Easy Guide on How to Obtain a Tajikistan Visa
Exploring the Central Asian country is a wonderful experience, but make sure that you have obtained a Tajikistan visa before you set off on your journey. Are you thinking of…
Trekking the Wakhan Valley, Tajikistan
Expecting nothing but the soaring mountains in the Pamir region of Tajikistan, Johan Smits gets far more than he bargained for when trekking the Wakhan Valley. “Some of these petroglyphs…
Essential Tajikistan Travel Guide
[vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1532971481553{margin-top: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;background-color: #1e4382 !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”white”] Culture / Heritage | Outdoors / Nature | Gastronomy | City Breaks | Festivals | Weather | When…
Tajikistan Travel – Dushanbe Lost in Time
Johan Smits shares his fascination for an intriguing mix of old-world charm and bold new vision in Tajikistan’s curious capital, Dushanbe. The employee shoos us away with a mixture of…
Trekking in Tajikistan and the Fann Mountains
Our man in Central Asia, Johan Smits, travels to the Fann mountains to discover wonderful trekking in Tajikistan and even takes his parents along with him. Our hired minivan emerges safely…
Into the Chittagong Hill Tracts: Rangamati
Johan Smits visits Rangamati Bangladesh in the travel-restricted Chittagong Hill Tracts – the country’s highlands and home of the Jumma people. I’m on my way from Chittagong, Bangladesh’s largest port…
6 Alternative Places to Visit in 2020
The world is getting smaller so they say with less new places to explore. Think again. Espousing the philosophy of undertourism, Travel Begins at 40 suggests alternatives places to visit…
5 Wonderful Asia Off-The-Beaten-Track Destinations
Travel Begins at 40 spills the beans about five themed and truly off-the-beaten-track destinations in different parts of Asia. When travelling in Asia, you may feel it’s getting increasingly hard…
New Travel Comparison Site and Costa Rica Guide
Your favourite travel website for the over 40s has just become more extensive with the addition of a travel comparison site for flights and hotels. Leading travel website for the…
Nowruz or Persian New Year 2024
Experience the opulence of Nowruz – or Persian New Year – in March with an abundance of food, music and hospitality in one of many Persian-heritage countries. Nowruz Meaning Nowruz…
Travel Ideas: Explore Our Travel Topics
Sometimes when seeking travel ideas it can be time consuming to shift through articles to find exactly what you are looking for. An article about trekking in Tajikistan might sound…
Ethical Travel Dilemma: To Boycott or Not to Boycott
From Israel to Myanmar, and Uganda to the USA, the list of countries you could avoid due to ethical travel concerns seems endless. Johan Smits tackles the thorny issue of…
Discover Six Off-the-beaten Paths with TraveLocal
This year, why not break away from the crowds hopping the Greek islands, queuing for the Vatican and sweating it out in tents at music festivals, and discover some lesser-known…
Almaty: the Coolest City in Central Asia
Johan Smits explores Kazakhstan’s former capital Almaty and discovers an overlooked city destination full of cafe culture and a respect for its former Soviet heritage waiting to be discovered by…
Pamir Highway, a Road Less Travelled
After travelling through the Wakhan Valley, Johan Smits reaches the famed Pamir Highway traversing Tajikistan’s GBAO to reach what feels like the top of the world. One of the two…
2018 Alternative Top Travel Destinations
The Travel Begins at 40 travel collective has ransacked the globe to come up with four alternative top travel destinations for the adventurous and young at heart 40-something traveller. Why…
Kazakhstan Winter Fun: Shymbulak and Medeu
Escaping from thatched roof chocolate-box cottages, Johan Smits tries out the unassuming ski slopes of Shymbulak and ice rink of Medeu in Kazakhstan. The view from the 2,840-metre ski mid-station…
Five Alternative Travel Tips for 2018
From tomato fighting, to dead goat polo and glamping in the Cambodian jungle, our travel experts have come up with their alternative travel tips for 2018. Glamp in the Cambodian…
Druk Path Trek Bhutan, the Local Way
Vast landscapes and wide open skies are defining features of Bhutan and there are few better ways to see them than on the Druk Path Trek…
Sampling the Great Outdoors in Kyrgyzstan
Enjoying homemade cuisine inside a yurt, listening to old folk music and admiring the wonderful landscape of the great outdoors from the back of a horse, Johan Smits gets a…
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan: Back in the USSR
Johan Smits wanders through Bishkek where he encounters Bolshevik statues, a free election campaign and crafted ales. Before I set off to visit Kyrgyzstan’s quirky capital Bishkek, a former resident…
5 Senses Romania – Travelling Artisans
Independent travel company 5 Senses Romania, was started by Alexandra Duta five years ago with the concept of travelling using all five senses, in order to reveal the most thrilling…
The Travel Guide for the Over 40s
[vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1532883838212{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 50px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text] Each world travel guide covers the basics any traveller over 40 will want to know about places all around the world. Find the…
Slowing Down in the Sanatorium
Looking for a break from Dushanbe, Johan Smits unwinds in a Tajik mountain sanatorium – Soviet style. If someone asked you to sit naked on a bottomless chair and have…
