“The stars shine so bright, but they’re fading after dawn. There is magic in Kingston Town” – UB40. In December 2022, I finally went backpacking in Jamaica. Those were tough times due to COVID restrictions. At the time I was even blocked from my flight from Dominican Republic to Jamaica due to a passport switch. Read more about Backpacking In Jamaica🇯🇲: My Top 10 Sights In Kingston[…]
“My heart it skips a beat when I behold” – Noel Gallagher. I didn’t have any wild dreams, demands or desires when I arrived at dawn into the lesser cared capital city of Hargeisa. This is the capital of Somaliland. It was a visa struggle to even get here – horrific times for money, time Read more about Backpacking In Somaliland🟥⬜️🟩: Top 5 Sights In Hargeisa The Capital City[…]
“Don’t believe the hype” – Everyone Sensible Who Ever Backpacked Maafushi. To be honest, I didn’t have any real plans, dreams, hopes or inspirations before I finally landed in The Maldives in July 2025, for the first time ever. And probably the last time, as I’m just not into repeats any more, unless they are Read more about Backpacking In The Maldives🇲🇻: Top 10 Sights On Maafushi Island[…]
“Rainy Summertime” – Noel Gallagher. Even before my trip to The Maldives in 2025, I had self monikered it the “Rainy Summertime Tour“, inspired by a lost Oasis track. One that Noel Gallagher wrote but never released. I had heard The Maldives were some kind of a “paradise”, this turned out to be excrement as Read more about Backpacking In The Maldives💩: Top 11 Unexpected Aspects To Male, The Capital City[…]
“Take me away, cos I just don’t wanna stay” – Noel Gallagher. When COVID hit the world in 2020, it was for sure a dent in my travel globe, a halt in proceedings. Life changed dramatically for me after that. I was locked down in Warszawa in Poland having just come back from Africa in Read more about Backpacking In Dominica🇩🇲: Top 10 Sights In Roseau, The Capital City[…]
Here I was, 203 countries deep into my wacaday adventure around the world and I was finally in The Isle of Man!! This lesser ventured country is the fifth closest country to my home country of Northern Ireland yet it took me until July 2022 to finally make it here. I set about reminiscing, glory hunting, Read more about Backpacking In The Isle Of Man🇮🇲: Top 9 Sights In Ramsey[…]
“It really really really could happen” – Damon Albarn. Niger’s mainstay, Niamey is a lesser ventured capital city. I didn’t know a lot about it before my visit. We heard that boating on the Niger River and heading out to a giraffe zone would be the highlights and the normal things for backpackers to do Read more about Backpacking In Niger🇳🇪: Top 9 Sights In Niamey, The Capital City[…]
“Don’t you want me baby? Don’t you want me oooh?” – Mandy Smith. What a city name this one really is. Ouagadougou – Wow! Pronounced phonetically in Northern Irish as “WAGA DOO GOO” so it is, so till spake. Long before I even backpacked this joint, it was a dot on my globe that fascinated Read more about Backpacking In Burkina Faso 🇧🇫: My Top 8 Sights in Ouagadougou[…]
“Maybe somewhere down the road when somebody plays (at the end of the line)” – The Travelling Wilburys. I had backpacked quickly through the Mauritanian oceanside city of Nouadhibou in 2022 after completing the textbook Mauritania Iron Ore train journey. That was a trip of a lifetime, and who knew that 2 and a half Read more about Backpacking In Mauritania 🇲🇷(and Western Sahara🇪🇭!): Top 11 Sights In Nouadhibou[…]
“Ride across the river, deep and wide” – Mark Knopfler. My Bangor to Bangui story is a wild one. I’ve already chaptertitled it for a future book in my third series (the 200th – 300th country series which will succeed “Backpacking Centurion 0-100” and “This Is The Next Century 100-200“) I grew up in the Read more about Backpacking in Central African Republic 🇨🇫: Top 7 Sights in Bangui[…]