I’m sorry if you’ve seen this post before but I know no one reads the older posts, which is why I’m taking the opportunity to re-write one per month. This is my favourite travel story ever and I really want to tell it to everyone. This is my Great Train Adventure. It was late October … More The Great Train Adventure
Back in September, on the back of a bad summer at work and an issue at Guides, I ran off for a short weekend in Manchester and Liverpool. I took the direct train from Southampton – and it kind of astonishes me that there’s a direct train to Manchester from Southampton – first thing on … More Manchester
The boat is already waiting for me as I scurry down North Greenwich Pier on the coldest day of the entire winter. It’s been gritted but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to slip and that might cost me the boat. In fact, when I look up from making sure my feet are in the right … More Superspy hijinks on the Thames Clippers
At eight o’clock in the morning, having packed up my tent and hauled it across the campsite, I was on a bus. By one o’clock, with an hour’s detour to walk up a canyon formed in Iceland’s most productive eruption in history, I was at Landmannalaugar, an oasis and campsite in the Highlands. The plan … More Landmannalaugar circular walk
A week and a half ago, I was told by a friend of mine – under the influence of a whole bottle plus two glasses of wine – that because I’m not afraid of going out and going travelling on my own, I am “the ultimate feminist”. Apart from the fact that there are so … More Travel & the Accidental Feminist
I’m not a horse rider. I know which end bites and which end kicks and that’s about the limit of my horse knowledge. But horse riding is one of the most popular activities you can in Iceland, so I thought I’d give it a go. And having given it a go, I gave it three … More Riding an Icelandic horse
While I was living in Switzerland, I’d been wanting to go to Schaffhausen and visit the Rhinefalls for some time – I’d just been waiting for a good day for it and this day was apparently the one. I changed trains at Winterthur and according to my notes had half an hour there during which … More Year Abroad: Schaffhausen
When I was a student, I lived in Switzerland, studying French at a language school. There were three native English speakers in my class and we became triplets (or sometimes Les Trois Anglophones) and our first trip out together – or so I always thought – was a day in Zurich. If you’re going to … More Year Abroad: Zurich
I wanted to do this as a video but I just can’t talk to a camera. I pressed the button and sat and stared at it and pulled faces and couldn’t speak. I’m a writer, not a talker, so I’m writing it instead. Let me add that I am in no way qualified to discuss whether … More What is Katla doing and should I be worried?
Camping is great but sometimes a hipster apartment in Hveragerði is better. During the latter half of my trip to Iceland this summer, I found myself homeless. I’d been in a tent for two nights – the campsite at Selfoss is great, with a duckpond and free hot pots (although I didn’t find that out … More The hipster apartment in Hveragerði
I Am A Polar Bear 