Hypermobility

Yes, well, sorry for that unintended hiatus there, which was largely to do with wanting to wait until I have a fancy new website with this blog embedded within, so that I could do some sort of dramatic relaunch. But alas, that has not happened yet, and so here I am, and I will endeavour to update a couple of times a week, but who knows, really?

Anyhow. Spring has sprung in Glasgow, and I have spent the last couple of weekends thoroughly breaking one of my new year’s travel resolutions, by flying internally to both Nottingham and Cardiff. Oops. Nottingham was a rather riotous hen do, which included an assault course at Adrenalin Jungle and a night of ill-advised boozing at Bistro Live (for the record, I stayed in the Park Inn, which was fairly decent, if not ideal location-wise); Cardiff was a much more leisurely weekend spent with family and friends in the Wye Valley. I flew bmibaby, which was about as much as you can expect from a budget airline, and at least it wasn’t delayed; I head some nightmare stories from the Flybe customers who were left alone and bereft in Cardiff departures after everyone else had flown away…

However, due to circumstances unforeseen, Cuba has been called off, and I am left with no concrete travel plans until Norway for my birthday at the end of June. Horrors! Nor is there anything concrete after that; I have vague plans of a few days in Ireland in July, hopefully Sudan and Sydney in August (finances permitting), Jersey in September, and Morocco for xmas, but NOTHING IS BOOKED! I MAY NEVER LEAVE THE COUNTRY AGAIN! Which is perhaps why I am becoming tempted by the evil ads that Caledonian MacBrayne are littering the underground with: photos of stunning, white, sandy beaches, with the punchline being that no, it’s not St Kitts, or Antigua, or Cancun, but Eigg. The iciness of the water pictured in these ads is unimaginable…

As of 2008, I have officially been planning a trip to Central America for a decade. I am a little ashamed to admit that I am going to be 30 this year, and, despite my travel compulsion and my particularly obsessive interest in Latin America, I have never been there; initially the plan was to go in the summer of 1998, between my second and third years of university, but Central Asia ended up beckoning instead, and since then I have either been too broke to leave Europe, or too easily distracted from Latin America by my passionate interest in Africa, the Middle East and the Former Soviet Union. I’m clearly not going to make it there before I turn 30 (unless Cuba counts, which it doesn’t in my book; despite being Spanish-speaking, it’s firmly in the Caribbean), but I have decided: 2009 will be the year that I make it to Central America for at least a month, and to that end I have been reading up on the Lonely Planet Guide to Central America that I bought way, way back in the late 1990s, and which is still covered in the pencilled-scribbles of my 19-year-old self. 

Hence, the San Blas Islands, situated off Panama’s Atlantic coast. Central America’s Atlantic coast is studded with islands, like Belize’s Cayes or Honduras’s Bay Islands, but it’s the San Blas which have captured my interest the most, largely due to the Kuna Indians who live there, and who govern the islands as an autonomous province; according to this site (scroll down), they “maintain their own economic system, language, customs and culture with their distinctive dress, music, dance and legends”. For once, these islands aren’t a haven for scuba divers, as Kuna law forbids taking anything from the sea that a diver cannot reach with the air from their own lungs, though the snorkelling is said to be good. By the looks of it, the main thing to do on the islands is to learn about and experience Kuna culture, which sounds great to me. There are somewhere between 365 and 378 islands, depending on who you ask, stretching down towards the Colombian coast, though only 49 are inhabited; according to this site, the most interesting islands are Achutupu, Kagantupu and Coco Blanco.

In terms of getting there, while apparently it’s possible – if you have the time, and are starting from Colombia – to get there by boat from Colon, unfortunately (for those of us who hold that Flying Is Cheating) the most practical way of getting there is by air from Albrook Airport in Panama City; more details on Lonely Planet, here, but the main carriers are Aeroperlas and Air Panama; once there, it seems to be possible to island-hop by boat. Trip Advisor has some useful recommendations of accommodation here; there’s also a recommendation for a homestay (which would probably be my preferred option) here.

There’s an article about the San Blas on Lonely Planet, here, and one from the New York Times, here; Captain Bob (whoever he may be) has some photos of the San Blas Islands, and some pictures of the traditional molas (embroideries) made by the Kuna women here.

After yesterday’s excursion to the windswept South Atlantic, I fancy fantasising about somewhere tropical again. Everyone already knows about the Seychelles, of course, but them I realised once I actually started thinking about it that I know very little of the country, other than as a place filled with 5* luxury resorts, generally frequented by honeymooners. SO what does the Seychelles have to offer, for those of us who can’t afford – or who aren’t interested in – being pampered at vast expense?

First things first, the Seychelles are a sovereign nation (with a very funky flag) in the Indian Ocean, north east of Madagascar; colonially, it was passed back and forth between France and Britain, leading to the official languages being French, English and Seychellois Creole. There are somewhere between 115 and 155 islands in the archipelago (depending on who you ask), with Mahe being the main island; 16 of the islands currently offer accommodation.

Seychelles Air flies there directly from London Heathrow, though according to cheapflights.co.uk, it’s possible to get there from Glasgow for under £500. Once you’re there, island-hopping is possible, by both ferry and air. In terms of actually being able to get information about the Seychelles, it’s pretty difficult to get away from the “luxury! Weddings! Honeymoons!” theme, but it is possible. Yes, we all know that the Seychelles are packed full of gorgeous beaches, but there are also two UNESCO World Heritage sites: Aldabra Atoll, which has 152,000 giant tortoises (!), and the Vallee de Mai Nature Reserve on Praslin Island, home of the coco de mer. The New Adventures website seems to offer some pretty good tips about the Seychelles, in terms of what’s available on various islands, and the best times of year to come, depending on what you’re looking for (predictably enough, featured activities include birdwatching, diving and other watersports; there’s also a Creole festival in October). Another suggested list of attractions is here, and the Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree forum has some interesting info (all to be taken with a pinch of salt, obviously; such is the nature of forums) from a backpacker pespective, here.

Accommodation’s obviously not hard to come by, and it does seem like there are non-luxury options available, which is nice. For keeping up with local news, the Seychelle Nation Newspaper’s available online, as is the official Seychelles website.

I’ve had a long-standing interest in Eritrea (heh – where don’t I have a long-standing interest in?), owing largely to the pictures I’ve seen of Asmara (an architectural mix of traditional, Italian colonial, and art deco), and the existence of the Danakil Depression, the hottest place on earth, which I find fascinating and terrifying by turns. So, given my interest in random island groups, it makes sense that the Dahlak Archipelago would appeal.

In the Red Sea, off the Eritrean coast, reachable by boat charter from Massawa, if you’re looking for proper desert islands, the Dahlak Archipelago would certainly fit the bill. Only four of the islands are inhabited; the remaining 122 small islands are the preserve of sea birds, turtles and the occasional tourist (generally divers). According to this article, the islands were known in antiquity as sources of pearls and tortoiseshell, and were among the first parts of East Africa to convert to Islam – which would make sense, as the islands are a mere hop, skip and a jump from the Arabian Peninsula (and in fact used to belong to Yemen). 

The only place to stay appears to be the Luul Hotel on Dahlak Kabir, which also has a restaurant and seems to offer excursions to dive sites around the archipelago. There’s also information on diving itineraries around the archipelago here. I know it’s odd that I keep banging on about diving given that I don’t, in fact, dive, despite having been idly planning to take a PADI course since at least 1998, but having known friends to do a liveaboard diving holiday off the Sudanese coast, I’ve developed a mild obsession with diving the more untouched bits of the Red Sea, and the Dahlaks certainly fit the bill there.

A decent amount of information on the Dahlak Archipelago is available at Hans Mebrat’s page, here. Personal accounts seem to be the best way of getting information about the islands, as they – and Eritrea as a whole – don’t have much of a tourist industry or tourist infrastructure: Saagar writes about his experiences on Virtual Tourist, here; there’s another account on Travel Adventures, here; and there’s a diver’s perspective here (incidentally, a number of the other diving pages linked from that one are worth a look – I’m particularly impressed by anyone who’s dived Baikal, given how bloody freezing it was when I was there in early October).

Sadly, UK – Asmara flights seem to be quite pricy, around the £800-900 mark(though cheapflights.co.uk offers one fare from Glasgow to Asmara for £539, which is all right); it may be possible to get there cheaper via elsewhere in East Africa; it’s certainly possible to fly from the UK to Nairobi for under £400 (though not particularly advisable at present), and a few carriers, including Egyptair and the never-before-heard-of(-by-me) Nasair fly between Nairobi and Asmara. And ertra.com is the closest thing that I can find to an Eritrean tourism site.

January is properly starting to set in, and while the weather is not too bad, all things considered, I am becoming increasingly aware that I have no concrete plans to leave the country until May, and am starting to crave somewhere warm. To satisfy my continually itchy feet, I’m considering a brief weekend jaunt to France or Spain or Italy sometime in the next couple of months, but what I am really longing for is somewhere properly, uncomfortably hot, the like of which I haven’t experienced since I travelled through the Middle East in August/September 2006. So, since a great part of the purpose of this blog is to allow me to indulge my tendency to armchair travel, I am deeming January to be ISLAND MONTH at Hypermobility, hurrah.

Way way back when I was an undergraduate anthropology student, I remember thinking that it was perhaps not entirely random that many of the early social anthropologists chose to undertake their fieldwork in tropical paradises – Bronislaw Malinowski got to spend a couple of years kicking back on the Trobriand Islands, while Alfred Radcliffe-Brown chose to spend his time on the Andaman Islands instead. Trobriand Tourism has never really taken off, probably owing to the fact that they’re hard to get to, and the politically turbulent situation in Papua New Guinea (to which the islands belong) doesn’t help either – but the Andaman Islands have had a Guardian travel article written about them (with obligatory Bad Pun Title), so you know that they’ve arrived on the travel and tourism map.

Belonging to India, but physically and culturally closer to Burma, the Andaman Islands offer diving, colonial sites aplenty, gorgeous looking beaches, and, perhaps most interesting from my point of view, some really interesting tribes and cultures. And sea gypsies! Clearly, the Maldives are totally 2007; for 2008 the Andamans are where it’s at. Or something.

- You can fly directly (well, via India) from London Heathrow to Port Blair with Jet Airways. This site claims that it’s also possible to get there by ship, if you have the time.

- In terms of general information about things to see and do, this article on 4to40.com, and this one on smarttravelasia.com are both very informative indeed.

- For more Andaman-related information than you could possibly ever need (in terms of history, culture, etc.), go to www.andaman.org.

- And there are some general Andaman and Nicobar Island sites where you can stare at pretty photos with sad eyes here, here and here.

- Accommodation-wise, this place on Havelock Island looks both cheap(ish) and gorgeous, and is also vouched for my responsibletravel.com, so you can feel all smug and virtuous. It may or may not be the same place run by Barefoot India (who seem to offer various Andaman package options). There’s also the Wild Orchid and Silver Sand, both also on Havelock Island.

- This site seems to be pretty useful regarding island-hopping between the Thai islands in the Andaman Sea (i.e. not the Andaman Islands). There are various rumours that ferries or flights between Phuket and Bort Blair may exist (or may be going to exist in future), which would make a joint Thailand/Andaman Islands holiday an enticing prospect, but I can’t confirm or deny.

Edit: Another useful site is here.

It is absolutely freezing today, and on my way to the underground this morning I caught sight of a giant ad on the side of a bus for FlyGlobeSpan flights to Ibiza for £59.99, and found myself momentarily wishing that I had booked some sort of winter sun instead of flying off for xmas to somewhere that will be even colder than here.

Obviously Budapest is going to be awesome (as soon as I get some elbow-length fingerless gloves to wear under my sheepskin mittens, that is), and anyway, I’ve got no leave left until April, which means a winter sun holiday is pretty much off the cards, but as ever, just the thought of it had me googling. There are some amazing last-minute cheap deals on sites like beachdeals, and I’m particularly impressed by the cancellations hotline, which offers five-night breaks from Glasgow to places like Tenerife and Fuerteventura from as low as £116. The idea of a package holiday still fills me with a vague horror, of course, but when they’re that cheap, you can’t help thinking that it might be worth it for the sake of the flight and the all-inclusive accommodation, as long as one had the opportunity to strike out from the resort and explore a bit.

 There was a recent article in – I think – the observer about Lanzarote, and how it has much more to offer than cheap accommodation, beaches, and restaurants selling egg and chips, like Timanfaya National Park, or the Castillo de San Gabriel. The same could be said for Tenerife and its mysterious black pyramids, while Fuerteventura is apparently the least discovered of the Canary Islands (which I would dispute; who’s heard of La Gomera, after all?).

The Balearics are similar, I think: Mallorca has a whole load of historical sites in addition to its beaches, and Ibiza claims to have good birdwatching and natural attractions, beyond the nightlife for which it’s most famous (in the UK, at least). The Islas Travel Guide seems to offer a pretty comprehensive and unbiased list of attractions for Lanzarote, Tenerife, Mallorca and Menorca.

But from the point of view of using a package holiday as a jumping off point for further exploration, it’s probably Cyprus that I’m most interested in: seven days in Paphos (from Glasgow) on a package holiday cost around £250, and there seem to be enough classical sites dotted about to keep me amused. Something to keep in mind for next winter, perhaps…

Admittedly there are much, much worse things than being stranded in Budapest, but oh dear (potentially).

I wrote a whole post and then IE crashed, argh. So, just quickly:

- Flightmapping is quite a useful site for giving you an idea of where you can fly to from your local airport;

- The Wines of Hungary website is bringing back happy memories of my last sojourn in Hungary (2002), and making my mouth water in anticipation of my next (nine days away!); and

- Latest travel obsession: the Lofoten Islands, Noway. Very into islands at the moment. Someone should pay me to write a book about them, I think.

My 2008 travel plans are starting to coalesce. Norway in June is booked, of course, and my summer is still up in the air (and likely to be for a while, for various tedious reasons such as money and employment, chuh), but a friend and I have been talking about Cuba for over a year now, and I think we are actually at the stage of booking the damn thing, for around nine days in May. Yay, Cuba!

The cheapest flight I’ve found from the UK is £472 (including tax) from Southhampton to Havana, via Dialaflight, but for the sake of convenience, we’re more likely to fly with Iberia from Edinburgh or Glasgow for around £540, which seems reasonable.

My first port of online call for destination information is still Lonely Planet, but as I’ve said before, their destinations section is really not what it used to be (understandably, as if they put all the info on the website, who’s going to buy the books?), and in particular their section on Cuba is pretty vague and unhelpful. Happily, though, there is Cuba Junky - the English is occasionally a little idiosyncratic, but otherwise it seems to be a pretty comprehensive guide written by a genuine Cuba-lover, and its suggested itineraries have some decent suggestions.

Trip Advisor has a long list of Cuba suggestions also, though it takes a bit of time to sift the wheat from the chaff (golf course? No thank you), which is part of my issue with user-generated travel sites, and why I am enough of a smug megalomaniac to start my own. Heh.

Also, to make up for the Lonely Planet dissing earlier, their forum, the Thorn Tree, while full of nutjobs, is also a great repository for information, and their Cuba FAQ is full of useful stuff. (Appropriately enough, the friend with whom I will be travelling to Cuba and I first ‘met’ on the Thorn Tree forums, way way back in 1997. Aww!) For the purposes of route planning, Cuba Routes is a useful site, too.

My biggest concern about Cuba, though, is getting away from the tourist trail. I’ve spoken to a couple of people who’ve been there and had quite negative experiences due to feeling hustled aggressively all the time, and while I realise that part of that is just an aspect of being a relatively wealthy westerner in a poor country where tourism is its main resource, I’d still like to minimise it as much as possible, especially given Cuba’s growing reputation as a sex tourism destination for women. Happily there are a few Cubans registered on Couchsurfing, which may help, but I’m very open to suggestions.

*****

In other news, I am considering entering this competition, because really, AU$5000 in travel vouchers never goes amiss.

So often the comments of this blog end up as an endless travel-bore conversation between me and JEB, which suits me fine – since we met, way back in August 1998 in Fatima’s, Maputo, he has been the only person I have ever known to be as obsessed by travel as I am, which helps me to feel like less of a freak. He’s also a mine of interesting and useful travel information, especially as he’s been to a hell of a lot more places than I have. From recent comments, he’s pointed me in the direction of:

- Brussels Airlines, which used to be Sabena, but has now rebranded and offers a number of exciting destinations including Burundi, Cameroon, and Sierra Leone;

- Atlantic Airways: the Faroe Islands‘ very own airline! I am very excited about the routes from Aberdeen to the Faroes (via Billund, Denmark, I think), and also the fact that Narsarsuaq, Greenland, is one of their offered destinations.

- Ever heard of KD-Avia, Kaliningrad’s airline? I certainly hadn’t, but if you ever fancy a jaunt to Russia’s only exclave, it offers direct flights to London Gatwick, not to mention connecting flights to all sorts of Russian destinations.

Furthermore, for those wanting to ensure they don’t get stuck in the Maldives in the monsoon, or unable to land in the Faroes due to unceasing rain and fog:

- The somewhat idiosyncratic but comprehensive World Climate; or

- The BBC’s magical weather centre, on which I used to spend many a miserable hour desperately refreshing the Khartoum forecast in the hopes the temperature would drop below 40.

And finally, on the subject of tours:

- Plattie pointed me towards Explore, which offer a decent variety of Libya tours, which apparently straddle the divide between luxurious and unaffordable, and gap student drink-fests; and

- JEB linked to Undiscovered Destinations, which doesn’t cover Libya, but does cover Sao Tome and Principe, which remains one of my low-key, niggling travel obsessions.