In the summer, Norwegians take their holidays on the south coast, rambling in the forests, strolling up hills, swimming in tiny lakes and exploring the islands. At the beginning of October, it’s still warm, but there’s no traffic on the roads and I have the place to myself. I arrive on a direct flight from…
Useful Phrases in Italian
“Bello, bello, bello.” Italians are always using the word ‘bello’ (beautiful) for anything and everything good. In Italy beauty reigns supreme. And the Italian language is no different. Widely appreciated as the language of love, it is no accident that Shakespeare set his play, Romeo and Juliet, in the romantic city of Verona, Italy. Italian…
Ten Reasons To Visit The Sahara Desert
1. The beauty and tranquillity …of the Sahara is unsurpassed, and the scale and sight of a clear 360° horizon is awesome. The landscape changes constantly and is anything but bare and barren, with high dunes, low dunes, wells and dry oases. In certain places there warm springs feeding into a warm lake, abandoned villages…
Foreign & Commonwealth Office is advising against all but essential travel to Bolivia
After weeks of violent clashes over the disputed election, Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, had to step down on Sunday after 14 years in power. The resignation of Morales, who has now accepted political asylum in Mexico, has left Bolivia in a “very uncertain” political and security situation prompting the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to…
48 hours in Luxembourg – The Grand Duchy
March 2020 signals free transport for all in Europe’s richest country – The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. This tiny landlocked country, sandwiched between France, Belgium and Germany, is surrounded by rolling countryside, has a wealth of culture, history and nature all packed into a country the size of Oxfordshire. Also read: Luxembourg becomes the first country…
China by rail: Beijing to Shanghai on the world’s fastest passenger train
I’m travelling between Beijing and Shanghai, a 1,318 km journey down the Eastern coast of China, the first leg of Rail Discoveries’ 13-day escorted group tour. I dip my chopsticks into the plastic tray containing beef and mushroom stir fry, fragrant winter melon and glutinous rice, as the LED signs indicate our current speed is…
Restaurant overview: Sticks’n’Sushi Soho, London
For the owners of Sticks’n’Sushi, the upmarket sushi and yakitori restaurant chain, life is looking pretty rosy. They have just opened their seventh restaurant in London at 40 Beak Street in Soho, which comes hot off the heels of their recent successful opening in Kings Road, Chelsea. Created by Danish-Japanese brothers Jens and Kim Rahbek…
How Egypt’s Red Sea Mountain Trail set new tracks into the wild
Finding a way to experience a country away from other groups of tourists is a challenge in 2019. It doesn’t take long for once underexplored areas to become popular as the word gets out. A surge in interest in long distance trails has seen long-established hikes such as Spain’s Camino de Santiago and even parts…
Discover Europe’s beer trail by train: Rotterdam, Leuven, Nuremberg, Pilsen
I boarded Eurostar 9116 at London St. Pancras International just before 9am to embark on beer trail through Rotterdam, Leuven, Nuremberg and Pilsen. By midday, I was sipping a ‘Noordt Dubbel’ dark craft beer at ‘Proeflokaal Reijngoud’ in Rotterdam. Rotterdam – the ‘living lab’ Rotterdam has been described as a ‘living lab’, a focal point…
Event review: Bongo’s Bingo Halloween Special at Steel Yard, London
Bongo’s Bingo is totally and utterly bonkers. At least that’s how I felt as I left the venue at 10:30 pm covered in wine and grinning like a Cheshire cat. I first heard about Bingo’s Bingo from some Scouse friends who were raving about how much fun they had. It all started in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle, where…