My Travel Year: A Look Back And A Look Forward

The year 2025 was a good one for my wanderlust. I started the year in Egypt, where I spent two months in Cairo and the Fayoum, researching and writing The Case of the Cackling Crocodile. Then I went to Canada for two months to see family.

Summer saw my wife and I in Albano, near Rome, where my wife was teaching a bunch of astronomy graduate students at the Vatican Summer School. I wrote and explored the area, walking the Appian Way and even having an audience with the Pope! He gave a short speech to us on the importance of exploring the universe and then we each got to shake his hand and have a quick word. A Jesuit friend was shaking like he had just met a rock star.

After that it was the usual summer of research at Oxford University, followed by a couple of short trips to Tangier.

Whew! I makes me jetlagged just writing about it. So what's coming up in 2026? I'll be back in Tangier this month, and in the spring will return to Canada. After that, things get a bit hazy. We're juggling several different options right now and we're not sure how things are going to turn out. Whatever happens, another trip to Egypt and Morocco are in the cards!

My Travel Year: A Look Back and a Look Forward

The Duke Humphreys Reading Room, Bodleian Library, Oxford

 

It's been a good year for me as far as travel went, but it was also sort of predictable. I did my usual winter research trip to Egypt, spending time in Cairo before heading upriver to Aswan to research The Case of the Disappearing Dervish. A trip to Bologna followed when I tagged along as my wife attended a conference. Springtime saw me visiting my son in British Columbia, followed by our usual two-month research stay in Oxford. I rounded the year out with a couple of trips to Tangier. I'm reviving the Moroccan Mysteries series, so those were research trips too. I hardly ever travel just for fun, although I have a lot of fun anyway!

No new countries in 2025. Will that change in 2026?

Maybe. 

Italy has the most beautiful churches, prove me wrong

 

This year I have trips planned to: Cairo and the Fayoum, British Columbia, Morocco, Paris, Italy, and of course Oxford.

We may go to Oman late this year thanks to a recommendation from some of my Cairene friends who sing its praises. We shall see. It would be my first new country in a while.

If you want to read more about my travels, I often write about them in my monthly newsletter. You also get two free ebooks in the deal.

What trips do you have planned this year? Tell me in the comments section!

Temple of Sobek, Kom Ombo, near Aswan

 

My Travel Year: A Look Back and a Look Forward

 

My 2023 was a busy one for travel, with lots of trips to familiar and not-so-familiar spots.

I went twice to Tangier, my favorite North African city, to show my nephew around. We did some day trips to Asilah and Tetouan and some short hikes. Now he loves Morocco as much as I do! I also went to Egypt for research and my usual Oxford summer stay.

The big trip, however, was living for almost three months in Victoria, British Columbia. I'm Canadian but moved out of the country when I was eight and this was the first time I'd gone back for a significant period. While the town itself was only OK (little culture, too many junkies) the surrounding nature was fantastic. The temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest has to be seen to be believed. I never knew there were that many shades of green!

 

 

 

So what's on the agenda for 2024? Next week I'm off to Egypt again to write Book Six of The Masked Man of Cairo series. The Case of the Disappearing Dervish sees Moustafa having to go back to his village in Nubia to find a lost relative. Sir Augustus and Faisal come along to help. Much of my trip I'll be studying the Nubian villages along the border. Sadly, I can't get into the Sudan given the current situation. I hope it improves soon. The Sudanese people have endured way too much war in recent decades.

There will also be a return trip to Canada, Morocco, Oxford, and maybe a new country. It's been a while since I've gone to a country I've never visited before. My wife and I are thinking Hungary. I've heard Budapest is beautiful. Have any of you been there?

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Hope you have a great travel year! What do you have planned?

My Adventure Travel Year, A Look Back and a Look Forward

Medieval city gate, Cairo

With the threat of Covid dwindling, and my own immune system bolstered by vaccinations and a contracting a mild case, travel picked up for me in 2022. It started with a trip to Essaouira, an old pirate port on Morocco's Atlantic coast. I later returned to Morocco to go to two other ports, Asilah and my old haunt of Tangier. I hadn't been to Tangier for more than three years so it was great to see my Moroccan friends again.

Essaouira

I also popped over to Berlin in the dead of winter for some book research. Berlin is not at its best in winter--cold, damp, and often foggy--but that's when my character shows up and so I had to method act that part. The first thing I discovered is I wasn't describing the weather as bad as it really was! Still, I enjoyed my trip.

And of course I went to Egypt. Only one trip this year, sadly, but it was a nice long one that was very fruitful for my book research and filled with good times with all my Egyptian friends.

So what's on deck for 2023? I'm thinking of going to the old walled Moroccan city of Taroudant south of the Atlas mountains. In the spring I'll revisit Berlin to work on book two of my Berlin series. There will also be a trip to Egypt, although I don't know when I'll slip that in.

The big news, however, is that I will be spending the last four months of the year in Victoria, British Columbia. Canada's west coast is rich in wildlife, nature, and several enduring First Nations cultures. I'll be exploring all of that.

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Essaouira

Asilah

Asilah is famous for its street murals

My Travel Year: A Look Back and a Look Forward

Cat and cat, Cairo

 

This past year wasn't the best for travel, as you all know. Despite all the restrictions, I did manage to make it to Egypt twice. I have a private flat where I can safely stay in the center of Cairo, and the travel restrictions are light to get into the country. You just need to show a negative PCR test and proof of vaccination.

The main destinations for these trips have been the northern parts of the country, taking in the early medieval monasteries at Wadi Natrun, the famous port of Alexandria, and the battlefield at El Alamein. I also briefly went south to Asyut to arrange a donation for someone to the Lilian Trasher orphanage, which briefly appeared in The Case of the Karnak Killer.

I also went to Oxford for my usual summer working vacation. English beer, country walks, and work in a medieval library. Not a bad life!

The South African variant put the spanner in the works of a couple of planned trips. I wanted to go to Berlin to research my Weimar mystery series, but they were going into partial shutdown so I cancelled those plans. I also had to cancel a trip to Essaouira in Morocco. The country decided to close its borders again to avoid the latest wave. I haven't been back to Morocco since this whole thing began and I'm missing it!

Tomb of a Mamluk ruler, Cairo

 

As I write this I'm recovering from a mild case of covid. Did I get it on one of my trips? Nope, I got it while supposedly staying safe at home in Madrid. Oh well!

Here's hoping 2022 will be better than 2021. If the latest variant subsides, and isn't replaced with another one, then I will go to Berlin and Essaouira this year. I also will be returning to Egypt sometime in the first half of the year. No set plans yet. I'm adopting a wait and see attitude.

If you want to hear more about my travels, you might enjoy my newsletter.

Commonwealth cemetery, El Alamein

Fancy turn-of-the-century buildings like this are a common sight in Alexandria

My Adventure Travel Year: A Look Back And A Look Forward

The Red Pyramid of Dashur.

Is it too late to write a retrospective on on 2019? Yeah, probably, but I've been busy.

It was a pretty solid year for me travel-wise, starting and ending with trips to Egypt to write my Masked Man of Cairo mystery series. I explored the old medieval district of Cairo, hung out with Egyptian and Sudanese friends, and headed to Bahariya Oasis deep in the Western Desert. The second trip, from which I recently returned, took me up the Nile to Luxor, somewhere I hadn't been since 1991. The modern city had grown and so have the ruins! No, there aren't suddenly more ancient temples, but more had been excavated and restored. Funny how even an archaeological site with change with time.

Bas-relief in tomb Luxor

Sandwiched between those two trips was a trip to Fez in Morocco. Readers of this blog will know that I regularly go to Morocco and have a few books set there, but oddly enough until this past year I hadn't been to one of its most famous cities. I stayed in the old medina and spent my days wandering around the labyrinthe of alleys.

Of course I also had my usual stays in Oxford and London for research and catching up with old friends.

The tannery in Fez ha been operating (and stinking) for centuries

So what's on the agenda for 2020? At least one trip to Egypt, perhaps with the goal of seeing the Faiyum region, which I've never visited. I also want to get some new countries under my belt. I've been to 35 countries but not a new one for several years. I'm fixing that by giving a talk at the International Dublin Writers' Festival in June. That's right, a guy named Sean McLachlan has never been to Ireland! Shameful. I'm also considering a trip to Tunisia and maybe even the Sudan. More details when I get them!

Holy man's tomb, Fez

Nobelman's tomb, Luxor

The hypostele hall in Karnak.

Back from Fez!

I just got back from a ten-day writing retreat in Fez, Morocco. Like my many trips to Tangier, this was to work on a novel set in that city. It's the third of the Interzone Mystery series, and this time Shorty and Melanie have to track down a fugitive who's hiding in the medina of Fez. Shorty has a mission for the Party he's trying to do on the side, and it doesn't help that his old nemesis Chason is hot on his trail. Flight to Fez is a whole lot of fun to write. You can keep track of my progress on the sidebar to the right.

Fez is a fascinating town. It was the seat of many dynasties of Sultans and is filled with historic mosques and madrasas. i stayed in a house in one of the quiet backstreets, trying to get my writing done during the heat of the day so I could go sightseeing in the mornings and evenings.

Attached are some pictures. I'll have a full article on my trip in the next issue of my newsletter, coming out later this month.

 

 

My street.

Courtyard of a medieval madrasa.

Neighborhood donkey.

Travel Tuesday: Treasures of the Egyptian Museum

Shabtis were put in tombs to act as servants in the afterlife.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I got back from Egypt last week, which means I have plenty of pictures for Travel Tuesday posts!

When I'm in Cairo I always reserve a couple of afternoons to wander around the National Museum. It's absolutely huge and no matter how many times I go there, I always see something new. A new National Museum is being constructed on the Giza Plateau near the pyramids. I passed the building the last time I went up there. It's a sleek, modern building that's even bigger than the existing museum. As with many government projects, it's behind schedule, but when it finally opens it promises to be stunning. In the meantime, we have the old museum to enjoy.

Stela of the Buchis Bull, showing one of the Ptolemaic pharaohs giving offerings to the sacred bull in their burial place in Armant. The Buchis bulls were manifestations of the god Ptah.

Two male figurines made of gold during the Late Predynastic period. Yep, these two guys are older than the oldest pharaoh!

Column of painted limestone carved to look like a lotus flower.

Back from Egypt

Medieval mosque in Old Cairo

I just got back to Madrid after nearly a month in Egypt. I was there working on the third of my Masked Man of Cairo neo-pulp mystery series, The Case of the Golden Greeks. It's about halfway done.

Egypt was as wonderful as usual. I spent a lot of my time in Cairo hanging out with Egyptian friends and exploring the old medieval neighborhood where Sir Augustus Wall has his antiquities shop and gets into many of his adventures. Then I went to the Western Desert for a week, ending up in Bahariya Oasis, the site of much of the plot for Book 3. A long drive from Cairo (or ten days by camel), Bahariya Oasis has become famous for the discovery of the Golden Mummies, a collection of beautifully preserved gilded mummies from the Greco-Roman period.

One of the Golden Mummies of Bahariya Oasis, courtesy Wikimedia Commons because I wasn't allowed to take photos. One wonders who they got a shot.

I'll be working on the novel for the next couple of months, and getting into some ghostwriting projects as well. Enjoy these pictures from my trip, and check out my Facebook and Instagram pages for more. More posts about Egypt coming soon!

Rear and side wall of the tomb Nr. 54, Valley of the Golden Mummies, el-Bahriya, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Bahariya Oasis.

Late Period tomb in Bahariya Oasis

Roman fort on the old caravan route to Bahariya Oasis.

Back to civilization! A pleasure boat on the Nile.

All photos copyright Sean McLachlan unless otherwise noted.

My Travel Year: A Look Back and a Look Forward

The Duomo in Florence, Italy

Is January 17 too late to write a retrospective? I'm not sure.
As my regular readers know, I'm a bit of a travel junkie. Well, this year I only got half a fix. While I did some fun trips, I didn't get to any new countries. I hope to remedy that in 2019.
In 2018, I went to Tangier twice, because it's a great place for a writing retreat. I know the city well, I have friends there, but it's also quiet and I can get some peace and work. I also traveled around Spain a bit, most notably the historic city of Córdoba. The highlight of the travel year was visiting Florence. I have been around Italy a bit, but I had never seen the jewel in its crown and I must say I was totally blown away. I must get back there sometime. Anyone who lives art, architecture, and history will be absolutely stunned for the entire time they are in Florence.
So what's up for 2019? For the next three weeks I'll be in Egypt to work on my next Cairo mystery novel. I'll be based in Cairo seeing friends, but I'll also be exploring places I haven't seen before in the Western Desert. This will be my fourth trip to Egypt but there's still heaps I haven't seen.
I also hope to go to Morocco again, although probably Fez instead of Tangier. I've never seen Morocco's most ancient and religious city even though I've been to the country at least ten times. There will also be some more travel around Spain, the usual England summer stay, and hopefully a second trip to Egypt near the end of the year.
So when will I fit in that new country I want to see? I don't really know, but Tunisia is calling my name!
I write up my travels on the Black Gate blog, so if you'd like to read more, head on over there and put my name or one of the place names I mentioned into the search field. You'll get plenty of reading and pictures. I also put travel stories in my newsletter, as well as pictures on my Facebook and Instagram accounts.

The interior of the great mosque in Córdoba, Spain

Travel Tuesday: Tetouan, Morocco

As regular readers of this blog know, if I'm posting about Morocco, I must be going there! That's right, I'll be spending the next ten days in Tangier working on the second Tangier mystery novel. The first, Tangier Bank Heist, will be coming out in mid-October.

So here are some shots of the medieval medina of Tetouan, a fine old city a short drive from Tangier. For more on Tetouan, see this article I wrote.

In the middle of the day, the streets are pretty abandoned. . .

. . .except for games of medina football!

Here's a somewhat warped rooftop panoramic view.

Back from Tangier and Working on a New Mystery

As I mentioned in my last post, I went to Tangier for ten days to work on a novella, which has now morphed into a short novel. I got 27,000 words done while I was there but the weather was too beautiful and my friends too friendly for me to get the entire thing done. Then I came home to two big ghostwriting deadlines. Oh well.
The first draft of the book, tentatively called Tangier Bank Heist, is almost complete. It takes place during the days of the Tangier International Zone, when from 1924–1956 Tangier was run by several different European nations plus the United States. My gumshoe is a veteran of the Lincoln Brigade of the Spanish Civil War and he now lives in Tangier solving crimes and trying to help the poor. He gets his biggest case yet when his girlfriend loses her savings when the bank she put her money in gets stolen. No, not robbed, stolen. The book is based on a true story, and a bizarre story it is.
Watch for it soon!

Cats of Cairo

Snoozing in the garden of the National Museum

Anyone who travels in the Muslim world will notice something--there are an awful lot of cats around. There's a big tradition of loving cats in Muslim society, especially Arab society. The Hadith even has a story about how Mohammad was sitting with some of his followers preaching when a cat curled up on the corner of his robe and went to sleep. When Mohammad finished his sermon the cat was still asleep, and rather than disturb it he cut off the corner of his robe.

In my last two writing retreats in Cairo, I met plenty of Egyptian cats. Here are a few.

Begging for food at a restaurant at Saqqara

Admiring the sunset along the Corniche on the banks of the Nile

The disused back staircase in my building has been taken over by cats

Admiring some historic Muslim architecture