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17 Sparkling Conversation Tips for Backpackers

17 Sparkling Conversation Tips for Backpackers

I’ve been on the road for 4 months now. Travelling for this length of time is great – what an adventure!– but it can come with some fatigue. I find myself having the same conversations over and over again and it’s tiresome. We travel to gain valuable life experience and see strange, wonderful things but sometimes we sound like a boring bunch when we talk. So here are the top tips for starting,…

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Onederz of Cambodia

I wanted not to pre-suppose anything. A dirt road does not mean it's a dirt place.

The road is long and bumpy. It’s practically a dirt road, here just after the border crossing. I expected a reducing standard of development as we got deeper into Asia but I was surprised by the level.

I wanted not to pre-suppose anything. A dirt road does not mean it’s a dirt place. And after the warmth I’d experienced from the Vietnamese people, I wanted to pay back the hospitality I’d received…

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14 Days In Vietnam (Part 9)

When life gives you lemons, made Vietjam. #Vietnam

It is virtually impossible to know if you have reached your station on the trains in Northern Vietnam. There is very little signage at each station.

I think this might have been playing on my mind, along with heavy sleep deprivation. I was awoken by the sight of a Vietnamese man entering our sleeper cabin at around 4am and begin to tap Kate on the shoulder, as she slept.

As I saw this, I was…

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Lady Meng Jiang & The Great Wall of China

This is the story of Lady Meng Jiang and the Great Wall of China

If you want to know what it feels like to be famous, go to China.

You can walk around Beijing all day and hardly see a westerner and we stand out. Locals take sneaky photos of us on their camera phones. Others ask and introduce themselves, if they speak English and are confident enough to make the approach.

In one train station in Nanning, we end up at the centre of a huddle of locals, all…

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The Last Nomads of Mongolia

"The nomadic way of life will be gone within a generation." he says.

The first eventful border crossing came exiting Russia, as the man in the cabin next to ours was arrested. Russian customs officials boarded the train after dark and started their thorough departure checks. Dogs sniffed at my belongings, documents were checked and compartment walls knocked…

https://open.spotify.com/user/11184139405/playlist/4mO80ILAMzUHzeMPdo8GIf?si=8qmn4rjL

It began with a…

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The Vast Expanse of Russia

The biggest, most intimidating, vast country in the world.

We reached the ‘Balti Jaam’ with half an hour or so to spare, so we sat around in the waiting room, just killing time. I was curious as we sat, about the translation for train station and so I popped it into Google translate, selected Estonian to English and was surprised and concerned by the answer.

“Must be a mistake.” I said to Kate.

“What is?”

“You know how we’ve been laughing about the name…

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Lithuanian Govt Emergency Alert (Part 5)

It is very alarming to receive a government emergency alert on your phone. Even more alarming when it's in a language you don't understand.

It is very alarming to receive a government emergency alert on your phone. Even more alarming when it’s in a language you don’t understand. From the alert arriving to us gaining and understanding of what it meant, took at least 30 very stressful minutes but more of that later…

(Article photo: Make Everything Great Again – Vilnius, Lithuania)

What kind of man leaves his wife and newly born child…

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FEAR & Pierogi in Polska

Lots of rooms in Poland, are not well lit, as we discovered.

Walking through the park in Krakow and this bloke had a huge long thing over his shoulder. At first I thought it was a barge pole – probably because it’s an item I’m familiar with, having been told by many women in my twenties, that they weren’t going to touch me with one  – but it wasn’t and then it clicked.

“Are you a pole vaulter?” I said to the tall thin man, with a neatly trimmed tache.

“Nin…

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The Beginning of East

Something isn't quite right. Rumours circulate and we discuss various theories...

“Oh shit, run!” he said when he first saw them. Torches flickered behind us, as we crossed the railway tracks and made for the hole in the fence.

“up the hill”. My legs were pumping so hard, fuelled by fear and adrenaline.

“quick, down this alley” I forcefully whispered, over to Lucas.

The two policemen chasing us were thankfully overweight and as a result we were putting more and more space…

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Hands On! (Part 2)

Respect is vital whilst on the road. We can afford to leave our preconceptions at home.

Excuse the pun but the Netherlands fell flat. Amsterdam is not the best place in the world and our search must continue.

We boarded a bus early and watched out the window as the terrain developed before our eyes, converting infinite flatness, rows of precise cottages and clumps of thin, twiggy trees, into mildly undulating, rolling green pastures. The spring sun shone brightly through the cool…

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Adult Human Semiaquatic Turtles (Part 1)

Adult Human Semiaquatic Turtles (Part 1) #ScoToAus #Resfeber

I’m not sure if I’m running from the past, or into the future. It’s not clear right now but I am running. Or at least something that resembles running but is probably a bit more like one of those ‘dad run’. Like in that Peter Kay bit he does. Doing the motion of someone running  – knees lifting and arms pumping – but actually still travelling at walking pace.

I’ve got my backpack on, you see. All…

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Scotland to Australia Overland 2019

Scotland to Australia Overland - starts 25th March 2019

And so it is time for our next, great adventure…

After two long years of preparing, saving, visa-applying and culturally assimilating, it is time for Kate and I to migrate to Perth, Australia. Migrate overland. At least that what we hope. All the way by land and sea from Scotland.

Quite if we’ll make it, is another question entirely, but with one eye on low-carbon travel and the other on…

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Extinction Rebellion - Painted As the Activist Elite

Extinction Rebellion – Painted As the Activist Elite

The painting comes in the undertones of commentators, whilst offering their dissection of the movement. We are an ‘activist elite’ they intimate – a posturing group without diversity.

‘Climate Change is Firing Up Middle Class Activism’, screams the headline in the FT (Dec 9th) in Pilita Clark’s analysis. Although it’s warming to read that she knows personally of two separate individuals with no…

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Harry Leslie Smith: The Last of His Kind

Harry Leslie Smith: The Last of His Kind @Harryslaststand #IStandWithHarry

It is with great sadness, that on the 28th of December, world war two veteran, NHS and migrant rights campaigner Harry Leslie Smith passed away.

This post is a tribute, to a figure who inspired millions, including me and sought to fight for those with the least hope and power.

If you haven’t heard of Harry, he was known as the ‘world’s oldest rebel’ but his work to help other began well before he…

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Best Swedish Music Playlist - Resfeber Records

Working in collaboration with the Hype Machine featured, Swedish new music blog, Sounds Of A Tired City

I have a particular affinity with Sweden’s music. Well to be honest, with Nordic music more broadly and this is the third playlist which we’ve tackled in this field, after our Icelandic and Greenlandic playlists.

I sometimes write for a Nordic focussed music blog called The Line Of Best Fit and have worked with Swedish musicians too. And finally, our blog name – ‘Resfeber’ – is a Swedish word.

To…

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Don't Panic - The Truth About Population by Prof. Hans Rosling

Understanding the planet with the rock and roll Prof. Hans Rosling - the Prince of Planetary Presentations

Don’t Panic – The Truth About Population

The greatest gift travel gives you, is learning all about the world. The planet and it’s people face many challenges and none more so that the issues displayed in this incredible documentary by Swedish doctor and professor, Hans Rosling.

Prof. Rosling speaks with charismatic charm and great authority, as he takes us through many of the issues and perceived…

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Resfeber Chance-taker: (Without) A Pair of Travel Pants

When you search and search but the only available accomodation left, is a NUDIST CAMP!

We’ve all had those moments on the road, when you’re caught short, everywhere is booked out and you can’t find anywhere to stay. Next up in our Resfeber Chance-taker series, our friend Natalie, tells us about her unique experience of a first time booking… AT A NUDIST CAMP.

Who: I’m Natalie, a New York City native who has travelled the world with her husband, Jackson, a kiwi and musician. I am…

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