I don’t speak French I was nervous about heading to Paris. And it wasn’t because I had condoms stuffed with crack cocaine slowly decomposing in my stomach*. No, it was because the French are renowned for their intolerance of the “non-French speaker” in their own country. I already knew a few words, like Croissant, Baguette, […]
Madness With a savage hang-over and about 35 minutes sleep after catching the wrong train from Paris, My two good friends and I arrived in Berlin to a beautiful sunny morning (which was short-lived, before the rain set in..). The first impressions of Berlin were excellent.. Firstly, the taxi we shared from the train station […]
My short time in London was excellent but came with mixed emotions for me. I’d been in Spanish speaking countries for the last three-ish months, and although it was a real treat to be able to communicate fluently again, for the first few days, I missed hearing the language I never really got used to. […]
Gawd I love tacos After a rather frazzling experience with the Cuban immigration/emigration system, I prepared myself properly before attempting to enter Mexico. This time I had my story straight, crossing all the “I’s” and dotting all the “T’s” on the immigration forms, and I even wore respectable clothing to enter the country this time. […]
Pura Vida Costa Rica was an absolutely beautiful place. “Pura Vida” is the saying the locals use which fittingly means “Pure Life” .. You could make a beautiful life in Costa Rica, and I’d possibly put it in my top three destinations to live that I’ve experienced so far. Perfect beaches are littered with low-key […]
The Middle of the World I was a little disappointed not to find any red hot Magma here. I was expecting it to be flowing everywhere… BAH!! On this brief stop, all I got was a dividing line and a GIANT Obelisk marking The Middle of the World (latitude 0°0’0″) and the Northern and Southern […]
One of the world’s foremost destinations for wildlife-viewing Everything I read and everyone I spoke to warned me about how expensive it was going to be. It turned out to be not as expensive as depicted – if you are happy to do it on the cheap. The Galapagos Islands are a little rough around […]
Some places should be avoided.. I’m not talking about Equador itself. I’m talking about the ‘nice’ little hotel, the ‘nice’ person at the information desk at Ecuador airport recommended I stay at for a stopover. Well, I can say this. This place was CHEAP.. Cheap in so many ways. I was at first a little […]
Cusco and the Lost City of the Incas Flying from Brazil, I made my way to Cusco via Lima. It was travel ‘by the skin of my teeth’ by this stage (which turns out, I quite like). Everything eventually turned out ok, thanks to the help of the excellent staff in Lima Airport. Previously having […]
What an amazing country.. with nothing but naivety, and a few books, I planned my trip roughly from home and included Brazil solely for attending one of the world’s largest events, Carnival. In hindsight, I could have spent 6 months, if not the full year in Brazil. One of the beautiful things about travelling is […]
Beautiful I’m currently in a little town called Olinda, near Recife (pronounced Hecefe), – you know.., “Linda” in Portuguese means Beautiful.. I found that what the locals think is beautiful, can sometimes leave plenty to the imagination. Olinda is a historic and cute little place, everything is about a million years old, but has had […]
It’s a miracle that I survived the last 7 days It’s unrelenting. Everywhere you turn, Rio is crazy with people, music and general mayhem during Carnival. There were street parties that mingled with overspill from every club, bar and restaurant. The beaches were littered with people, stalls and stands selling everything you couldn’t possibly need […]
First stop, Canada… It’s been a really long lead-up to this moment and now I’m really smiling. I’m currently writing from Red Mountain Resort in Canada (British Columbia), which has been my first chance to actually stop for a second and reflect on ALL that has brought me here. We (*Rob, Bel & I) hired […]
