Sitting in my five star room in Nairobi watching CNN news about the earthquake in Japan I felt secure from the mad bustle of Nairobi. Then, in tandem with the news broadcast, I felt my room shudder and groan. Was I just tired or was it real? Concerned voices outside my room suggested that the earth really had moved. During my first week in Kenya I got used to the series of tremors which shook the rift valley and were scary at the time but apparently caused no serious damage. I also eventually got more used to big bad Nairobi. It has little to enamour a visitor with its exhaust filled air, dust and noise. My flight came with three free nights at a luxury hotel and was cheaper than buying the flight alone. The hotel ... read more

Cachalote means sperm whale in Spanish but the boat was far more elegant than it´s namesake. Our group of 16 passengers arrived on the keyside to be greeted by Galapagos sea lions idling on the benches and Cachalote, our beautiful motor/sailing vessel, moored just offshore. A couple of pangas (dinghies) raced out, lifejackets were distributed and within an hour of getting off the plane we were making ourselves comfortable in our floating home for the next seven days. Sailing around the islands, walking across the volcanic landscapes and watching and learning about the abundant and unusual wildlife of the Galapagos was to be one of the highlights of my travels. The Galapagos are composed of 50 volcanic islands set off the Ecuadorian coast. Although used for centuries by whalers and buccaneers, they were made famous by ... read more

I really believe that one of the best ways of making friends is by actively doing the things you enjoy. I had read about a three day trek from the mountains near La Paz to the forested Yungas in the valleys below. I made various enquiries at agencies in La Paz but at first I was having trouble finding anyone else to trek with. Then the agent at my hotel heard of another girl looking to do the trek and took me across the road to another agency. In fact there were two more ´chicas´waiting and we instantly found a common goal. The agent spoke good English and offered us a reasonable deal for guide, tents and sleeping bags plus a porter. So early on a Monday morning Shiobaun (Ireland), Helena (Sweden), myself and a late ... read more

Somehow I have got into the habit of arranging things at the last minute while I am travelling. The day before leaving San Francisco I booked two weeks of Spanish lessons in Sucre, Bolivia, which is why I ended up flying from San Francisco to Miami to La Paz to Santa Cruz one day on my RTW ticket, an overnight stay in Santa Cruz, then a lastminute purchase of a flight from Santa Cruz to Sucre via Cochabamba and La Paz! Luckily,my school had arranged for me to stay in a family home so that I could immerse myself in the Bolivian way of life and the language and so I was grateful when Milton and Silvia met me at the small airport in Sucre after my round-about air tour. Sucre is a beautiful city in ... read more

So there I was at Lhasa airport, waiting to board the plane with 10 yuan in my pocket and the ATM at the airport was not working. I had just spent my cash on an air ticket and although ATMs in Tibet do exist they are not always reliable. Luckily I heard a loud American voice ahead of me in the queue so asked if I could exchange a few dollars for yuan. "Of course.", said the friendly reply, "How much would you like to change?" And that was how I met my travelling friends for the next few days. James Brown (JB) and Jody are friends from California that meet up occasionally to travel. JB cheerily told me that he was now officially homeless as he had just sold his LA beachside residence so that ... read more