Unreal Ueno

Tokyo is a massive city made up of many districts with their own feel and history. From Akihabara with its electronics and Maid Cafes, to Harajuku and its alternative culture,  to Roppongi with its bars, karaoke joints and slightly more dubious affects, there is so much in Tokyo that really you need a day per …

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Travel Itinerary – Trans-Mongolian Railway

Howdy all. I’ve been meaning to outline the places and route I took earlier this year when on the 3rd of May I left Beijing for to take the train across three countries – China, Mongolia and Russia – to far flung Moscow. Wait – is it Beijing that is far flung? I flew into …

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Travel Itineraries – Bolivia

It’s been a while since I did a ‘Travel Itineraries’ post, so I thought it was time I looked at some of my itineraries in various places that I’ve been again. And for no particular reason, I decided to start with Bolivia today. Bolivia is a land-locked country in South America, and one that’s mostly …

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Accommodation Review – Ermitage Bouquet, Rouen, France

The last place I visited in France before heading off to Japan was the small city/town of Rouen in Normandy. It's quite a nice little place, with a few things to see none of which take an awful amount of time. It had its old town which is genuinely very attractive and lovely to walk …

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On the Shinkansen

It seems odd that I’ve never done a post specifically on the Shinkansen before. One reason is that I didn’t have ANY pictures despite having used the Shinkansen many times since first visiting Japan in 2011. So today’s Train Journeys is going to look at this Japanese marvel of modern technology getting you from A …

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Accommodation Review – Elmwood Hotel, London

When in London in May I stayed for a week in an Air BnB apartment. The final night however, I decided I would try and find a hotel near St Pancras station. This was because the next morning I had to take the Eurostar to Paris. So I looked around for something suitable and not …

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The Air BnB Experience – Apartment Rental

So a couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about my experiences with Air BnB in homestay environments. Today I'm writing about the other way you can experience this phenomenon as a guest - renting a whole apartment. I did this last year in Buenos Aires for the first time. My wife and I …

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The Air BnB Experience – Homestays

Hi all. It's taken an age but finally I'm getting around to writing about Air Bnb. In the last two trips I've used Air BnB five times, twice for homestays and three times to rent apartments. They have been quite different experiences. I'm not sure what took me so long to finally use Air BnB. …

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Train Journeys – Beijing to Ulan Bataar (Trans-Mongolian)

Okay. Well here I am ready to start reviewing the four segments of my journey from Beijing to Moscow, around 8000 kilometres away, via Mongolia. The trip to the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bataar was 1426 kilometres, crossing the border at Erlian (China) passing through Jinignan, Zhurihe and Dzamynude and other towns that perhaps I …

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