Wooden chalets full of Christmas ornaments, towering Christmas trees, sparkling lights and the smell of log fires burning, roasting chestnuts and bubbling pans of Glühwein. Christmas markets have taken over Europe, and there are few cities which don’t have…
Travel tales
Jaillan Yehia from Savoirthere leaves the Liebfraumilch behind and gets to grips with world-class grapes in Mainz, Germany’s wine-producing capital, on assignment for On the Luce – it’s a tricky job but somebody had to do it. Here’s what…
The golden rays of late afternoon sun are beating down onto the park’s dry, bleached grassland. A pair of zebras are reflected in the still surface of the watering hole as they drink. A safari truck rumbles along a…
From an offering to the Mayan gods to a $50 billion business, chocolate has taken over the world. This little piece of heaven in a bar has millions of devotees around the world, whether you’re more a 90% cocoa…
The sun’s shining, the Champagne’s on ice and there’s a double birthday celebration for both me and the blog. On the Luce has reached it’s seventh anniversary (and I’ve reached a slightly older age!) after another big year –…
Where can you travel in one day? I try to fit in as many trips as I can, but it sometimes feels like it’s not worth visiting somewhere for just a day. That you can’t see enough or it’s…
The food on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia is a real mixture of influences – take West Indian produce and Creole cooking techniques, add a touch of French flair, some British imports and a pinch of African and…
After 30 years of travel, 50 countries and seven years of blogging, you’d think I might actually be good at this travel thing by now. Travel’s my passion, and I love being able to share my advice and experiences…
The Forest of Dean was a big part of my childhood. I grew up not far away in Ross-on-Wye and spent so many weekends in the Forest – walking the Sculpture Trail, cycling the old railway line, splashing around…
The skies are dark and moody as we pass through the gates of Birkenau, part of the Auschwitz concentration camp near Kraków in Poland. As we walk across this huge, bleak stretch of land a cold wind whistles by…
When you book a spring weekend away in northern Europe you never know what you’re going to get. Rain, sun, snow – a bit of everything? So you need a destination that ticks a few boxes.…
New York has to be one of my favourite cities in the world – it’s such a diverse and fast-changing place that every time I visit I have a totally different experience. My first couple of trips focused on…
Christmas Day has been and gone, and I’m pretty sure my body is about 90% prosecco and cheese right now. But I love this part of the year, when you look back at what you achieved last year before…