There are some cities that almost feel like completely different places during festival or event season. The streets stay louder for longer. Music spills out of bars and into public squares. Restaurants feel busier, conversations last later into the evening, and suddenly the entire city seems to move to [...]

We’re very good at overlooking our own backyard. It’s familiar, easy, and always there… which usually means it gets saved for a quick weekend, a last-minute plan, or something we’ll “get around to one day.” But when you slow it down, choose your base well, and build a trip [...]

When most people picture a trip to Japan, they imagine trains. Fast ones. Scenic ones. Impossibly punctual ones. And yes, Japan’s rail network is excellent. But if your goal is to see more of the country without turning your holiday into a full-time logistics exercise, cruising Japan is one [...]

There’s a quiet misconception about South America. That it’s dramatic, yes. Bucket list worthy, absolutely. But manageable. Something you add onto a longer journey. Something you can “see the highlights” of in a window of time. It isn’t. South America spans climates, altitudes, ecosystems and time zones that don’t [...]

Once you've done Sydney, Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road and Queensland, Western Australia is often what comes next. Bigger, further away, harder to “slot in”. But that’s exactly why it works so well as a next chapter. WA isn’t about squeezing more in. It’s about going deeper, slowing down, [...]

I went to the Maldives thinking I had a pretty good idea of what it would be like. Overwater villas. Unreal blue water. Honeymoon energy. Beautiful, yes - but perhaps a little predictable. What I didn’t expect was how different it felt once I was actually there. Not louder. [...]

Think You’ve Done Europe? Wait Until You’ve Seen It in December. I grew up in Scotland, where a white Christmas wasn’t something you dreamed about - it just happened.Snowflakes, scarves & sledging… pure magic. Sadly, there aren’t any river cruises in Scotland (unless you count the odd whisky boat [...]

There are some places that stay with you - not because of what you did, but because of how they made you feel.For me, that place was Botswana. It was part of our African honeymoon - three countries, each completely different - but this was the one that felt [...]

Not all cruises are created equal. One minute you’re sipping champagne by the pool, the next you’re zipping through polar waters in a Zodiac, dodging chunks of ice and waving at penguins. Cruising today is more diverse than ever — and whether you crave culture, adventure, indulgence, or a [...]

…and how to do it better, with a little help from me… I first visited Vanuatu over a decade ago.I stayed at a lovely little beach resort just outside Port Vila, swam in warm waters, sipped cocktails at sunset, and shopped for souvenirs in town. And I thought I’d [...]