Tahmid Chowdhury

Travel & Places

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  • Embodying a traveller’s spirit

    I came back to Brussels this week after a few days away on holiday. Getting away did me more good than I had expected. Not only was the sun was healing for my soul, the break away from routines was surprisingly liberating. In all honesty,…

  • The slow descent into anti-sociability

    It’s like the movies. I’m in one of those cool, funky hostels in the South of Spain. It’s a Saturday night, and I’m chilling in the trendy living space. A mixture of nationalities, interesting stories and diversity. This is the moment where the magic happens.…

  • The international search for a sense of legibility

    I’ve returned to the UK for the weekend. Partly to see my parents. Partly because I couldn’t change my train ticket. It is quite novel being back. This is the land of my birth after all. But I’ve been away for long enough now that…

  • Avoiding the trap of constant negativity

    I’m back for a visit in London. I’m here to see my parents. Partly to do my familial duties. Partly to get a free birthday meal. Partly to get the rest of my mum’s cooking back to Brussels. I noticed myself getting into a spiral…

  • Renewing our connection with nature

    I’ve spent so much time in the city recently, I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be in the countryside. In fact, most of my life has been in city dwellings. It’s a little ironic, because my ancestral history has been from a village in rural…

  • Understanding the realities of living abroad

    I’m back in London for the final time this year. My family doesn’t celebrate Christmas, so I much prefer to come back a little before – it’s both more economical and far less stressful that way. There’s something about spending a few days at home…

  • Where there is discomfort there is growth

    Yesterday I had the authentic German experience. I woke up after an overnight coach in Hamburg. I had a few hours to kill before the train arrived. Well, it turns out I had longer than that. My train was delayed. At the beginning it said…

  • It’s coming home. Or at least I did, I think.

    Just as I arrived at St Pancras, my internet reconnected. I refreshed the BBC Sports page to find Ollie Watkins score a 90th minute winner. Welcome home. Perhaps football will be coming home too? But is the UK actually home for me anymore? Not only…

  • Don’t cry for me Argentina – trip reflections

    I’m on my last leg of Argentina. In fact, I’m currently writing this article thousands of miles in the sky, on my way back to Europe. This week I went to Bariloche, Patagonia. I returned to Buenos Aires for one night before returning back to…

  • We can travel away from everything except ourselves

    This article marks two years of writing articles each week consecutively. The last time I missed a week was in January 2022. And it just so happens that I’m writing this one from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I’ve been posting pretty frequently on social media around…

  • A tale of three cities – my travels through India

    I’m currently in Mumbai, on the third and final leg of my tour of India. My choice of places to visit was quite haphazard in some senses. Yet these three cities actually have given a really vivid and different set of experiences. My most poignant…

  • Are you travelling to escape the reality of your life?

    We often spend a lot of time fantasising about our next great escape. But what does that say about how we are feeling right now? I’m travelling to India for ten days. In fact, I’m writing this on my layover in Istanbul Airport. I’ll arrive…

  • Living life more intuitively – an impromptu trip to Paris

    I’ve been having a lot of insights about my life this week. Travel can really help – it gives us a chance to get out of our daily rhythm and notice our own habitual patterns. Last weekend I went to Paris. My experience was different…

  • What game are you playing in life?

    I’m in Italy this week. We’ve spent the last few days going into different towns in Puglia. It’s been refreshing getting out of my own comfort zone and awakening to a different culture I hadn’t properly seen before. Yesterday, we played a few rounds of…

  • Travel fatigue and the concept of Hygge

    This week I travelled to Copenhagen, the first bit of business travel I’ve done in a number of years. I didn’t feel particularly energised about travelling. The news of potential queues at airports, fatigue from moving house and lethargy of how to travel (i.e. remembering…

  • Returning to the paradox of London

    Before the pandemic I had lived and worked in London for around five years. So I had a mix of excitement, anticipation and trepidation returning. Time away gives a fresh sense of curiosity. I saw an incredible paradox in London which I had never outwardly…

  • What adult biking lessons taught me about successful sustainability policy

    Having recently moved to Brussels, it was about time I built up my confidence of cycling. By chance, I found a bike shop that runs adult cycling lessons. So figuring I would probably put it off otherwise, I signed myself up during the summer and…

  • Taking in nature to restore your wellbeing and energy

    I must admit that I’ve never really paid that much attention to nature previously. I’ve grown up in cities, and tended to relegate visiting ‘green spaces’ to a walk at the city park or when on holiday to see the local exotic scenery. Perhaps it’s…