How much of Route 66 can you see in one weekend? We head to Chicago to find out… October 29, 2018 Route 66, America’s most legendary highway, is a month-long mission for many who attempt to drive the whole thing. It starts in downtown Chicago and ends 2,448 miles later in front of the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles. But what if you only have a weekend to Get Your Kicks on Route 66? With [...]
Have trainers, will travel: Nothing beats running when you need to get to know a city October 24, 2018 On Friday morning, somewhere along the windswept shore of Lake Ontario, I will pass a significant and, many will say, rather self-obsessed milestone. If all goes to plan I will run a minimum of five kilometres through Toronto, allowing me to add Canada to the list of countries I’ve run in, bringing the total up [...]
The Kenyan island of Rusinga is considered to be the cradle of humanity. Today it’s an archaeologist’s playground October 22, 2018 "Whose baby is this?" I asked a crowd of fifty children, one of whom had just handed me a baby younger than some of the food in my fridge. They all laughed and pointed, and I began to worry that I’d somehow been tricked into becoming an adoptive father. But before I could start making [...]
Holiday Homes: We visit a resort in Greece that lets you design a villa, grow your own olives and make a boutique wine October 19, 2018 They say it’s location, location, location, but who caresif you’re out in the sticks if you can grow and harvest your own olive oil? Brits have long harboured a Mediterranean dream but it’s no longer enough to buy an identikit white villa – it’s all about lifestyle when you get there. These bespoke villas in [...]
The unspoilt ski slopes of Gudauri in Georgia are Europe’s best kept secret October 12, 2018 The Georgian Military Highway winds its way from Tbilisi towards the Russian border, passing UNESCO churches, scenic reservoirs, and the somewhat over optimistically named Friendship Monument, a late 1980s celebration of Georgian-Soviet relations. As the road climbs higher, the forests cloaking the slopes grow thinner until you emerge above the treeline and they’re replaced completely [...]
Want to get the most out of the Cook Islands? Follow Chris Osburn as he explores this South Pacific paradise… October 8, 2018 The Cook Islands is a nation comprising 15 small islands sprinkled across a patch of the South Pacific, roughly halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand. As remote as they are spectacular, the collection of islands is reminiscent of Hawaii before its mid-century tourism-boom, and though the largest of its islands is today ringed by boutique [...]
The Great Gig in the Sky: We hiked for two days to hear the world’s highest music festival October 5, 2018 The hills are alive with the sound of… my heavy breathing. I nervously inch my way along a slippery glacier while clinging onto a steel cable, the only lifeline preventing me from plunging hundreds of feet into the rocky abyss below. I am high up in the craggy and unyielding Dolomite Mountains in the Trentino [...]
Interiors: The story of a Chinese twenty-something who created a best of British flat in Shanghai October 5, 2018 Anyone casting an eye around this spacious contemporary apartment would find its elegance reassuringly familiar. English joinery, heritage brands, bespoke handcrafted furniture – you could be visiting One Hyde Park. But look outside the 18th-floor panoramic windows and it’s not the sweeping green of central London you see, but the majestic Huangpu river, snaking through [...]
Don’t write off this kitsch cultural phenomenon, the Golden State is seeing a third wave of these Polynesian-themed bars. October 5, 2018 Tiki hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons this summer, when a bunch of neo-Nazis and white supremicists fired up tiki torches and took to the streets in Charlottesville, prompting not only international revulsion, but also a stern rebuke from the makers of the flaming implements. “Our products are designed to enhance backyard gatherings [...]
Bored of Bora Bora? Set sail to the islands of Rangiroa, Moorea, and Tahiti to discover the real French Polynesia September 28, 2018 French Polynesia is the archetypal island paradise. A place of such astounding natural beauty that superlatives fail from overuse. This French overseas territory sits in the heart of the South Pacific, at the centre of the Polynesian-triangle; roughly equidistant between Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand. It consists of five culturally and geographically diverse island [...]