London: Highlights in a Day

So you're only in London for a day and you want to see as much as you can without running around. What should you see and do? I spent a day traipsing round London with my sister doing the following and we reckon these are some of the best bits of the city. We did this route in reverse on a Sunday, skipping the Natural History Museum because of the massive queue at 10am (opening time). Even missing that out, we were done by just gone 3pm.

Before we start, you're going to need comfortable shoes and you won't want to be carrying a heavy bag around with you. There's a fair bit of walking involved.

Start your day with a history and culture fix at the British Museum (nearest Tube Station: Russell Square or Holborn). It is entirely possible to spend the whole day in here (this is a recurring theme with London museums) so we've picked out some highlights for you. Start off by popping up to level 1 and seeing the Lewis Chessmen and the Sutton Hoo treasures. Beautifully crafted, they are. Then head down through the early Britain and Persian galleries and turn left into the Egyptian galleries. It's always busy in here, but if mummies are your thing, it's worth it. After that, head down the East Stairs, cross the courtyard and aim for room 21 where you can see fragments of the tomb of Mausolos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Follow the galleries through here to see some amazing pieces of Assyrian sculpture. This is the sort of stuff a certain terrorist group are currently blowing up in the Middle East, so make the most of it. More suggestions for the British Museum can be found in THIS POST.

Treasure from the Sutton Hoo burial

Once you've got your fill of history, take a walk south to Covent Garden. This takes about 15 minutes. Or you could take the shorter walk to Holborn Tube Station and hop on the Piccadilly Line to Covent Garden Station. Have a wander round the little shops and check out the street entertainment - it's normally pretty good round here.

In a kilt. Up a ladder. With knives. Covent Garden entertainment.

Move on from Covent Garden towards Trafalgar Square, another 10 minute walk. Or take the Tube (various options) to Charing Cross. Trafalgar Square's great for people watching, so make sure to spend a few minutes enjoying the view and then pop into the National Portrait Gallery, just round the corner from the National Gallery which fronts onto the Square.

Portraiture isn't really my thing, but the Tudor and Stuart galleries are pretty interesting and probably the only thing I'd personally take in. From there, move on to the National Gallery. Plenty of amazing artwork to go at in here. The majority of the collection is on level 2 - just go straight up the stairs as you come through the main entrance at Trafalgar Square. Take in Van Gogh, Suerat and Monet (rooms 43-45), Caneletto (room 38), Turner's beautiful seascapes (my favourites, in room 34) and Rembrandt (rooms 23-4).

You might be getting a bit peckish by now. There's plenty of cafes around the Square, but I would suggest if it's a reasonable day, grab something to go and sit by the fountains to eat. Again, great for people watching.

From there, hop on the Tube from Charing Cross to Westminster (via Embankment). At Westminster, take a stroll onto the bridge to get those classic shots of Big Ben and the London Eye and then head north past the Houses of Parliament to see Westminster Abbey. It currently costs £20 to get into the Abbey, a price I'm not quite willing to pay, but do have a look inside if you can - I hear it's beautiful.

Carry on walking up Birdcage Walk. This will take you up alongside St James' Park and up to Buckingham Palace. It is always busy round here, but especially so at the Changing of the Guards. Take those selfies (or whatever it is people do at Buckingham Palace) and then head across the roundabout to take the road up past Green Park. If you're a bit lost, look for signs for Hyde Park Corner. At the top of the hill is the huge Wellington Arch.

If all that sounds like too much walking - it's about 30 minutes altogether - and you're not too bothered about Buckingham Palace, hop back on the Tube at Westminster and take the District or Circle lines to South Kensington. If you've done the walking, take the Piccadilly from Hyde Park Corner to South Kensington.

During the holidays and weekends, this must be one of the busiest stations on the Tube network and it's because some of London's most popular museums are accessed from it. We're suggesting the Victoria & Albert Museum as your first stop here, purely because the Natural History Museum is best left till late in the day.

So, head up the subway from the station and head into the V&A. Again, you could spend most of the day in here, so we've picked out some highlights. First, the costume gallery (room 40), to the right hand side if you enter through the Exhibition Road doors - a great view of how fashions have changed over the last few hundred years. This will lead you into the Asian galleries. We'll come back to this in a bit, but first head straight across into room 48a to see the amazing Raphael Cartoons - these are full size template drawings to be copied as tapestries. They're in amazing condition given their age. Once you've admired these, head back into the Asian galleries, making sure to check out the Islamic Middle East section (room 42) and from there go onto the Cast Courts (rooms 46a and 46b). These are full of various replicas, including a plaster copy of Trajan's Column.

History and art fix filled? Tired? Why not take a break in the V&A's awesome cafe. It gets busy, but if you've got time, it's worth it for the joy of eating in this room.

Awesome, right?

Anyway, head now up Exhibition Road away from the station. A 10 minute walk will bring you to the top where you need to turn left. You should see the Royal Albert Hall. Cross the road to get a better view of it and of the Albert Memorial which stands opposite. There's nothing to do here, just a nice view and we've tried to bring you to the Natural History Museum as late as possible.

On which note, we now need to head back down Exhibition Road, towards South Kensington Station. The Natural History Museum is on your right near the end of the road. Take the Exhibition Road entrance into the Earth Galleries. Take the escalator all the way up to the top floor and have a wander around the Volcanoes & Earthquakes area. Have a go on the Kobe earthquake simulator - great fun for kids (and adults, let's be honest).

Into the bowels of the Earth...

Head back down to the ground floor and take a walk through the Green Zone. You should end up in a corridor full of fossil marine reptiles - one of my favourite parts of the museum. If you want to see the Natural History Museum's famous dinosaurs, now is the time. Cross the main entrance hall and enter the Dinosaur Gallery on your left. If it's late on in the day you should be able to enjoy the gallery at your own speed. If you've timed it wrong, you'll just get swept along in an irritable crowd.

The final suggestion I'd make for the Natural History Museum is the Darwin Centre. This is always quieter than the rest of the museum, but if you get creeped out by things floating in jars, it might not be for you. You've been warned.

That completes our suggestions for seeing London's highlights in a day. Obviously, these are just our ideas of what constitutes the highlights and I'd love to hear what others would include. Aside from the Tube, all the places included here are free entry. The Tube will be cheaper if you buy either a travelcard or get an Oyster Card. You'll also find getting on the Tube easier if you move down to the end of the platforms - the end carriages are quieter.

So, what do you think? What are your London highlights?

London: Ways to spend a day

I'm in London at the moment. It's lovely (discounting the Tube, which is hellish as always). I'm here with my sister and we're finding some interesting ways to spend the day. I thought I'd share a few with you.

1. Seek out new museums

Well, not so much new as less-visited. The Natural History Museum, National Gallery and British Museum are wonderful and we'll probably end up there at some point during this trip, but for the most part we're trying to find more unusual places. Things like the Old Operating Theatre at London Bridge and the Fan Museum at Greenwich. You can easily spend a whole day strolling around a few of these little gems.

2. People watching

London is amazing for people watching. Just find yourself a good vantage point and enjoy the view. Trafalgar Square is good (mostly for watching other tourists) along with Leicester Square. If you don't fancy sitting outside and want a bit more comfort, you can go and find yourself a window seat in a cafe and just watch the world go by.

3. Explore the Tube

Grab yourself a day pass (or an Oyster Card) and go. OK, so it's a little bit geeky, but there's some interesting little stations dotted around the Tube network. You could try hopping off at the next station down from the one you planned and then explore that area instead. Might find a cool new cafe or shop or a little piece of London history.

4. Explore on foot

Alternatively, skip the Tube entirely. Try to get between the places you'd planned on your own two feet. You'll see more of the city and you might just come across something new. That's how I came across Lincoln's Inn Fields earlier in the year, although I was sort of looking for the Hunterian Museum as well. Nice little park to stop and sit a while.

5. See the highlights

OK, so everyone’s going to have different highlights, but if you pick just a few you can easily get round the best bits in a day. This is probably easier for those who’ve visited London before and know what they want to see, but I’d recommend a couple of specific galleries from the museums, a stroll through one of the parks and a trip to Trafalgar Square for the people watching.

There’ll be a post in the next week or so of my pick of London’s highlights, but if you’ve got your own and you think others should know about them, why not leave a note in the comments?

Why I Won't Be Scared

I'm going to London tomorrow. Enjoying a super long weekend with my sister. We're going to search out some little museums and poke around in little nooks of the city.

In the wake of the awful attacks on Paris recently, several colleagues have questioned why I'm still going. Won't I feel unsafe? Aren't I scared that something bad will happen?

To which my answer is no. I won't. For the following reasons.

1. What are the chances?

By all means, the threat of a terrorist attack on London is high. But it is a threat only. And if something does happen, how likely is it that I personally will be involved? There's several million people in London at any one time. The chances of any single person being caught up in a terrorist attack is very low. The figures I can find are for folks from the US, but basically I'm many hundreds of times more likely to be killed in a car crash than I am in an act of terrorism. Yeah.

2. I am careful

I'm not a suspicious person, but I'm not stupid enough that I wouldn't know a dangerous situation if I saw it. I'm much more concerned about general crime (pickpocketing and the like) than I am about terrorists in London.

3. I will not be scared

The whole point of terrorism is to instill terror in people. To make them feel unsafe in their own territory. To turn them against their fellow citizens (and refugees, but that's for another day). I refuse to be scared by these people. It would feel like giving in. That's what they want and I refuse.

So yes, I am going to London tomorrow. I will be my usual careful self and have to suppress anxiety on the Tube, but I will enjoy myself and I will make the most of my time off.

The terrorists can go fuck themselves.

Lincolnshire's Wild Side: 5 Great Nature Reserves

Ambling around the countryside is one of my favourite things to do of a weekend afternoon. And in a county the size of Lincolnshire, there's plenty of places to go. Why not combine a gentle ramble with a bit of wildlife spotting and check out some of my favourite Lincolnshire nature reserves?

1. Far Ings National Nature Reserve, Barton-upon-Humber

Many moons ago, I used to volunteer at this excellent reserve on the south bank of the Humber Estuary. It's a beautiful place, with extensive reedbeds and scrubby woodland. You can spot waders of all kinds and if you're very lucky, you might hear the bitterns booming.

2. Alkborough Flats Nature Reserve, Alkborough

Just along the river from Far Ings (above), is this relatively new reserve near the little village of Alkborough. The old sea defences have been breached here to create new wetlands, with tidal pools positively brimming with birds. As with Far Ings, the site is great for spotting waders although it's worth keeping an eye out for Marsh Harriers too - you can also see these beautiful raptors at the Blacktoft Sands RSPB reserve across the other side of the River Trent.

3. Donna Nook National Nature Reserve

The biggest draw at Donna Nook is the grey seal colony, one of the largest in the UK. During the breeding season (November through January), it can get quite busy and access is restricted, but it's worth it to see the newborn pups - possibly the closest you'll get to such a large wild animal. In the off-season, there's great walking through the dunes and along the beach towards Saltfleet to the south and Grainthorpe to the north. Just watch out for the RAF bombing range.

4. Snipe Dales Country Park & Nature Reserve, Hagworthingham

A beautiful park in the heart of the Lincolnshire Wolds - partly forested while the rest is heathland. There are a few ponds where you can spot dragonflies and their ilk, while a stroll through the trees listening to birds singing (or yelling at you) is a great way to spend a few hours.

5. Tetney Blow Wells Nature Reserve, Tetney

A relatively small reserve, quiet and tucked out of the way, Tetney Blow Wells is lovely. The blow wells themselves are pools formed by springs and the rest of the site has woodland and reedbeds. For the history buffs, the area used to be home to a watercress farm and there are still a few bits of old pipe and whatnot laying around. It can get boggy in places, so make sure to stick to the path.

Honourable Mention: Saltfleetby-Theddlethorpe Dunes National Nature Reserve

Adjoining the Donna Nook reserve, this is perfect for a wander during the former's off-season. You can walk quite a long way along the beach, but make sure to check the tides before you do so - it comes in quick along this coast and you wouldn't want to have to call the coastguard.

So that's 5 of my favourite nature reserves in Lincolnshire. Perfect for whiling away a weekend afternoon. What beautiful wild spaces are there near you? Are there any hidden green spaces right in your back yard? Why not share in the comments.

Destination Daydreams: South Africa

I will admit that my travel plans for the South African leg of the Grand Tour are quite... limited. The main reason for including it is to revisit the International Primate Rescue (IPR) sanctuary just north of Pretoria. I first went there a couple of years ago with my mum and I'd love to go back.

The Thinker

IPR take in rescued primates from all over the place, mostly from the exotic pet trade in South Africa, but others from further afield. Two weeks volunteering there was an amazing experience, which is why I'm planning on going back. Two weeks of feeding, cleaning and generally making sure the lives of the monkeys are better than their pasts sounds like a pretty good thing to me.

Good perch?

But there are other things I'd like to do in South Africa. A return to Kruger National Park for a safari trip is top of the list. I went for a 3 day trip while I was at IPR last time and it still ranks as one of the most amazing things I've done. Driving along dusty roads just after dawn and finding a crash of rhinos asleep in the middle of the road was... mind blowing, I think. We easily spent 15 minutes just sitting and watching them until they disappeared into the bush. The way such large animals can melt away like that will always impress me.

I'd really like to see big cats in the wild though and that means both having a fair amount of luck and also spending a bit longer in the park. I believe there's African Wild Dogs within the bounds of Kruger as well, which would make my life, let alone my trip. I love African Wild Dogs. Did you know they have a hunt success rate of about 80%? Compared to the much-lauded lions at 20%, this is pretty damn impressive. You'd struggle to find a much more effective and efficient hunter.

Aside from those two things which are my absolute musts for South Africa, there's also a whole host of fossil sites with lots of early human stuff going on. I think I'd want to take a group tour for things like that though. Both for ease of getting around and also for the safety aspect.

One last thing I'm seriously considering for this leg of the Grand Tour is another volunteer placement, this time in Cape Town. There's a seabird and penguin rehabilitation centre in the city which offers 6 week placements and I think it would be wonderful. It'd look quite nice on my CV too, for when I finally start looking at getting a job in the area my degree was aimed at. But mostly, I just think it would be an interesting experience. I've never worked hands on with birds before. New skills ahoy!

Those are the things I'm most interested in doing. I'm sure there's others though. What would you recommend for South Africa? Are there any hidden gems I absolutely must check out? Leave a comment and let me know.

Travel Inspirations: Playing Cards

Yes, I count playing cards as a travel inspiration. If you're anything like me, one of the things you always forget to pack is a deck of cards for those rare moments when you've run out of sights to see and exciting things to do.

In my family, we sort of almost gave up trying to remember after a while and just bought the cards once we reached our destination. You know the type - cheap things you pick up in the tat/souvenir shops with pretty pictures of the country on them.

Got a few packs now. New Zealand, Ireland, South African Wildlife plus some older ones from Andorra and Canada. The Canadian ones don't have pictures. They have interesting facts about each state/province/territory instead. Great for people like me who love random facts.

But how on earth can I count them as travel inspiration? Most people seem to get that from glossy adverts and those cloyingly inspiring photos so popular on Instagram... so why cards?

Because reasons. The first being that to get the cards in the first place you have to travel. Slightly counter-intuitive. Think of it this way though. You go on holiday, buy a pack of country-photo cards. Maybe there's something in that pack you hadn't heard of? Maybe there's some sort of interesting local custom that's worth checking out.

Take my New Zealand deck for example, which rather boldly claims to be the "best souvenir from New Zealand". It's not. My pounamu necklace ranks much higher. But anyway, there's places in those cards I hadn't heard of before I got there. Places like Tekapo on South Island, with its little church by the lake and the gorgeous scenery around Wanaka. Tekapo was a bit out of reach given our itinerary, but we ended up driving through Wanaka. Admittedly, we had to to get from the West Coast to Queenstown, but hey.

I suppose they act a bit like a tick list. Here, says the card deck, you should see these places. And off you pop to go and see as many of them as you can.

Reason the second is that they're incentive to go back, in part because of that tick list feeling. I didn't get to Milford Sound in New Zealand because a snow storm closed the road, but I have a gorgeous picture of the Sound and nearby Mitre Peak to tell me "COME BACK! WE'RE WAITING!"

The third and final reason is that these cards inevitably catch the landscape at its best. My photography skills are improving but basic and travelling when I have, the weather's not always great. Take the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland for example. It pissed down the entire day when we went there and while I quite like the photos I took, the images on the playing cards I picked up are so much better. Sometimes I wonder if I should just stick them all to my doors with my postcards...

Where do you find your travel inspiration? Any unusual sources?

The Grand Tour: Convincing People I'm Not Crazy

I'm going travelling for a year. Did you know?

I'm assuming if you've been paying vague attention to the blog that, yes, you probably did have an idea. Friends, colleagues and relatives though... that's another matter.

I went out for a meal with some folks from work a while back and the reactions to me going away though positive were usually followed by the inevitable.

"Are you going on your own?"

Why yes, yes I am going on my own? Why so surprised? Plenty of people go travelling on their own and the angry feminist bit of my brain (most of it) wonders whether my colleagues would have bothered to ask if I was male.

Anyway, here's why I'm not crazy to go off travelling on my own for a year.

1. I'm not an idiot.

I may have an immature streak but I have enough common sense not to go wandering off in the dark through places I don't know.

2. I do my research.

Following on from the above, I do my research before I travel. That doesn't mean my plans won't change when I reach a destination, but I'd hope I know enough about the area to not get into trouble.

3. I speak English...

OK, so I'm relying on the fact that many people all over the world speak English, but I'm hoping this means I'll not have too much difficulty making myself understood.

4. And I'm learning some other languages.

The major non-English-speaking areas I'm visiting are Peru and Chile, so I'm making the effort to learn at least basic conversational Spanish. I'm also brushing up on my existing French and German for when I get to Europe and am considering learning a few words of Khmer for Cambodia.

5. I track everything.

Basically, I am my father's daughter. Dad's an accountant and I've got into the habit of keeping track of everything I spend while away so that I know if I'm going to have cash problems. Hasn't happened yet. Likelihood is that I'm not going to end up stranded in the middle of Australia having blown my budget.

6. I'm a fairly friendly person.

I'd like to think I'm the type of person who people wouldn't mind pointing towards the bus station. Because I'm bound to get lost at some point.

7. I've done this before.

On a much smaller scale and in a slightly different context, but I went out to Australia to study for a year, on my own, not knowing anyone when I got there. It was amazing.

See, I'll be fine. But I'm going to leave this here for concerned friends/relatives/colleagues just in case. The thing is, I keep being told by others that they could never do something like this. And I wonder whether it's a lack of motivation (job, family, house tying them down) or if they're genuinely scared of going away on their own.

I'm not brave. There's plenty of things scare the bejesus out of me, but travel isn't one of them. Travel is an adventure. Not something to be scared of.

Have you gone travelling alone? What would you say to convince people you weren't crazy?

Halloween: 5 After Dark Experiences

Well, I've missed Halloween by a week, but I though I'd share with you some of the spooky places I've been. Because I'm told everyone loves Halloween. I don't really do spooky or Halloween so the 5 things I've included here are more... embracing the dark than aiming for scares.

1. The Tower of London

Or any other castle for that matter. OK, I'll admit that most of the Tower isn't spooky. In fact, it's pretty damn fascinating. But there's little areas where it just makes you shiver. I'm no great believer in the paranormal, but you can understand why, when so many people were executed at the Tower it might make you feel a little uneasy.

I'm sort of tempted to have a wander around Tower Hill in the dark the next time I'm in London...

2. York after dark

The city of York with its hundreds of years of history and maze of narrow streets lends itself to ghost stories. I took a ghost tour there years ago with school and while the tour itself wasn't really up there in the scary stakes, wandering around the city at night could get quite creepy. Traipsing through the little snickelways where the buildings in places nearly meet overhead was especially cool.

For sheer bloody history, head up to Clifford's Tower, the largest remaining segment of the old York Castle. Here in the Middle Ages the city's persecuted Jewish community holed themselves up to find protection from an angry mob. The tower, then the keep of the castle, came under siege and eventually the families inside committed suicide and set the tower on fire rather than fall into the hands of the mob. A rather black mark on English history...

3. Waitomo Glow Worm Caves

Not so much spooky as surreal, the Waitomo Caves in New Zealand are famous for their amazing glow worms. There are a series of caves at the site, all of which have their own unique appeal. In Ruakuri Cave all the lights get turned out and you can walk conga-style through the dark with just the pale blue lights of the glow worms to show you where the walls are, while in the main Waitomo Cave you go on a boat ride along the Waitomo River, lit from all sides by so many glow worms it feels like you're outside under stars. An amazing experience and one I would highly recommend.

4. Starlight Kayaking, West Cork

Picture this. A wide calm bay bounded by hills. You're in a kayak floating along, barely paddling. Just ahead your guide shows the way, with you trying to keep sight of the flashing light on his kayak. And over head a sky full of stars.

Yeah, starlight kayaking's a pretty magical experience. On our trip in West Cork every stroke of the paddle set off sparks of bioluminescence in the water. So pretty that our boat kept stopping because my friend Claire was too busy playing with the bioluminescence to paddle.

No worries though because the whole trip was so laid back it didn't matter if we went slowly. Although for scare value, hearing Jim the guide call out "Watch out for the boat" and a second later see a huge half-sunken boat loom out of the darkness a few feet away has to be up there with the best.

5. Camping in the Outback

OK, so it wasn't quite camping. The tents were more like canvas rooms - pretty permanent structures just with canvas walls. Brilliant and maybe a bit more secure than a tent. Didn't stop the friend I was travelling with from waking me up in the middle of the night to tell me there was a dingo trying to get into our tent-room. I'd heard something as I woke up and assumed it was just the noise of one of our sleeping bags. No big deal - I figured he'd just been half-asleep and his imagination had run away with him. But he was insistent. Again, not a problem - there was a catch on the door. And then he goes "but, Zoe, I need the loo". So I had to persuade him there was no dingo and that he'd be fine. Go to the loo and if you're not back in ten minutes I'll go and get the guide.

Suffice to say he managed to get back to the tent-room in one piece. Although... he had seen a snake outside the toilet block. Oh dear.

So there's my 5 things to see and do for an amazing after dark experience - or Halloween if you're that way inclined. Have you had a spooky experience while travelling? Done any amazing things after dark? Why not share them here.

Travel Guides: Essential or Dead Weight?

I love a good travel guide. Packed full of useful information for any trip I might fancy making. But in an age where all the information you could possibly need is available with one click on the internet, are they really essential or are they just dead weight?

Well, let's go through the cons first. You have to pay for them and if you like to buy them new, you can end up forking out quite a bit - anything in the range of £20 for the weightier ones like my Lonely Planet guide to Australia. Ugh.

Of course, you could hop on over the internet and find almost the same info for free - there's so many tourist information sites nowadays you're spoilt for choice. Plus with the vast array of review sites (TripAdvisor, I'm looking at you), do you really need the recommendations of a few travel authors?

Then there's the weight. If you want that information with you when you travel, lugging even one book about can be a pain. I took my guide with me to New Zealand and I hardly even looked at it the entire time we were there, so was it really worth having that extra weight in my bag?

And finally, there's the range. You can only fit so much information into a book so obviously the authors are going to pick and choose what goes in and what doesn't. Maybe there's an amazing out of the way hidden gem that didn't make the cut for some reason. Just relying on the guides, you'd miss out.

But what about their plus points? Well, the first is that they're written by people who (generally) know what they're looking for. These are people who have travelled all over and know how to ferret out those slightly out of the way places that you'd otherwise miss. Sure, you'll find loads of others on the web, but the guides can be a good starting point.

The second and possibly my favourite part about them is the inspiration factor. Just as a good novel can transport you to other worlds, so can the best travel guides. You can explore a country from your armchair. Plus you might get new ideas as to where you want to go. When I started looking at Cambodia I was only really interested in going to Angkor Wat and a quick internet search for things to do in Cambodia will agree that Angkor Wat is the number one. But my travel guide for the country pointed me in the direction of the east of the country with its rivers and forest and now I'm thinking of extending my trip to take those in too.

Basically, no, travel guides aren't essential and if you insist on taking them away with you, you'll probably find them to be dead weight. But as a starting point for your plans or even if you're just interested in a country they're an invaluable resource. I wouldn't be without my collection and it's still growing.

What do you think? Is it really worth spending money on a book that won't even give you half the information the internet can?

Snapshots: Barton

I took a trip up to Barton with my dad recently to walk along the Humber bank. It's a lovely walk - very peaceful with some great views and what with it being autumn the colours were amazing. Here's a few of my favourite photos.

Did you know? The Humber Bridge used to be the longest single-span suspension bridge in the world.

Getting lost in the reeds at Far Ings Nature Reserve.

Not many birds on the lakes though...

Cement works looking oddly pretty over at South Ferriby.

And finally, here's a light-boat.