There’s a strange fact about Costa Rican people – while they’re enormously proud of their beautiful country, they cringe when you mention the capital.
“To be honest, it’s not somewhere we’re really proud of,” one tour guide told me. “If you only see San Jose, you haven’t seen our country.” An Uber driver taking me to the apartment I’d rented was equally discouraging. “Maybe you can take some day trips out of town to the …
Rainy season. Two words that are almost sure to make you rethink your holiday plans. Like Costa Rica in soggy September, when anyone visiting this small Central American country is bound to need a raincoat. So why go to a place knowing you’re likely to get drenched, when you can pick other months that promise glorious sunshine?
The crowds, that’s why. I’d far rather run the risk of rain rather than face a flood of …
I seem to have lost Hong Kong. It was there a moment ago, with 1,295 steel and glass skyscrapers glinting in a stunning display of wealth and style. Now the spectacular skyline has disappeared inside moody storm clouds, with just a few neon lights flickering through the gloom like displaced lighthouses.
Hong Kong has more skyscrapers, billionaires and Rolls Royces than any other city. It’s an addictive, crowded scuffle of sights and sounds with lots …
As the chef proudly leans across the counter to hand me my lunch, a few pieces of chopped tomato plop onto the floor.
He smiles sympathetically, knowing that by the end of the meal, I’ll be a mess. There’ll be sauce on my shirt, avocado on my jeans, and a splodge of mayonnaise on the floor. I expect he’s already alerting the cleaners: “get ready, a foreigner is eating a completo.”
The completo is practically …
One of the nicest things about the world’s greatest art galleries is that they tend to be in the world’s greatest cities – which is incredibly convenient. Once you’ve walked through kilometres of galleries and squinted at countless treasures until your arty-farty quotient is exhausted, you can soak up the vibe of the city around you. Theatres, restaurants, pubs, clubs, parks and shops galore will inject new life into tired eyes and feet, so you’re …
There isn’t a single wisp of smoke curling out of the top of Mount Vesuvius as we walk up its stony brown slopes.
A few birds are twittering in the bushes, but we leave we them behind as the path rises above fertile ground. It’s silent, except for the scrunch of feet on clinker. It’s too quiet, too calm. Are we about to get taken out in an unexpected rumble of smoke, ash, flames and …
If I ask you to describe a sommelier, you’ll almost inevitably picture a man. White and middle aged, perhaps a little portly, and with a slightly intimidating air.
The exact opposite of Karla Abarca, who gives a huge grin as she swirls some wine around in her glass, raises it up with her tattooed arms, and takes a big, appreciative gulp. She’s a tiny powerhouse, young and lively, cheeky and irreverent, and she giggles when …
Thirteen minutes—that’s all it took to arrive in Barcelona and encounter one of its greatest claims to fame—the slickest pickpockets in Europe. If you’re going to hit, best get hit by a professional, I always say. And they’re at their slickest and quickest on the underground trains at Barcelona Sants railway station. Barcelona treats its notoriety as a pickpocketer’s playground with a zesty inverted snobbery, with the landlord of the apartment I was renting cheerfully …
It was Sri Lanka that changed the way I travel.
I can’t remember where I was on the island when the realization came, and that was precisely the problem. Every town was blurring into the next, and I was wasting half my time in hotel foyers checking in or out, or on buses moving from one site to the next.
Don’t ask me what Sri Lanka is like because I have no idea. I don’t …
For an area famous as the driest place in the world, Chile’s Atacama Desert boasts a surprising amount of activities involving water. Which is fabulous when the temperature tops a sizzling 35 degrees (91deg F) and you’re dying to cool off in a lagoon or a refreshing river.
The Atacama, in the north of the country, is a place full of contrasts, and my favorite is the unusual opportunities to get wet in the desert. …
On most tiny tropical islands, the activities for the day predictable: snorkeling, diving, a spot of swimming, and cocktails served in coconut shells. If that’s all you require, the non-stop action at Club Med Kani in the Maldives can feel rather disconcerting. I was dubious about the enforced jollity of zumba classes, aqua-aerobics, sunset yoga, cookery lessons, a stage show every evening, and even a disco until the early morning hours. But on the second …
It’s Saturday night in Montreal, and I’m determined not to slink back home until at least 10 pm. Montreal prides itself on being the fun and festive heart of Canada, and I want to take advantage. This city-on-an-island is having none of that, and celebrates about 110 festivals every year. So it’s a mathematical mystery how I’ve managed to arrive when there isn’t a single festival in sight. I’m too early for the world’s largest …
The older man in a wheelchair had found the perfect spot to catch the crowd. After a security check, he was positioned on the path as people excitedly entered Parque O’Higgins in Santiago.
A sign on his lap said he was disabled, unemployed, and seeking support. He was intelligent, too, since he was selling sachets of Eno’s indigestion powder, precisely what people would need after the hours of over-indulgence that lay ahead.
Every year, Chile …
There isn’t a single wisp of smoke curling out of the top of Mount Vesuvius as we walk up its stony brown slopes.
A few birds are twittering in the bushes, but we leave we them behind as the path rises above fertile ground. It’s silent, except for the scrunch of feet on clinker. It’s too quiet, too calm. Are we about to get taken out in an unexpected rumble of smoke, ash, flames and …
Quebec is one of the safest cities in the world, especially for women, my new friend tells me.
That’s lucky, I think because I’ve just jumped into his car and we’re driving up into deserted forests. If I disappear, nobody will ever know why.
All such thoughts vanish as my impromptu tour guide Philippe Guerriere starts telling me about the battles that raged in Quebec between French and English soldiers, leaving a stunning legacy of …
Namibia sometimes scares me.
This southern African country is a desolate beauty of stark desert, glittering sand dunes, intriguing canyons and sheer escarpments. It’s absolutely stunning – yet utterly indifferent to the fate of travelers who come to admire it.
If your journeys are as much a part of the adventure as the destination, dramatic, mind-boggling Namibia is a must. There’s something about its dusty, deserted and utterly straight roads disappearing into the horizon to …
It’s no coincidence that some of the most pristine places in the world are also the most inhospitable.
If a place is easy to reach and nice enough to stay, people flock there in droves, settle down, and gradually destroy the beautiful scenery that attracted them in the first place. It’s far better to have a hostile climate if you want to protect nature. Forgive the philosophy, but those are the things you ponder when …
It’s only 10 p.m., but everyone has retreated to bed except the five of us playing cards in the hostel dining room.
“Deal another round,” I say, “I’m staying up all night.” Sleep seems unlikely when the temperature is plunging towards minus 12 degrees C (10 deg F), there’s no hot water for showers, and six people are sharing each room where the beds are blocks of salt.
I’ve discovered that you can’t enjoy the …
The poor waiter looks terrified as our group of 10 descends on what our tour leader assures us is a restaurant. The shabby building looks more like a motor mechanic’s workshop – a suspicion that’s reinforced when we have to carry in spare chairs and tables to make a place to dine. Still, a menu appears that we take turns reading, and we thirstily order drinks. A long time passes before they arrive, then the …
One of the fabulous things about traveling is the quirky cast of characters you meet. The rogues and the gentlemen, the heroes and the rascals. But it takes a magical place like Antigua in Guatemala to conjure up a character like Alexander Ferrar.
Walk with me through these ancient, cobbled streets past endless churches left in ruins by the earthquakes. Admire the squat little houses painted in jaunty pinks and yellows. Now pass through a …
The annual migration of almost two million wildebeest across the Serengeti is the most spectacular wildlife show on Earth.
It’s an amazing sight, with animals filling the vast plains of Africa from horizon to horizon, following an instinctive, primal pattern in the Great Migration.
Walking for months as they follow the rains in search of lush vegetation. Dodging carnivorous crocodiles that hungrily lay in wait as they surge across deadly rivers. Giving birth on the …
The first time I visited Santiago five years ago, I loved it so much that I thought it could be fun to live there for a while. It felt big enough to be lively and small enough to manage, with stunning scenery and a cosmopolitan flair.
Now I’m sitting on the balcony of my tiny apartment watching the snow on the Andes turn delicate shades of pink in the sunset. I’ve become more Chile-street-smart these …
Dear Travel IQ: I will be going to Turkey soon, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to bargain hunt for a really nice rug. However, I don’t want to be a jerk when negotiating with the shop owners in the marketplace. What is the best way to haggle without being a jerk?
Signed: Too Nice?
Dear Too Nice: It’s surprising how many travelers can’t come to grips with the art of haggling.…
