This year saw the addition of low-cost routes from Singapore to Athens, London and Tehran (via Kuala Lumpur). That’s in addition to the existing flights to places beyond tropical Southeast Asia like Australia, Japan and China. A big part of what makes budget flights cheap is the ‘pay for what you need’ model. If you […]
Forget those quotes about journeys mattering more than destinations. Unless the drive is worth staying awake throughout, a destination becomes less attractive if I have to spend far more time travelling and queuing than actually enjoying the place itself. (For me, this ratio is 3:1) Lithuania’s Hill of Crosses (Kryžių kalnas) was unique enough for […]
Had I more than one day to explore Northern Vietnam after my work engagements in Hanoi, I would’ve joined the masses in Halong Bay. No matter how beautiful the World Heritage Site was, however, taking an eight-hour round trip to spend four hours on a ship didn’t seem like a good use of my time. […]
What I love about Helsinki is the ease with which one can navigate the city on foot. For the visitor who has seen all the must-sees (the two major cathedrals, the rock church, Suomenlinna, the railway station and the Sibelius monument). a relaxing walk among the city’s early modern architecture can be very enjoyable. There […]
I’ve been to many places but few of them are picturesque in the way that Luang Prabang, Laos is. The dense surrounding forest and the absence of high-rise buildings couldn’t be more different from the urban sprawl of other Southeast Asian cities. I spent 5 days and 4 nights there in May 2017, a couple […]
The room was still dark when I opened my eyes for the third time. Fitful sleep on my first night anywhere was a given. My overnight stay in Yazd, however, was special. The chance to catch a sunrise in the desert for the first time beckoned and I wasn’t going to miss it. I checked […]