We’ve been inundated this year about the impact of plastic pollution to the environment. Whether it’s images of sea creatures trapped in throwaway plastic containers or once pristine beaches now overcome with mountains of waste, it’s hard not to feel a sense of anger at the devastation that our wasteful society is inflicting on the natural world. As I’ve become aware of the plastics crisis…
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With spring in full bloom, this was the year I’d try my hand at gardening. What started off as a Sunday stroll through a garden centre ended up being quite a sizeable project. Over the course of this summer I’ve been busy planting my own fruit and vegetables, and – in part due to my own laziness – building a solar powered irrigation system to…
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Yesterday I concluded my 7-year career at US investment bank J.P. Morgan. Since joining as an intern in the summer 2011, my experience with the bank has fundamentally built the platform for my future career. Looking back, I’ve grown in more ways than I realise. But this year I promised myself to find my passion and look hard for a new challenge. My time at…
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The final destination on our road-trip was further up the Californian coast in the serene region of Big Sur. The Pacific Coast Highway was closed due to a major landslide in 2017 which buried part of the road, so the satnav suggested we stick to Highway 101 North for 100 miles which I wasn’t particularly excited about. After a brief visual inspection on Google maps,…
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We set off from Stovepipe Wells early, bound for San Diego at the very southern tip of California near the Mexican border. We anticipated taking the same spectacular hillside road that originally brought us to Death Valley from Bakersfield, but instead the navigation system took us through the heart of the sister Panamint Valley. For 50 miles we drove without seeing the faintest sight of…
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We started our descent from the Sierra Nevada mountains in desperate need of fuel. A combination of our Mustang’s thirsty engine and the constant hilly terrain meant we were achieving truly horrendous fuel economy. We’d almost run the tank dry but luckily found a fuel station just in time. Reaching Death Valley involved a long ‘U’ route around the Sierra Nevada mountains, as the Tioga…
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I was immediately thrown into the deep-end as we departed SF airport. The early afternoon traffic was pilling up on Highway 101 as we slowly made our way south east through the Bay Area. Driving on the wrong side of the road wasn’t the challenge; I last drove in Iceland a few weeks prior which was also on the left side. The challenge on the…
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Last month I was fortunate to cross the pond on a fortnight log road-trip across California, with my younger brother Nishay. Our trip would begin from one of the USA’s most iconic cities, San Francisco, where we would then head eastwards towards the wilderness of Yosemite National Park. A long desert drive would send us into the fiery warmth of Death Valley, followed by a…
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I’ll admit it initially took a fair bit of convincing myself to travel to the freezing cold country of Iceland in the middle of winter. But when I weighed up the chance to cross out a few things on my bucket list, like seeing the northern lights and glacier trekking, it seemed like a no-brainer. Or, so I thought! Planning the week long solo trip…
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One of the resolutions I made this year was to explore more of the UK. It occurred to me as I jetted off abroad last year that perhaps I’ve overlooked some of the amazing sites in my own country, many of which are barely a few hours drive away from home. While it does take a fair bit of convincing myself to get outdoors in…
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