Travel
The joy of eating birdseed
Rather like unpacking after a holiday, when you take unworn clothes from the case still neatly folded because the occasion…
How to get into a club and on to a plane
Disaster struck the Young family last Friday. My 12-year-old son Charlie woke up with a temperature. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t matter,…
The Spanish approach to face masks
We self-critical British should never forget that other nations are pretty crazy too. I write this from Andalusia, Spain; and…
What are online shoppers most likely to snap up?
Price of protest Greenpeace was fined £80,000 for defying a court order and occupying an oil rig in the North…
Is there anywhere visitors will be welcome this summer?
Do stock markets foretell the future while politicians fudge and economists mumble? No: share prices collectively have a life of…
The quarantine debacle could cripple Britain’s travel industry
The quarantine debacle could cripple British tourism
Who would want to come to Britain for a holiday now?
All logic suggests that the 14-day quarantine for arrivals from abroad really is, as Michael O’Leary of Ryanair put it,…
I went to hell and back to meet my new granddaughter
Wolfsegg, Austria I have finally understood what’s wrong with the modern world: motorways. These dehumanising slabs of asphalt covering our…
The growing rebellion against quarantine for UK arrivals
The government’s most unpopular policy on its own benches is its plan to make almost everyone arriving in this country…
Dear Mary: Why don’t my neighbours appreciate my 8 p.m. Thursday firework?
Q. For me the hallmark of a really close friend is someone with whom you feel comfortable enough to bring…
Is there any better place for an EU-subsidised arts festival than Galway?
I was still digesting my delicious breakfast (kippers, poached eggs and soda bread — all local) when the sad news…
Prue Leith: My carbon footprint should put me in jail
I made the mistake of saying I thought insects might help feed the world. They are high-protein, cheap to farm…
Vampire squids are killing Britain’s B&Bs
More and more of us are staying home for our holidays — but even so, our small hotels and B&Bs…
Nothing can beat the romance of luxury train travel between the wars
There may never have been a murder on the real Orient Express, but otherwise Agatha Christie’s depiction of luxury train…
Uzbekistan: where east meets west and past meets present
You realise what a rarity western tourists are when the locals ask to take selfies with you. I was standing…
The island where monkeys steal from your minibar
A short flight from Kuala Lumpur, the island of Langkawiis a wise choice for anyone seeking to shake off the…
Tsar quality: the charm of Tbilisi
‘These regions are not under the control of the central government,’ reads a warning on a map of Georgia in…
Why Tuscany always beats Provence for me
A family of peacocks is sunning itself in our villa garden. They all look extraordinarily happy and composed, especially the…
Visiting the world’s masterpieces is a quixotic undertaking
From his base in London, Martin Gayford has spent much of his career as an art critic travelling. He has…
Round North Korea with Michael Palin in rose-tinted spectacles
Michael Palin in North Korea, a two-part documentary in which the Python is given a tightly choreographed tour of that…
On photography, shrines and Maradona: Geoff Dyer’s Neapolitan pilgrimage
At the Villa Pignatelli in Naples there is an exhibition by Elisa Sighicelli: photographs of bits and pieces of antiquity…
The spooky side of Savannah
Savannah GA is supposed to have lots of ghosts, but I’d forgotten that. It was an April morning and sunlight…
There is a far better option than HS2 – and it already exists
Just 48 hours before the conclusion of the Conservative leadership contest, Allan Cook, chairman of HS2, wrote to the government…
Dear Mary: I won a bet – how do I make my friend pay up?
Q. A delightful but disorganised friend has invited several of our circle for a weekend at his family’s beautiful country…
Dear Mary: how can I stop myself procrastinating?
Q. I am not a professional writer but on the strength of a short piece I contributed to a Festschrift…
