Travel Writing Competition 2013 Entries Page2

In 1804 colonial England christened their coal-mining port in Australia with a strikingly original name – Newcastle. On the big island down under, Newcastle was where the very worst-behaved convicts were sent to...

The rail trip itself couldn’t be faulted. The Express train which had already done the 18 hour overnight haul up from Petrazavodsk was itself in quite reasonable condition, surprisingly clean, and not too crowded.

Like most catastrophes this one begins with the best of intentions.

"Delayed" reads every line on the single TV screen suspended from the ceiling.

On one bright and shining morning I woke up as usual to get ready for my assignments related to tourists guiding but on that day onwards and for three consecutive days, I had to entertain the largest number of guests...

To call the experience I had driving an auto-rickshaw 2,000 miles across India the worst journey of my life would be unfair. True, we were stopped by bandits and spent a night in a police cell.

9:00 AM: “Am I a backpacker or a Flashpacker?” – I asked myself while enjoying a fine Bavarian breakfast in a 3 Star hotel in Munich. I knew I must hurry, so I had to leave the delicious breakfast in the middle...

10 hours, one dugout canoe, one motorbike taxi, three shared taxis. I have arrived - at my starting point.

RL Stevenson wrote “to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive,” but here in Tibet I am not sure if all the pre- trip planning gives me hope of travel, let alone an expectation of arrival.

The story begins February 24th 2013 in Fajara, The Gambia. I, university film graduate, was in the country for 3 months self-shooting some documentaries for a few medical institutions.