Category: Regular Features

On weekdays I provide essential and informative travel tips, with a different subject each day!

Backpacking in Northern Ireland🔴✋️☘️: Guided Tour of George Best’s Childhood Home in Burren Way, The Cregagh, Belfast

Posted on by Jonny Blair

“Maradona good. Pele better. George Best” – A Northern Ireland flag’s message at George Best’s funeral. Local heroes are real. George Best is a superhero to me. To many of my friends. To many Northern Irish people. To many AFC Bournemouth fans. Even Manchester United fans like him. Hold on – even Leeds United fans Read more about Backpacking in Northern Ireland🔴✋️☘️: Guided Tour of George Best’s Childhood Home in Burren Way, The Cregagh, Belfast[…]

Backpacking in England: 8 Quirky and Quick Music Related Sights to See in London

Backpacking in England: 6 Quirky and Quick Music Related Sights to See in London

Posted on by Jonny Blair

“You need a little time to rest your mind; you know you should so I guess you might as well” – Noel Gallagher. Well I’ve done my time living in London back in the day, and I must have visited the city about 50 times in my life, but I’m definitely not done with backpacking Read more about Backpacking in England: 6 Quirky and Quick Music Related Sights to See in London[…]

Visiting The Home of the Penalty Kick: Milford, County Armagh, Northern Ireland and William McCrums Legacy

Visiting The Home of the Penalty Kick⚽: Milford, County Armagh, Northern Ireland🔴✋️☘️William McCrum’s Legacy

Posted on by Jonny Blair

“Pelanty, ref!”- football players and supporters. I grew up in Northern Ireland and am a football geek. My Dad played football, I played football, my friends played football and my brothers played football. That quadruple also watch football week in, week out. A few years back I cracked the 501 not out for attendance at Read more about Visiting The Home of the Penalty Kick⚽: Milford, County Armagh, Northern Ireland🔴✋️☘️William McCrum’s Legacy[…]

Backpacking in Egypt: Staying at the Australian Hostel in Cairo

Backpacking in Egypt🇪🇬: Staying at the Australian Hostel in Cairo

Posted on by Jonny Blair

Pyramids of Giza, Sphinx, Nile Delta, Michael Palin DVDs, Suez Canal, Abdelghani precision penalties and the recent exploits of Champions League winner Mohammed Salah. That is some kind of generic overview I had of Egypt. When your filthy backpack has galloped its way through 181 real countries, you would half expect tourist puller Egypt to Read more about Backpacking in Egypt🇪🇬: Staying at the Australian Hostel in Cairo[…]

Backpacking in Greece: Staying at Dioskouros Backpackers Hostel in Athens

Backpacking in Greece🇬🇷: Staying at Dioskouros Hostel in Athens

Posted on by Jonny Blair

Greece somehow escapes my travel blog and even my backpacking days. I have never really properly backpacked through Greece, nor even entered neighbouring Albania. However, this was my third visit to Greece and I was on a one day transit through the capital city, Athens. My first visit to Greece was actually 29 years ago. Read more about Backpacking in Greece🇬🇷: Staying at Dioskouros Hostel in Athens[…]

World Travellers: Mark and Mila Whitman from Mountain IQ

Posted on by Jonny Blair

In my ongoing series of World Travellers, the latest to feature and Mark and Mila. They are keen hikers and outdoor travellers, who both have a hugely interesting history of growing up in multiple countries before heading on bigger adventures. You can follow their adventures at Mountain IQ. Who are you? My husband, Mark, and Read more about World Travellers: Mark and Mila Whitman from Mountain IQ[…]

My Valletta, Ulaan Baatar and Beirut Tours Now Available on GPS My City

Posted on by Jonny Blair

I have been working with the excellent new app GPS MyCity since 2016 where my blog posts are turned into cool tours with maps! You need to check this out and get it installed on your phone, tablet or laptop. I previously posted some of my Polish city tours on there, which made sense now that Read more about My Valletta, Ulaan Baatar and Beirut Tours Now Available on GPS My City[…]

Sunday’s Inspiration: Love Remains The Drug That’s The High, Not The Pill

Posted on by Jonny Blair

“The more I get of you, the stranger it feels the air” – Seal. On the five year mark of the meeting in a Bucharest hostel kitchen, I just couldn’t help but get overtly sentimental, nostalgic and I plunged into a week of unusual dreams, unforeseen joys, draining pain, feelings of love and emotional ups Read more about Sunday’s Inspiration: Love Remains The Drug That’s The High, Not The Pill[…]

Sunday’s Inspiration: Why Can’t The Clocks Go Back 5 Years Tonight?

Posted on by Jonny Blair

“I try to hang on to myself. I don’t believe in no-one else. And I’m shaking like a leaf, As I fall into the street” – Noel Gallagher. Sunday’s Inspiration: Why Can’t The Clocks Go Back 5 Years? ‘You’ll never change what’s been and gone’- Noel Gallagher. Around 2013, Sundays became a place for me Read more about Sunday’s Inspiration: Why Can’t The Clocks Go Back 5 Years Tonight?[…]

Das Alte Gefängnis, Braunau Am Inn, Austria🇦🇹: Spending A Night in a Converted Prison⛓️👮🏛️🚔 in Hitler’s Town

Posted on by Jonny Blair

“Escape from our history, history” – Manic Street Preachers. I headed back to Austria recently with two main places to be visited – the Republic of Kugel Mugel (a micronation in a sphere in Prater Park, Vienna) and the town of Braunau Am Inn. Braunau Am Inn is not exactly a backpacker’s paradise and is Read more about Das Alte Gefängnis, Braunau Am Inn, Austria🇦🇹: Spending A Night in a Converted Prison⛓️👮🏛️🚔 in Hitler’s Town[…]