The best, BAR none
Spring 2017
The world’s most successful Olympic sailor is chasing a new dream: to bring the America’s Cup home. Not that Britain has ever won sailing’s most prestigious title, which is also one of the world’s oldest international sporting trophies. The first America’s Cup race in 1851 was around the Isle of Wight and won by the US – a victory which named the event [...]

The Lasting Embrace
Spring 2017
Perhaps the most moving moment in Gurinder Chadha’s latest film is after it ends. Just before the credits begin to roll, a black-and-white photograph comes up on screen. It’s a picture of Chadha’s grandmother with her children – and the caption explains how she survived the Partition of India in 1947. [...]

The day the mountains moved
April 24, 2016
There had been heavy rain overnight but now the clouds were lifting. I stopped on a promontory to admire the view across a wide valley towards the eastern arc of the Annapurna circuit. There was a steep drop below me and good visibility. I pulled out the map to pinpoint my location. The date was April 25 2015. Suddenly the ground began to shake. [...]

Blood Lions warns against the dark side of African voluntourism
December 1, 2015
Blood Lions focuses on the captive lion breeding and canned hunting industry in South Africa and raises questions about whether a number of centres that offer activities such as cub petting and the chance to “walk with lions” are part of bona fide conservation, research or education projects. [...]

Gap years: are they worth it?
August 15, 2015
Teaching English in Battambang? Kite-surfing in Jericoacoara? Rhino darting in South Africa? Learning Spanish in Sucre? Or passed out on the beaches of Koh Tao? How did you spend your gap year? Traditionally a gap year has been taken between school and university by so-called ‘gappers’, usually around eighteen years of age [...]

Where man meets mountain
August 1, 2015
From the top of Mount Kronplatz, I gaze at the rugged range of peaks around me. To the north are the Zillertal Alps; in the other direction, Marmolada glacier; the Lienz Dolomites lie east and the Ortler to the west. A crown of summits and spires, pinnacles and towers, and below, dark-green pine forests and meadows of wildflowers. [...]

Why you should travel to Kenya now
July 18, 2015
As the “Great Migration” of East Africa moves north from Tanzania to Kenya, there is unprecedented availability and value for money this year in the lodges and camps of the Maasai Mara Game Reserve and its surrounds. Some operators say hotel rates may be 30 per cent lower than usual. [...]

Tourism vital for Nepal’s recovery
May 9, 2015
It is two weeks since the 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal, from the capital Kathmandu to the trekking regions of Langtang up to Everest Base Camp. Yet the picture is very mixed across the country. Some villages have been devastated while other regions are unaffected. [...]

We can’t all be Himalayan climbers
October 20, 2014
In the wake of one of Nepal’s worst trekking disasters, the rescue efforts are just beginning. Already, harrowing stories are emerging. Hundreds of tourists and Nepalis have been caught up in the recent snow storms and avalanches in the Himalayan mountains, killing more than 40 and injured nearly 200. [...]

Death casts shadow over classic car rally
June 13, 2013
As we approached the end of the Wednesday’s stage, we heard the news: there had been a serious accident. All competitive racing was on hold. Everyone should head directly to our hotel in Tyumen, in south-west Siberia. [...]

The glories of Egypt – minus the tourist multitudes
November 5, 2011
I could hear my own footsteps as I walked through the corridors of the Egyptian Museum and stood alone in front of the death mask of Tutankhamun.

Thailand floods : stranded tourists criticise lack of information
March 31, 2011
Instead of golden beaches and romantic sunsets, stranded visitors were sharing photographs of flooded hotel lobbies and landslides. As rescue efforts get underway in flood-hit Thailand, Michelle Jana Chan speaks to tourists caught up in the chaos... [...]

Taiwan’s remarkable national museum
November 9, 2009
On a cold, blustery day in December 1948, 10-year-old Chuang Ling boarded a Chinese warship in the port of Nanjing, one of hundreds of refugees who spent the next five days on rough seas until they reached the port of Keelung in northern Taiwan. [...]

A giant leap : Robots or astronauts ?
September 3, 2007
LONDON, England -- Can everyone be an astronomer? It certainly seems that way, especially with some of the latest tools at our fingertips, like Google Sky, which allows Internet users to navigate through a digitized map of space. [...]

Fast forward : Broadband drama
July 25, 2007
LONDON, England -- The captains of the television industry may want to switch off their sets for a minute (actually, 37 seconds) to assess the potential of interactive Web drama. This week, a new series called "KateModern" launched on Bebo, the global social networking site with a pioneering, young audience. [...]

Identity in a virtual world
June 14, 2007
LONDON, England -- There's more to someone's identity than a social security number, passport photo and set of fingerprints but it's difficult to define exactly what else it is. Is it what the public sees or the inner self ? [...]

Antarctica : On thin ice
May 3, 2007
HALF MOON ISLAND, Antarctica -- Iceberg Alley is an aptly named narrow channel on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula. The water is afloat with glassy splinters, hardly bigger than an ice cube, ranging up to colossal tabular icebergs, some the size of several football pitches. [...]

Q&A : 'This Is A Dream I Have'
October 9, 2003
Nobel Laureate Joseph Rotblat Talks About How The World Can Rid Itself Of Nuclear Weapons And Find Its Way To Global Peace. At 94, Joseph Rotblat isn't letting age slow his razor-sharp mind. [...]

Only The Boldest
May 23, 2003
Stretching the idea of off-season travel to extreme new levels, they're defying the geopolitical elements in places like Syria, Zimbabwe and Bali. Suzana Iorga has a secret vacation hideaway. It's called Syria. She and her husband, a French diplomat based in Cairo, fell in love with the country last summer on their first holiday trip there. [...]

Crumbling Britannia ?
May 24, 2001
Their Once-Proud Rail And Health Services Have Declined. But Dissatisfied Voters Still Aren't Likely To Vote Tony Blair Out Of Office In Their Upcoming Election. [...]

Britain : On The Campaign Trail
May 3, 2001
Will The Foot-And-Mouth Outbreak Hurt The Blair Government In The Upcoming Election ? Andy Duncan lives in one of the more picturesque parts of rural England. But the views from his Dartmoor hotel haven't been that good lately. [...]

The NY-LON Life
November 13, 2000
More people are working and playing in New York and London as if they were one city. Ron Kastner is a classic New Yorker: first off the plane, first out of the airport. Carrying a single small bag, he breezes through immigration and customs. [...]