501 Places

As so often happens, the comments section of my recent post looking at what inspires us to choose our travel destinations has proved to be more interesting than my original entry. Both Maxine Sheppard and Pam Mandel highlighted the role that the history of a place can play in enticing us to visit; I was reminded [...]

The streets and public squares of Budapest were once dominated by a series of giant imposing statues that celebrated the power of communist philosophy. When the Soviet influence was overthrown the newly elected government had to work out what to do with these over-sized symbols of repression. They decided to set up a dedicated park [...]

Today I completed an email interview for another site. One of the questions required me to give a piece of advice to new inexperienced travellers. Instinctively I wrote that we shouldn’t be shy in talking to strangers; the encounters that result will almost always provide us with our most cherished travel memories. I absolutely believe [...]

Anyone can take part. We can indulge in any public place wherever we are in the world. Best of all it’s free to do it. I challenge anyone to deny that they enjoy sometimes just sitting back and watching people go about their daily lives. People watching is of course a very easy thing to [...]

Looking around the Victoria and Albert museum in London I was struck by the signs on a couple of exhibits that read “Please Touch”. These were objects that visitors could best appreciate through exploration of texture and weight and not just by looking. Great for kids I thought; but the message ran far deeper than [...]

How much should we go along with the famous piece of advice that you should try everything at least once? While travelling through foreign lands we are faced by a whole range of unfamiliar challenges: these may range from unfamiliar languages and strange customs and manners to weird music and alien fashion sense. Perhaps the [...]

‘Never discuss religion and politics’; the timeless advice for travellers who want to stay out of trouble. These topics can lead to discomfort, suspicion and in extreme cases even arrest and a free trip to the nearest border (or worse). Is it good advice to adopt wherever we are? I have to admit to ignoring [...]

We recently spent a weekend on the Cote d’Azur in the south of France. Thankfully we had been warned about the prices that we should expect and so were not caught completely by surprise. Shabby 2 star hotels charging around €100 for a pokey room and restaurants €15 for a simple plate of pasta was [...]

This is not the first post on the thorny topic of tipping on 501 Places. Previous posts have addressed the variations in the practice of tipping across the world, or have looked at the many national quirks in tipping etiquette and how they inevitably leave a visitor confused and often embarrassed. But in a week [...]

What’s the hardest thing about being a local? It must be having all those tourists (and travellers) trying to do what you do, eat where you eat and party where you party. Every move you make, someone is probably watching and taking notes so that they can be more like you. It makes me glad [...]