1310 to 2010 - Travel ahoy
Recently, I found myself thinking that being a city-hopper in the modern day is so much easier than in the times of Ibn Batuta. No need to join caravans or cavalries heading to your place of interest. Or to take a lift from dubious shipping expeditions crossing uncharted waters and bumping into pirates to enliven the journey. No need even to arrive in a city and discover that the plague had demolished half of its population a few months ago, and continued to rage. So here we are about 700 years later, armed with health warnings, access to local politics, hourly weather forecasts via the web, water-purification tablets, a handy digicam, a smart phone with GPS, restaurant guide and free Skype, and several guide books telling you how to take it 'rough' or 'easy' or 'authentic' as per your temperament. Thus a modern day traveller is All Set to wander across the globe, stopping for a few days or a few months as the he...