By and large, I’m a solo traveller and I think it’s time I started emphasising that a bit more.
Back in the days when I could solo travel, I gravitated towards Iceland, Scandinavia and the Arctic, with occasional visits to places like the Baltic states and eastern Europe but you’ll find plenty of Paris and Switzerland and western Europe here too. Actually, my non-Wessex UK travels are here as well, so come with me to Scotland, London and a few other places around my own country.
Every major city has a hop-on hop-off bus tour these days. I generally pay them very little attention. Or do I? Actually, in the last few years I’ve made increasing use of them and I’ve concluded that actually I’m a bit of a fan. They’re one of those things that we tend to disregard. Wherever… More I like the hop-on hop-off bus
Well, it’s happening. After weeks of rumours and whispers and threats, Russia has invaded Ukraine. I’ve lived in the same world as plenty of wars – two of my friends were sent to fight in a couple of them – but none have been as near as this one or as personal. War in Europe.… More Some of my thoughts on Ukraine
Now we’re back on track! This is my county trip to Switzerland in 2014 and after starting in the wrong place, I’m now getting my days in the right order. Today is Wednesday and I’m going solo, off to my adopted home city of Neuchâtel and for a little spa afternoon at Yverdon-les-Bains. The story… More Switzerland 2014: My day off in Neuchâtel and Yverdon-les-Bains
I can’t believe I’ve never done this one! In January 2013, I went on one of the most expensive but also one of the most amazing and exclusive day trips I’ve ever done: a superjeep tour out to Landmannalaugar in the snow! At the time, it was either with Grayline or Reykjavik Excursions; the former… More Landmannalaugar in the snow
Today I want to ramble a little incoherently about a trip I did to Zurich in 2010. I’ve never talked about it before simply because I’ve never had much to say about it. I remember very little – I remember aimlessly wandering Basel and I remember 6am in the back streets of Zurich and the… More Sleepless in Zurich
This is another of those gap-filling things. It occurred to me that I really should have a good collection of Iceland itineraries and so this is my Iceland series for 2022: a different itinerary every month. Leave me a comment if there’s any in particular you’d like to see and if you have a deadline… More A 5 day Iceland winter itinerary
Over the Christmas break, I reorganised this blog a bit – added clickable maps to the travel stuff and made the adventures into a page rather than an endless warren of nested menus – and in the process, I discovered where I had blank spaces. Enough blank spaces to occupy a full quarter of the… More Switzerland 2014: A day in the Lauterbrunnen Valley
Let’s keep going with the winter and ice content! It’s a new year and it doesn’t look like there’s going to be much international travel in 2022 either but that’s no excuse for not writing about it. So today we’re having some really cold content: what to wear in Svalbard in winter – and literally… More What to wear in Svalbard in winter
Ten years ago tomorrow, I went to Iceland for the very first time. Ten years ago on Thursday or Friday, I decided that I wanted to live here and because I’m the practical sort and I don’t rush in, I decided that I wanted to be living in Iceland within the next ten years. You… More Ten years of Iceland
I’ve been yearning just a little bit to go to Svalbard lately and I knew I wanted a post about the place in the Polar Bear Winter Festival, because what’s more wintery than a frozen archipelago in the High Arctic? But I wasn’t sure what to write about. So I had a look at what… More Svalbard: the polar bear story