The small town of Mount Gambier is unknown and rarely features on tourist itineraries to Australia. But this small town in the state of South Australia has stunning and unique natural features. Mount Gambier is home to volcanic crater lakes, and impressive sinkholes that have been transformed into beautiful gardens. Mount Gambier is unlike anywhere […]
A guide for independent, budget-savvy travellers The Great Ocean Road is one sight you won’t want to miss if you’re visiting Melbourne or Australia’s southern coast. The wild, ice-blue waters of the Southern Ocean smash against spectacular high cliffs, forming dramatic and beautiful features like the Twelve Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge. Australia is a […]
Erawan Falls is a national park in Thailand, lying north-west of the town of Kanchanaburi and close to the mountains of Myanmar. It’s a beautiful rainforest setting, where a series of sparkling green pools cascade into each other amidst rampant tropical vegetation. Visiting the Falls you get to clamber around exposed tree roots, low-hanging vines […]
At the far end of Cádiz at Playa de la Caleta, the city peters out into a long pier and the Atlantic Ocean. Wandering here at sunset, I came across a steel drum band playing, and an artist carefully tending his sand sculpture. The sculpture has an amazing amount of detail, and depicts an octopus, […]
In early October I visited Croatia. I’ve wanted to go to Croatia for several years, so was excited to land in Zadar, a coastal city with classical ruins and buildings made of white stone. After exploring Zadar we travelled inland by bus, across beautiful misty mountains and moor. The climate and scenery changed, as we […]
Clare Hall is perhaps the most unusual-looking of the Cambridge colleges, and makes for a surprising visit. Designed more akin to a block of 1960s flats than a traditional college, Clare Hall nonetheless has an interesting history. Clare Hall was founded in 1966 directly by Clare College, as a college of advanced study that would […]
Founded in 1326, Clare College is the second oldest college in Cambridge. Clare College has perhaps the best location of all the Cambridge colleges: a site that spans both sides of the river, and is right in the city centre, off the pedestrianised and picturesque Trinity Lane. Set in the heart of the old University […]
Chhatrapatri Shivaji Terminus (CST) or Victoria Terminus (VT) is the largest railway station in Mumbai. From here one of the world’s greatest railway networks originates, and terminates. Next to the station lie the Central Railway Headquarters, and behind that, Mumbai’s GPO (General Post Office). Opened in 1887 and named after Queen Victoria, the station is […]
We hung out at Blue Corner, a restaurant on the beach with sun loungers out at the front. You could stay there all day, resting on the sun loungers, going for a walk or a swim, and eating in the restaurant when you get hungry. The seafood in Benaulim is very good. The sun loungers […]
A walk in Goa We stay in a guesthouse tucked away in the forest, just outside Benaulim. We take this path through the forest, passing giant banyan trees. We walk towards the centre of Benaulim village. We take a side road through the fields, and pass these holiday homes with beautiful gardens. The abundance of […]
The day after visiting the Taj Mahal we go to Agra Fort, a vast red castle strategically located on a meander of the Yamuna river. It is built of red sandstone and dates from the 16th century. Within its broad, high walls are several self-contained palaces, and mosques. You can see the Taj Mahal across […]
The road to Agra We travel by bus from Jaipur to Agra. All the guide books and travel advice blogs I have read recommend train travel well above buses, but I cannot understand why. Trains have to be booked in advance, and even then it is quite common for there not to be any tickets […]
This post is for those of you who might be feeling that I am living a glamorous and exotic life in the sunshine, while you suffer the ignominy of daily life. This is to reassure you that my life is not glamorous, at all. I’ve recently realised that there’s going to have to be a […]
My last day in Kenya. Strangely I feel a bit sick and nervous just like I did before I came here. It’s because the whole world is about to change for me… in the next 24 hours… and Nothing will be the same. I am also looking forward to it, to getting home and seeing […]
Today I have returned to Kitengela. Sophie and I have been travelling for the past six days, we have seen and done so much, both been ill, crossed a border and got a new stamp in our passports, and are now very tired after the adventure. On Friday 6th we travelled from Kitengela to Kericho, […]
So I have arrived in Kenya, and met my lovely host family. I’m living in Kitengela, a small, rapidly growing town about 30km (19 miles) south of Nairobi. Today was my first day at school. It was overwhelming meeting the kids as they all attached themselves to me and took me off to classrooms 1-4 […]