New blog post, on why I love to hike > aplantogo.com/2024/05/24/why…

The lost 6th century city of Sauran, located between Turkestan and Baikonur 🇰🇿. Conquered by Genghis Khan, spared by Timur, devastated by the decline of the Silk Route.

I was lucky to be shown the earlier stages of this project last year. It's an old canal, turned into a surf venue (using renewable energy and filtered water), in the very middle of Rotterdam. An extraordinary vision come to life. Congratulations to all involved RIF010 URBAN SURFING ROTTERDAM

Looking for a half-price alternative to Center Parcs UK? Catherine Renton, Sophie Lam and i travel told you where to look in May 2023

inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyl…

While Tunisia will easily tempt you towards its wide sun-baked beaches, it has plenty to show off away from its sand and sea. Olly Beckett shares seven cultural sights to lure you from your lounger here 🇹🇳 weather2travel.com/blog/tunisia-c… Discover Tunisia #Tunisia

An extremely sad yet very rare event. I think this is only the seventh severe turbulence event that has resulted in fatality on a commercial jet since 1980

As delightful as Tunisia's beaches are, in this Weather2Travel.com piece I've provided some reasons for why you may want to travel a little way beyond them:

Well done to Eurostar for putting this right, although it should never have happened in the first place. Well done, too, to the Observer journalist(s?) for keeping the pressure on:

theguardian.com/business/artic…

BBC Proms tickets booked (after a worryingly long wait in a queue). A summer of some of the world's best orchestras playing some of the world's finest classical music in one of the world's most beautiful music halls, with tickets from just £10. Lovely.

Sent my old passport off on Monday (😭) received my new passport (🤮) today. Impressive efficiency but sadly there's no need to hurry after all

Editors: Camden Town is currently centre stage of the Amy Winehouse biopic and a Disney+ series. I've lived here for 20 years, I've seen MANY weird and wonderful things/people here, and I've written for major publishers (portfolio in bio). All emails answered!
#journorequest

I've moved over to GayCities as the editor. I'm looking for travel writers who are people of color, trans, or women. Let's bring more representation to the industry! Hit me with your pitches!

New blog post: In awe of Armenia > aplantogo.com/2024/05/16/in-…

Soon, I'm going travelling for another 2 1/2 weeks across Eastern Europe. In the meantime, here is a similar itinerary covering my Baltics & Finland tour from last summer.

Beautiful capital cities, friendly people & good coffee.

What's more to ask?

solotravelstory.com/baltics-tour-a…

Of the last 100 pitches I've sent over 60% received no response. Many thanks to those editors who take the time to send a 'no thanks', I know you receive a ton of pitches and so even a simple reply is much appreciated

Started research for a travel book 10 years ago, became waylaid by life in the interim and subsequently lost the list of books I borrowed from the British Library. Due to the cyber attack on the library it seems that I'll never recover that information. So, starting from square 1

That Lonely Planet has been closed for pitches for longer than I can remember kind of flies in the face of this video's claim that AI is allowing them to commission writers to go out and seek new experiences to feed the machine

Cappadocia 🇹🇷, from a March 2010 visit. We travelled here via an Istanbul to Kayseri sleeper train which no longer exists (probably a good thing as it was disruptively late)

Haha, this is awesome, well done Croatia 🇭🇷. I tried to spot places I've been to (could see Split, Zadar, Zagreb, maybe Rovinj, Dubrovnik?) and noted some that look well worth visiting (lots)

5 brief recommendations for a cheap London visit this summer:
1. Museums: FREE
2. Art galleries: FREE
3. Accommodation: Travelodge/Premier Inn
4. Transport: walk or use your bank card on the Tube/bus
5. Entertainment: BBC Proms tickets easily available from £12