Highlights of Latin America

I had such an awesome time in Latin America it’s pretty hard to pick out favourite moments. But I’m going to give it a go anyway. Here are the best things I’ve seen and done over the past six and a half months, along with links to what I originally wrote about them.

Favourite City: Valparaiso, Chile

Valparaiso

Runner-up: Guanajuato, Mexico
Hilly cities with lots of colourful houses are clearly the way to keep me happy.

Favourite Capital City: Mexico City

Mexico City Cathedral

Runner-up: Santiago de Chile
Quite a contrast here between enormous, chaotic, slightly crazy Mexico City vs Clean, calm, orderly Santiago. But I could live in ‘em both, I reckon.

 

Favourite Food: Mexico
Runner-up: Peru
Best street food in Latin America from the Mexicans, whereas the restaurants were at their finest in Peru.

Best course: Learning Spanish in Guatemala
Runner-up: Learning to Dive in Honduras
Who knew learning could be such fun? Learning Spanish enriched my whole experience in the continent, and diving was way more fun (and way easier) than I ever thought it could be.

Favourite activity: Sandboarding in Huacachina, Peru
Runner-up: Cycling tour of the wineries, Mendoza, Argentina

Favourite Hike: The Huayhuash Circuit, Peru

The Cordillera Huayhuash

Runner-up: The Lost City, Colombia
Again, quite a contrast. The Huayhuash took me to the most stunning mountain scenery I’ve ever come across, and was the toughest walk I’ve ever done. The Lost City was less visually appealling and easier on the legs, but made up for it by being with the best group of people I’ve me on the whole trip.

 

Favourite Natural Wonder: The Copper Canyon, Mexico

The road to Batopilas, Copper Canyon

Runner-up: The Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Sorry Colca Canyon, you may be deeper but Mexico’s is way better. It also gave me my favourite journey, along the Copper Canyon railway. Meanwhile, Uyuni was like a trip to another planet.

 

Favourite off the beaten track place: Mexcaltitan

Calle Venezia, Mexcaltitan

I feel like a bad traveller. I was pretty firmly on the gringo trail the entire time. Except in Mexcaltitan, tough to get to, not a lot to see, but one of my favourite stops so far.

 

Best Night out: Sargento Pimientas, Lima, Peru
Runner-up: Mazatlan, Mexico
My last night in Lima was a chance to say goodbye to two good friends I’d been travelling with on and off since Colombia, accompanied by the best music I’ve heard in ages. Mazatlan on the other hand was an entirely random night out with three Mexican women who I was introduced to by a clown.

Favourite Beach: Tayrona National Park, Colombia

Tayrona National Park

Runner-up: Mazunte, Mexico
Sleeping in a hammock on the beach in Colombia was pretty close to paradise. Meanwhile the waves in Mazunte kept me entertained for hours.

 

Favourite Market: San Francisco El Alto, Guatemala
Runner-up: Oaxaca, Mexico
A pretty small hill town in Guatemala with the biggest, most sprawling market I’ve ever seen. Oaxaca was my favourite of the Mexican markets, especially for the crammed, smokey food section.

Favourite weird religious spectacle: Semana Santa in Guanajuato, Mexico

Semana Santa in Guanajuato

Runner-up: Meeting Maximon in Santiago de Atitlan, Guatemala
Catholicism may have its heart in Europe, but the way they do it in Latin America makes our version look pretty tame.

 

Favourite Country: Mexico
Runner-up: Peru
I’ve probably bored everyone I’ve met on this trip to death by going on and on about Mexico. But I don’t care. I love it.

Mapping my journey

After weeks of being massively behind on my blogging, it turns out all it takes to catch up is being in a city where it’s too dangerous to even go 50m from the hotel without being mugged once it gets dark (that’s Bogota, Colombia, by the way).

Anyway, I’ve now got all my photos uploaded to Flickr and I’ve written all my blog posts about Guatemala, Honduras & Miami. They’ll be appearing over the next few days, but in the meantime, thanks to popular demand (well, one request from my friend Will, actually) I’ve now added a page with a map showing where I’ve been so far, as well as links to all the photos and posts to date, and a rough itinerary of where I’ll be heading next.

Time will tell whether or not I actually manage to keep it up to date, but at the moment it seems like a good idea.

Top 10 National Parks

In my attempt to list out all my favourite travel places before I leave for my RTW trip, I’ve already covered off countries, cities, world heritage sites and islands, to give me a base to compare against when I get back. Given my growing love of the great outdoors, I figured it was time to tackle my favourite national parks.

1. Tikal National Park, Guatemala

Temples & jungle in Tikal

Not just my favourite World Heritage Site, but my favourite National Park too. Not many national parks have huge ruined Mayan cities in the middle. Even fewer have howler monkeys too. If you haven’t heard a howler monkey in the wild, you haven’t lived (you can get an idea of the sound from myvideo). Everywhere you go you hear them make their strange strangulated roaring noises. While they howlers steal the show, the place is crawling with wildlife – in the brief time I was there I also saw spider monkeys, leaf-cutter ants, coatimundis and oscellated turkeys. Sadly I didn’t get to see a jaguar though.

2. Blue Mountains National Park, NSW, Australia

This was very close to topping my list of most disappointing national parks – the day I arrived from Sydney, the fog was so thick, the view was like this:

Blue Mountains in the fog

Luckily, the next morning the fog lifted, the sun came out, and we saw that the view was stunning:

The next day: same spot, much better view

3. The Lake District National Park, England

Lake District view

Probably the most famous in England, and deservingly so. Seeing the hills covered in snow last December was truly the most beautiful I’ve ever seen England look.

4. Snowdonia National Park, Wales

Taking a breather to enjoy the view in Snowdonia

One of the wettest places in the UK (which is saying something), as I discovered on my visit. The mountains are of a very different character to the Lake District, with a less jagged and more open landscape. Plus with all the signs and placenames being in Welsh as well as English, it somehow feels more exotic than travelling within England.

5. La Vanoise National Park, France

View across La Vanoise from the slopes of La Plagne

This may sound stupid, but one thing I’d never really considered over the years that I refused to give skiing a try, was that part of the appeal was the beauty of the mountains. The first morning I took the gondola to the top of La Grande Rochette, the view out over the Vanoise, France’s oldest national park, was simply breathtaking. For the rest of the week I kept having to stop (actually it was more that I kept falling over), and take it all in.

6. Yorkshire Dales National Park, England

Trains are by far my favourite way to travel. Mountains are my favourite landscape. The Settle-Carlisle railway combines the two as it cuts its way across the Yorkshire Dales, and it’s quite spectacular (which just makes me all the keener to try Switzerland’s Glacier Express. Walking the Yorkshire 3 Peaks is one of the UK’s great walks (and one of my highlights of 2008); less well-known is that the park also has some of the country’s best caving.

7. Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia

Getting friendly with the local birds in the Lamington National Park

It may have great surf, but the Gold Coast of Australia isn’t really my kind of place. One of the things it really has going for it is the easy access to Lamington, part of theGondwana Rainforests world heritage site. It’s the largest sub-tropical rainforest in the world, and sits on a plateau that is the remains of a vast ancient volcano. It’s great for hiking, and I had fun getting close to the local birdlife while I was there.

8. Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, Wales

The only National Park in the UK that exists because of its coastline, the Pembrokeshire Coast also has one of the country’s best long distance walks, all the way round the coastline. It’s also famous for its sea birds, particularly around the island of Skomer, which is a reserve. It’s also great for activities – coasteering during my brother’s stag weekend was one of the most fun days I’ve ever had.

9. Tulum National Park, Mexico

Tulum - temple by the beach

It’s the only ruined Mayan city on the coast. That coast is the Caribbean. Ruined ancient city, on the cliffs overlooking white sand and turquoise sea. What’s not to love? If I had one gripe it’d be the crowds (all those daytrippers from Cancun).

10. Northumberland National Park, England

I’m sure if you asked most Brits to name all the national parks in the country, Northumberland would probably be right down the bottom of the list. Sitting right to the east of the Lake District, and at the lower, northern end of the Pennines that also contain the more dramatic Yorkshire Dales & Peak District, that’s probably no surprise. The plus side is that it gets far less crowded than those, and it’s just as beautiful. It also provides easy access to the stunning beaches and castles of the Northumberland coast, which in my book is by far England’s most underrated spot.

2008 Travel round up part 3: My Year in Photos

The final bit of my ‘08 round-up is a quick photographic journey through the most memorable travel moments of the year. (In case you’re interested, you can see all my 2008 photos over at Flickr)

January: Wat Phou

Wat Phou is an Angkor-era temple in southern Laos. It’s much less well-known than Laos’s other World Heritage Site, Luang Prabang, and hence gets much fewer tourists. It can’t compete in terms of size with Angkor Wat, but its beautiful hillside setting overlooking the Mekong and lack of crowds make it worth a detour.

February: Coffee beans drying

Another Lao highlight was a visit to the Bolaven Plateau, home to most of the country’s coffee production. Everywhere we went we saw piles of coffee beans drying in the sun.

January: Crispy Frog

Moments later, I ate this crispy, deep-fried Mekong Frog, which is not something I ever expected to do. Surprisingly lovely. And no, it didn’t taste of chicken.

February: Stowe House

A beautiful, crisp, cold winter day walking through the grounds of Stowe House, some of the finest landscaped grounds in England.

March: Alpine view

I’d resisted skiing for years. Why did no-one tell me one of the best bits of the experience would be the breathtaking beauty of the mountains?

March: Bobsleigh!

1500 metres downhill on the 1994 Olympic track. Over 100kph, inches from the ice. The best 72 seconds of my life.

April: Bounce

You don’t need to spend a fortune on a bobsleigh run to have fun though: an afternoon bouncing on the trampoline at my sister’s house in Essex was nearly as fun.

June: Wet & windy Snowdon

Freezing rain and winds so strong you could barely stand up – but making it to the top of Wales’s highest mountain was worth it.

June: Completing the Yorkshire 3 Peaks

Before I did it, I thought 26 miles of hiking up and down three hills would be a bit tough. I ended up running the last few miles. And I even got a certificate to prove I’d done it too (I’m like a child when it comes to external validation).

June: My new favourite building

The restored De La Warr pavilion is absolutely stunning, and utterly incongruous to find in town like Bexhill.

June: View over Glastonbury (madness not pictured)

Even more fun than usual, thanks to the absence of mud and flooding. I’ll miss the madness in 2009.

July: the Blue Mosque & Hagia Sofia

Recovering from festivals by going on holiday straight after is totally the way ahead.

August: 24 hours in Ibiza

…except it wasn’t even that. We spent nearly as long in Madrid airport as we did on the island.

September: Boat envy in Formentera

Still, I made up for it by having a fantastic four days there the following month, seeing how the other half live. Although it did give me boat envy.

October: Cool abandoned hotel in Lagos

Cool abandoned hotel in Lagos, one of my favourite photos of the year. The town is pretty great too.

October: Faro - ghost town

Unlike Faro, which was just plain weird. Also: I assumed Pigeon-racing was one of those weird eccentric English things. Turns out the Portuguese do it too.

November: Krakow market square

We kept being told it was the largest square of its kind in Europe. We never did find out what that meant exactly. Lovely place to spend my birthday (although I think Uluru in 2009 may just top it). Just don’t mention the borscht.

December: View over Windermere

If there’s been one thing that’s really stood out from my travels this year, it’s been falling in love with the mountains, and it’s certainly something I’ll be doing a lot more of in 2009.

Thanks to everyone who has read and commented in 2008. It’s been a bit of a dry run while I get the hang of writing (the only writing I’ve done for the last decade has been on Powerpoint slides, which is really quite different) and posting pictures. Hopefully 2009 and the start of my long-term travels will make this an even better read going forward!

2008 Travel Round-up Part 2: Summary

Countries visited: 8, 1 of which was new. This beats the record I set last year, when I visited 7 (although 4 of those were new). I have a feeling I’ll beat that again in 2009.

National Parks visited: 4 – Vanoise (France), Snowdonia (Wales), Yorkshire Dales (England), Lake District (England)

Outdoor activities: Hiking (England, Wales, Laos), Mountain Biking (Portugal), Rock Climbing (Portugal), Skiing (France)

World Heritage sites visited: 8 – What Phou, Champasak (Laos), Belem Tower (Portugal), Sintra (Portugal), Historical Areas of Constantinople (Turkey), Ibiza (Spain), Maritime Greenwich (UK), Krakow (Poland), Wieliczka Salt Mine (Poland)

Cathedrals, Temples, Mosques: 4 – Blue Mosque (Istanbul, Turkey), Suleymaniye (Istanbul, Turkey), Wawel Cathedral (Krakow, Poland), Se Cathedral (Faro, Portugal).

Palaces & Castles: 6 – Wawel Castle (Krakow, Poland), Pena Palace (Sintra, Portugal), Moorish Castle (Sintra, Portugal), Castle of São Jorge (Lisbon, Portugal), Topkapı Palace (Istanbul, Turkey), Yoros Castle (Istanbul, Turkey)

Museums & Galleries: 8 – Tate Britain (London, UK), Tate Modern (London, UK), National Gallery (London, UK), V&A (London, UK), Natural History Museum (London, UK), Museum of Turkish & Islamic Art (Istanbul, Turkey), Museum of Modern Art (Istanbul, Turkey), Haghia Sophia (Istanbul, Turkey)

Islands visited: 4 – Don Det (Laos), Ibiza (Spain), Formentera (Spain), Kınalıada (Turkey)

Beaches visited: 11 – Salinas (Ibiza, Spain), Cala Jondal (Ibiza, Spain), Cala Conta (Ibiza, Spain), Es Cavallet (Ibiza, Spain), Cala Vedella (Ibiza, Spain), Levant (Formentera, Spain), Illetas (Formentera, Spain), Brighton (England), Bexhill (England), Kınalıada (Turkey), Dona Ana (Lagos, Portugal).

All in all, not a bad year for travel, although not quite as good as 2007 (Mexico, Guatemala & Laos) or 1999 (Thailand, Australia & the USA). Roll on 2009.

My 2008 Travel Round-up Part 1: Month by Month

January

The start of 2008 saw the final few days of my first trip to Laos, before heading on to Bangkok for a brief stop (my third visit to the city, and my fourth to Thailand in total. The plane home gave me my second brief stop in the UAE but I don’t think that really counts as a visit.

February
February was a pretty quiet month, travel-wise. All I managed was a weekend with my parents in Buckinghamshire.

March
This month so my first ever ski trip, in France (my ninth visit there), and I wondered why I’d put it off for so long. Later on saw my second trip to Portugal, staying in Lisbon again, which further confirmed for me that the city is definitely one of Europe’s most underrated.

April
Not much travelling here (don’t think Essex really counts), but I did start up this blog. Go me.

May
The Spring bank holiday was the first of my four camping trips in 2008 (a record!), taking me to Wales for the fifth time. The year nearly ended there for me as I was almost blown off the top of Snowdon by the strength of the wind.

June
More camping this month, this time in Yorkshire (for hiking) and Somerset (for partying and the novelty of seeing Jay-Z perform in a cow field).

July
I’m never going straight back to work after a festival again: a recovery holiday is the way to go, and a week in Istanbul, my second visit to Turkey was the perfect way to do it.

August
My thirteenth visit to Spain was also my ninth visit to Ibiza. My life and my travel interests have changed enormously since my first trip in 1997, but if anything I love the place even more than ever…

September
…which is why I was more than happy to accept the invitation for a tenth visit (and therefore fourteenth to Spain). This was probably the best yet. I also found time to pop over to neighbouring Formentera.

October
Back to Portugal for my third visit, this time for rock climbing and mountain-biking in Lagos in the Algarve.

November
This year my birthday was a dumpling-fuelled trip to Krakow, my first ever trip to Poland. It was my first new country of the year, and I’m really keen to go back.

December
No foreign trips this month – just hiking in the beautiful Lake District. What a way to remind me that even if I am heading off round the world for a year, when I get back in 2010 I will be returning to a beautiful country that I really haven’t explored enough yet.

Top 5 Favourite Islands

I’ve got no more travels planned for a few weeks, so time to return to a few more lists of my favourite places. This one’s a bit short – because I really haven’t been to that many islands*. This is therefore the one I expect to change most over next year, as I’m planning to visit the Bay Islands of Honduras, Easter Island, and lots of islands in Indonesia and the Philippines, and probably in mainland South-East Asia too.

1. Ibiza / Eivissa

Ibiza Town by night

First place will be no surprise to anyone who knows me, or even people who only know me through this blog. No other place I know has such a great mixture of natural beauty, fantastic beaches, insane nightlife, fascinating history and mouthwatering restaurants (actually, it’s almost worth its first place for the allioli alone). It’s one place I’ll never get bored of.

2. Formentera

Platja de ses Illetes, Formentera

It’s a straight one-two for the Illes Pitiüses (Pine Islands): I love Formentera nearly as much as it’s much more famous northern neighbour. Formentera scores so highly for two things: it has some of the finest beaches I’ve ever been to (and certainly the best in Europe), and it’s incredibly quiet and unspoilt, not to mention beuatiful. The perfect place to relax.

3. Don Det & Don Khon

Lao kids at a school on Don Khon

Two of the (so-called) 4,000 islands in the Mekong, just before it crosses the border from Laos into Cambodia. They’re linked together by an old French railway bridge that was used to bypass the spectacular waterfalls on either side of the islands. Aside from the hostels and bars looking after travellers, the rest of the islands are taken up by paddy fields, forest and Lao villages. It’s an incredibly laid-back and peaceful way of life, and was the perfect spot to bring in 2008 for me.

4. Koh Samui

The only one of Thailand’s islands I’ve been to, and my first trip to Asia back in 1998. Staying in shack right on the beach was an awesome experience. I’ve heard Chaweng beach (where I stayed) has changed an awful lot since then, to the extent I’d barely recognise it. I’m happy to let it stay as it is in my memories.

5. Mykonos

Windmill in Mykonos

The only one of the Greek islands I’ve been to so far – but it hopefully won’t be the last. The stereotype of white-walled villages was as beautiful as I could have hoped for, and the confusingly maze-like warren of streets that make up Mykonos town are charming, and full of fantastic little restaurants and bars.

*I’m not counting Hong Kong or Manhattan – because I think of them both more as cities than islands. And sadly, Thanet doesn’t really count. I may have many happy childhood memories of Birchington & Margate, but it’s not really an island any more.

Top 10 Favourite UNESCO World Heritage Sites

1. Tikal National Park, Guatemala

Temple I, Tikal

Probably the single best travel experience I’ve had. Vast temples, surrounded by thick jungle full of roaring howler monkeys (and shy panthers), hours and hours away from the nearest civilisation. Worth every bit of the struggle it was to get there.

2. Greater Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia

The Three Sisters, Blue Mountains

The day we arrived was not very promising: we walked down the hill from the station to the viewing point over the whole valley…and the fog was so thick we couldn’t see a single thing. Luckily the next day it cleared up, and the walk down to the valley floor was sensational. I want to go back and do a multi-day trek now, it’s the most incredible landscape.

3. Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada, Spain

The Alhmabra is the most beautiful building I’ve ever seen, and I think I’d struggle to find any finer. On my visit, the atmosphere was incredibly sombre – it was the day after 9/11, and it felt like everyone was wandering around in near silence unable to comprehend how people could have used the religion that inspired such beauty to justify something so utterly evil.

4. Town of Luang Prabang, Laos

Sunset over the Mekong from Phu Si hill

Crumbling French colonial buildings, beautiful Buddhist temples, and a perfect location on a peninsular sandwiched between the Mekong and one of its tributaries. Tourism has taken over – and I hope we don’t end up ruining it. It seems that the UNESCO listing it helping though – two hotel building projects have just fallen through after UNESCO warned the government that the listing was in danger if they proceeded.

5. Wat Phou and Associated Ancient Settlements within the Champasak Cultural Landscape, Laos

Wat Phou, Champasak

From the same period as the mighty Angkor Wat, this is like a mini version, perched on a hill looking out towards the Mekong. Probably not as impressive as its more famous contemporary, but it does mean it’s a hell of a lot quieter.

6. Historic Fortified City of Carcassone, France

I’m a sucker for a medieval walled city, especially when it’s perched on top of a hill flaunting its beauty to villages for miles around. And for £35 return on Ryanair, it was an obscenely cheap visit too.

7. Historic Centre of Mexico City & Xochimilco, Mexico

Trajineras in Xochimilco

This is here for Xochimilco in particular – it’s such a contrast to the rest of the city, and is a great day out from the city. Xochimilco was built by a pre-hispanic tribe, who drained the lake for agriculture. The canals formed as part of this process are still there today, and you can travel round them on a trajinera (colourful punt).

8. Works of Antoni Gaudi

Sagrada Familia

Quite magical and definitely unique – each of Gaudi’s Barcelona buildings stands out by a mile. I’m not overly keen on the work they’re doing on the Sagrada Famila though – I think they should have left it as it was when he died.

9. Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine’s Abbey & St Martin’s Church, Canterbury, UK

The only one of these I’ve lived in – for 5 years I woke up every morning with a view over St Augustine’s abbey, and with the Cathedral outside my front door. I pretty much took it for granted back then; having visited lots more cathedrals since then I realise quite how lucky I was.

10. Cultural Landscape of Sintra, Portugal

Pena Palace, Sintra

The train from Lisbon to Sintra is an absolute bargain – as far as I remember it’s less than €2, and the contrast is huge. The Palace is beautiful, with views out towards the Ocean and the beach resort of Estoril, while the Moorish castle is great fun, because you can clamber over and all around the walls.

And the most disappointing? None. I’ve loved every one I’ve been too. That’s not to say it’s a perfect system – there are plenty of equally cool places that haven’t been listed – but that doesn’t mean that it’s not worthwhile. And if listing helps to protect them, then surely that’s a good thing.

Top 10 Favourite Cities

If this wasn’t a travel blog, then London would easily top the list (even if not everyone loves it like I do). But it is, so here are my favourites from the rest of the world…

1. Berlin

Siegessäule (Victory Column, Berlin)

It’s certainly not the most beautiful city on this list, nor does it have as long a history as others (although it’s certainly packed more than its fair share in over the years). But I adore the place, and for a long time thought I’d end up living there for a second time. I still might. The three years I lived there really turned me on to travel, and each time I go back i discover a bit more to love. It’s a constant theme for me that the people are one of the most important things for me in terms of how much I like a place – and I love the Berliners.

2. New York

Empire State Building

Berlin may be my favourite but New York is the most exciting. Every time I go I feel the same surge of adrenaline that I got when I first moved to London. Everywhere you go you feel like you’re starring in your own movie.

3. Lisbon

No. 28 Tram, Lisbon

It may be crumbling and a little shabby in places, it may be covered in graffiti, but it’s still stunning. Its location, tumbling down hills towards the River Tagus and the ocean, is perfect, and the buildings look beautiful covered in Azulejos. And the Barrio Alto is my favourite place in Europe to have a drink – the atmosphere as everyone fills the narrow cobbled streets outside the bars is incredible.

4. Madrid

Somehow it feels less overrun by tourists than Barcelona (which I also love), and I’m not sure why, as it’s got just as much to offer. The Prado & Reina Sofia are two of my favourite museums in the world.

5. Bangkok

“You come from London? Very big, and very busy, yes?” said my taxi driver last time I arrived in Bangkok. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that Bangkok beats London hands down on both counts. That was the first thing that hit me when I first visited – it almost overpowered me with the scale and sheer energy of the place. I can’t wait to spend more time there next year, as it’s likely to be my last stop on my trip.

6. Istanbul

The fortune-telling bunnies of Istanbul

I’ve written a fair amount about Istanbul recently. I’d recommend it to anyone.

7. Vientiane

Joy's food stall on the banks of the Mekong - best food in Vientiane

Not the most obvious choice – many of the travellers in Laos found it dull, and just used it as a necessary stop on the way to or from Thailand, or further south in Laos. Which is one of the things I liked most about it – it must be a contender for the most laidback capital city in the world, everything seems to move at a very slow pace (if it moves at all), and it doesn’t have the UNESCO World Heritage status or as many crumbling colonial buildings as the much more popular Luang Prabang. All of these are part of its charm – it’s lack of tourist appeal keeps it feeling more Lao than most of the other big tourist spots, where it feels like the whole economy revolves around tourism (which it almost certainly does). If I was going to be a diplomat, I can see a posting to Vientiane being just the sort of one I’d like.

8. Sydney

There are two things that would make London almost perfect: better weather, and a beach. Sydney has them both, and the city has a great quality of life. Although after spending a while there, I don’t think I could live there – it feels a bit small after London!

9. Tokyo

Geoff joins the Harajuku girls

I was only there for 36 hours on the way home from Sydney, but it was everything I’d hoped for. I’m a bit of a modern architecture junkie, so I was in heaven. Add in the insane pop culture, some sightseeing, great sushi and a little shopping, and it was the perfect day and a half.

10. Paris

What did we do before Eurostar? My most memorable trip was taking advantage of their £42 nightclubber fare (travel after 4pm, return before 1030am the next day) to have a night of dinner and then dancing. Best of all was the chance to wander down the Champs Elysees down to the Louvre at 5am, with only a couple of early morning joggers for company – having such a stunning place to yourself is truly incredible (and you have the train journey home for a much-needed sleep!)

And the biggest disappointment? Milan. The Duomo was covered in scaffolding, the weather was rubbish, the hotel terrible, and the locals unfriendly.

Top 10 Favourite Countries

I have no plans to make lists a regular feature here (even if people do love them apparently), but I thought it’d be worthwhile to list my favourite places over the next few days, so that I can revisit them when I get back in 18 months’ time, to see how these have changed. So welcome to ‘top tens week’. And if you find lists boring, normal service will resume next week.

1. Mexico

San Cristobal de las Casas

My trip to Mexico in 2007 first got me thinking seriously about taking a year off to see more of the world. I only saw a small portion of the country (the Yucatan Pensinsular, Chiapas, and Mexico City) but it was more than enough to make me fall in love with the place. Aside from the obvious bits – beautiful scenery, stunning beaches, Mayan temples – two things in particular help seal Mexico’s spot at the top of this list: the friendliest locals of anywhere I’ve ever visited, and best of all, the food. I don’t think I had a bad meal the whole time I was there. The only downside being that Mexican food in the UK now tastes like a very, very poor imitation (other than the terrific Mestizo). As I wrote in one of my earliest postshere, it’ll be the first stop on my trip, and I can’t wait.

2. Laos

Wat Ho Pha Bang, Luang Prabang

Only narrowly beaten by Mexico, it was in Laos at Christmas that I decided for certain that I was going to head round the world in 2009. Everyone I met whilst there agreed it was the surprise highlight of South East Asia. Easily the most laidback country I’ve been to, it’s another place I’m heading back to, but this time for longer, so I can enjoy the relaxed pace of life for a while longer without having to rush.

3. Spain

I’ve had more holidays in Spain than any other country, and it hasn’t let me down once, and (along with the next country on the list) is one the only countries in Europe I can imagine living in. The Spanish lifestyle seems so much more civilised than ours back home.

4. Germany

I’m a little biased here – six years living there have left a special place in my heart for Germany (and the Germans). It’s pretty sad that a combination of history and stereotypes dominate the British perception of the country (although I suppose it could be a blessing in disguise…Germany is unlikely to ever end of overrun by the types of British tourists who have ruined large chunks of meditteranean Europe)

5. France

Beaches, mountains, great cities, fantastic food…France has just about everything you could want out of a holiday destination. What’s not to love? (Well, apart from the French themselves…)

6. Portugal

It’s remarkable how few tourists you come across when you get away from the obvious bits (Lisbon, the Algarve). They’re missing out.

7. Australia

The country is so vast, and I’ve only scratched the surface so far. If & when I get to explore the interior more, I can see Australia working it’s way further up my list. Although that won’t be next year – other than a brief stop in Melbourne, I’ve decided not to spend too much time there, as it costs a a fair bit more than everywhere else I’m going.

8. USA

Very similar to the above, there’s so much I still want to do in the US. But what I’ve seen so far, I love. The strangest thing about visiting is that it all seems so instantly familiar, thanks to a million Hollywood movies and TV shows.

9. Georgia

The highlight of my school trip to the then-USSR back when I was 13, which makes recent events all the sadder for me. It’s a truly beautiful little country, and I long to go back to see how much it’s changed in the last 20 years.

10. Azerbaijan

When I visited back in 1988, the combination of modern, brutalist Soviet & older Islamic architecture with deserts full of oil wells, made Azerbaijan feel a world apart from the other Soviet republics I visited, and far more exotic than anywhere else I’d been.

And the biggest disappointment? Well, mentioning this to most people in the UK appears to be tantamount to sacrilege, however my two trips to Italy have not overly impressed me so far. I think I’ve been unlucky, and missed the best bits to be honest, but on both visits I’ve found the locals to be less than friendly, and the cities lacking atmosphere.