COLOMBIA | Friday, 25 May 2007 | Views [662]
I’ve had a number of mails recently from people asking about safety in Colombia and I thought it would be useful to place things in context. The picture above is a chart in a Colombian bus station, which are displayed in all the bus stations in the country.... Read more >
Tags: Observations
UNITED KINGDOM | Monday, 30 Apr 2007 | Views [367]
There comes a point in every trip when you realize that there are only a few weeks left and you have to come to terms with going home. For most of us that means reconnecting with their previous life and going back to work, the free and easy days of travel ... Read more >
Tags: Philosophy of travel
INDIA | Wednesday, 14 Mar 2007 | Views [1066] | Comments [6]
I’ve now been in India for almost three months. It’s
always been a favourite country of mine, a place that’s always been very good
for the ‘WOW’ factor, always full of surprises. Even in the centre of the
cities you can see people on the ... Read more >
Tags: Observations
NEPAL | Sunday, 11 Mar 2007 | Views [633] | Comments [2]
Nepal has had rather a mixed press over the last few years; countries going through a Civil War tend not to be on the list of ‘must see’ places for most travelers. Since late 2006, the countryside has been quiet with the Maoists now in the government ... Read more >
Tags: Observations
INDIA | Wednesday, 14 Feb 2007 | Views [832] | Comments [3]
I really enjoy Indian food but had never considered cooking it at home; after all if I wanted to eat it, it always seemed easier to walk out to an Indian restaurant or pick up the phone and order a take away, than go to the trouble of making it myself.... Read more >
Tags: Food & eating
UNITED KINGDOM | Sunday, 24 Dec 2006 | Views [1219] | Comments [1]
Many travelers have some apprehension when go abroad, especially if they are traveling for the first time. Despite what you may think from the media, most people’s trips are trouble free and violence against tourists is particularly rare. Of course ... Read more >
Tags: Travel Tips
SOUTH AFRICA | Saturday, 23 Dec 2006 | Views [951] | Comments [1]
For most of 2006 I have been traveling in South America as a backpacker and had enjoyed how easy it was to travel there. The quality of budget hotels was good and transport was affordable and mainly comfortable. In most cities I went around by ... Read more >
Tags: Travel Tips
TANZANIA | Saturday, 16 Dec 2006 | Views [829]
Zanzibar , even the name has an exotic ring to it and conjures up images of Sultans, Spices and Slaves. One of the great island ports of the mystic east, ships traded the goods of Africa, the Middle East, and India and out across the Indian Ocean to ... Read more >
Tags: Observations
TANZANIA | Thursday, 7 Dec 2006 | Views [760]
By chance I caught up with the ATC truck I’d been traveling on when I saw it stopped at lights in Dar es Salaam; I then spent a day with everyone at a beach on Zanzibar. What was surprising was the contrast to the experience I had had and the current ... Read more >
Tags: Observations
BOTSWANA | Tuesday, 21 Nov 2006 | Views [1521] | Comments [1]
I had heard several stories from travelers about the overland trucks that do the route from South Africa up to Kenya, and most of them were bad. They seemed to have spent their trip with people who spend most of the time drunk or were just noisy ... Read more >
Tags: Travel Tips
SOUTH AFRICA | Friday, 20 Oct 2006 | Views [789]
Most Backpackers who travel in South Africa stick pretty much to the coastal route from Cape Town to Jo’berg and totally ignore the interior. But there are some great places to visit just off the coastal route which really reward those who seek them ... Read more >
Tags: The Great Outdoors
ARGENTINA | Saturday, 23 Sep 2006 | Views [2833] | Comments [1]
After nine months travelling through South America it is now time to move on, so I though a retrospective might be in order. Best Country It has to be Peru, a country with world class sights, mountains, great trekking and a well developed ... Read more >
Tags: Travel Tips
ARGENTINA | Thursday, 7 Sep 2006 | Views [1751] | Comments [2]
Some areas of the world have particular things that define them, and although a good idea they are only found in one continent or region and nowhere else. This even applies to electrical appliances and for Central and South America one of the defining ... Read more >
Tags: Travel Tips
ARGENTINA | Wednesday, 6 Sep 2006 | Views [1103]
Unlike every other South American country I’ve seen on this trip, Argentina is a country I have visited before, on a two week holiday in which I went to Buenos Aires and Patagonia, flying around the country in order to see as much as I could in the ... Read more >
Tags: Observations
URUGUAY | Monday, 14 Aug 2006 | Views [2227] | Comments [10]
I've had a number of mails recently asking me how much does it cost to travel in South America, and although it's nice to hear from people I thought it may be easier to write one post everyone can read. For this survey there are three expense zones ... Read more >
Tags: Travel Tips
PARAGUAY | Wednesday, 9 Aug 2006 | Views [616] | Comments [2]
Paraguay has always struck me as an interesting place to travel too, partly because I’ve never met anyone else who has been here and I wondered why. All the backpacker/travelers routes in South America avoid it, a place where bad things happen perhaps? ... Read more >
Tags: Observations
BRAZIL | Thursday, 6 Jul 2006 | Views [2673] | Comments [1]
There is something special about reaching a place after a long boat trip, especially when it is along a river. One of the places I’ve always wanted to visit was Manaus on the Amazon, having read as a child the epic story to build an Opera House there ... Read more >
Tags: Observations
BOLIVIA | Monday, 26 Jun 2006 | Views [384]
Having in the last year been marooned in a town in Ecuador for a week by protesters blocking the main roads and having just escaped the same thing near Cusco, I thought that the days of being held hostage by indigenous people was over, especially as ... Read more >
Tags: Observations
BOLIVIA | Tuesday, 20 Jun 2006 | Views [1244] | Comments [2]
Rurrenabaque in the North East of Bolivia has become a major backpacker’s center for organized trips into the jungle and pampas that surround the town. For many travelers a Pampas trip, along with biking the Death Road and taking a tour on the Salar ... Read more >
Tags: Observations
BOLIVIA | Monday, 19 Jun 2006 | Views [1578] | Comments [3]
Uyuni is the kicking off point for trips into the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt pan in the world and a must on most visitors’ itineraries to Bolivia . The trip out to the lake also usually includes the dramatic landscape to the south of the lake, ... Read more >
Tags: Travel Tips
BOLIVIA | Thursday, 8 Jun 2006 | Views [770]
Posati which at 4000 meters is the highest city/town of it's size in the world. At one time it was the richest city in the world, it's wealth built on the conical hill Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain) which dominates the town and which was mined for it's ... Read more >
Tags: Observations
PERU | Monday, 29 May 2006 | Views [653]
This is a great trek, a wonderful upland walk with great views and lots of birds and flowers to see along the way. There is easy access from Cusco but you only have to walk for a few hours before you are in an isolated wilderness. We did this independently ... Read more >
Tags: Trekking Route Descriptions
PERU | Monday, 22 May 2006 | Views [1146]
Come to Cusco , all of tourist life is here. Having now traveled in Central and South America for seven months, this is the first town I’ve arrived in that accommodates nd welcomes every kind of tourist. Of course, most of them don t come to see ... Read more >
Tags: Observations
PERU | Thursday, 20 Apr 2006 | Views [1091] | Comments [5]
Trekking in Colca Canyon is an easy and popular trek usually done from Arequipa in Southern Peru. Here are few notes on how to do it inderpendently. The Canyon can be walked in ‘Tea House’ trekking style, staying in Hostals along the way who ... Read more >
Tags: Trekking Route Descriptions
COLOMBIA | Monday, 10 Apr 2006 | Views [2681] | Comments [23]
I spent three great weeks in Colombia in December/January 06. Here are a few tips for other travellers going that way. It´s a lovely country and well worth the effort. Travel was very easy, most towns have modern bus stations and lots of competition ... Read more >
Tags: Travel Tips
COLOMBIA | Monday, 10 Apr 2006 | Views [2905] | Comments [13]
I have been in Latin America since the beginning of the year and one Frequently Asked Question has been; which is your favorite country so far? And the answer has to be Colombia . Colombia , the name itself is enough to strike unease into most ... Read more >
Tags: Travel Tips
ECUADOR | Monday, 27 Feb 2006 | Views [1382] | Comments [2]
Going to the Galapagos is an expensive business and this tends to put many inderpendent travellers off going there, which is a great pity as it’s a fantastic place. There are ways to get around the expense and have a great time, this is how we did ... Read more >
Tags: Travel Tips
COLOMBIA | Saturday, 28 Jan 2006 | Views [1039] | Comments [3]
We did this trek in January 2006 and it is a good introduction to trekking in the High Andes. The route takes you from the wonderful Wax Palm valley of Cocora, through the Cloud forest and up to the unique Andean mountain environment of the Paramo.... Read more >
Tags: Trekking Route Descriptions
MEXICO | Monday, 29 Aug 2005 | Views [838] | Comments [2]
The Sierra Norte is a range of mountains just to the North of Oaxaca which contain a network of trekking and mountain biking routes through spectacular pine forests. The ancient pathways connect eight villages ( the pueblos mancomunados) which work ... Read more >
Tags: Trekking Route Descriptions
GREECE | Sunday, 5 Jun 2005 | Views [770]
I spent April and May of 2005 in Crete, one of my favourite places and one where I’ve spent alot of time over the years, mainly walking and climbing. These short items were written as guide book updates. Ascent of Mt Psiloritis from Fourfouras ... Read more >
Tags: Trekking Route Descriptions
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