A sure fire recent shock for me was backpacking in Andorra. This is a country renowned for ski-ing, mountains and cold winters. I went there simply to experience life here as a backpacker rather than a ski-er or a luxury traveller. While there is definitely not a hardcore backpacking scene here, there is one hostel…
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While this might seem like a sweeping and super fast compilation, then yes folks, that’s exactly what it is! I’m not claiming to be any kind of Andorran Bar expert but if you’re on a short trip to undermined Andorra then I hope you’ll enjoy these five cool bars, like I did. I’ve chosen bars…
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Let’s start with my main observation here – Guatemala City is a breathtaking beast of a city. An absolute beast pumped to the max. The weird thing is a lot of backpackers, and especially luxury travellers like to give it a miss and use the “it’s too dangerous says my mate” excuse. Quite frankly that…
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The town of Chalchuapa will linger long in my mind. I hadn’t heard of it the day before my visit and I won’t forget it after my day out there. It was a truly magical little town well off the tourist trail and I was completely inspired. El Salvador gave me more stories than I…
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When you go backpacking in El Salvador you are not quite sure what to expect and most likely, you will stay in places you will never have heard of. The latest surprise gem was Santa Ana. Quite simply this is a spectacular and proud town in the countryside of El Salvador. Not too busy to…
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Do you believe the hype about San Pedro Sula in Honduras? You’d be a fool not to, the statistics speak for themselves. As far as backpacking in Honduras is concerned, San Pedro Sula is usually the city to avoid. Gang warfare rules supreme here. Year after year the murder statistics are huge, and except for massacres…
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I completed a hat trick of “San Cristobals” when I took my backpack to the cool city of San Cristobal de las Casas recently. I’d already visited San Cristobal in Bolivia in 2010 and the one in venomous Venezuela in 2011. But the Mexican city of the same name knocked the previous brace into touch.…
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“Hey Xela, stars about to fall so what do you say, Xela” – Noel Gallagher, lyrics altered slightly (Lyla) Quetzaltenango (Xela) is a decent backpacking beast. Factually it is Guatemala’s second biggest city. Though quite where these half a million odd locals actually are could baffle you. We arrived across the border from Ciudad Cuauhtemoc…
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Throw Belem into anyone’s dreams of backpacking in Brazil and you might get the “where is that?” response. I don’t blame them for asking that. But when you get beneath the surface of a city like Belem you get to know its charm and you realise – these are cool places and you might not…
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It’s been seven years since I went backpacking in the USA and while I have fond memories of touring Los Angeles and New York on the cheap, it’s the realisation that the world is huge and we may never be there again. Here’s a sure fire top 5 things to do in Atlantic City in New…
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