Milan - Italy Remember the ‘very welcoming café next-door,’ and the need to find an Aperol Spritz from last time, well, let’s continue building the positive vibes for Italy. Firstly, the Aperol Spritz. Apparently, Aperol Spritz is something like three parts Prosecco, two parts Aperol and one part fizzy water (or Club Soda for those …
Milan - Italy I wrote a blistering four-part series about how much I largely hated my time in Italy back in 2022, I stand by those blogs. The following two blogs, however, is nothing but a tribute to all the locals that made the following such a wonderful weekend in a country that is still, …
Caucasus Mountains - Georgia Not for the first time I found myself with my head in the toilet after drinking some godforsaken, transparent, local brew. I hate it, but thankfully it would seem that these events take place rarely and only when I drink what is essentially moonshine in order to fit in with local …
Kutaisi - Georgia It’s going to be hard to explain the following without sounding like a privileged f**kwit, but whether I like it or not, to a certain degree, depending on the context one chooses, and if I want to write openly, it’s something we are all going to have to accept from time to …
Cape Town - South Africa The last time I was in South Africa I was leaving Cape Town heartbroken, the smartphone was years away, although that’s a reference to time, not the reason I was heartbroken. It pissed it down with rain the whole time I was there, Table Mountain was a mystery. I remember …
Baku - Azerbaijan I wrote very highly of Baku when I spent a few days there a couple of years back, and so when asked if I wanted to head back there to watch the Formula 1 it took very little convincing. It’s a country that of course has its little annoyances as a developing …
Ethiopia I have travelled to approximately 25 countries in Africa and I have made no secret of my love for the continent, a love that has remained un-challenged since I first visited 18 years ago. Travelling here can be tough, but the rewards are endless. Business investment on the other hand is a whole different …
One of the difficulties I have faced in Qatar is getting a work visa and QID which is the residency card. No QID means no ability to rent my own flat, no bank account, messing around with driving licenses, queuing for an age at immigration, no beach access, and constantly needing my passport in case …
Dallas - USA I take a certain pride in doing little to no research before travelling to a country. Through the act of generally enjoying reading, I have a vague idea of most countries, that is where they are and how that region of the world may influence a country, but beyond that I am …
Doha - Qatar I wrote a simply wonderful blog about living in Doha back in August but I haven't had the balls to publish it yet for fear of deportation. It's funny, it deserves the light of day, but it will have to remain as a parting gift to Qatar once I finally no longer …
Algiers to Adrar - Algeria Algeria has always been one of those massive countries on the map that bizarrely very few people know anything about; it’s certainly never spoke of by fellow travellers. Morocco is a buzzing tourist destination, all the egomaniacs want to go to war-torn Libya, few these days (and rightly so) dare …
Amsterdam - The Netherlands Now bear with me as I try to take travel writing into the realm of work. Not that bullshit, social media, views driven, paid for by some crappy product you’ve never wanted or needed so that you can try and tell me how great Bali is while wearing a beautifully fitted …
Doha -Qatar I roll into the service station, wind the window down, and wait for an Asian-looking man (wait, before you judge me!) to walk past so I can shout ‘91 full’ at him. He will nod and proceed to fuel up my car as I doodle on my phone looking at nothing in particular …
Melbourne - Australia After two weeks at home, I boarded the train to London with my bags packed ready to travel to four major cities in four countries across three continents in seven days. I automatically wanted to sigh and think ‘here we go again’, but really what’s the point? It’s who I am, and …
São Tomé and Príncipe Our time in Principe had been epic from the moment of our arrival, and the island appeared determined that we think as much until the very second we left. The final day had come too fast, a day that started with insane views of Bahia das Agulhas showcasing hills of dense …
Príncipe - São Tomé and Príncipe I am a surprisingly trusting person, one that can put his safety in the hands of others and pretty much relax. You must therefore understand the sheer terror I felt as we drove down from the interior to the international airport to catch a 9am flight to Principe. The …
São Tomé - São Tomé and Príncipe Bloody turtles. It wasn’t long since I last had this rant. After a very busy first day, after dinner, we had driven down a sandy track to an NGO that was taking care of the local turtle population. Here we would get a chance to see a turtle …
São Tomé - São Tomé and Príncipe After 70 days in West Africa, my time was coming to an end, at least on the mainland it was. What I really needed now was a relaxing holiday on some tropical islands that no one had ever heard of. Before that though, what I absolutely needed was …
Kumasi to Accra - Ghana The sound of the muezzin echoing from mosques at any time of day is one of the pleasures of travelling around an Islamic country. Funnily enough, the Arabs have it honed to perfection where assuming the sound system isn’t a heap of junk, the call to prayer is both beautiful …
Mole National Park - Ghana Exiting Tongo was like escaping the apocalypse; the countryside crackling all around us, sounding like a hailstorm on a tin roof in slow motion, yet the thick black smoke, intense heat, and sight of flames ravenously consuming a particularly dense area of bush revealed the true source of the sound. …
Abomey to Kande – Benin & Togo Landing back on the mainland after our visit to Ganvie we immediately launched into a food shop at the local market sprawled along the shore. The markets nearly always look great, that is until you need something that isn’t one of the only 10 fresh food items available …
Ouidah to Ganvie – Benin Down the road from Grand Popo we did a whistle-stop tour in Ouidah, a town popular with tourists known for its significant role in the slave trade and its ancient Voodoo Kingdoms. Our afternoon began at the Temple of the Pythons which is exactly as you imagine although likely much …
Grand Popo - Benin Although not confined to any one country, Benin is renowned, I guess, more than anywhere else as the home of Voodoo. From the outside it would be considered a religion of the dark arts, of spirits maybe not of the terrifying variety, but certainly discomforting, the kind of spirits that genuinely …
Kouma Konda – Togo The Ghanian border we arrived at was one of the most immaculate border crossings I have visited; groomed to the standard of an English country garden, and staffed by welcoming, clean-cut officers. We were through within the hour which was speedy enough but, the Togolese officers went a step further, processing …
Lake Volta region - Ghana I couldn’t shake the feeling of exhaustion. I had finally been getting some good night’s sleep in a comfy bed, but still I had nothing in the tank, I just wanted to spend time on my own reading and listening to podcasts. The Blonde Squad and co were long gone, …
Kumasi to Accra - Ghana It had taken a long drive to reach Kumasi, finally pulling into our accommodation around 5pm. By 5.30pm me and the Blonde Squad-plus-one headed out into the city of three million in search of a bar. After several minutes things were looking desperate and so the girls did what girls …
Cape Coast – Ghana It wasn’t until we were heading out of the Brenu Beach camp for the day that it became apparent where we had spent the night, not that I should have been surprised by the scene that greeted us. A golden sand beach stretched off into the distance whether you looked left …
Ankasa to Nzulenzu – Ghana It was good to be back in an English-speaking country despite being mildly electrocuted by the Ghanian fingerprint scanners at the border. Apparently, they aren’t sweat resistant despite the humidity not allowing for anything other than sweaty hands, nay sweaty everything. And I know saying I was happy to be …
Abidjan to Grand-Bassam - Cote d’Ivoire The taxis in Man were green. In Yamoussoukro they were white. Abidjan meanwhile was blessed with both yellow and a rusty orange colour of taxi, and that’s pretty much all there is to say about Abidjan. The largest city in the country is relatively dull, not that I can …
Man to Yamoussoukro – Cote d’Ivoire I don’t know why I have such a bee in my bonnet about the Lonely Planet other than their travel writing book instructs me to do everything I don’t want to. I never use their guides because I always take the much easier option of choosing a tour, and now the …
Danone to Man - Cote d'Ivoire The following day was always going to be a mixed bag. Down as a trip highlight, we were off to stay in a village that performs a dance ceremony featuring people on stilts. We arrived in the village around 3.30pm. I say village, but it was more like arriving …
Danone to Mann - Cote d'Ivoire I was going to start by complimenting how wonderfully welcoming the people of Cote d’Ivoire are, but then I remembered how miserable the immigration officer was. It took some time to get out of Guinea and even more time to get through the Cote d’Ivoire side despite us being …
Bossou - Guinea Sat on a wooden bench under the shade of a dusty rural immigration control building I watched on as a chicken nonchalantly ambled inside to mingle with the Liberian immigration officers as they casually processed us out of the country. We were about to head into Guinea, a country I was very …
Robertsport to Nimba - Liberia The Ivory Coast visa situation really was quite the situation. We couldn’t bypass it on our way to Ghana as that would mean driving into Mali and Burkina Faso which, would be an incredible adventure apart from the significantly increased risk of being kidnapped by extremists. We couldn’t go back …
Monrovia - Liberia Liberia is a tricky customer. Crossing from Sierra Leone, the atmosphere almost instantly changes, a little as if I was having a jolly nice dinner with my Argentine relatives and then blurting out that Jude Bellingham is in fact already a far better footballer than Lionel Messi could ever hope to be …
Bo & Tiwi Island – Sierra Leone Since my first walkabout in Freetown I had begun to feel something uncomfortable in the sole of my flipflop, but being a man it took me a few days to investigate the problem and I had merely shrugged it off as a stone. It turns out emergency surgery …
Freetown - Sierra Leone Refreshed after a full night sleep, our second day in the capital started with the whole group jumping into a hired school bus that drove us to the Liberian embassy to apply for visas. Half the group were still coming to terms with the previous five weeks, missing others that had …
Freetown - Sierra Leone Strap yourselves in! Every now and then in life there is a moment that feels defining and sat in Malmesbury’s Summer Café with Rut the day before I was flying to Freetown, Sierra Leone - and her to Auckland, New Zealand - felt like one such moment. One week ago, Freetown …
Dhigurah island - Maldives After three nights on Dhangethi we hopped over to Dhigurah island that appeared more orientated towards tourists including a little more lapse on the no bikini role for whatever reason that may have been. The weather remained changeable with black skies omnipresent throughout the week, always threatening rain and regularly acting …
Dhangethi Island – Maldives I have the greatest respect for people who walk onto an international flight with a bag of McDonald’s, especially a flight to the Maldives with Emirates at 4am. It shows a certain degree of not giving a damn, and I confess that I was a little jealous of not having the …
Marseille to Paris - France Marseille had been a great success. Rut was more than happy to watch Argentina beat Wales for her first international rugby match and I got to see England scrape past Fiji with yet another far from impressive display. Still, both our teams had won, and we boarded the train to …
Lille to Marseille - France The story begins in Lille, a city that appeared notoriously difficult to get accommodation six months in advance, and one that did I didn’t have high expectations of. Five married guys and I were visiting for the final group stages of the Rugby World Cup, and somehow it fell on …
Isle of Skye - United Kingdom It’s 1995 and I’m with Pa back at one of my favourite spots as a young boy, Beacon Hill. The country park is huge, sitting high and proud above the Leicestershire countryside with large slabs of ancient volcanic rock to traverse and explore that I did with gusto and …
Fremantle - Australia I felt like a new man waking from an eight-hour coma in a bed which was spacious, didn’t move around, was in large room, and didn’t have a train manager informing me over an intercom that breakfast was being served in the dining car. I said previously that the Indian Pacific had …
Sydney to Perth - Australia I like a treat but sometimes I don’t know what to do when I get one. The Indian Pacific was a prime example of this. A train journey travelling between Sydney and Perth taking three days and nights with two locomotives clocking up 4,352 kilometres at a maximum speed of …
Sydney & Brisbane -Australia The view from the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge is quite spectacular and so it should be after having to go through all the faff to get there. Breathalysers, the removal of everything except your pants, hankies and caps clipped to your overalls like a toddler, metal detectors, pat downs, …
The Kimberly - Australia The wind moves in packs. It can be heard in the near distance yet the trees and bush in the immediate vicinity remain unmoved. Sometimes a gust bolts past near to one side of the tent but the opposing side remains eerily quiet. This was a feature throughout our time in …
The Kimberly -Australia It’s fast approaching 7am, we think we’re in the correct meeting place where the bus will pick us up, but we’re the only two people waiting for what we understood to be a sold-out tour. When the bus did turn up 10 minutes later it immediately became obviously why we had been …
Perth to Broome - Australia Here we go, Australia, where it all began one day in October 2007. There is no doubt I landed as a boy fresh out of university and left slightly more of a man while having some of the best times of my life. For this reason, whether I like it …
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia I have no idea whose idiotic decision it was to book a taxi to the airport less than two hours before departure. I can’t stand being under time pressure at airports because there is simply no need for it. Thankfully our taxi arrived right on 8.30am as scheduled with a flashing …
