Argentina

Buenos Aires: A capital in crisis

On this trip it seems like we keep arriving in countries in the midst of a crisis. The night before we were due to catch the ferry from Uruguay [https://www.nothere.co.uk/colonia-del-sacramento-montevideo/] to Buenos Aires, we found out that a general strike was taking

Uruguay

Colonia del Sacramento & Montevideo: A Uruguayan interlude

Little Uruguay, wedged between the South American giants of Brazil and Argentina, doesn't feature that frequently on backpacking itineraries. But I've always been attracted to places that I don't know much about, so we decided to include a brief detour to Uruguay before plunging

Brazil

Iguazu Falls: Both sides of the story

We always expected Brazil to be the most expensive part of our trip, but even so, getting by on a backpackers' budget was tricky at times. So we were excited to arrive at our final stop in Brazil, Iguazu Falls, where we'd decided to allow ourselves a

Brazil

São Paulo: South America's megacity

São Paulo isn't really known as a tourist destination, and I can see why. But after nine years of living in London, many of the things that visitors find intimidating about São Paulo - the huge crowds of people, the confusing transport system, the hectic pace of life - felt

Brazil

Ilha Grande & Paraty: Brazil's Costa Verde

Brazil seems to be in a state of chaos at the moment. The night after we arrived in Rio, the 200-year-old National History Museum burned down, destroying an estimated 90% of its priceless artefacts. A few days later the far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro was stabbed at

Brazil

Rio de Janeiro: Letting it all hang out

I'm used to going on holiday to places where tourists are told to dress modestly, so as not to offend local sensibilities. But on our first day in Rio, as we walked along the undulating black and white mosaic path that fronts onto Copacabana Beach, I felt like

Brazil

Setting off for South America...

South America is one of those places that's always been on my travel 'to do' list, without ever quite rising to the top due to reasons of practicality. It's always seemed too big to do justice to on a two or three week trip,

Laos

MandaLao: Ethical elephant encounters in Luang Prabang

Elephants are big creatures, but so are humans, and riding on an elephant's back does all sorts of damage. Carrying people around all day can leave an elephant with permanent spinal injuries, and the cloth which is usually wrapped around its body to secure the saddle squashes the

South Africa

On safari in Madikwe Game Reserve

"I'm sure she's there somewhere," said Kaizer ruefully as the jeep bounced down the dusty road, heading south away from the river. "I think maybe we'll see her later." We'd spent half an hour trundling up and down

Italy

Milan for the fashion unconscious

My first fashion faux pas in Milan was going outside without a coat on. It may have been a sizzling 25°C in the early April sun, but I felt pretty silly in my T-shirt amongst the Milanesi in their coats and scarves. To compound the matter, I'

Belgium

Ghent: Festive in Flanders

It was a crisp and ruddy-cheeked Friday afternoon, the last weekend before Christmas, and Ghent was glowing with that cosy chocolate box cheer that British cities are never quite able to replicate. It was a classic European Christmas scene: the smell of Glühwein and spruce wafting through the air,

UK

Capital Ring Walk: Crystal Palace to Wimbledon Park

The Capital Ring Walk is a 78-mile long circular route around London that passes through many of the capital’s lesser known neighbourhoods, divided into 15 smaller sections. This post follows on from my previous account of Sections 2 and 3, running from Falconwood to Crystal Palace. Section 4:

Georgia

Kakheti: God & Grapes

Although it might not be the first place that springs to mind when you're out shopping for a full-bodied red, there is compelling evidence that Georgia is the birthplace of wine. People have been quaffing alcoholic grape juice in the mountains of the South Caucasus for at

Georgia

Gori & Mtskheta: Saints and sinners

Imagine travelling to the little Austrian town of Braunau, which sits by the river Inn on the German border, and arriving in the main square to find people smiling and posing for photos in front of a statue of Adolf Hitler, on a street named after Adolf Hitler, in front

Georgia Featured

Kazbegi & The Georgian Military Highway

Our driver raised his head solemnly, looking up towards the monastery perched on a hill, and made the sign of the cross over his heart three times. As we hurtled along the road at an alarming speed, bound for the treacherous mountain passes of northern Georgia, it wasn't

Georgia Featured

Tbilisi: The city on the edge of Europe

Where does Europe end and Asia begin? If you look at a map, the idea that Europe and Asia are separate continents doesn’t really make sense. It’s always been a hazily defined border, shifting back and forth over the centuries, perhaps reflecting the fact that Europe is more

Cuba

Trinidad: Colonial past, capitalist future?

Arriving in Trinidad was like walking into a postcard. The Unesco-listed casco histórico, centred around the elegant Plaza Mayor, was a photographer’s dream, all pastel facades, cobbled streets, iron caged windows and terracotta roof tiles. Like just about everywhere else we went in Cuba, there was no escape

Cuba

Viñales: Cuba's tobacco country

Each day in the Valle de Viñales, at around two in the afternoon, the sky would start to bruise and darken. Fat thunderheads reared up above the mogotes, the lumpy limestone mountains that define the horizon in this part of Cuba. Broad-winged, black-feathered turkey vultures began to circle

Cuba

Havana: The Americans are coming

Havana is often described as a city stuck in a timewarp, and perhaps that was true once. For me, however, the label didn’t quite fit; the Cuban capital was more like one of those composite photos, two identical shots of the same street taken 50 years apart and overlaid.

Netherlands

Keukenhof: Tulip mania

In March 1637, an episode in Dutch history that has come to be known as ‘tulip mania’ reached its feverish zenith. The price for the most coveted varieties of tulip had skyrocketed; the going price for a single bulb was over ten times as much as a skilled craftsman could

Spain

Madrid & Toledo: The heart of Spain

Kilometre zero. In Spain, all roads lead to this one point, the axis around which this fractious kingdom of independent-minded regions turns. The spot is marked by a paving stone inlaid with gold on the south side of the Puerta del Sol, Madrid’s busy central square. In many

Belgium

Antwerp: Bridging the divide

Belgium is home to some 180 breweries, producing hundreds of different beers in myriad styles and strengths. A typical pub offers the adventurous drinker a choice of cloudy wheat beers with a hint of coriander, fruity farmhouse-style saisons, lemon-sour lambic beers, foaming golden ales and deceptively strong Trappist

Laos

Vientiane: The sleeping capital

At the end of the long and bone-jarring road south from Luang Prabang, we finally found respite. The lumpen limestone hills flattened out, the potholed gravel track gave way to a smooth, mostly sealed tarmac road, and the somniferous calm of Vientiane enveloped us. The streets were wide, half

Responsible travel

The ethics of travelling to repressive regimes

Last year, when I mentioned that I was going to Uzbekistan for my summer holiday, a few people quizzed me on the ethical implications of travelling to a country governed by such a notoriously unpleasant dictatorship. It was a fair point. Uzbekistan has been a one party state since gaining

Cyprus

Driving the Karpaz Peninsula

The Karpaz Peninsula is long, longer than you think. Often described as the ‘panhandle’ of Cyprus, this thin strip of land protrudes from the eastern side of the island like a spindly finger, reaching out towards Turkey and Syria. Renowned for its unspoilt natural beauty, the finger beckoned to us