And, as always, stay smiling and live life to the full... It’s been a horrific time in the Caribbean. Hurricanes Irma and Maria have battered the region, leaving thousands homeless. Producing the latest issue of ZiNG (the inflight magazine of Caribbean airline LIAT) at this time was tricky – and, of course, completely unimportant in the … Continue reading Caribbean challenge
Walking in air
Then it happens. Dave opens the throttle and I’m whooping with abandon. I can’t help it. And then we’re up, and I whoop louder. Yell and wheeze and holler and splutter, my euphoria battling the onrushing wind. We spend 10 minutes or so in the air (though it feels longer), Dave tossing me like a … Continue reading Walking in air
Rail writings
Trains are a little bit like time machines. There’s just something about them that seems able to whisk us back to a bygone age when travel was new, exciting and overspilling with possibilities and romance... I love a good train trip. India, the USA, Switzerland, Clapham Junction... So a little earlier this year, I was … Continue reading Rail writings
King of news
We will crush many myths. Not only the one about the horned helmets... Passport, Monarch Airlines’ inflight magazine, was given a new look recently. And the publisher asked me if I’d put together the new-look news section. It was good to forage around the Monarch route network, looking for fun, topical and relevant stories, working … Continue reading King of news
Walking with the crowds
There was a lot of mud. There were bodies in bright outfits all shuffling together. And it was certainly noisy – the wind hollered and buffeted like heavy metal at full volume. But there ended the likeness to a traditional British festival. Up on the top of Mynydd Troed in February, I’d joined ramblers rather … Continue reading Walking with the crowds
Best Loved West
As the wave hits, I spin and splutter. Fingers of freezing water sneak beneath my rubber armour. Blinking through the white-frothed blue, I see an even bigger swell bearing down, about to deliver another salty slap. Here it comes… Boooooooooooooooooof! I love the West Country. I feel privileged to live in it. And would count … Continue reading Best Loved West
Stone me!
Sitting atop a 180-year-old stallion, just off Britain’s ancient Ridgeway, I watched a man meditating inside an extraterrestrial doodle. From my vantage, by the rump of a huge chalk figure – Hackpen Hill’s White Horse – I saw the man stroll amid a crop circle of alien (or prankster?) flattened wheat before pausing in the … Continue reading Stone me!
I’ll tell you exactly where to go…
We’d so nearly booked to come in early June. I’d thought: that’ll be nice, surely? Start of summer, decent weather before the crowds descend, no? Well, not quite. As we sat sipping grappa on a high, sunny terrace, with a view of the spiky Dolomites spearing a cloudless blue sky, I was glad we’d waited … Continue reading I’ll tell you exactly where to go…
On an Italian high
There was nothing between me and the deep blue sky. A blue to make Farrow & Ball weep into their paint pots and surrender to the superiority of nature. Mountains reared all around: the dramatic immediacy of the Italian Dolomites, the frosted Austrian Alps in the distance. Meadows beamed with wildflowers and a metal cross … Continue reading On an Italian high
On track in Tasmania
I have just read your amazing feature in Wanderlust. It’s brilliant! I am thrilled and can’t wait to send it to everyone in Tassie. Thank you so much again. You have been magnificent. Forgive me. Own trumpet blown. But this was the delightful message I received from Susie de Carteret at Tasmanian Odyssey, who supported my … Continue reading On track in Tasmania
Sarah Louise Baxter 