Travel
The travel that changed me: Roz Watkins
From trekking in the hills of Kashmir to evading a rhino in India, author Roz Watkins tells us about the travel that changed her Roz Watkins is the author of the critically-acclaimed DI Meg Dalton crime series. Set in the Peak District, her novels are known for their extraordinary sense of place. Think moody moors, gnarled forests and creepy local lore. Her protagonist is spirited and sensitive, but what draws me most strongly to Roz’s work is her willingness to venture into the darker corners of society. In Cut to the Bone, Roz examines the practice of factory farming. Its horrors are writ large in the novel, but the moral heart of the story never hampers the action. In fact, the grisly realities only dial up the tension. We spoke to Roz about her latest book, why animal rights are ...
Roaming author, comedian, musician Jennifer Neal on calling Berlin home
Author, musician, and comedian Jennifer Neal on her journey from the US to Japan to Australia to Germany, her experiences as a Black woman abroad, and the perils of jaywalking in Germany. Chicago native Jennifer Neal, author of the forthcoming novel The Colour of Her Blood, has spent her adult life trying out life overseas—from teaching in Japan to seven years in Australia to stand-up comedy in the Netherlands, the UK, and Germany. Along the way, she volunteered for Obama’s campaign, wrote a column for The Root on Black peoples’ experiences traveling and living abroad, and served as a host for the video series The Perfect Dish with Anthony Bourdain, hunting down the best meals in Jakarta and Singapore. In Berlin, she has found a home. For now. Jennifer and host Nathan Thornburgh sit in her...
Frank Lampard: Kepa Arrizabalaga out for Chelsea vs Manchester United
Kepa Arrizabalaga has been ruled out of Chelsea’s trip to Manchester United but Frank Lampard has said Petr Cech will not be drafted in as the Blues eye a long-awaited Premier League win at Old Trafford. Spain goalkeeper Kepa made yet another mistake in a 3-3 draw with Southampton last weekend after stepping in to replace Edouard Mendy, who missed out with a thigh injury. Mendy returned for a goalless Champions League draw with Sevilla in midweek instead of Kepa, who will not travel north to face United on Saturday due to a shoulder injury. Chelsea surprisingly added club legend Cech, who retired last year, to their Premier League squad but the 38-year-old keeper is not in the squad to take on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side. Lampard was asked about the status of Thiago Silva and Christian Pul...
How to choose a tent: a buying guide
Our comprehensive guide on how to choose a tent will ensure dry and comfortable nights whatever the weather If you ask me, time in a tent is time well spent. I’m usually at my most content when under canvas. With the distractions of modern life left behind, I find that camping has a detoxifying effect on me. At the end of a day on the trail, I pitch my tent, eat, drink, sleep. In the morning I strike my tent and then repeat. It’s a simple but good life. Of course, knowing how to choose a tent is not so simple. There is a slew of options available with a glossary of bewildering jargon to match. It can be a confusing affair and potentially an expensive one if you get it wrong. If you get it right, however, you will enjoy comfort, reliability and some of the best views money can’t buy night a...
How Anton Newcombe sees it, from The Brian Jonestown Massacre to Berlin
The founder of San Francisco’s notorious band The Brian Jonestown Massacre on sneaking into punk-rock clubs at age 11, finding a sound, and finding his way to Berlin. Ah, Berlin. One of the most visceral pleasures I’ve had over the years has been crawling every quadrant of this great, open city, with friends, boozed-up surveyors charting mental mischief maps. Berlin is a city which even now, three decades after the wall fell, seems to delight in its openness. And we have taken advantage of that over the years—on bike, on foot, taxi, kayak in the western lakes, S-Bahn to the northern forests, U-Bahn through the dark middle. The city that used to be trussed up like a turkey is unbound and beckoning for any number of deep drinking nights. And that’s what it was on my final evening in this cit...
A first-timer’s guide to hiking the Highlander Velebit
Our Q&A-style guide to hiking the Highlander Velebit covers everything you need to know to get the most out your first Highlander adventure I just returned from trekking the Highlander Velebit in Croatia, an invigorating journey through a lesser-known region of Europe. The event proved to be a new way of hiking for me and has the potential to transform the future of hiking holidays. The Highlander Adventure treks offer a perfect introduction to multi-day trekking, striking a balance between guided trek and self-sufficient expedition. With most of the logistics taken care of, participants can hike their own hike and really focus on enjoying the trail. Whichever Highlander trek you choose, our Q&A-style guide to hiking the Highlander Velebit covers everything you need to know before ...
Highlander Velebit gear list: what’s in my pack
Our Highlander Velebit gear list includes everything you’ll need for five days of hiking across Croatia’s highest mountain range I recently completed the Highlander Velebit, a 104km 5-day trek across the Northern Velebit and Paklenica national parks in Croatia. The Velebit is one of Highlander Adventure’s collection of organised treks and therefore requires a slightly different mix of gear than what I’d pack for an independent trek. To help future trekkers get the balance right, I’ve put together my usual post-trip gear list of everything I packed. Where possible, I’ve included links to the gear I carried for reference. [embedded content] Highlander Velebit gear list As the trek is only five days long with four nights of camping, I encourage trekkers to go as light as possible. I kept...
Trekking the Highlander Velebit in Croatia
The Highlander Velebit is an ideal introduction to multi-day trekking and offers a true taste of European wilderness My first post-lockdown trip was to Croatia to take part in a Highlander Adventure, one of a collection of organised treks through some of Europe’s classic hiking regions, all home to magnificent expanses of wilderness. The routes – in Austria, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece and Serbia – explore some of Europe’s less-visited but no less captivating areas of natural beauty. Next year the franchise is expanding with treks added in a number of destinations including Germany, Portugal and Montenegro. I joined the Highlander Velebit, a 104km 5-day trek across the Northern Velebit and Paklenica national parks. The route journeys southeastwards through the Velebit...
Poles of inaccessibility: the middle of nowhere
The poles of inaccessibility are arguably the true last frontiers for explorers. But where and what are they? I’ve long been fascinated with the most remote places on Earth and the epic journeys of discovery to reach them. I’ve spent countless long mornings lying in bed leafing through giant reference books on the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration and even longer afternoons poring over immense maps detailing epic quests across untamed oceans. It was the names of Amundsen, Livingstone and Magellan and their unfathomable tales of distant lands, high seas and adventure that first inspired me to travel. For modern explorers, the poles of inaccessibility represent the outer limits of mankind’s grip on our planet. What are the poles of inaccessibility? Not to be confused with the Nor...
How to escape a wildfire: a hiker’s guide
Our guide on how to escape a wildfire, inspired by Peter’s close call on the Arctic Circle Trail When Peter headed to Greenland last summer to trek the Arctic Circle Trail, I knew he’d be unreachable for 7-10 days. He’s a highly experienced hiker, but there was a tiny part of me that couldn’t help but worry. What if he twisted an ankle or fell into a ravine? What if he was attacked? What if he lost his backpack from a capsized kayak? There were several scenarios that ran through my head – but a wildfire was not one of them. He was heading to the Arctic for goodness sake; to Greenland of which 80% is covered in ice! Fire was a hardly a danger. NASA A satellite image of a wildfire on the Arctic Circle Trail Only, it was. Peter got caught in a wildfire and was evacuated by helicopter. Knowing...
Best hikes in Berchtesgaden National Park, Germany
A selection of the best hikes in Berchtesgaden National Park, from serene day trips to thrilling via ferrata climbs and challenging multi-day tours Berchtesgaden National Park in the heart of the Bavarian Alps accommodates nine lofty mountain ranges as well Germany’s most photogenic body of water, Lake Königssee. Brilliant green meadows, aquamarine lakes, dense dark forests and reams of serrated peaks characterise Germany’s spectacular southern horizon. The UNESCO-designated Berchtesgadener Land biosphere is home to Germany’s finest mountain scenery and the country’s only Alpine national park. The area contains a labyrinth of superb hiking trails: well-maintained, clearly waymarked and supported by the outstanding network of Deutscher Alpenverein (German Alpine Club) huts. It is Germany’s ...
Poet and Podcaster Musa Okwonga, Reclaiming Berlin
This week on The Trip podcast: Writer Musa Okwonga on Berlin’s exquisite and heavy psychogeography Social media, for all its ills, can deliver unexpected gifts. For me, that was when I found writer Musa Okwonga’s self-published excerpt, on Instagram, from his upcoming novella called In The End, It Was All About Love (available for pre-order in November 2020 from Rough Trade Books). I first lived in the former East Germany in the early 90’s, and spent decades since balancing a deep love for the place with my unease as an outsider—especially as a half-Jewish teenager living through the dawn of Germany’s neo-Nazi revival. Musa’s novella, in that way that good writing can do, seemed to speak directly to my experience, even though it was written by someone quite different from me: an Oxfo...
