I arrived on Iraklia, an unspoiled island in the Cyclades, with little idea of what to expect. Most people have heard of its busier and more popular neighbours, Mykonos and Santorini. However, Iraklia is small—comprised of just a handful of …
Exciting News: I’m Moving to India!
Judging by the response that I have received from various people to this news, you probably fall into one of the following categories: “India?! Are you crazy?” or “Wow! What an amazing experience!”
If I’m totally honest with …
Burned Out in Dubrovnik
Holding a crumpled map in one hand, and a bottle of luke-warm water from which I was stopping to take a mouthful every few minutes in the other, we staggered up the steep road—my backpack now seeming to weigh twice …
How to Save For Your Dream Trip
The process of saving for your dream trip can be a daunting procedure to begin. You know where you want to go, and how long you want to be away for; but once you start totalling up the price of …
Warm or Cold Christmas?
Whether Christmas is best celebrated in a warm climate or cold climate is a topic often discussed by travellers. The opinions of most tend to depend heavily upon where that traveller was raised. It is understandable that Christmas to an …
Things that drive me crazy about hostels
When I first started travelling I was impressed every time I walked into a new hostel. (Most) hostels have a nice friendly ambience: you are welcomed at the reception by well-travelled and informative hosts, the kitchen is full of laughing …
Why I Want to go Back to Japan
I lived in Tokyo for a year between August 2002 and August 2003 and I can’t believe that it was ten years ago. I had barely used email before I left for Japan, and I had never heard of blogging—but …
How Important Is It to Use The Local Language When Travelling?
Whether or not you should try to learn a few phrases of the local language is a question often discussed among travellers. Some take phrasebooks with them and steadfastly learn a new phrase every day, while others lazily believe that …
Travel or Family, Do You Always Have to Choose?
Today is my birthday.
It is not a significant birthday, the last one of those was three years ago, and the next one is still way off in the future—although we all know that the next significant birthday is …
Be Prepared for Bogota—what the travel guides don’t tell you!
Bogota is the sixth capital city that we have visited on our trip around South America, and so far it has proven to be the most difficult to enter, get around in, and to leave. One of the reasons for …
Preparing to become a Nomad
One of the most common questions that you get asked as a traveller is ‘where are you from?’ a question that should be very easy to answer but one which I dread more each time I go away. The most …
Goodbye Classroom, Hello World!
Four years ago I was in an auditorium in Vietnam alongside my teaching colleagues and we were listening to a lecture that only served to strengthen my already iron-clad resolve to travel. I don’t think that this was the point …
A Close Call in Nha Trang, Vietnam
“Careful. Bad people around” whispered the aged street-vendor who had just sold me a banana for an extortionate price, making me wonder if she might be one of the ‘bad people’ that she was referring to. It was 3am and …