The Kindness of Strangers

On Saturday I wrote a blog about my time in India in 1999. I talked about my experiences in Jalandhar where I was taken in by a family thanks to meeting someone on a bus and spending a few days staying with them, completely impromptu. It turned out to be probably the most rewarding experience …

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Train Journeys – Cairo to Aswan (Egypt)

There’s no doubt that Egypt is a stunning and unforgettable place to travel. With such large distances between places, and little but desert between them, apart from flying trains are probably the best way to get around. It was 1999 when I went to Egypt, and the country was a lot happier than it can …

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Gateway Countries – Cameroon (West Africa)

  Welcome to another ‘Gateway Countries’ blog, this time I am heading to West Africa. Please note – WEST Africa. I haven’t been much to the rest of Africa, bar Ethiopia, and I’m sure as an introduction to the whole continent, there are easier countries to start with such as South Africa for example. West …

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Foto Friday – Smiles in Mali

I thought I would do a regular, short Friday spot where I would present one photo and let people comment. 2007, I went trekking at the Dogon Escarpment in Mali. Stunning place, where the Earth shifted at some point dramatically and there is a giant cliff in the middle of nowhere. Villages on top and …

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Sunday Spotlight – Lome, Togo

Let’s be honest, Lome is probably NOT at the top of your list of places you want to see in your lifetime. Togo is a small, and very thin country in West Africa, between Ghana and Benin, and although it’s pleasant enough, there just isn’t a lot of reasons to head there. BUT, if you …

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Train Journeys – Cotonou to Parakou, Benin

Howdy all! I thought I’d start a new series of weekly articles today (aiming for every Thursday) about some of the train journeys I have taken. I have to confess to not having taken all the world’s greatest train journeys – for example I haven’t done the trans-Siberian or the Orient Express, but I thought …

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