I’m going to start this off by saying that this was never on my original itinerary. I planned to spend Friday enjoying the reborn Laugarvatn Fontana, which is now revelling in saying “steam by the lake” to the point that I wonder if they’ll just take that as their new name. It was supposed to … More I went back Inside the Volcano
I think my old favourite small-space-for-a-small-price in London has been ousted but one of my favourite places to stay in London in the last few years has been Snoozebox Olympic Park, a hotel of very compact rooms made out of shipping containers. By London standards, it’s a pretty good price, especially considering you get your … More Sleeping in a shipping container: Snoozebox London
This is a really old adventure that’s had two or three posts over the years but deserves a new write-up and a new place at the very front of this blog rather than being buried in its bowels: the day I swam in an active volcano, got stranded for hours in a lava field and … More One really simply does not walk into Mordor: swimming in a volcano & getting stranded in a lava field
When I went to Switzerland the other day, it was at least a month between booking flights to Geneva and making any decisions whatsoever about where I was going and what I was doing when I landed. I’d lived in Switzerland so I’d covered a lot of the country, albeit in brief day trips. My … More Stay at the Swiss Chocolate Hotel Lausanne with me
Last weekend, I was in London for a work Christmas thing and I stayed on afterwards for a couple of things of my own so I needed somewhere to stay. My usual flavour of cheap anonymous boring chain hotels being sold out by the time I went to book it the week before (yes, I … More Zedwell Capsule Hotel review: what’s it like to sleep in a coffin?
Well, this wasn’t something that was in my initial plan for things to do while I was in Bucharest. I was quite contented with the massive spa, getting to know the city and succeeding in getting the train to Brașov. In the course of figuring out how to get to know the city, by reading … More I visited the grave of Vlad the Impaler
Last weekend, I went to Poland. I was inspired by Laurie Alyce Adventures, who is my current favourite person on Instagram. She’s a history teacher – actually, head of department – in a school in Devon who spends her weekends adventuring, which means getting up at 4am on Saturday morning to fly to Edinburgh or … More The Boat Hostel&Chill, Kraków
Because I tend to over-fill my evenings and weekends, I found myself craving a weekend away where, for once, I wasn’t actually doing anything. Just reading, sewing and spending as much time as possible in the hot tub. Glamping is inherently less stressful than pitching your own tent and it’s more relaxing than a hotel. … More Welcome to the Pheasant’s Retreat
“The Cave” is a ludicrous way to start this but it’s the way the landowners are marketing their lava caving trip into Víðgelmir, Iceland’s biggest lava cave – or at least, the biggest one discovered that it’s possible to go inside. I have a hypothesis that a lot of things in Iceland are very self-explanatory … More Visiting The Cave, Iceland’s biggest lava cave
Having wandered around Budapest for a few days, I very suddenly realised that for the average tourist, there’s very little here to say “you’re in Hungary”. Budapest is a bubble in its own right. It’s where stag parties go for beer bikes and to make a racket in the big outdoor thermal baths, where middle … More The House of Terror, Budapest
I Am A Polar Bear 