Category: Uncategorized
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Alta, Norway: a week under the northern lights for a thirtieth birthday
Paritosh turned thirty and wanted the aurora, so we spent a week in Alta at 70° north in January — polar twilight, a sky that finally danced on the night he turned thirty, orcas in the fjord and a genuinely frightening drive to North Cape.
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Italy at Easter: Naples, Capri, Pompeii and a long lunch on a volcano
Five days in Campania at Easter with close friends and their family — Naples, a clear April day on Capri, Easter Sunday at a winery on the slopes of Vesuvius, and Pompeii on Pasquetta.
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Romania: three impromptu days, two castles and a city we had not thought about
A weekend booked on a Wednesday: three days in Bucharest, a day trip to Bran and Peleș in the mist and hail, and the discovery that Romanian food, wine and cities are all much better than anyone told us.
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Argentina: the end of the world, and two glaciers
Part one of two: three weeks in Patagonia and the Atacama, starting with an airport strike. Ushuaia, the Beagle Channel and a beach full of penguins, then El Calafate for Mount Fitz Roy and the Perito Moreno glacier.
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Chile: the W trek, a thirtieth birthday in the Andes, and the driest desert on earth
Part two of two: turning thirty on the first morning of the W trek, a puma past camp that same evening, five days and 110 kilometres through Torres del Paine — then the flight the length of Chile to San Pedro de Atacama.
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Malaysia: four days in Kuala Lumpur, and a birthday
Part five of five, and the end of the series. Batu Caves at seven in the morning, the best filter coffee of the month, a birthday dinner with four Michelin plaques by the door, and a rooftop on the last night.
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Vietnam: eight days, and the one place we would give more of
Part three of five. Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Ha Long, Hoi An, Da Nang and Saigon in eight days — the day trip that beat the famous one, the town we would go back to, and why Michelin-listed eating in Vietnam costs almost nothing.
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Cambodia: one enormous day at Angkor, and one day to recover from it
Part four of five. Three nights in Siem Reap, no Phnom Penh: a nine-and-a-half-hour temple day starting at half past four in the morning, then a whole day of doing nothing on purpose — and the trick that gets you Angkor Wat almost to yourself.
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Qatar: three days in Doha, and the end of the month
Part six of six, and the end of the series. We turned a two-hour connection on the way home into three days — Souq Waqif at blue hour, the murals of the Mina District, Katara, The Pearl, and Lusail Marina on the last evening of the month.
