We do a lot of driving as part of our guidebook research – rather, my partner and co-author Terence drives and I do the trip planning and navigating. So it’s inevitable that some of the most memorable aspects of our trips are the roads we drive. I stumbled across Matador’s The World’s Most Spectacular Roads, which … Read more about The world’s most jawdropping drives, part 1
It shouldn’t be that hard. You have a cold tap? Make the colour on the tap blue. The hot tap? Make it red. Don’t put ‘C’ or ‘H’ on them, as for travellers from countries with Latin-derived languages, ‘C’ is not for cold but for caldo or caliente, which means HOT! Ouch! So why is … Read more about 10 things that annoy us about hotels #6 When using the bathroom is like undertaking an intelligence test
By Lara & Terence*If you’ve just joined us, this continues from the previous post so read this first.So, why would these three places now get glowing reviews in an updated guidebook? What do they have in common? The answer: all of these places do excellent public relations. And when you read the reviews it’s quite … Read more about Brilliant minds think alike, or, Why so many guidebooks share the same listings: part 2
By Terence and Lara When we were in Milan recently we had drinks with some hotel executives we’d met in Istanbul while attending the W opening. The PR person of the Milan hotel where we’d met for aperitivi told us how impressed she was that we’d had several story commissions on the hotel, its restaurant … Read more about The travel journalists’ junket: why we don’t do them
We were surprised during our recent research trip in Italy to find that after Venice and Rome the country’s next most popular travel destination seemed to be Sirmione, a small walled town on a tiny peninsula, accessed by a drawbridge across the moat of a castle on gorgeous Lake Garda. It’s a place you rarely … Read more about The Cool Travel Guide to the Italian Lakes