[The Travel Wire #78] The best way to understand India is to travel by train, ‘Serengeti of South America’, travel without an audience, and more travel reads. Travel reads • Cheese, beer and divine intervention in Bumthang, Bhutan’s spiritual heartland [Eastside Asia] “As a Bhutanese, I often get asked by curious travellers: “Where is your favourite […]

[The Travel Wire #77] Passport privilege, when intuition becomes your guide, Nigeria, Guatemala thirty years after my first visit, and more travel reads. Travel reads • Short of breath, but finding peace, at 18,000 feet (archive) [NY Times Travel] “A writer grapples with the death of her sister, and the end of a marriage, during a […]

[The Travel Wire #76] Mumbai, the fantastic Faroes, Tunisia, and more travel reads. Travel reads • The last yak herder of Ladakh [Noema] “As glaciers melt and traditions fade, one man’s journey across Ladakh’s sacred pastures is a living archive of a disappearing way of life.” • My City: Mumbai – an homage to the Indian metropolis […]

[The Travel Wire #75] Pedal from the end of the Lofoten Islands to Vardø, my beach paradise is somewhere most tourists ignore, visiting my accountant in Pakistan, and more travel reads. Travel reads • Surf shacks and ocean breezes: welcome to Riviera Nayarit (archive) [NY Times Travel] “A budget-friendly stretch of coastal towns in Mexico offers […]

[The Travel Wire #74] Underground Paris, slow train to Turin, an ode to hostels, and more travel reads. Travel reads • Can the “Galápagos of the Arabian Sea” survive its popularity? [Afar] “The UNESCO-listed island of Socotra faces an onslaught of sustainability challenges, from climate change to an Instagram-fueled tourism surge.” • Underground Paris is the city […]

[The Travel Wire #73] Nagasaki, a mystery tour in the Faroe Islands, Maldives beyond the resorts, and more travel reads. Travel reads • Protecting one of Europe’s last wild rivers: a volunteering trip to the Vjosa in Albania [The Guardian] “Now a ‘wild river national park’, the Vjosa needs more trees to be planted to preserve […]

[The Travel Wire #72] The slow extinction of budget travel, riding the Bamboo Curtain, North Korea by night, and more travel reads. Travel reads • The Italian paradise island with no roads, no phone signal — and almost no tourists [CNN Travel] “Palmarola has no town and no roads. There is no electricity, no mobile phone […]

[The Travel Wire #71] The hunt for Vietnam’s last floating market, Ko Chang keeps its soul, Nepal’s mountainside teahouses, and more travel reads. Travel reads • Italy’s new nun-mapped pilgrim trail (archive) [BBC Travel] “As Italy grapples with overtourism, a series of ancient trails resurrected by nuns winds through the forgotten landscapes where Benedictine monasticism shaped […]

[The Travel Wire #70] Notes on Afghanistan, Georgia’s western Pankisi Valley, Mauritius beyond the beach, and more travel reads. Travel reads • ‘A place of darkness and light’: the uninhabited Japanese island that became a rabbit paradise [The Guardian] “Once host to a poisonous gas research facility, Okunoshima is now an Instagram-friendly tourist destination.” • Notes on […]

[The Travel Wire #69] Skiing through a winter wonderland in Norway, Finland’s European Capital of Culture, notes on Taiwan, and more travel reads. Travel reads • The TAZARA turns 50 [Al Jazeera] “Riding the troubled railway line between Tanzania and Zambia as China moves to rebuild it.” • In Norway, skiing through a winter wonderland (archive) [NY […]