I'd been warned by multiple people about Kampala's dangers as a solo traveller, especially after dark. Before I left Rwanda, people had me believe that phone snatching, pick-pockets, thieves, bag-slashings and muggings were all too common in Kampala. So I was prepared to just stay in the guest house on my first day, since I arrived in the evening...
As I continued to read, I learnt more about Rwanda's beautiful lakes. I've also been magnetised by the enigma that is the Congo. So after a few days in Kigali, I headed west to Lake Kivu, which dominates the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo - the closest I could safely go (an Ebola breakout with WHO advisories meant crossing the...
If I was to summarise Rwanda in three words, they would be: safe, tidy and forward-thinking. According to the World Economic Forum, Rwanda is the 9th safest country in the world - ahead of Austria and New Zealand. And I definitely felt it. Maybe it was the peaceful and level-headed nature of Rwandans. Or maybe it was the reassuring police presence...
Not a lot of things came to mind when I thought of the Isle of Man. Shameful, I know. Having lived in the UK for 10 years, I've spent a disproportionate amount of time exploring continental Europe but not necessarily what lay closer to home. In fact, all I knew was the Isle of Man was under some vague category of UK control. And that it was a tiny...
Guilty confession: I would have never guessed that San Marino - a nation of 33,000 people - is the world's oldest surviving republic. It's said to have been founded in the fourth century by a saint, a Dalmation stone-mason called Marinus, who sought refuge here when fleeing religious persecution. The steep ridge of Monte Titano is certainly a good...
Pine-fringed beaches, bogs, wetlands with therapeutic mud, medieval castles and winding valleys would definitely not have been a list I rattled off, if asked to think of Latvia. Yet this is what I came across the moment I ventured outside Riga. Further reinforcing the notion that to see a country's true beauty, you need to venture outside its...