Continents

Miranda Glasser decided to leave her London life behind and embark on a year-long stint as a teacher in Vietnam – after entering her second year as a resident of Siem Reap, Cambodia where she’s about to become a correspondent for the Phnom Penh Post. Here she shares the 10 most important lessons she learnt […]

. Genoa, Genova, Genes  – whatever you call the city you may not realise it gave the world these 5 super-famous things. How many have you heard of?…

‘The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury’ said Charlie Chaplin. Well you get used to luxury pretty quickly on a visit to Buckingham Palace. Get ideas above your station with a visit to the Palace’s Summer Opening and Diamonds A Jubilee Celebration Exhibition…(read on for my tips on getting the most out of […]

The Taiwanese capital is chaotic and cute in equal measure. Here’s some inspiration for ten things to do in Taipei in a day – and on a shoestring budget.

‘There are over 100 Ferraris parked in the underground garages of the city’ reveals Stefania, my host at the Melia Hotel in the heart of the Northern Italian city of Genoa. ‘But,’ she leans in conspiratorially to explain ‘you never see them driving through the streets. That’s because the Genoese people aren’t ostentatious, they are […]

Antwerp is a very cool, very hip and very happening European city, so I was surprised at how difficult it was to find a soya latte on my recent weekend break to Belgium’s trend-setting capital – until I found Revista, and with it my spiritual home in Antwerpen.

Bognor Regis. The name may conjur up images of faded seaside grandeur and have connotations of titter-worthyness, sticks of rock, Butlins holiday camps and end-of-the-pier shows, but let’s face it this place is up there in Britain’s collective consciousness, so if you’ve got a spare sunny day off here in Blighty the surprisingly photogenic seaside town is well […]

What’s in a name? Well as it turns out rather a lot. The right name can really take you places  – and in the case of Eataly be the catalyst for a lot of income. This is a culinary example of how to turn a clever moniker into cold hard cash. It is a high-class, […]

Every once in a while a city, country, activity or some other flavour of enticing worldwide experience creeps into your consciousness for the first time and promptly proceeds to pop up everywhere – in your Sunday paper or the magazine you pick up at the dentist, on your friend’s Facebook page or on an obscure TV documentary you […]

If you’re looking for a the perfect place to stay in Perugia Hotel Gio just outside the city’s centro storico offers you two hotels rolled into one, with a choice of distinctive themes  – one will jazz up your stay and the other will have you clinking glasses and popping corks. Sound enticing?… As soon as […]

You probably already know that Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest artists to have ever lived, but the Italian inventor also made some startling discoveries about the human body which were light years ahead of their time – and subsequently lost to the world for nearly 400 years.  The Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham […]

How often have you looked at places on a map and drifted off into a reverie, imagining what each destination must be like in real life? We travel lovers tend to be incorrigible cartophiles too, stroking our fingers over the exotic-sounding place-names written in a strange tongue, making our hearts beat that little bit faster, causing our minds to […]

Stick a pin in a map where you imagine the very centre of Italy to be and you’ll probably hit Lago Trasimeno – the oldest lake in Italy. Overshadowed by well-publicised show-stoppers like Lake Como nudging the Swiss border up in the North, the fourth-largest lake in the country boasts an all together more laid-back […]

A group of travel bloggers are challenged to hand-make a perfect batch of chocolates at the Perugina chocolate factory just outside Perugia in Umbria, Italy. Watch the video to see what happened next…

They said it couldn’t be done, but they hadn’t counted on my determination…or my love of Italian footwear. I had just 4 precious hours in Rome – enough time to swing by the Colosseum, snap the Spanish Steps, try out the Trevi fountain, and buy 3 pairs of shoes! Here’s how to tackle a short layover in Rome…

This is the most personal post I have ever written. It’s about how Egypt was the original inspiration for my love of travel. That’s because Egypt is in my blood and also as the first foreign destination I can ever remember journeying to, it’s ingrained in my memories. As a child I can remember drinking Coca-Cola from […]

A shiny new and exciting modern art gallery surrounded on all sides by signs and graffiti deploring its very existence? Who knew a gallery could cause such a furore? See what all the fuss is about and take in the East Sussex sea air with a visit to Hastings’ Jerwood Gallery. I’m going to do something I […]

Franschhoek is synonymous the world over with fine wines and high-class dining, but the area is not strictly the preserve of bon vivants…

One year on from the Japanese earthquake and ensuing tsunami and nuclear disaster, what are the issues surrounding travelling to post-tsunami Japan? In this guest post Japanese-born and London-based lecturer Kaori Homma gives her views.

Having gone undercover for years as one of the world’s top 10 movie locations, Cape Town’s alter ego as the film industry’s best-kept secret has now been uncloaked by none other than James Bond himself after recent rumours…

There’s more to the South African Winelands than the name suggests. But you can’t fit 55 different activities into a place name now can you? Are there really 55 Things to do in Franschhoek other than drink wine? Well actually there are 54 things to do on this list – and then you deserve to pop […]

Just back from three months in Cape Town where she filmed the current high-octane ITV thriller Kidnap and Ransom, Executive Producer Rachel Gesua picks her favourite places to take on the legendary Cape Town nightlife, and shows how to become a bona fide child of the Mother City. At one point during the on-location filming of […]

Want to feel the beating heart of southern Africa’s most-visited and most-loved city? You can’t get more urban cool than the The Adderley, a contemporary boutique hotel located in the centre of Cape Town’s City Bowl.  The Adderley’s small reception, squeezed between shop fronts on the wide thoroughfare of Adderley Street belies the scale, comfort, style and […]

We expected it to be breathtaking, but Route 62 still turned out to be the most under-rated journey we took during our three weeks in South Africa. A tight schedule meant that we drove virtually the entire length of this celebrated back-road through South Africa’s Klein Karoo in single unforgettable day, and our final stop-off […]

First I should point out that you don’t have to have soya milk – but each of these three places does great coffee and superior snacks and has a lovely ethos –  plus happily for me and other soya fans, they can all offer you a non-dairy latte without blinking an eye. Here are my […]

Despite South Africa being full of world class wildlife and impressive Big 5 game, there’s one little animal that really wins your heart against the odds: the dassie. They look like a guinea pig, their name means little badger, and improbably, they are the closest living relative of the elephant,  but these funny, furry little creatures pop […]

Gumboot dancing started in the dank and dark gold mine tunnels of South Africa more than a century ago as a codified tap used by oppressed black miners as a form of communication. But not everyone knows the hidden meaning and history of this dance tradition.

There seems to be some South African terminology that has taken on a life of its own, these phrases seem to have spread overseas to folks who’ve never even set foot in South Africa. For me personally, ever since my holiday to South Africa, there are 6 words which stayed with me, and will always […]

The Soweto tour was the highlight of my trip to Johannesburg – interesting, educational, vibrant, eye-opening, and most of all, fun. Here I’m going to let the photos speak for themselves…

Finding the right place to stay in any sprawling metropolis can make the difference between a great time and a terrible experience, but in Johannesburg choosing the right suburb, and the perfect bolthole is essential if you want to buck the trend and fall in love with the city that everyone loves to bash. When […]

Be careful. That’s all I heard when I told people I was heading to Johannesburg. Please be careful. Don’t carry any valuables. Don’t stop at red lights. Lock your doors. Don’t go into the CBD. Don’t go out at night. Don’t go into the townships. In fact don’t go into Joburg at all, just land […]

Outside the charming town of  El Calafate on the Lago Argentina, lies one of Patagonia’s most famous sites: the Perito Moreno Glacier. 

Recently I was asked if it was possible to see Hong Kong in a single day. The answer is yes – and here’s what I managed to cram into my 24 hours in Hong Kong. I had exactly 24 hours in Hong Kong due to an unexpected stopover when British Airways messed up my return flight from […]

Never have I been to a more hammock-friendly country than Nicaragua. Here, hammocks are omnipresent. Every hotel, home, café and market flaunts their hammocks in front of me; ‘Come’, they seem to whisper, ‘get in, bring your book. Whatever it is you think you have to do, or wherever it is you think you have […]

If you don’t fancy elbowing your way around your local high street this Christmas to stock up on the usual gifts, you still have time to take in one of the best of the European Christmas markets, to combine your Christmas shopping with a festive mini-break.

I love it when a plan comes together as a well-known member of the A-Team might say. If the makers of the film Chalet Girl planned to inspire me to think about the correlation between bad films and bad holidays, then their plan really has come together perfectly…

Soho’s Secret Tea Room Update: November 2018 This review of Soho’s Secret Tea Room is one of the oldest posts on this site, but looking through the latest reviews from 2018 the experience I had at this Tea Room above the Coach & Horses is absolutely consistent with the way it is today, so I […]

Can you shop ‘til you drop in the Italian fashion capital, and still come home feeling virtuous? It turns out you can thanks to the city’s amazing outlet shopping. So here’s how to shop for amazing designer bargains in Milan on a high street budget… Think of Milan and let’s face it, high fashion is what […]

If you like Zara you might want to try out a bit of bargain hunting in other Spanish stores whenever you hit Mainland Spain or other Spanish territories. So where should you shop in Spain if you like Zara, and want some chain stores which haven’t made their mark on the UK but have similar quality, prices […]