An Adventure in Tayrona National Park, Colombia - published in Sidetracked Magazine April 2012

http://www.sidetracked.co.uk/edition-05/colombia.php

Interview with World Travel Buzz - published May 2012

http://worldtravelbuzz.com/world-travel-buzz-interview-joshua-bulpin/

Who needs reasons to travel?..... Re-Affirming some common myths.

This article is just a bit of fun, a pictorial poking of fun at some common held fears and opinions about travelling and it's pitfalls.

It can be difficult to know where the local food comes from? 

Cheap Local Accommodation is often grotty and in unpleasant surroundings? 

Can be stressful?

Local Transport is often crowded and uncomfortable?

Meeting People can be tough?

Independent travel is often lonely?

India really is this colourful - no, it really is.

There is no such thing as an authentic rural experience in a country anymore?

Father Christmas does not exist?

It is not at all about completing the adventure, but is all about the journey?

There is no ice in Africa?

Amsterdam in Pictures (WINTER/SPRING)

4 Amazing Amsterdam Eats

Amsterdam has literally thousands of places to eat, from traditional broodje bars, to highly expensive Michelin starred gourmet restaurants. Below are four of my favourite mid-range eateries. And yes, they are all, unashamedly, within a five minute cycle ride from home. But then so is almost all of Amsterdam.

Moeders,

251 Rozengracht, 1016 SX TEL: 020-626-7957 WEB: www.moeders.nl

It is actually relatively difficult to find “typical” Dutch food in the buzzing cosmopolitan city of Amsterdam. Vlaames Frites are as Dutch as a Windmill, and can be found on many a street corner or plein, but an actual restaurant serving up Stampot and other Dutch specialities is rarer than black truffles. Moeders, or Mothers in English, is a restaurant dedicated to celebrating those people who provide us with our favourite food in life – Mothers, and it honours their tradition well. On opening night the owner asked all guests to bring a plate and cutlery from home and this eclectic mix of provided tableware continues in use today, complete with provision of random wine glasses and candle sticks. Adorning the walls are pictures of what must be every Mother who has ever visited. The combined effect of these celebrated Matriarchal portraits and a motley collection of utensils, is a cosy homely feel that takes you back to the kitchen table of your childhood, and shows the visiting Mothers how well loved their day-to-day meal provision really was.

As well as perfect decor, the food is something to rival even the skills of your Mother (obviously don’t tell her that). Dutch food is hearty and wholesome, but Moeders raises famously stodgy staples to a new level. The tasting plate, Rijstaffel, provides bites of all Dutch Mother’s kitchen staples such as the famous Stampot Stew and Sudervlees. And the flavours are delicious. A lot of food yes, but all great quality and you won’t leave over full. Specials often involve seafood and the quality of the fish is outstanding, particularly the Cod. Kitchen skills are evident in their presentation of perfectly cooked fish with tasty accompaniments. Desserts too are homely specials and every dish is served by friendly, welcoming, and Mother loving staff.

If you are visiting Holland and are a little wary of diving straight in to a raw Herring experience to sample local food, a visit to Moeders will warmly welcome you into the Dutch culinary world. You will need to book due to it being a well known treasure, but you will not be disappointed, and neither will your Mother.

Cafe Schilders

1E Van der Helstraat, 1073 AC TEL: 020-670-4388 WEB: www.cafeschilders.nl

Around the Albert Kuyp Market in trendy De Pijp are a collection of interlinked small streets lined by bruin cafes, bars and restaurants. Evenings feel like a bar/street based community gathering as people move from one eat house or bar to the next. In amongst all these venues is a relative newcomer, Schilders.

Schilders means “painter” in Dutch and a huge self-portrait of the namesake painter of this bar, Ferdinand Bol, covers one wall of this 1930’s American-esque hang out. Green seats surround dark tables and along the back wall are raised tables partnered with high benches and stools. With a typically long Dutch bar one wouldn’t be surprised to see one of the rat-pack propping up the end with a bourbon and a smoke.

The Menu in Schilders is simple, but executed brilliantly. Half a Chicken (kip), Entrecote Steak, or Veggie Option (usually amazing quiche), all served with Chips, Mayonnaise and Salad. A brilliant Chocolate Torte or Apple Pie for dessert and all washed down with great Dutch beer or good, but slightly pricey, wine.

Stoop en Stoop Eet Cafe ,

Long Leidsedwarsstraat 82, 1017 NM TEL: 020-620-0982 WEB: www.stoopenstoop.nl

Situated on one of Amsterdam’s least appealing streets (unless of course you are a fan of touristic rows of neon lights advertising a world of Argentinean steak houses), Stoop en Stoop is a little unpretentious gem without a door tout and with little advertisement. If you spot it, and take a second look, you will notice that unlike its empty gargantuan neighbours, it is packed full of discerning locals. If they cannot sit you at a table, the two relaxed friendly and likeable brothers in charge will welcome you to sit and eat at the bar. 

Stoop en Stoop is a small Eet Cafe with around 8 – 10 tables. Low level lighting and traditional dark wood furniture add to the secretive yet warm feeling, and the brothers always have music playing while energetically keeping every customer smiling. In the kitchen two cooks turn out the best Dutch Steak in town, amongst other meat based dishes, and the drinks flow fluidly from their extensive bar. The skill of this Amsterdam Eat lies in its simplicity. The two young brothers are brilliantly welcoming, and they focus on a friendly atmosphere and the provision of a simple but well delivered Menu. You could wind up spending your whole Amsterdam evening here, and if you did, you would leave with a huge smile on your face brought about by good food, a great atmosphere, and a little alcoholic assistance!

Bar Moustache,

141 Utrechtstraat, 1017 VM TEL: 020-428-1074 WEB: www.barmoustache.nl

Another relative newcomer to Amsterdam’s streets, Moustache has been open for almost a year at the bottom of one of Amsterdam’s coolest streets, Utrechstraat.  This part of Amsterdam is famous for being the location of many of old Amsterdam’s merchant store houses and in one of them, resembling a slightly English town house, you will find the cafe named after that most ridiculous of facial adornments, the moustache.

Stepping in through the swinging saloon style door you immediately take a step-back from the rush you were in. Dark tables, exposed brick, comfy benches and candle light almost order you, in a fatherly way, to sit, relax - stay a while. It has two floors, both as welcoming as each other, and the tea selection is impressive.

In Moustache, aside from the uber-trendy staff, the cool ambience, and the great tea, there is one star which outshines all the other plus points - Breakfast. Not typically Dutch I know, but Moustache’s Croque Madame is the best you will ever taste. Large enough to share between two, the three layers of spiced ham, cheese, and great bread topped with a fried egg are a sure bet for a brilliant breakfast experience for any visitor, or local, to Amsterdam. Open every day for breakfast, lunch and drinks/dinner and wi-fi - Bar Moustache is fast becoming a local favourite for any time of the day.

Hot Water Bottles and Houseboats, Amsterdam

My Mother and Step-Father recently made the decision to visit our new floating home while Amsterdam was in the grip of its second cold snap of the year.  Gone were the usual trivialities based around visiting parents such as, what to feed them, where to take them, and how to kill every bit of time they were with us. These minor questions were replaced by the genuine concern:  “how do we keep them warm, and prevent pneumonia?” (Apparently the older you get, the more susceptible you become.... sorry Mum).

A peaceful idyll houseboat living may be. Waking up to crested Grebes diving in tandem pairs for breakfast, effervescent Coots chirping morning greetings to Moorhens, and aloof Swans silently preening and pouting on the mirror like canal, is certainly more of a privilege than witnessing the ordinary groanings of a city rising from its slumber. But make no mistake, these beautiful water based morning shows are best observed from a cocoon shaped, duvet and electric blanket based nest of your own. After the shows finale, usually consisting of a seagull squawk-scrapping with a fat mallard, comes the realisation that one of you must now leave the safety of your bed shaped nest and light the gas fire. If alone there is no debate. But alone or not it must be done. If not, you’ll freeze.

Keep the fire ON!

Land-Lubbers; those who have chosen to live within the more common brick and mortar based dwellings, may often look at houseboats with a pang of lust in the summer months, but it is fair to say that during the winter, this green-eyed appreciation of another’s home can often be reversed. Houseboats are drastically affected by the environment in which they float. When surrounded by cold water and cold air, they too are very cold. When hosting others as guests on a houseboat it is very easy to worry that they, who have not adjusted as you the Ship’s captain have, will suffer from a winter chill.

Despite the above, every visitor so far to our impromptu bird hide has appreciated the cosy romance brought about by the need to light the gas fire and cuddle up with a hot water bottle in the winter evenings. And mornings.  Living on a houseboat is colder than living in the houses that line the rippling green waterways. It does take a lot more effort and energy to keep warm in winter in a dwelling without central heating, in an abode wrapped in nature’s natural refrigeration system. But the necessity of enjoying battling the need to leave a cosy bed, the ritual of lighting the fire in the morning at the same time as flicking the switch on the kettle, and the shivering hop-step-jump to and from the shower, are part of what make living on a houseboat so special.

Breakfast View

Morning Visitor

My parents did not end up with pneumonia. They too revelled in the dance of the ducks in the morning, and cheerfully appreciated the simple joys of hot drinks by a toasty fire in the evenings. The night may look cold and dark outside as the canal laps just below the windows, but with a little bit of enjoyable effort, you’ll be warm and cosy on board... Until the morning dash to the fire again that is.

Two Wintry Days in Den Haag

Den Haag, on the coast south west of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, is the seat of the Dutch Government, the home of the Royal Family, and was until 1806, the capital of the Orange nation.

Boasting stunning architecture, wide tree-lined avenues, sociable town squares, hidden parks, canals, a myriad of restaurants, the UN, and a long sandy beach, it would seem this treasured little city has everything for the discerning visitor. In the winter however, despite all the above boxes being ticked, there is definitely something missing in the cosmopolitan streets of this centre of European activity.

Travelling by train from Amsterdam takes but forty five minutes, and Dutch trains being Dutch, they are on time, fast and ridiculously practical. Two floors of seating means there is none of that British style fuss over someone sitting in “your” allocated seat. The views from the train are quintessentially Dutch too; flat pasture land stretches far into the distance, dissected evenly by deliberately straight and perpendicular irrigation channels. The only breaks in this vista of man-made countryside are clapperboard windmills evoking romantic visions of a historical rural existence in these windswept flat lands. Thoroughly drawn back into the past world of Van Gogh’s romantic idyll one arrives in Den Haag with a comfortable grin and a slight reluctance at being thrust back into modern city life. This reticence is short lived however as the tram into the small centre provides stunning views of The Hague’s most famous building, The Binnenhof. By the time you step off the number 17, you are aware that this is a slower paced metropolis than Amsterdam, and will afford you enjoying city life, at a country pace.

The Binnenhof

Arriving at 9am on a Tuesday I expected to be met with the hustle and bustle of shops opening and people rushing around to their world government, or banking positions in this hub of European business and politics. I was pleasantly disappointed to find that its grand avenues were very quiet. Apparently shops in Den Haag don’t open until eleven at the earliest, and people are far more relaxed about their approach to being “on time”. I could almost feel London city suit types beginning to smoke from the ears with the thought that people didn’t arrive in offices at 5am and not leave until after 10pm at night!

I spent two cold February days in Den Haag. The old city centre has lovely small back streets. Crammed tightly with old book shops and antiques they are reminiscent of J.K. Rowlings magic streets in Harry Potter. I would not have been surprised to find little wizards purchasing their first wands from the multitude of old bearded men and wizened old ladies, marshalling their collection of curios and antique till registers with kindly smiles.

Even the stunning UN complex was at peace. The famous blue flag waved proudly in front of its grand Gothic home, and the World Peace Flame flickered silently outside the gates, while inside I imagined a buzz of activity in this time of huge unrest and difficulty throughout the world.

Wide Streets of Den Haag

The UN Flag

Den Haag is also famous for its beach, Scheveningen. In the summer thousands of Netherlanders flock to the resorts golden sands and seafood cafe’s, marking it as one of Holland’s most loved holiday destinations. This was not the case on a cold February Wednesday however. The sands were golden indeed, and provided a kind of desolate beauty in their emptiness, but the promenade was deserted, with flimsy hand written signs blown over by the strong northerly wind, rusty fairground rides lying empty and lacking in squeals of childish delight, and huge swathes of bike racks missing their bikes. Scheveningen in the summer may be the centre of tourist life, but in the winter the final tram stop at the end of the beach feels a lot like the end of the universe, and its apocalyptic greyness only adds to its beautiful desolation.

Lonely Bike Racks

Scheveningen

Desolate Promenade

The city of Den Haag is pretty and approachable and its beach in winter has an empty attraction. Despite many recommendations to visit in summer I found the wintry promenade beautiful in a lonely contended way and this is how I will fondly remember it. Den Haag’s difference to Amsterdam is the pride of its locals; their trams are red, not blue, their streets are wide, not narrow, and their restaurant seating stays outside, even in winter. Although all the tourist shops I saw paraded postcards of a sun drenched city bedecked in flowers, the February Den Haag I experienced was quietly going about its private life before the tourists of summer arrived. At first its peace and quiet was refreshing, but after a while there was a realisation that everywhere in Den Haag in winter is very very, very quiet. It did have an empty beauty to it, but it missed a sense of atmosphere, a sense of personality warmth. I am charmed enough however to give it a second chance, and will return in the summer to see if the postcard pictures really are true.