Slow Routes
A border crossing is where an overland route is really decided
The line on the map is the easy part; whether you may cross it, on that day, by that means, is a separate…
Arjun Nair
Features writer, The Next Postcard
Arjun has written about cities, slow routes, rail & road for most of the last decade and prefers a plain explanation to a clever one.
13 articles
Coast
The prevailing wind decides which side of a coast you want to be on
Wind is the most persistent variable on any shoreline, and it sorts beaches, harbours, vegetation and…
Travel Craft
Being offered your own currency abroad is a sales pitch, not a courtesy
When a foreign card terminal asks whether you want to be charged at home, somebody is choosing the exchange…
Rail & Road
Driving in another country is a paperwork exercise before it is a drive
Most of the difficulty of taking a car abroad is administrative rather than practical, and nearly all of it…
Cities
What a city eats changes by district, and the rent is usually why
Restaurants occupy whatever space they can afford with enough passing custom to fill it, and that one…
Cities
The same streets after dark are a different city
Darkness changes who is out, where it is possible to go and what a place sounds like, which makes a night…
Cities
Where a city lets you sit for nothing says who it is for
Somewhere to sit without buying anything is the cheapest infrastructure a city can provide, and whether it…
Coast
Hard rock and soft rock make completely different coastlines
The geology behind a shore decides whether you get cliffs, bays, dunes or marsh, and reading it explains…
Coast
An estuary is a negotiation between a river and the sea
Where fresh water meets salt, the mixing produces mud, enormous bird populations and the sheltered water…
Rail & Road
Taking a bicycle on a train is a space problem the railway has to ration
Whether a bike travels with you depends on how much floor a train can spare and how the operator chooses to…
Coast
A lighthouse is a message, and the message is its rhythm
What identifies a light to a navigator is not its brightness but the pattern of flashes and the sectors of…
Travel Craft
Eating with a restriction abroad is a question about the kitchen, not the menu
What you can safely eat away from home depends on how a cuisine is built, how a kitchen is organised and…
Travel Craft
Staying connected abroad is a choice between three different products
Roaming on your own plan, a local subscriber identity and a data-only profile solve different problems at…