“You don’t seem like the sort of person who goes to Malaga,” Barn Owl said at Brownies the night before the trip. I knew I wasn’t the sort of person who goes to Málaga. Sun, sea, sand, drunken hen and stag parties, sunburned Brits demanding fried breakfasts after a night staggering around town with a … More Málaga, we were wrong about you: notes from the Costa del Sol
I’d heard of the mythical and mysterious “girls’ trip” but it had never happened to me and I kind of assumed it never would – until it did. I was in the courtyard at Prague Castle when I got the message: “Hey, are you interested in going on a mini break? We’re thinking somewhere warm … More How I survived my first girls’ trip
For the last few years, the bag I’ve taken as my underseat bag on the likes of Ryanair and easyJet is one I bought from the middle of Lidl. It’s about 30l and it’s made of nylon, so the bag itself is taking up almost zero of the very limited weight or size allowance. But … More Cabin Max Metz 30l cabin backpack review
As I’ve said a couple of times, I haven’t entirely fallen for Prague but there are things you can love anywhere and for me, that something was St Vitus Cathedral. I spotted it not long ago when my parents were there and I was trying to make sense of the photos and messages I was … More St Vitus Cathedral alone is worth going to Prague for
It’s the last post of the West Bohemian Spa Triangle series! I’m in Prague! Prague is one of those cities that it feels like I should have been to before now. My parents ask “Have you been to Prague?” with alarming regularity and follow it up with “I think you’d really like Prague” despite the … More Seeking out Mission:Impossible locations in Prague
After my adventures round the West Bohemian Spa Triangle, I flew home from Prague but because trains can, occasionally, be a little unreliable, I wanted to be back in Prague on Sunday ready for my flight home on Monday evening, which would also give me a day to start exploring Prague, which is a city … More I had my very own jacuzzi in a hostel room in Prague
A week of exploring spa towns and relaxing in warm waters should be the sort of refreshing, rejuvenating experience that has you dancing back into work feeling like a new person, rejoicing “as a strong man to run the race” but instead it’s Thursday, just after lunch and I’m taking a five minute break from … More Discovering the West Bohemian Spa Triangle by train
On the Friday I was walking around Karlovy Vary, marvelling at the mineral springs, which unlike at its sibling towns on the West Bohemian Spa Triangle, are hot here. Marvelling and also wondering Where’s the pool fed by this water? In Iceland, if so much as a dribble of hot water springs out of the … More Saunia has the no 1 best pool on the entire West Bohemian Spa Triangle
On Friday afternoon I arrived at Karlovy Vary, the third spa town on my little train adventure round Czechia’s West Bohemian Spa Triangle. Karlovy Vary, or Karlsbad in German, is the biggest and best-known of the three towns, meriting an entire chapter in my guidebook instead of a mere “and this place exists too” like … More Karlovy Vary: a shock to the senses
One thing I expected when I started researching my West Bohemian Spa Towns trip was that every town would have some kind of central bathing experience, probably using the famed spa water and what I found instead was hundreds of small-to-medium hotels offering a list of medical treatments that would put most hospitals in the … More Aquaforum: Františkovy Lázně’s big central water experience
I Am A Polar Bear 