Yes I know I said the world of work was behind me, but sometimes an opportunity presents itself that you’re just drawn to. And even better when it is the perfect fit - no skills required

Before this trip, packing felt like a bit of a guessing game. Multiple climates, long flights, internal travel, and the vague hope you won’t regret what you’ve shoved into a 23kg suitcase. Now that we’ve done it, and home, sorted through the suitcase to what was worn and what wasn't - across places like Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Santiago and Lima - there are a few clear winners (and a few things I’d leave at home next time). This is the reality, not the internet version.

There’s a certain type of traveller who gets off the plane in a new country armed with nothing but a credit card and blind faith in contactless payments. And then there’s the rest of us, wondering how much cash is too much, too little, or completely unnecessary, and how the credit card traveller has the balls to take his approach. We found on our travels that the truth is, the cash vs card debate when travelling isn’t clear cut. It changes city by city, sometimes street by st

If you're like me, there is a very specific moment in any flight that I don't enjoy. You’ve landed. You’re tired. You’ve queued for immigration & customs. Your bag eventually appears. And now all you want is a simple, seamless airport transfer. You've had the warning about the taxi scams, and you enter the arrival hall to face the onslaught of drivers claiming to be uber, grab, official, best price, official etc etc... I'll take a train, metro, bus, or pre-book a transfer if

If you’re doing the classic South America loop, you’ll likely tick off some combination of Lima, Santiago, Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro. On paper, they’re all “big Latin American cities”. In reality, they couldn’t feel more different. First Impressions When we landed at each of these cities - I went through a familiar set of emotions. Concern - moving through immigration, customs, finding transport to the hotel The journey from airport to hotel - together with the sights an

If you’re doing a South America trip and flirting with the idea of going “a bit further” for something special, but restrained by time or money, you’ll probably end up weighing up the Galápagos Islands versus Easter Island. They’re both remote. They’re both expensive. They both look incredible on Instagram. But beyond that, they’re completely different experiences—and picking the wrong one for your travel style may feel like a very costly mistake. Here’s the honest view - we

Planning a long-haul trip to South America can be complex, especially when trying to combine multiple countries efficiently. This 33-day South America itinerary covers five countries—Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil—plus two of the continent’s most unique destinations: the Galápagos Islands and Easter Island. This guide breaks down the route, flights, travel times, and costs , making it useful for anyone planning an extended South America trip. Overview of the Rou

Day 1 - Arrival in Rio de Janeiro We flew up to Rio de Janeiro with British Airways. By this point we’d grown used to LATAM Airlines, where announcements came in Spanish first, then English, and sometimes a third language if needed. Good old BA mostly stuck to English. When the crew had to deal one-on-one with “Johnny Foreigner”, they either hunted down the one Spanish-speaking colleague, reached for a translation app, or—failing both—resorted to pointing and raising their vo

People on planes are pigs

Day 1 The flight with LATAM from Santiago was uneventful, and we got lucky breezing through immigration and customs. Before long, we were in an Uber for the fairly long drive into the city — and just in time to catch the last hour of happy hour in the hotel lounge. The Hilton Buenos Aires is well located in Puerto Madero, a smart and pleasant part of the city. Most people know Buenos Aires for tango, football, and culture. I, however, know it as one of the first cities to be

Day 1 Arriving at the Santiago departures area, we were immediately met by the ever-present onslaught of taxi drivers and their various slightly dubious offers. It was a bit easier to find our way around the airport this time as it was actually now our third visit - we had used the domestic terminal to access Easter Island, so we were starting to relax a little more and not everything was shiny and new to us. We avoided the chaos and hunted down an Uber instead — it’s a known

Day 1 The flight from Lima, followed by an overnight stay in an airport hotel in Santiago, was fairly uneventful – mostly just a lot of waiting around. The only thing of note was that the Chilean wine was good, but the local dish called Pastel de choclo  wasn’t really for me. It is made of sweetcorn ground into a paste with beef, chicken, raisins, black olives, onions and slices of hard-boiled egg - this all sounded fine, but why, in God’s name, was there sugar sprinkled on t

Leaving the airport for the hotel, we were hit immediately by the heat and humidity. Even at 11pm on a Saturday night, the traffic was chaotic — endless beeping in near standstill conditions, cars edging forward together but going nowhere. The driving style felt… optimistic. Vehicles squeezed into impossibly small gaps and travelled so close together that I was genuinely surprised not to see more accidents. Cars were a mix of shiny new cars and ageing veterans, and from what

January 31st. That was the day my OneWorld status reset. In previous years I’d earned Silver or Gold status with BA — which meant free seat selection, among other perks. It saved a fortune when travelling with the whole family. Extra luggage allowance meant I could take my bike touring as a second checked bag. There were lounges — some good, some bad — priority boarding (no hunting around for overhead locker space), and the occasional upgrade. Though, if I’m honest, I got ve

Hotel – Hotel Ninfa (Puerto Ayora) Hotel Ninfa was OK. Actually, probably better than OK. It’s a budget hotel, and for a budget option it did very well in terms of comfort, facilities, and price. One minor issue: beetles would occasionally come under the door. However, whatever they’d sprayed around the doorway meant those were the insects’ final few minutes of life. The bar was quiet and reasonably priced. The pool was small and deep — perfect for cooling off after a hot day

Like Madrid, Quito was simply an overnight airport stop. We booked the Holiday Inn Quito Airport  on points, mainly because it offered a shuttle bus. Immigration was painfully slow — one of those queues that barely seems to move. By the time we finally emerged, we were exhausted. Thankfully, the shuttle was waiting right outside, which felt like a small but significant win. In hindsight, we probably should have chosen the Courtyard by Marriott Quito Airport , which was walkin

Madrid Our first stop en route to South America was Madrid — primarily to take advantage of a direct flight to Quito, Ecuador. Avios prices were very reasonable too, which made the decision even easier. It was our first time travelling within Europe on our Irish passports, and the exit from the airport couldn’t have been smoother. The non-EU queue, on the other hand, was enormous — so we felt quietly smug. Uber works brilliantly at Madrid Airport, with a specific car park lev

So here’s our receipt — and I still can’t get over the value. This was a return journey for two adults from Northampton to Heathrow. Payment method: Credit Card Card type: MASTERCARD Fare: £25.20 Booking Fee: Free E-Ticket: Free Standard Outbound Seat Reservation £5.00 Standard Return Seat Reservation £5.00 Change & Go Return £10.00 Total: £45.20 Even better, the bus stop in Northampton is less than 1km from our house. Logistically, it couldn’t have been simpler. Jane waited

One of the things I found most surprising about Japan was that every hotel provides pyjamas. They’re usually laid out neatly on top of the bed, rather than tucked away in a wardrobe like robes and slippers often are in Western hotels. According to Google, this is done for a mix of cultural, practical and hospitality reasons. You can look that up for yourselves. We found that pyjamas were provided in both traditional Japanese hotels and Western-style chains. In every case, the

As we get braver with our travelling and start to explore a little further afield - and a little further off the beaten track - we’ve taken another look at the need for holiday vaccinations. Whilst I’m not afraid of needles, I don’t particularly like them, and having a jab / shot / injection isn’t something I’d describe as fun. I had previously used ChatGPT to “confirm” that no injections were necessary. This was achieved by making a generous number of assumptions and genera

Last Day in Japan Our final day in Japan began with checking out of our central Tokyo hotel and making our way to a hotel closer to Narita Airport ahead of an early flight the next morning. As we hadn’t booked breakfast at the hotel, we headed out in search of food and ended up with a generous spread of sandwiches, pastries and coffee. Not particularly Japanese, perhaps — but it was busy and didn’t feel overly touristy, so who knows? We visited another park or two, where I ad

Today was a little more relaxed. On our to-do list was tracking down a very specific, limited-edition Japanese guitar strap — which conveniently required a few trains to another part of Tokyo. A perfect excuse to explore yet another corner of the city. While we were out, we took the opportunity to visit a miniature model world. The airport display was particularly impressive, with planes landing, taxiing, and taking off again in an endless, perfectly choreographed loop. Then

We had an early start today, aiming to beat the crowds at one of Japan’s busiest tourist areas. The station was bustling, with colour-coded floors guiding the flow of people. We caught a train out of Tokyo toward the coast. The ride was chilled, and I even picked up a model and jigsaw of the little Enoshima Electric Railway - as a fitting souvenir. As usual in Japan, we walked a lot - kilometers upon kilometers - and saw plenty along the way: white and pink cherry blossoms, n

Our first full day back in Tokyo began as we meant to go on – with parks, shrines, and temples. The weather had returned to bright and chilly, perfect for plenty of comfortable outdoor walking. We started with breakfast at a chain I hadn’t heard of before – Eggslut. Apparently it’s a thing, but I prefer my eggs a little more cooked. It made for a change, though I’m not rushing back. From there, we set off on foot through a huge urban park, reminiscent of New York’s Central Pa

Moving day, so we were up early. I decided to try the katsu curry for breakfast - well it wasn’t there by accident, so must be a valid breakfast meal. Before heading off to the airport we went for a walk around Shuri Castle. It is a significant tourist attraction in Okinawa, within walking distance from hotel. But to be brutally honest. fell well short of the equivalents in Osaka or Nara. We refilled the hire car after all of the driving - maybe 350km - which at an average of

Another day, another road trip. We started off at an amusement park of sorts - it boasted the largest limestone cave in this part of Asia - and it really didn’t disappoint. It was massive, really massive, and the light, colours and shadows were excellent. I even learned a bit about the formation of the caves, the animal life that lived within, along with some exercise. We walked around the park, and took a look at the weirdest snake show, which included a mongoose. I’m still

I felt ok when I got up - which was surprising. We started at 07.00 today. Needed to have a quick breakfast before leaving the hotel at 08:00 for a 09.00 fishing trip about an hour away. The speed limits on the way were typically 50 or 60 - still in km/h, but difficult to maintain due to the already heavy weekend traffic on what we decided was a weekend/tourist route. In general, driving anywhere in Okinawa was frustrating slow and, add to that, every second car is a hire car

Another excellent breakfast at the Hilton Osaka Castle. They pretty much have everything on offer there - Continental, American and of course Japanese. We had another good feed. From our room on the 19th floor, I watched a school of the ant-like children doing their morning exercises on the pitch below. The kids were surprising in time with each other and despite their young age were very focussed on the task at hand. We then took a walk around the castle itself. It was prett

Deer, Deer - Nara Still in Osaka, we took a day trip out to Nara to see the deer and the temples. It’s a particularly touristy thing to do, but reassured a little as there were loads of Japanese people doing the same. It was crowded. We went for a massively long walk - maybe 10km, which may not have been the best idea, as I'd just done my first 5km run in over a month earlier in the morning. Travel to Nara is simple, using google maps to navigate the trains, and takes maybe a

Food and Cycling Started the day with breakfast – coffee, bread and jam, water, a banana, noodles, meat on a stick, an octopus omelette, something Korean, and an ice cream. Yep, a pretty odd mix. All enjoyed with a great view of Osaka Castle. Think Japanese castle rather than British. Then we were off on our cycling adventure. It was about an hour out of Osaka: three trains and 30 minutes of walking, rewarded by lovely, clean mountain air. We went for the cycling but came bac