We arrived back to Birmingham airport on Monday evening, after a whistle stop tour of the highlights of Agra and Delhi over the weekend.

A guided tour of Agra on Friday took in the massive Agra fort, beautiful Baby Taj and a marble factory where we were shown the techniques used on the Taj Mahal’s stunning marble patterns. This was followed in the evening by a very Bollywood show telling the love story behind the Taj Mahal, and on Saturday morning we went to see it for ourselves. As the sun rose over the Taj, we watched it emerge from the haze and grow warmer and brighter with the sunlight. A truly stunning sight, and well worth the dawn wake up call! More »

How time flies! Our stay at Sangam is coming to an end, and we have just had the closing ceremony to mark it. I’ll take you back through the past few days since my last post. We have visited a number of community partners whom Sangam works closely with, including Tara Mobile Creche, Deep Griha sights which run medical and educational programmes, and Maher which is a centre for women and children. It has been both humbling and inspiring to visit these centres where volunteers and local staff are making such a huge impact on the lives of the communities. More »

Hello! We have a jam packed programme at Sangam, but this afternoon there’s a bit of time to relax, take a dip in the pool, write some postcards, and I thought I’d come and fill you in on what’s been happening this week. Mumbai feels like a very long time ago, and the past few days at Sangam have been incredible…

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Hello from Sangam! After a couple of days travelling, we arrived today at India’s Guiding World Centre in Pune, just over 100 miles south east of Mumbai. 17 members of Girlguiding Birmingham and myself are here for the next 10 days to take part in a cultural programme.

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We’re all back in the UK now after a smooth journey home on Tuesday. A trip to the Blue Lagoon en route to the airport was the perfect end to an action-packed week for some achy muscles and bruised bums following horse riding on Monday! We tried the silica mud masks, and spent a good while relaxing in the warm geothermal lagoon. More »

After getting kitted out with crampons and ice axes, we set off to explore the Sólheimajökull glacier with our guide Marie who took us round the water cauldrons and across blue and white ice. The glacier was covered in ash from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruptions last year, so it looked like the surface of the moon, with mounds and craters all over. Some of us tried the glacier water which was naturally nicely chilled and good enough to bottle. More »