I’m wasting time at Bangkok airport on a cloudy day. Here are some pictures.
Five things that can get you arrested when you travel
Even though I love to travel, I’m the first to admit that it’s not without its pitfalls.
Recently, I’ve been reminded about some cases where travellers or expatriatess — usually Westerners — have got themselves into big trouble because they didn’t know what they were doing was illegal.
Continue reading Five things that can get you arrested when you travel
No tolerance for violent drunks on planes
“I think [the airports] could do more. I think the retailers could do more as well.”
So says Phil Ward, managing director of Jet Blue, on the growing problem of violence and other disruption caused by drunks on planes.
At least Jet Blue has done something about the problem, by banning the sale of alcohol on its early morning flights. But, of course, thanks to bars and retail outlets at airports that operate 24-7, the offenders can already be in an ugly state before they get on board.
When you travel, do what the locals do
Every traveller knows the adage si fueris Rōmae, Rōmānō vīvitō mōre; si fueris alibī, vīvitō sīcut ibī (“If you should be in Rome, live in the Roman manner; if you should be elsewhere, live as they do there”). Or, more simply, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do”.
It’s often easier said than done.
The taxi driver who’s laying down the law to passengers
Social media in Thailand has gone a little crazy over a sign in a taxi setting down rules for passengers.
According to this report, the Thai-language sign comprises a list of “don’ts”, including don’t chew toffee, don’t have the volume up when playing games on smartphones, and don’t spray perfume or powder in the cab.
Continue reading The taxi driver who’s laying down the law to passengers
Tourism opens up the world, don’t shut it down
If ever a headline were designed to boil my blood, this was it. And it’s in The Guardian, that bastion of liberal values.
It says: “Only governments can stem the tide of tourism sweeping the globe“. As if tourism, one of the great forces of good in this world, were a disease that needed elimination.
Continue reading Tourism opens up the world, don’t shut it down
Travel’s golden rule: respect the place and the people
In places across the world, there’s a growing movement to ban or limit tourism.
It took on an extreme manifestation in Barcelona, when local residents spray-painted an anti-tourism slogan on a hop-on-hop-off bus outside FC Barcelona’s Nou Camp Stadium, and slashed its tyres.
Continue reading Travel’s golden rule: respect the place and the people
Five reasons not to believe all that travel advice
This might seem like a strange thing to read on a travel blog, but you shouldn’t believe everything you read, or hear, about travel.
It’s a big, bad world out there, and not everybody is being entirely honest in their posts, newspaper and magazine articles, podcasts, vodcasts, tweets, instas, Facebook Live broadcasts and so on.
Continue reading Five reasons not to believe all that travel advice
Marmite, furry handcuffs and other carry-on essentials
I once was foolish enough to put a bottle of vodka — a gift from a Slavic friend — in my hand luggage, and it was confiscated by security at Gatwick Airport.
But is seems that booze isn’t the most popular item that people try to take onboard aircraft departing the United Kingdom.
Continue reading Marmite, furry handcuffs and other carry-on essentials
You’ve got to go before you really know
Imagine a world where we all thought the same way and did the same things. Pretty bland, eh?
And yet so many of us*, when we travel, don’t embrace the differences of the places we visit. Worse still, are those who rail against places and people they know nothing about.
Tourism and taboo topics in the Middle East
Updated (see footnote)
I’ve mentioned here before that I’ve become a regular contributor to Quora.com, and that 
my answers to questions on travel are gaining a small amount of attention.
Well, in the past few days, one of them has gone through the roof. There have been tens of thousands of engagements with my answer to this question: Is it okay to stay in a hotel with a fiancée for a vacation in Abu Dhabi?
Continue reading Tourism and taboo topics in the Middle East
Finland, Finland, Finland .. an appreciation by Michael Palin
How to join the high flyers in business class
I recently flew business class with Cathay Pacific and I can heartily recommend the experience.
I’m also pleased to say that the experience will be open to more people, now that Cathay has joined the airlines offering upgrade auctions.
Continue reading How to join the high flyers in business class
How that airline seat you paid for is not really yours
Anyone who flies frequently will know the experience of being asked/ told to change seats. Some have even been dragged off the plane.
I’ve been relatively lucky. It’s only happened twice — once my seat was doubled booked and I was offered and upgrade to business class (no argument there), and on the other occasion, I was asked to move to an equivalent seat in another row so some family members could sit together.
Continue reading How that airline seat you paid for is not really yours
Five things tourists should know about Phnom Penh
Here are a few, hopefully helpful, words about the capital of Cambodia.
Continue reading Five things tourists should know about Phnom Penh
Don Mueang: the low-cost airport in Bangkok that’s doing its best
July 31, 2017 update: Roadworks outside the terminal are to begin shortly, and traffic delays may make you think twice about choosing Don Mueang in the immediate future.
August 7 update: This post may be jinxed. Reports now are coming through of waits of more than four hours at Don Mueang Immigration. Seems it may be best avoided until they sort a few things out.
Continue reading Don Mueang: the low-cost airport in Bangkok that’s doing its best
Would banning cruise ships stop Venice from sinking?
Updated: October 30, 2018
A Quora user asked: “Should Venice limit the amount of big cruise ships coming to the city centre?”
Flooding is an ongoing threat to Venice, and as I write this update, three-quarters of the canal city has been inundated.
Continue reading Would banning cruise ships stop Venice from sinking?
What’s really important when it comes to airline crew?
The CEO of Qatar Airways, Akbar Al Baker, has caused outrage in some circles by calling American airline flight crew “grandmothers”, and pointing out that his staff have an average age of 26.
I don’t really wants to give too much oxygen to his ageist and, by implication, sexist comments. Continue reading What’s really important when it comes to airline crew?
It’s time for a inquiry into internet data roaming prices
Telstra, the Australian telecommunications giant, has just announced a A$10-a-day roaming package for travellers to 57 countries.
Before we break out the champagne to celebrate such a groundbreaking deal, can I be allowed to point out — in fact, shout out — that this is still outrageous and unacceptably high given what’s on offer?
Continue reading It’s time for a inquiry into internet data roaming prices
How to score a cheap flight by tricking the science of seat prices
It’s a mystery to most of us why airfare prices fluctuate so wildly. In this video, CNN’s Richard Quest (yes, I know, some people do find him irritating) explains why that is, and describes a newish way that you can score an upgrade.
Sadly, the video does not explain why return flights are cheaper than two one-way tickets — I believe it’s because airlines want to lock you in getting there and Continue reading How to score a cheap flight by tricking the science of seat prices
