Viator Travel Blog

Berlin: M10 Tram from S Nordbahnhof to S+U Warschauer Strasse. I love this Berlin tram line because, no matter what time of day or night you travel between Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain, it’s always running. Get on board at 4am next to Dr Pong, the ping pong club near Eberswalderstrasse, and it feels like you’ve stepped into a party: the kids are out in punk, goth and clubbing gear, and it’s apparently legal to drink beer on the tram. Or if it isn’t, no-one stops you.

Confession: I am obsessed with hot water. Soaking in it. For hours. When my friends ring their first question is: Are you in the bath? Because I often am, at all times of the day or night. My criteria for choosing a hotel or renting an apartment is always: Does it have a bath? And [...]

Dear London, you confuse me so much. How can you give so much with one hand and then slap me in the face with the other? I remember the first time I visited you. It was the lead-up to Christmas. The weather was cold and crisp, perfect actually. Everyone had told me it would rain and rain but no, it didn’t. The Christmas decorations in Regent Street stretched lightly across the beautiful, curving Georgian street, which was alive with people carrying bags full of gifts. I saw a man carrying a Christmas tree home on the tube – it made everyone smile.

I love it when a book I’ve enjoyed is turned into a movie, though I’ve just discovered an even better way to extend my enjoyment: the official tour. And this one — the Angels & Demons tour in Rome — is so good the movie’s producer (Ron Howard) and star (Tom Hanks) have both done it… and loved it, which is not hard to understand. Although the story starts in Geneva (at CERN), almost all the action is in Rome.

After battling off a nasty cough and a week’s worth of work in London, some fresh air and a restful change of scenery were in order. In true budget traveler fashion I picked the destination with the cheapest flight: Geneva, Switzerland on easyJet. Armed with the determination that I’d find some tasty fondue and chocolate I boarded the plane, fingers crossed that the forecast for rain would change.

It was a difficult choice between the Paris gourmet food tour and the pastries and chocolate tours, and in the interest of a wider range, I finally selected the former (although I plan to try the sweet one next time I’m in Paris). I am staying on the left bank, and stroll along Boulevard St Germain to the meeting point for our gourmet walking tour, at the market outside the cheese shop near Metro Maubert Mutualite.

Okay, I need a plan. This travelling life is expensive and I’ve realised it can only be sustained by becoming as one with the jetset crowd, those who own houses dotted all around the globe. But I do have class and standards – I am not going to sell my soul, I am not looking for a sugar daddy, I merely intend to become the perfect guest. Obviously, I am going to need the right wardrobe. And suitcases to contain it. First stop Milan.

I found Hungary lurking off down by Serbia and Croatia, spreading its little bit of happiness around with language that had more in common with Finnish (14 declinations anyone?) than any of its neighbouring-country cousins. Thought a few days down in Budapest could be just the thing – bit of time by the water, plenty of old buildings to get around and a bit of nightlife too.

Stand in the middle of Leicester Square and try to imagine back to when Soho was not this teeming mass of buildings, clubs, cafes, cinemas and tourists. When it was just open fields, a hunting ground for hares – huntsmen yelling out ‘SOHO’ to alert the gentry that they’d seen their prey. Actually, on the night of a film opening in London it’s not that difficult – the celebrities walk the red carpet under the gaze of autograph hunters, paparazzi and fame stalkers, their names being yelled out. Leicester Square is still a hunting ground.

I have taken three significant boat trips in my life, although it is only the most recent that really made me fall in love with life on the water. The first trip was on a 50ft yacht, sailing from Rhodes to Marmaris; the second a Scandinavian ferry – more like a cruise ship – traveling [...]