501 Places

We’re only three weeks away from World Travel Market (WTM), and the world’s trees are once again in mortal danger as this major annual event approaches. Like turkeys lined up for Christmas, they will be destroyed without mercy in the chaotic dash to produce tens of thousands of brochures, catalogues, flyers, magazines and glossy folders [...]

This week’s guest post is written by Ben Colclough, founder of Tourdust and an avid traveller. Ben shares with us his views on the world of backpacking, challenging some of the common myths that are associated with the backpacking community. He also recalls some of his own travel experiences and how they shaped those views. [...]

Last night I co-hosted the weekly Travellers’ Night In (TNI) event on Twitter. It’s basically a couple of hours of chatter with several hundred people around 10 timed questions on a particular theme. This week it was all about the UK. While the audience is international it is fair to say that the majority of [...]

Last night saw the latest event held by CIMTIG in London. The debate was centred around the subject of customer loyalty in the travel industry and how travel companies can create loyaly to their brands. Four speakers (Francesca Ecsery from Cheapflights UK, Tom Marchant from Black Tomato, Steven Georgiadis from SAS and Crispin Westhead from [...]

This colourful topic arose as an after-dinner conversation on our holiday with fellow travellers and was admittedly fuelled by a drink or two along the way. I thought it worth sharing here purely as entertainment, and certainly not to provide anyone with ideas of how to mysteriously dispose of the love of their life. So [...]

I just can’t do it. It’s 8am on a Sunday morning and I’m standing on a pavement in Tallinn. I can see half a mile of empty road stretching into the distance. Yet I’m supposed to wait; wait for the green man to let me know I can safely cross the 5 metres of road [...]

Imagine coming face to face with this creature? I was calmly munching on my baguette when I turned round and caught sight of this monster lurking in the bushes. Well, I was so shocked I almost dropped my delicious snack. When you’re in France for a day trip you should be prepared for almost anything. [...]

There are many examples of the pithy travel quote that are often shared around online. These lines are usually written by famous authors from a time when travel was very different: when travel really was about the journey and when travelling off the beaten track was easy. But how would these quotes look if written [...]

Since I woke up in a contrary mood this morning, I thought I’d have a bit of fun with this post. There are so many posts and articles written about the virtues of travel that I figured I would play Devil’s Advocate and take the opposite view. I mean let’s face it, millions of people [...]

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 [...]