501 Places

“Don’t like it – too many Brits”. That was the verdict of one seasoned Francophile I spoke with before we set off for a couple of weeks in south west France. I took the comment with a pinch of salt – after all, isn’t there a profusion of English folk at almost any holiday destination [...]

We have previously featured the wild north of Cumbria and Northumberland, and last week described the beauty of Durham and North Yorkshire. In this final post we will travel between Leeds and Liverpool, and also venture into the Peak District for some more breathtaking scenery. Join me for another peek at some of England’s greatest [...]

I will never forget standing at the ruins at Pachacamac in Peru, admiring the vast site and trying to imagine how the place would have looked before the Spanish conquest. Standing next to us were a British couple who had travelled to the site on the same bus and we had already gathered were well [...]

New York has so much to offer that it’s hard to imagine why you would want to leave it for a weekend. Indeed while living there we spent most of our weekends exploring different neighbourhoods and tasting a world of food in the city’s endless stream of restaurants. There is however much to see away [...]

They say half of the fun of a trip is in the planning. Well that may be true when reminiscing over a completed trip, but when a trip has been meticulously planned, saved up for and booked, it can be a painful reminder of something that was lost through reasons that might later prove to [...]

After Ryanair’s 30 minute infomercial on the BBC this week, Mr O’Leary is no doubt feeling very pleased with himself and basking in the glory of putting one up on “the establishment”. His clearly successful model of driving down costs no matter what the consequences made me think how else that could be applied to [...]

After last week’s post on the Lake District and Northumberland, this week we feature the second in our series of posts about the marvels of northern England, and focus on Durham and the delights of Yorkshire. I hope this provides further inspiration for those planning to visit England to think beyond the capital in their [...]

Have you ever been with people in a remote place and wished you could speak their language? I decided to do something about that desire one time, and had great success; although not in the way I would ever have intended. It was the mid 1990s and there was a glut of aid projects working [...]

After a year in New York where my paycheck barely covered my rent, we found many ways to enjoy a day out on a tight budget, and often for free. So much so that our New York native friends would ask us, the legal aliens, to recommend places for them to visit on a weekend. [...]

First off, let me state that I enjoy visiting London. There is so much to see, and I love just getting off the train at Kings Cross and walking to wherever the mood takes me. Regent’s Park, Camden Town, the South Bank and Hyde Park can all be covered in a gentle day’s meandering past [...]