The Love, Life & Lights of Paris, France

Long considered the paragon of style, Paris is the most glamorous city in Europe. It is at once deeply traditional – a village-like metropolis whose inhabitants continue to be notorious for their hauteur – and famously cosmopolitan. While such contradictions and contrasts may be the reality of any city, they are the makings of Paris: consider the tiny lanes and alleyways of the Quartier Latin or Montmartre against the monumental vistas from the Louvre to La Défense; the multiplicity of street markets and old-fashioned pedestrian arcades against the giant underground commercial complexes of Montparnasse and Les Halles; or the aristocratic…

Continue Reading

Experience the Rich History of Cairo, Egypt

The twin streams of Egypt’s history converge just below the Delta at Cairo, where the greatest city in the Islamic world sprawls across the Nile towards the Pyramids, those supreme monuments of antiquity. Every visitor to Egypt comes here, to reel at the Pyramids’ baleful mass and the seething immensity of Cairo, with its bazaars, mosques and Citadel and extraordinary Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. It’s impossible, too, not to find yourself carried away by the street life, where medieval trades and customs coexist with a modern, cosmopolitan mix of Arab, African and European influences. Egyptians have two names for the…

Continue Reading

There’s No Where Like New York, New York!

New York City is everything its supporters and critics claim: an adrenaline-charged, history-laden place that never sleeps, rarely apologizes, and works harder and longer hours than anywhere else. It’s also a town of icons, both past and present – you’ll find it hard to move about the city without encountering a view of something world-famous, from the lovely green sward of Central Park to the mammoth Brooklyn Bridge to the cathedral-like Grand Central Terminal. The city’s boundless energy and spirit will suck you in and make you want to come back again and again. New York buzzes round-the-clock: not only…

Continue Reading

Stranger in Moscow

In Siberia, they call Moscow “the West”, with a note of scorn for its bureaucrats and politicians. To Westerners, the city looks European, but its unruly spirit seems closer to Central Asia. For Muscovites, Moscow is both a “Mother City” and a “big village”, a tumultuous community with an underlying collective instinct that shows itself in times of trouble. Nowhere else reflects the contradictions and ambiguities of the Russian people as Moscow does – nor the stresses of a country undergoing meltdown and renewal. The city is huge, surreal and exciting. After a few weeks here, the bizarre becomes normal…

Continue Reading

Go See the Style, Culture & Energy of Barcelona, Spain

There’s nowhere like Barcelona – no city in Spain can touch it for sheer style, looks or energy. For all its outrageous architecture, designer shopping, hip bars and vibrant cultural scene, Barcelona is more than just this year’s fad. It’s a confident, progressive city, tirelessly self-renewing while preserving all that’s best about its past. As neighbourhoods are rebuilt with panache, and locals and visitors alike pursue the latest sensation, there’s also an enduring embrace of the things that make life worth living – the daily market visit, strolling down the Ramblas, a lazy harbour-side lunch, frenetic festival nights, Sunday by…

Continue Reading

Bonny Scotland

As befits the home of tartan and whiskey simple definitions don’t really suit Scotland. Cliched images of the place abound – postcards of wee Highland terriers, tartan tins of shortbread, ranks of diamond-patterned golf jerseys … and they drive many Scots to apoplexy. And yet Scotland has a habit of delivering on its classic images: in some parts ruined castles really do perch on just about every hilltop, in summer the glens inevitably turn purple with heather and if you end up in a village on gala day you just might bump into a formation of bagpipers marching down the…

Continue Reading

China: The Country of Ancient and Modern Beauty

The first thing that strikes visitors to China is the extraordinary density of its population. In the Han Chinese heartlands of central and eastern China, towns and cities seem to sprawl endlessly into one another in a world of chopsticks, tea, slippers, grey skies, shadow-boxing, teeming crowds, chaotic train stations, smoky temples, red flags and the smells of soot and frying tofu. Move west or north, however, and the landscape begins to dominate: green paddy fields and misty hilltops in the south-west, the scorched, epic vistas of the old Silk Road in the north-west; home to scores of distinct ethnic…

Continue Reading

How To Earn Money While You Travel

Do you dream of quitting your job, selling everything you own and jetting off round the world on a trip that has no end in sight? Yep, thought so. But unless you have lots of money in the bank or some very generous parents, you’re going to need to think about earning some money along the way. Luckily, there are loads of jobs out there which are ideal for those looking to live the travel lifestyle, from becoming a self-employed digital nomad to working on cruise ships and organic farms. Take a look at our list below, and get inspired!…

Continue Reading

The Most Inspiring Travel Quotes for 2013

If you’re anything like me, then sometimes all it takes is one conversation, one book, one sentence to inspire you to pick up that backpack again and set out into the unknown.  If you’re feeling stuck in a bit of a January rut, check out some of our choice travel quotes for 2013 – you may get the inspiration you’re looking for. “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for” – John A. Shedd “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can…

Continue Reading

Table For One – A Solo Travellers Guide to Eating Alone

Eating alone needn’t be a miserable experience for first-time solo travellers. Keep these tips in mind next time you’re heading out for a bite sans company, and you’ll soon realise that dining solo is the only way to go. Choose your establishment wisely First up, make sure you pick the right kind of place. Sure, if you have your heart set on sampling the culinary delights of one of Paris’s most romantic restaurants, then go right ahead, but you could feel a little out of place surrounded by all the loved-up couples who are sure to be dining there too.…

Continue Reading