I was the only tourist in Moldova. Probably. I was visiting Chisinau, the inelegant, yet chaotically transfixing capital of this small state on the edge of Europe and there wasn’t another visitor in sight. That meant that all the abandoned theme parks,...
I can’t think of a great many better places to spend a few relaxing days on holiday than the heavily armed breakaway Republic of Transnistria. This is a country which doesn’t, technically, even exist. This unrecognised recognised nation is lost...
The stones clattered furiously over the cliff as I desperately clung onto the narrow rock face and inched ever so precariously along the mountain path. This was supposed to be easy. An easy jaunt to the top of a hill. But no, I found myself on a black graded...
The jungles of Borneo, one of the world’s most diverse and incredible regions, has long suffered from deforestation at the hands of humanity, while the teeming wildlife has slowly succumbed to poaching and habitat loss. In Sabah, on the Malaysian side of...
Dubrovnik. The walled city. The jewel in the crown of the Croatian coastline. Or so the tourist guides and lonely planet describe the place. It’s nice. But it’s busy. Really f*cking busy. In the heat, the humidity and surrounded by swarms of cruise ship...
In Bali, a theme park which never opened its doors is hidden in the jungle near to the beaches of Sanur. I went to explore the derelict rides and abandoned ruins of Taman Festival, fearing that rumours of cannibalistic crocodiles and bat infested...
“Man, I love this country! Something crazy’s always happening!” My guide was on edge as he weaved the car through the mad, mad traffic of Tirana, on edge for fear of crashing and with pure, reckless joy at the mayhem he was part of it. There are no...
Foreign and Commonwealth Office Travel Advice for Kosovo: avoid large crowds or demonstrations. Stay away from all political protests. Well, only five minutes into my stay in Kosovo’s capital of Pristina all British Government advice was being...
In 1986 REACTOR NUMBER 4 exploded. Residents were forced out of their homes, and given only hours to collect all they could carry. They believed that they would be home again soon, but almost 3 decades later, the towns and villages of the Chernobyl exclusion zone are...
London to where? Trasnistria? Where the…? Never heard of it I hear you say! Well, that’s because it doesn’t technically exist. I just survived a trip to the breakaway separatists of the Tranistrian Republic, somewhere in the no man’s land...
Along the Borders chronicles my multi-year journey along Britain's borders, boundaries and frontiers. Published by Penguin Random House, and available now!
