It can be the hardest part of packing for an adventurous trip: deciding which items of technology to bring. Will you have time to read? Is an e-reader best, or an actual book? What if you lose your phone? Should you have a back-up camera? Will there be Wi-fi? If

Shit! I think as my alarm goes off at 2 am. Quite literally. I’m in a tent at Lobuche High Camp, at about 5100 meters, and I just spent the entire night tossing and turning in my sleeping bag, freezing cold, and with my stomach bubbling and gurgling. I’m not

Before monsoon kicks in, I’ve been doing some serious poolside research all over Kathmandu. It’s the only way I can really get the grime out from under my fingernails! I like a good power swim, and the first two pools are perfect for that, and the price is right. The

It’s important to pack light when setting out on a mountain bike tour in Nepal. Your packing list for mountain biking will depend on what kind of trip you’re going on, but let’s assume that you’re planning a multi-day bike trip on some jeep tracks and singletrack trails that will

There’s nothing quite like seeing Nepal from the seat of a mountain bike. A bicycle brings you onto trails and into remote villages that are inaccessible to motorized vehicles. Biking is (usually) faster and more fun than walking, and mountain bikes inevitably draw the interest of local people and provide

Travelling to Tibet is different. Even the most confident solo traveller will have to accept that independent travel here is not possible. The Chinese Government—which rules Tibet—restricts where tourists can travel, and how they can do it. But as a long-time independent traveller (oftentimes solo), I must admit it was

The five members of the Delhi family I was travelling with wore rented one-piece snowsuits that they had picked up in Manali. We wouldn’t encounter any snow for at least another thirty minutes on our drive up the road toward the Hampta Pass, but that did not stop them. Nor

Many travellers will only visit a place in the ‘peak season’, which usually correspond with when weather is good and/or reliable. And while most experienced travellers will have at least one cautionary tale of a place that just shouldn’t be visited in the ‘off-season’ (mine is the Salzkammergut Lake District

I pause several thousand stairs up for a drink of water.  Ahead of me, the steps continue to spread upward. My thighs burn. My breath is hard and fast, but as I sip my water it quickly slows. I’m ready to go again. Many people worry that they are not

My trekking group’s youngest member, a rugby player from Wales, bounced back down the uneven stone stairs to the other group members as we leaned hard on our trekking poles. “Guys, there’s a whole group of monkeys up here! Come on!” Guide Ramesh was fast on his heels, eager to