Armchair traveller – Medium

Armchair traveller

Armchair traveller

Jamaica: Vital food and music, tragic literature and dated films, all doused in rum

For an island I’ve never seen, Jamaica has a surprisingly special place in my heart… I guess it’s because the Birmingham/Jamaica link is…

Jul 6

Jamaica: Vital food and music, tragic literature and dated films, all doused in rum

Jul 6

Armchair traveller

Italy: Where everything tastes great and nothing ever goes wrong.

The world is a peculiar place. Two million young Italians have left their homeland since 2008, some of them moving to Birmingham. But why…

Jun 13

Italy: Where everything tastes great and nothing ever goes wrong.

Jun 13

Armchair traveller

Israel: A week or two challenging my preconceptions, railing at injustice and dreaming of peace

With 35,000 Palestinian civilians dead, as well as 100+ Israeli hostages still separated from their families, it would be impossible for me…

Apr 27

Israel: A week or two challenging my preconceptions, railing at injustice and dreaming of peace

Apr 27

Armchair traveller

Ireland: In search of the Irish Birmingham of my childhood

Being raised a Catholic in 1970–80s Birmingham often meant being the only non-Irish-heritage person in the class, the church or the pub. I…

Apr 6

Ireland: In search of the Irish Birmingham of my childhood

Apr 6

Armchair traveller

Iraq: Enthralled by the food and music of a country still recovering from decades of British…

I’ve heard it said that Iraq is a purposefully-failed state created when the polyglot, explorer, diplomat and archaeologist Getrude “of…

Mar 21

Iraq: Enthralled by the food and music of a country still recovering from decades of British…

Mar 21

Armchair traveller

A week in Iran revelling in Persian food and diving into a culture of lost hope…

I felt a kinship with Iran ever since I found out that my great grandmother lived in Persia back in the 1800s. What she called Persia, the…

Feb 24

A week in Iran revelling in Persian food and diving into a culture of lost hope…

Feb 24

Armchair traveller

Indonesia: Tempeh tantrums, dissapointing books and confusion reigns

My first trip to Indonesia was in 1995. I mainly spent it on buses and boats plodding through forests that teemed with life, eating tempeh…

Feb 11

Indonesia: Tempeh tantrums, dissapointing books and confusion reigns

Feb 11

Armchair traveller

India: An armchair adventure that I wish would never end

The mighty India has loomed over my travels for a while. How, I wondered, could I armchair travel to the most populous country in the world…

Jan 24

India: An armchair adventure that I wish would never end

Jan 24

Armchair traveller

Iceland: A week armchair travelling among the independent sheep and cow farmers of the snowy North

If God is keeping a list of my foolish actions, near the top will be the attempt to take my children for a walk in an Icelandic blizzard…

Jan 7

Iceland: A week armchair travelling among the independent sheep and cow farmers of the snowy North

Jan 7

Armchair traveller

Hungary: Cooking over open fires, drinking to excess and the most peculiar film I ever did see

With a fascist leader and a troubled past, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Hungary beyond lashings of goulash and unicum — a peculiar…

Dec 21, 2023

Hungary: Cooking over open fires, drinking to excess and the most peculiar film I ever did see

Dec 21, 2023

Armchair traveller

Armchair traveller

Near-zero carbon travel through books, drinks, food, films, music and the magic of living in multicultural #Birmingham.

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