My Eastern Europe and Central Asia bucket list
How to do Samarkand in 15 minutes
Why I love beach resorts out of season
How I went from terrible packer to travel capsule wardrobe expert
18 historical sites in and around Saranda
My 12 item capsule wardrobe for Corfu and Saranda
8 fun city beaches along the Adriatic and Ionian coasts
How to make friends when you’re living abroad
101 places to get coffee in Central Asia
I wanted to write a travel blog before travel blogs existed
Why Navoi, Uzbekistan is worth a visit
‘Bite Fart Cafe’ and other rude signs from Eastern Europe and Central Asia
One day itinerary for Belgrade and Novi Sad
How to prepare for a business trip
When travel with kids goes wrong: 11 lessons learned
A simple grocery run in Zadar leads to Roman remains and Medieval churches
Magical autumn in off-season Sibenik
My top 5 picks for Zagreb with kids
Why Split is my favourite place in Croatia
My first covid-era trip abroad … to Tashkent
I cut my closet in half after an international move: here’s how I did it
Lockdown 2: discovering the beauty of home
My 14-item travel capsule wardrobe for Slovenia
Koper, Slovenia’s one-time island city
Spring travel capsule for 10 days on the Adriatic riviera
10 fabulous things to do in Rijeka out of season
Durres, an old port city full of surprises
6 views showing how Tirana changed in the last 11 years
How I rescued my boring travel capsule wardrobe for Tirana
My massive Bucharest thrift haul
The adorable Christmas market in Romania’s ‘Little Venice’ Timisoara
Calea Victoriei, Bucharest’s most fashionable street
From shepherds’ village to royal resort: the unlikely story of Busteni.
Romantic castles and breathtaking views on 4 unmissable day trips from Bucharest
Curtea de Arges: the ancient court of kings
A dark and stormy night in Dracula country
A medieval winter wonderland in Sighisoara
A trip to dodgy downtown Bucharest gave me this feature story inspiration
Brasov, a charming mountain town just 2 hours from Bucharest
Chain-smoking ‘big guys’ and a ruined castle in Giurgui
The tenge devalued and people are angry
The mysterious balcony directive
A coffee addict in Central Asia
What toilets in Central Asia are really like (TMI alert!)
How to survive winter in Astana
I got behind the controls of a Soviet space rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome
The only western journalist in Astana
4 painful and humiliating things that happened to me in Central Asian beauty salons
What I learned on a trip to Kazakhstan’s grain belt
Where journalists get ideas for articles
I learned to sew my own clothes in Kazakhstan
“A woman is not a horse”: writing about Kazakhstan’s pensions protests
Kazakhstan is the world’s 9th largest country with just 16mn people
Moving house in Astana — again!
How to get fresh food in Astana
2,000 people shifted 3mn cubic metres of snow from Astana this winter
The temperature in Astana suddenly dropped to -28°C
Personal grooming in Central Asia (if it’s hairy, wax it)
Hanging out at the malls in Astana
A prison camp the size of France
Aktau, between the desert and the sea.
How I turned my Astana rental into a cosy home.
Why the words ‘let’s call each other’ fill me with dread
Kazakhstan is a darker place after Zhanaozen
How to rent an apartment in Kazakhstan
Astana, Kazakhstan’s glittering capital on the steppe
Soviet nostalgia and crazy capitalism in Tiraspol, Transnistria
How to avoid the Fergana Valley enclaves
What to see on the (long) road from Bishkek to Osh
7 ways for women to network in Central Asia (that don’t involve being harassed in bars)
I got a sneak preview of the new Almaty metro
Storms in Naryn, Kyrgyzstan’s gateway to China
Sexy selfies with a tank in Taldykorgan.
Historic Pavlodar deep in snow.
Ekibastuz, the frozen heart of Kazakhstan’s coal basin
This Oskemen mosque looks like a Disney castle in the snow
Industrial Balkhash and a disappearing lake
OVERLAND TO TAJIKISTAN 12: Garm (insurgency … and grapes)
OVERLAND TO TAJIKISTAN 11: Hissar (an ancient Silk Road fortress)
OVERLAND TO TAJIKISTAN 10: Dushanbe (catching up with life in Tajikistan’s capital)
OVERLAND TO TAJIKISTAN 9: Istaravshan to Dushanbe (terrifying ascent to high mountain passes)
OVERLAND TO TAJIKISTAN 8: Khujand to Istaravshan (an ancient city with no tourists)
OVERLAND TO TAJIKISTAN 7: Khujand (bullet holes on the balcony)
OVERLAND TO TAJIKISTAN 6: Arbob Cultural Palace (heroes from the cotton farm)
OVERLAND TO TAJIKISTAN 5: Osh to the Tajik border (the long way around)
OVERLAND TO TAJIKISTAN 4: Osh (too many men, not enough coffee)
OVERLAND TO TAJIKISTAN 3: Bishkek to Osh
OVERLAND TO TAJIKISTAN 2: Bishkek (trouble lies ahead)
OVERLAND TO TAJIKISTAN 1: Almaty to Bishkek (bribery and seduction)
Off the Balkan track
OFF THE BALKAN TRACK: Sunrise over Split
OFF THE BALKAN TRACK: Eavesdropping, a bad cold and fabulous Roman sites in Pula
Bucharest to Ljubljana
Late 20s angst and a tour of the Balkans
BUCHAREST TO LJUBLJANA: The dark side of Slovenia’s gorgeous capital Ljubljana
BUCHAREST TO LJUBLJANA: Hostel drama in beautiful Zagreb
BUCHAREST TO LJUBLJANA: Delving into the recent past in Belgrade
BUCHAREST TO LJUBLJANA: Encounters in edgy Sofia
BUCHAREST TO LJUBLJANA: Bucharest changed almost beyond recognition in nine years
Midsummer in Turpan, the hottest town in China.
Gaochang, the Astana Tombs and the Bezilik Caves
Inside the ancient city of Bukhara
Bukhara’s intimidating Registan
This how women dressed in 19th century Bukhara
We flew with an EU blacklisted airline from Bishkek to Tashkent
Drinking coffee 110 metres up in the air at the Tashkent TV tower
It took all day to get cash in Tashkent
Inside the closed Soviet nuclear city of Kara Balta
We took a trip to Twelve Chimneys in dangerously bad weather
I became a sports reporter for Kyrgyzstan’s World Cup qualifier
A visit to this hospital in Kyrgyzstan shocked me
Military action in Afghanistan delayed our return to Bishkek’s Manas airport
Some Afghan refugee children feel sorry for me on a trip to see The Nutcracker
Winter snow and shortages come to Bishkek
Kyrgyzstan’s bride stealing tradition destroys dreams and ruins lives
Talking sex before marriage, stolen brides and how to slaughter a sheep.
Tequila Blues nightclub opens in an abandoned bomb shelter
I tried to be a tourist in Kyrgyzstan and totally failed
How to visit Manas Village (it’s not easy)
Street names in Bishkek are full of significance
The terrifying morning I was woken by an earthquake
Sexual tension in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan
My first press conference in Central Asia was all about poo
Dordoi, Central Asia’s largest bazaar
My first taste of Bishkek nightlife involves vodka, hitchhiking and a panzer tank chieftain
I witnessed Bishkek’s main Lenin statue being torn down
In search of Bishkek’s Soviet past.
First impressions of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Lineup:
BETH SILVA
CHRISTINE RUSSELL
HOLLIE BLANKENSHIP
MONICA HUMPHREY
NETTIE PECK
BRIANNA WILLIS
ELISE PRATT
VERONICA ENGLAND
MASON DECKER
Steppe in Style 