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…
Petra: The World’s Empty Wonder
I’m not here to lecture you on Petra. I wouldn’t insult the intelligence of readers of this blog to the extent that I would make the assumption that they were…
An Evening in Downtown Amman
All around me the pulsating streets of downtown Amman were thronged with people going about their lives. The evening had brought a slew of neon, pushy street sellers and some…
Riots, Revolutions and Why You Should Backpack
Sometimes things go wrong when travelling. I’m not just talking about misjudging the slightly dodgy lunch stop a Kyrgyz marshrutka dumped you at, forcing you into a state of simultaneous…
Between Mountains and Myths: A Journey Into Berat, Albania
The setting sun set the town ablaze, an orange glow ricocheting off windows and onto whitewashed plaster walls. As the heat of the day faded away, I sipped a cold…
Discovering Tbilisi: Georgia’s Food, Culture, and Soviet Legacy
Few tourists visiting Georgia know about the war. In 2008, Russian troops marched across the mountainous border and occupied the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. A ceasefire was agreed…
Peru’s Colca Canyon: The Hike Which Defied Logic
The path was steep and loose. The sandy gravel, smoothed by countless pairs of walking boots trampling over the same path made the descent treacherous. Despite the not insignificant difficulty…
How Not To Get To The Colca Canyon
Often the best adventures are when you set out with no plan, no notion of any consequences and no idea of the many pitfalls you may just squeak past. Watching…
A Love-Hate Letter to New Delhi
“Where are you going?” “Come with me, I’ll take you to a hotel.” “Come this way, the exit is this way.” I was overwhelmed as I stepped off the train…
Skopje: Remodelling A City, North Macedonian Style
North Macedonia’s capital city was crazy. As dusk set across the main square, crowds milled around the giant statue of Alexander the Great, proudly claimed by the country’s citizens as…
The Edge of Europe: Hiking Georgia’s Svaneti Trail
Knee deep in glacial melt water as it rushed beneath me and down the valley, I wondered whether this was a sensible decision to be wading across a river, carrying…
History and Contradiction in the Centre of the World: Samarkand
Anyone visiting Uzbekistan will head to Samarkand and the Uzbek government knows it. The city, home to truly monumental medrasas, historic mausoleums and, at one point, some of the world’s…
Into the Heart of Lake Titicaca: the Isla del Sol
Standing on the cold concrete beside all the buses parked outside Puno bus station, I was glad I had made the decision only to pass through one of Peru’s most…
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