Tag: travel

With visa complications and travel challenges, this is the very first time that my team - whom I've been working with for the last year - have ever all been in the same country, all at the same time.

You can do a lot in a distributed work environment. But sometimes you just have to come together... in celebration of your achievements, in anticipation of what you'll do next, and in aid of doing those kinds of work that really benefit from a close, communal, same-timezone environment.

Alt

A group of men sit on chairs, a sofa, and the edge of a desk in a comfortable large office space.

Istanbul is... sprawling. I stood on this footbridge, over the water, to try to comprehend the scale of the place, but it's just massive. The hills, which help the tall buildings to tower over you no matter where you stand, only serve to exaggerate the effect. Quite the spectacle of human settlement.

Alt

View from above a river, flanked by dense city on both sides, under an overcast sky.

Next stop, Istanbul!*

* not actually next stop; I've got a bus, a walk, a bus, and a plane left on this journey yet!

Alt

Dan, a white man with a trimmed goatee beard and dyed-blue hair tied back in a ponytail, stands alongside a suburban bus shelter and throws a thumbs-up sign. He's carrying a backpack.

Good morning, Oxfordshire! A freezing-fog farewell for me, this morning, as I get up early to catch a series of buses to the airport.

Alt

A wet rural road, lit by the sun's first light as it rises ahead, it's flanked by fields full of freezing fog.

Goodbye, Trinidad and Tobago. 🇹🇹
You were wonderful. I hope to visit you again. ❤️

Alt

Dan and Ruth clink champagne glasses between the booths of their club class seats.

This is funny, but I'm confident Wrexham's potholes have nothing on the Trinbagonian ones I've been experiencing all week, which have sometimes spanned most of the width of a road or been deep enough that dipping a wheel into them would strike the road with your underchassis!

Alt

Humorous handmade road sign welcoming visitors to Wrexham as 'Pothole Land', stating that there are 'two kilometres of award-winning potholes with very little actual road to spoil your fun' and guaranteeing 'the deepest, longest, vs widest potholes in Wales'.

After driving 300 (vertical) metres up a terrifyingly winding road, we find ourself at 'Top if the World', one of Tobago's highest points. Being able to look down the steep sides of this long-extinct volcano to the sea on both sides is quite spectacular, and the Caribbean and Atlantic horizons seem so far away that you can almost believe you're seeing the Earth curve.

Alt

Tropical cliff view to a bright blue ocean far below.

My camera fails to do this view justice.

The Nylon Pool is a sandbar in the Buccoo Reef, off the coast of Tobago. Despite the distance from the shore, it's only about waist-deep. Truly mind-boggling.

Alt

Dan stands waist-deep in seawater; land is visible in the far distance.

Came half way around the world to find a surprising boat with a non-English name I understand.

Alt

Small six-seater day boat named 'Cariad', afloat. The letter I is dotted with a heart symbol.

("Cariad" is Welsh for "love")

A couple of hours into our ferry journey, we just got our first glimpse of the island of Tobago, where we'll be staying for the next few days.

Alt

Across the sea, a rugged island begins to emerge over the horizon, through distant clouds.

My 12:55 flight is, according to this departure board, delayed to... 12:55!?

Either it's running a full 24 hours late, or this board is untrustworthy.

Alt

Airport departures board, showing (among other flights) the 12:55 to Port of Spain is 'Delayed to 12:55'.