Landing in Bodram Airport was like most other airports – walking off the plane through the suspended corridor and into the arrivals lobby. The floor was an impressive shiny marble. We walked quickly, to be as near to the front of the passport control queue as possible. But then we hit a huge wall of…
Category: Travelling
Latvia – the Long road to Liberty
It’s hard to imagine what it is like to be oppressed for most of your life. To have your freedom taken away and to live in perpetual fear of what your captors will do next. We shudder as we hear stories of people incarcerated for years in basements by kidnappers, men locked away for crimes…
Confrontation (and the Consequences) on Trains
Confrontation is an uncomfortable experience for all concerned. Particularly – it seems – on a train. I was once confronted with the feedback that I “avoided confrontation”. This was presented to me as a vice, whereas I had naively thought that the altruistic desire not to upset other people, coupled with the reasonable desire for self-preservation,…
Blair Atholl
I saw a ghost today Of happy times Days full of life. In a small overgrown field, The same stream rushes down below, The little hut remains in the corner. The narrow road still winds behind the old, stone wall. The scents of grass and freshness linger. And almost audible I hear the whispers of…
Victory for the Volcanoes
This is an island born of volcanoes and ruled by volcanoes; its people destined ever to be subject their dictatorial tyranny. It is an island constructed of lava, illuminated by lava and then laminated in lava. Like a burning candle which decorates itself in its own molten wax before it too hardens. Like a chocolate…
A Train ride through Transylvania (abridged)
The overnight train from Bucharest is swaggering through the foreboding mountains of Transylvania. Jerry has demanded silence whilst he proves that he can complete a killer Sudoku in less than 45 minutes. So I gaze out of the window and contemplate the journey so far.
Originally posted on Unwrapping The World:
Yesterday I went out to explore Texas. Well Texas was too big, so I thought I would explore Houston, or maybe the bit down by the Gulf Coast. Then I downsized a lil more and headed for the Moon. A few hours later I was touching it. Well I…
The Walls of Dubrovnik
The walls of Dubrovnik, once impregnable, are now penetrated daily by thousands of invaders from around the planet. They come armed, not with their guns but with their Gucci. Not with their cannon but with their cameras. Plundering the city for pleasure and secretly stealing a billion digital images.
An examination of Montenegro
Today was the hottest day of the year. 36 degrees. The day we decided to check out Montenegro. It was quite a test for all of us. I knew nothing about this little country. I certainly never expected it to be some sort of super-heated tourist town. But apparently it is. The south coast is…
A Serbian Beer in Bosnia
Perhaps more than any other of the former Yugoslavian countries, Bosnia is remembered as a battle ground. As the Croatians and the Serbians wrestled for control in the early 1990s, over 100,000 people were killed, thousands of women were raped and nearly 2 million people were “displaced”. And there was the so-called “ethnic cleansing” of…
Unwrapping The World 