Karen Phillips

Author – Photographer – Traveller

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Category Archives: Travel

Travel – one step off the beaten track, which is my preferred place to be. Including quirky cute hotels, scuba diving locations, snorkelling trips and pretty pictures of places I love

Sri Lanka – Sleep and Sea

It is crazy that we travel 5000 miles to sleep, but we do. Far away from the phone and family, pets and guests, routine and duty we sleep. Lulled by the sea, by the trains, by the palms, by the horns of the buses that…

Sri Lanka – Sleep and Sea

The sense of Vietnam

Vietnam smells like Fish guts in the sun Watermelon smoothies Smoke from a hundred improvised BBQ’s outside six seat restaurants, rallied by vigorous flapping of palm fans Red mud drying in the dope heavy air Condensed milk Sea salt and peppercorns And around and…

The sense of Vietnam

Turkey and Greece – as I remember them

It is two years since we left Turkey and there are days when the memories rise up thick and fast and I yearn to go back and do it all again. We were so lucky to live there at the time we did. It gifted…

Turkey and Greece – as I remember them

Southern Yucatan Trip Report

This is the southern Yucatan, a land where the roads run out after running straight for hundreds of kilometres. Where the vanishing point you drive into can mesmerise you and the emptiness feels post-apocalyptic.
…

Southern Yucatan Trip Report

The Confetti Days of May

Pembrokeshire in May is like standing at the kissing gate of a country church celebrating an old fashioned wedding. The air is full of flying blossom like confetti and the shades of pink and white from the hawthorn, the cherry and the apple whirl joyously…

The Confetti Days of May

Isla Mujeres – just far enough away

Far away across the Atlantic, tucked away in a corner of the Mexican Caribbean, just off the Yucatan peninsula, the island of Isla Mujeres is old home, memory chest and long time inspiration to me. It’s colour drenched seas and white powder sands are the…

Isla Mujeres – just far enough away

Escaping Winter – Isla Mujeres in November

It is, as I mentioned in the previous post, nearly ten years since I last saw Isla Mujeres, now I am here and whilst some things have changed so much has stayed the same. Thankfully! Isla still has that island vibe; that chilled out, calmed…

Escaping Winter – Isla Mujeres in November

Going back to the island….

Isla Mujeres is a spit of coral and sand in the Caribbean Sea just off Cancun in Mexico. To me it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Blessed with powder white sand beaches Isla is surrounded by the most amazing coloured water,…

Going back to the island….

November Days and Nights Drawing In

This is the first November I have spent in the UK for nearly a decade….it’s bloody dark isn’t it! The weather since February had lulled me into a false sense of security; a mild winter, a gorgeous early spring and a lengthy summer that shone…

November Days and Nights Drawing In

Cornucopia – Turkey for the open minded

There is something hugely uplifting about Cornucopia, the tri annual magazine and online site that cherishes Turkey. I like to think of it as like the best baklava, the kind that gets offered on very special occasions, the kind that is layers of crisp goodness…

Cornucopia – Turkey for the open minded

Ephesus – Spring 2013 and Ephesian interior design

Ephesus is just the other side of the hill from us, we drive past it every time we go into Selcuk and every time we go diving we see the big bite out of the hillside that is the great theatre and it reminds us…

Ephesus – Spring 2013 and Ephesian interior design

Into the Blue – Boat tour of Dilek Millipark near Kusadasi

Our Captain is wearing a polo shirt with Cancun, Yucatan embroidered on the chest. “I used to live there” I tell him, “on the island across the bay, Isla Mujeres.” “I used to work there” he says showing me the logo on his sleeve, “For…

Into the Blue – Boat tour of Dilek Millipark near Kusadasi

Samos – Sunny in Spring

I actually got sunburnt last Friday, and that never happens, but we took a day trip to Samos to stock up on piggy products and spices you can’t get here and it was a glorious sunny day and I was glowing when we got off…

Samos – Sunny in Spring