By and large, I’m a solo traveller and I think it’s time I started emphasising that a bit more.
Back in the days when I could solo travel, I gravitated towards Iceland, Scandinavia and the Arctic, with occasional visits to places like the Baltic states and eastern Europe but you’ll find plenty of Paris and Switzerland and western Europe here too. Actually, my non-Wessex UK travels are here as well, so come with me to Scotland, London and a few other places around my own country.
In a week’s time I’ll be halfway through my 2017 trip to Edinburgh and Tom wants to go up Arthur’s Seat so let’s go back to my 2015 climb. Right in the heart of Edinburgh is a volcano. It’s an extinct volcano and it manifests itself in two places – Castle Rock and Arthur’s Seat. Castle Rock… More The Volcano Adventures: Arthur’s Seat
It’s August, it’s Edinburgh so first up in a series of special Edinburgh posts is Fringe 101, or “how to Edinburgh”. What is the Fringe? The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is a huge comedy festival. Well, strictly speaking it’s not just comedy – it’s theatre and dance and art and all things weird but the comedy part… More Fringe 101
July’s photoset is some of my favourite landscapes – so favourite that I’ve got them on rotation on my work computer. Think of me, by the way – as this is posted, I’m hopefully surviving my first ever Guide camp without an older, more experienced leader as ultimately responsible. I’ll tell you all about it… More Photoset: landscapes in black & white
When was the first time you went travelling on your own? It was April 2000 and I was fourteen. And I wasn’t on my own, I was in the company of another fourteen-year-old but we were without adults so it does count. We went to Italy for two weeks to take part in a Raptor… More Travel Q&A
Back at the end of March I went on a shoestring trip to Switzerland to celebrate a new job. I looked at flights from my local airport on Skyscanner to find the cheapest interesting flight they did, which turned out to be Geneva, and then I searched the comparison websites to find the cheapest accommodation… More Staying and travelling in Grindelwald
While I was in France last month, we went into Paris and to Disneyland but we spent most of the time either in the pool or reading in the caravan. That particularly part of north east France is… well, there’s nothing there. It’s flat and empty and the sort of place you drive through to… More Pierrefonds is a great castle
I don’t really do reviews, not of companies, but I want to talk a bit about Grayline. (I need to add that this is not sponsored, although if you’re reading this, Grayline…) When I first went to Iceland in 2011, believing pretty much that the ground would split open inches from your feet on every… More Review: Grayline Iceland
This was supposed to be a generic “flight tips” post but as I started to write it, it dawned on me that I’ve never done a flight longer than four hours, and that was in 2002 when I was still at school and my two memories of the flight are feeling dizzy looking out of… More How to survive a short-haul flight
This is a really difficult post to write and I’ve tried about ten times now. At the end of May, I went off in a caravan with my sister for a week. Being sixty-five miles north-east of Paris, we had to pop into Paris for a day. And while I need to write a post… More I don’t really like Paris
Picture a tourist. They’ve got a camera around their neck, they’re probably wearing shorts and socks and sandals and an anorak and in that anorak pocket is a guidebook. They are terrible people. Are they? Because they wish to read about the place they’re visiting and learn more about it than they can from just… More I love guidebooks!