The summer of 2021 presents a rare opportunity to persuade people to leave their cars at home and take day trips by train. As we wait for the government to explain exactly what it means by our transformed railway system ‘Great British Railways’, some train companies have decided not to wait to see how that… Continue reading
Browsing Category Travel
Syria – when it was last at peace
Ten years ago, in March 2011, peaceful protests against President Bashar Assad’s government began in Syria. Before long a popular uprising turned into full-blown civil war, and unspeakable violence against civilians. In 2021 Syria is economically devastated and divided, its populations dispersed and desperate, but Assad remains firmly in control. I visited Syria in its last… Continue reading
City of the high thrills – take the train to Lincoln
Lincoln is one of England’s finest old cities, dominated by its glorious cathedral, sitting high on a hill. But it has many smaller-scale marvels too, as I discovered. My don’t-miss list includes one very steep street, an original tank, an all-cheese restaurant, and the room where Tom Hanks stayed when he starred in the Da Vinci code.
Continue readingThe Singular Case of the Portsmouth Doctor – or Sherlock takes the train
Feb 23rd, 2021. Another in my series of easy, post-lockdown trips to take in the UK. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle set his Sherlock Holmes stories all over England, but you can follow the trail of both Doyle and Holmes, without leaving London. If you want to make one trip out of the capital, it has… Continue reading
Poirot turns 100: how the Belgian ‘tec met his match in the desert
In October 1920 Agatha Christie introduced Hercule Poirot in her novel, “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”. And the great detective lives on, in Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of Death on the Nile, which follows the actor/director’s Murder on the Orient Express. The film is expected to open late in 2020. 1994 I interviewed David Suchet on set during the filming of… Continue reading
Green stay – the hotel that will produce more energy than it uses
As the world seeks ways to reduce its carbon footprint over the next crucial decades, travel will have to do its bit too. There are many areas where action is required, such as reducing the impact of flying, increasing recycling in hotels and making food and drink more sustainable. But as the tourism industry primes… Continue reading