UK 2024: A winter morning in Greenwich

Geneva to Geneva via France, Italy and Switzerland as seen from the passenger side window. Herniating a disc two days before a long-planned adventure is not the recommended way to see the Alps and really limited my movement. 95% of my images from the trip were taken from a car seat with an iPhone.

The Terracotta Army Museum in Xi'an is home to one of the wolds greatest archaeological discoveries.

We only had a brief stop in this beautiful medieval town, 24KM from Geneva, but it certainly left an impression.

Another of those places that has to be seen with your own eyes. Every nook and cranny is filled with detail that even a gallery of a thousand photographs could not hope to capture. So many moments where you turn a corner and say 'hang on that's a...'

When travelling, there are places you visit not for beauty or culture, but to educate and remind yourself of our capacity for intolerable cruelty to one another - and to reaffirm why it must never be allowed to happen again. Robben Island, home to many political prisoners under the Apartheid government, is one such place.

A true spur of the moment trip. I grabbed my bike and my camera. The next day I wandered the streets as darkness fell and the light and decoration of the intra muros came to prominence.

The Mutianyu section of the Great Wall is a world wonder that truly lives up to its reputation. A set of memories rather than a great set of photos. I'd not slept in around 72 hours, was struggling a bit physically and once I set foot on the wall was suddenly hit by the realisation that I no longer had a job, was actually at a place I'd dreamt of since I was a kid and at the start of a grand adventure. What a place to start it.

This spectacular complex is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia and 2nd largest in South East Asia after Angkor Wat although it predates it by nearly 3 centuries. It was one of so many incredible locations throughout Java that I had no idea existed prior to arriving in Indonesia and why that part of my backpacking days are so fondly remembered, with every day including a new discovery.

I love epic train journeys, and three days straight-through from the north to the south of Australia in backpacker class certainly sounds epic. That is until the reality of the 5am New Years Day hangover start time, the small seat which is now your bed, the lack of stops to get off and explore and that the Australian bush is near unchanging until you near the coasts! Great experience overall. Just split it up with a break in the middle if you can, unlike me that fit it between flights.