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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Train Journeys – The Eurostar London to Paris

Yes – the Trans-Mongolian wasn’t the only train journey from my most recent trip. In fact I was on trains in every single country I went to! One journey was the Eurostar from London to Paris which I took on May the 28th. I have taken the Eurostar before, to Brussels, however it was the …

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Train Journeys – Ekanterinburg to Moscow (Final Leg Trans-Mongolian)

My final journey which completed my trip from Beijing to Moscow began early morning in Ekanterinburg. Luckily my hotel was just opposite the train station, and I was there around 7am in the morning, an hour before the train left. In all cases I was advised to get to the station an hour before the …

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Train Journeys – Irkutsk to Ekanterinburg (Trans-Mongolian Leg 3)

After three days in Irkutsk it was mid-afternoon and I was back on the rails again headed roughly due west towards the city of Ekanterinburg, the city which saw the demise of the last Tzar of Russia, Nicholas the Second. Again, it was realrussia.co.uk through which I got my ticket for this train. 180 pounds …

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Accommodation Review – Baikaler Hostel

The Baikaler Hostel in Irkutsk, Russia, has a pretty good reputation and I was very glad that I was able to get a room there – especially as there was only one private room in the whole hostel! Apparently it is owned and run by an interesting and friendly character named Jack. Unfortunately for me …

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