(Disclaimer: not my photo! Haven't taken any yet!). I've decided to revive my blog after 3 years (almost to the day - spooky!) although we'll see how it goes. As most of you know, I write these accounts mainly for myself and my failing memory so they tend to be candid. If you don't like that, I can remove you from my list!! Photos will be posted separately as and when I can. So, due to a number of deadlines on uni assignments, I didn't really have a chance to r...

Forgot to mention a few things about Jordan in my last entry - mainly that the food was fab (and so fresh) and the people were great and really friendly - often going out of their way to do something to be helpful. And so onto Lebanon. I flew into Beirut late afternoon and was pleasantly surprised with what I saw from the air (and the taxi from the airport). I was expecting a crumbling old dump but instead Beirut is a modern, built-up, sprawling city with flashy...

I've just spent the last week in Jordan which was too long really. I mean, there's obviously a hell of a lot of history here, including a lot of references in the bible but it's not the most exciting of places. If I were to do it again I would just swoop in for a couple of days, see the main sites and swoop out. (I've also spent an absolute fortune here and I'm not exactly sure on what, especially since hardly anywhere sells alcohol!!). There were 6 of us in my ...

After finishing my project in Nairobi, I spent 3 days in the Maasai Mara to catch my last glimpses of wild animals. I was with a group of 3 American nurses and 2 Brits, all in their 20s. We were staying in a fixed tent camp, which was great - they slept 4 with proper beds and an ensuite bathroom with a proper hot water shower - luxury!! It was a great place and the food was good too - very unexpected, given how little I paid for the trip. On Friday evening we wen...

I spent the last 2 weeks in Nairobi doing a voluntary community project. I was based in Buru Buru, which is on the eastern side of the city and supposedly one of the middle class areas although you wouldn't really associate it with the middle class of the western world. My host was John, the project coordinator and a single dad of 2 teenagers who are at boarding school (I later found out that his wife is an illegal immigrant in the UK as they made a decision 10 y...