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In dedication to World Oceans Day  Photo credit: Chad O’Hare Thirty years ago, my eyes would have been blinded by the reflection from the Aral Sea’s waters. Today, they stared at sand and saxual bushes that merged into a hazy horizon no matter which direction I turned. Our Landcruiser had been bouncing along a four-wheel-drive track for nearly ninety minutes. We were driving on the seabed, or what remained of it. A rusted-out bus rested upside down and scorched at the side of the road near where we had left the Ustyrt Plateau and entered the Aral Sea’s former seabed. Since then, I had seen little else beyond the occasional gas rig or pipeline marker - the latest business of choice in a fishing region erased of its sea.
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Towers built to resist the enemy rose around me. Not consecutively but scattered across the valley, each attached to a home built from the same worn blocks of stone. Time roughened their edges, rain nibbled their sandy grout and flashbacks of former raids hid between nooks and melted into shadows. Today, yellow flowers painted a tapestry at the foot of certain towers while white-blossomed trees soothed their memories, lifting troubles of past generations lightly in the breeze. The towers stood for resilience. Resilience of the town’s ancestors and strength of community that still filters through neighbourly life. Koshkebi (“stone towers”) define the Svaneti region of northern Georgia, yet my eyes were transfixed by what lay lower to the ground.  Photo credit: Chad O’Hare Birds of a Feather Press interviews “travel writers with an independent spirit” in their Author Interview Series and I am happy to be featured in their latest edition! Not all travel guides are created equal, and I love the approach this week’s travel writer, Nancy O’Hare, has taken with her books. They’re not a dry collection of facts and figures to help travelers explore off-the-beaten path locations. Instead, she weaves the information through travel narratives so readers are transported to the destinations Nancy is excited to share with them.
The streets were deserted. Had we fallen into a fairy-tale city decorated like a fancy wedding cake but without any guests? The morning felt oddly serene as we wandered the cobblestoned lanes and wound our way to Vilnius’ central Cathedral Square." ...continued in the Fallen Kingdoms Chapter of Searching for Unique. Favourite Cafe: Crustum Bakery and Café earned its place as our favourite coffee and bakery spot in Vilnius: crustum.lt.
As far as things to do, this nation offers a diverse mix. Stroll through restored archeological palaces or step back in time at a Zoroastrian fire temple. View petroglyphs thousands of years old or stretch your hiking legs in the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range. If you time it right, you can even catch the Formula One Grand Prix race through the streets of Baku.
Step through the destinations featured in my latest book, Searching for Unique, with a virtual tour in Google Maps. Trek through untouched valleys with more sheep than people in the blustery Faroe Islands. Feel the heat of an ancient Buddhist fire ceremony in the secluded Kingdom of Bhutan. Discover these and twenty-five more places across five continents through bite-sized narratives and on-the-ground travel advice. Searching for Unique was released in November 2018. For more about the book and links to buy a copy, click the link below:
Follow one traveller's journey across all seven continents in a virtual Google Maps tour! Enjoy excerpts from Dust in My Pack and links to destinations covered through Google Maps. You just might find inspiration for your next holiday. The book is available as an eBook and paperback at most online bookstores and in-store at select shops. For more about the book and links to buy it, follow the link below:
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AuthorExplorer of all seven continents on a quest to find the essence of lesser-visited destinations. 
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