This is my second visit to India - with work. Unfortunately, not much time to see the sights as working UK hours, but breakfast at 08h00, then 45 mins in the garden of the hotel before a car arrives to take me to the office across the other side of the city of Bangalore. There's no way I'd drive myself; there appears to be only one rule - I have right of way! Each morning, the hour's drive (to do about 5 miles) had new sights, be it sacred cows in the road, buses stopping in the centre of the road, [View Full Entry]

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Approximately 12 months away from emigrating to New Zealand, this trip was designed to do two things. * Firstly, there was a week's holiday in Auckland and a chance to see some of the culture * then, there was a trip by train across North Island followed by a few days in Wellington for house hunting and interviews. Having arrived at midnight and there being a 12 hour timezone difference, we were all rather wide awake and so spent an hour looking for something to eat around Auckland. I have read in the local papers that Auckland closes early but have [View Full Entry]

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Over 2005 and 2006, I was fortunate enough to be working in Paris and Amsterdam. Whilst building relationships with my French and Dutch colleagues, I was also able to work closely with others - Swedes, Germans, Belgians, Swiss and Norwegian. I got on so well with Eva, that she invited me to visit her and her family in Oslo. However, knowing my love of avoiding the tourists, she invited me over National Day. And so it was that I arrived in Oslo, after a delayed flight, just 5 minutes into the National Holiday. The taxi driver was most apologetic as he [View Full Entry]

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During 2005, I spent my time travelling between London, Paris and Amsterdam, with the occasional trip to Bruxelles thrown in. Having lived in Amsterdam during 1989, it was a real pleasure to pay the occasional visit - and try and recall my rusty Dutch. Paris, however, was a different kettle of fish. I commuted almost weekly, taking the 16h00 flight from Manchester on a Monday and arriving in my hotel (in Courbevoire) at 21h00 local time. This enabled me to be in the office from 08h00, just a few 100 yards away. Each week, I'd come out of the airport, hail [View Full Entry]

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In February 2005, I spent a couple of weeks in Bangalore. This was my first trip and, although I was working, I did have two days in which I could do a little sightseeing. The first of these was spent investigating the Lalbagh Gardens in Bangalore and the second, some 30 miles north, in the Nandi Hills. [View Full Entry]

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Returning from Vietnam, I decided to have a few days in Singapore, where I was able to do a little sightseeing and see my old friends and their children. It was a real pleasure to catch up on the news, as well as see what's happening in Singapore from a resident's view point. [View Full Entry]

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A fantastic holiday to Crete which for me, was a return visit. I'd previously been at the end of September and so felt it proper to come in the height of summer. Taking an apartment in a tourist complex, we did manage to keep ourselves very much isolated but also managed to visit such sights as the Palace at Knossos, the Lasithi Plateau with the Caves, the villages around Agios Nikolaos and Iraklion. All in all, another wonderful holiday, improved by the fact that the Athens Olympics were taking place and Crete was pretty much deserted! [View Full Entry]

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Although I would have liked to have seen much more, I only had a day in Egypt and so it was that I headed off to the Pyramids. I was bowled over. I knew they were big, but not that big! The sight was awe-inspiring ... and the Sphinx ... well ... impossible to take it all in. Having had my mind blown by the complex at Giza, the remainder of the day was spent having my mind blown by the treasures of Tut-ankh-amun in the Cairo Museum. Sadly, one day wasn't really long enough, but that's all I had and [View Full Entry]

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