Planning a trip to Colombia? Here’s why you should visit the coffee region

September 29, 2022

The wax palms of Cocora Valley in the Colombian Andes. Image by Makalu (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/colombia-palm-trees-3631740/

The vari­ous regions of Colom­bia are vastly dif­fer­ent from each oth­er.  Trav­el­lers look­ing to avoid ‘over­tour­ism’ and embrace ‘authen­ti­city’ should con­sider explor­ing the nation’s cof­fee-grow­ing region in the Andes Moun­tains.  Dur­ing my two and a half weeks in Colom­bia, August 2022, I vis­ited that region, as well as the cit­ies of Medel­lin and Cart­agena.  Here are […]

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Posted in "GT" Travel in Colombia, "GT" Travel in South America, "GT" Travel World
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Wonders of the unexpected: Pleasant surprises in Azerbaijan & Saudi Arabia

September 1, 2022

Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia

I star­ted trav­el­ling at an early age.  When I was barely three years old my par­ents took me on my very first trip to the US, Mex­ico, and the Carib­bean.  I have nev­er really stopped trav­el­ling since.  Dec­ades later I made a pact with a friend to travel to 100 coun­tries; some­thing I was meant to achieve […]

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Posted in "GT" Travel World, "GT" Travel in Asia, "GT" Travel in Azerbaijan, "GT" Travel in Europe & the UK, "GT" Travel in Saudi Arabia
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From New Delhi to Leh on the old Hindustan-Tibet Road

August 18, 2022
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Lamayuru Monastery from the road by Meridius27 (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lamayuru_monastery_from_the_road.JPG

After not being able to travel for two and a half years, in June this year I was for­tu­nate to go on a 23-day tour from Del­hi to Ladakh via the old Hindus­tan-Tibet Road.  The road, which the Brit­ish Raj built in 1850, is still con­sidered ‘off the beaten track’ by trav­el­lers, des­pite the magnificent […]

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Posted in "GT" Travel World, "GT" Travel in Asia, "GT" Travel in India
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Where wine was born and the local cheeses are prized: Alaverdi, Georgia

August 11, 2022

A montage. Alaverdi Monatery across the top two thirds of the image. Four square image run across the bottom: A qvevri abandoned above ground; a lady standing next to a 350-year-old grape vine; a local cheese; and some traditional cuisine

In 2017, the US’ Nation­al Academy of Sci­ences con­clus­ively determ­ined that wine ori­gin­ated some 8,000 years ago in Geor­gia.  I was already work­ing in Geor­gia and was invited to vis­it the tiny vil­lage of Alaverdi in the heart of Georgia’s Alazani River val­ley, a vast wine­mak­ing area.  With a pop­u­la­tion of few­er than 200, Alaverdi is […]

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Posted in "GT" Travel World, "GT" Travel in Europe & the UK, "GT" Travel in Georgia
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Reflections on the ‘best small city in the world’: San Miguel de Allende

April 7, 2022

Overlooking San Miguel de Allende. By Steven Buchanan (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/mexico-san-miguel-de-allende-dusk-5756222/

A recent “Good Tour­ism” Insight about ‘jouis­sance’ promp­ted me to reappraise the con­cepts of sen­sa­tion and per­cep­tion and the pur­suit of pleas­ure.  It triggered memor­ies of San Miguel de Allende, a magic­al UNESCO World Her­­it­age-lis­ted colo­ni­al town in cent­ral Mex­ico.  The story begins with an artist and one of Canada’s former fig­ure skat­ing cham­pi­ons, the […]

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Posted in "GT" Travel World, "GT" Travel in Mexico, "GT" Travel in North America
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Memories of Jordan (and celebrating the ‘bucket list’)

February 17, 2022

Memories of Petra and Jordan by Melanie Kay Smith

I was at a tour­ism industry con­fer­ence a few months ago listen­ing to a talk on the dev­ast­at­ing effects of COV­­ID-related travel bans on her­it­age des­tin­a­tions.  Pro­fess­or Mike Robin­son, the speak­er, cited Jordan as a prime example.  Amidst my sym­pathy for the des­tin­a­tion and its people, my ‘buck­et list’ quest react­iv­ated instantly in my mind.  It […]

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Posted in "GT" Travel World, "GT" Travel in Asia, "GT" Travel in Jordan
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