501 Places

Maybe bloggers are a naturally vain group, with a healthy narcissistic streak running through their core. But of all the ones I’ve met there is a consistent and strong interest in website analytics; and I’m no exception. When we publish a post we like to know how popular it’s been, and we like to see [...]

I had never been to Benidorm, and I have to admit it would never have featured in my list of top 100 places to visit. When I saw that the town was a prominent stop in the itinerary of the F1 Blog Trip I had mixed opinions. On the one hand, its reputation as a [...]

“It’s like standing behind an aircraft when it’s taking off”; “the monotonous drone can send you to sleep”. This was what I heard from someone who had been before. Armed with these expectations I visited my first ever F1 race in Valencia, ready for a lot of noise and burning rubber. Having witnessed the event [...]

I’m heading to Alicante today for a five day blog trip that culminates in attending the F1 Grand Prix race in Valencia on Sunday. My trip is courtesy of an invitation from Land of Valencia, the Valencia Region Tourist Board, with flights organised by the Spanish Tourist Office. I’m packing for a few days in [...]

London has developed a world famous reputation for the quality of its museums; and just as importantly for the fact that they are free. In fact throughout the UK you’ll find that most of the state-managed museums and galleries offer free admission to their visitors. This is a huge benefit to visitors who come to [...]

Of all the innovations that the internet has brought us, perhaps the greatest is online photo viewing. Remember the days when you would have to trudge through 200 photos of your friends and their families lying by the pool or getting sloshed in a bar at a non-descript Greek resort? You’d nod politely and make [...]

I have to declare from the start that I am a fast walker; very fast in fact. With my long legs it’s no big deal for me to walk at over 4 mph, and if we’re rushing for a train my wife Sam will be jogging along beside me while I maintain a brisk walk. [...]

Britain holds 60 million people on its relatively small landmass. For many visitors therefore it comes as something of a surprise that there are so many empty spaces in our country. Even the South East, where the population density is at its greatest, has many great parks and open spaces. We may not be home [...]

This story might sound strange to anyone under 30, while older folk may recognise some of the sentiments I experienced in this incident. I met my first South African in 1987. I remember it well. I was 18, halfway through another Inter-rail summer, and I was in the station in Salzburg ready to catch some [...]

While hitchhiking around Europe in the 80s I met a German guy who pretended to be an Icelander, and even had the Iceland flag on his backpack. He was keen to  escape the negative perception he feared he would get as a German on the roads of France or Italy. (He also presumed that young [...]