St Petersburg might be the “second city” of Russia after Moscow, but many would argue (myself included) that it’s the most beautiful one. Like pretty much all of Russia, it has a tumultuous history, and through its iterations as Petrograd and Leningrad it has seen many changes, despite being a relatively young city, founded in [...]

If you’re interest in sports in Europe, here are some ideas for top sports events in Europe. Monaco Grand Prix The Monaco Grand Prix Formula 1 race takes place annually on the Circuit de Monaco in late May and is considered to be one of the more important automobile races in the world. The race [...]

If you’re visiting the UK capital why not try to time your trip to see some London ceremonies described below by Andrea Kirkby. While there are several well known London Ceremonies such as the Changing of the Guard for instance and Trooping the Colour in the summer; then in autumn, it’s the State Opening of [...]

We stayed for two nights at the Ardanaiseig Hotel near Oban in the north west of Scotland in mid September 2011, on a complimentary basis. The hotel is reached by a ten mile drive down a single track road from the village of Taynault. I was excited about staying at the Ardanaiseig Hotel after seeing [...]

Travelodge now offer guests free wifi in the Bar Cafes of their UK hotels. I tried the free wifi at the Travelodge Edinburgh West End in September 2011 and the signal was excellent. The free access is restricted to 512kb download speeds and a 78mb download limit per 24 hours period. I didn’t find that [...]

There are £19 rooms on offer in Premier Inn Autumn 2011 Sale. The sale runs until Monday 26 September 2011 for stays between 23rd September 2011 – 29th February 2012 at selected hotels.  I managed to book a couple of £19 rooms in a previous Premier Inn promotion, at Premier Inn Edinburgh Leith and Premier [...]

There are so many festivals in Europe and our recommendation is to try to experience at least one of them to enjoy some local culture and fun. Here’s our taster of twenty five festivals to give you some inspiration to decide which events in Europe you’d like to schedule into your trip. Russia White Nights, [...]

Moscow is easily one of my all-time favourite cities in Europe – a place I grew up thinking I’d never be able to visit but now a city where I’ve spent two fascinating holidays. The mix of Soviet-era Moscow with old historical buildings and the modern day flare of a world city is very intriguing. [...]

The Black Bull pub is located in the hamlet of Etal in North Northumberland and is the only thatched pub in the county. We had lunch there on a weekday in late August 2011. Exterior of The Black Bull

The city of Oslo is sometimes overshadowed by the popularity of travelling through the countryside of beautiful Norway, or cruising along the fjords, but visiting the Norwegian capital is very much worthwhile, too. It is home to a number of interesting museums as well as being close to some stunning scenery. Our ideas on what [...]