Introducing the ‘stans Central Asia is one of those regions most people from the West never visit and rarely hear about. Sacha Baron Cohen may have put Kazakhstan on the…
If you ever want to understand Russia beyond the cities, you need to visit a village. Rural Russia is a world of its own — tough, traditional, and full of…
Mixed Feelings on the White Island (Ibiza) The first time I ever flew on a plane, I was eighteen years old, back in 1995. It was also the first time…
Welcome to couch surfingMany years ago, while sitting alone in a bar in Luxembourg, a Dutch couple approached me and asked, “Are you a couch surfer?”I had absolutely no idea…