Arwen a la monde

Spanish Summit Challenge The Challenge: Climb to the Peak of Mulhacén The Ascent: 2200m; The Summit: 3482m The Charity: Shooting Star Children's' Hospice In late September I flew to Spain with a group from work to undertake another charity hiking challenge. (The previous one was in the highlands of Scotland a year ago.) The challenge this time was to trek to the top of Mulhacén, the highest mountain on the Iberian Peninsula in the Sierra Nevada range. The only peaks in Europe that are higher are found in the Alps and the Caucasus Mountains. We flew into Malaga and drove two hours to the town of Lanjarón. We were escorted by our three guides for the weekend - Mike (an ex-army Geordie with a thick accent and wicked sense of humor), Jane (an Eng... read more

The Edinburgh Festival, combined with the Fringe Festival which has grown up around it, is a world famous performing arts festival which showcases the best in stand up comedy, theatre, music and more. I caught the last weekend of the festival with a group of friends from London (thanks to Simon for organizing such a brilliant weekend!) and we had a cracking time. The atmosphere in Edinburgh during the festival is electric - on every corner there are artists passing out fliers to their shows and the Royal Mile is overtaken by street performers, fire eaters, acrobats, singers and magicians. On Friday we checked out Edinburgh and got our bearings. Seven of us had rented a flat in New Town, about a 15 minute walk straight up hill to the high street. The location was perfect. ... read more

The best thing about working on Russian deals is making friends who are willing to show me around their beautiful and fascinating country. Trips to Moscow and St. Petersburg were a great start but last weekend we went further off the beaten path to visit the relatives of a friend in the remote Caucasus Mountains, as far west and south as you can go in Russia before reaching Chechnya and the Georgian border. We flew from Moscow to Mineralnye Vody (literally, "Mineral Water") which is adjacent to the town of Kislovodsk whose claims to fame are mud spas, hot springs and natural healing waters. For centuries people have been coming to Kislovodsk (which translates as "Sour Water") to drink its sulfuric waters (bottled by the Narzan company) in the hope of curing a variety of ailments. ... read more

For the long Easter weekend a friend and I traveled to the least trumpeted of the Balearic Islands off the west coast of Spain, Menorca. Menorca is Ibiza and Mallorca's small, unassuming neighbor to the north. For a couple of friends looking to de-stress and unwind, it was the perfect island getaway. We rented a car and spent four days crisscrossing the tiny isle familiarizing ourselves with its cute beach hamlets and its two biggest towns, Port Mao and Ciutadella. There is enough of interest to keep you occupied for a long weekend but not so much that you feel pressured to hit one more museum at the expense of that all-important afternoon siesta. This is an island where soaking up the local, unique take on Spanish culture is as simple as finding a table at ... read more

My friend Garron (whom you may remember from our travels together during the summer of 2006 and my visit to Rwanda in December 2007) has been living in Trinidad for the last year and invited a bunch of us to join him there for their biggest celebration of the year - Carnival! I used to automatically think of Rio de Janeiro and maybe New Orleans in connection with mardi gras celebrations but, as I have recently learned, Trinidad plays host to the greatest carnival on earth every year and when they're not celebrating it they're reminiscing about last year or preparing for the next one. One of the things that makes Trinidad's carnival so great is that you don't just go to watch - everyone participates. So, with a little help from friends in high places ... read more