Travel Blog

I mean I could have just gone direct with Vietnam Airlines but point-chasing Paddy isn’t a member of SkyTeam (not to be confused with Team Sky or the Judean People’s Front) and a cursory look at the airlines in that particular alliance makes me think I never will. Aeroflot? The…

A few days ago I had an email from South African Airways asking me to make an offer for a business class upgrade from Vic Falls to Jo’burg. I followed the link and made a paltry offer which according to the website was rated as “poor”. Nothing like being abused…

I arrived at the Kingdom hotel in Vic Falls at 10am and delightful Irene managed to set me up with a room straight away. Finally I was in a proper hotel. Bath tub, fridge, TV, safe, ironing board, slippers and the real mark of an top class establishment, tandem toilet…

We left Drotsky’s early and headed back over the border into Namibia to drive further along the Caprivi Strip before dropping back into Botswana. A bit of a faff with the borders but there were no queues and it saved us a heap of driving. A few hours in and…

We left Etosha on Thursday and I have to say it didn’t live up to its billing. The animals really do need to step things up. The lions need to do more chasing, the elephants could show up at the water holes and some reproductive action wouldn’t go unappreciated. It…

We left Khorixas and headed for Etosha National Park which is regarded as one of the top safari parks in the world. En-route we passed through the small Namibian town of Outjo which had lots of non-working men loafing about. It’s well known that the Damara men folk from Damaraland…

Namibia has only been in existence as a country in its own right since 1990 when it gained independence from South Africa. Past names included German South-West Africa and simply South-West Africa when it was ruled by South Africa on behalf of Britain. The currency in the Namibian Dollar or…

A few South Africa facts. The population is around 55m with a land area five times the size of the UK. There are 11 official languages (only Bolivia and India have more). The top four rank thus: Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans and English. There are nine provinces and the largest city…

During the early part of the week the QM2 (fastest cruise ship in the world) was in port part way through its World Cruise which started from Southampton in early January. I saw some bewildered looking folk around town who were probably passengers. Saturday I was set adrift from the…

Cape Town is the second city of South Africa lying on the southwestern coast in the shadow of Table Mountain with a population of almost 4m. People from Cape Town are called Capetonians and about one third are white with English as the main language. Right now Cape Town is…

After an overnight stop in Graaf Reinet at the Obese Lodge, we continued south through the semi-Desert of the Great Karoo toward the coast and the Tsitsikamma National Park which was home for two nights. Our cabins were just metres from a lively sea with waves crashing against the rocks.…

We left the Drakensberg in glorious sunshine and the dramatic scenery continued along the entire journey - all 7 hours of it. As breathtaking a scenic drive as I’ve ever had. We stopped on numerous occasions for photos and bathroom breaks and enjoyed another splendid lunch in a lay-by Exodus…

The Drakensberg, meaning Dragon Mountains in Afrikaans are split into three areas: Northern Berg, Central Berg and Southern Berg. They border the mountain kingdom of Lesotho and are pretty spectacular. We are staying in the Northern Berg in the Royal Natal National Park in some thatched hillside cottages about 5000ft…

From our base at the Zululand Lodge we had a day out consisting of a boat trip and some time at the beach. Boat trips can be rather tedious after the initial excitement passes. A bit like jet-spraying. We were on the St Lucia estuary where we had two hours…

Things got a little fractious on Thursday morning over seat rotation. Hans, who has ignored the group directive so far was turfed out of his seat. In truth he’s been doing his own thing since the start and we’ve accommodated him. The problem is that he wants to sit next…

After binge watching Game of Thrones on my second Airbus 380 in a row I arrived in Johannesburg champing. I sat opposite a German chap from Bavaria on the flight and after initially trying to strike up a conversation about Bayern Munich I soon realised he wasn’t a chatter so…

Qatar occupies a small peninsula in the Persian Gulf with a single land border with Saudi Arabia. It gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1971 after 55 years as a British Protectorate. It came under British rule on November 3rd 1916 after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Of…

Friday  Back at the sports bar I had an evening of visual wonderment watching Jay on the pole. She's 35 and used to be a massage girl but now she's the star attraction in Oscar's Sports Bar. She gets paid 800 baht each night or £18.60. Ten minutes on the…

So after five nights staying in the rather reserved Kata Beach area I've moved up the island to Patong where the majority of the nightlife and denauchery is to be found. The hotel is right on the beach and aside from a malfunctioning bath plug my garden bungalow is simply…

Phuket is just an hour by plane from Bangkok and is one of the biggest resorts in Thailand. Phuket is one of the 76 provinces and is actually an island (the largest in Thailand) lying in the Andaman Sea although looking at a map it looks rather attached to the…