We've all been there, right? Standing over an empty suitcase, wishing you were Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and could just magic the perfect things together for your trip. It's hard enough trying to make sure you pack lightly enough, but not so lightly that you're washing underwear in the hotel...

If you've got 10 days in Uzbekistan, you're in a really good position. It's long enough to see the country's main highlights of Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva, without feeling like you're rushing from one place to the next. On my own first time in the country, I spent a...

Khiva is one of Uzbekistan's most beautiful cities, but it's often one that travellers skip as it's harder to get to than the likes of Bukhara or Samarkand. If you're going as part of a guided tour, Khiva might already be on your itinerary, but for a self-planned trip, here's...

One of the ancient cities of the Silk Road, Khiva is often the Uzbek city that most tourists miss. Because it's harder to reach, most travellers to Uzbekistan tend to focus on the "Golden Trio" of Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara. And, if you are planning your full Uzbek adventure, you...

Let me start off by saying: I was an idiot when I visited Uzbekistan. I did minimal planning and took the very Irish approach of "it'll be grand" to exploring Uzbekistan as a vegan. It was not grand. It was how I ended up in my hotel room in Samarkand,...

Here's a fun fact for you: In Russian, a large train station is called a "vokzal" (вокзал), and it gets its name from London's Vauxhall. Vauxhall was my first local tube station when I moved to London in 2010, and a vokzal was where I found myself on a sunny...