My World Map

I just thought I would share with you this really cool thing that I found on the web. Below is my travel map and highlighted are all the countries I've visited. It's really great for people like you and me who love to travel and show all the places they've been to. It's especially good for people like me whose ambition it is to travel to every country in the world. This map shows me how well, or not so well I'm doing.

 I thought I had visited a lot of places and to be honest it does look like I've conquered a lot of the globe, but according the the travel map I have only visited 17 per cent of the world. This does not sound like much at all, although it does not count Scotland and Wales as separate countries and I do. It also obviously hasn't got the new country of South Sudan on the map yet, which just became a new nation on Friday. So it looks like I have one more country to add to my list.

Don't get me wrong though, for me it's not just a list and something to tick off. I want to experience, feel, taste and meet people in every country.

So for those of you who want to see your own map of the world. Visit www.world66.com and click on my world, then map of the world.



create your own visited country map

Travel makes us smarter and sexier

According to a new Lonely Planet article travel makes us smarter and sexier. I always knew that there were more reasons to travel than just to see new places and have fun and now it has been proven by scientific research.

I have always learnt so much on my travels, from the terrible history of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia to the life of Picasso in Barcelona and all about whales in Argentina. I truly believe that travel is one of the best educations you can get.

The article claims that travel also makes you younger, well this may not be entirely true, but life does slow down the more you travel. Everyone always says how fast life goes and it does when you are doing the same things day in and day out, but have you noticed that a two week holiday seems to last a lot longer because you are experiencing new things everyday.  Two years ago I travelled around South America for five months, when I look back on all the places I went to and all the things I did during those five months, it seems like I was there more than a year. In comparison these last two years back in London have flown by.

The third thing that this article claims, is that travel makes you more productive. Now this I do agree with. When I come back from travelling I always have new ideas for articles, new art ideas I want to try out and new dishes to cook. Travel definitely inspires me to do more things that I would never have even thought of before.

Lastly, the article claims that travel makes us more sexy, I'm not entirely convinced by this one. It might make us more intelligent and therefore the opposite sex might find us more interesting - making us appear sexier, however other than getting a tan, I not sure it makes us physically sexier. Sorry guys. But, let me know if you have found this one to be true too. Suffice to say, we definitely make conversations more interesting and if that makes us attractive then great!

Any way you look at though travel is good for us. Click here to read the article and the scientific research for yourself.

New Travel Writing Job

Well, as some of you know already, but a lot of you probably don't, I will be starting a new job writing for Wexas. I will be writing travel itineraries and articles for their website. Don't worry though, I will still keep up with the travel blogging here and keep you up to date with my travel related musings.

London and The Royal Wedding

So yesterday was the Royal Wedding as you all know, and while many people decided to take the extra bank holiday to go travelling, my travelling was a bit closer to home this time - to the centre of London!

The day started by hopping on the tube, and as soon as I got on I could feel electricity in the air. People starting piling on wearing crowns, Union Jack wigs and wacky costumes, and as I got out at Hyde Park station the atmosphere was positively buzzing. As I walked towards the 3 giant screens showing live coverage of the wedding, I was handed a free William and Kate flag and proceeded set up my picnic blanket alongside 120,000 others. We all watched as Prince William appeared first in his military red uniform and a big roar rose up from the crowd as 120,000 flags were waved ceremoniously in the air. Then there was the gasp as we all spotted Kate's dress for the first time and the cheers and flag waving happened all over again.

I looked around me and saw a strange mix of people all here to celebrate, those with wedding dresses on, those that had come dressed for a wedding, the hundreds of other Wills' and Kates' or those strange few that had come in any old fancy dress, even if it was a bright purple spandex super hero suit or a multi coloured jester outfit. Bands were playing and Pimms was being handed out, it felt more like a festival than a wedding. I looked down at my jeans and royal blue top and wondered if I could have made a bit more of an effort.


Suddenly, I realised that  I had reached the height of Royal Wedding fever, I wanted to be in the action, I wanted to actually see William and Kate for real. I was only a short walk away from Buckingham Palace, and was sure I would be able to make it in time for the all-important kiss on the balcony scene. I skipped the procession on the big screen and started at a fast pace towards the Palace. As soon as  I got within a mile of the Palace though I knew I had made a big mistake, I couldn't even see the road for the thousands and thousands of people standing in front of me. I felt myself being crushed in all sides, a huge backpack pushing me from behind into a bicycle in front. Somehow I had managed to get one side of a small fence and I was stuck. Policemen were shouting and us and wouldn't let us past even though there seemed to be lots of space and people walking on the other side. A surge began and people started to push and shout and I felt like I couldn't breathe, I longed to be back in the park and watching the big screen again.

Finally, somehow (I'll never really know exactly),  I managed to get back to the park just in time to see Kate and William appear on the balcony on the big screen. A World War II bomber plane flew past the balcony on t.v. and then in appeared right in the sky above us. We all waved and cheered at the plane and as Kate and William leaned in for the royal kiss, the crowd went crazy and not one single inch of the sky was to be seen as 120,000 arms, flags, cork bottle tops and who knows what else was thrown up into the air.  Now, I usually don't get caught up in things like this and I am not patriotic at all - in fact most of the time I wouldn't even consider myself to be British, but just at that moment with everyone cheering as hard as they could and all waving their flags I felt proud to be British and wouldn't have wanted to travel anywhere else in the world at that moment - England was perfect.

Get Your Easter Chocolate Fix in Barcelona

It's Easter tomorrow, and while we all know the true meaning of Easter, most of us will associate it with chocolate. Forget about going to Belgium or Switzerland for your chocolate fix though, Barcelona has now emerged onto the scene as the new place to go for chocolate and the city is re-staking its claim as Europe's chocolate capital.

Barcelona was actually the first European city to get chocolate after it was brought over by Spanish explorers from South America and it was here that the first chocolate factory was built. For the past few years chocolate boutiques have been springing up around the city that present chocolate more like pieces of art than pieces of food. Visitors to the city will find many of these artisan chocolate shops, selling everything chocolate they could ever want,  from chocolate beer to chocolate CDs.

Not only is Barcelona the perfect place to buy and eat chocolate, but it is also the place to educate yourself about this delicious treat as it is home to a chocolate museum.  El Museu de la Xocolata, details the history of this addictive treat and its journey from a spicy drink in Mexico to the sweet it is today. Every year around Easter the museum also holds the Annual International Chocolate Figure Competition, where chocolate artists from all over the world go to  to compete. Feast your eyes on a giant chocolate model of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia or a life size model of literary famed, Don Quixote.

Enjoy chocolate tours around the city or go for a meal in a restaurant composing of three courses all made from chocolate. Whatever you decide, you will find that Barcelona will surprise you as one of the top chocolate places in the world.

Coffee Around the World

Since last week was the first ever UK Coffee Week, raising money for African coffee producing countries, I have decided to dedicate this blog to this much loved (and sometimes much needed) drink. Coffee is grown on many different continents of the world and the production of coffee now brings in income to many people who rely mainly on the West’s consumption of it. Coffee has become not only a drink, but also a social interaction between people, and like everything else in the world, coffee comes in many different types. Let’s take a look at coffees around the world.

The Largest Producer of Coffee in the World – The coffee giant of this world is also one of the world’s largest countries and is home to the most important eco-system in the world. It is of course Brazil. Brazil produces about 35% of the world’s coffee and its main export is a type of coffee called Santos.

Best Coffee in the World – There has been much debate about this topic and just like wine tasting, coffee tasting and coffee critics are just as serious. A new list is produced every year, but one coffee that quite often tops the list and appears in the lots of web searches for the best type of coffee is the Esmeralda Special grown in Panama. It hails from one farm in Western Panama and it is also one of the most expensive, fetching up to £76 per pound. This is not the most expensive coffee in the world though.

Most Expensive Coffee in the World – The most expensive coffee is also one of the most disgusting sounding coffees in the world, as it is also known as poo coffee. It is called Kopi Luwak and comes from Indonesia and the coffee is so expensive because each individual coffee berry has to pass through the body of a weasel like animal first called a civit. The civit digests part of the berry and what is left it excretes and this is turned into coffee! No really – I’m joking.

Most Unexpected Coffee Growing Country – Until researching for this blog, I wasn’t aware that America actually grows its own coffee – well not America specifically, but the island of Hawaii.  It may not produce a lot of coffee but has consistently won awards for the standard and taste of its unique coffee beans.

Most Significant Coffee Growing Countries in the World – Apart from the countries I have mentioned, other significant coffee growing countries include: Ethiopia, Colombia, Costa Rica and Kenya.

So tomorrow morning when you are taking your first sip of coffee just think about where it might have come from.

Travelling with your Kindle

I recently got a Kindle and I have heard a lot of good and bad press and comments about whether a Kindle is a good device to go travelling with (as a guidebook substitute) or not. On a recent trip to Malta, I decided to use my Kindle, rather than buy a paperback to see for myself. I bought Malta chapters from Lonely Planet and downloaded them to my Kindle for use on the trip. 

On the plus side –

•  I found it great being able to store my reading books and guidebooks on one small device instead of lugging around 3 or 4 books with me.
• I also felt safe carrying my kindle around, it doesn’t look big or too expensive so I was not worried about it being stolen. 

On the negative side - 

•  The writing and maps were extremely small so I had to squint to be able to see anything. The maps were so small that they were basically unusable, not great since I use maps all the time when I’m travelling.
• The maps took 5 minutes or more to load and I found myself thinking that it would have been much quicker to just look on a paper map.
• There is no index with the kindle guides so finding the page you want quickly can be a bit of challenge.
• Don’t try and use your kindle to access the Internet while away, it will be much quicker to find an Internet cafe. The kindle can’t click on certain buttons and won’t let you click send when writing e-mails. 

Overall, I think that Kindles are good travelling devices for reading books. They may be OK for certain guidebooks, as long as you had separate maps. I think though, that I will stick to paperbacks for my guidebooks until I can get an iPad or another device that works even better. 

Great Places to go in Florida, while avoiding Disney World!

So, in the blog before last I promised you all that I would find great places to visit in Florida, without following the Mickey Mouse going crowds travelling to Orlando, and I certainly did.
The best way to travel around Florida is to hire a car as there is little or no public transport in some places and a lot of places in the towns and cities are far away from each other. You will often also find that there are no sidewalks/pavements. Distances are surprisingly not that bad, so a few hours driving a day will suffice if your heading down state.

The local Floridians told me that the weather is generally better on the west side of the state, as it is cooler and there is more of a breeze, so we'll start our tour there. If you want to avoid Orlando all together, there are direct flights from many places straight to Tampa.

St Petersburg - Just south of Tampa, is the beautifully located city of St Petersburg, which sits looking out over the bay. Head down to The Pier where you can take part in a whole range of activities, such as boat trips around the bay, fishing trips and dolphin sight seeing tours. There are also Segway tours around the city and quad bicycles that you can hire from the pier. Don't forget to check out the 'pelican feeding station' where people of all ages will have a great time throwing fish for the pelicans to catch. At the end of the pier there is a large building full of great restaurants, the best being Cha Cha Coconuts, where you can enjoy great Mexican and tropical Caribbean inspired food while taking in the gorgeous views over the water. Up until a few years ago, there wasn't much in the way of culture in the city, but this has all changed thanks to a new Dali museum that has opened up. The museum is housed in a beautiful yet quirky building designed especially and is home to the largest collection of Dali's work outside Spain - this is a definite must see for all Dali fans.

Bradenton and Sarasota - Heading south again are the cities of Bradenton and Sarasota. While there is not much to do in Bradenton itself, taking a trip to Bradenton Beach is well worthwhile. The beach area is like a separate town in itself, with loads to do including visiting the old historical town. The road along the beach is lined with Southern style multi-coloured buildings serving as home made ice cream parlours, shell shops and beach apparel shops. There are wooded picnic areas lining the beach where you can even cook your own barbecue and don't forget to visit the beach itself, with it's pure white sand and clear turquoise sea. Sarasota has a great harbour and marina to visit which is perfect for ambling along looking at the pelicans and admiring the view. You can hire out boats here or simply sit outside with cold ice tea and one of the tiki-hut style beach bars.

San Marco Island - For a bit of luxury, why not visit San Marco island, located at bottom west side of the state. It is home to beautiful houses, beautiful beaches and beautiful people, albeit most of them old and retired. This is the place to just sit back and relax.

Everglades City - A 30 minute drive from San Marco island and you'll find yourself in a different world of the everglades. Here you will feel like you are miles from anywhere and is not too unlike the Australian outback. Strange bird calls sound out through the forest and thick mist hovers just above the ground giving the area a magical yet spooky feel. Mangrove swamps are in abundance here, as are the sly-eyed alligators who watch you from there muddy pools. The Everglades are also a grate place for bird watchers, being home to many exotic species. There are a few place that hire out kayaks and canoes and a myriad of places that will take you on airboat rides across the marshes.

Swimming with the dolphins in Florida

Ok, so having caught a bug on the plane on the way over, I was ill during most of my trip to Florida, hence why I haven't been blogging as often as I would have liked.

Towards the end of the week though, I managed to get well enough to realise one of my life long travel dreams - swimming with the dolphins! Ever since I knew dolphins existed, I have wanted to swim with one. I saw my first dolphin in Florida at the age of 10 and now 16 years later, I am back in Florida for the second time, realising my dream.

There is something about travel and the feeling that you deserve to realise your dreams while you're there or you may not get the chance again. Dolphin Cove, the place where I swam, had a unique approach to dolphin swimming, in that all contact was initiated by the dolphins themselves and if they chose not to participate in the swim and interaction with me, they wouldn't have to. To my relief, both my assigned dolphins - 17 year old Alfonso and 7 year old Leo chose to take part. They swam under my hands, they swam under my hands so I could hold onto their fins and they pushed me along by feet. It was an amazing feeling to feel that they were the ones that had complete control and I was just like a dolphin toy! They felt like pieces of rubber covered in silk and were so unbelievably powerful and strong.

I also learned a great deal about an animal I thought I knew a lot about already. For example, did you know that mother dolphins name each of babies and can call them individually? Or that dolphins see an x-ray of your body when they look at you with echo-location?

Thank you Alfonso and Leo for making my dream come true!

Second Trip of the Year

Well, I'm going on my second trip of the year next week .... and I didn't think I'd be able to go anywhere this year! So next time you hear from me, I'll be blogging from sunny Florida! Stay tuned to find out what's hot in Florida this spring and where to go to avoid the Mickey Mouse going crowds and see the real Florida.

First Day of Spring in London

Since I've been writing about all these far-flung destinations, I thought it was about time to talk about a  destination a bit closer to home - London. Yesterday felt the like first day of spring here in London (although we seem to have regressed back to winter again today), the sun was actually shining, the daffodils and blossom trees were blooming, the squirrels had come out of hibernation and it seemed that the whole of London had descended on it's parks for this long-awaited day.

I spent the day, like a lot of Londoners yesterday, in Kensington Gardens. It is a large and beautiful park in the grounds of Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana used to live and where a few royals still live today. I had my first picnic of the year of fresh salads, sitting in the park and then went to see the outdoor sculpture exhibition, by world renowned artist - Anish Kapoor. The sculptures consist of a series of huge mirrored discs and cones dotted around the park, which, when the sun is shining, mirror the sky. I finished my amble through the park at the Lido cafe and sat outside, sipping my cappuccino, watching the pedalo boats paddle across the lake and graceful swans glide in between their paths.

London has some of the best city parks in the world and if you get the chance you should definitely come and visit and see for yourself what they have to offer.

Pancake Day - Pancakes Around the World

Today is Shrove Tuesday, also known in the UK as Pancake Day. Although many countries throughout the world celebrate this day differently, some throw festivals or have carnival processions, I thought that I would focus this blog on pancakes, because of the universality of this food.  If we look at the world’s cuisine, we find that many countries have their own versions of pancakes.

The French Crepe – These are probably one of the world’s most famous pancakes, thin paper-like pancakes, cooked on hot griddles in the street. They can be eaten savoury - with fromage (cheese) or sweet – smothered in Nutella.

American – American pancakes are big, fluffy and thick. They are usually sweet and are eaten for breakfast; they can be made with an array of ingredients from blueberries to chocolate chips and are often covered in maple syrup.

English – Pancakes from the England are somewhere in between the French crepe and the American fluffy pancake and are almost always eaten sprinkled with sugar and sprayed with lemon juice. On Pancake Day some towns and villages have pancake races, where people dress up and run through the streets tossing pancakes in a frying pan.

Chinese – Chinese pancakes are an essential accompaniment to that world famous Chinese dish – Crispy Peking Duck. These pancakes are thin and made without egg and milk; and are just a simple flour and water dough. They also have that all-important flavour of sesame oil.

German – German pancakes are large, puffy and light. These pancakes are baked in the oven instead of cooked in a frying pan or griddle. They can be eaten with powdered sugar or are often made with potato or apple. 

Dutch – The Dutch are also world renowned for their pancakes, these pancakes are as big as pizzas. They are kind of similar to the German pancakes, but made in frying pan and can be eaten with a large variety of toppings.

Scotch – The Scottish make their pancakes small and puffy, in Scotland they are often referred to as drop scones. After they are made, they are great toasted and most often eaten with butter and jam.

Mexican – Mexican pancakes are like flat dough balls and are usually fried in a little more oil than other pancakes. They are traditionally served when they are a deep golden brown colour and smothered in honey.

This morning I decided to go for the American chocolate chip pancakes (I couldn’t resist). I also made some American gingerbread pancakes, which were a new one for me, both topped with homemade honey and cinnamon syrup. Here’s the pic. If you want to make these click here to find the recipe.

P.S. Happy International Women’s Day! Here’s to all the inspirational women out there. Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkp4t5NYzVM

How much should you plan for a long haul backpacking trip?

To plan or not to plan, that is the question. Personally, when I decide to go on a long backpacking trip, I love to plan and research. I buy guidebooks, look at photos on the Internet and look up potential guesthouses/hostels to stay in. For me, planning is the thing that gets me excited about my trip. I like to print out little maps and draw imaginary routes of where I think I might go, but despite all this, I am not an obsessive planner. I think that when embarking on long backpacking trips you need to sometime let the trip take its course, you can’t possibly know exactly when you will arrive at each destination (public transport in a lot of countries doesn’t allow for this), or know how long you will want to stay in each, so leave some things for when you get there.

Here are the things that you should and shouldn’t plan in advance:

• Book your first few night of accommodation, but don’t book too far ahead as inevitably your plans will change and you can’t guarantee exactly when you will arrive in each place.
• Sort out visas for the initial countries you are going to visit, if you don’t know exactly when you will be entering countries further on into your trip, don’t worry, these can be sorted out on the road. You can always visit embassies to help you sort these out, or most popular backpacking destinations have travel agent offices that can sort these out for you. In some places they only take a few days to process.
• Make sure you get the correct vaccinations at least a month or two before you travel, to ensure that they have enough time to work.
• Make sure you have some type of guidebook with you and maps of the cities you are you going to visit. Safety advice and knowing where you are going can be life saving when backpacking.
• Map out roughly where you think you want to go and countries you want to visit (but be prepared for this to change).
• Don’t bother booking buses or trains in your destination country before you leave, wait until you arrive, as booking transport there will be a lot easier. These can either be booked a few days in advance or on the day of travel.
• Insurance – insurance should always be booked before you travel, so that you are covered from the day you leave home. Backpacking trips are often unpredictable so make sure you have this. 
• Check on the safety and political situation and stability of the country you are going to, by visiting the governments website Know Before You Go -  http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/

Best Travel Movies

Since the Oscars were a couple of days ago, and we all have movies on the brain, I thought I would talk about my favourite travel movies. So, if you can’t afford to go anywhere right now, or don’t have the time then these movies will transport you to far away lands and show you windows in other cultures.

Hideous Kinky – This movie follows the story of a young English woman in the 1970’s who goes to live in Morocco with her two small daughters and stars Kate Winslet. The film shows stunning shots of Marrakech that are so realistic that you’ll feel like you are actually there. It also gives you an insight into Moroccan culture and it’s peoples, from the people that the mother and her daughters meet along the way.

La Casa del Los Locos / Auberge Espagnole / Pot Luck – Believe it or not, these are actually 3 different names for the same movie depending on weather you get the Spanish, French or English version. The truth is though, it doesn’t matter which version you get, as the movie is in all 3 languages. It follows the story of a French guy who moves to Barcelona to study abroad for a year. There, he shares a house with Spanish and English students and communicates with them in their respective languages. The film shows beautiful scenes of Barcelona and is a must see for any of you who have gone to study abroad and those of you wanting to brush up on your Spanish or French language skills.

The Beach – One of the most iconic travel movies, but maybe one of the most untrue as well (or maybe not, I guess there could be a secret paradise island of foreigners somewhere). The movie does in parts give great insight into what it is like to travel around South East Asia and shows great shots Thailand’s cities and beaches. Although ‘the beach’ does not actually exist, it is maybe one of movies that actually fulfil our travel fantasies. If you don’t know the story, it follows a group of traveller’s who find a secret paradise island and all choose to stay there to live.  It stars Leonardo DiCaprio.

Broke Down Palace – Ok so this movie is pretty old now, but for me really shows the essence of a travel movie, going to discover a new place, to have an adventure. Unfortunately it doesn’t turn out quite as expected for the girls, Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale. It is not exactly the way you want your adventure to turn out – getting locked up in a Thai prison for drug smuggling. So this might be more like a nightmare travel movie, but is still a great watch and shows some beautiful shots of Bangkok, as well as giving a great insight on Thai culture. 

Motorcycle Diaries – The film tells the story of the young Che Guevara, who travels around South America with his best friend on a motorcycle. The film has some really beautiful cinematography of the scenery in Argentina, Chile, Peru, and into the Amazon. In the end, it turns out not to be so much about the actual travel, but about helping people along the way. A beautiful must see film.

Travel with Social Responsibility

My last blog post made me think about the way that we interact with local people on our travels; I believe that we all have a social responsibility to the people and countries we visit. It’s not good enough to only go on tours set up by companies in our own countries or to only stay in government hotels. It’s the every day people that need to benefit from out tourism. Here are my top tips for responsible travel:

• ·      Try to stay at hotels or guesthouses run by local families, instead of ones that are run by large companies or the government (even if you can only do this for part of your trip).

• ·      Volunteer, even if it’s only for one day. Why not go and visit an orphanage, school or local hospital? In developing countries this is easier than you think. In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I asked the owner of the family run guesthouse I was staying at if he knew of an orphanage that I could visit for the day. He was more than happy to tell me where one was and I spend a rewarding day playing with the kids and watching them enjoying using the coloring books I had bought at the local market. 

• ·      Use local guides, this way your money goes directly to the people who need it most, instead of the owner of a big company, they will probably have better inside information too.

• ·      Be aware of your carbon footprint and offset your air-miles, there are many websites where you can do this, here is the UK government one http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk

• ·      Don’t give up long haul travel completely though, locals need us to be there. In the Amazon, some loggers have now become tour guides as they make more money this way, however if tourists stay away completely they will have no choice but to go back to logging.

Images Copyright of Dan Convey

Mixed-race adoption policy gets new guidelines

Yesterday I saw this news story on the BBC website, Mixed-race adoption policy gets new guidelines and although not technically a travel story, it is a subject close to my heart and as travellers, we should be aware of interracial/intercultural issues.  It states that the British government have now changed their views on interracial adoption and have now said that race should not stand as barrier when authorities are choosing prospective parents. My first reaction when I read this story was, it’s about time! I cannot believe that in this day in age, up until yesterday the UK government was against interracial adoption, in a country that is so multicultural. The issue has become a problem as now there a lot more ethnic minority children who need adopting here in the UK and lots of white families who are willing to, but are not allowed to. When my family adopted 2 children from Uganda, we decided to adopt them through the Ugandan adoption system, rather than the British one, for the very reason that the British government did not support interracial adoption and would have probably made the process very difficult for us or not allow it at all. There are so many children that need parents and love throughout the world, why should race stand in the way of this? I congratulate the UK government on their decision to change these views.

There have been a lot of positive comments now this story, but it saddens me to read a lot of racist comments as well. There are also a lot of people who claim that children would not know their own cultural if adopted by a family of a different race. I believe that it is important to know your cultural heritage, but if it is a question of not being adopted at all or being adopted by a family of a different race, then ask yourself which is better? It’s not as if they will learn much about their cultural heritage in an orphanage. These days there are a lot of ways to learn about culture, through cultural groups, books and the Internet, that I don’t believe this issue is in danger of happening.

There are many people who support this issue though, I know just from riding the tube in London with my brother and sister, the support we get from the black community here. I hope now, that because this view has now been changed with our government it will start to make a difference. 

Unexpected Destinations that are Easy for Vegetarians

Being a vegetarian, I have sometimes found it difficult to find food that I can eat on my travels, but here are 3 places where I expected it to be difficult and found it surprisingly easy.

Argentina – OK, so every knows that Argentina is famous for it’s giant steaks, but unless you’ve been there you won’t know that it is also a great place for Italian food. Because of the number of Italian immigrants that moved to Argentina you can get pastas caseras (homemade pasta) filled with a variety of cheeses and vegetables as well as delicious vegetarian pizzas.

China – In the UK your only vegetarian choice in a Chinese takeaway is probably vegetable chow mein, but food in China is very different and there are a great array of vegetable dishes to choose from such as spicy aubergine or broccoli and tofu in garlic sauce. Although it may appear to be difficult to be a vegetarian here, the trick is to tell them you are Buddhist, they’ll soon get the idea and bring you an assortment of tasty veggie dishes.

Thailand – Most Thai dishes tend to contain chicken or seafood, so vegetarians might be at a bit of a loss when looking at a Thai menu, however I have found that Thai people are very accommodating and will fix you a vegetarian version of whatever is on the menu. If staying in Bangkok around Khao San Road then check out Mr. Yim’s vegetarian street-food stall on Soi Rambuttri, it’s the best vegetarian food in Bangkok and only costs about 50p per meal. 

My Top Five Most Romantic Travel Destinations

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Since today is the day of love and romance, I thought I would share with you some of the most romantic places I have been to on my travels.

…and before you ask – no Paris and Rome are not listed in my top five. I can’t think of anything more unromantic than my time spent in Paris amid a riot, trying to escape tear gas and police, only to run into a guy taking a dump behind his car.  And, although Rome has some gorgeous places, it is too stressful trying not to get run over every 5 minutes to be romantic. Take my advice and stick to these places for a little romance and you can always save Paris and Rome for when you want a bit more of an adventure.  

1) Siem Reap, Cambodia – Travelling around some of the world’s most beautiful temples in a tuk tuk made for two could be one of the most romantic trips you ever take. Explore these ancient wonders together and loose yourselves in a place that time forgot. 

2) The Beach, The Philippines – Any beach will do, they are all stunningly beautiful and the Philippines is home to over 1,500 islands, so you are never short of one. Think paradise – are you picturing white sandy beaches and sea the colour of bright aqua marine, filled with tropical fish and dolphins jumping through the waves?  Yep – well that’s not just in your imagination; those places do really exist in the Philippines.

3) Barcelona, Spain – I can’t think of a city I’d rather be in for a romantic weekend than Barcelona. Barcelona has everything, the beach, great food, stunning architecture, relaxing parks and cosy bars. Hold hands while you explore mazes of tiny winding streets and sip wine in secret bars tucked away in the labyrinth of El Borne.  

4) Cordoba, Argentina – Here, you wander the streets hand in hand beneath cathedrals and churches while from a distance you can hear the faint sound of the accordion playing soft passionate tango music. As you approach the main square you come across couples, young, old and new tangoing in their own styles beneath the starry sky.

5) Sevilla, Spain – Take a horse and carriage ride through this sun-drenched city, eat dinner outdoors by candle light, watch a heart pumping flamenco show or sit by a fountain listening to the sounds of the Spanish guitar all under the spires of this amazing city bathed in golden light. It is so indescribably beautiful you will have to go there to appreciate how romantic it really can be.

Photos: Copyright of Dan Convey

Travel and Career - can we really have both?

I recently read an article on the Lonely Planet newsletter entitled Travel vs. career: does it have to be all or nothing? This is a topic, which I have been thinking about a lot over the past few years and one that resonates strongly in my life.  I naively hadn’t thought that other people might be facing the same dilemma as me until I read this article. It just seemed that everyone else had it figured out, which now I find out is not true. Up until this point, I have always put travel first in my life. Sure, I have gone abroad to work, the typical English teaching and temping in countries where I could, but this never really leads to long-term job prospects.

Now I find though that I am being left behind, all my peers and friends have jobs, and careers at least 2 or 3 steps up the ladder. Some are now managers, have their own businesses, are earning lots of money and are able to buy their own houses. I, on the other hand having decided that I should probably become more qualified to get a job, have just finished my Masters and am now unemployed.

Of course people will say, “Just get a job that involves travel.” These I found out a very few and far between and in order to get these jobs in the first place you need lots of years experience. But, what about those of us that are still relatively young, can we ever really begin our careers in the first place if we keep on travelling? Job agencies won’t even look at you if you have gaps in your career history, “… and what were you doing these few months here or this half a year here?” You can’t very well tell them that all those times were holidays.  Or those jobs that do look at you wonder why you have changed jobs so often and haven’t been in one job more than 3 months.

Don’t get me wrong, I have loved every single second of my travels and wouldn’t change those years for sitting behind the desk of any company in the world, but I do feel that this has been in detriment to my career, or lack of it I should say.  What I have done though and what has stayed constant with me throughout is my writing. Everywhere I have been I have written travel articles, after hard work and persistence I have now had quite a few of them published in magazines, online and in newspapers. I even wrote a few chapters for a Time Out guidebook while I was travelling around Argentina. I guess I would have to conclude that travel and writing about it is my career, even though I am not sitting behind a desk and I do not know where my next pay cheque is coming from.

So, can we really have a career and travel? Does it have to be all or nothing? I think in a way, that at some point we all have to choose.

Why Malta is a Worthwhile Winter Destination

            I have not blogged for a while as I have just been on my first trip of the year, to Malta. Malta, not exactly a winter sun destination was the cheapest and marginally warmest place we could find to go at this time of year. So, while its too cold for lazing on the beach, snorkelling or diving, the night life is dead at this time of the year and you’ll be surrounded by Brits over 60, then why go?

I believe that a trip to Malta in winter is worth your while, however old you are.

        
         Malta is a fusion of all things Mediterranean and while it may not be warm in February, it is not freezing either and you’ll still be able to find the sun, which so often eludes us during these dark grey months. January and February and are the perfect months to avoid the drunken partygoers and be able to enjoy the islands cultural heritage, history and architecture without melting and wilting in the summer sun (the locals claim that in the summer it’s too hot to do anything).

        You can marvel at the island’s beautifully stunning architecture and get lost in its tiny maze like streets, and find yourself staring at one of it’s many impressive churches and cathedrals.

        
        Educate yourself in the island’s amazing and complex history, from ancient megalithic temples (older than Stonehenge), to its important role during both the World Wars. War museums, old forts and unexploded bombs will quench your thirst for history, as will the island’s numerous references to knights and crusaders.

           
        And if history is not your thing, visit quaint fishing villages and craft markets, sample delicious sea food or wander the streets of the capital Valletta stopping to eat pizzas and pastas filled with ricotta or swordfish dripping in sage butter or swirled in rich tomato and basil sauces. The food here rivals Italy and is infinitely cheaper.

        But, I recommend doing all these things on an island that has so much more to offer in winter, than the sunburnt bodies on their yachts and the 18-year-old night clubbers in summer. 




Photos: Copyright of Dan Convey

Is Volunteering Becoming Unaffordable?

           Increasingly young people are taking gap years to travel and do some volunteering abroad, while older people are taking career breaks to do the same. While volunteering is a great way to experience other cultures, meet the locals, brush up on your language skills and ultimately help people less fortunate than yourself, I often hear a lot of complaints that it has become an unaffordable activity.            

            Volunteer abroad companies regularly charge in excess of £1000 for the chance to help people and this is often on top of accommodation and food. The money to keep these organisations going and the local people employed has to come from somewhere, but is it right to take it from the young people who just want to help? Obviously you have to pay for your own flight, accommodation and food, but there are a lot of organisations out there who charge in order to profit.

            Volunteering is definitely worthwhile though, and some of these companies do a great service in educating, helping and saving people’s lives. Before you go make sure you research volunteer companies thoroughly, if they are charging you, don’t be scared to ask where your money is going. If it is being used for the up keep of the orphanage, school, hospital or whatever then consider paying the price, but if it is just going to the middle man sitting at their desks in the UK, then you might want to reconsider. Take a look at this article entitled The Cost of Volunteering, which explains where your money might be going. The best thing is to cut out the middle man altogether and contact the places you want to volunteer at directly, making sure your money is going to the right place.  

Here is a list of websites, where you can find free or reasonably priced volunteer programs and advice on volunteering.

http://www.volunteersouthamerica.net/

http://www.vaops.com/

http://www.otracosa.nl/

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/volunteer/

Small World

            Everyone always tells you that it’s a small world. I know what they mean, but it’s hard to agree, with over 6 billion people on the planet and so many countries and places to visit it could take you a lifetime. However, a few years ago I was faced with my own proof that the world is indeed small (in some respects anyway). I was reading a book called Take Me With You by Brad Newsham.  It was a true story about a man who travelled the world in order to find someone he could give a gift to and take them back to America with him for a holiday. Newsham travelled all around Asia and Africa and made lots of friends with locals along the way. When he returned to America, he wrote back to all the friends he had made. A few of these friends wrote back to him, these names he put in a hat to randomly choose whom he would invite to America. The person he chose was Tony, a man from a small village near the Banaue rice terraces in the Philippines.  He then brought Tony back to America to visit him and raised money to send Tony to a proper dentist and to get a proper glass eye, as he had lost his eye in an accident.

            I used to live in the Philippines and had actually trekked though the rice terraces in Banaue. In the book it mentioned that Tony had a wife called Rita. This sounded very familiar to me, as our guide for a 3-day trek through the rice terraces was a woman called Rita and her husband whom I had forgotten the name of. This was such a coincidence that I couldn’t help but wonder if they were the same people as in the book. I decided to find out, so I looked up Brad Newsham’s contact details on his website and sent him an e-mail telling him my story and asking him if he had a photo of Rita, to see if it was the same woman. A few days later a lovely e-mail came back with a photo of Rita, Tony and their kids. Rita was the same lady who had guided us around the rice terraces and her husband, Tony had come to find us in the terraces after he heard that some tourists had been attacked by rebels nearby.

            It was amazing to discover a whole book about these 2 people in a book, 6 years after I had met them in a tiny village in the Philippines. This showed me that no matter where you are in the world, it is a small place. 

Recipe for Indonesian Cold Noodle Salad

This is a dish that a friend made for me when I lived in The Philippines. It’s a really quick and easy dish that you can eat on your own as a ready meal or add to as part of a dinner party for guests. The flavours of this dish really bring back memories of travelling through South East Asia.

Ingredients: (Quantities don’t really matter in this recipe, it just kind of depends on how spicy, sweet or peanuty you like your sauce)

Peanut Butter

Garlic

Soy Sauce

Honey

Sesame Oil

Tahini (Sesame Paste)

Fresh Chillies

Spaghetti or Egg Noodles

Spring Onions

Put the spaghetti or noodles on to boil (spaghetti actually works better with this I find, as it doesn’t break up so easily).

While the noodles are boiling, mix all the wet ingredients together until they form a thick paste. The general rule is you want to add more peanut butter and soy sauce than honey and sesame oil and tahini. If you can’t find tahini don’t worry, it works just as well without. 

Next, finely chop the garlic and fresh chillies and add this to the paste.

When the noodles are ready, drain them and run cold water over them so that they cool quickly. Add the paste to the noodles and stir until all the noodles are coated.

Garnish with chopped spring onions.

Enjoy!

Armchair Travelling

Since I have not been able to travel much this past year, due to travelling for half of the previous year, I have had to fuel my thirst for travel with a bit of armchair travelling. Armchair travelling for me, is in the form of some great travel literature. This past year I have managed to travel around Central America, Spain, Italy, Indonesia and India, vicariously through my books.

I am currently reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, which not only takes us on a journey through Italy, India and Indonesia, but also through body, mind and soul. It is a great read for us travel enthusiasts, but also an inspirational tale for those of us going through difficult times in their lives. Elizabeth Gilbert shares with us her inner most desires, fears and conflicts and shows us that we are not alone in breaking down when our world’s collapse around us. She shows us that inner strength one can get through travelling and that it is always possible to over come adversity and to be happy in our lives.

This past year I have also read Travels on the Dance Floor by Grevel Lindop, one man’s journey to the heart of salsa. Lindop undertakes a journey through Central America learning a new type of salsa dancing in each one. His descriptions of Central America’s capital cities are vivid; as are the descriptions of the wonderful people he meets along the way.

Another great book, or trilogy of books are the Driving Over Lemons series by Chris Stewart, and although very popular a few years ago I hadn’t read them until recently. When I started reading I couldn’t imagine how I would want to read more than one book about a man starting up a farm in southern Spain, but Stewart writes in such an engaging and sometimes comical way that I found myself wanting to read on and on about his life on the farm.  I even found myself becoming interested in the things he was growing and methods he was using. I highly recommend.

Tip: When travelling, look at Lonely Planet’s guidebooks for great travel literature. When I travelled around South East Asia I did this for almost every country I visited and I began to appreciate each place even more, having read about the peoples who live there, the country’s history, troubles and triumphs. 

New Year Travel Predictions

A couple of years ago, while travelling through South America, the word on every travellers' lips was Colombia. I believe that 2011 will be Colombia's year to become recognised as a proper tourist destination. No longer do people fear the word Colombia, no longer does it conjure up images of drug lords and guns, but of friendly people and beautiful cities' waiting to be discovered.

I have heard that what makes Colombia so special are its people. A race of people so welcoming and so ready to show off their country to the world. Home to Cartagena, a beautifully captivating place and one of the best preserved Spanish colonial cities' on the continent, as well as glorious beaches, virgin jungles and rhythm-pumping, eye-popping festivals.

I myself have not yet been to Colombia, but as soon as I get enough money together, I am gone, so watch this space! In the meantime why not read up more about Colombia on the Lonely Planet website at http://www.lonelyplanet.com/colombia so that when the craze arrives you'll know all about it.