Fulfilling childhood dreams at Ayutthaya

Have you ever been inspired to visit somewhere after seeing it in a film? I can think of many places – some I’ve already travelled to and others I’ve yet to discover. While I love fulfilling my own travel dreams, it’s also great when you can share in the experience of someone else realising theirs….

Horn-happy in Hanoi

The advice my taxi driver gave me when I arrived in Hanoi was to “just close your eyes and go for it.” No, he wasn’t giving me some great life-speech – he was telling me how to negotiate my way across the hundreds of locals driving purposefully on their scooters around Vietnam’s vivacious capital.  …

The start of a new adventure

This time 10 years ago I was just a couple of months away from setting off on my first backpacking adventure. I’d  graduated from university six months before and worked to save up enough pennies to buy myself a round-the-world plane ticket, a Youth Hostel Association discount card and enough insect repellent to last a…