Cambodia is quite possibly my favourite country on my travels so far. There is just something about the rural countryside and its proud people that I love to return to time and time again. I have mentioned Sihanoukville before as …
Tokyo from the Air
Tokyo is a vast urban jungle that stretches as far as the eye can see. From the ground it is a complex web of buildings, bridges and train tracks that criss-cross for miles and miles. The only way to fully …
The Working Women of Vietnam
Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman. Especially in Vietnam.
But they do it with a smile…
And the men of Vietnam?
Please do not think this post is intended as sexist in any way. I will even up the …
My Top Five Asian ‘Chill-Out’ Destinations
Travelling is all about taking time out of the craziness of modern life to experience new cultures, meet new people and to reflect. Here is a selection of my favourite places for peace, tranquility and some much-needed soul refreshment. So …
Why Sweden is a Great Place to Live
Sweden is often regarded as being somewhat of a liberal country; many people think that blonde, tanned Swedes cavort naked in forest lakes all summer long before retreating into their saunas for the duration of the long and cold winter. …
Miss(ing) Saigon
I was inspired by a post about Saigon that I read on another travel blog recently. So here is my very own tribute to the place that I once called home. These are some of the things that I loved, …
The Arctic Journals #4 Aurora Borealis
“The Aurora blazed all of a sudden into brilliant life… a thousand miles high and ten thousand miles long: dipping, soaring, undulating, glowing, a cataract of glory.”
This is Philip Pullman’s description of the Aurora Borealis in ‘Northern Lights’, the …
The Arctic Journals #3 Cross-Country Skiing
There are two things that I have always disliked: sport and being cold. For this reason I have never understood why people want to go skiing. Skiing holidays baffle me, why would anybody pay a lot of money to go …
The Arctic Journals #2 Northern Lights Apartments
We were met on the road by Patricia Cowern, owner of the Northern Lights Apartments and Arctic-Color gallery in Porjus, who greeted us warmly and led the way to our cabin. The complex comprises of 4 wooden cabins aptly named: …
The Arctic Journals #1 A Long Journey
At 19.22 the train pulled out of Stockholm’s Central Station and our 17 hour journey into Swedish Lapland began. Our destination: Porjus, a small village approximately 100km north of the Polar Circle, and our mission: to seek the enigmatic Aurora …
Stockholm on a Budget
‘Stockholm’ and ‘cheap’. Two words that you don’t often hear uttered in the same sentence. It is common knowledge that tourists’ hard-earned cash doesn’t stretch that far in the Scandinavian countries, making visiting them an expensive …
Snow Days
Anybody who has attended or worked in a school in the UK will know how exciting it is when the winter brings the first snow, not so much because we love snow but because of the prospect of a Snow …
Fika Fridays – Swedish Cake Break!
Anybody who knows me will know that Fridays are my favourite day of the week. I love Fridays. Not because the weekend begins or even that I only work for 2 hours, but because Friday is cake day or as …
Beating the January Blues
Christmas is over, the New Year’s resolutions have already been broken, and the beautifully glistening snow had turned to brown mulch – January has well and truly set in but things are not all bad. We are now embarking on …
2010s Best Bits
What an awesome year this year was. In honour of a great year this blog post recalls some of my favourite moments of 2010
January
We welcomed in the New Year with elated cries of Chúc Mung Nam Moi on …