John Raby's Food & Travel
All things food and travel related. Visit often!
Category: Travel
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I’m sat on a train going to Srikakulam. I’m on the Howrah Mail to be precise, which has been travelling since yesterday sometime and it is proving to be a very acceptable mode of transport. I love journeys and I love train journeys especially. I think it is the excitement in part of going…
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My entry for the World Nomads / Lonely Planet Travel Writing Competition 2016. We listened to our Nepali guide, Nema, as he spoke excitedly on the phone. Then I heard the phrase ‘Car Bundh’ and my heart sank. Bundh meant a political strike and in this part of the world, Car Bundh was a road…
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Standing at a crowded Euston Station today, it made me think that life is a succession of journeys. Some literal and geographical, and some metaphysical and emotional. I guess our direction of travel is really important – it should always be ultimately forward. Today, I literally travelled to the post-industrial town of Blackburn. I discovered…
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On the corner of both Lisle and Wardour Street in London, just tucked inside Chinatown, you will find Waxy’s Little Sister. And in case you were wondering, it’s an Irish pub. A curious name I hear you cry! Well it refers to the Waxy O’Connor bar across the road – which I guess must be…
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The name ‘Bahamas’ literally means ‘Shallow Sea.’ And when you first arrive in this archipelago of some 700+ islands, you immediately begin to see why Christopher Columbus graced these islands with this name. We found ourselves on Great Exuma, a beautiful cay (pronounced key), shot over by cobalt blue skies and surrounded by turquoise waters.…
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After a three day standoff with Hurricane Sandy, we are permitted to leave the breezy shores of Great Britain. New York City eagerly beckons and finally embraces us as we descend and come to rest in JFK, Jamaica Bay – a world away from the Caribbean. We have arrived the day after Sandy came to…
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‘What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow.’ That was how the conversation went on a train heading out of Kolkata towards the railhead of New Jalpaiguri, in the far north of West Bengal. Having found our seats in the carriage, we discovered that by an administrational error, we were sat opposite Monojit & Sudip, a…
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Published in the Western Morning News on Sunday, 15th November 2015 Bologna The Italian City of Bologna is situated in a region known as Emilia Romagna, north of Tuscany. It is reckoned to be the nation’s gastronomic beating heart, and for this reason alone, it is well worth a visit. Yet despite that formidable reputation,…
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I’d only just emerged from Seattle Tacoma airport, and we were heading south on Interstate 5 (i5 to the locals), when I spotted the signage for one of these beauties. You may be thinking cynically, ‘ yes and your point is…?’, but for me Taco Bell is just one of those places you have to…