It’s no secret that my blog is hopelessly out of date.

I’m writing about Sri Lanka, while sitting in a hostel in Kazakhstan, the only native English speaker among a horde of Kazakhs and Russians. And in the last few days, I’ve had more experiences than I can fathom.

Here’s a snapshot of the past week. It started with visiting the World’s Fair in Astana, before taking a 20-hour train across the steppe. From the train I saw nomad camps and tanks firing at targets on a hillside. After this I went hiking in the mountains with one of Kazakhstan’s top junior cyclists, then ate horse-meat with a woman who had been kidnapped and forcibly married as part of local custom. I stayed at a hostel with a guy who grew up next to Soviet Union’s largest nuclear-test facility, then visited an alpine lake and a canyon in the desert

All of this was in the past week. So can you imagine what has happened in the 16 months since I left Sri Lanka? 

This is the problem I am facing, a deluge of material, and no time to write about it. Travelling is incredibly time-consuming, like a full-time job (don’t laugh) and I’m constantly exhausted. I want my blog to be chronological, but I will never catch up, not without spending an entire year doing nothing except writing. 

So in a bid to make my blog a little more current, I’m going to start writing a new type of post. These will be brief summaries of the places I’ve visited in Europe. I’ve been reluctant to do this, as I don’t like diary-style travel blogs, but it has become a necessity. I’ll keep writing posts in the current style, so my fans (hello Grandma) can rest assured that things won’t change too much. 

On another note, this is the first time since I started my blog that I have spoken directly to you. It makes a nice change.