Melaka to Medan

[28 July 2023] Travel Newsletter: Snake Island, Faroe Islands, Christmas Island, closing the island with the "world's best beach", and more travel reads not related to islands.

Hello from Medan! I’m back in North Sumatra after 13 years, and it is good to be back. The last time I came here the airport was in the town centre (you could walk there). The airport has now moved and there is an airport train. I will be checking out the train system here and then chilling by Lake Toba.

I was in Melaka earlier this week, which is another place I haven’t been to for over a decade. I’ve not written anything about Mekaka or Medan before, so I find that I have little memory of either place. Both places will be added to the blog post pile.

[Melaka by @nomadicnotes .]

Here is this week’s assorted travel reads from around the web.

Travel reads

• The mystery of Snake Island by

The Lombok Diaries

• The Moleskine Notebooks: Faroe Islands by

Cosmographia

• Stop reviewing everything by

Without Maps

• L.A. by Subway

“The newly expanded subway may not go everywhere, but for $5 a day it offers a gridlock-free way to get to plenty of great places.”

• The world’s last internet cafes

• Closing the 'world's best beach': Balancing tourism and sustainability on Thailand's Koh Kradan

• The story of Christmas Island: Australia’s Chinese Muslim territory in Southeast Asia

• We love to hate the travel bucket list. Why?

• Stop trying to have the perfect vacation. You’re ruining everyone else’s.

• Vietnamese adventurer's journey to over 100 countries

• How two brothers turned planespotting into YouTube gold