Armchair travellerIsrael: A week or two challenging my preconceptions, railing at injustice and dreaming of peaceWith 35,000 Palestinian civilians dead, as well as 100+ Israeli hostages still separated from their families, it would be impossible for me…6 min read·Apr 27, 2024----
Armchair travellerIreland: In search of the Irish Birmingham of my childhoodBeing 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…4 min read·Apr 6, 2024----
Armchair travellerIraq: 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…4 min read·Mar 21, 2024----
Armchair travellerA 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…5 min read·Feb 24, 2024----
Armchair travellerIndonesia: Tempeh tantrums, dissapointing books and confusion reignsMy first trip to Indonesia was in 1995. I mainly spent it on buses and boats plodding through forests that teemed with life, eating tempeh…4 min read·Feb 11, 2024----
Armchair travellerIndia: An armchair adventure that I wish would never endThe 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…5 min read·Jan 24, 2024----
Armchair travellerIceland: A week armchair travelling among the independent sheep and cow farmers of the snowy NorthIf 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…3 min read·Jan 7, 2024----
Armchair travellerHungary: Cooking over open fires, drinking to excess and the most peculiar film I ever did seeWith a fascist leader and a troubled past, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Hungary beyond lashings of goulash and unicum — a peculiar…5 min read·Dec 21, 2023----
Armchair travellerHong Kong! A fragrant island of uniquely delicious cultures that are disappearing day by dayTwo years ago I armchair travelled to China, eating and drinking like an Emperor, and ruminating on the extent that a Brit could wade into…4 min read·Nov 19, 2023----
Armchair travellerHonduras: Flesh eating fish, insects and parasites in a Caribbean paradiseLast week I was in Haiti, the 26th most dangerous country in the world — today I arrive in Honduras, the 35th most dangerous according to…4 min read·Nov 12, 2023----
