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Photos from a multinational hitchhiking adventure
A couple of weeks ago I returned to Yerevan from Turkey’s capital, Ankara. It had been a visit on humanitarian grounds, and hitchhiking there and back was done out of unavoidable necessity, rather than...
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Snowboarding in Tsaghkadzor – Armenia’s premiere ski resort
Since the weather in Armenia made a turn for the oh-shit-it’s-cold a couple of months ago I’ve been getting rather frustrated. Normally, my autumn season in Canada consists of talking about...
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Time to move on again
I feel that recently I’ve neglected this blog, so today I decided an update on my present happenings and future plans was necessary. I’ve been based in Armenia for six months now, and during that time...
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Attempting to escape the former Soviet Union
The well-trodden path of the 259 bus to the edge of the city marked the start of my final departure from the Armenian capital of Yerevan. My stay in this city nestled in the mountains of the south...
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First impressions of Lebanon
I’ve been in Beirut for just over 24 hours now, and tonight I find myself camping on a rooftop with a group of startled pigeons. The government imposed ‘quiet time’ at around 11pm of automatically...
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The conflict in Syria, spilling over the borders
The way it’s raining tonight is fitting for the current situation. I’m at a bus station in Beirut, trying to find a shared taxi home, and instead find myself staring up at the bullet holes riddling the...
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Why I should be Lebanon’s Minister of Transport (sorry Ghazi El-Aridi)
Beirut’s traffic system clearly wasn’t designed for traffic. At busy parts of the day one might as well walk to the other side of the city. It would surely be quicker. I would also say it would be...
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Getting to know the Levant
Withdrawing from the culture I grew up with this past year has been an eye-opening experience for me. I was born and raised in England, and since 2008 had been living in Canada. Both countries are very...
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Visiting Syrian Refugees in the Bekaa Valley.
It was shortly after leaving the calm surroundings of a Bekaa Valley winery that we stumbled upon on one of the countless Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon. Suddenly, our afternoon of wine tasting seemed...
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Chasing the night across the sky
As the red sun set on the waves of the Mediterranean to end another day in Lebanon I knew that it was time to go. I packed the ragged remains of my clothing, my camping gear, and an array of gifts into...
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Things I miss about living in Lebanon and Armenia
It’s been a little over a month since I returned to Canada, and I’ve taken that time to mull over my decision to come back, and the reasons for it. Having done so, I’ve decided that being in Vancouver,...
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Five years ago today
Five years ago today I moved to Canada. On June 10, 2008 I boarded a plane at glistening Heathrow Terminal Five with the idea of living in Canada for a year. That year would be a fun-filled 365 days of...
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The chance to help a Syrian family
Since I moved to Armenia in July of last year, the ongoing war in Syria has become a major part of my life. In Yerevan, I had many Syrian-Armenian friends who had been forced to flee the fighting back...
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Thoughts from Syria. A nation crumbling
Almost a year ago, Victoria and her family fled their home in Aleppo, Syria. They now live in Beirut, less than 100 kilometres away from the borders of their homeland. But the land they grew up in...
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And for my next trip
Apparently, my three months in Lebanon just weren’t enough. One afternoon I sipped a coffee at my local cafe in North Vancouver, and decided it was time to book that ticket to Beirut I’d been planning...
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Gelato fuelled stream of consciousness
It’s difficult trying to write something when you can’t think of anything to write about. I sit in a bustling cafe on a beautiful evening in North Vancouver with an empty “new post” window open, and –...
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Tripoli, Lebanon. A beautiful, troubled city.
As I sat in a taxi navigating the streets of Beirut yesterday morning, I heard the distinct sound of Ezan – the call to prayer – emanating from the mosques around Lebanon’s capital. A few moments...
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Notes from a man in transit. Again.
There’s something quite enjoyable about being stuck in transit during a long voyage. I’ve been camping out in the terminal at Frankfurt Airport for the past few hours, killing time. I arrived here from...
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The Iran Garden – A little (and freaking bizarre) piece of Iran, overlooking...
“It’s just so weird. It’s really not how I’d quite picture the Israel-Lebanon border”, explained Joanne. “I mean – there was a freaking play park there, and people were walking around eating ice cream...
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Lebanon’s south – unspoilt beaches, rustic harbours, and smirking prostitutes
It was the moment we saw the prostitute strutting down the hallway with a triumphant look on her face that we first thought that something wasn’t quite right. From that moment on, the “hotel” we’d...
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