How did I end up spending a week on Fulhadhoo? I’ll be honest – I used ChatGPT. I was in Maldives for a visa-run, and I simply asked – “I want to live in a beachfront room for a week. I’m also a triathlete and want to take long runs on empty roads, and do …

I booked my first night in The Maldives in Hulhumale without even knowing it. When I landed at Malé Airport I had just assumed Malé was Malé. Apparently not! At the taxi stand outside first thing he asked me was Hulhumale? or Malé? I didn’t know there was a difference. And I looked at the …

I don’t get to visit the movies often anymore.  My last trip was about two years ago in Dubai, where I visited their luxury theatre. It cost me an obscene amount of money (I think $200?) and it was only after leaving that I thought it might make a good blog post! Unfortunately I didn’t take any …

After playing two tournaments in small-town Vietnam, the plan for Hanoi was to eat a lot of food, explore the city and find a good coach to train with. I found a great Airbnb right by the French Quarter, a short walk from Hoàn Kiem Lake. One thing I wasn’t prepared for was the weather. …

After Ghana, the next stop on my West Africa tour was Cameroon. I had high hopes for Cameroon, as I really enjoyed Cote d’Ivoire when I visited some years ago, and as part of francophone Africa I was expecting them to be somewhat similar. Well…I was wrong. The first drama happened as soon as I …

Getting to Ghana was actually much more difficult than it should be. I was heading there for a badminton tournament and needed a tourist visa, which on its own sounds like no big deal. I was in Dubai at the time, so I called the Ghana embassy and asked for an appointment. When I told …