BITE-sized travel diary

The island knows him as the 'Aviation Man', responsible for 'bringing the world to Bahrain'.

Palestinian-born, Bahrain-national Jamil Wafa, is the founder of the island's first travel and tourism exhibition, Bahrain International Travel Expo (BITE), which tomorrow launches for its fifth successful year.

But where does the man who has introduced Bahrain to holiday destinations across the globe choose to take his own holidays?

From the world's seven wonders to the beaches and sands of Hawaii and the Caribbean, from the ancient palaces of Rajasthan in India to the romantic backdrop of Venice, Mr Wafa's travel diary is packed with destinations from every nook and corner of the world.

He said: "It's hard to pick one particular place as my favourite. I could count hundreds of cities - each one to me is for a different niche like art, leisure, nature and cruises."

Racking his memories for a place wasn't hard as he had way too many destinations to speak of.

Mr Wafa, 77, began with San Francisco, in the US, a place he feels is beautiful with a great climate.

He said: "The seven wonders are rightly named as they are all very unique.

"The Taj Mahal in India is out of this world and it indeed is a wonder, you cannot deny it. The same goes for the Egyptian pyramids.

"The sites of the Mayas and Incas in Mexico are also amazing cultural places rich in history.

"The French and the Italian Rivieras are unique and if you like art, then places like Florence and even the Vatican are stunning.

"Ananda (spa) in the Himalayas was one of the best places I have been to. My wife and I spent a week there and it was fantastic. We could see the Himalayas from our windows."

He added the king's summer palace in Shiva Som, Thailand in a place called Hua Hin which he explained was exquisite. "My wife, who normally organises all our holiday trips, goes there every year and I have been there four five times."

One place that Mr Wafa can never forget, and he felt was extremely unique, was the Cu Chi Tunnels, with booby trapped entrances, which were used by the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War.

He said: "Immediately after Vietnam opened up I went with my wife to what was then called Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh.

"We were possibly among the first people to have gone there because when we landed we saw bunkers at the airport where soldiers used to hide during the war.

"The booby trapped tunnels were a little distance away from the airport. There was a whole city underground. It was fantastic!"

Another interesting trip that Mr Wafa recalls was the 'Road to Mandalay' cruise on the Irrawaddy river in Myanmar, former Burma, in 1998.

"Mandalay is the second largest city in Myanmar.

"From there we went to Pagan famous for its 2,250 pagodas, tiered structures for religious purposes across an area of 42 sq km.

"No place in the world can you see so many of these structures together. It was fantastic!"

Mr Wafa clearly remembers his first ever plane journey way back in 1950.

He said: "I was travelling with my younger sister to Kuwait from Cairo via Beirut.

"From Cairo to Beirut we travlled on the Misrair (Egypt Air) Viking twin-engine aircraft that looked more like a duck.

"From Beirut to Kuwait we were on the Middle East Airlines Dakota flight that took seven hours which is now only around two-and-a-half hours.

"There was no light on the runway. Five cars came on each side of the runway and switched on their lights so that the aircraft could take off."

Mr Wafa's connection with travel began in the 1950s when he joined the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) as general sales agent in Kuwait.

BOAC is the forerunner to the present day British Airways. Subsequently, he became the first non-English sales manager in Lebanon in 1961. Since then he has had extensive experience in commercial aviation and tourism.

He said: "London for me today is my second home ... for so many reasons.

"I opened my eyes and saw life there. As I worked for an English company for 28 years, I also own property there."

His very first holiday was also to London in 1952 when he stayed in Fulham.

"I hired a car for five pounds a week. Britain was just coming out of the war and the roads were still empty.

"Many buildings were still shattered from the bombs especially in Oxford Street. I had even seen the ruins of the John Lewis building, one of Britain's favourite department stores."

Mr Wafa's travel experiences also include 12 cruises over the years which he has taken with his family. He collected all 12 sets of tickets and still has them today.

He said: "My first cruise with my family was when I took my wife, Haya, and three children when they were eight, 10 and 14 to Alaska on S S_Sitmar." That was around 30 years ago.

"We have taken them on all sorts of cruises including musical tours since then."

More recently, for his 75th birthday Mr Wafa took his three grandsons Amin, Jamil and Ahmed on the Regent Cruise for a week.

With nearly 60 years of experience in commercial aviation, Mr Wafa has managed to blend his passion for travel with a career which has seen him set up his own travel company and launch BITE.

Mr Wafa said: "I love to travel. For me travel is knowledge and knowledge is power.

"People who wrote history and geography wrote it from their own experience. When you go and see the various destinations yourself you can verify, testify and modify the facts that you read about. It is more enlightening.

"If you have the means to, then I suggest by all means TRAVEL."

Travel is also now mandatory in the Wafa household with daughter, Lina, living in Washington, son Ramzi in England and son Sami in China. For retirement, the Aviation Man has a few options to choose from - a beautiful house in the south of France, London and his home for 38 years, Bahrain.

Airline offers exciting promotion

AN Air France KLM promotion running till May 21 is offering passengers specially advantageous fares to both Europe and North America.

For travel up to September 15, 2009, the airline is offering flights to Europe starting from BD120 and to North America starting from BD200.

For more information, log on to www.airfrance.bh, www.klm.bh or contact KLM on 17229747 or your travel agent.