have used them over the past 25+ years of my career in Education.

A lot of the content has come from blogs from this blog as in the previous 2 years, I have posted everyday throughout August with a technique etc for NQTs to try out ahead of starting their new role (as the new academic year starts in September in the UK). Perhaps, you have already read some of these blogs.

This book brings them all together in one place and I have also added some more content either in the monthly format or in the extras/alternatives section. There are also some parts adapted from 2 of my previous books: ‘Being the Best You Can Be’ and ‘Mindful Walks to be in the present moment’. If you are interested in those books too then it’s good to know that Being the Best You Can Be is only 99p and will always be that price as i wish to help as many people as possible access the information shared within it and Mindful Walks is currently priced at £1.99 during the launch of this book and will return to its usual price of £4.99 in January 2023.

There is also a lot of FREE material shared on my social media channels: Being the Best You Can Be on Facebook and You Tube channel, alisonlaycock23 on twitter and Being.best.mindfulness on instagram. I am also happy to answer any questions through email info@beingthebestyoucanbe.org.

If you do purchase the book and wish to use the discount on one of the mindfulness or other courses through my business then please visit http://www.beingthebestyoucanbe.org to check out all the business offers.

Buses, trains but no planes by Alison Laycock

This is my 2nd travel book which I have uploaded to Amazon Kindle in June 2022. I had been writing it since 2019 on and off and was very pleased to have finished it ready for people to purchase, read and review hopefully. I had thought this would be my first travel book as I started writing it in 2019 after publishing my first book ‘Being the Best You Can Be” and then ‘We all Walk our Own Camino’ came through to me and I had to complete that book when it called me.

‘Buses, trains but no planes: 23 countries and 45 places in 7 months’ covers my travels around Europe from 2018 to 2019 where I travelled by (yes you’ve guessed it) buses and trains but no planes despite being told it would be so much quicker. The whole appeal of Europe is surely that it can be travelled so easily from border to border rather than airport to airport.

Some of the countries it covers include: France, Italy, former Yugoslavian countries, Albania, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and many more. There is a travel journal at the end along with the journal prompts which come throughout the book along with information about the places visited as well as travel aspects such as minimalism whilst travelling, intentional travel, self-care.

If you are interested in travel, solo travel, journaling, Europe travel and/or travel stories then please check out the link below to buy the book at £5.99.

Buses, trains but no planes: 23 countries and 45 places in 7 months https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B5HLS198/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_8Y2YJQBV5010PRANSQE2

We All Walk Our Own Camino

This isn’t a book review as after all how can I possibly review my own book! I won’t review it, however I will share it with you on this blog. Yes, this is my travel book and no, this is not the one I may have already mentioned. The book I’ve recently written and uploaded to Kindle as an e-book is called ‘We all walk our own Camino’ and is about my Camino journey and how it has affected me and my life.

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