Community. When it comes to travel blogging, what does that even mean? Is it compatible with cutting out the noise and being productive? Can you be connected to community and also appreciate the joy of quiet? When I started as a travel blogger in 2007, I was very keen on the idea of community (how hilarious [...]

Hampstead Heath, London; Summer 2005 An art installation in Hampstead Heath in London in the summer of 2005. I love this – it really plays to the idea of living in a magical world. I feel like we are all miniature people, like Borrowers or Lilliputtians, and a giant is going to come along any [...]

When I tell people I have been to Detroit, they are usually surprised. When I tell them I liked it and would recommend it to other travellers, they are usually even more surprised. For starters it’s in “Flyover Country” and is not somewhere foreigners would generally go. Secondly it’s a city known for industrial grit [...]

I have been doing a spot of digital housekeeping to ring in the new year. I used TwitCleaner to clear out some of the junk that has ended up in my Twitter stream. I’ve locked down the privacy settings for my new Facebook Timeline on my personal account (I invite blog fans to ‘like’ my Facebook [...]

Some cities demand to be admired from the water. I know – I live in one of them. As lovely as Sydney is, it is never lovelier than when you are out on the harbour. There are other cities too where the water is a huge feature. Copenhagen and Seattle are famous for their beautiful [...]

Will Peach is one of the site editors over at Gap Daemon, the gap year travel website for backpackers and young travellers. He has written a guest post for me on Christmas in London, which I know from experience is one of the best places to spend Christmas. Will has done a great job researching [...]

Whatever route you take, the drive into Mendocino ends by hugging the coast on California’s scenic Highway 1. On one side of the road you have green hillsides with the occasional farmhouse or inn tucked away and on the other, the ocean. Mendocino sits on the ocean side of the highway so the maritime feel [...]

One of the loveliest things about Mendocino is the natural beauty. It’s an artsy little town on a spectacular and relatively undeveloped stretch of coast. It’s about five hours’ drive from San Francisco if you take the short way, up Highway 101 and then cutting through the Anderson Valley. You could also take scenic Highway [...]

I rarely stay in nice hotels when I travel for pleasure. I like a bit of luxury as much as the next person but I usually prefer to spend my money on other things. When I’m exploring a new place, I don’t tend to spend a lot of time at the hotel so I typically [...]

In 2008 I went to Cambodia with photographer Peter Garmusch to write this story on traditional Khmer silk and to do preliminary research on a potential story about restoration work on the Angkor ruins. One of the strangest things we saw was a floating village near Siem Reap. We arrived too late in the day [...]