#solotravel

Amsterdam 20 Years Later: Same Tracks, Tired Windows, Stronger Weed — and the Suspicion That the Party Moved to BerlinIn 2004, Amsterdam ended for me with a daytime train to Cologne. Twenty years later, Cologne was where Amsterdam began again. I was returning along the same railway corridor to a city I remembered well enough to miss, but perhaps no

One winter evening, one quiet morning and a ferry waiting at the end Helsinki was never meant to be the main event. The journey had already taken me north to Lapland and then south to Tampere for an Erasmus programme, while Tallinn was waiting across the Gulf of Finland before the final return home. Helsinki entered the itinerary almost as a matt

Martinis, Millionaires and One Very Drunk Brit at Breakfast At midnight, fireworks opened above the palm trees of Monte Carlo. I was standing on the balcony of the Casino de Monte-Carlo with a drink in my hand. Behind me, people were gambling sums that could have financed my entire trip. In front of me, flashes of colour reflected from the surrou

One perfect reflection, two mountain transport systems and a ridiculously expensive day above Zermatt. There is a photograph of the Matterhorn on the wall of my office. The mountain rises almost perfectly above Riffelsee, while its reflection points downward into water so still that Switzerland appears to have arranged itself specifically for my