As has become traditional at this time of year I am looking back on my travel year and forward to travels to come. 2024 Innsbruck I started 2024 with a solo short break to the Tyrollean Alps. 36 hours gave me enough time to explore the small city and take the train/cable car high up […]
1979 – first trip overseas – Pont L’Eveque in Normandy, France. School exchange trip. First ferry. 1982 – first flight, London Gatwick to Alicante for Benidorm holiday 1987 – first European train tour – Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia, Italy, Switzerland, France. Inter-rail. First overseas train journey, Hoek of Holland to Amsterdam. First overseas football match, Lausanne […]
There seems to be the real prospect of regime change in Syria. What the future holds nobody knows but we pray that this is a new beginning for a freer, more just society. This is what I wrote previously about the Syrian people that I met in 2009. Now I have come to the end […]
It would not be a complete festive season without the Fortnum & Mason specially decorated windows and external advent calendar. As has become my tradition I travelled to Piccadilly to photograph the windows, which this year feature animals from over here and overseas. This is what F&M themselves have to say about the display: “Fortnum’s […]
San Juan La Union Today we would head around 85-miles south to the beach resort of La Union following our morning in Vigan. It promised golden beaches & surf, however I had booked a hotel around 30-minutes hot and sweaty walk away. No problem, Carlos drove us to a beachside restaurant where we feasted on […]
Continuing our November 23 tour of Philippines main island of Luzon.
Tower of London Poppy Display As we fondly remember this and other nation’s fallen heroes today, I am reminded of the amazing display of poppies at the Tower of London in late 2014. The artist Paul Cummins & designer Tom Piper filled the fortress’s ancient moat with 888,246 handmade ceramic poppies (one to represent every British […]
We left the Shire after an early breakfast and well before elevenses to continue northwards. We would pass fabulous rice terraces once more and end up in Tuguegarao for the night. However, the highlight of the day would be a visit to the village of Buscalan in the province of Kalinga. We met our local […]
After leaving Banaue we had a long journey to get to Sagada where we would be staying the night. The journey required very skilful driving – tight bends corkscrewing up and down mountain roads, potholes deep enough to be swallowed up in, sporadic road works, trucks & buses providing obstacles to pass, and chickens & […]
