March 27, 2013

Reggie Singh, in a blazer, white shirt and old-style cravat, greets us with a billiard cue slung nonchalantly over his shoulder. Traditional Jazz music is blaring out of his huge sound system. “Hello,” he booms in his educated Indian English, “so glad you could make it, would you care for a gin and tonic? Just…
March 22, 2013

When an American says ‘awesome’, they might mean anything from ‘quite good’ to ‘see you later’. So when I say this trip was awesome, I mean it in the old-fashioned sense of the word; i.e. makes you feel small compared with the wonderful creations of nature. Horizons wider than you’ve ever seen, vast lakes steaming…
March 22, 2012

It’s a misty, cobalt coloured dusk and I’m out in the middle of the Gangetic plain, a place not normally visited by tourists. From the top deck of the beautiful river cruiser, I look around 360% and, apart from the little yellow light from our pilot boat, which comes through the blue-grey haze like a…
March 22, 2011

There’s something I still find boyishly thrilling about the very idea of getting on a train in London, where I live, and getting off it six hours later in, say, the South of France as I did a couple of years ago for a family holiday. It’s a strange world isn’t it, where getting on…
March 27, 2009

Here's the thing; the best ride to be had in California is not in any of the studio theme parks. It doesn't have an 84 foot vertical drop, it's not a rollercoaster, there are no special effects, no sound track, no stunt men, no crowds, no queues and what's more it's a lot, lot cheaper…
March 27, 2008

“Now I need a volunteer…”, said our forest guide, after leading us for an hour, deep into the shaded under-storey of the primary rain forest in Costa Rica. “…to eat the termites.” I pulled a face. The tour leaflet had made no mention of a tucker trial. “Naagel,” said the guide, “you are the one…