A warning to all travellers A while ago I wrote about the worsening effects of wearing Havaiana Thongs (flip-flops to the rest of the world) every day, day in – day out. I’m beginning to gain real concern. Inbetween my big and index toes, I now have hardening calluses, and the most concerning symptom is […]
Provence & the Cote d’Azur Initially heading back to France from the bottom of Spain seemed like an arduous task. It would have involved either sitting on a bus (probably totally booked with a broken toilet, as it seems to happen) for around 50 hours, or working through five to ten train rides, over probably […]
Just Mucha-ing around Prague was a much talked about destination for me and it was also a pleasant step up from Austria. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy Austria, but for me, it was a little slow and I ended up feeling boredom creep into most days. No such thing in Prague. Yes, the company […]
Working the salt mines From Prague, I headed to Krakow with a small posse of Irish and English lads I met in the Czech Republic. I almost missed my train to start, so after piss-bolting for about a kilometre, I started the journey rather sweatily, and with no water or beer to re-hydrate me. Poland […]
We have no kangaroos Austria was great. Clean. Sophisticated and generally ‘nice’. I think I had higher expectations for Vienna than I perhaps should have, but it was still a very nice city. Coming from Italy, I had some serious issues with confusing Vienna and Venice. They are very different destinations, and when you try […]
A few months in… At first, Italy didn’t especially click for me, but with time, my fondness for it really grew and now in just over three weeks there, I’d rate it as one of my favourite places in the world. Being in Italy for the World Cup when they won was more than anyone […]
Holland was a beautiful country with a relaxed and sophisticated atmosphere. I can’t say I remember a lot of our first stop, Amsterdam, except being lost for most of the time there.. Those bloody streets are just so confusing and hard to navigate, especially with all those special cafes around. – Amsterdam was quite an […]
Sun, sand, sex, & sleeping all-day I flew into Athens after a long flight from Holland to check out some of the historic Greek sites and to serve as a launching point to head to the Greek Islands. It was great to see some of the ruins Greece had around as the first tastes of […]
Ever get stuck without clean (ok, or wearable) socks and undergarments..? I know I have – several times this year. In these tricky circumstances, you have limited choice.. You can find a friend of similar size, and borrow theirs (preferably without them knowing). You can ‘Go Commando’ and deal with the extra related chaffing.. Or […]
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. […]
This could save your life one day… Or get you in a lot of trouble… Recently whilst staying in a luxury resort few days, a good friend of mine and I decided that if we were to start a fire (accidentally of course), we wouldn’t know how to get out of the building if the […]
Gqwd dq,n, these French keyboqrds qre seriously fuked up::111 Itùs definqtelly NOT stqndqrd issue::11 The hqrdest Iùve found to use so fqr:: Iùve got heqps of stuff to tell you qll,; but zhen i find q nor,qm keyboqrd qgqin:: check these bqbies out à]ç)_&锑(-è___çà)ù*%$£^:!; more soon:: Related stuff: This is some unique shit, nothing’s quite […]
Cuba is quite incredible.
Rhythm, Poverty, Beauty, Soul.
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 […]
I’ve had my Haviana thongs on for pretty much the whole time I’ve been in Brazil, and I’m starting to understand the reason for wearing “real” footwear.. I now have calluses between my big and second toes and I think me feet are about to fall off. Lesson learnt, mix up your footwear every now […]
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 […]
