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
“Grockle” is a word you’ll rarely hear outside England’s West Country. It means a tourist but in a derogatory way. Not the kind who prop up our economy, adore our scenery and appreciate our cider but the sort who clog up roads and car parks and leave their bottles on the beach. Tourists can be … More Don’t be a grockle: how to be a good tourist in the West Country
I’ve discovered that I’ve missed quite a few sets of film photos but I like them and I think they show a slightly different perspective on places and on travel, especially with the fact that you don’t get to find out whether they even worked until a good few weeks later. They’ll never replace the … More The Eras Train Tour on film
The main purpose of travel influencers isn’t to show off their fabulous holidays and adventures but to showcase destinations and experiences to people who might not otherwise know about them and share their own knowledge and experience to help people with their own travels. To that end, a group trip run -or at least figureheaded … More Is it worth going on your favourite influencer’s group trip?
The 5-9 is the bit of our lives that’s not our 9-5 job, what we do between 5pm when we finish work and 9am when we start again the next day. Despite the fact that I manage to maintain a travel and adventure blog with something new twice a week, I do have a 9-5 … More How I use my 5-9: May 2025 edition
I like to go camping. That is, I think I like to go camping. The reality is that for one reason or another – or several reasons – I never really actually sleep in a tent. But I like to get away from my life for the weekend without feeling like I need to explore, … More My latest camping disaster
It’s my blog’s tenth birthday this week. Ok, it’s a bit hard to pin down a firm date for when it started, since it went through at least two names & addresses (Limestone & Lava and Footprints in the Lava are the two I particularly remember) and probably half a dozen purposes before settling down … More Happy 10th birthday to I Am A Polar Bear!
Today is Wednesday 23rd April and I just got my film photos from Pula back – I only got home on Saturday and the film didn’t go in the post until Monday, so I was astonished at the speed of it this time (with my black and white Iceland pictures, I waited four and a … More Pula on film
I hardly ever do this – in fact, have I done this at all in the last decade? I’m going to review the apartment I stayed at in Pula. It was lovely. Actually, the apartment I stayed at in Dubrovnik was lovely as well and maybe I should have reviewed that too. Maybe I will. … More Arena Blue Dream – Pula apartment review
Having gone to Pula in spring, I’m acutely aware that it’s a place that probably works better in summer. There were so many things I would have liked to do and couldn’t because they don’t start until May or June. So if I was to go to Pula in July or August, this is what … More How to spend 3 days in Pula in summer
I Am A Polar Bear 