Berra sits upon the sand.  His eyes glimmer with the flecks of light that make it through the canopy of our shade giving Gumbat tree.  His …

Okay folks, south Rajasthan and the much vaunted city of Udaipur.  One of the jewels of the tourist trail in Northern India.  In summatio…

Pushkar is not as well as it could be.  Or as it would like to be.  A year or so ago, in final protest to the infinite tributaries of…

Help!  I'm under attack!  I'm being strafed by a citywide squadron of 'Indian Helicopters'.  Another one swoops in, it's rapidly spinn…

'Come to me.'  She speaks to me.  I think I love her. It's the first week in February 2008.  I'm experimenting, pretty much for the f…

I'm not sure when I actually arrived in India.  Or whether indeed I have yet arrived.  When can one fully and finally declare 'Yes I am her…

Circles within a Circle, Return Well here we are.  Another little loop.  A circle.  A circuit closed.  Circles within my circle …

Coming to the very end of my nearly two months in Turkey, quiet, quaint little Safranbolu will also have to be a victim of my need for blogging speed…

Okay, sadly Ankara will be one of two 'coming to an end' entries from my time in Turkey that I will skip writing about at this stage with assurances …

Pre. Tense.Back to where I began my journey in Turkey. Well, kind of. The far North Eastern city of Kars. Setting for the novel of the same name by T…

Tired and frustrated with your present surroundings?  'Yes.'  Need to get away from the noise and chaos of modern city living?  'Yes.'…

I was quite excited to finally be heading to mighty Van Gölü.  Lake Van.  Turkey’s largest body of water at 3,750 kilometres square (7 …

Once grand, but now unassuming little Hasankeyf is a real treasure.  And like all good treasures in tales of old, there’s still a chance it wi…

With the smell of incense still lingering in our nostrils and Aramaic echoes ringing in our ears it’s time to hit the road it’s time to tune into…

Mardin.  A quaint little destination in its own right, but originally no more than a pit stop on a plan for me.  A plan to dip my travel to…

03.11am  Drums awaken me.  Drums before dawn.  Such drumming!  ‘BATTA-BATTA-BATTA-BANG-BADDA-BANG-BANG-BANG!!!’  One wou…

I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to stay at the Lizbon Guest House (Hotel Lizbon Konuk Evi Guest House to give its full name) with …

‘Someone makes something to sell it.Someone buys it but doesn’t use it.Someone uses it but does not see it.’What is it?One of several of the …

So here I am.  The final page torn from the calendar of the first year of my life on The Road.  Day number 365.  And the counter keeps…

The hills and dusty plains had long since faded into dusk and fallen into darkness by the time - I think about nine - my bus began rounding bends, …

Okay, here we go.  Nearly a year on The Road and here it comes.  Finally and long overdue.  Stevie’s first earnest attempt at hitchh…

Thwack!  ‘Oof! I say?!’.  I’m pretty certain that’s the first time in my life to have been struck across me bare buttocks by anothe…

Turkey is a country which for me, and I think others too, doesn’t quite hit you with the scale of its geographical spread until one steps out of th…

After a week in Istanbul, great city though it is, it feels good to be on the move again.  Movement.  It’s become a bit of a habit this l…

One thing for sure Istanbul does not lack are sights of architectural and historical interest to stuff your imagination silly with.  In the know…

A good number of the moments I draw the most pleasure from in  my first week in Istanbul populate themselves on or around the two waterways that…

Arrival It’s about 5.00am and I’m rolling into the concrete behemoth of the Istanbul otogar (bus station) accompanied by some mashed up home mad…

‘To be honest pal, I’m sure I’ve just been pretty lucky.  I dunno.  But I can say that after nearly a year on the road, nothing too b…

Belgrade seriously seems to be the buzz city of Eastern Europe right now.  People I meet who’ve travelled from it have a sparkling afterglow i…

That Was Yesterday ‘I’d like to buy a ticket for Višegrad please.’.  ‘No.  No Višegrad’.‘Sorry, what I mean is, could I have…

Sexy Mama It’s approaching 22.00pm when I bundle off the beautifully scenic although chaotic train ride from Mostar to Sarajevo.  I beg a cal…

Okay guys.  Time to flip this disc; this coin over.  Yesterday’s observations were a little scuffed and scratched.  Side 2.  Po…

[Okay I’m gonna kinda split my observations of Mostar into two ’Sides’, a loose division between observations of destruction and reconstruction…

Saved by a beer!  Yesterday was quite a long day of travel and finding the lovely Villa Valjelo Guesthouse wasn’t the easiest of tasks at afte…

Upon my early arrival in Split I decide to flip a coin with Fate.  Metaphorically speaking.  It’s only 15 Kuna (£1.50) per 24 hours…

‘Okay man, there’s no food but help yourself to drink.  The internet’s there, the drugs are over there, wait for the girls and okay, cool,…

Okay, I’ll fess up, in the interests of ‘moving swiftly on’ with my journeys and this blog the Hungarian city of Pécs, sadly my one and only o…

Hmmm… okay, so as part of my self-inflicted budget penitence I’m having fairly frugal food for dinner in Budapest.  Last nights haute cuisin…

Not The Best Start I didn’t take the train from Sibiu to Budapest I took the bus via Cluj in a vain attempt to save about £4 in all but what a fo…

No.22 : ‘Everyone has the right to encroach upon eternity.’ Article 22 of the Constitution of the Republic of Artists.  It’s city ambassa…

The two women sat opposite me cross themselves three times each as we roll out on the rails to Brasov in Transylvania.  ‘Gulp!’ are we headi…

‘So would you like to come to the Black Sea with us, YES OR NO?!’.  Well, okay Christine didn’t ask quite abruptly that time, but I didn�…

“I haven’t met a single person who says they’ve spent longer than one day in Bucharest!” pipes up the lass form Sheffield in the Rolling Rock…

As I sit on the early mini-bus, chuntering along the road from Veliko Tarnovo north to the Bulgarian border city of Rousse (Ruse) I gaze, lazy-eyed o…

“Miaow?” enquires my four-pawed interrogator.  “Miaow-miaow” I respond.  The cat looks at me blankly.  “Miaow” ( “Dumb-a…

Koprivshtitsa.  A quiet little rural town just over 100 kilometres east of Sofia snuggled into the bosom of the Sredna Gora mountains.  A q…

‘It grows, but never ages‘.  Oh if only those words were applicable to yours truly in their entirety.  But no, they are the motto for…

You can make your journey; your way around the world; your world any shape you want.  A personal composition of many directions, dimensions and …

‘If we all had hearts like those which beat so lightly in the bosoms of the young and beautiful, what a Heaven this earth would be!  If, while…

“Yu Yuan Gardens?… ah, that way? Xie xie.”.“Yu Yuan Gardens?… oh right, that way?  Xie xie”.“Please, Yu Yuan Gardens?!  Oh I …

Man, do my legs hurt today!  Strained thighs.  It’s gonna be agony climbing up and down stairs for the next couple of days that’s for s…

‘Sssshnick!’.  Our hero Stevie reaches back over his right shoulder and sheathes once more the fabled ‘Red Destiny’ sword (okay, it’s …

I’m sorry.  I can’t quite see you over there.  Shrouded as you are - at a distance - in soft but determined white mist.  It’s an…

Okay time for the big one.  And time to get away from this city!  It’s still the weekend and Stevie needs to escape the Beijing masses.&n…

“Oooof!”… bang, thwack, crash… “YIPES!”… craaack, smack, wallop… “ooooh-ouch!”… bish, bosh, BASH!… “Jeez that’s gotta hur…

Two days in Xi’An.  For those such as I heading West to East through China, probably the first “gotta gotta gotta get to that city!” desti…

I explained to Jingjing a week or more later “Ya know, of all the beautiful scenery and experiences I have had in China so far, one of my favourite…

Yesterday saw the conclusion of Joy, May and I’s eventful journey from Lu Gu Hu to Chengdu.  Forced to kill some time in Xicheng ahead of our …

“Grooooooan!”.  It’s 11.30am already.  I must ‘a been rolling sides to side in m’bed for a good 4 hours already.  Sick as pa…

I finally manage to extricate myself from the hugs, kisses and gifts of adorable Ma Ma Naxi (yes, her again) and her niece Xiao Zhou.  Her husba…

“A spare pair of pants!  What do you need those for?  I haven’t packed any.”.  Hey, don’t look at me ladies.  This was Ka…

Good morning sunshine.  Farewell Satan.  Who knows but we may meet again someday.  One last time the dusty trudge from Tashi’s to Fe…

Our predicament of the night before is heavily compensated when we arise to clear blue skies and unimpeded views of the Meili Xueshan mountain range.…

Time for ‘Plan B’.  A change of plan for Nick and me.  The road to Chengdu.  What to do?  We’ve been turning a couple of op…

The Gang and I arrived in somnolent Zhongdian ( ‘Shangri-La’ ) late afternoon yesterday.  A good time to do so as the perfect pitch of ochre…

It’s a beautiful day in Stevie World once again.  He and his buddies Nick, Vanesha and Emmy are shuffled on to a mini-van bus and on route to …

Ma Ma Naxi’s Guest House is situated within the ‘Ancient’ or ‘Old Town’ of Lijiang and is easily one of the finest guest houses I have stay…

After arriving in Lijiang yesterday and having made my way through the dizzying labyrinth of the ‘Old Town’ (only asking for directions 3,072 t…

A day of doing relatively little I think.  Dali is an easy place just to stop and take advantage of comforts and ease.  A spot of relaxatio…

Apparently it’s Monday.  Boy I can’t remember the last time I woke up and knew for sure what day of the week it was.  I didn’t today.…

I just noticed yesterday that the little multi-coloured, woven bracelet that mad-as-a-Hatter Darling tied around my wrist in Pai, Thailand over 4 mon…

5.00am.  Not again.  The price of chasing the sun is always the cost of one’s sleep.  Yes, yet again I am having to unglue my unwill…

“Do you have any books or magazines?”. Darn it!  Rumbled right away.  Barely have I had time to form the thought “So am I in China y…

In my several circuits of Sapa town yesterday I had hoped to happen across two friendly H’Mong ladies Sa and Khu again who’d kindly invited me ba…

At 5am I’m sat in a mini-bis van attempting to defrost from the popsicle like state that the air conditioned sleeper train cabin has left me in.&nb…

Drip Drop. It was pretty darned grey and wet when I first turned up in Hanoi about a week ago.  Bleary-eyed, Mike and I had spilled out of the …

*** Entry yet to be typed *** just some thoughts and observations to come on what I have found to be the incredibly hard working, resilient, ins…

Back in Hanoi and several days to while away.  Twiddling my thumbs until I finally get my hands on a Chinese visa [ see note on upcoming Hanoi e…

It’s some ungodly hour.  4.00am it turns out.  I’ve been lying awake.  In a boat cabin in the middle of Ha Long Bay this last half…

Via a brief stay and a night in the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi, Mike and I are now en route for 3 days and 2 nights of hopeful beauty and adventure in…

Midday.  In Hue.  It’s a little grey.  Sad to say.  Hey, that all rhymes; “I’m a poet but I jus’ don’t know it!” etc,…

Day two of falling in love with teeny-tiny, pretty little Hoi An.  I just adore days when I know there’s nothing more complicated or physicall…

Hoi An.  Small and old and quaint.  Perched almost exactly halfway up the east coastal flank of Vietnam.  From friends’ recommendati…

So yesterday, although I hadn’t intended to do so, I threw in the towel (thankfully) and decided to hook up today with on the many Easy Riders that…

“Praiiiiiiiiiise the Lord!!!” etc, etc for I am finally, FIIIIINALLY, thankfully arrived at a destination where there is a cooler climate!  …

Mui Ne is the first of about a five point bus route plan that will take me along the east coastal flank of Vietnam about halfway up the nation’s st…

My final full day in Saigon.  A city in many ways unexpected to me that I have quickly grown to appreciate.  Mostly fast-paced neon, wire a…

That was not the best of nights.  This is not the best of mornings.  I am far from 100 percenting today, but the show, this rather excrucia…

Leaving Gray and his friend to their own devices in Saigon, Mario and I are off for a two day tour of the Mekong River Delta.  The south-westerl…

It of course impossible to visit Vietnam; to be in Saigon without one’s thoughts turning ever so often to consideration of the brutal conflict that…

Time to cross another border.  My shamefully short dash through Cambodia concluded, it’s farewell to Mike (off to Sihanoukville) and “Gooooo…

[Warning : some people may find some of the images reproduced in this entry of a distressing nature, and I apologise for any discomfort caused by the…

Day two at the Angkor Archaeological Park.  Today the boys and I will be taking in the super-size reputed highlights of Angkor.  Mostly the…

The Past is Precious Angkor.  Angkor.  Could I ever reasonably ask for more?  For more of architectural wonder and the world.  A…

We’ve been travelling for nearly 28 hours (including the overnight stop in Kompong Cham) when we arrive midday at Siem Reap. There’s a fifth Mu…

MAN!! Did Gray and I struggle to wrestle and sleep from the clutches of the sweltering heat last night.  It was bad enough, but electricity here…

A scrummy omelette and Lao coffee put away and I’m on one of the 8.30 long tail style boats south along the Mekong river for nearly 2 hours to get …

Moving on a pace people!  60,000 Kip ($8) to friendly giggling hyena manager of Vong Paseud Guesthouse where Aiden and I stayed last night and i…

Hmm.  An interesting night bus from Vientienne to Pakse last night.  First one I’ve been on where you’re provided with a manner of bedd…

Vientiane.  The ‘City of the Moon’.  Population 600,000.  Capital of Laos. And a curious feeling capital city it is too.  As …

Yesterday evening I enthusiastically agreed to join Ian, Baskets, Mark and Nicole for a Tubing session today.  Buuuut on quieter reflection afte…

Yesterday segues into today practically without sleep.  It’s early morning.  Real early morning.  Again.  There are an awful lo…

My final two days in Luang Prabang (LP) are spent getting myself back to near enough 100% whilst mopping up on a few of the key points of interest th…

“Grooooooan!”.  Ache.  Ache.  Ache!  Last night has to be one of the toughest nights of non-sleep I’ve had in a very, very …

Luang Probing (LP) is the first major town encountered on the banks of the Mekong River if one is heading south through Laos.  Its more charming…

“This is the new information for you!” People are getting a little nervy.  Most of us haven’t seen our passports since handing them over …

Well, I’m still here.  Lying in my hammock.  Half reading.  Half dozing.  Wholly chilled to the max.  Time continues to go…

[Owing to further technology problems and the loss of a lot of my Ko Phangan photos asa result, many of those that appear here were taken by either K…

A marginally uncomfortable night, but take a look at the photo of my bed.  Whaddya expect?  I’m up before sunrise.  When the sun’s…

Friends, Romans and countrymen, lend me your Internet Service Providers.  Today I look upon you and the world with new eyes… but only because …

‘Creeeea-crack!’  The old wooden slatted sun lounger I’m lying on gives way a little bit more.  A small lurch down further to my righ…

Well there it goes! Another major landmark on this Journey of Life zooms past me in the rear-view mirror of my days. My fourth decade on Planet Ear…

A brief tale about kindness. A couple of days ago I took out what I swore to myself would be my last 50 Ringgit note (£10).  Absolutely the la…

“Hello, my name is Michelle Yeoh, and I would like to talk to you about the dangers of calcium deficiency.” Well would ya now Michelle.  Th…

Start where I left off yesterday I guess.  You find me once more, standing in awe, of the Petronas Towers.  This time by the light of day.&…

‘Beep-beep.  Beep-beep.  Beep-beep.’  Alright, alRIGHT already!  I know, I know.  It’s time to go.  A small group…

A tiny slither of a silver crescent moon sits above the pre-dawn neon lights of Tanah Rata, one of four or five small(ish) towns strung along the spi…

So my first full day in Penang. ‘Pulan Penang’ - island of the Betel Nut.  The Betel Nut being what is extracted from the Areca Nut when who…

“Okay Langkawi!”  Time for a shift of gear.  Ah, but first we need some gears to hand before we can start to shift ‘em!  Langk…

“Wow!” has it really been a month in Thailand already! “Phewf!” That just flew by.  Time for Malaysia now for a little while.  Ye…

Time to dust off the diving mask, last put into action in Dahab, and get into them inviting  turquoise waters.  Sub-aquatic withdrawl s…

Hello again gang!  You join me now, my nose and eyes peeking over the prow of the mega-horse powered Pak Bara to Ko Lipe speedboat.  Fi…

After a relaxing start to the day - the usual (lame) inclusive breakfast by the mangrove smattered sea front - it’s time for a little physical ex…

Snorkelling, Sunsets and Swarovski Swimming Travel Guilt. Hmm? Am I having my first real pangs of this all too delicious psychological phenomenon?…

I wiggle my toes. The grains play between them. There are so many grains of sand, don’t ya think? I have headed farther south now. The hills a…

“Oh boy-oh boy! What a fabulous way to while away the day!” You now find me in Sukhothai, a sizeable town just off the main north-south rail l…

Well, my one night of discomfort in Mae Hong Son over and done with, I still managed to drag my sorry ass to the bus station and catch a coach back…

Don’t think I’m gonna do much today. Mooch about Mae Hong Son a bit. Back as a solo traveller once more there’s something refreshingly unencu…

“Phew!” It’s nice to have escaped from the chaos of Pai bus station! Less of a bus station than an oversize baseball mound upon which buses o…

Well here we go people!  The eve of the auspicious year 2552!  "Hey, it's a pelendrome.  What more do the hocus pocus merchants amongs…

"FOO!"  What?  Did he just call us fools?  "Foo! Foo!"  Well, quite right too I guess.  "We foo!"  Oh wait.  Right…

'You expose the film in me, we're drawing : Rings around the World. Sooner or later we will melt together and draw : Rings around the World.'&nbsp…

Today was Steve's Christmas treat to himself.  A visit to the Chiang Mai Tiger Kingdom sanctuary and breeding centre.  I had originally int…

Spicythai is a real, real jewel of a hostel. One of those places where after having stayed for just a day or two you know one thing for sure. 1) Yes…

Steve's first Christmas ever away from home and family.  A strange festive time indeed.  For one, the weather's hot today.  Bright sun…

"Why all mean are crap." [A prologue to Thailand] "Okay! Okay!"  Don't get too excited lady readers.  No real bold admissions here.  …

My time in Nepal is nearly at an end. “Sob sob!” Time just enough for one more slice of awe and wonder so today I will head east of Kathmandu t…

The dying of the sacred waters? I begin the day with some formalities.  Checking the amount of the 'exit fee' at the Tourist Centre for when I …

“Groooan!” Why do I still have half my clothes on? Why is my room door open? F**k! I hope none of those f**kin’ bees got in!!! Where are my g…

Time to move onwards and southwards to the even warmer climes of the Royal Chitwan National Park today. Time for a spot of nature watching. Heading…

"Ooooouff!" Boy oh boy it's good to be resting m'weary limbs after all that trekking!  Time to let the muscles and blisters ease maybe... or may…

Early flight back to the peaceful surrounds of Pokhara today.  An early night last night and my body conspire to awaken me way ahead of time.&nb…

Following that rather abstract previous journal entry, a little moment to stop and focus on the town that formed the farthest reach of my two weeks t…

This entry comprises 6th - 8th of December or thereabouts. Okay people. Let’s just see what happens when you try to condense 3 days or so of adven…

(2,860m -> 3,193m -> 1,190m)  Well people.  Another day.  Another dawn.  But what a dawn!  This is The Dawn to do when…

(2,630m - 2,860m)  Well, bright and early again.  Clouds mill about the visible range of mountains (Machhupuchhre et al) that stand before …

"F**k! Today was haaaard work!"  Again.  Physically and psychologically.  It probably shouldn't have been but the muscle wounds inflic…

(4,130m - 2,170m)  Today could be pretty much summed up in one word.  Well, first a phrase "Ooo! Wow that's preeetty!" and then the one wor…

(3,230 m - 4,130 m) Okay so today's the day.  The Big One.  The final push.  Having gradually been climbing in altitude by degrees tod…

(2,360m - 3,230m )  Best part of 7-8 hours on the trail today as collectively (Mino, Maud, Barbara and I) we've decided to get as close to Machh…

(1,940m - 2,360m)  Today was a tough old walk for my still mostly uninitiated legs.  A good 7 and a half to eight hours of walking.  S…

(1,070 metres to 1,940 metres)  Beverley and I are up at the Peace Ganga Hotel super early to get a taxi out to the main bus station.  This…

Well yesterday caught a bus from Kantipath, Kathmandu to travel to Pokhara.  Pokhara is Nepal's second city and sits approximately 250 km west…

(TODAY) "Excuse me.  How much are your marigolds?" (3 MONTHS ON.  THOUGHTS.)  Three months to the day since I started this journey.&n…

Maybe as apt an introduction to Kathmandhu as any other is the city as a tapestry of sound.  Noise.  Arriving just as the final scraps…

So nearly 3 months on the road often with nothing more on the daily menu than backpack bruised-to-death bananas, over-priced foil packets of salted c…

"Why Qatar?!?"  people have asked me on a whole number of occasions.  "Why Qatar there is nothing to do here?!" has warned my good fri…

"Yaaaawn!"  Streeeeeeetch.  Boy. Who woulda thought a night on the dirty, rug covered floor of the spare bolt hole of a Jordanian desert ga…

[ photos to follow at a later through the kindness of Johanna and Thu ] And then there were two.  Stevie and Thu to be precise.  Breakfast…

[ Owing to the loss of my camera in Egypt, photos for this entry since donated through the generosity of travel pals Cameron & Nicole.  I th…

[09/04/09 - photos here kindly donated through the generosity of Cameron and Nicole.  I thank you both. ] "ALLAAAAAAAAAAAAH U AKBAR!!!!!" "Who…

[ Owing to the loss of my camera the photos in this entry have been donated with exceptional kindness by Cameron & Nicole.  I thank you both…

My final day of diving probably for quite some time, so I'm gonna do a famous one.  Maggie, her instructor (whose name I forget.  Dereck?) …

Now this is more like it!  Peace and quiet.  Unpopulated roads.  Genuine Egyptian/ Nubian cafe culture.  Well, some of them anywa…

... you are diving!  I face Steve, my Emporer Divers instructor for the next week or so.  Thumb and first finger pinched together to form a…

[Camera & Egypt photos finally safely returned to me and updated (14/02/09) ...although of little use in aiding this entry as Sharm el Sheikh was…

[Camera and egypt photos kindly returned to me and now updated... although admittedly they are pretty uninspired for this entry... reflecting Hurghad…

[Camera and Egypt photos have finally, safely made their way back to the UK & now Thailand to be updated on blog (13/02/09)] Luxor and its surro…

[Camera and Egypt photos finally returned through the kind efforts of Kylie and my sister (13/02/09)...read on....] After breakfast we set sail on t…

[Camera and photos finally returned to me by my kind sis (13/02/2009) ... view and enjoy etc...] Most people remain asleep swaddled in warm cushions…

[Camera and Egypt photos finally returned and updated (13/0209)...enjoy! ;D  ] A rushed morning of sight seeing activities postponed from the o…

[Camera & Egypt photos finally returned to me and updated (13/02/09)] It's still my first day in Aswan.  Does that make any sense?  Ya…

[Camera and Egypt photos finally returned to me and now updated for your enlightenment and entertainment etc, etc...] In my mind it felt like quite …

A day off to myself. "Phew!" At last.  I chat to Sarah (Australia) and Pierre-Marc (Canada) some cool people staying at King Tut's too.  Sa…

Today I'm back on the road with Yassah the driver.  Another rediculously packed itinerary and no guide this time to (sort of) tell me what it's …

It's 7.20am, day two of 'The Atef Plan'.  I am sat at Ramses train station next to Nadir, one of the Boss Man's many minions who has escorted …

Okay gang arrived quite late in Cairo lastnight without a Scooby Doo what I was supposed to do.  10 minutes and US$15 later I have my first ev…

One of the very first places my friend Despina brought me to on my inaugural trip to Cyprus back in about 2000 was Aphrodite's Birthplace on the sout…

There is always colour and light.   Black to begin with.  Or the various shades of night anyway, call it what colour you will.  Whit…

“Yippee!” Time for some underwater action!  Having grown up by the sea and being a regular(ish) swimmer back home, after 30 days plus on the…

Bede and I wake to the clangings of the schizophrenic bell tower that lives in Riomaggiore.  It strikes every hour on the hour.  Normal, su…

Pisa, another famous Tuscan city of course albeit for maybe one reason only, will be a stop-off town for me today on route to the area on the north w…

“O-o-oh MAN!” that’s got to be the first uninterrupted refreshing nights sleep I’ve had in a week!  “Phew!”  I needed it though…

I’ve tried to do a bit of ‘Lonely Planet’ revision ahead of Florence as of all the cities in Italy, excepting Rome, this is the one they tell y…

Gelati : (Noun, Italian; plural of 'gelato') meaning 1. 'Ice Cream' Gelatinous : (Adjective, English) meaning 1. 'Resembling gelatin or jelly; …

Okay, time to get a little bit more map-conscious today.  Not much, but I wish to see a few of the more ‘off the beaten track’ parts of Veni…

On the final approach to Venice Saint Lucia train station the woman the other side of the isle suddenly chirps out “Are you American sir?”. …

Well I’m pretty tired following last night’s snore-fest as I stumble on to the 8.15 Regionale train to Verona.  One plus for Italy so far is…

Okay, okay, one whole day in the city of the fashionistas.  Edwina my Australian pal shoomed outta town on an early-doors train to Munich this m…

I head from Zermatt to Milan by train and am booked into another Hostel International (HI) here owing to a lack of will to bother finding anything el…

“Holy shitake mushrooms!”*  The things I have seen with these eyes of mine today.   Start it easy Stevie.  An early breakfast an…

Of all the little moments.  The tiny pebbles of consideration and inspiration that tumbled through my mind, eventually turning into the avalanch…

‘People are like stones.  You just have to know what to say.  Strike them at exactly the right point and they will open up.’ - The Gift…

I arrived in Davos yesterday evening and found decent private accommodation with little difficulty and at the same cost as the dormitory hostel, not …

Well time to try once again after yesterday’s stumble in vain, the wrong direction down Memory Lane.  By 10.00 I am back in Schruns boarding t…

WARNING! : This entry may contain semi-nudity, photographic pointlessness and  traces of (being) nuts.   Deeper into the Tyrol region tod…

Today is my first foray into the mountains.  The weather is good again although the morning sun seems to struggle a little today to burn away a …

On the move again. 07.40 : train to Salzburg.  I’m tiiiiired this morning.  Last day of my last clean T-shirt too.  Not a singl…

It’s been said before and it’ll be said again.  Often it’s when you stop looking at the map that you finally get to where you wanted t…

The spectacularly pregnant blister on my right foot, groaning under the wieght of my backpack breaks its waters on the trudge to the bus station.&n…

Acknowledgement : First a brief nod to my fellow Brit globetrotter and long-time star of TB, Phil Deats (Deats).  It was in the very early stage…

Prague…ah Prague…”sigh”…My word. Whether to write a journal entry for or a love letter to this fabulous city?  Ok, I’ll spare you th…

Another farewell to a friend.  The last for quite a while.  Another day.  Another train.  The day commences overcast, yet no rain…

Halle. Halle? What to say about Halle?  It is a town in what was formerly East Germany, a certain number of miles south (I think?) of Leipzig.&n…

As one would expect on a coach, a fitful night of partial sleep but the dawn is a pleasant reward.  The ‘Poor’ Berliner girl stretches, turn…

“Man oh man!” Such a luxury to wake up in a proper bed.  No laminate floorboards.  No Greek men lying by my side :)  I did th…

Well, this is definitely a first for me… waking up in the same room as an American, a Fin and in the same bed as a Greek man! “Yelp!”  I t…

Well, you’re probably exhausted from the last two entries if you’re eyeballs and will to live made it to the end of the text so I’ll keep this …

Man that was a PUNISHING night's sleep!!   Kaz is a great guy, and in many ways my incorporating him into the early part of my trip is in aid …

‘Threads’ (Part 1 of 3)   - "Iz okaay Mista, iz okay, I work for da church!"   Yeah, really, I’m sure. It’s about 8.45 in the mo…

There’s some confusion at the ticket office. Nothing to do with my at-best patchy French skills I swear! Besides I have Jules on hand to help out…

 Today will be my one full, final day (for now) with members of my family.  They have been here several times before visiting Julia and are…

I awake from a rather fitful sleep in a reclining chair aboard The Bretagne with just about enough orientation to find the bathroom, freshen up and g…

An Introduction : Just a brief word here before I continue on my journey in earnest.  So yep, time to tackle the world and for the most part…

So in the end maybe it’s as simple and gentle as that.  A pleasant bowl of luscious pasta with mince, olives and smoked applewood cheese knock…