Do you remember at the beginning, before I set off, I posted a picture of the view from Leckhampton Hill? I said this was my favourite place on…

I had thus far been avoiding it, but I've been asked to write about how I met my future husband in Sun City... so here goes. If I go a bit soppy …

Goodbyes at the airport I'm currently sat on a nice squashy seat facing a sunny window overlooking the quiet runway at Vientiane airport. There's a …

The centre of Hoi-An consists of lots of colonial style buildings often painted in warm colours and adorned with flowers and draping vines. There’s…

Hue is distinctive for having wide streets lined with trees. By all accounts it has an impressive intellectual & cultural heritage, which Katie &…

Katie   When I heard I’d got a place working in Vietnam with Global Volunteer Network I was delighted. When I heard that my placement was o…

Mango Bay By Day   This morning after a breakfast of sweet milk coffee and fluffy baguette I wandered onto the veranda of my spacious coloni…

The Worst Hotel Room In Vietnam   En route to Phu Quoc Island it was necessary to over-night in Can Tho. My bank account was looking decided…

I try not to live life with too many regrets as on the whole they’re pretty useless things, however I’m often taken by the notion that life would…

Like the first horror film you ever saw, the Toul Sleng Museum of Genocide is an experience you never forget.Having bought my ticket I went to …

 The most memorable thing about Hongsa was getting there.   First off I had to catch a ‘speed boat’ from Luang Prang, then I found m…

Luang Prabang is a total delight.   Some travellers have a habit of bitching about places they’ve been in order to show-off their superior …

Priceless Lao T-Shirt Philiosphy: MIXING WITHOUT RESTRAINT BEING DARRING WHEN NO-ONE CAN SEE SHE PLAYS WITH ALL HER POSSIBLES. I'm coming home now…

Sapa is a smallish town in the northern mountains of Vietnam. Much of the population is from the Hmong tribe. Tribes-people still wear traditional dr…

Disclaimer: before I embark on a rant, just have to say that Hanoi –and especially the old quarter- is visually delightful and has a unique charact…

Island Cruise   The Lonely Planet describes two available Island hopping boat trips departing from Nha Trang. Firstly Mama Linh’s experie…

Transition All the way from Brisbane I feel a tightening sort of trepidation. The last 3 months have been same, same... the next 3 promise to be di…

Mr. Wendell has come to warn us....   The Lonely planet mentions 2 Koala wildlife sanctuaries in the Brisbane area. One of these offers vis…

Heartbreak Hotel   I’d arranged a 3 night stay in an authentic working Aussie farm.   The farmer met me from my greyhound bus, and …

Magnet To The Professionally Dull I don’t believe in God, Cosmology, or Destiny. Which is fortunate for each of these Entities because if I did I…

Bryony Andrew, Morgan And Finlay take me in. On day one in Melbourne I lost my bag and had to cancel my cards; this left me completely stranded wh…

Although the similarity wasn’t immediately evident, something about Christchurch kept quietly bringing back thoughts of home. Flowers and Fur …

Auckland Itself There is a bit of a dichotomy about Auckland: To an outsider like me it’s a fabulous cosmopolitan city with everything going for…

Just Me Sitting on the coach heading from Auckland to Parahan in the bay of Islands. It strikes me that for the first time on my entire trip (since…

Little Plane   The plane from Auckland to Great Barrier was so small it could have come out of a cracker. Passenger's climb onboard with a …

Zorbing & Luging   Tom was in an understandable grump on Boxing Day morning. He alone had to fly home today & then head straight fo…

Rootin’ Tootin’ Shootin’ on Christmas Eve.   To fill an empty couple of hours Dave had the blinding idea of taking us visitors (Graem…

We flew in & out of Nelson, so I really can’t say anything about the place, other than the bits we did see between arriving & leaving seeme…

A large serving of Seal Pancakes   Our progress into the Abel Tasman National Park at the north of the South Island was punctuated by two s…

Glaciers In The Mist   With Military precision we decamped our lovely hotel in Queenstown and headed up the East coast (of the South Island…

Dart River Safari: boat ride & walk in the woods .   Extreme sports enthusiasts knock this activity as being a bit on the tame side. Bu…

This part of my trip is much more holiday than intrepid backpacking. The plan is to meet up with 4 of my closest London friends Anna, Bini, Tom &…

Sorry The flight's delayed, the Pilot's finishing his lunch. Rather endearingly, this was the explanation for our flight for Aitutaki leaving a…

Prescriptive Misadventure & Bad Weather At LAX I think I was the very last person to check in at the Air New Zealand Desk. The second to …

In Perfect Company For a supposed traveller I spent quite a lot of LA time deliberatley avoiding the sights. However, I don't regret…

An Orwellian Nightmare Arrive at heathrow. Hug hello with Ma & John. Feels like a both a blink and a lifetime has passed since we&nbs…

Not seeing Angelina or Brad  Mumbai exceeded our expectations, but then we were totally convinced we'd hate the place & it'd be a filth pi…

Palmistry On Baga Beach Road Guru Shruti Prakash has a billboard on the roadside advertising ‘ Natural Healing, Soul Realization & Myster…

Ganesh Ganesh meets me at the airport. Ganesh looks disconcertingly like my friend Alex - they could be different colored versions of the same perso…

Letter from 'Departures' I'm sat here at a sort of internet slot machine at Heathrow Terminal Three, having just sobbed my goodbyes to …