It’s Instagram Travel Thursday again and this week I’m feeling a little sombre. And it all began because of this article – about Poppy, a tortoiseshell cat from Bournemouth.

You see Poppy was adopted by a very nice family at the age of five and now she’s 24 years old! 24 years old does seem young, but if Poppy were human, she would be a 114 year old woman. She was just named the world’s oldest living cat by the Guinness World Records. And that made me think of my own cat Kitchen.

Nope. Kitchen is no longer with us as you can tell from the title of my post. But why on earth is it in this post. What has it got to do with travel?

Last year, in November, my boyfriend, his mum and I went to Abu Dhabi for a holiday. It was awesome! We stayed 4 nights at the beautiful St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, watched the F1 Race, and even had a relaxing day at a private island complete with fireworks to end the night. I was enjoying myself immensely. However, the day before I was due to return to Singapore, I saw a text message from home that made me break down and cry.

My cat Kitchen passed away and I was thousands of miles away in Abu Dhabi.

Only when I was telling my boyfriend what had happened did it start to sink in and I starting crying. I am truly grateful that my boyfriend was there when I heard the news. I badly needed him to hold me and calm me down. What made it even more heartbreaking was the fact that when my grandfather passed away while I was out of the country as well.

I was studying in Australia at the time and it happened in the midst of my school term. I wanted to fly back for the funeral but my parents told me not to as I had classes to attend. “Ye Ye (grandfather) would understand” they said. What is it with me and deaths while on holiday?!

Looking back now, I’m glad that I was so fond of taking photographs of my cat after getting my iPhone. He didn’t like it but he tolerated it. And sometimes, I think he really didn’t mind it all that much. He just wanted to make me think he didn’t like the attention. So bear with me on this Instragram Travel Thursday as I pay tribute to my dearly missed cat Kitchen.

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He strolled into our kitchen 10 years ago and lived to the age of 9. He was a good cat who would help me chase down flying cockroaches in my room. We think he’s naughty but really he’s just being a typical cat who would prey on little birds and lizards, kill them, and drop them in front of us proudly. He made it impossible for us to keep any fish in our pond so after years of disuse we finally got rid of it entirely. But still, I miss Kitchen. At least I have these photographic memories.

I’ll share more about my Abu Dhabi trip soon. So do look out for it or subscribe to my blog and you’ll get it straight in your mailbox.

Have you heard of Skimbaco Lifestyle’s Instagram Travel Thursday series? This post is a part of the Instagram Travel Thursday series hosted by SkimbacoLifestyle.com. And if you’re not sure what to write check out the posts by Destination Unknown and Hines-Sight. All photos in this post were published on my Instagram account. You can also participate on Instagram using #IGTravelThursday!