On The Road To Tikal

On the road to the Maya ruin of Tikal, my husband Tom and I sat in our guide George’s running van, waiting for him to complete the paperwork in the concrete immigration building at the Guatemalan border. As he jumped in and shifted gears, he warned us it would be a long [...]

Wieliczka’s Hidden Treasure

Wieliczka’s Hidden Treasure
Hidden beneath a small town on the outskirts of Krakow, Poland lies one of the world’s oldest salt mines. Wieliczka was one of the largest and most profitable medieval industrial establishments at a time when table salt was as commercially valuable as today’s oil. The mine has been [...]

Across Russia By Train

Across Russia By Train
The Tran-Siberian Railway is the ultimate rail journey: the longest in the world – possibly the coldest if you go at the wrong time of year. A journey of almost mythical proportions that spans two continents while staying in a single country; without leaving your seat you clatter [...]

Operation Sunshine

Operation Sunshine
BBC RADIO PRESENTER, TREVOR CLARINGBOLD, RECENTLY TRAVELLED TO CENTRAL AFRICA WITH THE CHARITY OPERATION SUNSHINE. IT WAS AN AMAZING, LIFE CHANGING JOURNEY, AS HE NOW EXPLAINS…
Ever since Bob Geldof and Midge Ure penned the classic ‘Do They Know Its Christmas’, African aid charities have taken on an almost trendy persona. [...]

A Date With Sofia

The Balkan state is appealing to travelers looking for bargains behind the former Iron Curtain. But so far, its capital city and rugged countryside have escaped the tourist crush.
On the plane from London, two British men chatted enthusiastically about the killing they expected to make on property investments in Sofia. Huge [...]

Women In Black

Women In Black
OBSERVATIONS BY A MALE VISITOR TO SAUDI ARABIA
‘Ladies and Gentlemen, we have just entered Saudi airspace, if you need to change into the appropriate clothing, now is a good time to do so.’
I had been told that this announcement would be made on the flight, but I had cast is [...]

A Tale Of Two Cities

The River Danube winds through the heart of Hungary’s capital. On its western bank, Buda’s monumental Hapsburg palace crowns a green, wooded and craggy hill, where the pinnacled spire of Mátyás church soars above a colourful glazed tile roof and a dark interior painted in patterns reminiscent of Turkish carpets. Nearby, [...]

Malacca’s Surviving History

Malacca’s Surviving History
Malaysia’s oldest city is a sleepy port town on the south-western coast of the Malay Peninsula. A great trading empire once rose and fell here five hundred years ago, its power and dreams caught off-guard by the dawn of the European colonial era. Today, Malacca’s rich history can be [...]

Chasing Giraffes: A Tanzanian Adventure

Chasing Giraffes: A Tanzanian Adventure
Our big Tanzanian adventure began at a small airport in Zanzibar, where we discovered there is a direct flight to Selous Game Reserve, but it was too late for our luggage, it went to Selous through Dar-el-Salam on the coast. It did join us later that day though. [...]

On The Coldest Day

On The Coldest Day
When I first saw you you were eating an ice-cream on the coldest day of the year. Strands of your untamed hair kept getting stuck to it but you didn’t care, you kept eating while those around you sipped coffee from polystyrene cups.
You asked me when the next train [...]

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