Greyhounds We all have romantic notions of travel. Often it’s best to keep them this way. Reality can pinprick those dreams. Mine was a Greyhound tour of the States. For years I’d thought about it; the interesting characters I’d mee[…]
2004 Man Booker Shortlist and Profiles[…]
When it has Arbeit Macht Frei written above the entrance and harbours the apparatus for millions of executions. Auschwitz has been open to the public for a good number of years. Do you need to justify a visit? I guess some tourists have a conscience[…]
Likoma Island, Malawi “Hey Mazungu!” a voice called, “I am Gift, and this is my brother, Advice.” I glanced at the younger boy who smiled shyly. Mazungu is a Swahili word meaning white man, although its literal translation is […]
The Quirks of Travel One of travel’s joys is a delight in trivia, those bizarre local myths or footnotes of history gathered along the way. I’ve just returned from Italy and came back with a couple of great finds. I now have a photo of t[…]
The Chatwin Hotel Bruce Chatwin’s name has cropped up a couple of times among the travel posts. This pleases me. I’ve been a devotee for years and once formed part of the clich’d Chatwin Traveller set, hitchhiking around South Ameri[…]
Fear of Flying As the aircraft lifted into the afternoon skies, I craned my neck to see Miami below. I had bagsied the window seat ahead of my sister. She sulked as a ten-year-old does. At two years her senior I was entitled to the privilege. Despite[…]
Teenage Wanderlust I haven’t always wanted to travel. Football and music were my first obsessions. I can trace the addition of wanderlust to one particular weekend. I spent my teenage years in a small commuter town, where three quarters of the […]
The Minuses of Travel How do you get under the skin of a city? Some would suggest spending time with locals, or perhaps drinking your way around the bars. Me? I go to football matches. In Buenos Aires there are two decent choices; River Plate, based […]
Shortlist 2004 Thomas Cook expressed concern at Tom’s reluctance to embrace travel writing and quickly drew up a shortlist for 2004. I’m halfway through The Factory of Light (Michael Jacobs), but the others are unknown to me.[…]