Stories behind the stories. By Travel Writer, Amy McPherson
As I am about to head over to Kiev for the second time, I thought I’d share 5 interesting facts I learned about Kiev that you probably didn’t know! 1. Kiev, or Kyiv, is one of the largest and oldest cities in Eastern Europe. The city was founded in the year of 482BC. That’s pretty old. Ok, …
(First published on Huffington Post Blogs: 10 Reasons Why Travellers Make Terrible Friends) Yep. You know us. We are the ones who post photos and updates from exotic places on Facebook. We are the ones whose fashion collection make up of cultural rags from all the countries we have been. We are your friends. Your …
Today marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp. I visited more than ten years ago, in 2003, to this place that brought me to tears just standing on the empty rail line, where a small bouquet of flower was laid by a visitor reflected the grievous mood felt by all those …
One of the best things about living in a ‘global’ city is that you get to experience film and tv sets everyday. How many times have you seen the Tower Bridge, the Big Ben and those iconic red Double Decker buses on screen? From James Bond to Harry Potter to Doctor Who to Thor. London …
I have been to Moscow a couple of times and will be heading off again in a few days. One of the things I have enjoyed in Moscow (as usual) is the food. You can find any sort of cuisine in Moscow, even an American Diner just a block away from the Red Square (notice …
Edinburgh is beautiful, as I have been told many a times. “Edinburgh is beautiful. You should go.” Go we did, but before we could savour the beauty we needed to understand her first. Wha’ yer din her? I am sorry? Wear yer flom? Nothing made sense, I was starting to wonder if we had perhaps …
It was as if I was asking my husband to jump in a freezing lake for a swim, or dance naked on the streets. How about Moscow in winter? “I am not going with you to Moscow in December. That’s that!” He had said with such ferocity when I asked him if he would like …
Don’t be surprised that most of our activities at the Christmas Markets had something to do with food. Well, after all, I do love some market street food! In my opinion, Germans have got the best ‘street food’ culture in Europe, mostly because Europe as a continent just doesn’t really associate itself with street food …
I have been waiting for this moment for ten years, when I am able to finally spend Christmas in Europe and have easy access to the Christmas markets that I loved in Germany. It took an easy hour’s hop from London to Cologne, and we were among Cologne’s four Christmas markets. Markt am Dom The …
I’ve just spent a week in Moscow. Average temperature throughout hovered around -6, the air was super crisp and every breath I took was a steam of confirmation that this was indeed winter. And I loved it. “It’s not the coldest yet!” Said a writer friend in an email to me, when I described how …
I’ve been bear hunting on the weekend, apparently Paddington has hit London town, and it’s become an obsession to track him down! He is everywhere, all 50 of his ‘incarnations’, but my priority was to find the Dr Who Paddington, and whichever one I see on my way are just bonuses. My hunt took me to …
It’s been a running joke at work, because no one so far has done it this way round, that I had moved to the UK because I preferred the weather. I have (officially) been here for a couple of weeks now and have seen the weather turn from beautiful to horrid, most times within a …
I have a thing for sunsets, as you probably have gathered from my post about Chasing Sunsets. This particular sunset was captured on Baracay Island in the Philippines, taken by Peter Navea. It has been almost a year since our trip to the Philippines. We never made it to Baracay but it is certainly on …
I was driving home last night from the east side of Sydney back to the west. I haven’t driven this way for a while and at one stage took the wrong turn and instead of heading toward the main road that would have taken me directly west, I was heading east again. Then, like the …
I work for an international office and have colleagues all around the world. From time to time, they would come for meetings in Sydney and being the traveller of the office, I end up being the ‘go-to’ person for travelling around Sydney. And just like what I mentioned about tourist destinations, they all want to …
If you have been following my journeys for a while you may have noticed that food features heavily in all parts of my travels. I am b y nature fascinated by food, and have realised that what we take on face value of a dish isn’t always what we assume. Similar book review: A Moveable Feast …
I am starting to look into possible travel opportunities around Europe, and many of you know that the Middle East has always intrigued me. One of the first I’d like to attempt is Egypt (because cats were worshiped as Gods in Egypt – you know where this is going ;-)), having spoken about tourist destinations …
I thought I’d write a follow up post to pair up with what I wrote last week on In Defense of the ‘Tourist’. As I said, you can’t avoid being the tourist, but you can avoid being that tourist. Even the most touristy destinations have local areas that will give you an insight into the …
Street food does exist in Europe, and in Germany where the society is used to the concept of ‘take away’ snacks, it is no wonder that there are countless of these wurst stands all over the country, selling variety of sausages and meats stuffed in a bread roll, just enough to fill the gap between …
It’s been nice. Our little apartment in Bonn. We packed up, cleaned it spotless and gave the keys back. The door closed with a loud thud behind us marking the end to another chapter of our travelling life, and what a fantastic couple of months it has been Living in Bonn has been a different …
I am a mountain person. Have always been. I do love the sea very much, and have a soft spot for the excellent dive sites around the world, but I will always favour the mountains and its forests, the furry and tweeting creatures in them, the trees and the streams and waterways that run through …
Discovering a place is like making a new friend. The first time you meet them, you may be taken aback by what it immediately throws at you, and the more you visit and get to know a place, the more you realise there are layers to the personality that you never know existed. This is …
Luxembourg really was a blur. Ten years ago I had come here, on a weekend trip with my fellow in-country studies students. It was the beginning of Spring in 2003, we braved the cold chill in the morning air and got on the train (in those days, we enjoyed both the student discount and the …
We went for a walk yesterday in a quiet and serene part of the neighbourhood, where the grass is green and the ground covered by flowers. Its residents never make a sound, and some often prove to be great listeners to all one’s concerns and troubles. Many come here to sit and listen, to the …
