My Teetotal Travels

This isn't so much a trip I went on, or a place I saw - it's more of a silly incident that took place during my 5-day trip to see the Gower Peninsula, in Wales, in April 2024. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I love staying in B&Bs: they're warm, friendly, cosy, and you get a level of one-to-one attention/service that's absent in large hotels. That's just my opinion, anyway. For this particular trip, I decided to stay at Brynawel Farm. If you're ever headed towards the Gower Peninsula, I highly recommend it. Christine runs the place and has a little border terrier, called Doris, who's very friendly. Now the thing is, there's quite a large driveway leading up to the B&B, and a decent sized garden: a large pond, and a wide expanse of lawn - about the size of a good pub garden. On my first full morning there, I'd decided to visit The Mumbles, Oxwich Bay, and Langland Bay - all beaches around the peninsula So after a slow, leisurely break...

My start in Cambodia had been wonderful yet brutal – relentless. I didn't stop, from the moment I set foot off the plane after travelling for 20 hours. I covered Angkor Wat in this post . And I'll cover S21 prison and Killing Fields in separate posts. But this post will be about the true paradise I discovered, that slowed things right down and gave me time to actually breathe out for a bit and take in what I'd seen. When I'd looked in Lonely Planet guides, Koh Rong was a beautiful yet busy island off the coast of Cambodia. Koh Rong Sanloem was less well known and the quieter of the two islands. Quiet is what I wanted. Getting there involved a 3-hour drive to a bit of a nothing area called Sihanoukville - pretty much just a port for boats ferrying people to and from Cambodia's islands. I'd bought my ferry tickets in advance, so that was all sorted, and I was wafted towards my boat by the sassiest 8 year old (maybe 10, at a push) I've ever encountered: furry b...

My third stop on my Costa Rica trip was Monteverde — a cute little town, but also home to the Monteverde Cloud Forest. I didn't even know cloud forests were a thing. They most definitely are. Monteverde is where the warm Caribbean air hits the cooler Pacific air, at the top of a mountain range, and condenses - forming clouds. These clouds are low lying (think fog) and envelop everything in the surrounding area. So, with my group, and a guide, we set off into these otherworldly forests. Our guide was called Nacho and was ridiculously handsome, and - somewhat annoyingly - charismatic too. Everyone - regardless of their persuasion - was attracted to him. When we decided to focus on the forest again, we noticed something: how eerily quiet it was. I'm not sure if the wildlife here is shy, squirrelled away, or creatures simply don't like the moisture, but very little could be heard, bar the odd bird call. There was a strange stillness. Moisture was everywhere. It wasn't raini...