The Pamir Highway Diaries: Upwards
Have I ever had a tougher day while on “holiday”? I’m not sure.
The Pamir Highway Diaries: The Long Road by Afghanistan
Well I now know all about the off-road capabilities of a Toyota Land Cruiser, having spent a solid 12 hours in one with a driver who thought, at times, he…
The Pamir Highway Diaries: Boratland
Dushanbe is a very strange city. Its full of massive tower blocks, most of which are under construction still.
The Pamir Highway Diaries: Fail to Prepare…
I just feel really vulnerable. Something I’ve planned for near enough a year is actually happening tomorrow and I feel almost entirely helpless.
Hagia Sophia vs the Blue Mosque: Two Icons of Istanbul
It was the scale of Istanbul which hit me first. Sure, I had seen Ottoman-style towns across countries which were formerly part of the sprawling empire centred on Türkiye’s largest…
Hiking the Svaneti Trail: Discovering the Remote Village of Adishi
The village was hidden from sight as we approached through endless meadows filled with swathes of butterflies and a technicolour carpet of blooming wildflowers. If it wasn’t for the route…
Eating Cuy Chactado in Cusco: A Unique Peruvian Food Experience
As someone who was almost totally uninitiated to travel in South America, I felt as if I was drowning. Not only was I struggling to breathe as I climbed the…
Nothing To Worry About
“It’s alright. Nothing to worry about.” More images flashed up on the TV screen, having been switched over from a football match just moments before.
Top Gear Made Me Do It: Cycling Bolivia’s Death Road
It’s something which I won’t often admit but Top Gear was a not insignificant influence on my childhood. Each Sunday evening, I would sit in front of the TV, enthralled…
Lima and Realising the Difference Between Miraflores and San Juan de Miraflores
Anyone travelling through South America will confirm that, unlike in other parts of the world, tuk tuks are not good news. As much as they’re the undisputed king of short-distance…
From Olympic Glory to War: Visiting Sarajevo’s Bobsled Track
The climb wouldn’t be pleasant. It wasn’t something people would normally be subjected to but, unfortunately, it just wasn’t my day in Sarajevo. Throughout the weekend I had spent in…
Hambara Sofia: Inside Bulgaria’s Hidden Candlelit Bar
Plunging down Sofia’s darkest alleys at night probably wasn’t a good idea at the best of times. As a city with, at times, a distinctly Soviet edge it wasn’t a…
Himarë and the Quiet Side of the Albanian Riviera
So you want to go to Europe? To the Adriatic coast? And you want to avoid the crowds? Leaving Tirana, these were the questions I was busy asking myself, unsure…
One Night In Almaty and The Myth of Staying Local
This is a confession. It’s a fifteen-hundred-word monument to a lapse, a moment of weakness that very little was done to counteract. It’s a journey which begins soon after I…
Petra Beyond the Treasury: A Hike to the High Place of Sacrifice
Its not often that you see birds flying from above. As a species usually firmly pinned to terra firma, the thought of joining animals blessed with the gift of flight…
The Reality of Aqaba: Beauty, Tourism and the Shadow of Conflict
I knew that I was reliant on technology as soon as it was taken away from me. A serial Google Maps user, I was used to immediately knowing where I…
Phnom Penh’s Killing Fields: Reflections on Cambodia’s Past
Ask anybody who has ever travelled and there will be places which have stuck with them. Over the course of a lifetime, their memories of these places never fade, whether…
Athens in February: Dodging the Heat and the Hordes
Anyone living in the UK during winter will know the feeling. The strange feeling of, in the middle of London’s pouring rain and dull, grey cityscapes, packing your bag and…
At The Mercies of the Kyrgyz Roadside
I knew things weren’t going brilliantly when I was within a few quick swigs of finishing my last bottle of water. Well, there were at least some pros and cons…
Trading Comfort for Experience in La Paz
Throughout my childhood, there was a feeling of invincibility. A feeling of cosy comfort; a careful shielding from the outside world which softened any rough edges that I may have…
Shadows, Sand and Silence in Khiva
Khiva didn’t quite have the grandeur of other Silk Road cities. Mind you, this was hardly a surprise considering its remote location out in the wild west of Uzbekistan, deep…
Belgrade: Rakija, Ruins and the Weight of History
After an hour of walking, I plucked up the courage and said it. I asked the tour guide, “What’s your opinion on Slobodan Milošević?” I braced for verbal impact. My…
Cultural Calm and Coastal Chaos in Montenegro
With the advent of budget airlines, followed by an ever-increasing number of flights across Europe to lesser-known and lesser-explored countries, the face of European tourism has changed completely. In the…
Crossing the Canyon: Life in Jordan’s Jerash
Tourism changes places. Whether you’re talking about the recent backlash against the endless hordes which descend on the Spanish coastline each year or the steady evolution of Vietnam from war-torn…
Scree, Sky, and Second Thoughts: Tian Shan Mountains Part 2
I have always hated waking up early. However, up in the Tian Shan Mountains, after a restless night in a claustrophobically small yurt shared with two other hikers, it was…
Growing Pains: Hiking in Kyrgyzstan’s Tian Shan Mountains
I took one look up at the sky out of the window and breathed a huge sigh of relief. The clouds had darkened, blocking out all sunlight and replacing it…
Exploring Wadi Rum: Desert Adventures and Night Skies
The stars were the reason why I travelled to the Wadi Rum Desert in Jordan. The pristine skies, devoid of light pollution, aside from the occasional plane flying across the…
Stillness Below The Storm: Diving in Jordan’s Red Sea
I have often been told that we know more about the surface of the Moon than the depths of Earth’s oceans. For me, this is a great, unexplored frontier completely…
Tallinn: Contrasts in Concrete and Colour
There aren’t many cities (outside of the USA at least) that would openly advertise the opportunity to fire an AK-47 to those attending a hostel bar. Thinking about it, and…
Surviving the Steppe: 24 Hours to Almaty
I knew the bus journey would be tough. Scheduled at 20 hours between Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, and Kazakhstan’s biggest city, Almaty, it was going to be long, probably bumpy, include…
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