Opinion

Being from a British Arabic speaking background myself, I’ve always favoured short breaks to Arab countries a bit more than the average English holiday maker. Something about the atmosphere, the warm hospitality, the delicious food and the general sense of home I get from these countries really appeals to me when booking breaks. As well […]

Brits tend to think of the island of Lanzarote – and the Canary Islands as a whole –  as an easy fly and flop destination. Most places in Lanzarote are synonymous with holidays rather than adventurous travel, and with days spent relaxing as opposed to exploring. But even though it may not be trendy to […]

I’m always on the lookout for healthy and portable snacks to take with me to the airport, and on train journeys – or even to carry in my handbag to stop me getting hangry. Probably because I was once given the following advice: Hunger is the cause of most conflict; even on a short journey, […]

A weekend break to Blackpool probably isn’t the first thing that pops into your head when you think of a stylish staycation, but I found that by combining a visit to the stunning Lancashire countryside with a side trip to the kitsch and cheesy seaside town that’s famous for ballroom dancing and bright lights, you […]

Have you been to The Philippines yet? If you have already visited one of the world’s friendliest countries, maybe (like me) you are counting the days until you can go back? Either way I have some news for you if travelling on The Philippines’ own signature transport system is high on your wishlist; the colourful […]

The concepts of travel and photography are more intertwined than ever before. We travel therefore we photograph. Or is it more that we photograph and therefore we travel? We all now see the world through our camera lenses to an almost frightening degree, especially our smartphones, and let’s face it we all bask in the […]

We travel to Paris, like so many couples before us, to soak up romance, art, culture and style  – presented in a way that only the Parisians can pull off. I book a city break in Paris in the Spring with my partner because it is the most romantic city on the planet, but I […]

As I wait outside the firmly locked gates of Lunuganga Garden and Estate, along with a smattering of other curious visitors to this leafy corner of Sri Lanka, I feel like Charlie waiting to be let inside the chocolate factory. And just like Willy Wonka’s factory, the architectural fantasy world at Lunuganga is full of […]

Brits love nothing more than a sunny summer holiday to the Balearic Islands. But unlike my fellow English travellers, I first fell in love with a sleepy off-season Ibiza long after the clubs had shut their doors and the crowds had vanished. I followed this with a couple of forrays to the even sleepier and […]

This week there was an earthquake near Gatwick Airport. Reports say that houses in the Crawley area shook with the 3.3 magnitude quake – the largest ever to strike the region, and one of four so far this year. Until last year there had never been an earthquake recorded in this part of England. Britain’s […]

As a Brit in living in Canada, I was always asked the same question every time I got into a taxi. It went like this: Taxi Driver: “What part of Australia are you from?” Me: (Struggling to remain polite, but being British and not Australian, succeeding at remaining calm) “Haha. I’m actually from London.” Taxi Driver: […]

My first ever post-university package holiday all by myself was to Portugal. I loved holidaying solo and both the concept of solo travel and Portugal itself have done nothing but grow on me over the years. In fact I’ve been visiting Portugal for decades, so when I realised I’ve now been on 5 separate visits […]

I’m on a lot of mailing lists and I just ignore most of the emails I’m sent – I bet you do the same thing. But one email that’s guaranteed to get my attention, and be opened right away, is an alert to say that my favourite band is touring, and tickets are now on […]

You’re about to start researching (or maybe you’ve already started) self-guided cycling holidays in Europe, and there are lots of different options, destinations and companies to consider. There are 50 countries in Europe, many sharing mountain ranges and offering similar types of terrain with slight differences, so the choice is overwhelming. But as much as […]

Like many frequent travellers, I consider myself a citizen of the world. I may be a proud UK passport holder, but I also have an Egyptian birth certificate, 3 (now expired) Canadian residency permits, and I spent much of my childhood in Denmark. Given those facts you can probably guess where I stand on the […]

It’s a week since the end of World Travel Market 2018, and I’m still catching up with the backlog of business cards and follow-up phone calls I have after attending the best travel trade show on the planet. But as backlogs go, this is one I’m very happy to have. Yes ITB (in Berlin) is […]

I remember way back when the phrase medical tourism was first bandied about in the UK. To my mind it usually referred to people travelling to obscure Eastern European countries to have things like costly dental work and minor cosmetic procedures carried out at a fraction of the price that the same treatment would cost […]

I’ve mentioned this before, but it took me a couple of trips to really fall in love with Portugal. I’d already rented an apartment in the Algarve on my own in my early 20’s and tried a city break in Lisbon with a boyfriend in my 30’s before I really clicked with the country properly. After that […]

Like a lot of travellers I know, I’m obsessed with shopping for cool souvenirs to bring home from my trips overseas, and even if I’m just popping over to one of my favourite European countries for the weekend (as you do) I have a good idea what I want to bring back. But as well […]

I started planning travels with a mind map instead of a list about 2 years ago. It’s not just travel I plan this way now, it’s everything. From blog-related tasks to personal and financial to-do lists they’re all on a mind map above my desk, to keep me focused on what I want to achieve […]

I’ve been secretly planning my month in Sri Lanka for most of the year, but didn’t want to jinx it by saying anything out loud. Now I know it’s happening I can tell you my exciting news: I will be spending a whole month in Sri Lanka in October. This isn’t just any old trip […]

It really has been a summer of legend here in the UK, but I’m finally ready to admit that the British heatwave is over, that no, I probably didn’t need to buy that extra fan after all, and that there is life (and travel) beyond the UK in the glorious sunshine. Considering I’m a travel […]

As a native Londoner I’m pretty passionate about the place where I (mis)spent my youth: Camden Town. So when I hear tourists saying they don’t like London (crazy, but it happens!) I feel duty bound to share some ideas about places to go in the capital which might make them change their mind – and […]

If you’d like to head to Scotland for a wee staycation and can’t decide between the historic cities of Edinburgh or Glasgow, then this at-a-glance guide to the two contrasting  – and often competing  – Scottish cities might help you make up your mind on the question of Edinburgh Vs Glasgow. Edinburgh Vs Glasgow: Get […]

I’m flying to Dubrovnik and going on assignment, but I’m not coming for a mission in Croatia at all  – on the contrary I’m here to spy on what goes on in the tiny state of Montenegro. Unlike a real secret agent, I excitedly tell a handful of people in advance that I’m off to Montenegro, and the […]

I blog about lots of travel experiences here, like delicious foodie weekends away in the UK or chilled out sunny holidays in the Balearics, but one thing I’ve never really talked about online is actually one of the single most defining travel experiences of my life: falling in love with camping while living in British […]

So you’ve decided to travel to Australia  – and you’re not just sticking to the well-trodden path of the country’s East Coast. If you’re headed to Perth, the capital of Western Australia, you’ll already know that this isolated and remote Aussie city (not to be confused with it’s namesake in Scotland), has a reputation for […]

Like many travel bloggers, I got into blogging because of a love of words rather than pictures. Not that I don’t love photography, I just never considered myself to be a photographer in anything like the same way I consider myself to be a writer. But as travel blogging has evolved, our websites, writing styles […]

If there’s one thing we committed travellers love to do, it’s to discover somewhere new. Ideally a location a little bit off the beaten track, because a big part of travel is the sense of discovery. And while everyone can agree that world famous capitals like Paris and New York, London and Barcelona are all […]

As you leave the altitude and cloud cover behind and descend into Dubrovnik, you’ll see stunning scenery below that’s reminiscent of a mountainous Tuscany or a balmy Balkan answer to the Norwegian Fjords. This section of Adriatic coast is defined by dramatic cliffs and slices of blue sea glistening in the sun, punctuated by the […]

As much as I love travel, I also adore coming home. There’s something so exciting about getting back to your cosy house after an invigorating trip, putting the kettle on, snuggling the cat, and catching up on your favourite TV show. And one of the homely touches I am totally obsessed with to make my […]

The Cotswolds is a stunning section of rural English countryside spread across the counties of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, and covering perhaps the prettiest 800 square miles of Southwestern England. If you draw a circle around the tourist-friendly hubs of Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Bristol and Bath  – and the Welsh borders  – the Area […]

We all suspect that our collective phone obsession is ruining our holidays, stopping us from being ‘in the moment’ and leading to the weird phenomena we all secretly suffer from: If you didn’t take a photo of it, it might as well never have happened. Well now it’s official – our worry that digital photos […]

When interviewing a native Roman hotelier who’d set up a boutique hotel in Cambodia I learned a little about her home city. She said in her charming Italian accent: ‘Your eyes are spoiled in Rome; living there you’re used to seeing beautiful things everywhere you look.’ Some years later when visiting Rome on a shopping trip I […]