World Tourist Destinations

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Islands to Visit Before They Disappear

Islands usually give people a picture of isolated pieces of paradise separated from the hustle bustle of the outside world. These are lovely escapades, to draw a curtain of deep...

The Bharatiya 2:16 PM

Do girls make you uncomfortable? It’s a boring old chore, but when one is a family with little children, every simple outing has the potential to become a little adventure in no time

We are a family of five. Two adults called Mamma and Papa and three little children. A few days ago, I met a woman in an empty flat. A regular person, quite like you and me. Posh...

The Bharatiya 2:14 PM

For sporting travellers, stadiums are shrines Travelling out of India in the mid-1980s played hell on the wrist. Stand at a bank and sign traveller’s cheques and by the 40th, the Calcutta bank clerk will set down his tea, do the old headshake and say, “Saar, eet ees not matching.”

Wimbledon, 1987, and the tremulous apprentice is shown his place. It arrives in the form of a pass whose label is simply rude. “ROVER”, it says. Oracles with lost hair, who could...

The Bharatiya 2:14 PM

Transformation for the better The right to education will change future generations, will make them better than us

Rudyard Kipling opens his superb novel with the street urchin Kim teasing the son of a wealthy man. Kim kicks Chota Lal, whose father, Lala Dinanath, is worth half-a-million sterling,...

The Bharatiya 2:13 PM

Final frontiers | The paths least travelled The audacious find crossing boundaries of speed, depth, or endurance more exciting than another visa stamp. We present the most extreme journeys it’s possible to take

Travel is the fastest way to get a crash course in the amazing, exotic world that lies around us, but for some people, even that’s not enough. They have taken destinations and journeys...

The Bharatiya 2:12 PM

Other realms | Fata morgana Buccaneers of the imagination go where no man on earth does. Here are some mirages rich with fantastical travel

It’s a cliché of the genre that most works of fantasy begin with a map—from J.R.R. Tolkien’s beautiful depiction of the route to the Lonely Mountain in The Hobbit to the steampunk-...

The Bharatiya 2:11 PM

Private peaks | In a corner that counts Past motorable roads, horseback up 7,100ft above sea level, to find the cottage overlooking the Chenab

Let me take you to my village, Breswana, as typical a hamlet in the invisible pahari belt of Jammu and Kashmir as you can hope for. I say “invisible” because few people outside...

The Bharatiya 2:10 PM

Valley trails | Up the hill and down the mountain Through sunshine and clouds, fields and beaches, walking helps uncover hidden layers

Walking in England brings with it an unavoidable —and long—discussion about the weather. Despite this drawback, walking or hiking remains one of the most popular outdoor activities...

The Bharatiya 2:10 PM

Slow Tracks | Where speed is not of the essence On board the Akola Ratlam Fast Passenger, traversing India’s longest remaining stretch of metre-gauge railway line

Akola Junction’s platforms 1 and 5 could well be different worlds. Platform 1 is blanketed by the intense white glare of tube lights. It’s 5am, but four tea stalls are open. Each...

The Bharatiya 2:09 PM

Close connections | Ships, trains and automobiles A breathless journey from Switzerland to England that brought adventure and lasting friendship

In the summer of 1985, I was in Geneva, interning at a United Nations (UN) agency. Geneva was pretty, but it was also discreet and quiet, like a Swiss banker. Most people understood...

The Bharatiya 2:07 PM

Open seas | One thousand shades of blue Off the Dalmatian coast, where calm azure alternates with thundering grey and islands speckle the map, you meet Adriatic’s many moods

The first time I saw the Adriatic Sea, I realized blue can be many different colours. Now I’m about to spend a whole week on the water, watching it shimmer and shine, up close. Croatia...