Travel Expert - Vicky Boughton

Read time – 2 minutes The wind rattles through my clothes, lifting the hat off my head and spitting dust at my legs. My empty water bottle clinks against my backpack, lungs gasping in the thin air. The vista below is a fairyland of multi-coloured stone spires stretching as far as the eye can see,...

Read time – 3 minutes Plastic scrapes along the coarse river bed, ripples lapping at the shore. The chipped wooden oars come to rest in the shallow water beneath us. On a grassy mound in the distance, I am distracted by two men standing knee-deep in the River Toa which flows through Cuba, casting and...

Read time – 2 minutes Charred and smoking, piles of red hot coal formed a line of fire, dividing the town’s main square. Plumes of ash flew into the air as a local parrillero braved the searing heat to tend to the burning coals; an iron rod clenched in one hand, he wiped the soot...

Read time – 2 minutes Pioneer settlers in Banff found the Canadian Rockies to be a wilderness undisturbed by industry, excessive trade or the usual prerogatives of the ‘civilised’ man. Now, the wild stretches of Canada’s first National Park (1885) can still offer that tantalising taste of freedom – if you know where to go....

Read time – 3 minutes Vicky bears all about her recent wildlife adventure in Canada’s great outdoors hotspot, British Columbia… “CAUTION: BEAR IN AREA” proclaims the yellow and blue sign on the jetty. The boat’s engine is cut. We drift full of anticipation. I am not the only one scanning the forest ahead, half expecting...

Read time – 3 minutes “You will get bored of sea turtles,” the appropriately named Darwin says as he outlines the week’s adventures aboard the Cachalote. Nods ripple around the group signalling agreement – it’s a risk we are prepared to take. Sea Turtle, Galapagos  Galapagos Islands Cruise On day one of the Galapagos cruise, our boat docks...