After a recent first time trip to Kuwait, it's been fun to return to writing about destinations in the Middle East. I've had the pleasure of travelling all over the Persian Gulf, including three years living in Muscat and multiple trips to the UAE, but Dubai  remains the stand-out option for family fun and winter sun. Dubai has been firmly o...

This is the second in my series on stunning winter chalets for Passepartout Homes , the go-to global site for luxury holiday accommodation and corporate retreats. Of all the desirable French skiing locations, perhaps none is more iconic than Val D’Isere. With settlements dating back at least to the seventeenth century, and a key role in European sk...

During the recent run-up to our trip to Panama, my children needed several different vaccines. In the good old days we had been using the Royal Free Hospital travel clinic in Hampstead, but much to our chagrin discovered that it had closed. We were forced to swiftly find an alternative, in the shape of Nomad Travel Clinic , Turnpike Lane. The clini...

Perhaps the greatest recent revelation of the European high end holiday rental sphere is that the best appointed villas can be year round destinations. As more and more people strive to benefit from the shoulder season, as well as inevitable travelling within peak times, it is timely to explore the theme of a villa for all seasons. Winter   &n...

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of a wonderful stay hosted by Jens Kristian Davidsen and Passepartout Homes at one of his apartments in the Faroe Islands. The three bedroom, two bathroom duplex apartment is pretty much ideally situated. It's in Tórshavn , one of the world's smallest and prettiest capital cities. That’s not all, though. Th...

In the charming downtown harbour area of the Faroese capital, Tórshavn, I picked up a fantastic speed boat which transported me across the high seas, run by local adventure tours experts RIB62 . RIB62 offers a wide variety of adventures but the one I chose departed from Tórshavn on a clear, bright afternoon. Before we got started we were issued wit...

http://www.faroeislands.com/

The Faroe Islands are on every global news channel all week this week. Why? (In case you have been living in a cave?) Because these tiny, windswept islands between Iceland and Norway are the very best place in the whole world to watch the solar eclipse this Friday March 20 2015 . That’s right. On the entire planet. Five fun facts about this solar e...

I almost walked past the National Art Museum because it's currently under restoration... It's not entirely closed, though, and for 10 Leu it was worth wandering around. It seems to be set in a slightly dilapidated mansion, but boasts a few pieces, including this haunting painting, The Cranes Have Left, by Mihai Grecu. I was rather taken with these ...

The web is heaving with restaurant recommendations for Belgrade, Serbia's capital, and rightly so – the food is beyond fabulous, with wonderfully good value fine dining and slow cooking on every street. It’s much harder, though, to get any immediate sense of which establishments might welcome children and cater for them effectively. Our four year o...