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…
Bangkok Attractions – A Nostalgic Journey
In the second of this two-part series featuring his favourite Bangkok attractions, Johan Smits leads us off the tourist trail to five nostalgic gems. Bangkok Attractions: Scala Cinema Remember the…
7 Undiscovered Things to Do in Bangkok
In the first of this two-part series on things to do in Bangkok, Johan Smits brings us to seven of his favourite creative and green spots that Bangkok is hiding…
Bangladesh Travel: Rivers, Relics and Wrecks
After visiting the capital Dhaka and taking a voyage to the Sundarbans mangrove forest, Johan Smits continues his Bangladesh travel by road, river and rail, encountering ancient relics and huge,…
Five Great Mongolia Festivals Not to Be Missed
From horse-drawn sledges on a frozen lake to the world’s biggest camel race in the Gobi desert, Travel Begins at 40 has selected five great Mongolia festivals for 2020. Tsagaan…
Travel Begins at 40 Guide to Carbon Offsetting
Thanks to Greta Thunberg, it’s all the buzz at the moment in the aviation world, but is effective carbon offsetting more complicated than it sounds? Travel Begins at 40 walks…
Bangladesh Rickshaw Art : Photo Journey
Travel Begins at 40’s Johan Smits shares his love of the brilliant rickshaw art in Bangladesh with a series of colourful photos. To foreign visitors in Bangladesh, the ubiquitous and…
How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint When Flying
Travel Begins at 40 looks at how to optimise your carbon footprint reduction when travelling by plane is unavoidable. The aviation industry is increasingly painted as the black sheep amongst…
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…
9 Things to Do in Antwerp in Winter
Antwerp, one of Lonely Planet’s top 10 cities in 2018 and unofficial capital of Flanders, belongs on everyone’s bucket list. Home to Belgium’s best nightlife and filled with historical monuments…
Climate Change and Tourism: Plane, Car, Train or Boat?
Travel Begins at 40 looks at the relationship between climate change and tourism by comparing various modes of travelling to your next destination. Asking yourself what’s the greenest way to…
The No Fly Movement and Flygskam: What Is It?
Johan Smits discusses abandoning flying with flygskam or the No Fly movement in the UK and Sweden. Have you heard yet of flygskam, Swedish for ‘flight shaming’? It’s the No…
