So how, as travel writers, do we get ourselves into the situation I described in the last post? And is it possible to be a travel writer and avoid this frenzied pace of life? To answer the second question first, I don’t think it is possible if you want to make more than a decent … Read more about Envying a donkey his pace – the frenetic tempo of travel writing, part 2
Our recent trip around the Middle East (see this post) wasn’t meant to be that kind of trip. There was no guidebook to write. No insane photography commission for Terence to undertake. Just lots of stories and hotel reviews to research and a couple of meetings about a book we’re developing. However, somehow a trip … Read more about Envying a donkey his pace – the frenetic tempo of travel writing, part 1
We’re back in the UAE and after a couple of days in Dubai, we’re chained to desks once again in Abu Dhabi – not our desks, but those of our friends, at their colossal home in the new part of the capital, off the island. The closest thing to a ‘home’ for us, of course, … Read more about Desk update from Abu Dhabi: month 45 on the road but whose counting?
Aleppo is Syria’s most atmospheric city after Damascus and it’s our next favorite destination after the capital, the highlights for us being the medieval souq, the labyrinthine old quarters dotted around the inner-city, and the complex cuisine, arguably the most interesting in the Middle East. The new town with its stylish cafes – currently full … Read more about Aleppo and our room with a view
One of our many reasons for coming to Syria this time was to interview Abu Shady, the last of the hakawati, or traditional storytellers. We last interviewed him almost two and half years ago when we were here to update our Lonely Planet Syria and Lebanon guidebook – that’s the ‘current’ edition every Western traveller … Read more about Abu Shady, the last of Syria’s traditional storytellers still tells his tales