On a mission to explore every country in the world from A to Z, one step at a time by 2030.
I made three assumptions when I booked my ticket to Malta one grey Saturday in November. The first was that it was a single island in the Mediterranean. The second was that the only things to see were alluring beaches. And the third was that given its popularity with tourists, it might be hard to stick to my budget of £40 per day (including...
"Why on earth are you going to Andorra for three whole days if you hate skiing?" my colleagues exclaimed. "You'll see everything in a day!" I was acutely aware that this mountainous micro-state nestled high in the Pyrenees between France and Spain was mainly (if not only) known for skiing. It comes as no surprise with the country's landscape...
"What do you know about Kosovo?" I remember asking a few friends before I set off. The responses were almost universally just that of the conflict in 1999 when Kosovo dominated the media. The Kosovo War was the first conflict I remember watching on the evening news, aged 10 when I secretly stayed up past bedtime with my grandfather. While its...
"You're going to Monaco on a budget trip?" my friend asked incredulously. "Don't people just go there for yacht parties and to gamble in casinos? What on earth will you do?" There was still a chill in the air at 07:30AM as I stood on the promenade behind the Opera House, remembering this conversation. I regretted not bringing a thicker jacket - I...
For whatever reason, sitting in the airport and reading during my 9 hour transit in Hong Kong wasn't as appealing as hiking up Lantau Peak and racing back against the clock to make my connecting flight.
I've often found that to feel, see and hear the real beauty of a country, you need to leave its capital city. In Slovakia that's especially true given its incredible mountains, national parks and caves. So with the pull of Košice - Slovakia's second city in the east - I set off on the 5 hour train journey to see what adventures lay ahead.