Kathmandu can feel overwhelming when you first arrive. The traffic is busy, the streets around Thamel form a maze, and there always seems to be another temple, courtyard or momo restaurant waiting around the next corner.
After two nights in Mombasa, we headed south to Diani Beach for the next stop on our journey along the Kenyan coast.
We spent four nights here, staying in a quiet gated community between the beach and the main road, with private access directly onto Diani Beach. Unfortunately, we had quite a lot of rain during our stay, so we didn’t explore as much as we’d originally planned.
We only spent two nights in Mombasa. We weren’t planning to see everything Mombasa has to offer. Instead, we wanted a day to explore the Old Town and get our first taste of coastal Kenya.
Learn how to set up and use M-PESA in Kenya, including Safaricom SIMs, Wise transfers, shop payments, taxis and essential security tips.
Risshaku-ji Temple, better known as Yamadera, is one of the most atmospheric and worthwhile day trips from Sendai. We visited during autumn, when the mountainside was covered in red, orange and yellow leaves. It was incredibly beautiful and absolutely worth every step.
Nikka Whisky Miyagikyo Distillery is one of the best day trips from Sendai, especially if you enjoy Japanese whisky or want to see somewhere beyond the usual city sights.
Matsushima is one of the easiest and most rewarding places to visit from Sendai. The bay is filled with small pine-covered islands, the waterfront is easy to explore on foot, and a sightseeing boat takes you out among the scenery rather than leaving you to admire it from the shore.
We spent two weeks in the city, mostly based in Kimihurura, a leafy, hilly neighbourhood with plenty of cafés, restaurants and places to work. We didn’t try to see everything Kigali has to offer. Instead, we settled into the neighbourhood, worked during the week and explored when we felt like it.
We spent three nights in Doha on our way from Zambia to Nepal, taking advantage of the Qatar Airways Stopover programme to turn our connection into a short trip of its own.
Three days gave us plenty of time to explore Doha’s main sights, wander around Souq Waqif, visit Katara Cultural Village and Mina District, take a dhow boat trip and eat some very good food along the way.
We visited in July, when temperatures reached almost 50°C, so our days looked a little different from how we’d probably plan them during the cooler months. We spent the hottest parts of the day indoors and headed outside later in the afternoon and evening.
When booking our Qatar Airways flights from Lusaka to Kathmandu, we realised we had an easy opportunity to visit another country along the way.
Our route already took us through Doha, and Qatar Airways allows you to book a longer stop in the city through its Qatar Stopover programme. We chose to spend three nights in Qatar before continuing to Nepal.
We were flying Business Class, and when we compared the options, choosing a three-night stopover didn’t change the price of our flights. We simply had to pay for our hotel and what we spent while we were in Doha.
For us, three nights was enough time to explore the city without adding too much time or expense to our journey from Zambia to Nepal.
There was just one thing we hadn’t planned perfectly: we visited in July. And Doha in July is very, very hot.