Stories.
Long Form Narratives, Character Driven Stories.
Award Winning Travel Writing
Award-winning travel writing from a professional travel journalist. Stories are the pride and joy of Travel Tramp.
Here you’ll find long-form narratives, character-driven stories and fascinating overland journeys.
Stories delve deep into local history, culture and politics. Read about the unusual, the curious and the incredible people and places that make our world so unique.
Latest Stories
The Gruesome Story of Sigiriya, Sri Lanka’s #1 Tourist Attraction
Discover the brutal and bloody story of Sigiriya, Sri Lanka's iconic and top-rated tourist attraction. High above the forests of central Sri Lanka, a great block of volcanic stone rises from the plains, its summit scarred with the remains of ancient walls, gardens,...
Why Pheasant Island Changes Nationalities Every Six Months
Discover the curious story of Pheasant Island, a 200-metre-long island in the middle of the Bidasoa River between France and Spain, which changes nationalities every six months. On a quiet stretch of the Bidasoa River between the Basque towns of Irun and Hendaye lies...
Tskaltubo: The Refugees Living In Georgia’s ‘Abandoned’ Soviet Sanatoriums
I travelled to Tskaltubo, a former Soviet spa town, to hear the stories of Georgia's Abkhazian refugees, who still reside inside 'abandoned' sanatoriums intended as temporary homes. “Hope is the last thing to die,” Lasha told me, standing in the ruins of an abandoned...
Azraq Wetlands: Eastern Jordan’s Vanishing Desert Oasis
I travelled into the remote deserts of eastern Jordan in search of a vanishing oasis that once teemed with life. And to learn how conservationists are clawing this wetland back from the engulfing sands. Driving east from Amman, the sun beating down on the dark tarmac,...
The Hejaz Railway: A Plan to Unite the Middle East by Train
Discover the story of the Hejaz Railway, an audacious Ottoman-era plan to unite the Middle East, and how it could soon be resurrected. The Hejaz Railway was the most ambitious engineering project the Ottoman Empire ever embarked on. Intended to link...
Bir Tawil: The World’s Last Terra Nullius?
Discover the curious case of Bir Tawil, a trapezoid of land in the Nubian Desert between Egypt and Sudan that could be the world's last 'Terra Nullius'. The Egyptian-Sudanese border is a geopolitical anomaly, filled with territorial disputes, shifting allegiances, and...
The Unusual Case of Puntland: A Somalian Breakaway State
Discover the unusual case of Puntland, a Somalian breakaway territory that hit the headlines thanks to none other than Donald Trump (who else?). The world is filled with contested borders, breakaway states and geopolitical oddities. For those of you intrigued by...
9 Ancient Borders That Shaped The World
From Babylonian boundary stones to the extensive engineering works of the Roman Empire; here are 10 ancient borders that shaped the world. Borders are a constant in human history. The human story is one of boundaries. Of division. Of a search for definition and...
What is Bordelines? My New Project.
Join my quest to understand the world through its borders and boundaries. Sign up for my brand new BORDERLINES Newsletter and follow the journey. NEWSLETTER SIGN UP SUBSTACK SIGNUP Welcome to Borderlines! This blog, Travel Tramp, is now almost ten years old. A decade...
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