Travel

The Summit of Lovcen Mountain I have long been an admirer of Pat McDonagh. Who is he, most international readers would say? He is the founder and owner of a fast-food chain called Supermacs, which operates mainly in Ireland, although they have some international outlets. Pat is the guy who took on the giants of McDonalds, Burger King and KFC and beat them at their own game. His burgers are better (and bigger), than McDonalds; his chicken is tastier than KFC, and he sells all

Slea Head, Dingle Peninsula During a brief visit to Co Clare last weekend, while we were enjoying the beauty of the Burren, my partner said, ‘why not do an Irish travel blog?’ It’s a great idea and I will, but not today. What follows is mainly a critique on the Irish tourist industry. Also, to do an Irish blog, the problem is where to start? As I know Ireland so well, I am going to resist the temptation today to get into specific locations as it would not be fair on the many

Sliabh Liag in Co Donegal, Ireland When writing travel blogs, people try to keep them general or generic as opposed to being critical of or praising individuals or specific places, hotels or destinations. I am no exception to that. I realise most people do their best and while that might not always reach people’s expectations, it’s best not to individualize criticism of it. It is therefore with some caution that I’m writing this article. There is no criticism of any individua

Dunottar Castle, east Coast, near Inverurie. I have visited Scotland about a half dozen times, but only twice for holidays, until now. The first time was in 1980 when we toured most of the country and camped. Second was in 2003 when I undertook a tour of distilleries with colleagues from the duty-free business. As these are numerous, we visited quite a lot of different locations to sample Scotch Whisky. Last week, I had no such commitments so I toured the entire country, more

I told this story to someone a few nights ago, just in passing, and they were fascinated by it; not just the details but the background information and the conditions pertaining at the time. They suggested I write it down and publish it, so here goes: The story relates to my time in Russia and to the relatively brief period after the Soviet break-up and prior to the implementation of what I would call western style regulation. Many people refer to this period as lawless but i

St Mark's Square Venice I've never done a travel blog about Italy, even though I’ve been there many times. Then again, I never did travel blogs at all until a couple of years ago.  So here goes: I don’t get it. Sacrilege to an Italian I’m sure, but let me explain: First I’d better explain what I don’t get – it is said that Italy is the world’s favourite and most visited tourist destination because it is so beautiful. I am willing to concede that there are many parts of Italy

Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, was the 90 th  country I have visited. While it’s nowhere near the top of the list in terms of the travel experience, it’s not at the bottom either.  You probably won’t find too many travel blogs on Eswatini as it’s not the most visited place on earth; in fact, I don’t know anyone else who has been there and having spent a lifetime in the airport industry, I know people who have travelled to almost everywhere on earth. School children wa

Seal Island near Cape Town, South Africa I have written many travel blogs that are country specific and I’m due to do a few more. On recent trips, I found things recurring and I realised they had happened on previous trips also. Let’s face it — there are many issues that travelers can encounter regardless of the destination. I’m talking about things that, in my opinion are unnecessary, bureaucratic, poorly organised and either slow down or take from the enjoyment of travel. S

Saghmosavank Gorge, about 100kms from Yerevan. Before I visited Armenia and before I had done any research, the only thing I knew about the country was that it was (a) The birthplace of Christianity, as in the first country in the world to declare itself Christian, around the 3rd Century and (b) It was one of the fifteen republics of the old Soviet Union. I did have an inkling that the country might be reasonably well developed as I recalled the days when we worked in Moscow

Today I’m back to my theme of writing travel blogs on places I’ve visited often but have never written about. Spain is a country which offers a lot; some would say it has everything you’ll ever need. In Elton John’s song, ‘Daniel,’ he says it’s the best place he’s ever seen and it is hard to disagree with him. Spain is not just a destination — it’s an experience. A patchwork of ancient history, sunny beach resorts, dramatic mountain ranges, vibrant cities, beautiful timeless

A few years ago, while on a solo trip through southern Europe, I found myself in the south of Bulgaria on a Friday afternoon when I realised that the All-Ireland football final was taking place on the Sunday of that weekend. Dublin were playing Kerry and going for five-in-a-row and I was anxious to see it. So, I googled Irish pubs near me, and the nearest one I could find was in Thessaloniki, which, of course, was across the border in Greece. But that wasn’t a problem. It was

Before I visited Egypt, I should probably have paid more attention or cognizance to my history knowledge. I was aware that for a relatively long period from the 1950’s to the 1990’s or thereabouts, Egypt was allied with and to a large extent supplied by, the Soviet Union. This had been at the back of my mind but I had assumed that it was a military thing because the US was supplying Israel so Egypt turned to the Soviets. What I didn’t realise was that Egypt didn’t just import

On our recent trip to the Balkans, my partner and I visited four countries in eleven days. We started in Croatia, crossed into Montenegro, then Albania, back into Montenegro, then into Bosnia and back to Croatia. So we quickly got used to crossing borders in remote mountain enclaves; I think apart from one time, ours was the only car in the queue at the border posts and a cursory check on our passports was all that was required. Imagine our shock therefore, when we crossed th

Driving in the Atlas Mountains - Algeria has excellent infrastructure. I’ve thought long and hard about how to start this travel blog because I don’t want to put people off the country at the outset. Firstly, perspective — Algeria is a huge country, the ninth largest on earth, almost one and a half times the size of Western Europe, so it’s not a place you’ll explore in a weekend. I was there for a week and I managed to see quite a bit of it — eventually. The explanation for t

Elephants in the Masai Mara, Kenya. Small nations have always suffered at the hands and feet and weapons of larger, stronger and wealthier nations. I need only mention my own country’s occupation by its larger neighbour for 800 years. But we won’t talk of Ireland in this article. Looking at the history of the world, there is nowhere that has suffered as much as Africa. In this instance, it was a case of an entire continent being bullied by a more powerful neighbouring contine

Today’s story is inspired by a former colleague and a good mate, who when reading one of my blogs a few weeks ago, said whatever you do, don’t write about the time we got deported from Belarus. Unbeknownst to us both, I had done it two years ago, but it bears repeating….. Phase 1: It is said that to make a mistake once is forgivable, twice is careless and three times is unforgivable. I am therefore on my last chance in relation to Belarus. I have managed (almost) to get mysel

Byala - sunrise over the Black Sea. Lots of people have been asking me about writing and if I was doing anything or getting back to it. As I’ve visited many places, I’ve been told many times that I should do a travel blog or tourist reviews. I’ve done a lot of solo trips by car and just gone where the road takes me. A couple of years ago, I met some people in Bulgaria who told me I should make a business out of it. I’m not so sure about that but here is an unvarnished step–by