A Journey Like No Other - India - MSL May
Our reasons may have been different, but our goals were the same; to buy bikes and ride the length of the Sub-Continent.
Jack Southan
Travel journalist. Gonzonite. Serial adventurer.
Mountains and Moonscapes
I stop for a moment to stamp my feet on an exposed rock and shake off a little of the snow which clogs the tread on my boots. The sun is high in the sky and is blindingly bright against the expanse of white which stretches out around me in every direction. I can’t see any sign of the red painted markers which line the route ahead, and as the snow starts to fall again I have become disorientated.
New Lease on New Zealand
Many of us took time out before or after university to travel the world – getting drunk at beach parties in Thailand, picking apples in Australia and bungee jumping in New Zealand. Travel tended to be on a shoestring with hostels being our accommodation of choice. According to Tourism New Zealand, backpackers aged between 18 and 24 represent 11 per cent of visitors to the country, with average trips lasting 31 days and an average spend per person of NZ$3,700 (£1,911).
Review: Moxy NYC Times Square Hotel
Jack Southan reviews the Moxy NYC Times Square hotel in New York, which opened in September 2017 and was designed by . Although part of Marriott International, it is a great example of a new breed of youth-orientated, low-cost luxury, lifestyle hotels that goes out of its way to break conventional rules of hospitality, and puts fun at its heart.
My taxi crawls its way through the throng of traffic which has backed up in the neon lit pantheon of Times Square. Snow swirls in the freezing New York
Why elite hotel brand Aman is a quietly ambitious trendsetter
In January, the launch of the Amanyangyun on the outskirts of Shanghai, proved the culmination of a 15-year conservation project (one of the biggest in China’s history) with the relocation of an entire forest of 10,000 ancient camphor trees, along with 50 Ming and Qing dynasty houses from Fuzhou, 800km away. These have now be carefully preserved and repurposed to form the walls and grounds of a peaceful Aman spa retreat (pictured below). Coming up in 2020 will another landmark venture for the ho
Weekender: County Mayo
There’s little doubt as to what’s considered County Mayo’s main draw. Venture out along one of its coastal roads in almost any direction, and in no time you’ll be struck by the implausible beauty of this Western Irish landscape.
The key to such an endeavour is the Wild Atlantic Way — a coast-hugging road network that runs for over 1,600 miles around Ireland’s west coast. The section that passes through Mayo is stunning: winding roads cut through orange-green moorland, dappled with heather and l
Tunnels Through Time
As the thick grey mist begins to swirl around me, clinging to the large boulders and hanging loosely over the patches of heather and scrubland dotted between the rock, I’m starting to lose track of those ahead of me. It’s not yet five in the evening, but my eyes are already struggling in the twilight, shapes appearing and disappearing as the light plays tricks on me.
I can see the orange jacket of my guide Giordan, bobbing up and down as he leaps from rock to rock a little way ahead, so I focus
The Dolomites: Take a hike
I’ve been walking through the Dolomite mountains for almost a week now — the landscapes have been more dramatic than I could ever have expected and the scope for adventure has surprised me at every turn. I spent the first few days of my walk with a group of Americans, hiking through amazing rocky expanses, rolling grassy hills and up and down some difficult inclines, but, having let them go on without me, I’ve settled in the almost mythically beautiful Fanes Valley. The weather has been poor in
How to eat and drink in Las Vegas
With the development of the hip (but lesser known) Downtown area of Vegas, food in Sin City has gone from a gambler’s necessity to a tourism draw all in itself. The streets are packed with cool bars and quality eateries and some very fine spots to hang out. Many have an urban Brooklyn feel, whereas others appear to be high-end Hollywood. Needless to say, with this epicentre of food and culture growing so rapidly, the entire city has had to pick up its game, with glorious results.
Here are a few
Indian Motorbike Rides
Maddeningly frantic, yet ancient, colourful and completely unthawing, India remains one of the ultimate rides for fans of two wheeled tenacity. Jack Southan gives us his favourite subcontinent sojourns.
Riding through Southern India, up into the remote Western Ghat mountain range on a looping circuit of about 500km, this trip starts in Kochi, the old Portuguese colonial city in Kerala, before winding its way through the jungles and dusty roads east, up into foot hills of the mountains. The chan
BRIGHT LIGHTS: CUBAN CITIES
Trinidad
Standing on the hills above the blue Caribbean Sea for over 500 years, the town of Trinidad (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is a Cuban icon. Founded in the days of Cortes, the town exudes history and culture. The music of Buena Vista plays out from the cafes and restaurants which line the streets, and the golden sunshine makes the brightly coloured buildings glow. It’s easy to wander the cobbled streets for hours exploring the bars and street stalls — the town is small, but bustling en
Eyewitness: Vinales
The road to Vinales is rugged and twisting. It winds its way from Havana through the north-western corner of Cuba, up through the green hills and dusty plantations, until it gets right into the heart of tobacco country.
About a kilometre out of town, I see a shabby tourist office building and a sign pointing to what looks like the edge of a cliff with the word ‘restaurant’ written on it. A minute or two later, the first colourfully painted buildings come into view: small, pretty houses, with pa
Chiang Mai Nights
Of Thailand's many vibrant, buzzing cities, I love the northern capital the most. Chiang Mai is small enough to ride east to west in 20 minutes, but it has so much heart and soul to it that you can spend months exploring it and still find somewhere new and exciting.
I have been in town for a few weeks now, and never seem to be able to get on that bus I keep booking to Bangkok. It's an infectious place, the charm of it takes hold almost immediately and suddenly you can't seem to think of yoursel
Sunrise Over Angkor Wat
The romanticism of exploring an overgrown temple, in the heart of some far flung jungle in the tropics, has surely inspired countless travellers to don their packs and fly East. It has become a bucket-list 'essential' for the aspiring adventurer ever since (for me at least) Indiana Jones' first jungle adventure at the beginning of Raiders. It was certainly enough to make me fantasise about that first 'lost world' experience.
Large numbers of backpackers migrate towards Cambodia's sleepy norther
Why Airbnb won't kill off the serviced apartment
Twenty years ago, hotels and commercial holiday lets made up the lion’s share of your accommodation options when travelling away from home. But if you were going abroad or to another city for an extended period of time on business, hotels held the crown. It was either that or signing a short-term lease on a property for the length of your stay.
Sure, hotels are great and tend to meet your short-term needs – the room is cleaned daily and you can order a burger to your bed – but there inevitably
COVER FEATURE: CUBA BEYOND HAVANA
There's so much more to the beautiful, charismatic island of Cuba than its capital, says Jack Southan...
The Changing Face of Havana
Everyone seems to be saying the same thing when it comes to Cuba at the moment: go now before it all changes. The American trade embargo has begun to be lifted from this culturally isolated island and things will change. But I’m not sure that it’ll be as quick as people think.
Driving through the crumbling streets of Havana Centro, it’s instantly apparent that this is a country locked in time; ever since the Communist government took power after the 1959 Cuban Revolution, it has been in a spira
Finding Hemingway's Havana | World Travel Guide
The words of Nelson Albuquerqe, Professor of Literature at Havana University and my guide for the day, as we pull up in front of Ernest Hemingway’s house, now a museum, in the hills above Havana. It tells a story of his life from wall to wall and is exactly as I’d hoped, down to the very last detail. Even the bathroom wall is scrawled with the dates and weights Hemingway would record during his bouts of illness.
I’m sitting in a turquoise blue 1965 Buick 8 convertible, the very type of car the
Top Five: Restaurants in Havana
1. Ivan Chef Justo
This little restaurant, nestled on the corner of La Esquina, Aguacate, opposite the Museo de la Revolución, is a favourite of travellers in the know. It’s a little eccentric and feels more like a cluttered living room than a great restaurant, but this only adds to its charm and ambience. The menu changes regularly, so it’s only presented on a blackboard, but think outstanding house tacos filled with a selection of seafood, beef or pork, plus creamy avocado chunks, Parmesan f
Cuba: Hemingway in Havana
Stepping out from the shadows of the narrow street into the bright sunshine of a bustling plaza, I shield my eyes and glance at the crowds of tourists in the busy restaurants looking for a respite from the midday heat. The square is overlooked by the magnificent, colonial-era Havana Cathedral and either side of the cobbled courtyard are shady colonnades that run down to an official-looking building at the far end.
Strolling towards the northwest corner of the plaza, I notice people gathered out
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