Since I started travelling properly on my own after finishing University, I had been looking for a travel mascot that could accompany me on my journeys around the world.
But it couldn’t just be any mascot for the sake of it, I had to pick something that both had an immediate draw and which also was small enough to take on my travels and to carry around in a pocket on my utility trousers.
After a few years, during the 2010-2011 holiday season, I was in the branch of Paperchase near Tottenham Court Road underground station in London and my eyes were drawn to a bunch of stuffed gingerbread men wearing Christmas hats.
I knew immediately that one of these was to be the mascot that would come travelling with me.
The name I gave the Gingerbread man that I chose is Charlie. I have no idea why I chose to call him Charlie, but I hope that you enjoy following his travels around the world.
CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTO UPDATES FROM EACH OF THE PLACES THAT HE HAS VISITED WITH ME
Charlie has been a loyal travelling companion since then, and in addition to a few locations in the UK he has travelled with me to:
- Costa Rica
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Hong Kong
- Kyrgyzstan
- Malawi
- Morocco
- Myanmar
- Netherlands
- Nicaragua
- Qatar
- South Africa
- Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, and Salamanca)
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Turkey
- Uganda
- Ukraine (including Chernobyl)
- USA (Atlanta)
- Uzbekistan
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Plus the following airports in transit
- Moscow, Russia
- Panama City
- Kigali, Rwanda
- Brussels, Belgium
Sadly, I forgot to take Charlie to Iceland with me so he wasn’t able to tick seeing an active volcano off of his bucket list. But hopefully he’ll be travelling with me for many years to come.
CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTO UPDATES FROM EACH OF THE PLACES THAT HE HAS VISITED WITH ME