Travel Through Italy

Cumbria is a wild, wet and wellie-wearing region in the north of England, whose damp hedgerows and fields of daffodils fired the literary imagination of Wordsworth several times over.

Umbria, on the other hand, is a fragrant, olive-soaked region in central Italy, whose soft pink stone apparently fired the literary imagination of C.S.Lewis and introduced the rest of the world to Narnia (via the real world town of Narni.)

Read more about my time in Italy here.

Italy

Abigail just returned from the country of Italy where she experienced :

• The towns of Perugia, Assisi, Narni, and the beautiful city of  Rome
• Investigating the Slow Food movement
• Staying where pilgrims stayed in medieval times, Le Silve
• Italian Cooking lessons
• Making chocolate with Perugina
• Visited Lake Trasimeno

Travel Through Poland

“Are you ready?” asks Christopher, a guide from the nearby village of Wieliczka. He’s cloaked in a long charcoal jacket and blowing on his hands to keep warm. For a giant-sized man, he uses a soft voice. “Because once we start, I will not be able to talk to you. And you will not be able to turn back.”

Read more about my time in Poland here.

Poland

Abigail King recently returned from a trip to Warsaw, Poland, where she experienced the:

• Palace of Culture and Science
• Warsaw Upraising Museum
• Royal Route
• Krakowskie Przedmiescic and Old Town
• Copernicus Science Centre
• Praga District

Travel Through Australia

I’ve arrived in Sydney, a little dazed, a little confused. Apparently that’s jetlag and it’s something to do with circadian rhythms, cortisol surges and melatonin…although right now I can’t quite remember my name and could easily believe that jetlag’s caused by blue-edged tomatoes and overripe watermelon and comes with an easy cure of standing upside down in a vat of warm jelly.

But instead of listening to any of that nonsense, I’m going to attempt to cure my jetlag by throwing myself into the pounding surf of Bondi.

Read more about my time in Australia here.

Australia

Abigail King recently returned from a trip to Sydney, Australia, where she experienced:

• Surfing Lessons at Bondi Beach
• A Middle Harbour Kayak Tour in Sydney Harbour
• Bronte to Bondi Coastal Walk
• Manly Beach
• The Australian Open of Surfing
• Night Harbour Cruise Through Sydney Harbour

This panel will discuss the relationship between perceptions and realities of travel, and the influence of travel literature and photography on tourist experiences.

Forum for European Philosophy and Department of Philosophy,Logic and Scientific Method Literary Festival event

Horatio Clare is an award-winning author, broadcaster, novelist and journalist. In 2008 he journeyed from South Africa to South Wales following migrating swallows, a journey he wrote about in A Single Swallow. His latest expedition took him from Felixstowe to Los Angeles on a 150,000 tonne container ship. Horatio writes regularly for Conde Nast Traveller and various national newspapers.

Alex Gillespie is a Lecturer in Social Psychology at LSE and Co-Editor of Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour. He has over fifty publications, including three books. He is interested in tourism and tourist photography as an encounter with the other saturated in fantasy.

Abigail King is an experienced journalist and photographer who writes about travel for both print and online media. She has circled the globe twice, camped in the snows of Kilimanjaro and Patagonia and tracked down tigers, turtles and panda bears. She’s then had a hot shower and embraced the city life of New York, Rio, Paris and Tokyo.

Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #lselitfest

National Geographic Traveler – Best of the World for 2012

The painted boats that bob in yellow, crimson and white could belong to any rugged Mediterranean coast. The polar bear that guards them, however, means only one thing: Salvador Dalí’s home in Costa Brava.

Find the article by Abigail King here.

Travel Through Jordan

Life’s been high on adventure lately, if low on sleep. Usually, I manage to find something beautiful, something that moves me wherever I go. But last night, in Petra, that didn’t happen.

Read more about my time in Jordan here.

Jordan

Abigail King recently returned from a trip to Jordan, where she experienced:

• Cooking classes at Beit Sitti
• Petra
• Ballooning over Wadi Rum
• Overnight stay with Bedouin
• Canyoning in Wadi Mujib
• The Citadel of Amman

For over 50 years, the British Guild of Travel Writers has been the UK’s “premier association of media professionals who focus on travel.”

In their own words:

“The Guild’s name stands for reliability and respectability in the fiercely competitive worlds of travel writing, photography and broadcasting. The criteria for membership are tough.”

That’s why I’m so pleased to mark this milestone in my own travel writing career: becoming one of their members!

The first set of photos from my recent trip to rural Tuscany. More to follow…

I’m just back from an assignment in Tohoku, taking in the snow festivals, doll festivals, sake breweries and UNESCO sights, as well as making the most of all that wonderful food. In short, a mixture of well-known and well-guarded Japanese traditions.

For more information, please contact me.