My second journey to visit Chile did NOT go smoothly. Travelling as a group of 6 Girlguides from the UK we were under instruction that we must travel together to get to our country, so more panic than usual ensued when we discovered that our plane from London Heathrow to Buenos Aires had been overbooked by 21 seats! A very stressful few hours followed and we resigned ourselves to a night in the airport until at the last minute we were told we were on the flight. Cue mad dash through terminal 5, making our plane with seconds to spare. The flight to Buenos Aires went without a hitch until we arrived to find no baggage. A lot of confusion later we discovered that our bags had been checked through to Santiago de Chile but we ... read more

Honestly the most other-worldly place I have been in my life. Again this was a trip with Girlguiding UK and the aim was to ride across the Mongolian Steppe in aid of the Girlguiding UK Friendship fund. Main thoughts about Mongolia: Everywhere smells of cheese, EVERYWHERE, no exceptions, not even the airport. The grass is a lot sparser close up than it appears from a distance. Mongolian horsemen are like no other people I have met on earth - and how on earth they survive on nothing but 20 litres of (alcoholic) fermented mare's milk a day is beyond me. These men were literally born in the saddle and seeing them move with their horses as if they were all one being was amazing. We arrived at the airport after an epic flight and piled straight ... read more