Where Next?

Where Next?

I’m frequently asked two questions: Where’s your favourite place in the world? – and – Where would you go tomorrow if you could? I loathe the first question. It is impossible to answer. There are too many incredible places on this magnificent planet of ours to narrow it down to just one destination. I like different places for different reasons and even then I’d find it hard to narrow...

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Wreck Beach: Hippie Haven

Wreck Beach: Hippie Haven

It was more than 15 years ago that I first experienced Wreck Beach – a long recognised, well-established nudist beach in Vancouver – there’s even a book chronically the beach’s history. A few months ago I returned for a second time to discover a more sophisticated beach – while still retaining its hippie heart – in it’s offerings of mixed drinks alongside...

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Hunting Polar Bears in Churchill, Canada

Hunting Polar Bears in Churchill, Canada

Ever since I can remember I have wanted to visit Churchill, Canada. It is the place to see polar bears. A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to go: An endearing little frontier settlement, sitting on the western edge of Hudson Bay in northern Manitoba, it is so remote it can only be reached by air or rail. For six frenetic weeks each Autumn (October & November) tourists descend on...

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Fun with Airport Codes

Fun with Airport Codes

(A silly little article with no offence intended to any of the destinations involved.) So! I’ve decided that I need to fly into Massawa, Eritrea, Africa because its three lettered IATA airport code (MSW) matches my initials and I want the personalised luggage tags as the ultimate travel accessory that would accompany any flight there. This got me thinking of alternative airport codes that...

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Southern Exposure

Southern Exposure

Experience # 901 Travelling to the coldest, driest, windiest and least inhabited place in the world to gape at floating ice cubes is not everyone’s idea of a holiday. In fact, roughly only 10,000 privileged people a year have the passion to venture into this eternal winter wonderland, but for those who do the rewards are great.   There is a timelessness about Antarctica that humbles even the...

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Isolation on Easter Island

Isolation on Easter Island

Experience #924   Walking along the statue strewn slopes of Easter Island’s extinct volcano Rano Raraku is a magical, almost spiritual experience. Essentially the main quarry and workshop for the island’s famed statues, it is here the volcanic rock was carved into life by the Polynesian islanders. What remains today is an empty studio of enigmatic statues in various states of progress,...

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