I’ve been proud to be able to call myself a Vanguard Professional since 2014, which means I’m an ambassador for Vanguard. In case you're not familiar with the brand, Vanguard are an awesome company which manufacture a variety of useful photography accessories (amongst other things), including a range of tripods (essential for photography, read why here) and photography … [Read more...]
A Scottish Highlands Tour from Edinburgh with Rabbies Tours
We recently had the pleasure of being invited on a number of tours with a Scottish based tour operator – Rabbie’s Trail Burners, including a five day Scottish Highlands tour from Edinburgh. Taking these tours seemed like a handy way to get to know Scotland a little better, and let someone else do the heavy lifting for a change in terms of the planning, driving, and itinerary … [Read more...]
Oppo R7 Android Smartphone Review
I’ve been using an Oppo phone for almost two years now as my main phone. You might not have heard of Oppo, but they’re making big strides in the smartphone world, currently ranked as the eighth most popular smartphone brand in the world, and shipping 50 million devices in 2015. Basically, they’re big in the Asian markets, but still making inroads in the rest of the world. … [Read more...]
Visiting the Moulin Rouge In Paris – Everything You Need to Know!
There are some activities in Paris that are just so quintessentially Parisian that you can’t imagine doing them anywhere else. And one of those essential activities in our mind is to attend a cabaret show, and arguably the most famous cabaret show in Paris, if not the world, is the show at the Moulin Rouge. This was where the Can Can dance was born during that magnificent … [Read more...]
Reviewing the Vanguard VEO Tripod
Update September 2020: Since I wrote this post at the launch of the VEO range in 2015, Vanguard have launched a number of new products in the VEO range. These include the VEO 2 and VEO 3 Go range of travel tripods, as well as the sturdier and heaver VEO 3+ range of tripods. As of writing, you can still buy the original VEO, but if you are interested in the newer models you … [Read more...]
Visiting Stonehenge From London as a Day Trip, Including Bath & the Cotswolds
In this post, I'm going to share you with you the best ways of visiting Stonehenge from London, specifically as a day trip. I'll also be including some other nearby locations such as Bath and the Cotswolds, to help you plan a full day out. I'll also tell you how you can actually walk amongst the stones themselves when you visit. Stonehenge is one of the most popular sights … [Read more...]
Reviewing the LG G4 Phone– Plus how to win one yourself!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of LG. The opinions and text are all mine. Ah, smartphones. I remember my first one, almost a decade ago (!) - a venerable device with an actual keyboard, with which I could access the internet using a technology called WAP. At least, I think that’s what it was, my memory is a little hazy. Unfortunately, back … [Read more...]
Working from My Happy Place With the HP Stream 8 Powered by Intel Inside®
This branded content was produced by me as part of the HP & Intel #WorkFromHappyPlace project, and I was compensated for taking part in this campaign. All thoughts remain my own – see my code of ethics for more information. Work. It’s not a word that conjures up tremendous excitement I suspect. I am lucky, admittedly, in that I get to do what I love (for the … [Read more...]
Are these the perfect travel binoculars?
Binoculars. Truth be told, they aren’t something I have ever really spent much time contemplating. As a photographer I spend a great deal of time peering through bits of glass with one eye, rather than enjoying it with both! This isn’t to say I’m not familiar with binoculars of course. I grew up on a small island in the Seychelles called Bird Island, which was famous, as you … [Read more...]
The Happy Cow belt review… and giveaway!
Most of the time I have been travelling, I never worried about luggage. Which doesn’t mean that I didn’t bring anything. It means I brought everything. My understanding of the concept of packing was that the 80 litres that fit into my backpack weren’t a guide-line. They were the obligation, if not a challenge. It didn’t occur to me that less could be more. I really was … [Read more...]
MiFi review – XCom Global Europe Travel Plan
When XCom Global got in touch and asked me if I wanted to take their mobile hotspot for a spin, naturally I leapt at the chance. After all, the promise of a device that lets you connect to the internet from wherever you happen to be sounds rather splendid. I didn’t really think it through in terms of a review, which maybe I should have done. You see, little plastic boxes … [Read more...]
A warm welcome in Copenhagen at the Absalon Hotel
I like warm weather. This fact should be apparent by the destinations I’ve covered in the blog, and the way that they rarely seem to include snow, or ice. Other than that trip around New Zealand, where poor timing meant we occasionally saw some actual snow. So when I booked my trip around a number of Scandinavian countries in March, it was with high hopes of a beautiful … [Read more...]
What the Segway? A tour through Copenhagen.
Every now and again, Loz fails completely. Like when we went to Copenhagen. He looks at me, very excited, beaming: “I booked us on a city tour through Copenhagen – a Segway tour!!” I smile politely back: “That’s great. What’s a Segway?” “A Segway! Oh, you know them – they are these big electric scooters where you basically stand on a little platform and drive around. I … [Read more...]
Tips for sleeping on a plane
A lot of people tell me that they have difficulty sleeping on planes. Well, I’m here to tell you today that sleeping on a plane is easy. You just need to find the right plane. Here’s a quick rundown of four tips to know you’ve found a plane that is going to offer a good nights sleep: Find a plane with no engines. This is likely to be much quieter than a normal plane, as … [Read more...]
Lub d Siam Square: Hostel review
You know what’s nice? Sandwiches. Sandwiches are nice. Well, apart from the ones that are sold at or near train stations in the UK, which are enough to make the Earl who invented this remarkable treat terribly sad. Were he still around to be terribly sad that is, which he isn’t. The thing about sandwiches is that wherever you are in the world, they follow a nice … [Read more...]
Hammocks! And some thoughts on Novica
When Novica contacted me recently asking if I was interested in reviewing their online shop for artisan products from around the world, they could have made their lives easier by pointing out that they have hammocks for sale and I was welcome to test out the service by ordering those. Instead, we went back and forth a bit to ensure that they were a legit company, that their … [Read more...]
Laytrang Resort – a Thai diet on the Andaman Coast
There’s one serious problem in Thailand: the food is just too good. Okay, so maybe that’s not a problem for people who don’t enjoy eating very much (where are you folks? Haven’t met any of you yet!), but Loz and I certainly don’t belong to that group. And Thailand is mean, my friends: tasty stuff everywhere. There’s hardly a street without a multitude of tiny carts, loaded … [Read more...]
Spending my birthday with James Bond. Nearly.
Slightly unexpectedly, I find myself sitting on a boat in Thailand as the deck erupts with a motley crew of young Australian girls, giving it their all to the pumping beats of Gangnam Style. This is followed by a step perfect rendition of The Macarena. A tremendous amount of fun is being had by all, and I’m peering at the goings-on whilst trying to work out if I've slipped into … [Read more...]
A review of Nern Chalet – a bit of luxury in Hua Hin
Accommodation is part of travelling. You go abroad to explore foreign countries, their food, their culture – or you might just want to relax. This is much easier on a nice beach and with a change of scenery than at home, next to the dirty laundry that needs doing. Accommodation has to be sorted out, but isn’t really part of the reason why you go on a holiday. Nevertheless, … [Read more...]
Doing nothing in Hua Hin at Ploen Terrace
I keep losing Vera. In my defence, it’s not my fault. We’ve spent a couple of weeks living in a three storey serviced apartment here in Thailand, and having multiple living floors is terribly confusing. Ok, so it’s not too confusing. More confusing is picking which of the three bathrooms to use. (We’ve settled on just the one, in an endeavour to … [Read more...]
The friendliness of the Thai people (& a hostel review)
Before I came out to to Thailand, I was informed on more than one occasion that the Thai people are known for their friendliness. I even hosted a whole photo essay from a fellow blogger all about Thailand being the land of smiles. But third party information is only worth so much. I needed to find out for myself what the situation was, and handily my review of our Banbua … [Read more...]
Swinging through the tree tops in Chiang Mai
Some people always want to do something. "I want to DO something!", says Loz. After a couple of weeks making the most of our Thailand stay, and now a few days without itinerary in Chiang Mai ahead of us, my tiny hope of thoroughly enjoying a meaningless, completely wasted day vanishes instantly. "What is it then you want to do?", I carefully ask. My better half has … [Read more...]
Viva Chiang Mai: a homestay review
Heat. Waves of the stuff. It was a prevailing theme on our bus trip up to Chiang Mai. Sure, the bus had air conditioning, but this particular bus had more pressing concerns to worry about than keeping its passengers cool. For example: getting its passengers to their destination. The bus we had chosen for the trip was perhaps not the most robust of creatures. An hour into the … [Read more...]
Scottevest travel vest: a review
“What does it have in its pocketssss?” If Gollum were to pose me this question whilst I was lost under the Misty Mountains, as he did to Bilbo, and I happened to be wearing my new Scottevest, the answer could go on for some time. You see, the Scottevest comes with a lot of pockets. Like, a lot of pockets. So many in fact, that it even comes with a pocket map. A map … [Read more...]
Hanging out with Lub d in Bangkok: a review
Industrial. It’s not necessarily a word I’d normally use to describe a place to sleep. Instead, I might associate it with somewhere like a steel mill. And experience has taught me that generally a place for making steel doesn’t normally make a relaxing place to sleep. Ok, I haven’t actually racked up that particular experience, but I’m fairly certain of the theory. In the … [Read more...]
Taking some time to relax with @Naturaki in Costa Brava
I may have mentioned in the odd post recently that Vera and I have been down in Spain, attending a travel blogger conference and then being whisked around the incredible Catalan region with the folks from Visit Costa Brava. The travel blogging conference itself was pretty epic, with two long days of workshops and networking events, as well as three evening parties. Fun, and … [Read more...]