Expert Insights

September 06, 2013 Walking in Iceland

Read time – 2 minutes Iceland is about the most pronounceable name associated with the island. Despite spending two weeks here, I will never be able to pronounce any of the place names! Even the infamous volcano, Eyjafjallajokull has been renamed E15! Despite its somewhat misleading name, summers here are actually pretty hot and dry. The midday...

September 06, 2013 India’s Himalayas of Ladakh

Read time – 4 minutes A brisk wind races through the high passes, scattering prayer flags flapping and fluttering against the sky. The haunting echo of footsteps tracing the corridor of a Buddhist monastery is swept away, the sun streams down over the lush green tea plantations of Darjeeling. Somewhere more secretive, the elusive shadow...

September 06, 2013 The Amalfi Coast Best Bits – Eat, Walk, Love

Read time – 3 minutes The old man’s eyes are honest as he whispers to me, “Here, in this region, we have everything you can possibly look for.” This wisened face belongs to one of the family who own the Hotel Le Due Torri where we are staying, high in the hills near the Amalfi...

September 05, 2013 Adventure Trips for the New Year

Read time – 3 minutes For the first New Year ever I have not made a resolution – I have, after many years, finally admitted to myself that I’m not going to keep it anyway, so why bother making one? New Year Adventures Instead, I’m looking down alternative avenues. After all, with the inclement weather forcing...

September 05, 2013 Great Explorers: A Tribute to Sir Edmund Hillary

Read time -2 minutes A tribute to Sir Edmund Hillary (July 20th 1919 – January 11 2008), written shortly after his death. Hillary cuts an iconic figure in mountaineering history. Hillary is a man known for many things – his philanthropy, his charisma, an illustrious career in adventure – but nothing more so than being...

September 04, 2013 Volcanoes & Trekking in Iceland

Read time – 3 minutes The locals call it hell. We walked over twisted black rocks, huge lava formations and still-smoking remnants, beginning to believe it ourselves. This is the “viti” (hell) crater of Krafla volcano, a ten-kilometer yawn in the hillside, once believed to be a sign that beneath the Earth’s broken crust lurked...

September 04, 2013 Trekking the Inca Trail

Read time – 1 minute No other trek can compete with the Inca Trail for its sense of history, as you tread the ancient road network of the Incas. As for starting the trail, it’s hard to beat the Amazon Rainforest. You will immediately be struck by the heat and humidity of the rainforest. The most refreshing...

September 04, 2013 The Essence of Tuscany

Read time – 2 minutes The postcards don’t do it justice. The contrast between the sharp, rugged mountain ridges on the horizon and the soft, sumptuous valleys filled with sunflower yellow, olive green and the ubiquitous cypress trees is truly breathtaking. Away from the tourists, you can the essence of Tuscany – just you, rolling fields,...