Ethical Travel, from where I stand at least, certainly seems to be attracting more attention of late. Many travel companies and travellers, are becoming more involved in the discussions around Ethical, Responsible or Sustainable Travel. I caught up with Helen Jennings of Tourism Concern in London to ask her about how things are progressing, and … Read more
I’m lucky enough to be no stranger to Tuscany. Over the past few years I’ve been able to enjoy a few visits to the region, mainly to Florence itself. This time, however, I was looking to escape the mad(ding) crowds of Renaissance masterpiece seekers in Florence, as the heat, humidity and sheer volume of people got the … Read more
Image: Amsterdam Houses, Flickr/Tambako. It seems that finding sustainable accommodation, or responsible accommodation is rarely a simple task. My experience has been that it’s certainly not as easy as it should be. With a myriad of accommodation options out there for our travels, it can be hard to pick the right one, let alone be … Read more
There’s always been something that has drawn me to the sleeper train journey. Perhaps the idea of boarding in one city and waking up to the next, gently lulled to sleep by the rocking motion of the carriages on the rails. The reality of course is often a little different than in our poetic (and often nostalgic) … Read more
“The Truth is Closer than an Eyelash”, my yoga teacher in Kerala had said to me, on more than one occasion. Searching to find out who to attribute this wisdom to (other than to him), I was met with another kind of truth. The truth that apparently false eyelash extensions are far more popular these … Read more
I was having a conversation last week when a friend said to me “sure, you can travel sustainably, but you need a lot of money to do so.” It struck me that it’s a frequently perceived truth that if Luxury is your thing, there are no shortage of well appointed Eco-Resorts, Rainforest and Safari Lodges … Read more
Volunteering: Lessons Learned and How to Make an Informed Decision. In Part One of this post which you can read here, I shared my experience of volunteering as an English teacher in Cambodia in 2006. At that time, i’d thought I was helping. But the truth is i’d never felt so lost and out … Read more
“International volunteering or Voluntourism is when an individual volunteers their time to work for organisations or cause outside of their home country. In most cases, volunteers work in developing countries on international development programmes with local partners that address basic needs such as education, health and sanitation.Trends show that international volunteering has become increasingly popular across many countries over the … Read more
They say that every city has a signature sound. If that’s the case then for Marrakech, for me, its sound is simply the muezzin. I don’t mean like any other middle eastern city though. I mean the surrounding buzz of dozens of mosques packed into the maze-like medina, competing with one another with their call … Read more
Featured image: Sebastian Lebrigand/Flickr Airline Sustainability As a relatively frequent flier with a couple of different airlines, I must admit that these days I find myself confused. From sitting in my seat reading about innovation in the frequent flier magazine (in this case KLM’s the Holland Herald) you would think that the green future of aviation … Read more
Soul and Surf Sri Lanka I’ve always loved that popular expression about cycling – that in order to keep our balance, we have to keep moving. The same could be said of many things I guess, but for me none more so than of surfing, which I discovered for a week last November against the beautiful … Read more
“And the hardest part was letting go, not taking part…” Coldplay Setting off on my travels for 3 months, I felt many things. Fear was definitely part of it. Fear, anxiety, excitement, curiosity… but perhaps most of all: hunger. Hunger for new experiences and a new way of looking at life. Hunger to grow as … Read more
As a tourist is killed by an elephant in Ko Samui, Thailand, one has to ask the question – what needs to happen until we accept that maybe, not all animals are meant to be tamed. A 36 year old Scottish tourist was killed at the weekend in a sad incident where the elephant that … Read more
Should We Offset our Carbon Emissions? I’ve always viewed the idea of Carbon Offsetting with skepticism, interest and concern in almost equal quantities. As a self-confessed travel ‘addict’, clearly the idea that we can wipe out our carbon sins is highly attractive. Two days after the end of the Paris UN Climate Talks, the commitments … Read more
Looking out at the way the river meets the jungle that meets the mountains in a perfect crescendo of nature, I’d never have guessed that this natural beauty was once witness to something near hell. The “Death Railway ” was built during World War Two between 1941 and 1943 with the aim of linking Thailand to … Read more
