Thailand’s Alternative Community Based Tourism

Those who haven’t visited Thailand, and even some of those who have, might think of its tourism industry as being synonymous with full moon parties and massage parlours, but there’s another kind of tourism which is all about exploring the real Thailand. It’s about meeting communities of Thai people, learning about their life and culture, and respecting the environment.

Community based tourism, which is often described as “travelling like a local,” has been going on in Thailand for decades, but is still not as well known as it should be. Community based tourism seeks to uplift local communities by providing them with a sustainable way to support themselves while providing a rich, cultural experience for travellers.

4 mins read
LuoDong Sport park in summer taiwan

Teaching in Taiwan: An Interview with Teacher Danny & Teacher Stephanie

Teaching in Taiwan is something I often get asked about by people who are thinking about making the move and starting a new career on the island. What I always emphasise is that everyone’s experience of teaching in Taiwan is different – variables such as school and branch, workload, location, personality and whether you’re going solo or as a couple can be make or break. I’m interviewing different teachers in Taiwan to find out their thoughts on island life, ESL teaching and travelling. This interview is part of the Teaching in Taiwan series.

8 mins read

Guatemala Travel Guide

Out of all the places that we travelled in Central America, Guatemala stole my heart. Though admittedly Nicaragua was a close second. This vibrant country hasn’t let anything get it down. Despite being notorious for gang activity, bus drivers being held up at gun point more frequently than is comfortable and many communities living in poverty, the Guatemalan locals still have a smile on their face. The challenges of everyday life mean that local communities and families are tight-knit, and work together to get by.

6 mins read
Durdledoor England

The Coastal Path from Lulworth Cove to Durdle Door

I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a more rugged coastline than in the south of England. The Jurassic Coast, which stretches over 95 miles between East Devon and my new home county of Dorset, is characterised by it’s grassy cliff tops, sheer drops of jagged white rock cliff sides and spectacular geology.

I first walked along the Jurassic coast when I was much younger. Back then, I was enchanted by Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door because they were just how I imagined many places from fantasy novels to be.  All those memories washed over me again when I recently hiked along the coastline.

Even after travelling across different continents, I still think that the short two and a half mile walk between Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door is one of the most beautiful walks in the world.

3 mins read
Macademia nuts drying out

Getting My Nut Butter Fix: Valhalla Macadamia Nut Farm in Antigua

You know when I was a kid, I never ate peanut butter. Not because I thought there was anything wrong with it, actually I don’t even recall knowing it existed until the age of thirteen. That seems pretty crazy to most of you, right? Peanut butter isn’t big in England like it is in the States, and mainly it’s just wasn’t something that my family were all that keen on. When I was thirteen however, I had my first peanut butter and jam sandwich – and I was hooked.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realised that it’s not just peanut butter that I need a regular fix of, it’s all kinds of nut butters. Oh yes. Delicious, creamy, nutty, sticky nut butters. If I was going to run a business, it would definitely be selling homemade, organic, one-ingredient nut and seed butters – that’s another story though. With my nut butter obsession right out in the open now, you can imagine how crazy excited I was when I read that not only is there a macadamia nut farm in Antigua, but they also sell jars of macadamia nut butter!

Needless to say, top of my travel to-do list in Antigua was a visit to the Valhalla Macadamia Nut Farm.

3 mins read
Guatemalan cooking class vegetarian pepian

What I Learned from a Guatemalan Cooking Class

I learned two things from our Guatemalan cooking class: number one is that making tortillas isn’t as easy as it looks and I suck at it, and number two is that the traditional Guatemalan dish of Pepian can be made vegetarian even though not everyone says it can.

We headed to a small town just down the road from where we were house sitting to meet an old Guatemalan farmer whose wife and daughters were going to teach us to cook. We went through the gate into their courtyard area where a long row of women were sorting coffee beans and dogs were sleeping in the sun.

3 mins read

What To Do with Two Days in San Salvador

After Charlie flew home to see her family, I immediately signed up to a language school in Guatemala. The problem was that I was currently in Nicaragua, 766km south of my destination, leaving me to answer the question: how could I get from Nicaragua to Guatemala in one piece?

I decided to take the Ticabus as they had got me from Costa Rica to Nicaragua without any problems, and at a reasonable price. However, when I saw that the ride would take a mind numbing twenty-seven hours, a completely unplanned few days in San Salvador to break up the journey seemed like a better idea.

4 mins read

Teaching in Taiwan: An Interview with Teacher Tu

Teaching in Taiwan is something I often get asked about by people who are thinking about making the move and starting a new career on the island. What I always emphasise is that everyone’s experience of teaching in Taiwan is different – variables such as school and branch, workload, location, personality and whether you’re going solo or as a couple can be make or break. I’m interviewing different teachers in Taiwan to find out their thoughts on island life, ESL teaching and travelling. This interview is part of the Teaching in Taiwan series.

9 mins read

How to Choose a Spanish School in Antigua, Guatemala

When I found myself with free time on my hands during our house sit in Guatemala, I decided it was time to enrol for classes at a Spanish school in Antigua. A quick Google search for “Spanish school Antigua Guatemala” will pull up thousands of results, which is no surprise as this city is the most popular place to study Spanish in the country, along with Lake Atitlan. With a school on every street corner, just how do you choose a Spanish school in Antigua?

5 mins read

What is House Sitting in Costa Rica Really Like?

We travelled Central America for one year and a large portion of that time was spent in Costa Rica. Why? Not just because Costa Rica is beautiful, but because there’s a lot of house sitting work out there.

Though it’s true that we house sat in Panama, Nicaragua and Guatemala too, finding assignments house sitting in Costa Rica were by far the most common. When we accepted our first house sit in the small mountain town of Puriscal, we had no idea how many opportunities for house sitting Costa Rica there would be. We house sat for the same family in Puriscal multiple times and house sat once in Quepos. Though both of the locations where we house sat in Costa Rica were completely different experiences, they were both awesome. While every house and home owners are different, there are a few realities of house sitting in Costa Rica that you should know about.

6 mins read