A personal reflection on flags for #FriFotos
by JohnThe theme for the photo sharing day on Twitter on Friday 18 November 2011 was Flags. If you look at my Twitter profile you will see that I tend to spend time between three locations. In this piece, I will include photos, including flags from each of these places. Wales [...]
Comparing Travel Carbon Footprints
by JohnThere are a lot of widely held views built on hearsay and misinformation. The deeper I look, the more complicated the story seems to get. One of my aims is to educate myself on travel environmental issues. Then to share my findings on this site and hopefully start a discussion [...]
Remembering the fallen
by John#FriFotos is the weekly photo sharing day on Twitter. On Friday November 11, the theme is “Fall”, but as is usual, it is open to interpretation. Fall is the term used for Autumn in North America. However, the eleventh of November is Armistice Day and a Public Holiday in much [...]
Trail gazing
by JohnHave you ever stood on a railway station concourse and stared longingly at destinations on the Departures Board that were not printed on your tickets? Have you ever found yourself on the road somewhere and found that the you were travelling along one of the world’s more famous long distance [...]
What is a taste in luxury travel actually saying?
by JohnWhy is it so many people aspire to fly in First Class, sleep in Five Star hotels (or even Seven Star hotels) and eat in Michelin Three Star restaurants? Don’t they know that it is very poor value for money? That you can sleep just as well in a £29 [...]
Britain's most popular canal?
by JohnThe Llangollen canal between Llantysilio and Chirk is the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in the United Kingdom than spans two countries. The listed section covers a distance of 18 kilometres and includes two aqueducts spanning deep valleys, as well as two tunnels. It was built between 1793 and 1808 [...]
Belgian Music Festivals 2011
by JohnThere are many music festivals in Belgium from big free festivals to the charged ones such as Rock Werchter, Europe’s best music festival.
Photo Essay: Holy Island, Anglesey
by JohnThe main story for Holy Island can be found as “On the trail of a Welsh Asterix” on VisitBritain’s Superblog. But here is a photo essay of some of the sights from the post and further afield on Anglesey.
Photo essay: Lucid in Lucerne, part 3
by JohnLeaving the river Reuss I headed into the into the streets of the old town. I’ll just let the photos tell the story. It’s a photo essay after all. If you want to read up about Lucerne. Look up Wikipedia or Wikitravel. If you have written a blog post on [...]


A photo essay of the Udal Peninsula on North Uist, Western Isles, Scotland.
While walking the streets of Brussels, I am often aware that I am following in the footsteps of Georges Rémi, better known as Hergé, creator of Tintin. From where I type this article, I can see both of the schools he attended in his youth. He left his mark in the form [...]
It is the overhead snippets of conversation, that tells me that Winter Wonders or Plaisirs d’Hiver in French, is popular with visitors. “I was like…” the repeated “like” in twenty something females’ conversations. The oral version of a Facebook Wall. Or “I am lucky, as I can catch a train [...]
The abbey of Val-Dieu was founded in 1216 by Cistercian monks. Surviving wars, floods and moral crises, it was temporarily dissolved by the French Revolution. Then in 1844 with the aid of the church and the last surviving monk, it was re-established and flourished again for another 150 years. The [...]
Street art Last week I visited the Ixelles Museum here in Brussels before their exhibition on Street Art closed and is replaced by a Dubuffet exhibition. Bonom was featured heavily, with insights into how he plans his pieces. The photo above shows a spider on a concrete building by Chapelle [...]