Travel diary entries from all 7 continents.https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/montpellier-2026/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/montpellier-2026/Gah, I just checked, and the last I was in Monpellier was 16 Apr ’22 🤯! This place has had such a big impact on me. It’s my only “2nd home” and where I’ve literally spent years on and off since…Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/fougeres/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/fougeres/This is one of those, very rare, personal trips that is more for having a nice excursion than anything else but, ofcourse, we found time to stop by Laval (the HRV office) to say hello to everyone.…Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/visiting-no-10-downing-street/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/visiting-no-10-downing-street/It’s a rare privlege because, as a naive citizen, I tried to visit No 10 before only to find out it’s off limits to the general public. The whole street is cordoned off and security is pretty heavy.…Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/nice-france/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/nice-france/Arriving in Nice I have the distinct feeling that I’ve been here before. I am almost certain of it. This blog feels a little bit like my own memory bank, which only became more important after…Tue, 14 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/mumbai-india/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/mumbai-india/So how on earth did we even get here? Well, back in 2019 I started a little company called Universal Simulation. Over the next couple of years I built a prototype desktop simulator (used in ADEMA…Tue, 07 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/dublin-ireland/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/dublin-ireland/Arrival We arrived by van with some equipment for a work event. It was a nice crossing from France and we slept well in the cabins. My partner’s family (mum’s side) is Irish so we’d looked forward to…Mon, 18 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/monstair-tunisia/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/monstair-tunisia/Arrival I’ve been looking forward to Tunisia for so long that my expectations were always going to be elevated. It’s never a good thing and always makes me thing of happiness = reality –…Mon, 21 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/multi-india/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/multi-india/3rd July Leaving for India was always going to be a test for my bipolar. Even more so as I didn’t realise one of my tablet boxes was only half full. Nevertheless I preceeded to the airport in good…Thu, 03 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/geneva-switzerland/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/geneva-switzerland/24th June I was looking forward to coming back to Geneva, Switzerland, as the only time I had been here was as a backpacker on a (small) budget. Switzerland is not the place to come with limited…Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/da-nang-vietnam/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/da-nang-vietnam/13-14th Arrival In Heathrow and the layover I passed the time in both the AMEX lounge and the CHASE lounge, which were both excellent. At Hong Kong would slightly recommend the AMEX lounge over the…Fri, 13 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/hong-kong-two/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/hong-kong-two/I forgot how long the flights actually are. This time we stopped off in Thailand for a few hours and then made our way to Hong Kong. The distributor very kindly picked us up and then dropped us to…Sun, 25 May 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/sardinia-italy/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/sardinia-italy/Nice and easy with Ryanair flights often going back and forth. The first good sign was being able to get a quality cup of coffee on the plane. I’ve never seen a cup that allows you to drink filtered…Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/valencia-spain/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/valencia-spain/A nice, easy, process of going to an EU country. We booked an AirBnB last minute which was fairly cheap, good quality, and right opposite the market hall which was perfect for our purposes. It’s easy…Wed, 09 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/milan-italy/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/milan-italy/We just came from Verona where we got to go to a vine festival (Verona) with our friends Jonathan and Bianca. It wasn’t planned, but hey, here we are. We flew into Verona but flew out of Milan to…Tue, 08 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/verona-italy/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/verona-italy/Even just looking back at photos it fills me with such good memories, and emotions. We went there on a spur of a moment idea after some friends said they were going and that’d it’d be great if we…Sat, 05 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/koln-cologne-germany/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/koln-cologne-germany/Coming back to Cologne (Köln in German) is like coming seeing an old friend again. I tend to come here only every two years (that’s how IDS runs) so it has a sense of familiarality, but at the same…Mon, 24 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/cotswolds-uk/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/cotswolds-uk/The first time was on my 125cc orange Honda motorbike during some very cold, and dark, weather. The second time was by car with much nicer, calmer, weather to boot. It’s true, the landscapes really…Wed, 12 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/nhs-altrincham/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/nhs-altrincham/I had a great ride up on my motorbike. I stopped halfway in a town near Cheltenham to see a good friend whom I hadn’t see for a decade. He bought a lovely little historic cottage and is a really…Wed, 12 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/plovdiv/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/plovdiv/It was strange to arrive into a European country that had similar advantages to the UK (pre-Brexit). I didn’t expect the currency to be the LEV, for instance. Unfortunately Plovdiv doesn’t have it’s…Mon, 03 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/embassy-uzbek/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/embassy-uzbek/I’d never been to an embassy before so it seemed like a big occasion. I arrived in London and went to Harvey Nichols to see if I could find a briefcase fitting for the occasion. I found a lovely…Mon, 20 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/palma/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/palma/Getting to Palma, Mallorca from the UK is both easy and cheap with lots of low budget airlines flying to and from during the day – more so in the summer of course. If you come out of season then…Mon, 20 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/hong-kong-2/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/hong-kong-2/The arrival in Hong Kong was really smooth. Easier than the plane journey which is long and features an 8 hour time zone difference from the UK. A recipe for jet lag. Upon leaving the airport, I wad…Sat, 02 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/portugal-2/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/portugal-2/It was a pleasant arrival and the distributor came to get me from the airport which was nice. A good drive into town and off to Viseu, a town I never heard of, that had a gigantic, ornamental,…Mon, 21 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/ostrava/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/ostrava/The arrival in Czech was really convenient. Landed in T1, exit F, then across the road is the AirPort Express bus which goes all the way to main station (MS) in about 45-60 minutes depending on…Thu, 21 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/trade-mission/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/trade-mission/Great event – easy to get around and very well organised. Met a number of people from DBT, FCDO and other founders and CEOs.Sat, 27 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/palestine/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/palestine/I try my best to travel as if I’m still backpacking around and, other than my briefcase with my laptop, I still look like it pretty much. So when I arrived in Tel-Aviv I opted for the train to get to…Sat, 10 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/lithuania/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/lithuania/It was a fun experience coming to Lithuania, mainly because it was the first time my colleague had ever gotten on a plane. It’s amazing sharing these experiences with people and living vicariously…Mon, 25 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/philadelphia/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/philadelphia/Things got off to a rocky (who happens to be from there) start at Philadephia with issues sending the simulator through DHL, on top of ongoing COVID restrictions. I was flying direct from Morocco, so…Thu, 17 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/morocco/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/morocco/It’s always hard to know what to expect when arriving to a country where I’ve put a distributor in place. Sometimes they organise everything and try to create a long-term relationship. Sometimes not.…Tue, 08 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/concepcion-chile/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/concepcion-chile/Region Bío Bío Province Concepción As per the last time, the flights were a pain in the arse. It’s the only time I check-in my luggage, because there’s no much choice with all the changes and it’s…Mon, 06 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/rajahmundry/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/rajahmundry/State Andhra Pradesh Region Coastal Andhra District East Godavari Founded by Rajaraja NarendraTue, 30 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/chennai/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/chennai/State Tamil Nadu Region Coromandel District Chennai district Former name Madras Population (mega city!) 7,088,000Fri, 26 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/karachi-pakistan/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/karachi-pakistan/Did you know? I didn’t… Pakistan is the 5th most populous country after China, India, USA and Indonesia.Sat, 13 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/santiago/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/santiago/Region Santiago Metropolitan Region Province Santiago Province I arrived in Santiago tired from an early flight and unable to check-in to the hotel straight away. What better way to improve a morning…Fri, 12 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/turin/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/turin/I highly recommend staying at NH Lingotto and eating from Pizza Vol (a little hole in the wall for takeaway pizzas) if you go that way.Mon, 01 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/road-trip-2021/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/road-trip-2021/Spending a week in Cologne, Germany, for a dental event (IDS 2021) to unveil our new dental training simulator (Virteasy Dental V2) alongside our haptic partners, 3D Systems Corporation.Sun, 19 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/reims/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/reims/Did you know that Reims is the home of champagne?! The home of “champagne showers”!Fri, 27 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/montpellier/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/montpellier/Visiting my Brother (2015) I first came to Montpellier way back in ~2015 to visit my brother who would occasionally come to Montpellier for work.Thu, 26 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/instanbul-turkey-hrv-simulation/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/instanbul-turkey-hrv-simulation/In the run up to the visit, there was a lot of stress around logistics – hoping that the simulator would arrive before we did – and the details for flights and hotels came at the last minute.Mon, 02 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/israel/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/israel/This was one of my first “in-out trips” for work. We had a meeting planned with another business to demonstrate Virteasy Dental. We arrived, stayed a single night and went the next day.Tue, 26 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/uzbekistan/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/uzbekistan/One of the most incredible opportunities to arrive was the least expected. Not least because I didn’t even know we had any simultors in Uzbekistan. The story goes that the business had sold four…Tue, 26 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/doha-qatar/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/doha-qatar/Spending a week in Qatar for an installation for work. This was the first tender that I ever got involved in and which took two years to see through to the end. The distributors were very good and…Sun, 10 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/montreal-canada-hrv-simulation/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/montreal-canada-hrv-simulation/Arrived in Montreal: Nov, 2019 Departed from Montreal: Aug, 2020 Didn’t expect to arrive in Montreal just before the COVID pandemic hit!Fri, 01 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/chile/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/chile/Spending two weeks in Chile was quite the adventure. It started off with my bags getting lost on route (first time that’s ever happened to me!). My first mission was, whilst on the layover waiting…Sat, 27 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/stockholm/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/stockholm/Each time unveiled a new dimension to Stockholm. The first time I discovered Swedish meatballs (yum), rooftop bars (wow) and clothes shopping (H&M). The second time I discovered the night-life, snus…Sat, 06 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/ukraine/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/ukraine/Spending a week in Ukraine (Lviv) for work with one of my colleagues, Nolwenn. It was our first trip together and everything went smoothly for work.Mon, 28 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/laval/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/laval/I won’t lie, I hadn’t heard of Laval prior to landing an internship through EYE (Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs) but I came to really enjoy the small town.Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/switzerland/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/switzerland/I’m going further West. The trains are getting better. I like this. Thanks to a gregarious gentleman inspecting the tickets, who seemingly had a bit of a thing for me, I got upgraded to a single…Sat, 01 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/ljubljana-slovenia/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/ljubljana-slovenia/The night train to get here was fantastic. I met two awesome people from the Netherlands on it. One of whom was reading my favourite book at the moment: Sapiens. They taught me a great game called…Thu, 29 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/belgrade-serbia/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/belgrade-serbia/Some days it becomes blatantly obvious to me that my ignorance can so easily become a hindrance. Today is one of those days. My stubbornness, seemingly, exists only to exacerbate the hindrance into a…Tue, 27 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/timisoara-romania/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/timisoara-romania/Arriving in Romania for what was meant to be my final weekend of party before I make it to France for school next week but, although in much higher spirits, still with a need for sleep. Thankfully,…Fri, 23 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/budapest-hungary/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/budapest-hungary/When I arrive in Budapest I’m not feeling my usual ‘top of the morning to ya” self. I wouldn’t say I was ill but certainly not healthy. As is the way in my life, I’ll conk out, recharge and move on.…Wed, 21 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/bratislava-slovakia/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/bratislava-slovakia/Slovakia wasn’t the luckiest of countries for me. It started off with a train having its running time changed without me knowing. Which meant I had to get an overnight train instead (paying for the…Mon, 19 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/krakow-poland/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/krakow-poland/Although I’m only a few countries in, I’m already blown away by the beauty that Eastern Europe has to offer. The history of it is so rich, varied and emotional, that it is a trip that I really needed…Sat, 17 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/prague-czech/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/prague-czech/The first thing you notice in Prague is all the stag parties (and the odd hen party). It doesn’t seem to matter what time of day it is, there’s always a few of them drinking beer and roaming the…Wed, 14 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/berlin-germany/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/berlin-germany/So this is it, I’m on the road again. It’s a strange feeling on the run up to it and the same as last time. There’s no fear. Equally, there’s no real bubble of excitement. The week running up to it,…Mon, 12 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/the-netherlands/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/the-netherlands/Unfortunately my diary was washed away. Here’s some lovely photos with a few captions to wet your appetite for The Netherlands!Fri, 09 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/lyon-france/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/lyon-france/Oh, Lyon. You started off so well. I got on the Eurostar to find I had my own private seat of which to relax in.Mon, 10 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/dusseldorf-germany/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/dusseldorf-germany/Another day, another trip out of the country. I arrived in Dusseldorf later than I planned. So late in fact that the hostel I had booked for two nights didn’t have anyone on reception.Fri, 24 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/portugal/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/portugal/I’m hungover. Portugal’s off to a good start. Let me explain. I’ve come straight from a stag do. My first ever stag-do. It was good: zorb-football, paintballing, drinking, dancing…… sleeping. Not so…Mon, 06 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/lille-france/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/lille-france/This was my first trip since not having commitments Mon-Fri, so it felt odd leaving on a Friday only to have to return on the Sunday, simply because that’s what I had previously booked the ticket…Fri, 17 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/luxembourg/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/luxembourg/— Covers 998 square miles (smaller than Oxfordshire!) — French / German / Luxembourgish — The only Grand Duchy!Fri, 27 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/brussels-belgium/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/brussels-belgium/So, how did this happen. I’ve been home all of five seconds and I immediately booked my weekends up with flights and trains away. Good work settling down in London, I know. But this is fun. That’s…Fri, 06 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/antarctica/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/antarctica/To try to describe my experience in Antarctica to you would not do it justice. It is a surreal place. There’s a different colour scheme out here I haven’t witnessed before. There are whites whiter…Sun, 13 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/buenos-aires-argentina/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/buenos-aires-argentina/Buenos Aires started off and kept continuing to be exciting. It was the final days with Becca and our two pals from Pantanal, Alan and Steph, also messaged me to say they’d be there too!Sun, 06 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/rio-brazil/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/rio-brazil/Brazil was always destined to be good. One of my friends from back home decided to fly out and spend two weeks with me. It’s also the final wonder of the (modern) world left for me to visit.Mon, 24 Oct 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/peru/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/peru/Peru is another place I am fairly ignorant too. It’s not a short list so it’s not much of a surprise. Never the less, I had heard they eat Alpaca here. If I knew what an Alpaca was I might be…Wed, 12 Oct 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/panama/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/panama/Panama City. I only have two points of reference for this place. Panama Canal. Though I’m not even sure where I heard about that and also on Prison Break, the TV show. I may even be wrong here. I…Sun, 09 Oct 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/cancun-valladolid-tulum-mexico/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/cancun-valladolid-tulum-mexico/Cancun was the beginning of something special. Going to my room to change for the pool (yeah, the hostel has a pool!) I notice a man lingering behind. Let’s call him Mr. S. He follows me in and it…Sun, 02 Oct 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/mexico-city-mexico/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/mexico-city-mexico/Mexico City. Not a place I originally planned on coming but it was a stopover on the flight so there was no reason not to stop for a few days and explore.Wed, 28 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/las-vegas-usa/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/las-vegas-usa/Las Vegas! This is one of the most spontaneous parts of my trip and I didn’t think I would actually make it here. Yet, after one day in LA, here I am, on my way to Las Vegas. To Sin City.Mon, 19 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/los-angeles-usa/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/los-angeles-usa/LA, baby! I came expecting sunshine, attractive people and everything being super expensive. It’s a god send that Marvin, from our BIGAM gang, has kindly agreed to put me up for the week. That’s one…Sun, 18 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/toronto-canada/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/toronto-canada/Arriving in Toronto was one of the most nerve-racking experiences entering a city so far. My sister was helping set me up with a friend of a friend for a place to stay but nothing was concrete just…Tue, 13 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/montreal-canada/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/montreal-canada/Way back in China, two fellow travellers said I should come to Montreal when I’m in Canada. They were sure I’d have somewhere to stay. Now a few days before I arrive in Toronto and Veronica has said…Thu, 08 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/new-york-usa/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/new-york-usa/My first destination on my second half of the trip. I thought I would be dying for this moment to come. Instead, I find myself upset at leaving a great job in London and being able to continue…Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/ireland/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/ireland/Ahhhh, Dublin. The Republic of Ireland. You feel like home, yet you’re not even park of the UK. Your expensive hostels (and scarcity at the weekends), expensive travel and expensive food. It hits me…Wed, 13 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/dubai/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/dubai/Dubai was always going to be an adventure. I had pre-booked a luxurious hotel, with roof top swimming pool and a desert safari. It got off to a fun start when the man waiting for me at the airport…Mon, 11 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/india-jaipur/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/india-jaipur/Myself and my Karl Pilkington companion, Jonathan, arrive in Jaipur to another barrage of tuk tuk drivers. We hop on one, agree a price of 150 (very reasonable for the distance) and hope for the…Fri, 08 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/india-agra/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/india-agra/Arriving in Agra I’m once again accosted by a magnitude of tuk tuks. I ask a local Indian chap from the bus, who speaks good English, to help me figure out where I need to go and ask him to negotiate…Wed, 06 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/india-delhi/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/india-delhi/On arriving at the airport I felt a lot of anxiety, presumably given to me by horror stories which travellers who have been to India have shared with me. Part of me assumed, almost knew, that these…Mon, 04 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/singapore/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/singapore/My week in Singapore gradually shrunk and shrunk until it became just one night. This turned out to be good, not only because it gave me an excuse to use the Singapore money I already withdraw and…Sun, 03 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/malacca/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/malacca/Malacca, often see “Maleka” too though I’m not sure what that refers to(?), was off to a strange start. I had arranged to stay with a couch surfer host which always makes me slightly anxious. As…Tue, 28 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/kuala-lumpur/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/kuala-lumpur/Malaysia is somewhere I knew nothing about. Literally nothing. Even when I planned the trip all I knew was that I had to somehow get through Malaysia to get my flight from Singapore.Sat, 25 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/thailand/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/thailand/I arrive in Thailand after a long bus journey from Cambodia (around 13 hours, including the border controls) and desperately looking forward to my next shower. It’s my first time using Couch Surfing…Mon, 20 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/cambodia/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/cambodia/Cambodia. Not a destination I planned to come to. Yet here I am. A kind gentleman has agreed to host me for a couple of nights and, wanting to do SE Asia overland, I need to pass through Cambodia…Fri, 17 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/ho-chi-minh/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/ho-chi-minh/As I arrive in Ho Chi Minh after an incredibly long train journey (two nights and three days, of which I’m the only person I saw who brushed their teeth!), I’m feeling pretty groggy and unwashed.…Tue, 14 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/hanoi-vietnam/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/hanoi-vietnam/It’s been a while since I’ve had those proper nerves about arriving in a new destination. I didn’t know what to expect in Vietnam though and this is the first time I’m really travelling overland.…Thu, 09 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/hong-kong/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/hong-kong/I arrive in Hong Kong with big expectations. Everyone I have met has told me that they love the British here. Particularly because Hong Kong was ruled by Britain for a total of 156 years and until a…Sun, 05 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/taiwan/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/taiwan/I was happy to have been in China but I was also happy to leave it. When I arrived in Taiwan without much of a plan I wondered how I would feel about being here.Tue, 31 May 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/china-beijing-and-shanghai/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/china-beijing-and-shanghai/After a fantastic time in Japan, my visit to China is off to a bad start when I peruse through the on-flight magazines to find an article that feels less-than-slightly propagandize. To make it more…Wed, 25 May 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/japan-hiroshima-kyoto-and-osaka/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/japan-hiroshima-kyoto-and-osaka/I arrive in Kyoto earlier than I otherwise would have on the recommendation of a good friend. Apparently there’s a lot to do here. I also find out that the JR Pass I got covers not only the bullet…Wed, 18 May 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/japan-tokyo-and-nikko/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/japan-tokyo-and-nikko/Japan was the first place I was expecting to really experience some culture shock. I didn’t know anything about the place other than their love of manga and anime and all things cute and techy. I’ve…Wed, 11 May 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/australia/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/australia/Arriving in Melbourne as a tourist is, for one of the first times I’ve been somewhere, an extremely pleasant experience getting to the city. The first thing I noticed is that I didn’t have umpteen…Wed, 27 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/south-africa/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/south-africa/South Africa was a fully pre-booked destination for me. For the most part because friends, family and housemates had warned me how unsafe the area could be. I didn’t want to believe it but I thought…Wed, 13 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/cairo-egypt/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/cairo-egypt/Having survived Jordan, I sat apprehensively on the plane for my next destination: Egypt. Land of the pyramids. I had heard mixed reviews from friends and family that had been. Many had been multiple…Fri, 08 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/jordan/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/jordan/Unfortunately, my diary for Jordan was lost. I remember that I was scared about travelling at this point. I met a lot of helpful locals. So immersed in the experience I didn’t take many photos…Mon, 04 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/turkey/https://themanagerabroad.co.uk/trips/turkey/The reason Istanbul is on my list is because visiting here last year was the moment I decided I would quit my job to go travelling. So I felt like I needed to visit it whilst I was on my travels. I…Fri, 01 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMT