Alaska:

Cold War Relics – in both directions

4 August 2016 | Places

En route to the Chernobyl reactor and the ghost town of Pripyat we made a short detour to an amazing Cold War site. Here’s my diary entry: ‘a fascinating diversion to the Duga-3 early detection array (aka Russian Woodpecker), where the Russians watched out for missile...

View Post

Aerial Views – San Francisco-Beijing

9 October 2013 | Places

Took United Flight 889 from San Francisco to Beijing, a flight that arcs way north, crossing Alaska and reaching just south of the Arctic Circle then crossing Siberia, across the Sea of Okhotsk (where the Russians shot down a straying Korean Airlines 747, killing all ...

View Post

Moby Duck & Ducie Island

25 April 2011 | Media

Sub-titled ‘The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them,’ this is a great book. The foolish author foolishly get interested in the story of the c...

View Post

Animal Life in 2009

22 December 2009 | Living

I've been posting some 'end of 2009' lists in an assortment of categories, starting with Aerial Views, then with Hotels (good and bad), Other Transport, Music, Cars & Drives, Galleries & Museums and Books. Today it's my Animals & Wildlife of 2009. There...

View Post

Hotels – The Worst One & Some Good Ones in 2009

15 December 2009 | Living

The worst hotel of the year? McAlpine House in Broome, Western Australia. In 2009 I stayed in about 70 different hotels in 16 countries. Many of them were strictly one night stands although there were a fair number of two or three nighters, the longest visit was six n...

View Post