501 Places

I know to check these days. If we’re taking a bus journey that’s longer than a couple of hours there has to be a toilet on board. It doesn’t always remove the problem. After all, even if the bus is equipped with a loo, it may well be broken or locked. But I have to [...]

There’s an old joke that goes something like this: A man walks into a pub. It’s in the middle of nowhere and full of local folk. He orders his drink and sits next to the bar. There’s a lot of general chatter taking place among the locals. Suddenly one man stands up and shouts “Forty [...]

If knowledge is power, then what value should we place on covert intelligence? It is not only military chiefs who would like to have access to certain furtive conversations. We are all spies at heart, and I defy anyone to say that they have never listened in to a conversation on a bus, at a [...]

London is considered by many to be the one of the world’s most photogenic cities. Famous palaces, statues and river views create the backdrop for the perfect tourist photos. Having lived close to London for a few years now, I have come to really enjoy taking a walk through the city’s lesser known parks and [...]

When asked to recommend good places to eat in London, most of us would tell visitors to steer clear of anywhere in the West End. Much like those along the Champs Elysees or those within a block of Times Square, most places here cater purely for the tourist market and don’t expect repeat business from [...]

When we overindulge in something, a natural consequence is to give it up altogether. So it was for me, having eaten burgers 2 or 3 times a week in a job that involved endless hours driving around the UK and almost daily lunches in motorway service stations. I stopped eating fast food in 2002 and [...]

Millions of us have posted a review of a hotel we’ve stayed at. Whether it’s a good or a bad experience, most of us find that the opportunity to post our comments for all to see on TripAdvisor is far more appealing than the alternative of filling in a hotel questionnaire at the end of [...]

For many of us our memories of a holiday are dominated by how well we got along with the people we meet on our travels. Whether we are on a group tour, travelling solo or as one half of a heavenly pairing, we will often encounter others during our travels who will become long term [...]

On my early solo travels around Europe, I would phone home once a week. I would have to find a telephone exchange, hand in my home phone number, pay for the minutes I wanted (always the minimum) and then go into my assigned booth and wait for the phone to ring. And that was it. [...]

People seem to love lists. We can package anything into a top 10 most impressive, top 20 underrated, top 100 most awesome, whatever the subject. These are almost always subjective and give us little more than the opinion of the author. One of the lists that I find the most interesting is the Top 10 [...]