Jan 152017
 

So, yeah, it’s been a long time since I’ve written a travel blog. I think after Iceland I was a bit exhausted, and combine that with the fact that October-December are always my busiest months at work it meant I really didn’t have much time for travel – or for writing about it.

If there’s any interest, I can put together blogs on two trips I took in the past few months to Zagreb and Bangkok, but you’re not going to see too much outside of hotels and tons of airplane pics because it was long work days without much time to get out and about. However, if you want to see more Lufthansa First as well as my impressions of the first day of United Polaris service I’ll be happy to put those up.

February is going to be an interesting month. I had originally planned to stay closer to home and enjoy the car I make payments on but never seem to drive and take a long roadtrip through the Southern United States to visit four of the eight states I haven’t been to.

However, travel has a way of pulling you back in, and so I started looking at what I could use some of my miles for…and managed to piece together a crazy 17 day round the world with stops in some of my favourite cities: Hong Kong, Bangkok, Cape Town, Paris….oh, and it would involve first class travel on ANA longhaul, Thai on the A380, Qatar on the A380, Emirates on the A380, and yes, more Lufthansa first. It’s pretty hard to say no to, even though I should be a bit fiscally responsible…time will tell!

I recently did an interview for another website which will be up shortly, and I’ll link to it when it’s live. As part of it, I was asked to pick some of my favourite travel photos of myself, which was fun going back through memories. So, my favourite are below. Promise I’ll write more regularly again!

Top of Huayna Picchu near Machu Picchu, Peru

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Crossing the river from Rosso, Senegal to Rosso, Mauritania:

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Jumerah, The Gambia

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New Years Eve stranded in Gabon, due to a coup in Democratic Republic of Congo:

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Darvaza Crater, Turkmenistan

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Koala cuddling in Brisbane, Australia:

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Cuzco, Peru:

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Hanging out with the Wrestling Cholitas in La Paz, Bolivia:

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On the equator in where else, Ecuador:

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Waiting for the tube in London, UK:

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Friendly lemurs in Madagascar:

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Inland lake in Comoros:

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Pyramids of Giza, Egypt:

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Leptis Magna, Libya:

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Jan 192013
 

On day three, we once again got a not-too-early start at 9am for the drive to what was promised to be the highlight of the trip: the ruins of Leptis Magna. Leptis Magna is located around 130 km to the east of Tripoli, and the road is in pretty good shape the whole way. The drive took nearly two hours, but that is because the suburbs of Tripoli just sprawl and sprawl, and it was a good while before we were able to get any decent speed going.

Leptis Magna was initially founded somewhere around 1100 BC by the Phonecians, and really finally grew under Carthage around 400 BC. Around 200 BC it was conquered by the Romans in the Punic Wars, and that’s when it really began to thrive, and it’s that period that most of the ruins seem to be from, although some go back to the times of Carthage as well. Around 400 AD the Vandals conquered Leptis Magna, and it declined relatively quickly.

Approaching the ruins, the first ruin we came across was the Arch of Septimus Severus, built in the year 203 AD. It is restored, and thought to be a gift from the Emperor when he returned to Leptis Magna as a gift.

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Continuing past the arch, the next area was the Plastra, a 3rd century courtyard for several different sports.  It was in front of the Hadrian Baths, built under Emperor Hadrian between 126-127 AD.

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Jan 182013
 

We decided to head out at 9am again on the second day, since once again it would involve quite a bit of driving. The plan was to take the airport road south out of Tripoli, stopping by the ruins of the Qadaffi compound on the way, and then heading to the Nafusa mountains and the town of Garyan.

The former Qadaffi compound (known as the Bab Al-Aziza) sits on a roundabout on the airport road on the south side of Tripoli, right before you leave the main part of the city on the way to the airport. It used to sit on several square city blocks, taking up a huge amount of real estate. NATO airstrikes did quite a number on this place, but ever defiant, one of Qadaffi’s sons sneaked out through its network of underground tunnels and actually gave a press conference at a hotel on the other side of the roundabout. Eventually, near the end when Tripoli fell, revolutionaries burst through the gates and pretty much took anything that wasn’t bolted down. Now, the entire site is a huge heap of rubble more or less.

The remains of the main headquarters building:

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Jan 172013
 

I had arranged with my guide the night before to pick me up at the (very quiet) hotel at 9 the next morning, and we had a decently long drive planned to see a couple of sights before returning to Tripoli for a short walking tour of the old city. As I mentioned, I was the only guest in the hotel but that didn’t stop them from setting out the whole breakfast buffet just for me. Fresh orange juice, breads, jams, cheeses, and instant coffee….argh. Somehow, I managed to survive on instant coffee for four days, which was a minor miracle in itself!

Our first stop for the day was the town of Zawiyah, located around 50km to the west of Tripoli. Between March 6 and 8, 2011 there were large-scale protests in Zawiyah, and rebels/protesters took the town. After some very nasty fighting Qadaffi troops took it back on March 10. Protests picked up again in a few days, and continued through August when Qadaffi troops were finally forced to abandon the city on their retreat towards Tripoli. All around the main town centre were buildings that had been heavily damaged by the fighting. A government building:

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Mar 072012
 

So far, I’ve been to 109 of the 194 UN members, which leaves me 85 countries yet to go.  I have plans for at least 7 more of them, leaving me a list of 78 to go.  So, I was thinking today – what are going to be some of the most difficult ones left for me?

A few thoughts on the matter: Continue reading »