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COVID: Living In The Heart Of The Beast
Kent, England, December 22nd, 2020, and a COVID drama is unfolding right on our doorstep. In the last 48 hours over 40 countries have suspended all flights to and from the UK and our nearer neighbours in Europe have closed all other UK transport routes, following discovery of a new variant of COVID here in England. The source of this new variant, which evidently spreads considerably more rapidly than the parent version, is the county of Kent, which is precisely where we live. Not so long ago, the UK Government decreed that any country with an infection rate of over 20 per 100,000 population was a “dangerous” country: now, districts…
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Lightning Strike
With our travel adventures for 2020 complete, and our plans for 2021 on hold until there’s more clarification around travel restrictions, we have nothing current to write about. We do, however, have a load of stories from past travels, which we hope may be interesting or amusing. Such as…. Kuala Tahan, Malaysia, September 2018. After several days in Kuala Lumpur, we’d headed northwards in our hire car towards the wilds of the jungle and settled in Kuala Tahan on the edge of the Taman Negara National Park. Here the jungle trekking, both guided and independent, had been fabulous, the humidity absolutely sapping, the wildlife spectacular. The food, however, was distinctly…
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Bobsleigh Run
With our travel adventures for 2020 complete, and our plans for 2021 on hold until there’s more clarification around travel restrictions, we have nothing current to write about. We do, however, have a load of stories from past travels, which we hope may be interesting or amusing. Such as…. December 2017. Riga, Latvia. Apart from our general liking for a city break to witness some “proper” winter, our main reason for heading to Riga was the opportunity to take a bobsleigh ride. Of course, Riga provided many other reasons to be cheerful, although the anticipated snow was conspicuous by its absence. Locals were distressed at the lack of cold, worried…
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Travel Challenge – Day 2
We were nominated by our friend Andrew Petcher to post one favourite travel picture a day for ten days without explanation, then to nominate someone else to participate. That’s 10 days, 10 travel pictures, and 10 nominations. We may not make it to the end of ten days, but for now we nominate our friends Maggie & Richard at Monkey’s Tale Please link to us so we know you have participated. If you are not interested, no problem. Nowhere in the rules does it say you can’t guess where the photo was taken. Hint – Despite appearances, definitely not on top of the world
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Travel Challenge -Day 1
We were nominated by our friend Andrew Petcher to post one favourite travel picture a day for ten days without explanation, then to nominate someone else to participate. That’s 10 days, 10 travel pictures, and 10 nominations. We may not make it to the end of ten days, but for now we nominate our friend Gilda Please link to us so we know you have participated. If you are not interested, no problem. Nowhere in the rules does it say you can’t guess where the photo was taken. Hint – most people think it is Asia, it’s not.
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The Dirty Plastic Bucket
With our travel adventures for 2020 complete, and our plans for 2021 on hold until there’s more clarification around travel restrictions, we have nothing current to write about. We do, however, have a load of stories from past travels, which we hope may be interesting or amusing. Such as…. Bakkhali, Bengal, India, April 2017. The little coastal town of Bakkhali is probably the place, so far anyway, where we have been furthest from our comfort zone. Despite the unique positioning of its beach, jutting out due south into the ocean, meaning that both sunrise and sunset are across the water, this is not a seaside town as we know it.…
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The Curious Tale Of The Day Bag And The Dress
With our travel adventures for 2020 complete, and our plans for 2021 on hold until there’s more clarification around travel restrictions, we have nothing current to write about. We do, however, have a load of stories from past travels, which we hope may be interesting or amusing. Such as…. Puerto Tazacorte, La Palma, March 2018 The island of La Palma, in the Canaries, had given us better than expected sunshine and some great food. Puerto Tazacorte has its own charm, the blue Mediterranean and its snow white surf crashing on to the jet black volcanic sands of its beach. After a day exploring the island by hire car we grabbed…
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Hamam’ing It Up
If you haven’t visited a hamam on a visit to Turkey then you have missed out on this centuries old tradition which the people of this colourful country still enjoy today. The truly traditional dome roofed hamams are fewer in number these days, simply because they date from times before most of the population had running water at home, but there is still a good deal of choice. Whether you go for a rustic hamam in a dingy building hidden down an alleyway where you are laid out on a marble floor, a more sumptuous spa where you have the luxury of a raised marble plinth, or any of the…
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From Turkey To Quarantine
And so we start our 14 day quarantine which will most likely run straight into a period of further regional lockdown given the high current COVID rates in our corner of England. We’re a little sad that the Turkey adventure ended the way it did, with our time in Antalya cancelled and an abrupt end to our newly found social life in Side. In the final three days after making our decision to return home, we did manage one last trip to our favourite riverside eatery in Manavgat before it all shut down, and even managed a quick dip in the Med on each of the last two days. So…
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COVID: How Quickly Things Change
All of a sudden our Turkish adventure is coming to an end and we are now travelling back to England on Monday. As we headed off to Alanya this week, news was breaking that the Turkish Government were about to announce increased COVID restrictions, although at that stage all of the talk surrounded weekend closures. When the announcement came, the measures were much more far reaching, with an indefinite closure of all bars and restaurants and heavily restricted opening times for all other outlets including food shops. At the same time an 8pm curfew comes in and, although the curfew, rather counter intuitively, doesn’t apply to tourists, it’s clear that…
