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Amanda Kendle

London Museums For War History Lovers

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There is a lot of history to be found in London, and if you are one of many fans of war history museums, you won’t be disappointed by the selection that London has to offer. While there are dozens of smaller war-related musuems across the country, some of the major war history museums to be [...]

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Travel Books: New From Rough Guides in 2010

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It’s been a while since we checked in on the new travel guide books being produced by Rough Guides, and they’ve had a busy start to the 2010 publishing year. You’re in luck if you’re planning a trip to any of the following destinations, because they have hot off the press guides ready for you:

At [...]

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Three Best Churches in Paris

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Paris is full of beautiful churches and you can stumble into quite a few of them just from random walking through the Paris streets. However, there are three famous Paris churches which really are too beautiful to miss.

Notre Dame Cathedral is arguably Paris’s most famous church, or in fact one of the world’s most famous [...]

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Book Review: The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations

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The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations to Enrich Your Life by Pam Grout is more than just another Top 100 style travel book. Volunteer vacations (aka voluntourism) are becoming more and more popular – Grout quotes a 2008 study which says 40% of Americans would like to do some volunteering while on vacation – and finding volunteer [...]

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Family Fun in Hong Kong

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Despite its return to Chinese rule, Hong Kong is still a fantastic place for a vacation and if you are considering taking your kids with you, then there are heaps of possiblities for family fun here. It’s a great family destination because it’s exotic but pretty safe, and also has a few attractions which kids [...]

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Must-See Attractions in Barcelona

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Barcelona might be the country’s second city after capital Madrid, but it is definitely my favorite place to visit in Spain. It’s a vibrant city full of color and life and sometimes a little craziness – it is certainly never boring. Some of the highlights of Barcelona’s tourist attractions include:

A walk down Las Ramblas, the [...]

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Book Review: 100 Greatest Trips

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There’s no disputing that the late 2009 edition of Travel + Leisure magazine’s glossy coffee table book 100 Greatest Trips is a beautiful book, but it should really be renamed “100 Greatest Trips To Places Western Tourists Are Likely To Go”. While all the continents are represented in the book, there’s a huge emphasis on [...]

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Sightseeing Highlights of New Zealand

hot springs of Rotorua

New Zealand might have got a huge boost in tourist numbers of the Lord of the Rings films were made there, but even before that there were plenty of great reasons to visit this country. It’s full of scenic highlights, and you can go from glaciers to mountains to beaches in a day. Some of [...]

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Stopover Tips for Frankfurt, Germany

Stopover Tips for Frankfurt, Germany

The city of Frankfurt may not be the most exciting destination Germany has to offer, but with the large Frankfurt International Airport being such a hub for air traffic in and out of Europe, it is quite likely that you might find yourself in Frankfurt overnight with some time to kill. If you do wind [...]

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Sightseeing in Singapore

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More than just a hub where millions of people change planes each year, Singapore is a tourist attraction in itself. It’s a gentle introduction to Asia, where things look Western and most people speak English, but the Asian culture is there to enjoy as well. Some of the main sights of Singapore include:

Orchard Road, where [...]

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Book Review: Australia’s Best Eco-Friendly Holidays

Being an eco-friendly traveler is getting ever higher on the agenda these days and with the new Australia’s Best Eco-Friendly Holidays: Over 1,000 Unique Travel Experiences by Ken Eastwood, part of the Explore Australia series, there are plenty of opportunities for willing tourists to find sustainable and environmentally sound activities throughout Australia.

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Luxembourg and Liechtenstein: Visiting Tiny Countries

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If you’re traveling around the middle of Western Europe, you might well wonder whether it’s worth popping in to two of the smallest countries there: Liechtenstein, nestled in the Alps between Switzerland and Austria, and Luxembourg, squeezed in between Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Both countries are tiny – especially Liechtenstein at just 62 square [...]

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Playing Golf in the Australian Desert

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Ever wondered where the world’s largest golf course is? In fact it’s only recently opened, and it’s in the middle of Australia – in fact, it’s way out in the middle of the desert, where they certainly have plenty of space. It’s called the Nullarbor Links – Nullarbor is the name of the desert area [...]

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Sightseeing in Saint Petersburg, Russia

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Russia’s second largest city is, at least in my opinion, by far its prettiest. Saint Petersburg doesn’t have quite the hustle and bustle of Moscow, but it’s a majestic city resting on the Neva River and has so many interesting activities to keep you busy, including:

A visit to the Hermitage Museum in the Winter Palace. [...]

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Book Review: Plane Insanity

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A lot of us dream about becoming a flight attendant when we’re younger, but for the few who turn their dream into reality, they might just find that the reality is not quite as romantic as we like to believe. And if the book Plane Insanity: A Flight Attendant’s Tale of Sex, Rage and Queasiness [...]

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Sightseeing Highlights of New Zealand

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New Zealand might have got a huge boost in tourist numbers of the Lord of the Rings films were made there, but even before that there were plenty of great reasons to visit this country. It’s full of scenic highlights, and you can go from glaciers to mountains to beaches in a day. Some of [...]

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Book Review: 500 Places to Take Your Kids

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Better than many of the current flock of “places to go before …” travel guide books, Frommer’s 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up by Holly Hughes and Julie Duchaine makes a sensible point: there are some places that you can visit that your kids might enjoy the most while they are [...]

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Sightseeing Highlights of Melbourne

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Although Sydney might be Australia’s most recognizable city, Melbourne is a popular destination both for locals and tourists. Famed for being a multicultural city with a high proportion of immigrants, as well as being known for less than perfect weather with “four seasons in one day”, Melbourne is the place to go for dining, shopping [...]

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Book Review: Beijing Blur

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With so many books on travel in China coming out these days, it’s clear that we readers have a fascination with this important country; even though not that many of us have visited China yet, we all want to read about it. And for a modern look at some “real life” for a foreigner in [...]

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Places to Visit in Poland

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Now that Poland’s a part of the European Union and while costs are still a little cheaper there than in the countries further west, it’s a great time to check out this beautiful and historically rich country. It’s easy to fly there via Frankfurt and enough Poles speak English to make it easy to get [...]

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Book Review: Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons

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Italy’s a common destination for travel writers, but not so many of them head to Siciliy and decide to circumnavigate it on a Vespa scooter. But that’s what British travel and food writer Matthew Fort did and it led to his book Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons: Travels in Sicily on a Vespa.

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Exploring the Sydney Opera House

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The photogenic Sydney Opera House is one of the most recognizable buildings of the southern hemisphere, if not the world. Its sail-like shells and its beautiful location on Sydney Harbour make it a key destination for tourists visiting Australia; it has even been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 2007. Unfortunately, many tourists just [...]

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Book Review: The Ethical Travel Guide

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The new 2009 edition of The Ethical Travel Guide: Your Passport to Exciting Alternative Holidays by Polly Pattullo and Orely Minelli starts with forty pages of discussion on the topic of ethical travel, written by Polly Pattullo. There are facts and figures on the state of tourism in the world at the moment, and then [...]

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Book Review: A Country in the Moon

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Michael Moran’s A Country in the Moon: Travels in Search of the Heart of Poland is the kind of travel book that can inspire an armchair traveler to want to visit a place they’ve never had a special interest in before – and that’s because this is a literary travel narrative, written beautifully and with [...]

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Book Review: Frommer’s Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands

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With a close friend about to embark on a month in Ecuador including a trip to one of the destinations I’ve always wanted to get to, the Galapagos Islands, I thought it was a good time to look at the new second edition of the Frommer’s Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands guide. The front cover [...]

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Top 10 Travel Destinations for 2010

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The results are in: Lonely Planet has released its 2010 version of the ten destinations they think will be the hottest. As always, there is a mix of mainstream spots and places off the beaten track, and although I’m not really sure how the Lonely Planet people can be so certain that these are the [...]

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Book Review: Seeing Central Park

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By far one of the most famous parks in the world, if not the most famous, is New York’s Central Park – and if you either aren’t able to get to New York to visit it just yet, or if you’re there and you want to understand every detail of it, then the beautiful new [...]

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Book Review: Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven

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Susan Jane Gilmore, now a successful writer, was a mere college graduate when she and her college friend Claire decided to buy a backpack and travel around the world after finishing their degrees. That was in 1986, just a year after I also made my first overseas trip, and their first stop was the same [...]

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Book Review: The Best Travel Writing 2009

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One of my favorite gifts for armchair travelers is the annual compilation of travel stories put out by the people at Travelers’ Tales, and The Best Travel Writing 2009: True Stories From Around the World lives up to my expectations.

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Book Review: Burma, The Alternative Guide

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Burma, also known as Myanmar, is usually in the headlines to highlight its democratic problems and the struggle of Aung San Suu Kyi, and there are some groups which advocate travelers should avoid making visits to Burma. However, for those who decide it’s a good idea to get to know this country better, Elena Jotow [...]

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