Expert Insights

September 09, 2013 The Best of Ladakh Cuisine

Read time – 4 minutes There was a sticky area on the white dusted top, a treacherous crust and the sides crumbled easily. But enough of the chocolate cake. High altitude trekking in Ladakh shouldn’t just be about food, but somehow the rarefied air heightens one’s appetite and as ever food eaten after exertion, especially alpine food...

September 09, 2013 Eye for a bargin

Read time – 3 minutes The ground pitches and rolls beneath my foot. I capitulate precariously, grasping a rough knotted rope to maintain my balance. Fortunately it is stretched taught and holds my weight, allowing me to steady myself and clamber onto dry land with an undignified lurch. A week on the waves has clearly...

September 06, 2013 The Benefits of Responsible Tourism

Read time – 2 minutes Chris Haslam is an award-winning journalist, and currently the Chief Travel Writer at the Sunday Times. This article originally appeared in an Exodus brochure. There’s a school of thought that suggests we should be taking fewer flights, travelling less and spending our holidays at home. Its proponents say that travel for its...

September 06, 2013 Rajasthan Cycle Review

Read time – 6 minutes Like many people, India was one of the places that I had always wanted to travel to. I had read the books, seen the movies – and now I was sat on an aeroplane ready to go. The gentleman I sat next to on the plane (who turned out to...

September 06, 2013 The (Gastronomic) Mont Blanc Circuit

You might think that two weeks of trekking in the Mont Blanc region would be great way to lose a little weight. Tour Leader Charlie Boscoe explains why this isn’t necessarily the case! It is impossible to walk the meadows and passes below the towering peaks of Mont Blanc without feeling a stirring of the...

September 06, 2013 Walking in Iceland

Read time – 2 minutes Iceland is about the most pronounceable name associated with the island. Despite spending two weeks here, I will never be able to pronounce any of the place names! Even the infamous volcano, Eyjafjallajokull has been renamed E15! Despite its somewhat misleading name, summers here are actually pretty hot and dry. The midday...

September 06, 2013 Travels of a Coffee Addict

Like more and more people I am a coffee drinker. My first memories of drinking coffee are sat in the Piazza del Campo, in Siena, enjoying a cappuccino and bombolone (custard-filled doughnut) as a teenager on a family holiday. Ever since, whenever I visit a coffee-drinking country I look forward to trying the local variety –...

September 06, 2013 India’s Himalayas of Ladakh

Read time – 4 minutes A brisk wind races through the high passes, scattering prayer flags flapping and fluttering against the sky. The haunting echo of footsteps tracing the corridor of a Buddhist monastery is swept away, the sun streams down over the lush green tea plantations of Darjeeling. Somewhere more secretive, the elusive shadow...

September 06, 2013 The Amalfi Coast Best Bits – Eat, Walk, Love

Read time – 3 minutes The old man’s eyes are honest as he whispers to me, “Here, in this region, we have everything you can possibly look for.” This wisened face belongs to one of the family who own the Hotel Le Due Torri where we are staying, high in the hills near the Amalfi...

September 06, 2013 The Galapagos Islands and Turtles

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...