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My Time in East Berlin
East Berlin was controlled by the Russians until 1989. It no longer exists. I spent some time there many years ago, on my way to Asia. This is how I described it in my first travel book, 9 Months in Tibet. Berlin back then was entirely surrounded by a high security...
Travelling in the Time of the Coronavirus
My heart goes out to everyone who's stuck at home feeling bored and worried. I'm the only person on the train from Brighton to London. Usually you can't find a seat at this time of the morning (10:42 departure). The only people at the station were railway workers and...
My Coronavirus Diary
At first I was like Trump – in denial – but when it became clear, except to the most diehard conspiracy theorists, that this wasn't just another seasonal flu I realised that self-isolation and lockdown were essential. "Easy," I thought, "I've been here before. I've...
Hitching is eco-friendly and fascinating
My Romanian sister in law was rather horrified to hear that I wanted to take her 12-year old daughter hitching. But she’s open-minded enough to realise that the chances of robbery, rape or abduction -- or any of the horrors that the media feed us -- are negligible in...
I use Time Travel to Cut my Emissions
When I was in Romania last month I discovered time travel. I know this sounds ridiculous -- isn’t time travel a futuristic, high-tech impossibility used by the likes of Doctor Who and the crazy professor in Back to the Future? Well yes, time travel is a popular device...
Near Miss in Romania
I was cycling down the hill so fast I thought I might fly, like those kids in ET – Steven Spielberg’s classic film – when the alien enables the kids to fly their bikes through the night sky. It’s incredible what speed you can reach when going downhill on a good bike,...
Do Romanians understand tourism?
Since I first came to Romania in 1986, it's been clear to me that Romanians don’t understand the full potential of the tourism business. Over the 17 years I lived in Romania I’ve had countless conversations with people who own pensions, hotels and restaurants; village...
Greenhouse Gases: Romanian Burgers Give me Hope
It’s easy to feel despair about global warming. The IPCC tells us we have less than 12 years to cut CO2 in half -- or face devastating consequences. But wherever you look people are driving more, consuming more and those who say we must change our ways are often...
Villages Made Me
1963. Leeds I was born in a house with wooden floors and an open-plan kitchen. It was located in a rural area by Leeds called Little London. I have flickering memories of a white coat with bloodstains, people standing around and a little sink. 1968. Scottish Highlands...
My last three years in 7 bullet points…
My friend Dave Barnicle runs a bar in Liverpool. But he’s not your typical bar manager who hires and fires and shouts and chucks people out. In fact, Dave’s bar doesn’t even serve alcohol as it’s one of very few “dry bars” where addicts in recovery can hang out...
- The Psychology of Travel - March 14, 2018