Australia Wine & friends are a great blend – Ernest Hemingway We just got back from Australia. It was amazing to make this trip over recent weeks, especially when you consider how long haul travel has looked for so long. It all started with a… Read More »TRAVEL
Rimini La Dolce Vita City “Nothing is known, everything is imagined” – Federico Fellini (The Voice of the Moon) We just got back from Rimini, on the Adriatric coast, in the northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna. The province borders the independent Republic of… Read More »TRAVEL
Malta “Choose your country, use guidebooks to identify the areas most frequented by foreigners – and then go in the opposite direction” – Dervla Murphy We’ve come across the writing of Dervla Murphy many times over the years. We’ve liked her thinking. And… Read More »TRAVEL
“Words of Wine” Montepulciano d’Abruzzo It’s five years since we first travelled to this stunning region in Central Italy. It can be found between the Adriatic coast and the epic Gran Sasso mountains, about 90 minutes drive from Rome. Abruzzo has been full of surprises. First there’s… Read More »DRINK
Skin deep A personal perspective “We may have different religions, different languages, different coloured skin, but we all belong to one human race” – Kofi Annan My mother in law was Irish. When she used to talk to me about London in the 60s and 70s, I was… Read More »SLOW
What I carry “Travel is at its most rewarding when it ceases to be about your reaching a destination and becomes indistinguishable from living your life” – Paul Theroux “A Case History” was created by John King and installed on Liverpool’s Hope Street in 1998.… Read More »TRAVEL
L’Aquila ‘The Eagle’ “Home is a shelter from storms, all sorts of storms” – William J. Bennett We just got back from L’Aquila, ‘The Eagle’. It’s about 140 kms from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport to L’Aquila, the gateway to Central Italy. Many will only have heard… Read More »TRAVEL
Ukraine “Who gives in need, gives double” – Ukrainian proverb You may have seen this travel quote before: “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us”. But some people travel vast distances to simply escape. To survive. When we were working in… Read More »TRAVEL
Home Underground, overground, Wombling free The Wombles of Wimbledon Common are we We just got back from Blighty. A typical tale for many expats is people asking you “where’s home?” “Where’s home?” has myriad answers. Of course there’s something quite wonderful… Read More »TRAVEL
Khwa ttu “The San, the first people to inhabit southern Africa, represent a 100,000-year-old culture which should be considered one of the world’s treasures.” — Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu We recently stayed at a unique place. Some of our most memorable stays have… Read More »TRAVEL