Simon Willison's Weblog: travel

Note on 6th April 2025

2025-04-06T20:16:52+00:00

Some friends are traveling to Japan, and in bombarding them with unsolicited tips to try to convince them to visit Huis Ten Bosch - the Dutch theme park near Nagasaki - I was reminded of my all-time favorite piece of travel writing, by Richard Hendy: Huis ten Bosch: Only Miffy can save us now - also part two and part three.

Monumental in its conception, extravagant in its execution, and epic in its failure, Huis ten Bosch is the greatest by far of all of the progeny of Japan’s Bubble era dreams.

There is so much good stuff in these essays, including a delightful divergence to cover the psychic toad that ended up responsible for more than $10 billion:

[...] late at night scores of black limousines would park up outside one of her restaurants, Egawa, disgorging bankers for séances, inspired by esoteric mikkyo Buddhism, on the fourth floor, overseen by a giant ceramic toad standing a meter tall.

Richard's essays convinced us to visit Huis Ten Bosch in 2014 and it was a highlight of our trip to Japan. Here are my photos on Flickr.

Tags: travel, japan

50 Years of Travel Tips

2025-02-17T06:39:38+00:00

50 Years of Travel Tips

These travel tips from Kevin Kelly are the best kind of advice because they're almost all both surprising but obviously good ideas.

The first one instantly appeals to my love for Niche Museums, and helped me realize that traveling with someone who is passionate about something fits the same bill - the joy is in experiencing someone else's passion, no matter what the topic:

Organize your travel around passions instead of destinations. An itinerary based on obscure cheeses, or naval history, or dinosaur digs, or jazz joints will lead to far more adventures, and memorable times than a grand tour of famous places. It doesn’t even have to be your passions; it could be a friend’s, family member’s, or even one you’ve read about. The point is to get away from the expected into the unexpected.

I love this idea:

If you hire a driver, or use a taxi, offer to pay the driver to take you to visit their mother. They will ordinarily jump at the chance. They fulfill their filial duty and you will get easy entry into a local’s home, and a very high chance to taste some home cooking. Mother, driver, and you leave happy. This trick rarely fails.

And those are just the first two!

Via Hacker News

Tags: museums, travel

Weeknotes: Camping, a road trip and two new museums

2022-05-16T05:43:36+00:00

Natalie and I took a week-long road trip and camping holiday. The plan was to camp on Santa Rosa Island in the California Channel Islands, but the boat to the island was cancelled due to bad weather. We treated ourselves to a Central Californian road trip instead.

The Madonna Inn

If you're driving down from San Francisco to Santa Barbara and you don't stay a night at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo you're missing out.

This legendary hotel/motel built 110 guest rooms in the 1960s, each of them with a different theme. We ended up staying two nights thanks to our boat cancellation - one in the Kona Rock room (Hawaii themed, mostly carved out of solid rock, the shower has a waterfall) and one in Safari. Epic.

Camping

Camping in California generally requires booking a site, often months in advance. Our travel companions knew what they were doing and managed to grab us last minute spots for one night at Islay Creek near Los Osos and two nights in the beautiful Los Padres National Forest.

The Victorian Mansion

I have a habit of dropping labels on Google Maps with tips that people have given me about different places. Labels have quite a strict length limit, which means my tips are often devoid of context - including when and from whom the tip came.

This means I'm constantly stumbling across little tips from my past self, with no recollection of where the tip came from. This is delightful.

As we were planning the last leg of our trip, I spotted a label north of Santa Barbara which just said "6 rooms puts Madonna Inn to shame".

I have no recollection of saving this tip. I had attached it to the Victorian Mansion Bed & Breakfast in Los Alamos, California - an old Victorian house with six uniquely themed rooms.

We stayed in the 1950s suite. It was full of neon and the bed was a 1956 Cadillac convertible which the house had been reconstructed around when the building was moved to its present location. We watched Sideways, a movie set in the area, on the projector that simulated a drive-in movie theater on a screen in front of the car.

And some museums

On the way down to San Luis Obispo we stumbled across the Paso Robles Pioneer Museum. This was the best kind of local history museum - entirely run by volunteers, and with an eclectic accumulation of donated exhibits covering all kinds of details of the history of the surrounding area. I particularly enjoyed the Swift Jewell Barbed Wire Collection - the fourth largest collection of barbed wire on public display in the world!

(This raised the obvious question: what are the top three? From this category on Atlas Obscura it looks like there are two in Kansas and one in Texas.)

Then on the way back up we checked Roadside America and found its listing for Mendenhall's Museum of Gasoline Pumps & Petroliana. This was the absolute best kind of niche museum: an obsessive collection, in someone's home, available to view by appointment only.

We got lucky: one of the museum's operators spotted us lurking around the perimeter looking optimistic and let us have a look around despite not having pre-booked.

The museum features neon, dozens of gas pumps, more than 400 porcelain gas pump globes, thousands of gas station signs plus classic and historic racing cars too. My write-up and photos are available on Niche Museums.

Museums this week

TIL this week

Efficiently copying a file

Tags: natalie-downe, travel, weeknotes

Weeknotes: Taking a break in Moss Landing

2022-01-04T21:46:52+00:00

Took some time off. Saw some whales and sea otters. Added a new spot to Niche Museums.

Natalie took me to Moss Landing for a few days for my birthday. I now think Moss Landing may be one of California's best kept secrets, for a whole bunch of reasons.

Most importantly, Moss Landing has Elkhorn Slough, California's second largest estuary and home to 7% of the world's population of sea otters. And you can kayak there!

We rented a kayak from Kayak Connection and headed out for three hours on the water.

The rules are to stay eight boat lengths (100 feet) away from the otters, or to stop paddling and wait for them to leave if they pop up near your boat. And they pop up a lot!

We saw at least twenty sea otters. The largest can weigh 90lbs (that's two Cleos) and they were quite happy to ignore us and get on with otter stuff: floating on their backs, diving into the water and playing with each other.

We also saw harbor seals, egrets, herons, avocets and both brown and white pelicans.

Moss Landing also sits at the edge of Monterey Bay, which contains the Monterey Submarine Canyon, one of the largest such canyons in the world. Which means cold water and warm water mixing in interesting ways. Which means lots of nutritious tiny sea creatures. Which means whales!

We went whale watching with Blue Ocean Whale Watching, who came recommended by several naturalist friends. They were brilliant - they had an obvious passion for the ocean, shared great information and answered all of our increasingly eccentric questions. Did you know a Blue Whale can use a thousand calories of energy just opening its mouth?

We saw gray whales - expected at this time of year due to their migration from the arctic down south to their breeding lagoons in Baja, and humpback whales - not a usual occurrence at this time of year but evidently the younger whales don't necessarily stick to the official calendar.

Moss Landing also has a large number of noisy sea lions. This one was asleep on the dock when our ship returned.

Then yesterday morning we went for a walk around this pensinsula and saw sea otters fishing for crabs just yards away from shore! Plus a juvenile elephant seal who had hauled itself onto the beach.

We also dropped in to the Shakespeare Society of America - my first niche museum visit of 2022. I wrote about that for Niche Museums.

TIL this week

Tags: travel, weeknotes

Letterboxing on Lundy

2018-09-18T17:09:21+00:00

Last week Natalie and I spent a delightful two days with our friends Hannah and Adam on the beautiful island of Lundy in the Bristol Channel, 12 miles off the coast of North Devon.

I’ve been wanting to visit Lundy for years. The island is managed by the Landmark Trust, a UK charity who look after historic buildings and make them available as holiday rentals.

Our first experience with the Landmark Trust was the original /dev/fort back in 2008 when we rented a Napoleonic Sea Fortress on Alderney in the Channel Islands. Ever since then I’ve been keeping an eye out for opportunities to try out more of their properties: just two weeks ago we stayed in Wortham Manor and used it as a staging ground to help prepare a family wedding.

I cannot recommend the Landmark Trust experience strongly enough: each property is unique and fascinating, they are kept in great condition and if you split the cost of a larger rental among a group of friends the price can be comparable to a youth hostel.

Lundy is their Crown Jewels: they’ve been looking after the island since the 1960s and now offer 23 self-catering properties there.

We took the ferry out on Tuesday morning (a truly horrific two hour voyage) and back again on Thursday evening (thankfully much calmer). Once on Lundy we stayed in Castle Keep South, a two bedroom house in the keep of a castle built in the 13th century by Henry III, after he retook the island from the apparently traitorous William de Marisco (who was then hanged, drawed and quartered for good measure - apparently one of the first ever uses of that punishment). Lundy has some very interesting history attached to it.

The island itself is utterly spectacular. Three miles long, half a mile wide, surrounded by craggy cliffs and mostly topped with ferns and bracken. Not a lot of trees except for the more sheltered eastern side. A charming population of sheep, goats, Lundy Ponies and some highland cattle with extremely intimidating horns.

(“They’re complete softies. We call that one Boris because he looks like Boris Johnson” - a lady who works in the Tavern)

Lundy has three light houses (two operational, one retired), the aforementioned castle, a charming little village, a church and numerous fascinating ruins and isolated buildings, many of which you can stay in. It has the remains of two crashed WWII German Heinkel He 111 bombers (which we eventually tracked down).

It also hosts what is quite possibly the world’s best Letterboxing trail.

Letterboxing?

Letterboxing is an outdoor activity that is primarily pursued in the UK. It consists of weatherproof boxes hidden in remote locations, usually under a pile of rocks, containing a notebook and a custom stamp. The location of the boxes is provided by a set of clues. Given the clues, your challenge is to find all of the boxes and collect their stamps in your notebook.

On Lundy the clues can be purchased from the village shop.

I had dabbled with Letterboxing a tiny bit in the past but it hadn’t really clicked with me until Natalie (a keen letterboxer) encouraged us to give it a go on Lundy.

It ended up occupying almost every waking moment of our time there, and taking us to every far-flung corner of the island.

There are 28 letterboxes on Lundy. We managed to get 27 of them - and we would have got them all, if the last one hadn’t been located on a beach that was shut off from the public due to grey seals using it to raise their newly born pups! The pups were cute enough that we forgave them.

To give you an idea for how it works, here’s the clue for letterbox 27, “The Ugly”:

There were letterboxes in lighthouses, letterboxes in ruins, letterboxes perilously close to cliff-faces, letterboxes in church pews, letterboxes in quarries, letterboxes in caves. If you thought that letterboxing was for kids, after scrabbling down more perilous cliff paths than I can count I can assure you it isn't!

On Thursday I clocked up 24,000 steps walking 11 miles and burned 1,643 calories. For comparison, when I ran the half marathon last year I only burned 1,222. These GPS tracks from my Apple Watch give a good impression of how far we ended up walking on our second day of searching.

When we checked the letterboxing log book in the Tavern on Wednesday evening we found most people who attempt to hit all 28 letterboxes spread it out over a much more sensible timeframe. I’m not sure that I would recommend trying to fit it in to just two days, but it’s hard to imagine a better way of adding extra purpose to an exploration of the island.

Should you attempt letterboxing on Lundy (and if you can get out there you really should consider it), a few tips:

If in doubt, look for the paths. Most of the harder to find letterboxes were at least located near an obvious worn path.
“Earthquake” is a nightmare. The clue really didn’t help us - we ended up performing a vigorous search of most of the area next to (not inside) the earthquake fault.
The iPhone compass app is really useful for finding bearings. We didn’t use a regular compass at all.
If you get stuck, check for extra clues in the letterboxing log book in the tavern. This helped us crack Earthquake.
There’s more than one pond. The quarry pond is very obvious once you find it.
Take as many different maps as you can find - many of the clues reference named landmarks that may not appear on the letterboxing clue map. We forgot to grab an offline copy of Lundy in the Google Maps app and regretted it.

If you find yourself in Ilfracombe on the way to or from Lundy, the Ilfracombe Museum is well worth your time. It’s a classic example in the genre of “eccentric collects a wide variety of things, builds a museum for them”. Highlights include a cupboard full of pickled bats and a drawer full of 100-year-old wedding cake samples.

Tags: natalie-downe, travel

San Francisco Recommendations: comics, fashion, food, and more

2017-01-27T21:29:00+00:00

My answer to San Francisco Recommendations: comics, fashion, food, and more on Ask MetaFilter

I'm not a huge comics person, but that said I strongly recommend a trip to Isotope Comics in Hayes Valley on a weekday. Go on a weekday when the owner is running the store. He is incredibly charismatic and positively vibrates with enthusiasm about comics. He also has an incredible collection of toilet seats lining the upper wall of the store, each one illustrated by a famous comic book artist. Make sure to ask him about them.

Like I said, I'm not a huge comics fan, but Isotope really feels like something special to me. Friends of mine who are big time into comics definitely appreciate it.

Tags: ask-metafilter, san-francisco, travel, resolved

Help us plan a trip to the English countryside

2017-01-10T21:04:00+00:00

My answer to Help us plan a trip to the English countryside on Ask MetaFilter

The Mechanical Music Museum in Northleach in the Cotswolds is a hidden gem - definitely worth dropping in for their tour.

Tags: ask-metafilter, london, travel, countryside, quaint, thecotswolds

Good travel book for recently retired man?

2016-11-26T04:15:00+00:00

My answer to Good travel book for recently retired man? on Ask MetaFilter

The new Atlas Obscura coffee table book is worth a look.

Tags: ask-metafilter, books, christmas, travel, gifts, presents

Practical gift ideas to positively improve a friend’s life and hobbies

2016-10-13T22:34:00+00:00

My answer to Practical gift ideas to positively improve a friend’s life and hobbies on Ask MetaFilter

I'm a big fan of the Dorling Kindersley travel books, which are chock full of photos, maps, diagrams and illustrations. Thanks to the internet there's really not much point carting around a reference-style guidebook like Lonely Planet - TripAdvisor etc will always be more comprehensive and up-to-date. This makes guidebooks more important for general inspiration and browsing.

Tags: art, ask-metafilter, drawing, photography, travel, gifts, biking

Where should we stay in Nashville?

2016-10-04T16:09:00+00:00

My answer to Where should we stay in Nashville? on Ask MetaFilter

For a delightfully unique Nashville experience, I suggest looking up Santa's Pub. It's a dive bar in a double wide trailer run by a man who looks a bit like Santa, and every night there is karaoke night. Aside from being a bit smokey it's an enormous amount of fun.

Tags: ask-metafilter, nashville, travel, restaurants, hotel

I'm in Polanco (Mexico City) and I hate it. Where to go?

2016-05-15T04:28:00+00:00

My answer to I'm in Polanco (Mexico City) and I hate it. Where to go? on Ask MetaFilter

You said you want to avoid expensive taxis.. are you morally opposed to Uber? If not you should know that it works in Mexico City (with your regular Uber account registered in another country), it's fast and not very expensive. It may give you a lot more flexibility for exploring the city.

Tags: ask-metafilter, travel, eats, cheap, uber

Weekend travel in Europe

2015-12-27T05:50:00+00:00

My answer to Weekend travel in Europe on Ask MetaFilter

I've been using www.atlasobscura.com a lot for travel inspiration recently - it's particularly good for finding the most interesting/weird things in a given area (it can even do geolocation in your phone to show the most interesting nearby things). I bet you could find some very exciting options there.

I've also found the "things to do" section on TripAdvisor to be surprisingly useful. My wife and I have a habit of trying to take the top rated cookery course on TripAdvisor whenever we travel, and it's lead to some extremely memorable experiences.

Tags: ask-metafilter, travel, europe, activity

Which online platform can you recommend for organizing group trips? I've review startups that tried to build that, but failed a lot. Anything you can recommend that you used or use continuously?

2013-11-02T16:53:00+00:00

My answer to Which online platform can you recommend for organizing group trips? I've review startups that tried to build that, but failed a lot. Anything you can recommend that you used or use continuously? on Quora

TripIt has worked extremely well for me for trips with up to 9 people.

Tags: startups, travel, quora

What are some of the best offbeat attractions in London?

2013-10-28T17:13:00+00:00

My answer to What are some of the best offbeat attractions in London? on Quora

Camden Passage antiques market in Islington (near Angel tube) should be right up your street. It's full of fascinating characters and intriguing shops, including bits and pieces of WWII memorabilia.

Tags: london, travel, quora, england

How do I become a global nomad as a software engineer?

2013-09-15T17:29:00+00:00

My answer to How do I become a global nomad as a software engineer? on Quora

Go freelance, start working on projects and build up a reputation as an excellent engineer who gets high quality work done on time. Build up a large roster of satisfied clients who wish to work with you in the future, and know how to successfully work with you via email and video conferencing. Now pack your laptop and head off around the world.

(Disclaimer: my wife and I tried this and ended up starting our own startup instead. It turns our working for clients on the road is harder than it sounds. That's why I suggest building up your experience and reputation with remote work before you start travelling).

Tags: software-engineering, travel, quora, careers

What steps can I take to protect my data in case my laptop gets stolen?

2013-08-07T09:51:00+00:00

My answer to What steps can I take to protect my data in case my laptop gets stolen? on Quora

Set up full drive encryption - that way if someone steals your laptop they won't be able to access your data without a password.

Keep the files you can't afford to lose in Dropbox (if you are working on then on the road) so they are constantly backed up in case if theft. Your Dropbox folder will be safely encrypted along with the rest of your drive. You do need to trust Dropbox though.

Tags: hacking, internet, security, travel, quora

What are the cheapest ways for a single man to eat in London without cooking?

2013-08-05T14:20:00+00:00

My answer to What are the cheapest ways for a single man to eat in London without cooking? on Quora

24 hour fried chicken joints are a relatively cheap source of calories if you want hot food and don't want to cook.

(You didn't say anything about eating healthily!)

Tags: food, london, travel, quora, restaurants

I am 17 years old and I plan to travel solo for 3 - 4 months around Europe. Do you have any advice? I want to taste a bit of everything that Western Europe has to offer, to walk on small roads and use as little money as possible.

2013-07-20T15:15:00+00:00

My answer to I am 17 years old and I plan to travel solo for 3 - 4 months around Europe. Do you have any advice? I want to taste a bit of everything that Western Europe has to offer, to walk on small roads and use as little money as possible. on Quora

Don't stick to just Western Europe. Eastern European countries are much cheaper and often much more interesting.

Tags: travel, quora, europe

What is the best city to host a convention in US and why?

2013-01-30T12:41:00+00:00

My answer to What is the best city to host a convention in US and why? on Quora

I can't say I've tried every city, but my personal favourite US city to attend a conference in is Portland, OR. Amazing food, great public transport (the tram service is free within the city center, which includes the convention center) and plenty of interesting things to do and see outside of the conference.

I've also had great experiences in San Francisco, Chicago, Austin and Brooklyn.

Tags: conferences, startups, travel, quora

What should one bring on a trip to London?

2013-01-15T10:34:00+00:00

My answer to What should one bring on a trip to London? on Quora

Bring an unlocked smartphone (Google Maps is essential, it has excellent public transport directions - don't trust Apple Maps). You can get a pay-as-you-go SIM when you arrive, provided your phone is unlocked (check that you will be able to put a UK SIM in it).

Having a good map on your phone will make a huge difference to your trip. London is a fantastic city to walk around, but it's also easy to get lost if you don't have a map. It might be worth grabbing a pocket sized London A-Z map from a book shop too.

Don't get too hooked on the tube - for journeys of only one or two stops it usually makes more sense to walk, and longer trips are still more fun walking because you are certain to see lots of interesting things en route... and having a smartphone with data will let you find out what they are!

Carrying an iPhone completely changed my relationship with London.

Tags: london, travel, quora

Planning on visiting Portland for new years. What should I do/see/experience?

2012-12-26T13:33:00+00:00

My answer to Planning on visiting Portland for new years. What should I do/see/experience? on Quora

Eat street food! Portland has a well deserved reputation for some of the best street food anywhere. Nong's Khao Man Gai is a must, but ask locals for recommendations or just follow your instincts and get stuck in.

Make sure you check out Ground Kontrol too, which has an amazing collection of classic arcade games and pinball machines.

Tags: travel, quora, portland, oregon

When traveling, what methods do you use to find unique, uncommon local experiences like art, music, events & shopping?

2012-12-09T14:56:00+00:00

My answer to When traveling, what methods do you use to find unique, uncommon local experiences like art, music, events & shopping? on Quora

I run the following google searches:

non tourist things to do in Barcelona site:quora.com

And

non tourist things to do in Barcelona site:ask.metafilter.com

Tends to work a treat!

Tags: events, local, travel, quora

What are some fun things to do in Camden Town, London?

2012-09-25T13:16:00+00:00

My answer to What are some fun things to do in Camden Town, London? on Quora

Check out Brew Dog http://www.brewdog.com/bars/camden - excellent craft beers and really good (and interesting) burgers.

Tags: london, travel, quora, england

What are the few must-do things in London before one leaves this place for good?

2012-08-08T13:32:00+00:00

My answer to What are the few must-do things in London before one leaves this place for good? on Quora

In terms of museums, it really is worth checking out the big four: the British Museum, the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum and the V&A. They're all exceptional (and free to enter). Here are some highlights...

At the British Museum the headline items are probably the Rosetta stone and the Elgin Marbles, but the range of Egyptian antiquities is astonishing (the second largest collection in the world, after the Egyptian Museum in Cairo) and they have equally impressive collections from ancient Greece, Mesopotamia, Asia... it's absolutely worth taking the time to explore. They also have a mummified cat, tucked away in one of the Egyptian galleries.

Highlights in the Science Museum include the original Stephenson's Rocket (one of the first steam train designs), Watson and Crick's DNA model made out of bits and pieces of lab equipment and an amazing Space section, which has the Apollo 10 command module (which orbited the moon) and the last remnants of the British space program - Black Arrow, which looks like the spaceship-eating space ship from You Only Live Twice. Their flight section is excellent (they have a cutaway slice of a 747) and if you head to the very top of the museum you can explore a fabulous medical section, which hosts a set of George Washington's dentures and some terrifying historical medical equipment.

The Natural History Museum is famous for its dinosaurs (though it's worth noting that the most famous of all of them, Dippy the Diplodocus, is actually a 26m long plaster cast - albeit one that's over 100 years old now!) but it's also one of the most architecturally impressive buildings in London - a beautiful piece of Victorian architecture. In addition to the dinosaurs there are fabulous collections of stuffed animals and some great geology exhibits (there's even a moon rock) - but the most exciting exhibit is probably the Giant Squid - which I believe is the only one on public display anywhere in the world. It's not in a public gallery but you can book on to a free behind-the-scenes tour of the spirit building to see it (tours run several times a day, just ask at an information desk). The spirit building itself is amazing - it's the largest collection of things-stored-in-alcohol-in-jars anywhere in the world, and includes Charles Darwin's personal collection. Here's a useful tip: if the main entrance has massive queues, look for the much smaller side entrance next to the Science Museum - it usually has no queues at all.

The Victoria and Albert Museum showcases decorative art and design in a stunning range of galleries. Of particular interest are the two central halls which exhibit an enormous range of ancient monuments - pillars, doorways, walls, statues... all of which are fake! In preparation for the Great Exhibition of 1851 teams travelled around the world creating life-sized plaster casts of a huge range of monuments - and after the exhibition most of these ended up forming the initial collection for the V&A. Many of the originals have since been destroyed making the plaster collection unique and utterly fascinating - the replicas themselves are over 150 years old. My other personal favourites: Tippoo's Tiger - a mechanical tiger savaging a European soldier, with a pipe organ hidden inside. And... the ironwork gallery, which has a beautiful collection of biscuit tins.

I haven't even begun to do justice to these museums, but if you haven't been to them you really do owe yourself a couple of days of exploration. Go on a week day when they won't be completely packed with children, and for the best experience head straight to the furthest/highest point in the museum from the entrance and work your way backwards - there are plenty of gems hidden away in the far corners, and even if the rest of the museum is packed you'll be sure to find empty galleries back there.

Tags: london, museums, travel, quora, science-museum

What are some good examples of travel startups that use crowdsourcing?

2012-07-04T15:19:00+00:00

My answer to What are some good examples of travel startups that use crowdsourcing? on Quora

Trip Advisor, Yelp, any of the big review sites.

Foursquare.

Tags: startups, travel, quora

What are the coolest things to do in Dalston Junction (London, UK)?

2012-06-28T17:14:00+00:00

My answer to What are the coolest things to do in Dalston Junction (London, UK)? on Quora

That's about 20 minutes from Broadway Market (at the south end of London Fields) which is very nice at the weekend.

Tags: london, travel, quora

For a first-time visitor but longtime Anglophile, what's essential to see and do in London?

2012-06-23T13:13:00+00:00

My answer to For a first-time visitor but longtime Anglophile, what's essential to see and do in London? on Quora

Don't spend too much time on the tube. It's fast and convenient (and a marvellous piece of Victorian engineering) but its often better to walk if your journey is less than three stops. London is a delightful city to walk around, and you're certain to see all sorts of interesting buildings on a 10 minute walk through any area. Get a data SIM for your phone and use your maps app to avoid getting lost and you'll have the freedom to explore all kinds of interesting streets that most tourists who stick to the tube for everything completely miss.

Tags: london, travel, quora

What is the best travelling iPhone application for a 9 day trip through Europe?

2012-02-28T16:27:00+00:00

My answer to What is the best travelling iPhone application for a 9 day trip through Europe? on Quora

Instapaper is essential - it will let you save any web page for offline access on your iPhone which is fantastic things like Wikipedia and Wikitravel.

OffMaps is another excellent offline tool that lets you save maps from OpenStreetMap, which has excellent coverage around Europe.

Tags: iphone, travel, quora

Is it reasonably safe to visit Ethiopia and then to fly from Ethiopia back home via Cairo?

2012-02-19T13:50:00+00:00

My answer to Is it reasonably safe to visit Ethiopia and then to fly from Ethiopia back home via Cairo? on Quora

If you're specifically interested in the Cairo leg then yes, it's safe. Cairo is a modern city if over 20 million people. Tourism is Egypt's most important industry and they are very, very good at protecting that cash cow even during times of political turmoil. If you pay attention to the news and don't go actively looking for street riots to get involved with you'll be fine.

Tags: travel, quora

As a first timer, what are the best tips while flying business class to get the most value?

2012-01-20T09:45:00+00:00

My answer to As a first timer, what are the best tips while flying business class to get the most value? on Quora

Wear something really scruffy, so that when you get up to go to the bathroom the stewards can sniffily tell you "I think you're in the wrong cabin, Sir" - and you can say "No, actually I'm sitting just over there".

[ I have a comfortable but extremely battered hoodie that I use for flights, and this exact thing happened to me one time after I had been upgraded from premium economy ]

Tags: travel, quora