Having spent a few amazing days in Soweto and Johannesburg, I had made up my itinerary and rough plan for the rest of my time in southern Africa. In South Africa itself, I would make do with visiting just four cities (Durban, Soweto, Johannesburg and Pretoria) and I would cross into two of the other Read more about Herbert Goes Bananas: Road Trip Johannesburg to Pretoria Via Sterkfontein[…]
The thought of drinking Guinness or finding an Irish Pub in Africa never occurred to me. Luxuries like that seem a world away, and besides the culture of the local pubs I was in far outweight those experiences spent indoors in a bland Irish themed pub. I was in Shebeens in Soweto. I was in Read more about A Quick Stop Over, A Guinness And A Surprise Irish Pub in Nelspruit *[…]
Mixing football with travel can be easy, and also provide you with a good excuse to travel. All I would have needed to do then would be to take a leaf out of Shaun Schofield’s book and travel round the world watching Northern Ireland play football. Ironically I have a “leaf” in Shaun Schofield’s Read more about Jose Luis Chilavert, John Hart and Standing on The Pitch at Estadio Defensores Del Chaco[…]
Oh the joys of random travel, flight connections, transit visas, overnight stays and bonus visits to new cities, as Manila was for me on this trip. I flew by Jumbo Jet from Hong Kong, arriving late on a Saturday night, a day which had seen me work in Yuen Long, Hong Kong and meet girlfriend Read more about Backpacking in the Philippines: One Night In Manila[…]
Herm is a glorious island to visit. With a population of just 55 and no motorised transport permitted (except for a tractor) this was an amazing place to visit. The only realistic way to get there is by boat. You catch the Herm Travel Trident from St. Peter Port in Guernsey. This trip report will Read more about Channel Islands: Herm[…]
I’ll never know how or why I ever ended up living in Kent. Even now the idea seems ludicrous, as I worked in West London at the time, and commuted everyday from Dartford in Kent. If that was a nightmare Monday – Friday, it made my weekends more relaxed, if distanced from the normal madness Read more about Gillingham 1-1 AFC Bournemouth – My “Local” Away Match (December 2006) *[…]
If you don’t understand the horrid history of South Africa, then a trip to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg is a must when visiting the country. I knew a bit about it, but going to the museum added a lot of details, facts and stories to my knowledge of the black and white divide in Read more about Visiting the Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa[…]
My final few hours in Taiwan in 2009 ended in the same way as the entire Taiwan experience had been – sleepless. I shed a tear as I said goodbye to Millwall Neil outside a Korean Restaurant in a downstairs shopping mall in central Taipei. This was ironic in itself as Neil now lives in Read more about Goodbye Formosa: Leaving Taiwan[…]
Memories are emotional. “Saudades” as the Portuguese, Brazilians and Angolans say…that lingering, sentimental emotion associated with a place, a time, a person, people, a memory, which but for the invention of a time machine, WILL NEVER BE REPLACED. That’s a globe of planet earth above, one which I found on my first day in Shinying, Read more about Leaving Shinying (Sinying/Xinying) Behind For This Lifetime…[…]
So we were heading to Bristol to play Bristol Rovers, the Pirates away. On an October Tuesday night in the LDV Vans Trophy Cup. The 9th October 2007 to be exact. It was a significant away match for me in many ways… 1. It was my first ever LDV Vans away match. Read more about BRISTOL ROVERS AWAY – PART 2 – Two Away Wins On The Trot…*[…]