Ant and Jenny

The chairman of Carlisle United, Andrew Jenkins, has said he would "welcome an approach" by rap star Jay-Z to buy the club. The music mogul's publicist confirmed to BBC Radio Cumbria that he is thinking of moving into the football business. Mr Jenkins, chairman of the League One side and avid hip-hop fan, said he "is bustin’ and pumped to the max at the thought of a homie like Jay-Z coming north-west-side and he would willingly fly to New York to meet him to discuss a purchase, if Carlisle Airport ever started making trans-Atlantic flights". Jay-Z, reportedly worth £360m, held talks over investing in the club during a visit to Wetheriggs Pottery earlier this month. It’s thought that his wife, mega star Beyonce, fell in love with the warm people of Cumbria. In an article ... read more

Crikey...it’s now 9 months since we returned from our ‘Big Trip’. Whilst it’s been great getting reacquainted with family, friends and normal life again, in the last couple of months it’s fair to say that I've been in need of a wee holiday. Sadly poor Ant had to stay at home and work, so I had the novelty of travelling solo again. Although I wasn’t particularly alone for long, as a quick nosey on the internet for inspiration had me booking on a ‘Big Game Safari’ in Malawi and Zambia with the travel company Explore. So after a quick transfer in Nairobi, I arrived in Lilongwe, which is the capital of Malawi. Rather conveniently I was on the same flight as most of the Explore group, so was able to cadge a lift with them to ... read more

And so, with a HUUUUUGE sigh of relief, and the knowledge that we were entering our 18th and final country of this trip, we eased quietly into Colombia. And as we sat on our small and quiet bus, trundling its way slowly across the very top of South America towards Santa Marta, the chaos and anxieties of Venezuela evaporated slowly from our minds, as the beads of sweat also evaporated from our foreheads under the welcome aircon. It had been a while since we'd taken a bus anywhere, having flown for freedom out of Venezuela, and the pint-sized Colombian coach had an air of Postman Pat about it as it rolled up and down hills and around corners, along a smooth road with lines and everything - a sure sign that we'd arrived in place that ... read more

As a word 'travelling' implies movement, but as many of you may correctly suspect, this isn't always the case. Often travelling involves little more than sitting on a beach somewhere like Goa, buying a pair of fisherman’s pants and coming home claiming you've discovered yourself whereas all you've really discovered is fire juggling and hallucinogenic drugs. For others, travelling is going to Bangkok and seeing things you've never seen before...often flying across the room out of things you have seen before, but never doing the things you're seeing them do now. But occasionally travelling means just that. Projecting yourself on a course across a large patch of earth, with your only objective to get from A to B, and usually that in itself is difficult enough. And that's what we've been doing for the past few ... read more

With heavy hearts, we left the Galapagos and flew to Quito. Darn it. After six months of soil-treading around South America, covering every blade of grass, flake of snow and grain of sand along the way, we finally cheat and miss a chunk. But what the hell, it doesn't really matter in the long run, and besides, Ant loves flying. Shame Jen doesn't. Every flight sees us display polar opposites of emotions. As the plane gathers speed on the runway, Jen frowns so hard her eyebrows meet as she pretends to read a book, only to be yanked out of her meditation by Ant squeezing her hand and going, 'There can't be much runway left, hope we leave the ground soon!' According to various reports, one thing far more dangerous than flying, is Quito. It seemed ... read more