Your Ticket Aboard the World’s First Cruise Ship

Let’s take a cruise through history (see what I did there) aboard the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise, a German passenger ship of the Hamburg-America Line launched in 1900 and credited with having been the first purpose-built cruise ship. It only spent six years in service before it was accidentally grounded off the coast of Jamaica (oops),…

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The Villages Where Provence Meets the Côte d’Azur

You might want to pour yourself a cold glass of rosé before you begin browsing this post, maybe play some Jacques Brel; it only seems right. I left Paris and floated down south this weekend in search of sun, sea and Provençale pastels. Join me for a little tour of a ridiculously charming village or two… There is no better…

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5 Little-Known Chateaux to Visit Near Paris

‘Tis the season for chateaux hunting! Of course, you won’t find us fighting our way through the selfie sticks at Versailles, and I thought we should round up a few of our go-to castles for fall day tripping around Paris… 1. The Three Musketeers Hideaway A forty minute drive west of the Notre Dame cathedral…

A Journey Down Europe’s Sunken Lanes

Dreaming of getting lost down some pastorally perfect country roads? Much more than a route from A to B, these mysterious ancient pathways hold secrets of their own. To find out what they are, all you have to do is walk towards the light at the end of the lane. Our usual advice to rovers…

What’s the Paris Opera House Doing in New York City?

Paris, is that you? All signs would point to yes in this building, a bite sized double if ever there was one for the Opéra Garnier. Y’know, the one of Phantom of the Opera fame? With a dramatic double staircase made for cape swooshing, cinematic lamp posts and marble for days? Although the Beaux Arts…

Mother & Daughter Buy an Abandoned Chateau, Invite You to Stay as they Restore It

Back in 2013, we broke a story about a couple that bought an abandoned chateau and started a blog to share their journey. Widespread interest, longing and general FOMO (fear-of-missing-out) ensued on the internet. Several years later, we’ve found a similar fairytale: an architect from Austria, Elisabeth Herring, and her daughter Valerie, adopt a neglected 16th…

Greetings, from Home Sweet Hole N’ the Rock

We interrupt your life above ground for some unsolicited subterranean splendour. It’s just a quick pit stop off the humble Highway 191 in eastern Utah. But poke your head inside, and you’ll discover a 5,000 square foot home fully equipped for life beyond the Stone Age. It goes to show that just when you think…

All Aboard! The Lost Romance of the Sleeper Train

Books, songs and movies have long-romanticised what it’s like to travel overnight on a sleeper train. Judy Garland took us on a musical ride along the Santa Fe Railway in The Harvey Girls, while Bing Crosby and company whisked us across the American plains to the mountains of Vermont aboard a beautifully vintage streamliner train…

India’s Paradise of Street Graphics

I found a Flickr account today that had my eyes going like a pinball machine. It’s called the Meanest Indian and the photographs remind me of the legendary Steve McCurry’s work in India. Meena Kadri is the lady behind the camera, who lives in New Zealand where she runs a graphic design company but frequently returns…

Steve McCurry’s Blue City

There are no cars or motorcycles in the medieval quarters of Jodphur, India, once the capital of a princely state. Contrasting the burnt orange of the Thar Desert, the old city is painted in brilliant blue. Local guides say the houses were painted blue to indicate the homes of the upper-caste Brahmins, but others say…