Travel Blog

I spent time in four different countries on Tuesday - Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Germany and France and didn’t pay one toll. But it did take me seven hours and the little Mazda is great fun but not for long journeys. It wasn’t long this morning before I was out of Liechtenstein…

I left at 11 from another garage with a car lift in it. Never experienced one before then have two in a row! So bizarre I needed a lie down. At first I’d decided to give Neuchwanstein Castle a miss as the forecast wasn’t very good however as I got…

I left at 11am after searching for ten minutes for my car in a small underground car park. Apparently I was on the wrong floor. Prior to that I’d spent a few hours walking around the outskirts of a retail park which I can assure you was more exciting than…

At 8am the chaps left to catch their flight back home and I skedaddled about 30 minutes later with a long drive ahead - 285 miles on non-motorways to Ljubljana, Slovenia. I decided to hug the coast as much as possible and boy was it scenic. Some of the most…

I was greatly relieved to arrive in Marina Agana after such a long drive and see the chaps. We got some supplies from the supermarket and went to dinner. Sunday was our first day of sailing and I’d hired a skipper for the day because we’d forgotten everything from last…

I left Prague at 6:45 on Friday for the two day journey to Split to meet the chaps for sailing. This was due to be the biggest drive of the whole trip - some 420 miles and I was still trying to avoid tolls and motorways (and of course Japanese…

I arrived into Prague in the early evening on Tuesday and checked into the Sheraton which is home for three nights. The nicer hotels in Prague are fairly expensive and I can’t say that it represents value for money. I’ve certainly stayed at nicer Sheraton’s with lower rates but this…

What a difference a day makes. Having left drizzly Luxembourg the weather showed some signs of improvement as I headed for Germany - somewhere I’d never been to. My final destination was a castle in Colmberg which is a town near to Nuremberg some 250 miles away. I was originally…

I like living on an island separated from continental Europe with only the Welsh and Scots to share a land border with (you can’t have everything). But there’s something adventuresome once you cross the English Channel and arrive at the largest continuous land mass on the planet with over 80…

Following on from the beach, Georgia and I had 5 days with Jo in Williamsburg. Our days were filled with trips to see Jo’s new horse Rio, shopping, long walks and cheeky lunches. It was at one of the lunches that I first became acquainted with the Red Hat Society.…

Georgia and I were fortunate enough to be upgraded to business on the way out while brother Alex and cousin Caroline were in the back row by the toilets. Sister Laura and nephew Felix didn’t fare much better next to a man who needed a seatbelt extension. IAD immigration was…

Saturday morning marked the end of the trip and we got officially released from the care of Son who certainly took his responsibilities seriously. As I was in a different hotel I’d said my goodbyes the night before so I was ready for the final few days of the trip.…

Our early Thursday morning departure from Dalat was via one of the Royal palaces. The Art Deco architecture was quite ghastly as were the interior furnishings. The last king of Vietnam used it as one of his residences. In 1945 when the communist party came to power and Ho Chi…

We left Quy Nhon, which I have to say looked quite a nice place and headed out of the city a few miles before being reacquainted with our bikes. We were due to ride 95km which was the longest of the trip but the sun was shining and the scenery…

After getting off the train ride from hell, we had a short ride to our hotel which was actually described as a resort. I think that might have been taking it a little far but there was a nice pool and some treatments on offer so I went with it.…

Monday saw the real start of our tour as we left Hanoi early and headed toward the village of Mai Chau for a homestay. Our guide, Son, said that we would all be sleeping in the same room which he was obviously joking about. We cycled a total of 65km…

I mean I could have just gone direct with Vietnam Airlines but point-chasing Paddy isn’t a member of SkyTeam (not to be confused with Team Sky or the Judean People’s Front) and a cursory look at the airlines in that particular alliance makes me think I never will. Aeroflot? The…

A few days ago I had an email from South African Airways asking me to make an offer for a business class upgrade from Vic Falls to Jo’burg. I followed the link and made a paltry offer which according to the website was rated as “poor”. Nothing like being abused…

I arrived at the Kingdom hotel in Vic Falls at 10am and delightful Irene managed to set me up with a room straight away. Finally I was in a proper hotel. Bath tub, fridge, TV, safe, ironing board, slippers and the real mark of an top class establishment, tandem toilet…

We left Drotsky’s early and headed back over the border into Namibia to drive further along the Caprivi Strip before dropping back into Botswana. A bit of a faff with the borders but there were no queues and it saved us a heap of driving. A few hours in and…