Gifts & gimmicks…as I head to Spain
Travel writers are often on the receiving end of small gifts and gimmicks from tourist boards and marketing companies plugging a particular destination. Sometimes these can…
Starting in Sydney
Sydney Harbour must rank as one of the most beautiful in the world. And on a sunny day, with blue skies, there are few better ways…
Goodbye Frommer’s, I’ll miss you
After more than a decade of writing for the US-based guide book company Frommer’s, I learned this week that the popular titles that have accompanied travellers…
The joy of serendipity
Serendipity is a wonderful word. It means, according to my dictionary “the faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident”. It is also a word…
Responsible tourism: making a difference
Today is World Responsible Tourism Day. To mark the occasion, here is a story I wrote last year after travelling in Laos. This story, of which…
More than a souvenir
Audience participation is not really my thing. So it was that when a strange musical instrument was thrust into my hand on a beach in Indonesia…
Sailing: the art of slow travel
A turtle pops its head up as I glance across the water. As quickly, it is gone again…but I know there’ll be another along sometime, for…
Bliss on a budget
For weeks I’ve been trying to ignore the knots in my shoulders and an ache in my neck. Sometimes, it’s my lower back that’s giving me…
I went to Vienna…and this is what I saw
I went to Vienna for three-and-a-half days and this is what I saw: a beautiful new boutique hotel (where I stayed); two construction sites (yes, hard hat…
A Glass Half Full 