West Yorkshire: The Hindenburg Drop

West Yorkshire: The Hindenburg Drop

I can think of many reasons for visiting the Keighley area of West Yorkshire. It’s a popular destination for tourists given that Haworth, the home of the Bronte sisters, is just a couple of miles away. The ancient market town of Skipton is also nearby and...
Guests Charging Cars

Guests Charging Cars

When I started in the hospitality industry, guests who needed to charge their electric cars didn’t exist – electric cars were many years in the future. Gradually though, the USA followed Europe and we saw hybrid cars, then full electric vehicles became...
That Pesky Airbnb Cleaning Fee…

That Pesky Airbnb Cleaning Fee…

One of the huge (I know that sounds silly) debates regarding Airbnb hosts is that most charge a cleaning fee. Crazy, eh?”Hotels don’t charge a cleaning fee” say grumpy guests. “My cleaning fee doesn’t even cover the cost of my...
Mallory Park: Motorsport Statues

Mallory Park: Motorsport Statues

Mallory Park in Leicestershire is well-known as a racing circuit.  And a favourite experience for visitors is to attend one of the frequent track events where you’ll be taught by a professional racing driver how to handle a supercar around the 1.35-mile track....
STR Hosts: Confirmation Bias?

STR Hosts: Confirmation Bias?

If you’re a host specialising in short-term rentals, because of today’s media it’s likely that you are affected by confirmation bias. We all are to some extent. Those who write for the media just love to publish articles on the web about how very...
London Canal Museum

London Canal Museum

Main image courtesy of Ell Brown I’ve written often suggesting that visitors to the UK venture beyond the usual London tourist traps. But if you are in London, the Canal Museum is a great place to visit. The UK was the first country in the world to have a...
The Mille Miglia, Alfonso Portago and the Kiss of Death

The Mille Miglia, Alfonso Portago and the Kiss of Death

The Lombardy region in Northern Italy is a fabulous place to visit – and still so very Italian. If you’re visiting the area I have a great, albeit sad little story for you to bore entertain your companions. The story dates from 1957 and the list of...
Enforcing Rules in Your STR Rental

Enforcing Rules in Your STR Rental

Quite a few STR hosts, those who advertise on online sites such as Airbnb or VRBO,  are dismayed to find that their guests simply don’t follow the rules. Many hosts have a quite extensive list of rules and regulations and some of these can be quite...
‘Interesting’ Icelandic Museum

‘Interesting’ Icelandic Museum

An online thesaurus has 493 synonyms for the word ‘penis’. You might be amazed by that. I am. (You can see them here … if you like.) I admit that I found that many of them were completely unknown to me. But I bet that Sigurður Hjartarson is familiar...
Racing Circuits – Around the World

Racing Circuits – Around the World

Just a quick informative one… Some people have no idea just how much entertainment there is to be had at racing circuits. There is so much more to racing tracks than the high-profile stuff you’re likely to see on the television.Spectators can watch...
Bartolomeu de Gusmão Airport

Bartolomeu de Gusmão Airport

Image credit If you should ever find yourself in Rio de Janeiro, which sounds like a great idea to me, then travel about fifty miles to the west to Santa Cruz to visit a very eerie place.It could just be me, but I find airships remarkably spooky. I get the feeling...
Airbnb: Its Not a Dating App!

Airbnb: Its Not a Dating App!

Of course, it isn’t. You know it isn’t. So why do so many hosts complain and/or comment on their guests’ personalities and little foibles?One of the most frequent is that ‘guests are so entitled these days’. Er, well, for me the fact that...
Can I Take my Dog on the Plane?

Can I Take my Dog on the Plane?

That little dog in the picture is such a little sweetheart. But where were we? Can you take your dog on the plane when you travel? Come to that, can you take your cat?  Your parrot? Your emotional support gerbil? It would be wonderful if there was a simple answer but...
Discover Haunted Dublin

Discover Haunted Dublin

Ireland has a fascinating history – and quite a bloody and plague-ridden one. Dublin in particular in an ancient city with plenty of horrors in its past. So if you find yourself in this famous area be sure to set aside a couple of hours to enjoy (if that’s...
Best Travel Accessory: The ScotteVest

Best Travel Accessory: The ScotteVest

Travelling is a wonderful thing to do but it can become stressful if you’re worrying about the safety and security of your travel essentials. Your vacation can be ruined if you lose your passport, your tickets, your cash, your ID documents – and in my...
Travel to Cuba: Notes

Travel to Cuba: Notes

On August 31st, 2016 a scheduled passenger aircraft left Fort Lauderdale Airport and less than an hour later was in Cuba. This was the first time in fifty years that a commercial flight had flown from the to Cuba from the USA. And Cuba has been on many...
Activities in Southampton, England

Activities in Southampton, England

I’m on something of a mission to help foreign visitors to England to realise that there are some great places to visit other than London. One of them is Southampton in Hampshire. It’s only eighty miles from the centre of London and takes less than two...
The Best Translation App

The Best Translation App

Recently I’ve been talking to people in Mandarin, Greek, Danish, Russian and more. No, I’m not a linguistic genius – my language capabilities stop at school-taught French plus being able to ask for a glass of wine in most European languages 😉...
Should You Tip in a Pub in England?

Should You Tip in a Pub in England?

Many Americans have asked me this question. The ‘tipping culture’ in the USA is widespread and well-understood but few people from the US understand the British way of showing your appreciation – especially in pubs. It’s likely that just about...
Florida Sunrise

Florida Sunrise

I know how hard it can be to get out of bed when it’s still dark outside, especially when you’re on vacation. But if you’re staying on the East Coast of Florida, then it’s well worth it, if only on one day, to watch the sun rise. I don’t...
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