This is a major rant warning, if it's not your kind of thing walk away. I needed a cathartic release and felt that boring my fellow peers with the dull details of a rather disastrous train journey was the obvious way forward so here are the unvarnished thoughts from my head shortly after the epic events that I like to call "Train versus Tree". The story begins as any normal South West train journey home from work on an average Thursday leaving a mere 1 minute late at 5:37pm from Richmond to Bracknell. I was making good time which was unusual to say the least when fate began to weave its ugly web and just outside of Sunningdale sparks suddenly flew ...  Read the complete review

For Europeans a Cuban visa will last 30 days with one extension possible while being in the country. My trip was planned for 6 weeks and remembering how easy it was to get visa extensions in Asia I did not really research it much. For "not much" please read "not at all". What was supposed to be a simple morning excursion soon tuned into a two day nightmare so if you fancy a similar experience just follow these tips to be in for a right treat. If however you are looking for a more relaxed holiday not ending in getting deported I'd advise you to do exactly the opposite! 1. Do trust the Lonely Planet 2. Do not learn any Spanish 3. Do ...  Read the complete review

I was laying by the pool of our rented villa in Mombasa, a cold glass of Tusker beer in one hand, enjoying the caressing breeze coming from the gently swaying palm trees above me. Nothing could dampen my spirits as I watched my two daughters shriek with delight from the pool as we watched a monkey jump on to one of the sunbeds and proceeded to eat the cashew nuts that they had left there. Our chef was in the kitchen preparing a delicious smelling lunch for us; could life get better than this? We were enjoying a last minute break before the end of the Easter holidays. My son, 18, had decided to stay at home and because we were only going to be away for 9 ...  Read the complete review

If you spend your Christmas Holidays in Asia there's of course only one thing to do - go/fly/drive to the next beach and have a great time unwrapping Christmas presents while taking sun, enjoying a coconut and listening to the lazy sound of tropical waves. That was exactly my plan for 2008, preferable a small not too crowded beach in Vietnam, maybe even a small white sand island where we have to catch our own fish?! Well, yeah. As I said, it was a plan. Just a view days before Christmas we realised that we were still in Laos, totally broke and all flights to the beaches were fully booked. Now it is quite difficult to be stuck somewhere in Asia ...  Read the complete review

Christmas - A time for love, family, and children ripping open their presents on Christmas morning, then cursing Santa because for getting the wrong things. Ahh, don't we love it? In films, Christmas morning would start by two lovely children excitedly waking their parents up, then the whole family going into the large living room to see the Christmas tree. The man would hold his beautiful wife in his arms as the children would excitedly, but calmly open up their presents and thank the parents gracefully and appreciatively for each present. Then, the family would sit round the table and enjoy a wonderful cooked roast turkey and potato dinner, and it would be ...  Read the complete review