Cyprus Christmas trip 2024 Europe Germany

Night Lights: Overnight in Munich at Christmastime

I left Nicosia and flew out of Larnaca, Cyprus, headed home to Vancouver, but first I had a layover in Munich. I was to arrive at about 8pm and leave the next day at about 11:30am. I booked myself a night at the Wombat’s City Hostel Munich Hauptbahnhof in a six-bed girls’ dorm.

Unfortunately, my flight was delayed so I didn’t arrive in Munich until about 11:00pm. I took the S-Bahn train (line 1 and 8 run every 10 minutes or so into the city centre and the trip is about 40 minutes).

I walked out of the train station and into the night air. It was dark. It was cold. The streets were empty, but they were festive. It was beautiful to see Christmas trees and Christmas lights, and with the cold night air it felt so festive. Even the regular buildings that were not decorated were illuminated in some way and it just felt a little bit surreal. I could have taken the metro a couple of stops to get closer to my hostel, but I was so happy to be outside that I decided to walk. Everything was closed unfortunately and I saw only a few people walking around. I got to my hostel and went to my room. And forgive me as I go on a bit of a hostel rant.

Some hostels are well designed. They have dorms with soft blue lighting that won’t wake other sleepers when you come in, they have beds with curtains so that people have privacy and more darkness at night. They have lockers and cubbyholes where people put their items. This was not one of those hostels – or if they did have those things no one chose to use them as their stuff was all over the floor. I walked into the hostel dorm, and it was pitch black. There was no gentle motion light, and the only options I had was to stumble around in the dark or turn on the overhead light. I wasn’t about to turn on the overhead light and wake everyone up, so I decided to let my eyes adjust for a second and then try to make my way to my bunk bed. But because there was no place to store luggage properly, people had bags and suitcases and shoes all strewn about on the floor and I tripped over things multiple times as I tried to find my bunk. Also, trying to find your bunk in a pitch-black room that you’ve never been to before is extremely challenging. I finally found it and it was one of those ones where they don’t put the sheets on the mattress or the cover on the duvet or pillowcase and you have to do it yourself. I wasn’t about to fiddle around with that in the middle of the night on a top bunk so I just slept in my clothes on top of the plasticky mattress covered with naked duvet cover. I fell asleep quickly. Unfortunately for the people that I was sharing the room with, I wasn’t only the last person to bed, but I was the first person awake. I got up a few hours later showered and dressed and left again. I walked back to the main train station and went back to the airport. I stopped for a little breakfast on the way, but the city didn’t feel as magical as it had the night before.

If I was doing it over again, I think I would have booked a better hostel or a private room for that one night, but it’s hard to argue with the price of a hostel dorm. So, I didn’t get to do a lot in Munich on my layover, but I really enjoyed being there, even briefly. And so ended my Christmas trip to Cyprus and my final trip 2024.

I would be homebound for about two weeks and then I would be off to Miami.

Europe United Kingdom Yemen Trip 2025

London Layover: The Canals

I landed in London at 8:40 AM after my incredibly short night in Cairo, concluding my journey to Yemen. I had only a five-and-a-half-hour layover before my flight home to Canada, but there was absolutely no way I was going to spend that time sitting inside the airport terminal. Within minutes of clearing customs, I was on the Heathrow Express heading straight for Paddington Station.

I stopped for a quick espresso and to take in a little public art.

I firmly maintain that for a layover of this length, taking a stroll along the canals near Paddington is an excellent option. I had visited the area once before, but only the sections directly adjacent to the station. This time, I ventured a little farther into the neighbourhood properly known as Little Venice. It was so much more beautiful than I had imagined.

There are countless reasons why London remains my favourite city in the world, but one of the main ones is its seemingly endless supply of charming neighbourhoods. Walking that morning past the clear, reflective canals—lined with beautiful historic buildings and flowering trees—I was in absolute heaven. It is entirely possible that it all felt especially lovely because I had just spent the better part of a week in Yemen. While Yemen is incredibly beautiful in its own right, it was also hot, punishing, and dusty.

I felt a wave of pure happiness that morning, enjoying the slightly cool weather, walking under a canopy of lush green trees, and looking out over the serene waters. Eventually, I made my way back toward Paddington Station and stopped for a coffee and some avocado toast at one of the charming little barge restaurants moored on the canal. It was an absolute delight.

It really is amazing how much you can accomplish during a short layover in London if you are willing to move. With that, I headed back to Heathrow Airport. My magical Yemen trip was officially over. My next adventure would keep me a little closer to home: a quick day trip to Calgary.

Europe United Kingdom Yemen Trip 2025

London Layover: Belgravia

One of my greatest travel joys is having an exciting destination to visit with the bonus of getting a long layover in London on the way there. I say it so often that’s cliched, but London is probably my favourite city. I used to live there, and have visited it many times so for me it is a perfect place to have a day layover as I already know my way around and I’m happy to revisit it.

The way I approach London as a layover is to pick a neighbourhood that I want to visit and generally stick to that neighbourhood. Sometimes it will be because there’s something in particular that I want to do, like visiting a certain museum or a cigar store, and other times it will be just an area that I haven’t been to in a long time or forever. Obviously, the length of my layover somewhat dictates what I do. On my way to Yemen, I had some time in London and decided to base my visit around a cigar lounge.

I smoke cigars a lot in London, and that usually finds me going to Saint James Street, but I had been hearing about a lounge called TomTom and decided to make that my focus. I took the Heathrow Express into Paddington station and switched to the Tube, and took the underground to Sloane Square. From there it was a short walk to the TomTom cigar lounge. But what a walk.

I don’t know the names of all the streets that I walked down, but if you look at a map and you trace the route from Sloane Square to TomTom, you’ll have an idea. I think one of them was Pavilion Road. Anyway, the streets were ridiculously charming. All bricks with Union Jack flags strung up and every door festooned with colourful flowers. It was a charming neighbourhood. It seemed that every second window had delectable looking pastries and the weather was just nice enough that people were starting to sit outside.

Just as I got to the cigar lounge, I noticed a cute pink tea and cake shop across the street and I couldn’t resist. It was called Peggy Porschen cakes. I had never heard of it before, but they certainly did a good job of drawing me in with their pink floral exterior. I went inside settled on a pot of tea and a slice of a cake that I surely didn’t need but was happy to have. I sat outside and enjoyed my delectable treats feeling very girly. Just then the weather turned and I headed over to TomTom.

TomTom is a bit of an odd cigar merchant. They have a walk-in humidor but in the humidor only one of each type of cigar for sale is on display. I’ve never seen anything like it. Normally the merchant will display a box of the cigars that are on sale this one just one of each. It had a very minimalist appeal. Cigars in London can be quite expensive and none of them are cheap, but while there are options that are hundreds of Pounds you can still get a decent high end Cuban cigar for less than $100. I picked one of those.

Had I not known that they had a cigar lounge, I would not have discovered it on my own. The retail portion of the business was quite small and there were a couple of seats outside but nothing to suggest that there was a lounge, however when I asked about it, they led me through a slightly hidden door at the back of the humidor and I went down a flight of stairs into the basement. This is cigar lounge is quite cool. It’s very stylish and has a little bit of a 1970s flavour. Unfortunately, I was the only one in there when I went so it was a bit strange to have it all to myself, but I appreciated the time to relax and enjoy my cigar. I did that before deciding out of an abundance of caution that I should go back to the airport. I probably could have spent another couple of hours, but I had a flight to catch to Egypt and then another one to Yemen, where I was meeting up with people, and I couldn’t risk missing any of my flights.

I wandered back to the Tube station through Belgravia, which honestly doesn’t even sound like a real place. It sounds like something out of a Harry Potter book. I caught the train back to Heathrow, my spirits high and my energy fueled by tea, cake, and tobacco.

Onwards to Cairo.

Asia Cyprus Cyprus Christmas trip 2024

Nicosia: the Divided City’s Northern (Turkish) Side

I had already spent a day and a night on the Greek side of Nicosia, Cyprus, which I’ve written about in my previous post. But after breakfast that morning it was time to cross over to the other side. The Turkish side. I had already seen the border crossing multiple times, but this was the first time I would actually cross it. Approaching it, it feels like a real border. There are checkpoints on either side and signs. I queued up with the rest of the people and showed them my passport; unfortunately they didn’t stamp it, but they did look at it and looked at me, and then handed it back and told me to have a nice day. So in many respects it was just like any other European border crossing. I didn’t know what to expect on the other side.

On the other side it was a bit like Dorothy stepping through the door into Oz; things were quite different. On the other side was a market and it was very clearly Turkish. The side I had just left, felt like Greece, but this was Turkey. Baklavas stacked high, hookahs in the windows, Turkish style textiles and pottery, mosque minarets rising up towards the sky. It was incredible.

I walked immediately to my hotel, Hotel Valide Hanim Konak. This was a little bit of a splurge, but it looked so charming I couldn’t resist. And it lived up to the pictures. I went and wandered around.

As with the other side there wasn’t much in particular that I wanted to see I just wanted to absorb the atmosphere.

I loved the streets and the cafes and buildings of the Turkish side. There were mosques and a caravanserai. Charming markets and side streets. It was sort of place that was perfect for aimless exploration. I had a delightful time. No museums or attractions of that sort, just lots of walking and looking around. I had a very nice dinner and slept in my comfortable bed. In the morning, I had an excellent coffee and a bit of a Turkish style breakfast in the market, watching people hang out their wares for sale and cats lurking around for a bit of attention.

I couldn’t find any cigar stores on this side, but smoking on patios wasn’t a problem although the weather was not particularly cooperative. It started raining and became windy, which put a bit of a damper on my evening activities.

I will say that the Greek side had more to do in terms of attractions and overall it was probably a little bit more picturesque, but I preferred the Turkish side because I just generally I’m more drawn to that sort of cultural vibe, but both sides were excellent. I think Nicosia is one of those places that would make a good travel destination for anyone because there’s enough to see and do and it is just so terribly interesting to visit because of its geographical and political anomalies.

I took the bus back to Larnaca and then a taxi to the airport and flew to Munich.

I had spent about 3 and a half days in Larnaca and Nicosia, which was an amount of time that I was satisfied with. I think I may go back someday to see more of the country.

I would arrive in Munich quite late but with just enough time to have a small sleep in the city and take in something of the Christmas atmosphere.

Wandering North

Night Lights: Overnight in Munich at Christmastime

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