Travel Writing Competition 2014 Entries 3

The October sky was leaden with an imminent deluge. That morning, we had been emptied out of our comfy coach to explore Paris at our leisure.

The warm onshore breeze carried the tops of Adriatic waves up the brilliant white cliff to the crumbling castle perched atop.

I couldnt breathe. I was bent over at the waist, clutching my belly as if squeezing it harder would make it hurt less.

Namib Desert, its 6 o clock, right before sunrise. Im on my soulful, solo journey to Dead Vlei.

We scramble and slip down steep boulders covered with moss and rainforest mildew. The mixture of sweat and sunscreen stings my eyes.

It is a photograph I never took. A man of my age gazing warily down one of the many dusty seen better days streets in the half light before dawn.

We raise our children not to talk to strangers, wear seatbelts and take their mobile phones wherever they go.

There was a gaping void in the door of the unreserved train carriage we had managed to force our way into and no space was available aside from the floor.

And when you travel, you open new doors into the magnanimity of the world. You get to see things from a different vantage point.

Upon reaching our campsite at Geech, 3600m above sea level and part of the Simien Mountains in Ethiopia, I collapsed into a chair and decided that I was not moving for the rest of the evening