India

India

A wonderful land full of wonderful people, smells, colour and vibrancy. It is awful to see the atrocities that have happened in Mumbai over the last 24 hours. It is hard to imagine what the people there are going through. Many of them rely on tourism for their income and indeed survival. From the people at the top who own places such as the Taj Mahal Hotel to the lowly beggars in the street. This will impact across all of them.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has said that only essential travel to Mumbia advisable, but look at the other options for the country after reading through all the information on the FCO website on travel to India.

If you are planning to go, consider your options following the FCO advice, but do try and get there one day. The two months I spent travelling around were two of the most amazing that I spent on my entire round the world trip. You will find something new and interesting at every turn. People will amaze you when you get to chat to them and the busy land and culture will leave you speechless at times. Read an account of the trip to India Rob and I went on.

My thoughts are with the family and friends of all the people affected by the attacks in Mumbai especially those who have so needlessly lost their lives.

It saddens me that some of the greatest tourist areas in the world are being attacked and upsets me that I have been to three of them; The World Trade Centres, The Sari Club in Bali and the Taj Mahal Hotel and Leopolds Restaurant in Mumbai. I've been to these places and met the people that are there and I am sure along with countless thousands know who would have been in these places at the times of attack.

Call it terrorism, freedom fighting, jihad or whatever, but I really hope that the governments of these countries, with support from other governments in the world can find a way of creating peace and unity across the globe.