Go to gate 50

We crossed from Georgia into Armenia aboard our minibus and the road wound through mountains of extraordinary beauty while we bounced around. We arrived in the spa town of Dilijan, which poets and guidebooks insisted upon calling picturesque. This may…

The border crossing was relatively painless and we were met the other side by our new guide, Maria. I left Azerbaijan on the UK passport and entered Georgia on the Irish one. Only one page left in the UK passport…

Azerbaijan I arrived at Heydar Aliyev airport in Baku at 7pm and watched 75 year old Yuri scampering off for his connecting flight to Moscow. If I lived in Moscow Yuri and I would be friends. Inside and outside of…

I arrived in Vienna on the high speed ferry from Bratislava around midday. Near to the end of the journey we left the Danube river and headed along the Donaukanal (Danube canal), which is an arm of the Danube which…

As the train pulled into the main station in Bratislava my first thought was, “what a shit hole”. I’d been spoilt by Valletta and Budapest and wasn’t prepared for a city that would make Croydon look salubrious. The station was…

The flight from Malta to Budapest with Ryanair was seamless and I had the whole front row to myself despite only booking one seat. My Uber driver was young Oliver who delivered me to the Intercontinental in about half an…

I met the chaps at a rather unreasonable time as we set off to Gatwick for an early flight to Malta. For some reason my BA silver status is still registering despite not making the grade this time around. It…

Mark and I were on the ship, departing from Dover, within three hours of leaving Beckenham which was probably as record. At Dover station we shared a taxi with two American ladies - Dariene from Seattle and her sister Denise…

I have recently returned from a 9 day trip around Algeria with 15 other curious misfit adventurers. Algeria is a little off the beaten track and not on everyone’s bucket list, but in recent years this North African nation has…

Georgia and I headed off to Cairo after an unreasonable early start. Five hours and two time zones later, we arrived and the airport experience was extremely swift. The visa on arrival was quite amusing. You can apply to an…