Chasing The Blue Beyond

Cyprus, that small island with a long history and a rich culture that spans 10000 years, is one of the oldest civilisations in the Mediterranean

Transiting the Suez Canal today onboard the QM2, connecting the Red Sea with the Mediterranean. Then setting a course for our next port of call in Cyprus. Africa officially severed from Asia.

The Dead Sea – bordering Israel, the West Bank and Jordan – is a salt lake whose banks are more than 400m below sea level, the lowest point on dry land. Its famously hypersaline water makes floating easy, and its mineral-rich black mud is used for therapeutic and mud  treatments.

Hero's Journey Redux · Dubai 2017 + QM2 World Cruise 2018 The Future Has a Past Dubai is a city built from apparent contradictions: camel and SUV, dhow and superyacht, desert silence and choreographed water, the old Gulf and the new skyline. In 2017 we met the paradox. In 2018 we returned aboard Queen Mary 2 to see whether it still held. Dubai 2017 World Cruise 2018 Desert / Vertical Persian Gulf Sailing Then and Now See Full Image Show Story Dubai does not hide the argument. It builds the argument at full scale. The desert says scarcity. The skyline says ambition. The camel keeps the old rhythm. The SUV crosses it in the opposite direction. Both are real. Neither cancels the other. In 2017, Dubai appeared as a personal journey through aquarium glass, artificial snow, marina towers, desert roads and sailing on the Gulf. In 2018, Queen Mary 2 returned us to the city during the World Cruise. The second visit was not repet...

Cochin, India Land of spices and tea. I took a tuk tuk taxi lesson and got a crash course. Roll video...

Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, has a long history as a port on ancient east-west trade routes, ruled  by the Portuguese, Dutch and British. That heritage is reflected in its its  colonial architecture. Here are a few photos of our day there.

See Full Image Show Dossier Fictional intelligence dossier · declassified travel file Operation Golden Gun · Phang Nga Bay · April 2018 James Bond Island A Hero’s Journey through limestone towers, cinematic mythology and the dangerous intelligence of believing that seeing the location is the same as completing the mission. Status: Shaken · Not Stirred Executive briefing The assignment looked simple: find the island. But every serious journey begins with a false objective. The map names the place. The traveler has to discover the mission. Khao Phing Kan sits in Thailand’s Phang Nga Bay, reached from our ship in Phuket after a journey inland. The island belongs to a landscape of limestone tower karsts inside Ao Phang Nga National Park. Since its appearance in the 1974 film The Man with the Golden Gun , the location has carried another name: James Bond Island. That was the public cover story. The real op...

Here comes the sun. Langkawi is an archipelago made up of 99 islands on Malaysia's west coast. Surrounded by turquoise sea it has a unique charm all its own.

Hero's Journey Redux · Thailand Return · QM2 World Cruise 2018 When You Come Back, Thailand The title first appeared in 2011. Seven years later, Queen Mary 2 carried the route back through Southeast Asia. Phuket was no longer merely a destination. It was the return promised by the earlier journey. 2011 First Call 2018 Return Old Dog · New Tricks Creative Chaos East to West See Full Image Show Story The first visit supplied the title. The World Cruise supplied the return. Travel often pretends every arrival is new. It is not. Some places come back carrying the earlier version of you. In 2011, Thailand entered the archive through heat, traffic, street food, coconuts, durian, humor and what I called creative chaos . Phuket was the island threshold. Bangkok and Khao San Road supplied the wider education. By 2018, the route had changed completely: no backpacker road, no improvised overland drift. This time the approach came ab...