Cuba is interesting and infuriating. Being in Cuba necessarily involves giving way to a simpler existence. But the apparent simplicity is in fact just the result of existing in a socialist state under a planned economy. The economy is dominated by the exports of sugar, tobacco, coffee and nickel. And apart from rum and pineapples, not much else is easy to come by. Cuba’s rum — Havana Club Cuba imports nearly all of its food and of that, about 80% is rationed for the population. »
I knew from the moment I saw the iridescent blue water as our plane flew over Cancun that I’d love Mexico. And it did not disappoint. We landed in Cancun after an 11 hour flight from Europe feeling rather tired and gross. We were meeting my friend Lauren at the airport, but with neither of us having wifi, and having inadvertently failed to have a synchronous conversation about where we would meet, there was a mild amount of panic when it materialised that our broad plan to meet in the arrivals hall was rather flawed. »
After leaving Vienna we arrived in Zurich where we met up with our friends Max and Tash. They had been travelling around the UK and Ireland and met us in Switzerland to go snowboarding and spend Christmas together. We had just one night in Zurich, where we spent the evening at the Christmas market in the concourse of the main train station. It is one of the largest indoor Christmas markets in Europe. »
I’m finishing this blog post while on a train from Vienna to Zurich. It is an incredibly picturesque train ride — we emerged from a long dark tunnel into a valley surrounded on either side by towering snow-covered mountains spread with white spruce, their branches drooping under the weight of the snow. The sky is cloudless and bright blue but everything else is white, bright white, and glistens where the sun falls. »
Lying 200km north of the Arctic Circle on the edge of the Torne river in Sweden is the little town of Jukkasjärvi. At the end of each winter, when the frozen river ice is at its thickest, it is harvested in preparation for construction of the annual Ice Hotel. Large blocks of ice are cut from the river in April and stored in a cool room until it is time to begin construction in October. »