David Jenkins' weblog

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Category: travel

  • Historic Spain

    Historic Spain

    We’ve just got back from a week in ‘historic Spain’ starting in Madrid and then spending time in el Escorial, Segovia, Avila, Salamanca and Toledo. It was a full on experience and I reckon it could usefully have been split into two: a long weekend in Madrid and then a week in the other cities.…

  • 5 memorable business trips (2)

    5 memorable business trips (2)

    This is the second in my series of posts about particularly memorable business trips. As with the first (click here) it dates back to pre-email times 2 On my own in the old Yugoslavia It was in the mid to late 80s and I was a Product Marketing Manager with Dow Chemical Europe. I was…

  • (business) communications have changed …

    (business) communications have changed …

    I know that’s stating the bleeding obvious but sometimes it’s worth reminding ourselves of how much it’s changed and what it used to be like for the business traveller. I’ve had nigh on 50 years of such travel and here’s an outline of what I’ve experienced. For me it started in the early 70s when…

  • All the countries I’ve ever visited (part II)

    All the countries I’ve ever visited (part II)

    I’m fortunate. I’ve enjoyed lots of travel and had good experiences as I’ve done so. For much of the time it’s been business travel but a lots also been vacations when I’ve shared it with my family. In this and subsequent posts I’ve tried to be consistent with what is a country. It’s an independent…

  • 5 memorable business trips (1)

    5 memorable business trips (1)

    I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve had jobs that have allowed me to travel and taken me to places I’d normally not visit. I’ve always enjoyed the travel part of my job, if you don’t you really should find another job, and every trip gave me positive memories but just a handful were maybe longer…

  • GoSW 2025: five highlights

    GoSW 2025: five highlights

    Back in 2022 we took a tour of Gardens of North Wales expertly led by Tony Russell (click here for a relevant blog post). It seemed a good idea to repeat it sometime in the South and earlier this month we did. We used the same tour company which used the same guide so we…

  • Two weeks in WA

    Two weeks in WA

    Western Australia that is. I like Australia, the world 7s series was there end January and my son lives there. All good reasons to visit so I did. I flew in overnight from Mauritius (see previous post), I was first off the plane and after a long walk I was through immigration, customs and biosecurity…

  • Weekend in Mauritius

    Weekend in Mauritius

    Last month I enjoyed a stopover in Mauritius en route to Perth. It was a bonus, I’d never been there before and whatever expectations I might have had they were well exceeded. It’s an interesting place, French for a short time then British and now independent. The population (1.3 million) is largely of Indian origin,…

  • The Medicis and more

    The Medicis and more

    We’ve just enjoyed a long weekend in Florence. It’s the fourth time I’ve been there but it’s the first time I’ve spent significant time in the city and although last time we did see Michelangelo’s David and visit the Basilica of Santa Croce which is home to the tombs of most of Florence’s great and…

  • All the countries I’ve ever visited (part I)

    All the countries I’ve ever visited (part I)

    I’m fortunate. I’ve enjoyed lots of travel and had good experiences as I’ve done so. For much of the time it’s been business travel but a lot has also been vacations when I’ve shared it with my family. In this and subsequent posts I’ve tried to be consistent with what is a country. It’s an…