All Girl Guides and Girl Scouts have five homes around the world, the World Centres. We have one of them right here in London, Pax Lodge, and I spent the Thinking Day weekend there. Thinking Day is the most important day in the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS)’s calendar – it’s… More Turn Back Time: A Pax Lodge Challenge Around London
I didn’t know a lot about Malta before I went there. I didn’t even know what town my hostel was in – I now know it’s officially Marsa but it seems to be at the crossroads of every town I’ve ever heard of and a few I haven’t. Everyone at work knows Malta pretty well… More Valletta: a day in the fortified city
Iceland has some spectacular waterfalls; indeed, I’ve heard it said that it has more waterfalls than people. Most people know Gullfoss, from the Golden Circle, and Skaftafell and Skogafoss on the south coast are very well known too. Dettifoss is well known in the north but a relatively small proportion of tourists make it so… More The A-Z of Iceland: D for Dettifoss
In 2014, Iceland quietly had a massive volcanic eruption that lasted for six months. Hardly anyone outside Iceland heard of it because unlike when Eyjafjallajökull erupted, it didn’t affect anyone else. It was a fissure eruption up in the Highlands that poured lava and poisonous gases and fire fountains for six months and resulted in the… More The Volcano Adventures – Leirhnjúkur
Here’s something I’ve not really seen on travel blogs before. People assume everyone knows how to get on a plane but I know there are people who don’t, so hello those people – these blog is just for you! Print-friendly PDF of this post available right here for taking with you Step One: finding the… More Flying 101: How to get on a plane by yourself
Sparkle & Ice is Girlguiding’s big winter survival camp event. This was its third year and also my third year there. Sparkle & Ice happens at three training & activity centres simultaneously – Waddow in Lancashire, Blackland Farm in Sussex and Foxlease in Hampshire. I took my Rangers to Foxlease and the adventure started with… More Sparkle & Ice 2019: Sparkle & Ice was sparkly and icy!
The first time you hear the words “camping” and “Iceland” in the same sentence, it doesn’t sound appealing. When you’ve been there in the summer and seen how solid-roof accommodation both fills up and becomes stupidly expensive, suddenly camping in Iceland looks like a better idea. Here are a few things to know about camping… More The A-Z of Iceland: Camping
The first thing I did in Malta was go to Gozo. That’s what had been recommended to me most in the couple of weeks – well, ten days – between booking and flying, so that was my first stop. It was hot when I reached my local bus stop, which was made out of glass… More Hopping around Gozo
Airlines have reputations and in Europe, the airline with the single worst reputation is Ryanair. If you’re fortunate enough to have never encountered Ryanair, it’s a low-cost low-frills airline of the lowest kind. To quote my boss’s disgruntled mum (to be fair, she’s disgruntled about everything and that’s putting it very politely), “we didn’t even get… More I flew on Ryanair for the first time!
Last year, I wrote a book. You might not know this because I don’t advertise it as heavily as maybe I should. I was inspired by TV’s Alexander Armstrong, who made a documentary series on ITV on a similar journey, Norway to Alaska via the Arctic, and then wrote (or possibly “wrote”) a tie-in book.… More I wrote a book: an update a year on