For the duration of the ferry crossing from Heysham, Lancashire to Douglas, Isle of Man, flat screen TVs broadcast the Sky News channel. The TVs were on mute, but the message was coming through loud and clear; the UK parliament had just voted in favour of joining airstrikes on Isis in Iraq. At the time, […]

With more comic strip artists per square mile (yes, someone, somewhere has counted this), it’s fair to say Brussels is a little comic book mad. Tin Tin and the Smurfs were created here – amongst many others – and the city even boasts its own comic museum, the Belgian Comic Strip Centre. It’s the comic book […]

It first caught our eye as simply a cool-looking cafe, as we walked along Rue Haute on our way to Place du Grand Sablon, around brunch time. A big glass front showcased the stylish, stripped-wood furniture inside, the headlight of a pale blue Vespa winked at me invitingly just beyond the door (I’m a sucker for […]

It’s Sunday. And I’m a tad hungover. Not ‘can’t function’ hungover. Just the sort of hungover where a hair of the dog and plenty of comforting food are in order. So with usual lazy Sunday destinations of Didsbury and Chorlton done to death of late, and Manchester city centre the cause of the hangover in the […]

“Being located on the edge of a cliff in Cornwall isn’t the best place for a mobile signal… a nice stroll to the top of the hill normally does the trick”. The information book in my room confirmed that signal is hard to come by here. But you sense that’s just the way The Scarlet […]

“Oh you should go to Formby beach, it’s lovely…” says me. Who’s never been. Have you ever recommended somewhere you’ve never actually visited? It’s not something I make a habit of doing, but having heard from a few people that the beach at Formby’s Lifeboat Road in Merseyside is a bit of a beaut, I’ve […]

Between performing some sort of hokey cokey dance on the pavement and genuinely considering using my girlfriend as a human shield, my manliness is becoming under serious threat. But then crossing the road for the first time in Ho Chi Minh does funny things to you. You read about the traffic, the millions of motorbikes […]

In case you hadn’t noticed, being a tourist isn’t ‘cool’ any more. If you believe many travel bloggers/writers/brands/guides (delete as appropriate), if you’re not ‘doing it like a local’ these days, you’re doing it wrong. Well guess what? For most types of travel, if you’re not enjoying it, you’re doing it wrong… and that should […]

Stella Artois. It’s fair to say it’s been responsible for a good few (and bad!) stories over the years that are probably not publishable here. But I’m happy to share my latest fling with the legendary lager. For I’ve just returned from a fun weekend in its home town, Leuven – 30km east of Brussels. […]