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Keep Smiling - Mike Fossey

I’ve bragged, I’ve blagged, but never before had I blogged - until I discovered TravelBlog!

If you dream of travelling the globe on less than five quid a day, be warned: this blog is written by an experienced, mature traveller - not a backpacker. So, you won’t find stories here about me thumbing my way across the Sahara, slumming it in cockroach-infested hostels, or sharing a room with giant mosquitoes.

More my style are self-drive cars (or, better still, chauffeur driven ones), first-class sleeper trains, and comfortable hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, holiday cottages, villas or apartments. Having said that, I’m not made of money, so good value in everything is important, and I’ll try to include things in my blogs which even a traveller on the meanest budget may find useful.

Keep Smiling!

Smile and the world smiles with you!

Map Legend: 19%, 52 of 263 Territories

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Your map descriptionCOUNTRIES I HAVE VISITED IN MY VERY LONG LIFETIME

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Joined on: December 15th 2005
Last Login: November 7th 2009

Blog Entries: 28
Photos: 196
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Blogs & Travel Journals

by Keep Smiling, order by Date newest first.

By Keep Smiling
November 5th 2009

This place is a secret Asia

The Periyar River
...as seen from our dining table

Thattekkad - Wednesday 4 & Thursday 5 November Our driver, with his air-conditioned Tata Indigo car, arrived promptly at 9.00a.m. We’d already had another enjoyable breakfast on the terrace at the Fort House Hotel and paid our bill, so left straight away for our 100kms drive to Thattekkad. It took almost an hour to leave the city of Kochi and emerge onto the less-busy country road. There, greenery surrounded us in the form of rubber plantations, fields of small pineapple plants, and coconut groves. The car would be with us for the next 11 days, as would our 26-year-old driver, [View Full Entry]

By Keep Smiling
November 3rd 2009

Fortunate Kochi Asia

The view from Fort House Hotel
Passing boats were interesting, day and night

Fort Kochi - Monday 2 & Tuesday 3 November An on-time Jet Konnect flight took us south in around 1½ hours to Kochi (formerly Cochin), where a pre-arranged taxi from the Fort House Hotel awaited us. It took almost as long to travel by road from the airport to Fort Kochi as it did to fly down from Mumbai. The road, through Ernakulum and across bridges connecting the outlying islands was busy and the giant advertising hoardings in an unfamiliar script made it clear that we were now in the south of the country. Our driver, like most of the peop [View Full Entry]

By Keep Smiling
November 1st 2009

Mumbai’s extremes Asia

Maidan Oval
Cricket - with players in whites and hard cricket balls - was being played alongside games with guys in t-shirts and jeans, using a tennis ball.

Mumbai (formerly Bombay) - Saturday 31 October & Sunday 1 November If you saw “Slumdog Millionaire” and watched the recent terrorist drama unfold here in Mumbai, you’ll have already seen where we spent this Sunday. As we sipped our 500 Rupee (GBP6.50) beers at the luxurious Taj Mahal Hotel on Colaba’s waterfront, it wasn’t lost on Lajpal that we’d just experienced two extremes of life here in Mumbai - the Dharavi slums this morning and five-star opulence this evening. We’d actually arrived in Mumbai on Saturday morning. Lajpal had taken a [View Full Entry]

By Keep Smiling
October 25th 2009

India - again? Asia » India » Kerala

Yes, it is me!
Sir Vivian Fuchs once said: "If you look anything like your passport photo, you aren't well enough to travel". I think I looked okay in my 1972 passport - but the years since have been very cruel!

I've been trying to work out exactly when I first travelled to India and how many times I've been back - and why?! My research took me back to my old passports (the Passport Office used to be quite happy to cut off the corner of your previous document and return it to you with your new one). My very first passport was issued in April 1962, in the days when I was carving out a career in the travel industry and rubber stamp manufacturers were making pots of money from immigration authorities. The visas and entry or exit stamps in [View Full Entry]

By Keep Smiling
September 23rd 2009

The stunning west coast Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » The Highlands

Stormy sunshine
Approaching Loch Eriboll

Kyle of Tongue - Lochinver - Ullapool - Durnoch - Shin Falls - Lairg - Inverness Today felt like a typical Sunday back home - very few people on the streets and very few cars on the road - except, of course, this was the far north of Scotland and every day seemed to be just like this! The weather was changeable, bright one minute, overcast the next, sometimes blue sky, sometimes black with looming clouds warning of a storm to come, sometimes calm, sometimes windy. It made for superb views and challenging photography. I've realised that my blogs all mention [View Full Entry]

By Keep Smiling
September 19th 2009

More Mighty Mountains Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » The Highlands

The view from Cloisters
Imagine waking up every day to this view towards the Rabbit Islands in the Kyle of Tongue

The Strathnaver Trail and the Kyle of Tongue It was Saturday and we expected terrible weekend traffic on the narrow roads of this tourist trail. It certainly proved to be like nothing we’d ever experienced before. We drove all day and, if it hadn’t been for a veteran sports car rally of 20 cars travelling in the opposite direction, our total tally of vehicles would have been: one Royal Mail van, two tractors, four fishermen’s trucks, half a dozen motorbikes, another half dozen pushbikes, and three tourists’ cars! After an excellent full Scottish breakfast ( [View Full Entry]

By Keep Smiling
September 18th 2009

Grotty Groats, Magnificent Mey and Mighty Mountains Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » The Highlands

The famous signpost at John o'Groats
...and the defunct hotel that adds nothing to the appeal of this spot in the background

John o’Groats - Castle of Mey - Dunnet Head - Kyle of Tongue We woke on Friday to the mooing of cows and a bright sunrise, a good omen for the sunny day that was to follow. Over breakfast, we talked with fellow guests about their very enjoyable day trip to the Orkneys. We can’t fit that into our itinerary this time - but we always have to keep something for next time! Instead, we drove 25 minutes east to John o’Groats - a drab place with a closed hotel and an array of dowdy tourist traps. We took a few [View Full Entry]

By Keep Smiling
September 17th 2009

Fishing villages, a fish supper, and a cracking castle Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Banff

Fishing gear
An inevitable view on a day visiting fishing harbours!

Portknockie - Bow Fiddle Rock - Sandend - Portsoy - Gardenstown - Crovie - Pennan - Macduff - Dunrobin Castle - Thurso - Murkle After a grey start and another enormous breakfast, we ventured forth into an increasingly bright Wednesday. Our journeys today took us along the coast road to the east of Findochty, passing hundred-acre fields that had been recently harvested and were now full of giant, cylindrical bales of straw. There were many large herds of sheep here too and occasional small herds of brown, black or black and white cattle. Great flocks of gulls, crows and rooks whirled [View Full Entry]

By Keep Smiling
September 14th 2009

High tea hi! Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Inverness

Findochty
The calm village of Findochty (the panorama on this page is of the harbour)

Inverness - Findochty - Spey Bay - Cullen - Portgordon This is a land of lochs and whisky, seascapes, seals and sunsets. Aye, Pat and I are in the north of Scotland - not yet at the most northernmost tip of mainland Britain but a fair way north anyway. That northerly point has to wait a day or two. For now, we’re staying with friends at Findochty, about 50 miles to the east of Inverness Airport and not far from the town of Buckie on the road towards Aberdeen. This quiet, former fishing village, pronounced by the few remaining natives as [View Full Entry]

By Keep Smiling
June 11th 2009

The Pyrenees, the sea, Carcassonne - and a bit of Spain too Europe » France » Languedoc-Roussillon

Great walking country
Even pushing a buggy uphill is a pleasure in the countryside around Vernet-les-Bains.

There it was in red and yellow - the packet of cereals on our breakfast table confirmed what most French people would like you to believe: the world’s international language is French, not English. The only English words on this packet were “Corn Flakes”. Details of what they were made of, how to serve them, and volumes of nutritional advice were in French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Greek. However, as any Englishman who’s an average French-speaker will tell you, when you start to stumble for a word in conversation with a native they’re almost certain to help you [View Full Entry]

TravelBlog » Keep Smiling

Keep Smiling | Mike Fossey | Travel Blog

Keep Smiling - Mike Fossey

Smile and the world smiles with you!

Blogs & Travel Journals