Travel stories on city experiences, family trips, hotel stays, and practical traveller notes from Irhal.
London is a melting pot of diverse ethnicities. Nowhere is this more visible than in Whitechapel Station where you see signs in both English and Bangla.
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A Muslim travel route through Canary Wharf, from halal food trucks and polished dine-in restaurants to Docklands Community Centre Masjid.
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The arrival of the FIFA World Cup 2026™ is a perfect opportunity for Boston's sports fans to show how their city revels in a championship contest.
Read storyInternational fans visiting New York and New Jersey for the FIFA World Cup 2026™ are bound to find lots to do in addition to attending soccer games.
Want help in planning a family holiday this summer? Do you want to entertain the kids and yourselves? Look no further. We have put together some popular family destinations for you. All hotels below allow 2 children under 12 to stay free of charge. If you have a larger family, many of these hotels offer adjacent rooms with a connecting door.
Did you book your last vacation through a hotel or online travel site? You are not unique. More people book holidays online than thru a travel agent. But what makes you select a specific hotel? Is it the price? Or a picture – like this aerial shot of the Outrigger Laguna Beach Resort in Phuket, Thailand.
Peering out of the Emirates Boeing 777-300ER flight from Dubai to Yangon, you can see the lazy river. A muddy, sludgy, squidgy creek. Meandering. That is the Irrawaddy – the river that Kipling’s famous Road to Mandalay poem glorifies. No fishes jumping skywards. No hathis pilin’ teak. Just a snake like river engorged with sand and silt...
Except those who believe (Islamic Monotheism) and do righteous deeds. Then they shall have a reward without end.
Your wife is a “soccer mom” driving an SUV. You have a few other cars parked in the garage. Your annual vacation takes you to exotic destinations every summer – and increasingly every winter as well. You dine out every weekend – and some weeks have extra weekends. You think life is no longer a struggle. You are moderately well off. All...
Everyone has a dream that they hope, someday, turns into a reality. My visit to Europe was nothing less than a dream come true. When you travel, there is so much to experience, and so many things to learn. Travel broadens your mind and enables you to discover different kinds of cultures and lifestyles. Most importantly though, it is a...
My husband and I did a lot of research to select our perfect honeymoon destination. We were looking for a relaxing beach holiday where we felt pampered, but we didn’t want to go to a crowded tourist hotspot. We were in search of luxury, natural beauty and good food, but most of all we just wanted some peace and quiet, so in July we...
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I was going on my first press junket. I travel frequently but this felt different. I did not even have an airline ticket. I had to join a group of journalists at Terminal 2 at Dubai airport at 5:30am. We were going to Muscat. flydubai was taking us there while the Shangri-La’s Barr al Jissah Resort & Spa was hosting us.
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Located in the West African nation of Mali, Timbuktu once lay at the crossroads of four major trade routes that supplied the Arab world. Its geographic position made the city one of the wealthiest in the world during the 12 th century. The city is home one of the first universities in the world, Koranic Sankore University, a celebrated...
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Shukor is the first Malaysian and ninth Muslim in space. He is an orthopedic surgeon by trade and was the winner of the Angkasawan program established by Russia and Malaysia. The program was part of an agreement between the two countries that stipulated that Russia would take one Malaysian citizen to space. As the program’s winner,...
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Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is the principal mosque in the Sultanate of Oman. The final design came from a competition instituted by Sultan Qaboos in 1992 after he decided Oman needed a Grand Mosque. Within its walls, the mosque houses the second largest single piece carpet and the second largest chandelier in the world.
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Ibn Fadlan is famous for his travels to Scandinavia, where he produced one of the earliest and most influential accounts of Viking culture. Ibn Fadlan described the Vikings as having beautiful bodies but poor hygiene; perhaps his most famous contribution was his description of a traditional burial of a Viking chieftain. He left Baghdad...
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By Bushra Alvi When my husband was invited to attend a weekend symposium in Beirut, there was no way I was going to stay behind. For too long Beirut had been on my list of must-visit places and, while the trip would be short, I decided to tag along. The Emirates flight we took was full and cramped – especially for my six foot tall...
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By Amna Khalique Visiting Seychelles is like stepping back in time into another realm. Calm, serene, phenomenally gorgeous beaches, so many species of wildlife – you will definitely be tempted to visit each year. With a population of approximately 90,000 in the entire archipelago consisting of 115 islands, Seychelles is natural, untouched beauty at its best.
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By Irfan Ahmad “My bags are packed. I am ready to go. … I am leaving on a jet plane….” The strains of the John Denver song are permanently etched in my mind. It takes me about 10 minutes to put together my stuff for a trip that could keep me on the road for ten days. I have several hundred thousand air miles under my belt and I do not...
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It was early afternoon when I walked up the steps to the French Embassy in London. It had closed its doors for the day. But I was confident that I would be able to get in and have a visa stamped on my passport. I had used wasta (connections). If you have a Pakistani passport and are visiting London for a few days, the chances are that...
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By Irfan Ahmad Living in Dubai has its downsides. A few years back, when we landed at Heathrow, my then five year old son looked around and said, “Why is this airport so dirty?” Granted, London Heathrow’s Terminal 5 was still a couple of years away, but the aseptic environment of Dubai poses a number of challenges for destinations...
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The bed sheets felt fresh and crisp. The duvet was inviting. The heavenly bed seemed heavenly. After a 10 hour flight to Cape Town, sleep was what I craved. But a hungry stomach had other designs on my time. I went down to the Westin’s restaurant and ordered Tom Yom soup and a veggie pizza. The strange combination reflected the state I was in.
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The van that took us to the hotel had picked up a few other passengers besides us and meandered around the “city” dropping people off at what appeared to be crude, container-like cabins. So this is how people live in this part of the world? I remembered reading that Longyearbyen was a mining town. The metal cabins looked the part....
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