Category Archives: Reflections

EOY Reviews, NY objectives.

Posted on 26/12/2019 by awtytravels

If you’re employed in a company you’ll be familiar with this period of the year: ’tis is the season when CEOs are wheeled out of their offices to recite a speech outlining everything that you minions have delivered and to … Continue reading →

Posted in Random memories, Reflections | Tagged 2019, 2019 in pictures, Asia, Atacama, Central Asia, Chile, China, Crimes, Desert, Driving, Easter Island, End of Year message, Europe, Hitch hike, Hitchhiker, Iceland, Kamaz, Kyrgyzstan, Milky Way, Mountains, Offroad, Orcas, Photography, Rapa Nui, Recap, Road Trip, Sary Tash, Sea, Snow, Summary, Travel, Travels, Turkestan, Whale watching, Winter, Wrap-up, Xinjiang | 22 Comments

Treading lightly – or how I offset my 2018 CO2 emissions.

Posted on 13/02/2019 by awtytravels

Unless you’ve taken up a flatshare with Bikini Bottom’s Patrick Star, you’ll have heard about CO2 trading. In the EU version of the thing, a cap is set on specific emissions, which is also constantly lowered year after year. If … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged Business class, Carbon offset, Climate change, ClimateCare, CO2, Co2 emissions, Cost of flying, First class, Flying, One planet | 28 Comments

Somebody’s just started quite a journey.

Posted on 06/02/2018 by awtytravels

…No, not me. But a plucky mannequin, inevitably called Spaceman, has just left the Cape aboard a red, electric Tesla roadster car, bound for an orbit around the Sun and a close encounter with Mars. I’m talking about the payload of SpaceX’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Odd ones out, Reflections | Tagged Booster, Cape Canaveral, David Bowie, Deep space, Dragon, Drone ship, Electric car, Elon Musk, Falcon, Falcon Heavy, JSC, Launch, Maiden flight, Mars, Musk, NASA, Orbit, Pressure suit, Re-entry, Roadster, Rocket, Rocket man, Space, space exploration, SpaceX, Starman, Sun, Tesla | 20 Comments

Brexit: if you’re a masochist, it’s the real deal (Part 2).

Posted on 20/03/2016 by awtytravels

In my previous instalment, I tried to address a few common misconceptions around the EU; in this one I’ll try and have a look at the three main scenarios that the UK could follow should it decide to secede from … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Reflections | Tagged Boris Johnson, Brexit, Britain, Brussells, Bruxelles, David Cameron, EEA, EFTA, EU, EurLex, European Union, Eurostat, Federica Mogherini, Immigration, InFact, Nigel Farage, Norway, Office for National statistics, Politics, Referendum, Switzerland, United Kingdom | 2 Comments

Brexit? If you’re a masochist, it’s the real deal (Part 1).

Posted on 13/03/2016 by awtytravels

This time last year we were all panicking about a possible Scottish secession, something that surely appealed to Braveheart fans, but didn’t make sense under any other point of view. This year it’s Brexit and, since work has sort of killed … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Odd ones out, Politics, Reflections | Tagged Boris Johnson, Brexit, Britain, Brusells, Bruxelles, David Cameron, EU, EurLex, European Union, Eurostat, Federica Mogherini, Immigration, InFact, Nigel Farage, Office for National statistics, Politics, Referendum, United Kingdom | 2 Comments

Film review – Nordfor sola (North of the Sun)

Posted on 06/12/2015 by awtytravels

I’ve never really felt at ease on the sea, and I suck at most sports, especially if such activities can be accompanied by the word “extreme”. In this mindset it’s hard to try and explain why I decided to pay … Continue reading →

Posted in Odd ones out, Reflections | Tagged Arctic circle, Documentary, environment, Europe, Extreme, Inge Wegge, Jørn Nyseth Ranum, nature, Nordfor sola, North of the Sun, Norway, Pole, Sport, Surf, Winter | 5 Comments

Bumping in your fellow countrymen abroad

Posted on 29/12/2014 by awtytravels

It’s a common story, one that you’re likely to hear in any chronicle of a travel abroad told by friends, acquaintances or relatives: “So there I was, bang in the middle of the dodgy suburbs of Kinshasa and guess what? … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Random memories, Reflections | Tagged Feeling ashamed of being like them, Modern Tourism, Oafs, Rude Tourists, Travelling | Leave a comment

Notes from a place I dread: Milan (or do I?)

Posted on 25/12/2014 by awtytravels

How often do you happen to read, in a travel blog or magazine, an article about a place the writer absolutely hates? A place he dreads, a place the loathes, somewhere he’d rather have a dentist appointment than visit? Well, … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Lombardia, Reflections | Tagged Architecture, Hines, Italia, Italy, Lombardy, Milan, Milano, Porta Nuova, Skyscrapers, Urban renovation | 13 Comments

Songs for the Road 4 – A slightly introspective Christmas

Posted on 18/12/2014 by awtytravels

This year will be an odd Christmas, at least for me. In the last 12 months, in facts, my biological family has shrunk – through deaths and inheritance-caused greed – from 8 members to two, my brother and father. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Music review, Reflections | Tagged African Blues, Ali Farka Touré, Apparat, Blues, djembe, Electronica, Ellen Allien, IBM, James Murphy, LCD Soundsystem, Movement, Music, music review, Orchestra of Bubbles, Remix, Songs for the road, Techno, Tennis, Turin | Leave a comment

Travelling through a country’s music – Mali

Posted on 14/12/2014 by awtytravels

It all started with two groups and neither of them were Malian. Ofo The Black Company was the first and I discovered them in the Botswana special of Top Gear: James May was overtaking, in a old and battered beige … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Music review, Reflections | Tagged Africa, African music, Ali Farka Touré, Amadou et Mariam, Blues, Boubacar Traore, Desert Blues, France, Mali, Music, Operation Serval, Rokia Traore, Samba Touré, Sidi Touré, Songhoy Blues, Tamikrest, Tinariwen, Toumast | Leave a comment