There are things that every American wants to do when they visit England, with good reason. Everyone should see Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London tour is a don’t-miss and you have to take tea somewhere of course. But outside of London, during spring, there is another activity that I’ve done with several American friendsContinue reading “Point to Point horseracing: An American’s guide”
Category Archives: Featured
Review: K-Spa, K-West Hotel, London
You could hardly find a more incongruous spot for K-Spa, the spa with treatment rooms and wet spa facilities at the K West Hotel. The chic glass-and-metal building sits amid the tidy white Regency-style houses of West London, just steps down from the roar of buses and the alarmist hurry of Shepherd’s Bush station. ThisContinue reading “Review: K-Spa, K-West Hotel, London”
Best trips for teenagers: Tips for walking tours with teens
No matter where you go on holiday with teenagers, walking tours are a great way to see a lot of a place you’re visiting or do more of a deep dive into one aspect like architecture, street art, design, history or crime. My friend Tula and I still talk about the great Jack theContinue reading “Best trips for teenagers: Tips for walking tours with teens”
21 top family travel Instagramers to follow
Half the fun of travel is planning. That means that checking out the pictures from my favourite family travel Instagrammers is not only fun and inspiring, but also I can self-righteously call it things like “research” and “work” rather than “drooling over this family hotel I just saw in Cyprus”. There are so many greatContinue reading “21 top family travel Instagramers to follow”
Why Crazy Rich Asians is the best travel film of the year
Crazy Rich Asians film has turned out to be a phenomenon: a frothy, fun, formulaic romance, and an all-Asian cast that doesn’t make a big song-and-dance in the storyline about it being an all-Asian cast. It gets on with the task at hand: telling a classic, high-spirited, Cinderella-inspired story. But one of the the thingsContinue reading “Why Crazy Rich Asians is the best travel film of the year”
Review: Pioneer Pocket Hotel in Lubbock Texas
This tech-enabled hotel in an historic downtown building combines luxury with true West Texas spirit. Cattle and cotton used to be the calling card for Lubbock, the mid-sized town that sits at the bottom of the Texas Panhandle. As the city has grown, so has its saddlebag of tricks that make it a great placeContinue reading “Review: Pioneer Pocket Hotel in Lubbock Texas”
Hotel review: Best Western Port Aransas, Texas
Best Western is a long-respected motel chain. It used to have a great red and yellow logo with a distinctive crown. I miss that retro crown. In its place now is a clean blue-and-white “BW”. I wasn’t sure about the new-look branding but I felt comfortable booking into a brand I knew and (at leastContinue reading “Hotel review: Best Western Port Aransas, Texas”
Puy du Fou: The best ‘theme park’ you’ve never heard of
An hour outside of Nantes I had a transformative experience. A place called Puy du Fou (pronounced pwee du foo) entices 2.26m visitors per year. It covers 55 hectares. It features performances and shows that top British newspapers call better than Disney’s. I’d heard all these things. But until I actually visited, I didn’t understandContinue reading “Puy du Fou: The best ‘theme park’ you’ve never heard of”
What to eat & drink in Costa Barcelona
For a long time I was woefully uneducated about food in Catalunya, the autonomous region of Spain. I knew about paella. I knew about grilled sardines on the beach (delicious, but you can’t spend all your life on the beach, no matter how you might wish it). But in recent years I’ve been luckyContinue reading “What to eat & drink in Costa Barcelona”