Day 1 Valentine’s Day, 2019 This trip over to Armenia, ancestral home of the kith and kin of Kourtney, Kendal, Kylie and Kim began with flight FZ717 to Yerevan from Terminal 2, Dubai International. Taken initially by our regular Abu Dhabi driver, we had to change to a normal taxi at a Dubai hotel because of the risk of heavy fines for a non-registered taxi...
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Cute anecdote The Beirut taxi driver, a bronzed, seventysomething old timer, face deeply etched with the wrinkles of war, squeezes my hand as we pull up outside Lebanon’s only non-military airport, saying, “Merci d’être venu au Liban et reviens vite” (thanks for coming to Lebanon and come back quickly) On the short fifteen-minute drive along the sun-kissed coast we have talked about the many changes...
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The scene: A small, sweaty, dark subterranean Duke Street, Liverpool bunker. A message over the loudspeaker: Pro-Brexit voters are encouraged to leave the venue. Those remaining invited to use the gender neutral toilets. And off it kicks. Pop, politics, poetry and pazzazz. Enter the utterly likeable dynamic duo, Girli and DJ Kitty. Bree Hart prowls and captures on film every second of this heavenly insanity, cooked...
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Where the hell have you been? Who me? Yes you! OK, I know. It’s been a while since I scribbled anything down here. Too busy enjoying the adventure to write about the adventure. The last you heard from me I had made it, through gritted teeth, heavy breathing and growling cramps, to Machu Picchu, Peru’s lost city. From there I flew on to colonial Quito,...
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Day 1: Briefing and Preparation I can’t say that my mind has allowed me to be entirely peaceful about the venture I am about to undertake. Every time and everywhere I read about the Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu, I hear words like “challenging” and “high level of fitness.” Do I have a high level of fitness, even at low altitude, without the effects of...
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To travel is to seemingly cram more experiences, good, bad and downright weird, into 24 hours than you would in your everyday life. Sometimes those unexpected, almost bizarre, moments decide that they will congregate in a concentrated time period. Let me explain what I mean. What I am about to describe all occurred between 6 a.m. on 6th Sept and 6 a.m. on the 7th...
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Those of you who know me well are aware that I love a good travel story . I know too that the students I have taught over the years will remember the travel yarns I have told them, probably more than anything academic they have learned. It’s important to instill in them the idea that the world, although big, is hugely accessible, and contains many...
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Bolivia is a country with some of the most stunning natural scenery I’ve seen, from the Andes, to Lake Titicaca, to the Uyuni salt flats. Situated about ten hours drive from La Paz, the Uyuni salt flats are an incredible natural phenomenon. Pretty much all of the tour companies based in and around Uyuni town follow the same itinerary. You just have to do a...
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