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 flight shaming movements in the UK and Sweden. Have you heard yet of flygskam, Swedish for ‘flight shaming’? It’s the No Fly…
Japan Winter Festivals: Naked Men and Sake
From naked men to setting off fireworks and lots of sake, here is our round up of Japan Winter Festivals ranging from the quirky to the strange. Matsutaki Festival…
7 Great Beer Festivals in the UK, Belgium, Germany and the US
With the legendary Munich Oktoberfest around the corner, Travel Begins at 40 looks at seven great beer festivals in the UK, Belgium, Germany and the US. There is certainly no…
6 Things to Do in Chiang Mai Off the Tourist Trail
A persistent visitor to Thailand’s Rose of the North, Johan Smits spills the beans about his favourite tourist-proof things to do in Chiang Mai; some of them might well surprise…
