Viator Travel Blog

Where do you go to get the best views of New York? Me, I’ve always spent most of my time on the Manhattan sidewalks, gazing upwards with my mouth open. I did wind up on the receiving end of some “Watch where you’re going!” comments, and I did get a sore neck, but I didn’t really grasp the scale of the city. So this time I resolved to do something a bit different. I would take in as many different views as possible and finally, if possible, come home with a real sense of perspective.

So you’re planning a Toronto city break. The flights and hotel are booked, you’ve bought a guidebook and you’ve even read a few pages. It’s a fine line though. You do want to make the most of your trip, but you do also want to leave time for relaxation and those all-important travel discoveries. Here’s how we tried to do it in on a recent tour to Toronto.

OK, it’s confession time. I know that tourist boards want to promote the positive and – honestly – I really do love all the good things. But sometimes I just feel in need of something a little…darker.

Fortunately, we’re in Edinburgh. Now this is a city which has (it seems) more than its fair share of rogues and gruesome tales. So Simon and I take a deep breath and head up to the Royal Mile for the start of the Ghost Hunter tour (“A 5-Star Scare Factor”).

Now, I am an early riser (I’m always first into the office), but can there really be a good reason for a 5am wake-up call on a Sunday?! The surprising answer is a sleepy-eyed YES, at least when the lure is a private day-tour to Stonehenge, Bath, Lacock and the Cotswolds.

Editor’s note: We recently sent two of our hard-working travel writers on a private tour and private viewing of Stonehenge from London. We covered the cost of the tickets, and in return we asked for them to write about their experiences. And who knew their experiences would be so similar, yet so different. Here’s the first go, from the slightly deranged Jack Brown and cohort Tina Grace. Jack went to bed Aussie and woke up with a nasty case of Cockney accent.

I just love desserts. But in these credit-crunch times, it’s home cooking that’s all the rage. So what’s a girl to do? Go to Paris in the springtime, of course, and learn the ancient art of making desserts. Food in the City of Love. Now what could possibly be better than that?

It pays to walk in London. It may be tempting to jump on the Tube or hail a taxi to get from A to B, but the city gives up its secrets on foot. In a few paces, you can move from a 21st-century glass tower to an 11th-century church. This sequence of walks – if you do them all – takes you from the Tower of London to the London Eye. You cross the Thames river three times and walk a total distance of approximately 5 miles. The things you’ll see? There’s history, politics, art, theatre, food, journalism, law, architecture and the military.

It was hot at 8am when Munir, our guide for the day, picked us up at our Muscat hotel in his 4×4. Hot enough, in fact, for my camera lenses to fog when we went outside. Summer temperatures in Oman can reach 50°C (122°F), and air-conditioning in vehicles is a necessity rather than a luxury. [...]